To this day I'm still mad that the transformed R1's don't have the blade repeatedly shoot out doing thrust damage each punch instead of it being limited to the R2 attacks. It would have made it a much better weapon as well as made more sense considering it's name and gimmick.
As it is in-game It's by no means bad but this was always a disappointing missed opportunity Imo.
Can you get charged r2 to deal more damage than a visceral? At +3 with 30 strength visceral is doing more, but maybe charged r2 could do more with more investment in the stake driver.
A visceral will do more damage than almost any single hit from any weapon, especially against late-game stuff with high defense. The charged R2 and viscerals both scale off skill & thrust/physical gems, so you'll almost always be increasing both.
you can cheese maria with the transformed mode if you parry and charge the heavy attack, not 100% fool proof as she might do a different move every time
