Succession Musa: where is it at Right now.

This list of opinions was put together by a list of formidable and known Succession Musa Mains within the community of NA. We fully understand our class, and how to balance it. We do not want our class to become overpowered or changed in any manor that is overwhelmingly conflicted with how the class currently plays.

Currently the class operates as a B tier class and its main function is a flanker or flex style class in group PvP.  The current main challenge for the class is that its stamina consumption is too harsh making the class weak. Another Key issue we discussed during our Succession Musa Conference was that the class has 2 Protected Crowd Controls and 1 of them is a knockback meaning its really hard to combo off the Crowd Control in an effective way. Succession Musa has an issue where their crowd controls are mostly unprotected. Atleast the ones that matter are unprotected.

So the real question is. How do we improve the class without making it absurdly broken. Despite being extremely hyper biased towards our class we definitely dont want it to be Berserker or Drakania levels of broken so we took alot of caution with what we suggested would be good buffs and adjustments for the class. We came across a few options and  and created some feed back for Pearl Abyss we would really like them to take into consideration. Also we looked at their upcoming buffs and spoke on them as well and discussed Succession Musa with a grab.

So the 7 abiltiies that we looked at for changes that would take Succession Musa to the moon and back are really simple. The abiltiies we looked at were Prime: Carver, Prime: Divider, Grapple Arrow, Prime: Fiery Angel, Prime: Cyclone Slash, Prime: Crust Crusher, Blind Thrust.

Firstly, we determined that Prime Carver would be best as an Super Armor. We find that its our best engage and it is by far our best and most used unsafe catch that just works. We often get caught in this ability because its unprotected. One of the key features of Carver is that it has a -20 DP debuff. Its really a 50/50 on how useful that debuff is because divider also has a -20 DP debuff.

Prime: Divider- This ability is on Global Labs looking to get some love. Which is very nice. However the changes are really not that great even though are intended to be buffs. Pearl Abyss has a really bad habit of Giving and Taking when touching Succession Musa's kit.

The change is that the want to add a forward guard and take away the float. This like we said is very give and take and a bad way to balance the class. 

 "This is only PvE buff, it is only good if they shorten the animation like absolute divider" -ForestHunter

Most succ musa player prefer absolute divider over prime. So reverting the animation,adding the FG and removing float would be an okay idea. The best way to balance this skill would be to make the first 2 hits forward guarded with the the " Extra Hits" part having the float and not being forward guarded. The abiltiity should be that you press E and perform the 2 hits of the animation that are forward guarded and tapping E after the second hit would do the extra hits animation, dropping the the forward guard and then doing a float on the target.

This type of balance is good. You provided a Forward guard, which the class really needs, and and you still get a Crowd Control thats unprotected. losing a Crowd Control is a huge nerf for any class not to mention a class that has far and few crowd controls and even fewer protected crowd controls.

Arrow Grapple: The ability is straight forward you press space after a few select abilties. and you move forward doing a slash at the end and stunning a target. its unprotected and takes alot of stamina which is not very good. This ability could be changed to a Prime ability and given an Iframe during the movement animation and it would be a 10/10 ability. We decided that it should also lose its damage and stun if this were to happen as Iframe crowd controls should never exist in a game because its unfair

Prime: Fiery Angel (Flame Rush)-  This ability is a Succession Musa's Secondary movement skill which is a dash. Its Super Armor doesnt take stamina and takes WP (Will Power/Mana). Its one of our cross abilties from Awakening Musa, except, awakening Musa Fiery Angel does not pause the stamina regeneration when they use theirs. This is completely unfair from a balance perspective. Look at Succession Berserker they can use Lava Piercer and be twice as mobile as my class, which Musa and Maewhas class identity are the Agile Duelists whoms mobility is supposed to be unmatched, and Zerker just runs past us on all fours. Very humiliating that Berserker has infinite Movement thats 90% protected by Super armour and Forward Guard but Succession Musa cant have a measely little stamina regeneration lock taken off.

The next ability we spoke about that would make for a good protected Crowd Control is Prime: Cyclone Slash, not much to say about it, its just useful crowd control that would be nice if we could have it protected.

One of the other topics that poke its head in during our discussion was the fact Prime: Crust Crusher has either been in a state that makes it too strong, or completely useless. Currently its in a useless state where its unprotected cant be used in a combo and only gets us killed. not good in PvE either.. We even thought it may even be better if our prime skill was a different  awakening ability like Below The Belt or Dash Slash.

The last but not forgotten ability we spoke on was Blind Thrust. We though Prime Blind Thrust would sure be nice to have so we can safely get our crit buffs during a combo. But that is definitely a reach on what Pearl Abyss would allow.

So we compiled all these ideas and came to the conclusion that if Musa has these 7 abilities changed he would become a S+ tier class. We dont want that. We would rather that we take 2-3 of the changes and pretty much scrap the other or save them for a later point when the game balance may need them.

As for the big question that alot of people were talking about this last week. Does my class need a grab. For succession Musa. Thats would be a hard pass. We all agreed that Musa with a dash and a Grab is a very dumb idea... Like really dumb. As much as we would like to Smash Right Mouse Button up to another player and Press E throwing them to the ground and dumping the tempest on them, we would kindly ask that Pearl Abyss not give us a grab. We know for a fact that if we get a grab, we lose the safety of our dash, which is our classes core identity. The classes core identity means so much more to us than anything. We would rather be a grabless class in a game where every class has one, as long as we keep our identity as the Samurai class that moves like the wind, and strikes like a hurricane. So please. Dont ruin our class by giving us a grab, and do not ruin our class by breaking our metaphorical ankles (Chase).

