Bladedancer Talon

The Bladedancer Talon is a transformed fist variant that the player obtains upon equipping all three Bladedancer Gear pieces. It allows the player to apply a Photonic Shift marker onto nearby enemies and cast an attack called the "Talon Shift" which teleports the Bladedancer and attacks a single target three times.
== Unique Abilities ==
Bladedancer Talons alter two of the standard fist attack patterns: The lunge attack, and the heavy attack. On top of this, the lunge attack is changed again whenever Bladedancer Talons are used on an enemy with an active Photonic Shift Marker.
Instead of the standard shoulder bash attack pattern when initiating a lunge, Bladedancer Talons are used in a rising cross attack similar to the lunge attack found on the Photon Blades. This is done so that the lunge attack can take full advantage of the increased penetration and damage granted by the XZ2 Photonic Blades. However, because the lunge attack is utilizing the blades, this attack will still apply a photonic shift marker to enemies that are hit.
The heavy fist attack is replaced with a unique area-of-effect shockwave attack which applies a photonic shift marker and shortly applies the Electrified status effect to combatants within range, slowing them and disabling their jump. The Electrified status effect lasts for roughly 7 seconds, but the Photonic Shift Marker will persist for 30 seconds. This attack does not put players in combat. The shockwave ignores walls, and only cares about the distance between the Bladedancer and the combatant. Whenever this attack successfully hits any enemy, the Bladedancer will instantly regain their entire stamina bar. Additionally, the players that were hit will instantly lose 20 stamina.
When using the Bladedancer Talon's lunge attack against an enemy that has an active photonic shift marker, the attack pattern is changed again. The Bladedancer still prepares a rising cross attack as normal, but will now instantly teleport to the location of the marked enemy and hit them in the head three times in a row. To teleport, you must have direct line of sight to the enemy and must not be outside of shift range. The name for this attack is the talon shift, but it may also be grouped generally with the blade dance under the umbrella of photonic shift attacks. Unlike the blade dance, the talon shift does not consume the photonic shift marker on enemies, meaning that it can be used repeatedly.
==Tips on Usage==
Bladedancer Talons can be used to save melee durability or more importantly, ammunition, during long-lasting raids like Access Denied. However, if the melee weapon used is specifically Photon Blades, this becomes unnecessary as Bladedancer Gear already grants the melee increased durability.
The Bladedancer Talons' heavy attack can be used to quickly regain stamina in a fight, but be warned that any teammates hit by the shockwave will become valid targets for photonic shift attacks.
Because the talon shift causes a bladedancer to teleport three times in a row in rapid succession and does not consume the photonic shift marker placed on an enemy, this attack can be used to effectively chase running opponets while dealing chip damage. If they continue to run away, they can simply be spammed by this attack until death.
==Update History==
*December 1, 2024 (Frosted Frights) - Released for Early Access
==Bugs==
*The teleport ability when using the Talon's lunge with someone marked can rarely make you clip beneath the ground, which ends in the death of the user due to falling into the void. This can currently happen whenever a photonic shift ability is used against a downed opponent.
==Trivia==
*Although the other transformed fist variants (Operator, Commander) are classified as blunt weapons, Bladedancer Talons alone are considered to be sharp weapons.
*The photonic shift markers applied by Bladedancer Talons are not player unique, meaning that any bladedancer can take advantage of them. 
*The XZ2 Photonic Blades attached to the end of a bladedancer's fists technically have infinite durability, even though they are melee weapons.