Best approach for customizable character sprite

I've run through the 4.3 2D tutorial and everything makes perfect sense from a technical perspective but I am still a bit lost as to the best approach for 2D animation : sprite sheets with individual keyframes, or using animation curves and individual sprites for body parts, or a combination of both.

Use case: Main character and enemy characters that need to equip different sets of armor/weapons and have different animations per weapon.

It seems like almost an equal amount of work for each approach, I can't simply reuse one attack animation with animation curves because a whip attack looks different than a sword attack, otherwise it would be as simple as replacing the weapon sprite(this was my original plan before I thought it through). This means I need to effectively make a separate animation for each type of weapon regardless of approach.

Keeping in mind I am a poor artist I am leaning towards the tutorial approach of repositioning body parts in the animation editor to create my animations, but almost every other tutorial I find on the 2D system utilizes spritesheets with keyframes so wondering if this will bite me later.

 

You are correct, the amount of work is pretty much the same. Nothing in animation is quick or simple.

Ultimately, the direction will really depend on art style/direction. Puppet rigged characters have several advantages, they are very small, flexible and you can share rigs (depending on setup). But they also have a very specific look.

If you don't want them too look like they are "puppets" you can combine the two approaches. For example in Marvel Avengers Alliance (see sig), we use a combination approach. Since they are intended to look like comic art, we use the puppet rigs minimally and only where we can, and still keep the look.

I generally prefer the puppet rig approach, it is inexpensive (in resources), and very flexible. So I design my characters around that style.

 

The flexibility of it and spending less time in illustrator is what appeals to me. I'll play around with the hybrid approach and see if I can come up with something acceptable for a isometric view 2D character. Thanks for the feedback, great to know it is a feasible approach for something more complex.