Another subject that came into the group was State of Grabs in the game. We came to the conclusion that we detested the idea that classes with extreme mobility like Succession Berzerker and Awakening Drakania should have grabs because they have such a large amount of speed and movement in their kit. We also speculated that Lahn fits into that category as well but it works for her class because she needs to more or less land before she can grab you. Succession Berzerker wouldnt be as bad if they had stamina problems like the rest of the other classes but it is definitely an issue. A class with infinite mobility and large slow debuffs and grabs is a lot of power put into one class. One other point we made is that classes that are able to sit in a guard stance that have Super Armor and Forward Guard should not be able to use a grapple directly out of their block, because it offers no counter play or Risk Vs Reward. The counter play is that your hit the lottery on resistance and dont get grappled. We feel that the only class that should be allowed to grapple out of Guard Stance with an Super armor Forward Guard is Succession Nova. We also agreed that no class should have more than one grapple. So classes with pre-awakening grapples should have them locked if they have one in  awakening. in example, A awakening striker should only have 1 graple in Awakening, when chosing the awakening spec, they should lose access to mainhand graple. The fix to this would be making succession class have Prime ( Grapple Ability) So awakening cant use pre awakening for graples and is forced to use an awakening one. On another note, Classes that have graples should only have ONE graple, and not two or three. (looking at zerker once again, because its the strongest and most overtuned class in the game unironically when compared to other classess kits.)

The last topic that graced our discussion was the Reworking of  some mainhand skills.

Firstly, why do we have 4 kicks. Remove blunt kick and sweeping kick.

Secondly Lunar Slash and Dragon Claw are really cool skills. Can we get upgrades to these abilties as prime Abilties? We would like them to be more utility focused and the option to use them as flow abiltiies OR hot bar abilties , So seperately from Dragon bite.

Last thing we spoke about that was really cope and would probably never happen ever, just because Pearl Abyss is not a fan of making older classes better except for  Warrior, Witch, Wizard, and ranger, is a rework to 100% BSR on Musa main hand. We beleive that it should get a rework because it is by far the absolute worst part of Musa as a whole, is that the 100% is absurdly useless. It only causes death, and not in a good way. The Musa that casts 100% Dragons Bite usually dies during the 100% or shortly after. See we think that if you complain about something without a solution that makes you a for lack of a better word, a Yapper. So we have created a solution for the complaint. Rising Storm becomes the 100% Black Spirit Rage ability, and we make a new 200% BSR. We thought long and hard about what a new 200% BSR should be and we determined that it should be blooming. 200% Blooming should be a channel ability that that starts as Super Armor and Forward Guard during the channel time of 1 to 1.5 seconds. After this the Musa slashes upwards blooming a hurricane. This animation should stun players, after the hurricane is created the Musa slashes through it in a dashing motion to the other side and destroys the hurricane and those who were stuck in it, causing them to get Knocked down. The ability should hit like a truck. with that being said, the ability should have preptime as in it needs to charge up before the ability casts unleashing devastation. Because it is a 200% it should be impactful. the ability should work as stated:

Cast blooming 200% ->  The Musa Sheaths his blade momentarily ( during this animation the Musa Becomes forward guarded  and Super Armored) -> Charging phase of the 200% (The musa needs to survive charging the cast while maintaining the forward guard and Super Armor state for 1.75 seconds OR 1 second if the musa has Serene Mind on buff tray) -> Abiltiy release ( The Musa strikes upwards Diagonally, the slashing animation should look like ink animation, like the original blooming, this creates the blooming effect like in Prime blooming, the ability should be the same length as normal blooming but much larger on width and emphasize the concept that the Musa has struck with such force he created a hurricane of sorts in front of him, the follow up of this would be that he does a dash through the storm slashing through the hurricane to the other side dispelling it causeing all caught in it from the stun to get knocked down.) 

The ability should focus on 3 stages of the a Storm. The calm before the storm (Channeling), The Hurricane ( Blooming first strike  creating the hurricane and its devastation), Clear Skies that come after the storm ( Dashing and slashing through the hurricane and those stuck in it dispelling the hurricane)

The ability could be very unique and has a very big focus on what Musa main hand is, which is a Samurai who is a master of the tempest. A combination of Musashi Miyamoto and The Japanese Shinto God Susano. 

Thanks for coming to my TED talk, there is alot of Copium here at the end. I just know that Succession Musa can be so much more, and I have a great love for my class. 90% of those that play Succession Musa love the class concept and Aesthetic of the Bladesman of The Wind. If you got this far thank you for reading it means alot to me.

For those who play succession Musa, please come join the community in discord! We have some very Notable Succession musa enjoyers like Forest Hunter, Ahzure, and Goldsteinburg ( yea he mains warrior but his succ musa is top notch too :D ) The Bladers Club: https://discord.gg/UCMqgB3snk

Please leave any suggestions and comments for me to read I would love to hear what Non Succession Musa Players think and other like minded mains like myself think as well. I will leave you with Wise words from the the man himself Musashi Miyamoto.

“Under the sword lifted high, There is hell making you tremble. But go ahead, And you have the land of bliss.”

“Step by step walk the thousand-mile road. Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men.”

― Miyamoto Musashi, The Book of Five Rings.