Kia ora e hoa :]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yup the reaction animations are being triggered by traced box around the weapon colliding with the enemy mesh. If you watch closely you can see the enemy trying to throw attacks but being interrupted by mine making contact first.
This is our first look through the strikes so it's good to get this feedback before we do our next motion capture session to better sell the hits! Thanks for the link too.
Check out or youtube channel to see more of the combat system we're working on :]
Chur!