PATCH - Expansion Feature: Wrestling Overhaul and Discipline Aspect (2024)

Wrestling Overhaul and Discipline Aspect

Martial Manuals

Overview

Players now have access to "Martial Manuals" which are equippable scrolls that transform the player's Wrestling swings into weapon-like strikes of roughly the same speed and damage as War Forks
Martial Manuals are for all intents and purposes considered One-Handed Weapons that players can Parry with, but cannot equip Shields while wielding
Martial Manuals have the same properties as weapons, including Accuracy, Damage, Durability, and Slayer Types
Martial Manuals can be crafted (including with Colored Materials) via the Inscription Skill
Martial Manuals can also be found as magic loot versions like normal weapons
When players trigger a Weapon Special with a Martial Manual equipped, it will no longer do a Disorient effect (old wrestling effect), and instead will now randomize between Hinder, Cripple, Pierce, or Bleed effects

Skill Changes

Arms Lore and Anatomy will no longer grant their additional bonuses to Unarmed Attack Damage (this mechanic was initially added because unarmed attacks previously had a baseline of 2-8 damage, and those bonuses are no longer neccessary with Martial Manuals having a baseline of War Fork level damage)
Wrestling will now count towards "Codex" skills that determine a player's Maximum Rank for Weapon Codex Stances

Inscription

Players with the Inscription skill will receive a PvM Melee Damage bonus with Martial Manuals of (20% * (Inscription / 100))
Players with the Inscription skill will receive a PvP Melee Damage bonus with Martial Manuals of (8% * (Inscription / 100))
Damage bonuses from Inscription are treated as PvP Supplemental Melee Damage Bonuses, and follow the normal rules for damage caps in that manner (i.e. players have a max PvP bonus of +20% Melee Damage from all combined PvP Melee Supplemental Damage bonuses)

Martial Manuals in PvP

Martial Manuals can be disarmed, which will result in the player dealing standard "Unarmed" 1-2 damage during that time
Martial Manuals are not allowed in Duels and Tournaments
Damage from Martial Manuals in PvP will scale based on the player's Raw Dex stat as a % (without any adjustments for Dex bonuses or penalties from Potions, Bless, Weaken, other effects)

Examples
A player with 100 Dex will inflict 100% of normal PvP damage with Martial Manuals
A player with 50 Dex will inflict 50% of normal PvP damage with Martial Manuals
A player with 25 Dex, but temporarily at 45 Dex due to a Greater Agility Potion, will still inflict 25% of normal PvP damage (Potions and spell buffs/debuffs will not count into their Dex calculation)

Visuals and Sounds

While Martial Manuals will appear in a player's Paperdoll, they will not display in game for the player, and a player attacking while equipped with one will deliver unique unarmed animations and sound effects specific to Martial Manuals
Players using Wrestling skill without a Martial Manual will now simple do a standardized wrestling animation and the default wrestling sounds (i.e. players should be able to visually tell on screen who is using a Martial Manual and who is simply using unarmed wrestling)

Wrestling Codex

Players can now acquire a Wrestling Codex that works exclusively with Martial Manuals (provides no benefit to basic unarmed wrestling)
Similar to other Weapon Skills, changing to a Wrestling Stance costs the player 5 mana
For the first 10 seconds after a player activates a Wrestling Stance, the bonus from it is dramatically increased (this is called a "Stance Adoption" period)
Conceptually, players with a Wrestling Codex are encouraged to switch stances (costing 5 mana) every 10 seconds to maximize the bonuses they get from each stance (which will likely require the player to have some form of limited mana regeneration)

Discipline Aspect

Discipline Aspect Armor

Bonuses from wearing Discipline Aspect armor are as follows:

Weapon Special Damage Bonus
10% + 3.0% per Tier

Increases the amount of damage Weapon Specials (such as Hinder, Bleed, Pierce, Cripple) inflict

For example, a player with Discipline Tier 14 will receive a bonus of (10% + (3.0% * 14)) = +52% Weapon Special Damage

Melee Damage Bonus For 10 Sec After Using Mana
5% + 1.5% per Tier

Any time a player spends any mana, either by Casting Spells or Activating Codex Stances (which costs 5 Mana), they will now receive a Melee Damage Bonus for the next 10 seconds (does not stack multiple times)

The ideal usage of this mechanic is for players to utilize the Codex Hotbar, which has a feature allowing players to be able to toggle whether to have their Wrestling Stances auto-renew and reactivate as soon as their Wrestling Stance Adoption bonus wears off, enabling them to keep the bonus continuous so long as they have enough mana available to pay for the Wrestling Stance switch

But players also potentially be able to make some Med-Dexer concepts that alternate between casting and melee damage

Damage Resistance For 10 Sec After Using Mana
5% + 1.5% per Tier

Any time a player spends any mana, either by Casting Spells or Activating Codex Stances, they will now receive a Damage Resistance for the next 10 seconds (does not stack multiple times)

But players also potentially be able to make some Med-Dexer concepts that alternate between casting and having damage resistance

Discipline Aspect Weapon and Spellbooks
Bonuses from wearing Discipline Weapon and Spellbooks are the same as all other Aspects (these bonuses are standardized)

The Aspect Special Effect for Discipline is called Iron Will and works as follows:

Iron Will
Inflicts 500 + (50 * Tier Level) damage divided among creatures within a 4 tile radius and increases your Melee Damage, Spell Damage, and Damage Resistance by (7.5% + (0.5% * Tier Level)) for 30 seconds (can stack up to two times)

Iron Will provides a well-rounded collection of bonuses that should benefit nearly any build that is concerned about damage mitigation as well as the ability to inflict damage, either through melee attacks or spellcasting