The current strongest Rapier (that is not out yet) is Solmiki Rapier with 419 - 419 physical damage, isnt it still a bit small for end game and early r9 gameplay? with ridiculous transcending bonuses almost every other weapon will eventually out damage a rapier, and instead of Epee stance being an Edge for fencers it would eventually be a means to keep up to other classes’ damage? I’m not saying Fencers are weak, all I’m saying is with the tremendous spike with r8, the spike with r9 would be even more severe, im not asking to buff rapiers directly but rather to balance and scale them out a little bit.
One way is to maybe remake the Aggression attribute? instead of favoring a dagger over a shield, what if instead it favors no side weapon at all? in return, it instead provides decent bonuses like 20% missile and magic evasion or doubling rapier physical damage, or even more so make it so that you are ignoring 30% of the target’s critical resistance when you have no side weapon equipped?