Dead State Design Update

Yet another design update has reached the official Dead State forums, and this time DoubleBear’s Brian Mitsoda reveals the addition of a weapon suited for zombie-killing: the pitchfork.

Polearms are best used to strike and move, keeping space between you and your opponent. The better ones can be used to trip or knockback opponents, while causing additional bleeding damage. Piercing damage is especially useful since most armors do not protect against it. While piercing isn’t terribly useful for zombies, playing a knockdown or distance game can give polearm users the option of either fighting defensively or giving themselves a head start when making a break for it.

Let’s look at the pitchfork.

Hands: 2 (AP cost for switching weapons)
Range: 2 (Attack from a distance)
Type: Piercing (Good against humans/armor)
Stat Chance: Knockback 10%, Knockdown 25%, Bleeding 10%
Noise: 5 (Quiet weapon)
Strength: 4 (Average strength required to wield)
ZDamage: 50% (Not very good against undead)
Critical Hit Chance: 5% (Minor chance for criticals)
Critical Multiplier: 3.25 (Good critical multiplier)
Weight: 4 (Not heavy)
Break: 0 (Weapon will not break)

Basic Attack The default attack
AP Cost: 5 (Decent attack speed)
Damage: 15-40 (Good damage, especially if causing bleeding)

Trip An attack that sends enemies to the ground
AP Cost: 6 (Slower)
Damage: 5-15 (Minor damage)
Modifier: Knockdown 75%

Pin An attack that holds an enemy in place
AP Cost: 7 (Slow)
Damage: 15-40
Modifier: Accuracy -50%, Hold (x2 rounds, if successful)

From the above stats you can gather that the pitchfork’s normal attack is pretty nice, especially if it scores a critical or your opponent is lightly armored. Its secondary attacks are great for teamwork use knockdown to help keep enemies off friends, and use pin to hold melee attackers or zombies in place while allies finish them off. The pitchfork’s not the highest level of polearm (for those you’re going to have to do some major exploration) but it’s a good weapon to have equipped when you’ve got melee attackers moving on you.