Basically a suggestion for a different type of melee weapon.
I’m going to give some of information about how this weapon was used in it’s time, and what it looked like, since I don’t think many people have even heard of it). Also, if you just want to read my suggestion for the features of this weapon, you can skip past this history stuff till it says SUGGESTIONS. Sorry for the long post in advance.
In real life, during the early 18th century when this weapon was popular, the boarding axe was used as both a defensive and offensive weapon in naval battles. On defense, the weapon was used for cutting rope (From grapplers, etc.) and fending off boarders from the enemy ship. On the offensive, the axe good be used as a boarding weapon (Hence it’s name) in close quarters combat and was particularly useful at breaking through cabin doors, hatches and breaking probably anything wood. Attackers would also be able to climb up ships easier with this weapon and also be able to destroy the rigging of a ship.
Because of how obviously extremely useful this weapon was for its time, it was always held on the racks where the guns were. It was a seen as a almost compulsory weapon for battles at sea.
The Boarding axe is held with two hands and has a cutting blade opposed by a spike (The spike on this axe can vary in appearance). The spike would often be downward curving and mounted on a wooden shaft, mostly always with protective langets fitted into it.
SUGGESTIONS:
For my suggestions in game, I’m going to factor how in real life it was a generalised weapon used in both defence and offence.
It was obviously used with two-hands and in close quarters combat. It would have slightly larger aoe than the cut less (realistically this would make sense, but the cutlass in sea of thieves basically shares the same aoe as a close combat shotgun. So this is likely unbalanced). It would have a two swing combo, diagonal swings, which would cause a small knock back. Like how the cutlass causes a short stun. Dps would be slightly lower than a cutlass to try to keep a choice balance (For seasons I’ll get into shortly).
I don’t know how a cutlass vs boarding axe situation would go down though, as they are both melee weapons. The same with axe vs axe.
Now with the mechanic suggestions out of the way...
OFFENSIVELY this weapon would be intentionally used to provide a type of knock back support and Like how the cutlass has a sword dash (Holding RT or left click), the boarding axe would use the opposing spike to rip out the wooden planks used for REPAIRING (By holding RT or left click).
An intentional strat would be to hit your enemy ship at range, which would of course force them to repair, than board the ship with your crew and have players ripping wooden planks (*on repaired holes) out and players defending them. Ripping planks would take this amount of time it needs to to be balanced.
DEFENSIVELY you could use the knock back to hit enemies climbing your ships ladder so they have no chance of climbing back on. This situation were defending players can knockback boarders off the ladder could give them a free shot to the now more visible enemy player. If a player does get a board your ship, trying to knock them off your ship is a possible option. Though probably fairly tedious- as the boarding axe has only a two swing combo.
Thanks for reading my post, if you’ve read this far :>, and I’ve yet to think of a potential LT or right click ability ( E.g. like how the cutlass blocks).
