How realistic are Goblin Slayer's weapons, armor and tactics? 

"That sword is too long to use in a cave" 3 mins later... *picks up a spear*

"He never raises it and you never see his face." Goblin Slayer: This is the way.

I forgot where but Goblin Slayers armor was designed that he can discard any bits of armor at any time if it is damaged or none functional hence the plate over chain mail.

8:10 It's explained in the prequal manga, Year One. On his first job, he has to buy cheap weapons to use and he finds that after after only a few swings they break and the swings quickly grow less effective as they get caked in blood, meat and hit bone. So he starts picking up weapons from the enemies out of just practicality. His unwillingness to now buy nicer weapons is just a reflection of this. Also, on the comment about the horns on his helmet. In Year One, he gets the helment brandnew with horns. They end up breaking off and he figures since they were useless to the functionality of the helmet, he wouldn't bother getting them repaired.

Goblin Slayer doesn't oil his swords, due to the fact that goblins have a heightened sense of smell.

People shouldn't underestimate the unpleasantness of being eaten alive.

Goblin Slayer at one point specified that he doesn't want to use fancy weapons, because he's worried Goblins would steal them, and learn how to effectively use them. This worry he has is reinforced when he tried to loosen the arrow tip, so it would break inside of Goblin's body, and the one goblin that managed to get back to the nest with the arrow head embedded, allowed the other Goblins to pick up on that trick, and use it against Goblin Slayer later on.

There is only one "tactic" in goblin slayers mind *And thats rip and tear until its done*

goblin explains that in the show using smaller weapons and shields helps in the tiny tight spaced caves. and he uses the shield as protection because they use poison and arrows still can pierce chain-mail "hard" but can so he uses the targe for that. and something about goblin blood destroys the weapons. you see it happens to the elf girls bow and arrows slowly made em harder to use.

Recently watched Goblin Slayer and its one of my favorite anime now.

Here's my take on long swords on caves. The main hit here is this; you're going into the enemy's stronghold, they can be up front but also ambushes you from the back and sides, yes you can stab them, but it will be hard to maneuver if the attacking forces are at the sides or at the back. In such instance, swift is king, and having a long weapon in confined space is bad for maneuvering, just like in modern times with short assault rifles being in favor over battle rifles in urban warfare close quarters fighting.

Should check out the Goblin slayer side story: Year one manga. Thats where he starts as an adventurer,buys his gears and learns his lessons 3:45 He broke off a horn and used it to stab a goblin. His first sword got stuck on the cave roof, and broke off. So he started using short ones His shields side are sharpened to double as weapon. He doesn’t want a good weapon cause if he dies, the goblins will get a good weapon that he doesn’t want

He can keep his bad weapon picks. The goblins have what 2d6 of hp

"Imagination is a weapon, those without it are the first to die" - Goblin Slayer Episode 2

He seemed to be forgetting about cost. There is an ongoing thing that goblin quests are very poor paying, basically making him the only experienced adventurer who would take them. Another thing is that goblins take the gear n equipment of fallen victims n he is fearful if he uses enchanted gear n dies, he would just create over powerful goblins as the light novel has shown.

Don't know if it was brought up yet but in the prequel manga, Goblin Slayer: Year One, they show his gear when it was pristine and it had the horns on the helmet. He almost got slaughtered when the Goblins grabbed the horns and used it to slam his head into the ground during his first solo fight against a small horde, breaking one off. Later on in another fight after surviving that one, he straight up breaks off the other horn and uses it to shank two of them I think. I think it's shown that if he ever needs to buy a new one, he gets the exact same one from the merchant and then cuts and files down the horns so as to not have a repeat.

"Goblin slayer's armor is a bit too fancy" Lol his armor is considered "poor man's armor, pathetic gears" in the anime

"That's almost overkill." Which would be completely in-character for him.

Remember: Goblin Slayer doesn’t use one reliable sword or weapon because he doesn’t want the goblins to get it. He plans ahead that he will die fighting goblins, so he doesn’t want them to take a strong weapon from his corpse and use it.

