Fencing

Summary

Fencing grants the ability to use fast striking weapons.

All fencing weapons, including two-handed weapons such as spears, can be poisoned using the Poisoning skill
The chance to hit with a fencing weapon is equal to (attacker's fencing skill + 50) / ((defender's weapon or wrestling skill + 50) * 2) plus any relevant accuracy bonuses

Only works against creatures, not other players
Players have a 10% chance of inflicting a Fencing Weapon Special Attack against creatures.
This chance can be further increased via the Arms Lore Skill, Water Aspect Armor, or Mastery Chain Links.
- The melee damage dealt on an attack that triggers a fencing special is increased by 50%
- Cripples the target for 8-16 seconds (increases chance for target to be hit with attacks by 10%)
  - Cripple effect duration scales based on weapon speed (slower fencing weapons have longer effect duration) and creature difficulty

Fencing weapons benefit from Stances and Finishers provided by a Codex of Fencing.

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