[Autumn]

10% on hit, up to 40%, does the job just as well without entirely removing the weapon's threat and forces investment on the levels of (if not greater than) Intensify Cold, which has less counterplay than River Sword. How is that 'so convoluted'?

I think that comparing a 9m cast from 1 class to a 3m bop from 1 item is kind of a silly comparison, I would argue Intensify cold is extremely different all things considered.

I actually have a slightly different concern regarding making it 10% stacking, which is just that they might be dead before you get much benefit out of the weapon.

Seeing it that way, I can understand the concern as well, it'd take away most of the viability of the weapon and just leave it in the dirt, how about..

River Sword:
Duration and Elemental weakness remain the same (40% and 4 rounds)

Hitting an enemy with water damage will reduce the duration of the elemental weakness by 1 round per.

I think this would be worth testing, at the least.

[Trexmaster]

The point is it should require more than a 3m investment to inflict a status that will net you Weak! procs so consistently. So either docking it to be a 30% weakness or requiring multiple hits to do so balancing it out.

If it's to stay as being able to inflict Weak! procs easily, the stacking buff seems the best way to go, or consuming the buff entirely the first instance of water damage taken. I don't think having it dock 1 duration off of 4 would fix the problem at all, they'd just need to hit once every round for the same effect as before, as opposed to once for the entire fight. If nothing else I'd take that, though.

Water damage as plenty of 'counterplay' in being able to swap on the appropriate resist items, or just play a GS with the correct installs to totally negate or even absorb it if your unfortunate water-using victim didn't pre-empt that and pack a Nihilist. This doesn't mean River Sword should be able to slap on a weakness on anyone who didn't meta its existence or always runs around with 16%+ water res for 3m.

As to Dev's concern ,most people don't even use the stats River Sword scales on aside from VIT for water scaling (30% of 100% of the weapon's total scaling, the other 70 being STR) , so very often it's seen doing pitiful damage as its main boon is the status it inflicts. If someone's trying to kill you with water damage, odds are their river sword isn't going to kill you in four hits. So I don't think it'd be too far-fetched to have it be a stacking effect, and it'd require more momentum investment for the same return, putting it more on par with other methods to reduce resistances into negatives for Weak! procs ala Intensify Cold and Mercalan Mist.

[Snake]

They won't die if they're hitting for 20 damage. People who abuse the sword often build SKI/LUC only so they can land a hit on the enemy, and then WIL and VIT for their water tome, and water spells to do damage.

The gimmick completely ignores the weapon's damage, and focuses on the on-hit effect. Even going far and using Hexer for a 100% hit chance on Pilfa's Masochism.

The stacking-up won't be that bad of a problem, and the weapon's scaling and statuses in general makes it impossible for it alone to do any decent damage, even more now that basic hits don't use double the WPN Power they're supposed to do.

It's fine, Dev. Won't be an issue.

[Lolzytripd]

I think degree meant that the user of the sword would be dead

[Sarinpa1]

Decreasing the duration by one for each water attack is a step in the right direction, but I do not think it solves the issue entirely. The hitting is required a teeny tiny more than it already is in that scenario. Building for attacking and dealing damage with the sword? You're in for a bad time.

Absolutely nullifying the weakness after single hit will allow it to retain its weakness, while it will sate the "omg people get to wombo combo with water spells."complaint.
And it being argued that a single weapon slot allows such damage stacking that requires you to prepare againts an element? /Points to elemental badge for good ol' Nerhaven.

[Raigen.Convict]

I feel like requiring two hits with it before spamming is good enough. If the river sword user is faster they have to move and hit once for 20% and then let the opponent have a turn to prepare wether by kiting or evade buffs or debuffs. If slower they get struck first and the target may not even remain in range. Two is fine. Even in teamfights.