Swordsmanship
A melee combat Weapon Skill that yields sharp weapons that are used with a 'swinging/slicing' action.
The damage for most sword weapons is calculated predominately with a number of dice rolls (2-3 dice) where as fencing is predominately calculated with fewer dice. This gives swordsmanship a more consistent damage distribution.
Contents
Weapons
Most swordsmanship weapons can be crafted by Blacksmiths. The remaining swordsmanship weapons can be crafted by Tinkers. They can be found in the Utensils and also the Tools category of the crafting menu.
PvP
Halberds and Katanas are very common with PvP templates.
- Halberds can have their swings cycled for bonus swings. Depending on your Dexterity, after swinging your halberd you will want to quickly disarm your weapon, wait for your wrestling cycle then arm your halberd to rest your swing. Normal halberd swing cycles can be done within 3 to 4 seconds. Note, if you successfully wrestle while your halberd is disarmed, your cycle will be reset again so it is important during PvP to not stand on top of your opponent while flagged for combat.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Swordsmanship weapons can be Poisoned
- Some notable weapons are in the top-ranks for damage per hit, and some for speed
Cons
- No damage-per-second top-ranked weapons
- There is no bonus stamina drain like Mace Fighting
Weapon comparison
For the following comparisons the weapon-user has 100 Weapon Skill, 100 Stamina, 100 Tactics, 100 Anatomy and 100 Strength, and the weapons are of exceptional quality. The defender has 0 Weapon Skill and thus will be damaged every hit, furthermore the defender has no armor.
Average damage per hit
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Swordsmanship Weapons in the above tables are bold formated.
As seen in the table above, the Halberd is only beaten by the Heavy Crossbow, which in return is much slower and thus deals less than half the damage per second as the Halbert. This abilities make the Halberd that popular in PvP, where the heavy hit after a combination of spells often means death to the opponent. One-Handed weapons do significantly less damage per hit than two-handeds do, yet they allow to equip a shield in the other hand. In this category the mace weapons are slightly better than the sword weapons.
Average damage per second
| Rank | Weapon | Max Hit | Av Dmg/Hit | Av Dmg/Sec |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Short Spear (2-H) | 34.2 | 20.90 | 13.93 |
| 2 | Spear (2-H) | 38 | 21.85 | 13.4 |
| 3 | Quarterstaff (2-H) | 30.4 | 20.90 | 13.38 |
| 4 | Kryss | 30.4 | 18.53 | 13.09 |
| 5 | War Fork | 34.2 | 20.90 | 12.54 |
| 6 | Cutlass | 30.4 | 19.95 | 11.97 |
| 6 | Broad Sword | 31.35 | 19.95 | 11.97 |
| 8 | Katana | 28.5 | 18.53 | 11.86 |
| 9 | Scimitar | 32.3 | 19.95 | 11.44 |
| 10 | Double Axe(2-H) | 37.05 | 22.80 | 11.25 |
| ... | ||||
| 23 | Halberd (2-H) | 50.35 | 29.45 | 9.82 |
Swordsmanship weapons in the above table are bold formated.
The table above shows that the swordsmanship weapons aren't dealing a very high damage per second. They're clearly topped by the fencing weapons, which do a low damage per hit, but still the highest damage per second, due to their high hit-speed. The Broadsword and the Cutlass are the best swordsmanship weapons as for damage per hit and thus the swordsmanship weapons of choice if it's for killing monsters, where a surprising hard hit within a combo isn't relevant. The Halberd however is a pretty bad choice for PvM, dealing 18% less overall damage than the Broadsword and even 30% less than the Short Spear.
Notes
Halberd is hardest hitting, yet slowest melee weapon, and ranks top 2 of all weapons for damage per hit. A favorite amongst tank mages.
Katana is of the fastest weapons in the game, and can be used with a shield.
See Also
Archery - Fencing - Mace Fighting - Swordsmanship - Wrestling