I’m going to bet that the reason he wants his helmet visor to be impossible to move is so that a goblin can’t move it off of his face in a struggle. The only magic item he has is a ring of water breathing because it doesn’t fit on a goblin finger. Dude is ultra paranoid.

I think I just realised why goblin slayer doesn't learn magic. Sure, the world is plagued by vancian magic which makes it unreliable on long campaigns, but healing magic seems like it'd still be extremely useful on the side. The real reason: Casting spells would require concentration. Concentration on something other than killing GAAAWBLINS. Of course he'd never pick up magic.

Shadiversity: "How realistic are Goblin Slayer's weapons, armor, and tactics?" Me: "I don't know, I've never fought a goblin before."

In world reasons why goblin slayer doesn't use bigger / magic weapons; 1 - killing dozens of goblins at a time slicks the weapon making it harder to handle 2- just because there MIGHT be room to swing a big weapon doesn't mean there always is. The adventurer in ep1 dies because he didn't account for the space. Smaller primary weapon means your muscle memory can't betray you. 3. Goblins are surprisingly capable of learning and adapting. He doesn't use a magic weapon in case they get their hands on it. This plays into the fact that he often discards his weapon if it is more opportunistic to pick one up. 4. They're heavy. Fighting dozens of goblins swinging a heavy weapon causes fatigue faster. He's used to fighting entire groups by himself - and he does so PRIMARILY with speed and intelligence by baiting them into traps and using tactics to nullify their numbers advantage. Bigger weapons take more energy to use, limit his mobility, and his ability to employ stealth. 5. They're goblins- he doesn't need a magic sword or an especially expensive weapon to kill them quickly. And killing goblins in a melee more effectively isn't worth limiting himself to having to mind his weapon. 6. They're expensive. the reward for goblin quests is low/ sometimes non existent. His priority is keeping his armor maintained, he can't afford to also maintain an expensive weapon that he's constantly using on dozens of bodies at a time.

Goblin Slayer is that one player who remembers all the rulebooks verbatim but can't roleplay at all. Like his Character sheet is filled out perfectly but everything to do with his personality is just KILL GOBLINS in untidy all-caps.

Doom slayer: who the hell are you? Goblin slayer: I'm you but medieval.

If I remember correctly, the reason he never wants to carry good weapons/equipment into a goblin lair is because he always assumes that he's going to lose that weapon eventually. Bringing a powerful enchanted weapon down there, losing due to whatever circumstances and even having it turned against him would be one of the worst ways to die, and he doesn't leave things to chance. Hence, he'd rather use a piss poor sword that might break after a couple of uses and just switch weapons along the way.

Since every character is named only by their Race and Class I'm really fond of the interpretation that the story is just a group of D&D players. The DM made a one-off bizarre character for them to interact with in a tavern: An adventurer who exclusively hunts goblins because seriously how funny is that. Unfortunately for said DM, the party got super attached to this character to the point where he feels the need to kill him off so that the story can continue but he can't because he keeps rolling D20s leading the DM to put the party in increasingly unwinnable situations all for the sake of killing the poor bastard.

I love goblin slayer as the MC is very unique and not overpowered and used skill, knowledge and experience to defeated goblins and not overwhelming force. We also see him get fatally injured multiple times and he uses dirty/cheap tactics which adds to the realism and not plot armour heavy protagonist we see in fantasy settings.

just one thing you got wrong, that the goblin slayer never uses a good, well forged weapon, nor the magic ones. the reason of this is he's afraid once he dies, goblin may take advantage of the weapon. this is the same reason why he don't keep notes, cuz if goblin gets the note, they learn from it. the least thing you want is a bunch of goblin with knowledge.

Shadiversity: There are lots of flaws in Goblin Slayers Armor. Goblin Slayer: Ah. I see.

