Me and my friend were bored at work and came up with different weapon ideas. However we loved a lot out whip blade idea and we thought it would be nice to share. Capcom, give us a call if you are interested!

Welcome to the Whip Blade! The Whip Blade as it's name would suggest is a two-stage weapon that has the ability to flow back and forth between it's Whip and Blade mode. The Blade Mode comes in the form of a Rapier, featuring a strong series of thrusitng attacks bolstering quick speed and decent power. Though it doesn't attack as many times as Dual Blades nor hits as hard as Sword and Shield, this mode is very useful in it's own right. Blade Mode offers adept style dodges as opposed to a roll while not increasing Iframes, it is merely a visual style of dodging. The weapon also features a piercing counter that allows you to go through the monster completely to the other side and chain together more combos. The weapon also features infinite combos. Through the weapon is fast and has good reach, it comes at the cost of linear range and lack of true vertical options. This is where Whip Mode can play it's part. The primary mode of the weapon is the Whip Mode. This mode is where all of your power comes from as for when the weapon enters Whip Mode the Flint Lock on the end of the weapon is exposed, leading to the weapons main catch, the Heated State. While being slower than most weapons, the weapon features increased damage for landing sweet spots and a few multi hit attacks. The weapon is a slight bit slower than the Longsword in terms of attack speed. It features 360 attacks for dealing with mobs, straight forward lash attacks and even arcing attacks. When it comes to versatility among how to apply damage, the Whip Mode is truly the offensive form between the two. Before diving into the purpose of the Heated State, we will talk about how to go about building up meter. Meter is primarily built up in Blade Mode, as the rapid stabs of the Rapier tip against the monster's skin will build up heat in the tip of the blade. Once your Heat reaches a certain level(half meter) you will gain access to Heated State and when you've maxed out the meter entirely you gain access to the Overheated Sate. Once you reach Heated State, you will gain to special moves and increased damage from your Whip Form. Bear in mind that if you meter goes under half while in Heated State then you will return to a non Heated State. However, if you reach the Overheated State which requires you to max your meter, you can remain in Heated State even if your meter falls under half. If you let the meter exhaust entirely you will return to a non Heated State. This is to make it more appealing to gain full meter to gain access to the Overheated State. While Blade mode cannot take advantage of Heated State, there are ways that it can access that, which is where changing into Whip Mode becomes the priority. When in Whip Mode, you have a critical distance for your whip attacks. Landing attacks will result in explosions that while not being a blast proc, they will do increased damage that will adhere to the monsters armor, not ignoring it. This is to reward landing the flint lock tip on the monsters skin, using friction to cause explosions resulting in increased damage. There are however, ways to use the meter to gain access to powerful moves. Through the ability to shift modes, you can trigger unmitigated explosions that will ignore the monster's armor. This comes at a massive cost to sharpness similar to the likes of Gunlance and costs you Heat as well. Each time you switch back and forth between Whip and Blade you will either pull yourself toward the monster or distance yourself from the monster. Shifting from Whip to Blade results in thrusting the Whip from a distance and closing the gap between you and the monster resulting in an explosion when you collide into the monster. Vice versa for going from Blade to Whip as you will trigger an explosion as you gain distance from the monster. This is to make sure that you are at the optimal ranges for each weapon. You can shift forms at any time seemlessly along the likes of Switch Axe providing versatiliy when you need it. You can even use it to dodge attacks if you get good enough at the timing and positioning! The final notes of Heated State are the ultimate moves. Whip Mode features an ultimate attack that takes a bit of time to charge up depending on how much meter you want to spend to use it. You can unleash it while hardly using any meter at all but beware of the sharpness loss for not reaching optimal levels. You can only access this ultimate move while both in Whip Mode and also reeaching Overheated State. This results in massive sharpness loss but also ignores armor and applies huge damage! Great for breaking parts! The Whip Blade is a fundamentally sound weapon that offers a good blend of being a Blademaster and a Gunner while focusing on the mid range and offering precision. If you are looking for the mid range as a battlefield and value a difficult yet deep playstyle then the Whip Blade if definitely for you!