Does the increased recovery time affect casters when they are NOT attacking with the weapon? I find the modals a bit too extreme and this seems too good (for casters) to work with no penalty. And does it stack with Arcane veil and Displace image? What modal do you find most useful?

I personally really like the Dagger modal, parrying blade ( +10 deflection at the cost of 25% dagger damage)

 

Worked really well with my Trickster with his mirrored image, high deflection, riposte and other shenanigans like the wall of flashing steel