Reason he uses lame weapons is so the goblins can't use them if he was to die at their hand. Goboins use improvised weapons or stolen equipment from the people they rob or murder. Likewise his armor is "cheap" (author's words) and too big for a goblin to use practically. Goblin Slayer approaches every quest as if it's a suicide mission and considers how his equipment, should he be killed, would be used by goblins.

I haven’t watched the show, but I imagine the purpose of the small shield and sword is to allow him to move through crawl spaces without getting stuck. I wouldn’t be surprised if the goblins purposefully dug smaller sections with curves and crawl spaces to grant them an advantage against bigger human adventurers.

"Just don't be outnumbered" Goblin Slayer: "...impossible"

on the shield point, i argue that the targe is actually the most logical pick. we see later the much larger enemies, especially the non-goblin ones, smashing his shield with such force it actually splits, thus if such a blow had struck him, it probably would've killed him. he rarely uses the shield against the small goblins, and actually uses it as a weapon if at all. he essentially needs a small, light shield which wont affect his combat at all against the majority of his opponents, but is still just strong enough to take a strike from more devastating opponents, just enough to save his life. just enough is all he needs, that's sort of his whole philosophy

Goblin slayer: *sees video* Goblin slayer: “I see”

The shield is for being able to hold a torch and have his hand free if necessary. Also better to have a shield when fighting multiple opponents, especially since they DO use blunt weapons like clubs etc.

goblin slayer doesn't care about critics regarding his fashion sense goblin slayer only cares about goblins and there are no goblins in this video

The reason why he uses the Targe is not for defence really, but mainly to keep Goblins away, cause the danger of them is that they swarm you and pull you down and to use the shield as a second weapon for bashing with the edge and the flat,. So the shield is actually his standardized weapon that he uses all the time and never changes.

"Your shield isn't needed if you're fully armored." Goblin slayer: "is that so?" *decapitates goblins with shield*

In regards to tactics, I love when they execute a plan, the Elf cursing him and he says, "it wasn't fire, water, smoke, poison, explosives, or ect... I followed your wish." And the Elf's face just has the scared expression of "I really don't know how I'm going to die with this guy"

Musashi Miyamoto, considered the patron saint of the sword in Japan, fought this way a lot, using weapons he took from his enemy in battle. It was because it was better to use weapons you didn't care about, as if they broke, you weren't losing your Buzen sword, but some raider's cheap katana or spear. It was very practical in combat with multiple opponents. Being an anime, that's probably where they got it from.

Goblin Slayer: Kills Goblins and takes random swords. Doom Slayer: Kills Demons and takes random guns. I think there's a similarity. 🤔

I've been in caves before. Most of them are extremely hard to move around in. There's a smaller group of caves called caverns that are what most people think of as proper caves, and those tend to be larger.

Shad Fact: Shad killed 20 Titans without the aid of the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.

Explanation for why he uses weaker weapons: He's mentioned that if he were to get killed in battle, the goblins would take his gear, so he takes relatively weak weapons so that if he were to die, he would not be giving the goblins that killed him better gear.

Love the video!! BTW, the other reason he doesn't have "fancy" weapons because if goblins defeat a person or party, they reuse the equipment against other adventurers, learn, repeat. They are very adaptable as a race.

I love how you did this but I think you missed that every thing about him is solely based on fighting a fast short weak enemy

9:20 I always thought that the whole "him swapping weapons all the time" was more due to the blood and fat getting the handle slippery and therefore unwieldy from killing so many goblins.

Shad: Sir what are your thoughts about the practicality of your armor and weapons in terms of fighting large number of goblins? Goblin Slayer: *Goblin*

When fighting goblins don’t think of them as if you’re fighting adults, instead think on them as extra greasy children with knives

Season finale spoiler: His use of a protection barrier to force a broken blade into the goblin leader's chest was the most metal use of holy magic I've ever seen. Getting an innocent priestess to use her healing magic to kill was one of my favourite parts of that whole story.

To be fair, he learned this over time, his only "teacher" being some insane hobbit in a cave. And considering he was a farm boy before (and all the education that entails), I'd say his tactics are pretty impressive.

hmm, yes of course, using a two handed weapon or a heater shield in a dark cave. he'll just have to hold his torch with his third hand...

