Enforcer is powerful. If you need proof of this, please refer to the following Haizor graph, where our Enforcer friend (pink line) destroys the other relevant katanas:
It obviously cannot be argued that it’s not extremely powerful, so the argument then turns to whether or not such power is justified. Dropping from Oryx’s Sanctuary, the Enforcer certainly deserves to be powerful, so it should obviously outclass other katanas in general with the exception of others on the same power level (those that drop from endgame dungeons/event bosses), which should at least be relevant for certain scenarios.
From event bosses, we have the… Ray Katana. Generally considered bad by players due to its lack of dps (see graph; yellow line), Ray Katana has two advantages over Enforcer: 0.24 tiles of extra range and the ability to pierce. The former is practically useless, but the latter comes in handy when you’re hitting a dense pile of enemies. Good for early/midgame content, not good for endgame. Ray could potentially be a swapout for an Enforcer, but nothing more than that.
A better piercing option than Ray would be a Kusanagi; the T14 katana and other Sanctuary representative has some pretty good dps (see graph; white line), and despite having 1.13 tiles less range, the ability to pierce will nevertheless be very useful when you can hit more than one enemy at once. Additionally, Kusa’s dps doesn’t drop off as quickly as Enforcer’s, so piercing becomes more relevant as enemy def increases.
Alternatively, one could take a Quartz Cutter (light blue line); with comparable dps at point-blank range as Kusanagi, this endgame dungeon ST will be taking the role of extreme crowd control for our top katanas due to its triple shot pattern, and will best be used in situations where you have a large pile of enemies to clear at once. Again, this situation is more likely to occur in early/midgame situations (especially since its dps drops off very quickly as def increases), but if you frequently come across these scenarios, Quartz will be your go-to.
Though not really an endgame white bag, Celestial (purple line) is kind of like Enforcer’s younger sibling who wants to be just like their big brother when they grow up; with generally a little less dps than the latter, it also has decent range (though slightly less), it also doesn’t pierce and you have to be careful to land all your shots (somewhat like Enforcer). Celestial fills the same role as Enforcer, just not as well. But Enforcer outclassing it slightly in every regard is fine, because Celestial drops from LoD, which isn’t anywhere close to Sanctuary in terms of difficulty.
There are no other endgame katanas to compare to Enforcer; the others on the graph are generally decent for their respective uses, but none come close to outclassing Enforcer, Kusanagi and Quartz in any practical regard, and none of them drop from crazy-hard dungeons as it is. Comparing these three, we see that Enforcer will be the go-to for endgame content where enemies are generally far enough apart that piercing doesn’t matter, while Kusanagi will be the go-to for when you do have to hit multiple enemies at once and Quartz exists for if you sometimes have to do crowd control.
In summary, for a Sanctuary white, I’d say that Enforcer isn’t so incredibly overpowered; obviously it’s the best go-to katana for attacking a single enemy, but there are others in its power level that will certainly be usable. I think the main issue with the comparisons here is that Ray Katana just isn’t all that great compared to others, and some rebalancing for it would help make Enforcer seem less overpowered. Thus, I would say that Enforcer’s power is justified, and isn’t excessive once you consider where it drops from.
I will add that I remember when Doku was a straight-up upgrade to tiered katanas, but I don’t think that comparison applies in this case; Doku pierced just like tiered katanas, had more range and dps, and the only downside compared to Masamune was the weird shot pattern (some even considered this a point in Doku’s favor). Meanwhile, Enforcer can’t pierce and its dps drops off relatively quickly as def increases, to the point where a measly LoD item (one which again, fills much the same niche as Enforcer) beats it out starting at 57 def. Other katanas, namely the tiered ones, are still applicable.
This looks so much like a braindead solution, but I’m interested in the mp one, cause it’ll bring up an interesting question: Do I keep my weapon damage up or do I need the ability?