So? They can still batter it into nothing in two to three rounds using their own sword, which is also how long it takes to start the resolve tests. I mean, Singing Mist Blade is a good idea and synergistic, but its specific weakness is that it has nothing to protect against or neutralize the opposing flying sword.
And 15m is not a very big AoE. Our melee range is 10m. In fights movement techs regularly take people 80m+ in a single round. It should be possible to intercept the blade outside proper AoE range, depending on the circumstances of the fight. Again, that doesn't make it bad, but those are the weaknesses.
What, no. Not only is it "take every possible worse case scenario as the truth", it also deeply misunderstand the combat system.
Singing Mist Blade is
excellent from the first turn. It gets our system rolling from the get go, does good damage and weakens enemies on top of it. It is also very powerful against opposing flying swords, and it can reliably hit enemies because
you can't block it.
Now, it is excellent from the first turn on because we have a debuff build, and as such we need to get the debuff ball rolling. Singing Mist Blade's Qi/turn loss is excellent if it manages to get to there, but logically speaking the first couple turns are the most important turns for Ling Qi as those are the turns where she is vulnerable and need to assert dominance... and this is where Singing Mist Blade shines.
Singing Mist Blade does excellent damage against other domain weapons and against opponents. While it 'only' has decent AP and decent DV compared to the other choices , those are
excellent compared to actual domain weapons of non-monsters. As in, we can totally expect most nobles in green to have domain weapons roughly at the that level:
domain weapons said:
Glacial Fang
A curved blade carved from glittering blue tinted ice and inlaid with curving patterns of powdered onyx, whose touch freezes flesh and blood. Best used by cultivators who maintain a cool head in conflict. DV 9. Durability 10. Dexterity+Intelligence. Water. Deals 1 additional Cold damage on hit. 300 Red Stones
Falcon's talon
A long dagger of brilliant emerald, which strikes and flits away before the wounds it inflicts may even bleed. DV 7, Durability 10. Dexterity+Wits. Wind. Acts on user's initiative+4. 300 Red Stones
As for 15m AoE being small, this is a joke. Singing Mist Blade does not have a
range of 15m, it has a
AoE of 15m. Not only that, Ling Qi is constantly within 2/3 meters of an opponent during a fight. Arguing that our sword will never get in range of the opponent (when it probably has a significant range beside the 15m AoE) is silly.
None of those are the 'weakness' of the blade, it's a blade that excelles at blade vs blade combat. Less so than, say, Sharp note or Night's Edge, but not that much worse than the latter, as it also has its advantage of "can hit anything in the battlefield with impunity".
The problem of Night's Edge is that the fact it's not targettable if it stealths, means that we have to fight an enemy and their domain weapon at the same time first.
This is sadly not how stealth works. Once Night's Edge has attacked an opponent, it leaves stealth, and can thus be wrecked in a single turn like any of the other other domain weapon (except that most of our domain weapons actually have good dice and health so can't).
The big problem with sharp note imo is that it again relies on being around late into the fight go really do its best work. No-one is really tossing back consumables early in battles, so sharp note needs to hang around and survive long term for that part of it to matter. It will definitely do some considerable qi damage before it goes down in counters, but if someone pokes it down they can then pop pills at will.
My other big concern about the singing mist blade is how long will it last turn wise? I can't help but think back to Reshu's shield getting destroyed in one shot. The mist blade will become an obvious priority target with no real defenses, and I have to wonder if it will survive enough turns to really get the death spiral going if it is drawing attention from everything within 15 meters of it.
I don't understand why you think either sharp Note or Singing Mist Blade can be popped at will. Sharp Note is our
best domain weapon vs domain weapon choice and the one that has the most chance to survive till the end of the fight and to wreck other domain weapons.
Singing Mist Blade is inferior there, but still in the top 4 choices for that, and flatly superior to any non-monster tier domain weapon... and if we are choosing a domain weapon for fighting against the monsters, sharp note is the best by far.
How does that stop them from attacking our sword and destroying it before it really gets the debuff stacks rolling? Hitting everyone in a large area seems more likely to draw fire and get it destroyed.
Because it has too high defence for that.
Night Edge is the one with lowest defence and the one inspiring the most fear, considering that assassin type are higher one the list of 'gank' than spiritual attack with no bonus damage.