I agree with your points on weapons, but there was one point you did not explicitly cover which they mention in the anime or novels or whatever. Denial of weapons in the case he dies. He has been going solo for years now with the expectation that he can die so he does not want to give the goblins anything he can do without or would still have after dying. I do agree with you on the targe. A Year One Side Story got released in English recently which contains stories when he first starts out as an adventurer and he picked up that targe while he was still only equipped with mail armour and the helmet. It seems more of a habit and not finding it completely useless that he keeps it rather than going for a full optimization and leaving it.

The visor being on the inside the helmet is a perfect design for him since goblins would try and lift or rip off the visor and stab him in the face but with it being underneath the helmet that is impossible

I can give several reasons GS uses a short sword as his starting gear. A short sword is fully functional even in small places. While long weapons can still be used to stab enemies in a narrow area, there can be difficulty turning the weapon to attack enemies coming from the other side. Episode 1 shows goblins use tricks to hide pathways so they can ambush them from behind, and while GS is probably wise to most tricks, there's still chances of Goblins returning from outside. A double edged spear could function, but it has small killing area. A long sword would be difficult to turn the other way. A secondary weapon could help, but you'd be wasting time drawing the weapon anew. A short sword could reliably function in most environments, without him needing to worry about space very much. Another reason GS uses a short sword is because it's cheap. It takes less steel to make a short sword, so it's cheaper, and considering weapons become unusable pretty quickly against goblins, it's great to have a cheap weapon. He also throws his weapons a lot, so having a magical durable sword would be expensive, since they might get lost. While GS is a silver ranked adventurer, goblin slaying doesn't earn him much, and he prefers to use his gold on methods that ensure he kills lots of goblins at once (such as gate scroll to under sea), rather than a magical sword that might be enchanted with anti-corrosion and returning function. He doesn't use daggers, which would be cheaper than short swords, because it has too little reach. Short swords provide GS with more reach, so he retains the reach advantage against goblins, who are at disadvantage because of their short height and smaller limbs. TLDR: 1. Usable in any direction in anywhere GS might be in 2. Cheap, throwable, saves gold for Magic of Mass Destruction 3. Provides more reach than regular goblins with their weapons, while retaining above traits.

"Only a munchkin would wave around a legendary magic sword at some goblins" - the guild blacksmith? maybe it was someone else

8:12 he uses weapons he picks up from Goblins because 1 - blood stains the cloth used on the hilt, makes it slippery and harder to hold, and 2 - he throws his weapons a lot, so by picking up weapons from opponents, he never has to worry about losing HIS weapon, because their weapons are now his

12:53 I'd say you're right on point with this one. The light novel basically hints that this world is basically a huge dnd game that the gods are playing

Most high level individuals ignore goblins and dont consider them worth their time, so it kind of makes sense that higher end weapon production ignores the problems of goblin blood ruining weapons. He also is constantly helping the poorest of communities who are beset upon by goblins so he most likely cannot afford better weapons. And I think it was stated that he intentionally has the lowest quality weapons and armor necessary so that if he dies In battle, his enemies gain nothing by looting his body.

If you read the 'Year One' manga for Goblin Slayer, you would see that both his horns were broken off by Goblin's, and he even mentions that they got in his way

What's really cool as well Shad is that, Goblin slayer is "I believe" based on the writers own dnd campaign where his party would go on adventures and there was an NPC that just never died and happened to show up whenever there where Goblins. So that adds to the dnd inspiration.

Everything is a sword... even shields

"I meant shields, obviously" But what is a shield, if not just an anti-sword sword?

