Weapon and Parry Codex

Summary

• Weapon and Shield Codices unlock the main "dexxer" focused player progression system, allowing players to enhance their weapon skills by leveling codex Stances/Ammunitions and unlocking Finishers.

• Players are able to craft Weapon and Shield (Parry) Codices with the Inscription skill
  • Codexes are Blessed and cannot be stolen

• A complete list of in game Codex commands can be found here on the Commands/Codex

• In order to use a Codex, players must have at least 80 Tactics and 80 in their weapon or Parrying skill
  • This replaced the "Rank Caps" mechanic that used to cap a player's effective Stance Rank and effective Finisher Tier based on how many "Dexxer Skills above 80" the player had (skills such as Camping, Tracking, Tactics, etc) has been removed

Codices
Archery	Fencing	Macing	Swords	Wrestling	Parrying

Weapon and Shield Profiles

• Every individual character has what is referred to as a Weapon and Shield Profile that is permanently stored for them for each codex skill (Archery, Fencing, Macing, Swordsmanship, Wrestling and Parrying)
• Similar to a Summoner's Tome, players can never "lose" their Weapon and Shield Profile: the data is permanently tracked for the player even if they lose their Codex (players can simply acquire a new codex)
• Each Profile for a character stores data on Stances (Fencing, Macing, Swordsmanship, Wrestling Shields), Ammunition (Archery), as well as data on Finishers for the character

Stances/Ammunition

• By Double-Clicking a Codex, players can launch the related Profile menu for that skill for the character
• On the top half of the Profile page, players will see 6 difference Stances listed (or in the case of Archery, Ammunition types)
• Players can click the Large Button next to each Stance/Ammunition to Activate it (which will make it appear the color green in the menu page)
• Players can Single-Click their Codex in their backpack to see which Stance/Ammunition they currently have Activated for that skill
• Players can switch between Stances/Ammunition as often as they like, however each change costs the player 3 Mana

Active Weapon Stances and Shield Stances

• Players are allowed to own multiple Codices simultaneously, however they will only actively gain the benefits of Stances and Finishers from a Weapon Codex if they are currently wielding a weapon matching that codex's skill when making attacks (i.e. a player holding a Viking Sword will only gain bonuses from a Swordsmanship Codex, and not a Fencing Codex)
• Players can, however, gain the benefits from Stances/Finishers from a Shield codex while at the same time also receiving the benefits from another Weapon codex (if they are wielding the correct weapon for it)

Stance/Ammunition Ranks

• For each Stance/Ammunition, players have a Rank that ranges from 0-7, with their current Rank depicted by how many Repaired Weapon Icons are displayed (Broken Weapon Icons indicates ranks they have not yet reached)
• The Rank of a Stance/Ammunition will impact how powerful the effect it provides to the player is
• In order for players to increase their Rank for a Stance/Ammunition, they must first have it Activated (displayed in green), and then kill creatures while using that related Weapon Skill (See Shield Below) to earn Experience for the Stance/Ammunition
• Shield Experience/Ranks will only be gained from dealing weapon damage, with a shield, two-handed weapon or Martial Manual equipped
• As players kill creatures and gain Experience with a Stance/Ammunition activated, the Experience Progress Bar for it will fill up, and when it reaches 100%, they will increase their Rank by 1 (up to a maximum of Rank 7)

Experience and Upgrade Points

• Players earn Experience towards Weapon Codices by inflicting damage with that Codex's weapon skill (or having a Shield equipped for Parry Codex) and killing creatures
• The amount of Experience earned is scaled based on (Creature's Base Gold Value * Player's Total Damage Dealt With Weapon as %)
• It does not matter which Stance a player has activated: they will now simply earn experience towards their Codex so long as they are dealing damage with the specific weapon skill for that codex (or inflicting damage while having a shield equipped for the Parrying codex)
• Any experience gained by the player will fill up a yellow Progress Bar for that codex
• The Progress Bar for the player will reach 100% once they have earned 5000 Gold Worth of experience for a Weapon Codex, and they then will unlock an Upgrade Point Available for it

