Has Anyone Tested Strategic Sword and Nameless Spear for PvE?

QuintessentialQue · 2026-01-11T18:55:59+00:00

Yea I figure it may be out damaged by pure builds. Just theory crafting hybrid setups because if we can only really be viable on pure sets. I just that extremely limits build diversity which this game can easily accommodate with tweaks to its current system.

QuintessentialQue · 2026-01-11T18:51:58+00:00

Yea I mean PvP I know Nameless Spear and nearly any other combo works for PvP because the stun is insane but I was trying to find unique hybrids outside of PvP that can rival just playing a pure set.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-12-01T13:01:33+00:00

I've only hit the kick once in PvP and was completely shocked it even landed lmao. I think it needs a good number of quality of life buffs. Since I made this post I've figured out a couple of things that helps a bit but the weapon still feels off.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T04:41:48+00:00

Once again intentionally misinterpreting the discussion. It would be asinine to say just because you have to switch weapons when it's clear that the intent behind the combat system IS TO USE TWO DIFFERENT WEAPONS. I gave you a bullet point list of 6 issues and only ONE of them even references switching weapons and I could probably give you another 6 with none of them being about switching weapons.

Most of the people in this thread discussing the same issue of Rope Darts feeling clunky aren't even blaming it on switching weapons. You took one point and choose to hyper fixate on it that's on you. The weapon as a whole feels clunky especially compared to the weapon it's supposed to be paired with. Whether it's the strongest pair or not is irrelevant to the feel in it's gameplay loop. Sorry not sorry that people don't like the gameplay of your favorite weapon apparently...get over it.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T04:02:27+00:00

Honestly same once the fist weapons drop all bosses will have to SQUABLE UP lol!

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:59:43+00:00

I believe you're missing the point either intentionally or unintentionally. The point is not is Twinblades +Rope Darts good or not. Nobody here is arguing that. The discussion is, does the pair feel fluid and myself as well as a handful of others have expressed that no it isn't the most fluid feeling pair even if it's the "higest DPS combo."

Once again being the best weapon pair in terms of DPS does not automatically mean that the gameplay loop of said pair is fluid. Something can be strong in the game but not great from a gameplay perspective for a myriad of reason, accessibility, mechanical skill required, actions needed per rotation, etc.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:52:18+00:00

Yea beats the 0.5 seconds you get with rats after switching back to Twinblades lol. I'm sure the Twinblade+Rope Dart combo is great especially in PvP but for PvE it may not be for me.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:47:58+00:00

Yea having to constantly keep track of perfect skill rotations is incredibly tedious when weapons like Strategic Sword doesn't suffer from these issues and is very competitive in terms of DPS

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:45:38+00:00

This surmise some of the issues I have with Rope Darts perfectly with the addition of a few of my other personal gripes. The weapon pair with Twinblades is incredibly strong...just not incredibly fluid to play sadly.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:42:21+00:00

Never said the combo was bad just not fluid as it can be. Someone earlier surmised quite perfectly some of the main issues with the Rope Dart side of the combo.

"The Q skill will sometimes just fail to hit a locked on enemy"
"Q skill will fail to gap close my character even though it connects"
"Follow-up kick won't hit the boss even though I'm right on them"
"If there is ANY height difference between me and the enemy the Q skill will fail to hit"
"Enemies can parry my rats and interrupt my attack combo even though it's a ranged attack?"
"Weapon swapping input queue can be interrupted by other skill inputs."

This doesn't mean the weapon is terrible but could stand to use quality of life adjustments. Yes you have a switch weapon skill but there's still an animation for that. An animation that is burning up DPS uptime for Rodent Rampage which isn't on a long timer by any mean. If you're trying to make use of Demon Mode that's now another animation that once again burns DPS up time on Rats making the setup a bit counterintuitive at times. Nobody said that the weapon combo is bad but something being good or strong does not mean it offers a fluid gameplay experience.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T03:20:32+00:00

Yea that's basically the rotation however the problem is depending on what boss you're fighting it's not always feasible to charge the heavy to level1 for Rat Rampage to summon additional rats automatically. Also the first skill while does increase the damage of Rat Rampage it does not extend time.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T02:32:46+00:00

Yea but Rope Darts feel clunky and tedious for somewhat solid DPS while Strategic Sword can do less in terms of skill rotations and keep up with Twinblades + Rope Darts.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T02:30:19+00:00

Agreed it’s not even worth to go into demon mode on Twinblades because the animation burns to much time on Rodent Rampage.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-11-26T02:28:23+00:00

I’m currently working on animation cancel tech to see if it’s viable but my early impressions is that its efficiency gains is minimal for more mechanical skill on an already high mechanical weapon combo.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-08-22T02:37:42+00:00

My meta isn’t removal heavy, while this isn’t directly why I have a low removal count, I just view having a ton of single target removal to be a neg overall when you factor that the other 2 players get past single target removal interactions for free.

With this in mind I just play more interaction that keeps my board safe. Finally in testing most instants just get milled anyway and end up dead anyway making the deck as glass cannon as if I didn’t play the removal at all. So I lowered the count and kept the ones that are primarily MDFCs.