1. You already have more reach than goblins, and always less than the big ones. 2. Shield doubles as a weapon with blunt damage, or with the sharpened edge. 3. Shortsword way better than warhammer or longsword: They always outnumber you so you have to be able to swing continuesly, stabbing is also harder as the target is smaller especially to hit vital organs and the body might get stuck on the blade. Also able to react faster as the shadows are sharp and its generally dark, they are also known to ambush advanturers 4. He doesnt use anything magical because he doesnt want the goblins to have it, if he loses the weapon or dies. Edit: 5. He also likes to throw his swords

Pretty sure the armor is really to protect his virginity from Cowgirl, at least until he's over whatever trauma causes him to exterminate every goblin.

Him - "thats overkill" Me - "what part of him isnt?"

Finally!! The kind of analysis that I really want about Goblin Slayer...

well he fears if the Goblin kills him they will steal his armour and weapons that's why he doesn't use enchants on his weapons

admits only watched 1st episode =/ really should have watched more, he explains it more in depth and makes sense.

A Goblin Slayer video WITHOUT dislikes? What sorcery is this!

All he wants to fight are goblins.....BUT WHAT ABOUT DRAGONS?!

In Goblin Slayer's defense about swapping weapons, 1. If he needs to abandon his current weapon, a simple effective shortsword is replacable. 2. He kills a LOT of goblins and it dulls the blade. This ties in with Point 1 since he can dispose of it instead of carrying around a useless sword. 3. If he falls in battle, he doesn't wish for Goblins to use any strong weaponry. He even comments about this in the manga/anime when asked about using stronger weapons/armor or even spells. His reasoning is that Goblins aren't dumb and they can figure out how to use spell scrolls or even magic weaponry given time. In the sense of stabbing weaponry, 1. Goblins are not gonna come at you 1 by 1, they will swarm you. If you stab something, and the weapon gets lodged in there, you're fucked. A goblin will not care or be afraid of his dead companion and will still go at you. This ties in again with Goblin Slayer swapping and not having too many weapons. In terms of backup weapons, it ties again with his "I don't wanna give Goblins more firepower should I die" See also, Goblin Slayer Anime - Episode 5 around the 3 minute mark - An adventurer stabs a giant rat with his sword which gets stuck and is forced to abandon it after swarms of other rats attack the group.

So, probably a little late to this, but I just found the video and finished watching the series; One of the things I think is very appropriate to the character is as present in his armor as it is in his choice of weapons. GS is nothing if not practical, and I feel like the 'vulnerabilities' in his armor reflect that as much as his choice in weapons and tactics do. A solid sheet of plate Would be more protective than layers of plate. However, it would also be much harder to repair major damage. With layered plate, when a single layer is damaged it can be removed and repaired individually, in smaller pieces. If you puncture a standard, single-piece breastplate then the result would normally be death. In a world of magical healing, though, that's not always the case. So, after your breastplate gets punched through by a hobgoblin with a spiked club, you can chug a potion and be fine. Your armor, though, is completely ruined. That means going out and buying an entirely new breastplate, which will cost more than having a skilled smith replace a single, smaller plate. We even see evidence of this in the anime, as whenever he takes his armor in, regardless of the damage it has taken, he only asks to get it repaired. GS never has the smith just tell him the item is beyond salvage, and tells him to get a new one. We know that smiths in the GS universe will suggest that kind of thing, too, as when the priestess had her mail almost destroyed she was told it would be better to just replace it than have it repaired. So, like his weapons, his armor is designed for the life of an adventurer fighting goblins. Not a high-end warrior. Edit for completeness: It's interesting that the video mentions how swords are especially good weapons when fighting un-armed opponents because you can slash and swing with them, after pointing out that a longsword in a confined space would be used for thrusting. Practically speaking, while he Can make use of a longsword (and several times does) the short sword makes more sense because it will still allow him to make those devastating chopping motions even when his reach is restricted. While a longer weapon does allow for greater reach, the thing about reach is that you either have the greater reach, or you don't. The average short sword is only about a foot shorter than a standard long sword, if that. Beings as he is fighting creatures roughly half his height, he's going to have greater reach than they will, even giving up that small amount of blade. The only time a goblin is going to beat his reach is with a spear, or if it's a hobgoblin. In either case, the extra foot of blade won't make up the difference, as a spear would still have greater reach than a longsword, and a hobgoblin is nearly twice GS's size. Likewise, there is also mention of the use of a two-handed blade. Not only would that be overkill, it also wouldn't work. Those kinds of wide swinging weapons don't follow the same physics when you're forced to swing in a low angled arc to strike your opponents. Striking multiple enemies all at chest-level is easy enough, but goblins stand well below that, so the swing against them would be much more awkward. Also, short swords have plenty of their own virtues over longsword in general. A shorter blade is just easier to control and maneuver, a major advantage when fighting a great deal of enemies that like to attack by jumping all over their target. It's a great deal easier to turn a shorter blade to stab things clinging to your back than a longer blade. Equally, GS often needs to kill goblins stacked on top of various captives that they like to use as meat shields. It's much harder to accidently shove a sword through both the goblin and its captive when the blade isn't physically long enough to accomplish that task. In conclusion: GS's armor, weaponry, and general tactics all make plenty of sense for his character. None of the choices he makes actively hinder him, and many could be chalked up to personal preference from over a decade of experience. This video, much like the RPG tropes it talks about, assumes that bigger and more powerful is always better. More protection, harder hitting weapon, etc. However, as seems to be a part of the point the anime is making, min-maxing isn't always best. Sometimes a more versatile tool is the best for the job.

