Stun batons generally still hold that benefit even though it doesn't render you helpless since what it DOES do is put you at a fairly considerable disadvantage, such as disarming you of weapons and making it near impossible to run without stimulants. Weapons like the esword get seen as very powerful because of the numbers and the price tag and the intimidation factor, but in practice often the weapon doesn't really perform much better than things like the stun baton in the same situation, and often does far worse. Primarily because it's subject to things like armor (stun baton does not care about armor), it isn't able to inflict disabling effects without considerable RNG, it doesn't kill people terribly quickly, and it doesn't force someone to engage with the combatant at all since it can't disable people reliably or quickly. People can find ways to get around the esword and work towards combating. We've largely been very resistant adding means of protecting against the stun baton. Pump Up is kind of a joke, as an example, since the knockdown isn't what ultimately kills you, it's the slowdown from the stun baton and the knockdown having likely disarmed you.
What I want to know is whether this is because since stun batons are something of a crux onto which much of the game's fighting system is based on (most combat chems are based around combating this weapon after all), is it simply smothering other alternatives or is the weapon the basis for what other weapons probably should be doing, or are its effects too much? Should other weapons and abilities be brought in line with the stun baton?
What I want to also talk about is how much the stun baton is built around being that melee powerhouse because it hits all the right marks for being so. It forces people to remain engaged upon (IE they can't run 65 stamina harm deep unless they're popping adrenals or are a ling), it causes people to drop weapons and items, and it is only another hit before the victim needs to go down for a good amount of time.
This is compared to the esword, where one hit doesn't even slow people, and it takes about 4 before the victim enters critical. In this time, usually if the person is able, and most everyone CAN because things like shove are very powerful defense mechanics, they can fight back. Oddly, this makes eswords more akin to sidearms or execution weapons rather than what you actually use to kill someone. What you would really be using is something LIKE the stun baton. OR, at the very least, something to keep the victim of your attack near you to keep hitting them.
This is why martial arts also rely so much on stuns. The combo system actually just doesn't work unless you can keep someone standing still, and hilariously, this means that removing the stuns from martial arts renders them pretty nonfunctional. One of the few weapons that ISN'T terrible as a melee weapon is actually the captain's saber, and that's because its huge armor penetration makes it able to reliably dismember limbs, which makes it fantastic for disabling people and finishing them off while protecting the user with the block chance to some degree.
Melee is reliant on sticking power and how easily you can keep someone close to you. Stun batons do this the best. Most everything else does this dreadfully.