The cost to upgrade each Rank for a stance are as follows:

Rank	Upgrade Points
1	4
2	8
3	12
4	16
5	20
6	40
7	60

Weapon and Shield Finishers

• The first time a player reaches Rank 5 for any Stance/Ammunition for a skill, they will unlock the ability to select Finishers
• For weapons, Finishers are large-scale weapon hits, often with special handling, that players can randomly trigger when attacking a creature that is at 33% Hit Points or lower
• For shields, Finishers are defensive measures that automatically go into effect for the player when they are at 50% Hit Points or lower
• Each Skill has 2 different Finishers the player can chose from, which they can Activate by clicking the Large Button next to them
• Players can click the Info button next to a Finisher to see a description of what it does
• Players can switch between Finishers as often as they want
• If a player has a Finisher activated, Single-Clicking a Codex will display their selected Stance/Ammunition as well as their selected Finisher

Finisher Tiers and Weapon Triggering

• When players first unlock Finishers for a skill, those Finishers begin at Tier 1
• From that point on, whenever the player reaches Rank 5 for another Stance/Ammunition for that same skill, their Finishers for the skill are increased by an additional Tier (up to a maximum of Tier 5, since there are 5 total Stances/Ammunitions available)
• Similar to Stances/Ammunition, a player also has their Effective Max Tier for Finishers capped based on what warrior skills they have on their character
• A player's Effective Max Tier for Finishers will match their Effective Max Rank for Stances/Ammunitions (i.e. having an Effective Max Rank for Stances/Ammunition of 3 will also result in having a Effective Max Tier of 3 for Finishers)
• In the Profile menu players will see any Finisher Tiers that are temporarily unavailable to them due to a skills cap displayed in white

Weapon Finisher Triggering

• Any time a character inflicts a weapon hit on a creature that is at 33% Hit Points or lower, they will have a chance to inflict a Weapon Finisher on the target if they have one activated
• The chance for a Weapon Codex Finisher to trigger when a creature is below 33% health is (Tier * 3%)
• However, if a player has an Effective Max Tier for Finishers of 0 (due to not having proper skills on their char) they will always have a 0% chance to inflict a Weapon Finisher
• When a Weapon Finisher triggers, it will resolve the "original" hit as normal, and then afterwards will take that hit's damage and then use that amount as the baseline "Damage" for how much the Weapon Trigger will also inflict
• For example, the Ricochet Archery Finisher inflicts "250% damage each to 3 random targets within 4 tiles of the target"
• So a base hit of 50 damage that results in a Weapon Trigger, will first resolve 50 damage to the initial target. After which it will also inflict 50 x 2.5 = 125 Damage to 3 other randomized targets nearby (for a max total of 375 bonus damage inflicted)
• It should be noted that bonus damage from Aspect Weapon Specials are NOT considered to be part of the base damage of melee attacks, so will not be factored into the base damage of attack for determine base Weapon Finisher damage. Stealth Backstabs, however, WILL be considered as part of the base damage of an attack and therefore will be considered for Weapon Finisher base damage

Weapon Finisher Cooldowns

• Against normal creatures, players are only allowed to trigger a single Weapon Finisher upon them
• Against Boss-Type creatures (such as a Lore Boss, Mini-Boss, Boss, Shrine Boss, Omni-Boss, Event Boss) players can trigger one Weapon Finisher onto them every 60 seconds

Codex Hotbar

• Players now have access to a Codex Hotbar that will let them switch between different Weapon / Parry Codexes and activate Stances/Finishers
• Players can launch the Codex Hotbat by typing [CodexHotbar or by clicking the blue diamond at the bottom of the codex menu