This video gave me no useful tips for taking out goblins...

He's fighting Goblins, not humans, every single piece of his set is meant to kill Goblins and only goblins... that's why he has to use a spell against the Orc... He wear the shield to absorb damage from hero goblins or strong goblins in general, also, it work to stop and hold a tiny goblin while with the other hand you can use it to use the sword, if he didn't use shield against the king goblins, he'd probably dead... About why he use cheap sword, it's simple... Blood and bones ruin the weapon, also, goblins can smell the blood so, that's why he need to change it... As I said, everything about this guy is meant to destroy goblins.

*Lots of discussion about the practicality of Goblin Slayer* specially among the Anime Community. Good to hear your thoughts on this topic.

8:49. He can't use a warhammer because goblins live in small dungeons, usually just big enough for them and warhammers are most useful on wide swings. blades on the other hand can kill with a slice and stab which doesn't require that much space to fully utilize.

a really funny moment is when he suggests using a club or mace to another adventurer who lost his heirloom sword; it's posed as if just using a beating stick is alien because "-scoff- blades are just so superior! how could a STICK be any better?" and the guy's goofy revelation after caving in skulls is all "wow... this is way more effective than I thought." XD

Interestingly enough, back when the helmet had its horns, a goblin actually managed to climb onto Goblin Slayer thanks to them.

:Yeah, a magical blade would in fact take care of the durability issue. It's even pointed out in the canon itself. The problem is that Goblin Slayer categorically refuse to use equipment above basic/shit tier, because in the event he ever died to a goblin nest, he doesn't want to provide his killers with any high tier or, god forbid, magical gears. Hell, we even see something like that happen in the manga with the Goblin King. Through a flashback, we show, that earlier in his life the Goblin King managed to kill a high level barbarian (a blatant Conan expies no less) by using his lover as a human shield. He was then able to salvage the barbarian's magical axe which then played a major role in his ascension to the position of Goblin King, so Goblin Slayer is in fact perfectly justified in his philosophy. As for his shield, in the prequel manga that chronicle Goblin Slayer's advancement from a complete noob to how he is in the present, we see him change his shield to a smaller fixed one because he couldn't effectively hold his sword, torch and shield all at the same time when tunnel fighting.

the no long sword in cave rule is like more of a warning to amateurs/rookie adventurers

You did a great job analizing the armor but you have one fatal flaw. He is not fighting humans, he is fighting goblins which are the height of a 12 year old. With a breast plate he would not be able to bend over to hit smaller enemies. Seeing it as 3 plates that overlap each other allowing them to slide in a way that if you flex your abdomen there will be little to no limitation while having great protection. So actually the author of that armor did in fact being a brilliant solution on how armor would need to be when fighting smaller enemies such as goblins and even gnomes or dwarves.

