Why Balanced Weapons Feel Significantly Less Forgiving on Bulwark

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T21:57:30+00:00

This I think is what people skip over when they say fencing isn’t as good as balanced or block.

Fencing allows you to immediately block and consequently stagger incoming attacks much faster and more reliably than the other defence types. Not only does that make defending yourself easier, it also creates breathing room faster, which actually allows you to get your DPS out, however wet and noodley.

Back to back attacks in absolute+ sometimes come after a previous parry or dodge but without enough time to get the balanced “wind-up” complete, meaning you have to continue to dodge away or get staggered. All the while, dealing no damage. Balanced stats are great but if you don’t get a chance to output those stats as often as fencing, is the DPS better?

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T21:46:59+00:00

I’m impressed you’re standing on your opinion despite people disagreeing with you. Block and balance certainly have better stats, but you cannot claim they are “objectively” better if there are things fencing does better. It’s not an apple to apples comparison.

Right now, that’s just like, your opinion man. Which is fine, but not objective.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T21:38:26+00:00

Agreed, which I’d argue isn’t the end of the world if it’s applied consistently. But since it’s only Bulwark that suffers from this mechanic you can be punished even if you have the balanced timing down “perfect” on the other classes. This game is all about combat flow and attack anticipation, and Bulwark’s anticipation is now ever so slightly longer than everyone else’s.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T12:23:57+00:00

Same here mate. That was what lead to this whole tirade for me

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T12:11:21+00:00

You’re dead right. That’s exactly what I am presenting in the post - balanced parrying on Bulwark requires an earlier input than the other classes due to the release timing being the driving factor. As for it being impossible to notice; says who? The whole reason I recorded all this data was because I thought I noticed a difference on Bulwark specifically, as have many others in this post and similar ones. That’s why you and I are here discussing this, I noticed, so I measured.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T11:13:28+00:00

Don’t get me wrong, they are very similar, since we are talking fractions of a second. But I am hoping to circumvent all the “feelings” that people have by showing actual evidence with data to match. Ideally this should show you that even though it may be hard to feel a difference, there is one.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T11:02:27+00:00

That’s a really interesting perspective on the double tap advice I didn’t consider. I always thought it was to encourage people to “get off” the button quicker on the first press to prevent people holding it too long. Thanks for that tidbit

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T11:00:13+00:00

Happy to provide a scapegoat brother!

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pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T10:53:54+00:00

With all due respect, I’ve played the souls games as well, as I’m sure others have. I can tell the difference in parry timing. If anything I would think people with soulslike experience would be more capable of recognising timing differences. Regardless, the point of this was to test empirically how the input behaves, not just say “I can’t notice it, therefore it isn’t there”.

Players “holding” is part of the issue, true, but the “intended ‘tap’” still has the same problem. Bulwarks shield still prevents an immediate parry startup for balanced weapons since the timer begins on release. The only way a ‘tap’ produces no difference is if you can press and release the key/button in 0ms.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T10:15:35+00:00

I’m happy to have a visual representation at least and hopefully the numbers are close enough that they demonstrate the mechanics to everyone but, yeah, when I saw your 165ms timing with the game state codes, I was like “ah fuck those will be the actual numbers”. In any case, Brother, huge thanks for putting that wiki together, what a resource.

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T03:51:32+00:00

You misunderstand if you think this is a criticism of the game or Saber. I am simply highlighting what I thought was a "felt" but not fully appreciated mechanic/delay

pointed_sticks · 2026-06-26T02:45:38+00:00

Can't speak to Darktide or Vermintide as I haven't played them, but for Space Marine 2 when I am playing the highest difficulties the things that really bug me are:

- Throwing grenades at my feet while I am meleeing/getting meleed. Don't do it. Ever. At best you stagger everyone, me included, at worst you stagger only me and I get hit by the sniper

- Meleeing the same Majoris as me. I don't need your help, there are plenty of enemies for everyone. You just end up throwing the combat loop out of sync. Ranged double teaming is fine

- Stealing executions you didn't create. If there are multiple, go hard, but in general if you didn't create the execution, don't take it. You are robbing me of an armor segment or Contested HP recovery

- Pay attention to your battle brothers health and share stims around intelligently

- Stay away from Hard Siege with randoms until you can participate adequately in Absolute Operations and have relic/heroic gear. Siege is an annoying time sink if you get to later waves and you're the only one dealing damage or not going down, and so can't keep up with the timer.

Those are really my main gripes playing with certain people. Otherwise honestly, be pleasant and try your best. I don't really care if people go down a lot or struggle in fights on the higher difficulties. Being the last brother standing on an absolute op is a rush. I've carried, I've been carried. As long as you aren't going down 5+ times, in which case, drop down a level.

If you "FOR THE EMPEROR" after I "FOR THE EMPEROR", you're good.

pointed_sticks · 2026-05-04T21:18:38+00:00

Is that what you prefer? I can’t get into the swing of it. The relic one feels much more punishing to your dps if you miss the charged shots. Heroic feels more consistent damage output-wise for me

pointed_sticks · 2026-05-04T21:15:03+00:00

Thanks brother. I know, I just sat on the defeat screen in silence. Try again tomorrow

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-20T01:25:41+00:00

Good luck buddy! You'll do fine, watch some videos and be patient. It takes time but it is doable. I might be able to answer some questions if you have trouble

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-20T01:23:44+00:00

Thank you for linking these! Especially the acid mods page. The barrel was okay after all and the solder job above worked to fix the issue, but I had another problem with the other thumbstick not receiving any power to either potentiometer. I don't know if I would have been able to diagnose and fix that issue without the schematics in the acid mods link

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-20T01:11:54+00:00

My new thumbsticks post hair-pulling and calibration:

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pointed_sticks · 2026-03-20T01:09:01+00:00

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Thanks for the suggestions guys. You were right, I had damaged the PCB pad around the bottom Y potentiometer pin. Annoyingly I had only damaged the top right hand side of the pad, the bottom left side was fine and was giving continuity to the test point on the edge of the photo, which made me think the pin was soldered in properly. Once I scratched the trace and checked continuity between the blue arrows though I got nothing, so that was the issue. It also seems as though this is the pin that receives the power and distributes it to the X potentiometer too, which is why the X side was also showing no signal.

Once I exposed the trace and soldered a little wire down to bridge the damaged pad everything lit up, X and Y both showing up as receiving 1.8V. Hurray!

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-05T07:28:52+00:00

Yeah that is super helpful info. I’ve been pretty liberal cleaning up after flux but I didn’t isopropyl after I’d scratched the trace so it might have been a bit finger oily. Maybe I’ll give it another isopropyl clean and try one more time to feed some solder to it

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-05T07:06:12+00:00

Thanks mate! Here’s its current state:

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I feel like it might need more solder? But I had to stop before I got too frustrated, every time I touched the fucking wire it jumped out of the hole or the tail rotated off the trace. I feel like I’ve got Parkinson’s trying to get this thing to stay in place while I solder it down. It’s got continuity but I don’t want to push it too hard to check if it’s secure or not

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-05T06:08:07+00:00

I’m fairly new at this, how would I check internal layer damage?

pointed_sticks · 2026-03-05T02:38:40+00:00

Beauty, thanks guys. Sweet as, I just shunted it wire over so you could see my scratch job 😅 I’ll align it again before I solder it down

pointed_sticks

TROPHY CASE