Weapon and Parry Codex

Summary

• Players are able to craft Weapon and Shield Codexes with the Inscription skill
• Weapon Codexes are supplemental items that allow players to gain unique bonuses (via Stances/Ammunition as well as Finishers) when using Weapons against monsters (but provides no benefits towards other players)
• Shield Codexes are supplemental items that allow players to gain unique bonuses (via Stances as well as Finishers) when using Shields against monsters (but provides no benefits towards other players)

Codexes

• There are 4 different Weapon Codexes, with one that corresponds to each melee skill (Archery, Fencing, Macing, and Swordsmanship)
• Additionally, a Shield Codex is available for the Parrying skill
• Harpoons will be treated as belonging to the Archery skill for the purposes of Codexes
• Codexes are Blessed items
• Players can craft Weapon and Shield Codexes through the Inscription skill

Weapon and Shield Profiles

• Every individual character now 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, and Parrying)
• Similar to Summoner's Tomes, 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, Shields), Ammunition (Archery), as well as data on Finishers for the character

Weapon and Shield 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 5 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 5 Mana

Stance/Ammunition and Weapon Finisher Effects

Archery Ammunition and Finishers

Archery Ammo and Finishers
Type	Name	Description
Ammo	Arcane	Accuracy and Damage increased by 2.5% per rank but ammunition recovery rates are reduced by 10% per rank
Ammo	Fowling	Successful hits increase Damage Resistance towards target by 5% per rank for 5 seconds (does not stack)
Ammo	Incendiary	Deals an additional 7% of Damage per rank inflicted to a random target within 1 tile
Ammo	Longshot	Increases Range by (Rank / 2) rounded up, and Damage by 3% per rank
Ammo	Maiming	Hinder effects last 10% longer per rank and Overpowered Hinder effects deal 10% more Damage per rank
Finisher	Ricochet	Inflicts 250% Damage each to 3 random targets within 4 tiles of target
Finisher	Pincushion	Makes 8 attacks against the target, with each having a 66% hit chance to inflict 100% Damage

Fencing Stances and Finishers

Fencing Stances and Finishers
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Speed by 2.5% per rank but player takes 2% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Successful hits increase your Damage Resistance by 3% 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 30 seconds
Stance	Riposte	Damage increased by 1% per rank for each creature aggroed onto player up to a maximum of 10 creatures
Finisher	Assassinate	Inflicts (Target's Missing Hits Percent) x 6% of Damage to target
Finisher	Flurry	Increases Weapon Speed by 25% for 20 seconds (does not stack)

Macefighting Stances and Finishers

Macefighting Stances and Finishers
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Damage by 5% per rank but player takes 2% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Successful hits increase your Damage Resistance by 3% 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	Wind Up	Reduces Speed by 5% per rank but increases non-Stealthed Damage by 10% per rank
Stance	Sunder	Increases Pierce effects by an additional 5 Armor reduction 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%

Swordsmanship Stances and Finishers

Swordsmanship Stances and Finishers
Type	Name	Description
Stance	Aggressive	Increases Accuracy by 4% per rank but player takes 2% more Damage per rank from all sources
Stance	Defensive	Successful hits increase your Damage Resistance by 3% 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

Shield Stances and Finishers

Shield 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% per rank for each creature currently aggroed onto player up to a maximum of 10 creatures
Stance	Mirror	Has a 2% per rank chance to reflect any spells cast onto player, and reduces Spell Damage taken by 4% per rank
Stance	Bulwark	Increases Damage Resistance by 5% per rank if player has been stationary for 5 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

Active Weapon Stances and Shield Stances

• Players are allowed to own multiple Codexes 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 0-5, 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 (or Shield Equipped) to earn Experience for the Stance/Ammunition
• 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 5)

Experience Amounts

• When a player kills a creature, they will earn Experience amounts equal to the gold value of the creature, with amounts adjusted based on how much of the total damage done to the creature came from that player while using the related weapon skill (or having a shield equipped in the case of Shield Stances)
• For instance, a player who dealt 500 damage with Swords to a creature that has 1000 hit points and is worth 500 gold, will earn 250 Experience for any Activated Swordsmanship Stance
• In the case of Shield Stances, players earn experience in the same way as wepaons (dealing damage) while they have a shield equipped, and players can simultaneously earn experience for a Weapon Stance as well as a Shield Stance (both will be increased by the same amount of experience)

Experience amounts needed for each Rank are as follows:

• • Rank 1: 20,000 Experience Needed
  • Rank 2: 40,000 Experience Needed
  • Rank 3: 60,000 Experience Needed
  • Rank 4: 80,000 Experience Needed
  • Rank 5: 100,000 Experience Needed

Required Skills and Rank Caps

• In order to ensure that "dexers" are the primary beneficiaries of Weapon/Shield codexes, players will have their Max Effective Rank for Stances/Ammuntion potentially capped based several criteria
• If a player has less than 80 skill for the related skill of the codex (i.e Archery, Fencing, Macing, Swords, Parrying), their Effective Max Rank for it it will always be capped at 0 (meaning players will gain no benefit from those Stances/Ammunition activated)
• In the Profile Menu, players will see "X" symbols over ranks if that rank is temporarily unavailable to the player due to a cap
• Note: players will still be able to activate Stances/Ammunitions and gain Experience for them even if they currently gain no benefits from them due to an Effective Max Rank limitation
• These skills are considered Warrior Skills and can contribute to increasing your Max Effective Rank while they are at 80 skill or higher:
  • Archery
  • Fencing
  • Mace Fighting
  • Swordsmanship
  • Parrying
  • Tactics
  • Anatomy
  • Arms Lore
  • Healing
  • Resisting Spells
  • Blacksmithing
  • Carpentry
  • Tailoring
  • Fishing
  • Lumberjacking
  • Mining
  • Hiding
  • Stealth
  • Alchemy

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 33% 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 to inflict a Weapon Finisher is (10% + (1% x Tier Level))
• 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