1.16 Sword DPS equivalent to DPS of spear made of metal 2 tiers lower.

[SaltySpecula]

The 1.16 update altered the sword attack animations to a much slower, but more realistic attack swing. The sword swing animation is now longer than a spear's thrust animation. The problem is, the damage of the sword was not buffed to offset this attack speed decrease.

As it stands now, a Steel Longsword (Attack Power -4.3hp, attack range 2.5m) is now doing less damage per second and has less attack range than a Black Bronze Spear (Attack Power -4hp, attack range 3.5m) due to these changes. This is not taking into account a spear's throw damage either.

As both swords and spears can be used with a shield without penalty, this change renders swords completely obsolete as a weapon type. It also makes combat against anything tougher than a Deep Drifter, even in full Steel Plate Armor with a Steel Longsword a risky proposition in 1v1. Against 2 or more Nightmare Drifters, this renders combat a near suicidal proposition, especially as both shield and torch/lantern cannot be equipped in the offhand simultaneously.

If you intend to keep these changes to sword attacks, please increase the damage of all swords by at least 50%. If not, please remove swords from the game entirely as they currently serve no purpose.

Edited January 18, 2022 by SaltySpecula

[Aledark]

I agree with your observations.

Should change it from a pure damage to like a DPS stats in vanilla and boost swords.

Currently, i feel a bronze spear and or steel axe is superior to a steel sword in matter of DPS as your attack lands over multiple hits.

[Streetwind]

There's already a release candidate available where swords have a faster swing speed.

Also, this is not a bug. This is a feature in the process of being tuned. Please don't submit bug reports for things that are not bugs.