Codex Stance Renewal

• Stances in the Codex Hotbar have checkboxes next to each which will allow a player to choose whether or not to AutoRenew the stance, which will attempt to automatically reactivate that stance 10 seconds after activating it
  • this allows the player to try to continously gain the benefit from the "Wrestling Adoption Stance" bonus that occurs for the first 10 seconds of activating a Wrestling Stance)
  • this allows the player to utilize the Discipline Armor Aspect mechanics on mana usage
  • Note: its possible for players to toggle Auto-Renew for both their current Weapon Codex Stance and current Parry Codex Stance simultaneously, which if done, will result in both stances renewing and using mana for both (players should probably only autorenew either their Weapon Stance or Parry Stance)
• Players can use the following commands to change the AutoRenew toggle for Stances in the Codex Hotbar:
  • [Stance1AutoRenew
  • [Stance2AutoRenew
  • [Stance3AutoRenew
  • [Stance4AutoRenew
  • [Stance5AutoRenew

Stance/Ammunition and Weapon Finisher Effects

Archery Ammunition and Finishers

Archery Codex Stances, Finishers and Abilities
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Arcane	Accuracy and Damage increased by 3% per rank
Stance	Fowling	Weapon shots increase Damage Resistance towards target by 6% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Stance	Incendiary	Deals an additional 8% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random target within 2 tiles
Stance	Longshot	Increases Range by (Rank / 2) rounded up, and Damage by 3% per rank
Stance	Maiming	Hinder effects last 10% longer per rank and Overpowered Hinder effects deal 10% more Damage per rank
Finisher	Ricochet	Deals 300% of Damage towards target and up to 2 additional random enemies within 6 tiles of target
Finisher	Pincushion	Makes 8 attacks against the target, with each having a 66% hit chance to inflict 100% Damage
Weapon Ability	Skirmish	For next 15 seconds damage increased by 25% and can fire while moving
Weapon Ability	Full Draw	For next 15 seconds damage increased by 35%, but must be stationary for 5 seconds to fire
Weapon Ability	Repeater	If not currently stealthed, immediately makes 3 additional hit attempts, each with a 66% chance to inflict 100% of weapon damage (scaled by weapon speed)

Fencing Stances and Finishers

Fencing Codex Stances, Finishers and Abilities
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Attack Speed by 2.5% per rank but player takes 1% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Weapon swings increase your Damage Resistance to all enemies by 4% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Stance	Cleave	Deals an additional 8% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random target within 2 tiles
Stance	Blackguard	Successful hits have a 3% per rank chance to inflict a Disease effect on target that deals 200% Damage spread out over 20 seconds
Stance	Fang	Damage increased by 6.5% per rank while using a weapon coated with Greater Poison or higher
Finisher	Assassinate	Inflicts 400% Damage and immediately resolves up to an additional 500% Damage worth of Disease and Poison ticks (caused by the player) remaining on target
Finisher	Flurry	Increases Weapon Speed by 20% for 30 seconds (does not stack). If bonus will bring player above the Max Swing Speed Cap, any excess will be converted into Melee Damage bonus
Weapon Ability	Gambit	For next 15 seconds damage increased by 40% but 10% chance any hits will convert into misses
Weapon Ability	Swiftstrikes	For next 15 seconds each hit increases attack speed by 5% (scaled by weapon speed) up to a max of 25%
Weapon Ability	Bane	Immediately resolve 3 poison ticks if player has an active weapon-applied poison on creature

Macefighting Stances and Finishers

Macefighting Codex Stances, Finishers and Abilities
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Damage by 5% per rank but player takes 1% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Weapon Swings increase your Damage Resistance by 4% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Stance	Cleave	Deals an additional 8% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random target within 2 tiles
Stance	Wild Swing	Increases Damage by 8% per rank, reduces Accuracy by 2% per rank
Stance	Sunder	Increases Pierce effects by an additional 5 Armor reduction per rank, and increases Damage by 4% per rank
Finisher	Pulverize	Inflicts 400% of Weapon Damage to target and applies a 5 second Hinder effect (duration scales with weapon speed)
Finisher	Shatter	Inflicts 250% of Damage to target. If player has any Pierce effects active on target, the effects are canceled but Damage is increased an additional 350%
Weapon Ability	Pummel	For next 15 seconds each hit increases damage by 10% (scaled by weapon speed) up to a max of 40%
Weapon Ability	Stun	For next 15 seconds weapon specials will also apply a (pierce effect / 10) second hinder to target
Weapon Ability	Smash	Melee hit that triggers ability has its damage increased by 300% (damage further scaled by weapon speed), but has a 25% chance to instead inflict 1 damage

