Intro
The dagger weapon for the light has always interested me. In concept, it's exceptionally powerful. It can oneshot both medium and light, and if you throw in a light melee, a heavy. However, in order to get this one shot, you have to fully charge the weapon's alternate fire and hit your opponent in the back. Both of these factors greatly contribute to the relationship with the weapon on both the user and victim.
Issues on the user end
One major issue on the user end is the overreliance on the dash specialization. While charging the weapons alternate fire, the user has a lower walk speed than a sprinting heavy, making it almost impossible to close the distance without the dash. There is a case to be made for grappling, but with its long cooldown it's much harder to be active in a fight for a long time with it. Thus it's very hard to get value from this weapon in higher elo lobbies without a dash. It's such a core specialization that any chance to the dash greatly affects the dagger more and almost any other weapon on light. If you change the recharge time, then the dagger user has to dip into and out of the fight more often to let the dashes recharge. If you nerf the distance, then the dagger user has to position in an entirely different way to reach a target. This is such a huge issue with dagger because it means that only one strategy is viable at higher levels of play, which leads people who use the dagger to feel more restricted in loadout choices.
Issues on the targets end
Although I am rarely on the other end of a competent dagger user, when I am, I do find myself frustrated from time to time. A lot of that frustration comes from both net code and ping. A face stab is a term that comes from team fortress two and it occurs when a target gets killed by a spy "back stab" while looking at the spy. This is because of a combination of when the server registers the hit, which is true for most games, and also the active frames for the dagger ( for more details, click here ) which is specific to THE FINALS. Because of both the way the net code and the way that hitboxes work, you can both be killed by a dagger light while looking directly at them. On the dagger user's end, the stab looks perfectly fine.
Loadout
The weapon is rather reliant on dash as stated before, but other than that I feel that the gadget choices are rather open. Things I look for are ways to engage and disengage as well as trying to minimise dash usage. My personal favorites to pair with the dagger are
-Gateway
This gadget makes both entry and escape much easier. It's a really nice mobility tool to move your heavy/mediums around and it has been one of lights best gadgets on light since its release
-Goo Grenade
I think this is a really underrated gadget for daggers specifically. It creates cover, blocks off entrances, helps run away from pressures,and is just overall really strong.
-Vanishing Bomb
Because this weapon is so reliant on dash as a specialization, this gives some of the utility of cloak without having to give up dash. It's super good for dashless getaways and engagements. It also provides a lot of utility for your team in the form of vanish + jumpads
-Other Synergies
Things like glitches, smokes, sonars, and the H+ infuser are also good choices, but I find them working with the dagger a little less well.
Conclusion
Despite the issues with the weapon, I think that the dagger, as of patch 10.0.0 is in a pretty low tier state. I don't think it will ever be the best light weapon, but with practice and in the right situations, it can perform well. I do, however, think the overreliance on dash as well as the very high bar of entry makes it rather hard to get into and play effectively