TL;DR: Make landed attacks cause a brief animation that also interrupts an opponent's windup, swing, or failed block (but not movement). Defending would become necessary to defend follow-up attacks.

This is something I know will improve combat greatly if it is implemented. The purpose is to reward those with a good sense of timing and to make combos more relevant. Those with longer weapons can keep others at range with this. Short weapon users can execute a good combo if their can push in after a bad swing by the enemy. Currently as of 5/1/2020, combat goes like this.


P1: Charge swing.
P2: Kite away.
P1: Miss swing.
P2: Charges weapon, trying to punish missed swing.
P1 Charges too.

Outcome: P2 hit P1, first, but his outplay goes unrewarded because in the current system, you can spam in certain situations. Perhaps P1 is playing less skillfully because of his gear; he knows he can out-trade P2. The following is my idea of combat:


P1: Charge swing.
P2: Charge swing.
P1: Whiffs his swing.
P2: Hits once.
P1: Charge is interrupted, he tries to swing again to spam.
P2: Follows up with second attack in combo, hits P1.
P1: Realizes he must defend, decides to kite and dodges the third attack.

Outcome: Regardless of equipment, each player's chance of winning is now more reliant on their skill and timing.