Swordsmanship

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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.


Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Can be poisoned
  • Some 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

Popular Swordsmanship weapons

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

Top 10 weapon-ranking by average damage per hit
Rank Weapon Max Hit Av Dmg/Hit Av Dmg/Sec
1 Crossbow, Heavy (2-H) 57 35.63 4.75
2 Halberd (2-H) 50.35 29.45 9.82
3 Crossbow (2-H) 44.65 28.03 6.73
4 Bow (2-H) 42.75 27.55 7.35
5 Bardiche(2-H) 44.65 26.60 9.22
6 Battle Axe(2-H) 39.9 24.70 9.88
6 Large Battle Axe(2-H) 39.9 24.70 9.88
6 Two-handed Axe(2-H) 40.85 24.70 9.88
6 War Hammer (2-H) 38 24.70 10.21
10 Black Staff (2-H) 35.15 23.28 10.86
The best 10 one-handed weapons by average damage per hit
Overall Rank Weapon Max Hit Av Dmg/Hit Av Dmg/Sec
12 War Mace 32.3 22.80 9.73
13 Maul 32.3 22.80 9.12
13 Viking Sword 36.1 22.80 9.12
13 Mace 34.2 22.80 9.12
19 Hammer Pick 35.15 22.33 8.93
21 Longsword 35.15 21.85 10.2
21 Long Sword (thin) 35.15 21.85 10.2
25 War Fork 34.2 20.90 12.54
26 War Axe 29.45 20.90 11.15
27 Broadsword 31.35 19.95 11.97

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

Top 10 weapon-ranking by 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.