The interesting thing about his helmet is while at first glance it would offer reduced vision its actually pretty thought through, the main thing the user is worried about is blunt attacks from the rear, the vision slits as opposed to historical horizontal ones which are for looking forward are designed to offer maximum vision downwards because of the lower stature of his opponents.

You talked about why Goblin slayer doesn't use fancy magic swords that can help keep the blood and fat off his sword but they explain it as: If he dies fighting or for some reason loses his weapon it is just a normal weapon and armour he is not given the goblins high quality gear.

One of my favorite thing from a novel I recently read (not goblin slayer) is that the most common enchantment is not some fancy elemental effect or the like but actually cleanliness to keep the blood and stuff off the blade. Sharpness and durability are the next most common ones.

If I remember correctly Goblin Slayer doesn't use higher quality weapons due to the risk of him dying and a Goblin getting some really strong weapon off his body. He'd rather go in using standard equipment since it get's the job done good enough and deprives Goblins of using him as a potential treasure trove of valuables.

People are outraged about goblins from Goblin Slayer yet no one is outraged about Darkspawn from Dragon AGE ? XD Just read some lore how they reproduce, and suddenly you will see that goblins are little cudly bunnies in comparison to Darkspawn XD

In the light novel, if i recall, he explains his shield to another adventurer who asks why he uses it 'when its more of a battle field device'. Goblin Slayers shield has a sharpened rim, it is actually, essentially, an axe head with 360 degrees of cutting edge, he also states he can use it as a bludgeon in a pinch, and he has (if i remember right) a different shield which has enchantments on which is 'make it hit like its heavier'. You cannot really consider Goblin Slayer's shield as simply a shield, because in the light novel, nearly every item he has, from his armor, to his shield, and even his sword, has more than functional use. Even his sword, has, at at least one point, been used to pummel a goblin to death with the pommel. He also has a myriad of knives hidden in secret little places in his armor, and when he picks up his fresh set in the anime, his chainmail does in fact have cloth padding in several ares that would be covered with his plate portions. Also his chest piece, while it looks like three pieces, is actually a three pieces 'forged together' which i think means forge welded, and the ridging pattern serves the purpose of making it harder for a thrust to pierce, as it is angled to deflect a pointed object.

People who hate goblin slayer saw less than one full episode of the anime and think they are experts on the series as a whole. At its core it's a story about friendship and an adventurer trying to cope with his PTSD.