Swordsmanship Stances and Finishers

Swordsmanship Codex Stances, Finishers and Abilities
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Accuracy and Damage by 3.5% per rank but player takes 1% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Weapon Swings increase your Damage Resistance by 4% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Stance	Cleave	Deals an additional 8% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random target within 2 tiles
Stance	Warrior	Increases Accuracy, Defense, and Damage by 2% per rank
Stance	Flaying	Increases non-Aspect Bleed Damage by 10% per rank
Finisher	Bleed Out	Applies a Bleed effect equal to 500% of Damage (only receives 50% of the bonuses from Flaying stance)
Finisher	Execute	Inflicts 350% of Damage to target and then immediately resolves all remaining Bleed tick damage on the target that has been inflicted by the player
Weapon Ability	Spinslash	For next 15 seconds accuracy, damage, and weapon special chance increased by 15%
Weapon Ability	Rend	Immediately resolve all remaining bleed ticks player has on target and for next 15 seconds new weapon special bleed effects are increased by 25% damage
Weapon Ability	Chop	Melee hit that triggers ability damage is increased by 200% (damage further scaled by weapon speed)

Wrestling Stances and Finishers

Wrestling Codex Stances, Finishers and Abilities
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Dragon	Weapon specials will consume up to 5 Mana to increase Damage by 5% per rank for each mana consumed (Bonus doubled for first 10 seconds after adopting stance)
Stance	Crab	Weapon swings increase your Damage Resistance by 3% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack) (Bonus doubled for first 10 seconds after adopting stance)
Stance	Spider	Deals an additional 5% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random 2 additional targets within 2 tiles (Bonus doubled for first 10 seconds after adopting stance)
Stance	Monkey	Landing 3 hits in a row increases the damage of the 3rd hit by 15% per rank (Bonus doubled for first 10 seconds after adopting stance)
Stance	Crane	Has 2.5% chance per rank on Melee Hit to restore 10 health (Bonus doubled for first 10 seconds after adopting stance)
Finisher	Chi Thrust	Inflicts 150% of Weapon Damage to target. Will consume up to 25 mana and increase Damage by 50% per Mana Consumed
Finisher	Zen Strike	Inflicts 350% of Damage to target and restores 25 Health, 25 Stamina and 25 Mana
Weapon Ability	Brawl	For next 15 seconds each hit increases accuracy, damage, and attack speed by 4% (scaled by weapon speed) up to a max of 20%
Weapon Ability	Haymaker	For next 15 seconds player can trigger finishers when target is at 50% health or below, or after a 45 second cooldown on bosses
Weapon Ability	Takedown	Melee hit that triggers ability has 100% chance of weapon special and will apply 300% of normal weapon special effect

Shield Stances and Finishers

Parry Codex Stances and Finishers
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Shield Bash	Increases Damage Resistance against player's combatant by 3% per rank and has a 4% per rank chance when hit by melee attack from combatant to Hinder them for 3 seconds
Stance	Warding	Reduces Poison, Bleed, and Disease tick damage by 8% per rank
Stance	Testudo	Damage Resistance increased by 1.5% per rank for each creature currently aggroed onto player up to a maximum of 5 creatures
Stance	Mirror	Reduces spell damage taken by 7% per rank
Stance	Bulwark	Increases Damage Resistance by 5% per rank if player has been stationary for 3 seconds or more
Finisher	Last Stand	Has a 5% chance per rank to reduce any damage taken to 1
Finisher	Barrier	Has a 10% chance per rank to reduce any Poison, Bleed, or Disease tick Damage to 1