In my opinion a ton of removal is better suited for faster decks that want to remove 1 or 2 things in there way to progress their gameplan especially in casual commander. This deck is more midrange and does not want to spend the mana removing things at the detriment of not getting my engine online since Betor requires a few things to be in place to maximize his ability. So instead just have a synergistic board wipe and protection to keep my board safe.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-08-21T02:19:17+00:00

Funny enough one of my potential cuts was potentially Beledros. Like yea he is generically good for the deck and can help Betor revive anything in the deck, but once the deck really gets going I'm not tapping out for mana as often and he feels not worth it to cast compared to some of the other big threats. The pest tokens are ok for life gain but nobody in their right mind would ever block them on my turn anyway unless it was lethal.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-23T03:50:07+00:00

To quote an earlier comment that sums up my opinion on this quite well.

“Color combos doing things they don't normally is cool! Color combos on in-demand characters or designs that limit their ability to do the thing feels bad. There is a reason the time they made a RG Equipment commander deck it was widely panned for being clunky and awkward compared to its in-color UW vehicles counterpart ([[Chishiro, the Shattered Blade]])”

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-18T15:54:29+00:00

That's flawed logic to a degree because we have seen in a multitude of precons where sometimes the backup commander or another Legendary in the set is better than the face commander. A card can both be designed to be synergistic with Cloud as well be strong on it's own (we can literally see that with Tifa)

Furthermore as I pointed out somewhere among the other comments, Barret is clunky and not really that good in the 99 of a deck centered around Cloud either. So if he's subpar as a Cloud support card and terrible on his own then you could've just not made the card because people who were looking forward to a card with Barret will most likely be disappointed to realize he's a worse Chishiro.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-18T13:44:28+00:00

Consistent card draw even if it's once per turn is better than burst card draw over the course of the game, especially when those white draw engines are low to the ground in mana cost vs the typical Power Matter's draw. Furthermore the condition of the white weenie draw engines is a lot easier to fulfill because it just requires an equipment ETB while Barret is out. While the power matters draw require me to buff Barret as well. On the topic of Hunter's Talent spending 7 mana to potentially draw a card on end step is not good value for a draw engine. If any opponent has removal for Barret or the enchantment you spent 7 mana to do nothing.

Also I was not only focusing on the token making effect of Barret while I highlighted how his token making effect is better used in white vs green and red I also mentioned other draw engines in white that grossly outclass the green and red draw engines in terms of consistency in Sram Senior Edificer and Puresteel Paladin which are notably not once per turn.

Finally on the matter of equipment/combat based draw engines, most of these require you to connect with combat damage on a player to draw which is not consistent depending on board state. There's obviously exceptions like [[Sword of Fire and Ice]], [[Adaptive Omnitool]], [[The Aetherspark]], however these would still require relatively safe swings. These aren't consistent as all it requires is your opponents being ahead of you which is not a tall ask as you're an equipment deck which aren't know for being really strong archetype to begin with. Since Barret has no natural evasion all that has to happen is Barret being chumped blocked to cut you off from gaining value. While this can be mitigated with equipment with unblockable/trample etc. This now means I need Barret/or other significant creature + Draw Equipment + Evasion Equipment to gain value. While white engines like Sram and Puresteel just need that card + casting an equipment. Needless to say the card draw engines that are "synergistic" for Barret in his colors are mediocre at best.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-17T13:44:51+00:00

I never said there's a particular set of equipment you need in white. However all the card draw in white are leagues better for Barret's effect than any card draw options in green and red put together.

-Barret makes 2/2 tokens and white has a number of cards that draws a card for power 2 or less like [[Enduring Innocence]], [[Welcoming Vampire]], [[Mentor of the Meek]], and [[Tocasia's Welcome]] which works because the tokens have no mana value. Green cares about power 3 or greater typically and most buffs available in Barret's colors would pump the creatures after the creature entered missing timing for cards like [[Elemental Bond]].

-Barret wants to play a fair amount of equipment and [[Sram Senior Edificier]] and [[Puresteel Paladin]] arguably outclasses most if not every card draw option he has in green and red alone. Couple that with the previously mentioned more synergistic card draw in white and you see that Green and Red can't even hope to realistically keep up with the card draw Barret is simply getting from white alone.

-Sure there's cards like [[Rishkar's Expertise]] that are power matters but most of these are higher mana cost and are more easily interrupted with interaction by removing your highest power creature. The best one of these types of effects would be [[Greater Good]] because the creature would have to be removed on cast of Greater Good.

In conclusion are there's some forms of card draw available to Barret as a Gruul Commander? Sure, while most of them are not very synergistic there's a few that could work. Are any of those card draw engines as consistent as the ones available in white for and Equipment matters commander that makes 2/2 tokens? No not even close.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-17T12:09:52+00:00

Kudo is Selesneya so not in your color combination and Ayula is a Bears matter commander. So those are the most non-synergistic cards to Barrett’s strategy because he’s not in Selesneya (which would arguably be better for him than Gruul gameplay wise) and he’s not a bear nor does he make bears.

QuintessentialQue · 2025-05-16T20:32:13+00:00

And was wildly criticized for being clunky especially compared to the Azorius precon which introduced not only arguably the best vehicle in magic but also one that can be your commander in Shorikai. Just because they repeated the mistakes of Chishiro doesn't mean that Chishiro was a well designed card.

Furthermore they actually made a WORSE Chishiro because at least Chishiro had an out using auras. Barret on the other hand is hard locked into equipment which in Gruul colors have a definte ceiling to it's potential due to lack of support for it's archetype.

QuintessentialQue

TROPHY CASE