[sadbot]

Nobody has quite hit the nail on the head with my feelings for these abominations as they are now, so I figure it’s about time I weigh in on things considering I’ve used the things on and off since day one (and am apparently known for such???).

Hayabusa set has always been a powerhouse that‘s held back by their hit, as has always been the way with daggers even before gr2. The major turning point for them wasn’t mundane (though that was one of several indirect buffs) but the scaling change to guile along with throwing daggers. This turned their damage potential up to 11 along with their easy butt stabs that the on hit teleport brings, while making it very difficult to play the range game with them in any capacity due to their now 7 range (melee weapon btw). Mundane was just a cherry on top in terms of damage, allowing the combination of massive damage and inescapable range plus teleport to turn them into a big number blender. Non evade builds will almost universally find themselves face down looking at certain defeat by their 2nd or even 1st turn, half of which has already been stolen by cutthroat’s knockdown. Oh, you're a doom wall with the beef to take it for a few turns, or a magic user with some big numbers or utility to fight back? Throw those guaranteed (why?????) silence and burn inflictions on top, and any fleeting chance of survival you had just evaporated.

My personal take on balancing them out a bit is tackling these 3 major issues:

1. Too much damage
   
2. Too much range
   
3. Guaranteed silence and burn (seriously why???)
   

I think the damage issue should be tackled on rogue and VA’s side, as the only thing hayabusa has on other daggers is easy butt stabs and burns and the extra damage that brings. With guile scaling being the standard for daggers now, giving an already big crit focused weapon type things like +25% extra crit damage pushes them too far.

The range issue can be solved by removing the bonus range of the set, or swapping it out for some form of throwing daggers synergy without leaving them at 7 range. It’s simply too much for a melee weapon that wants to butt stab people for this much damage.

The guaranteed silence and burn should be changed for some other on hits, or at the very least made infliction based as these builds don’t tend to have both will and skill for crazy inflict chance. Even then, they should probably maintain the immunity that’s tacked on afterwards as even an infliction based on hit silence + burn is still super powerful. Like seriously for real who thought no inflict check burn and silence on hit was ok.

To summarise, this would leave the set with less damage in some form or fashion, 4 range without the set bonus + throwing daggers while keeping the teleport, and the burn and silence removed for something else or at the very least made infliction based. I think these changes will allow the set to keep its quite interesting unique and powerful identity, while removing their new identity as a damage blender that leaves most face down in the dirt and clinging to life before their first turn. They should maintain a strong match up vs tanks but ‘just build evade’ with the alternative being instantaneous death is not really okay.

I still have ptsd from Filia.

Edit - I forgor that they also get muddle, so between fire/water, pierce or slash with special attack they also get to completely ignore all attempts to resist their damage type to mess up their triple action momentum. Niche enough that it’s not really a major problem, but certainly a cherry on top of this blender.