I will agree that the points you make about the armours and weapons are not historically accurate. BUT, contrary to your analysis, I would argue that they are infact, MORE effective for the purposes they are designed for, and I offer you this long critique of the reasons why I believe so. I believe that you're not considering all the necessary aspects of what goblin hunting entails, and while I admit to liking this series, I defend the show, not due to personal favouritism, but rather, the personal like and bias emerges from just how well thought out the armours weapons and tactics really are (and I am willing to admit it might be accidental on the part of the author). My issues with your statements are as follows - 1. Having a visor on the inside, means, that if the GS gets ganged up on by a bunch of goblins and tackled to the ground (which is a strong possibility), it actually PREVENTS an external party (goblins) from raising his visor and stabbing him in the face easily. 2. Three-Part armour compromises stab resistance, but allows for greater mobility when crouched or in a hunched over position, which he needs as he often operates in caves, due to much greater degrees of waist movement, infact, you'll notice it only protects the heart and lungs, organs which would lead to immediate death if stabbed, while willingly and knowingly risking damage to other important organs in the thoracic cavity, as they can causes fatalities only due to excessive bleeding, which is preventable with healing spells and potions. 3. Umm... as to blood and fat sticking to blades... I apologise, I'm sure you're an effective HEMA practitioner, but I'm also confident you've never worked part-time as a butcher... Blood, fat and fascia ALWAYS, ALWAYS sticks to a blade and dulls the edge. There is no effective solution to it. This is also why butchers have to keep wiping their blades while working. I'm sorry, but you're completely wrong on this one. 4. Your point as to the uselessness (supposedly) of the shield... this might come in as SPOILERS for you, but he repeatedly fights special variants of goblins like goblin champions, goblin lords and goblin kings, which are a sub-species that are MUCH larger than humans, significantly stronger, and often use maces and clubs or massively weighty longswords (Guts from Berserk style) to inflict damage. HENCE THE NECESSITY OF THE SMALL TARGE, as his tactics against such opponents is not to face them in a stand-off, but to weave in and out of obstacles to look for opportunities. Again, closed, confined spaces, with many obstacles, is MURDER for larger shields with edges that can get caught (and even then his shield gets caught on stuff) 5. Goblin slayer is more than happy to use weapons with long reach, and has used spears multiple times in all the formats. And yes, stabbing and thrusting with swords is a very valid stance and move. To be noted, however, is that A) a thrust is single target move and there are three motions required for the next thrust thrust-withdraw-realign then thrust again, vs slashing which is slash-realign, slash, and hence it is much for tiring hen used against a large number of foes repeatedly. A long sword, is less damaging in a CQC range, due to its design and weight distribution. Most of his fights happening in close quarters with him getting ganged up, a short word capable of thrusting and slashing at close range is much more useful. Weight is also an issue. While it is true that a long sword is not much heavier than having a short arming sword (I think it is an arming sword?? Gladius?? honestly, I don't think the author or the artists know the difference, and hence, the details seem fudged) the fatigue issue of carrying it around and wielding it is cumulative, and he's apparently operated alone till the beginning of the series, which had the priestess as the narrator. 6. Interestingly, goblins, due to having a primitive version of humans in terms of technology, I suppose, ALMOST ALWAYS have DAGGERS, MACES AND SPEARS as their weapons, hence, there is no need for him to carry them, and he can simply take them off of his victims. Again, weight management, and sheer experience in the availability of consumable/discardable weapons in his work surroundings. I hope you have a chance to read this. A huge fan of your channel and your content. Take care!

Shad Fact: Shad keeps a scottish claymore hidden within his beard

Shad should really make a follow up video about Goblin Slayer’s weapons armour and tactics, using the information gleaned from this video’s comments section. Big fans of the series can have more insight on why GS uses such poor weapons and armour, never cleaning them, not using oils, and his “questionable” tactics. All because he is not arrogant, and believes his end will someday come via goblin, and he doesn’t want to give them anything powerful that could give the one that kills him an edge. I like to compare GL to a big boss, and the Goblins to be the challengers. In any RPG, normally when you kill a big bad boss (BBB), you gain access to that boss’s weapon which can give you awesome power, and an edge in defeating other BBB’s. If GS was carrying a powerful weapon at the time when he is killed, then that goblin could use that weapon to kill others. Hell, he doesn’t even write down notes because he is worried that there could be a goblin smart enough to read that could use that information in their own tactics.

Goblin Slayer 'could" and 'would' use the 'fancy' weapons, it's just that he doesn't want the Goblins getting the better gear. For instance a mithril sword can barely go blunt from fat and blood, it's just to good of a material which goblins must NOT have. C:

Regarding the magic, of X spells per day. This actually came from the Dying Earth books by Jack Vance. So it's kind of going full circle or back to it's original form. The concept was that the wizards only had so much space inside of them (or their brain, I'm struggling to remember), to store the spells, and once cast they had to learn it all over again.

I never noticed the broken horns before this, it makes sense though, he probably bought someone's used helmet and broke the horns off to make it more practical

I could see him favoring the shortsword because the goblins are small, numerous, and tend to swarm and climb on you, so you want to have a weapon that is effective at extremely close range.

Nice address of the cave thing. One time a character of mine was carrying a true greatsword and had to go through a tunnel; so he simply went in half-swording.

"There's no weapon that is universally better than all other weapons." *Sad Palpatine death-star noises intensify.*

I'm surprised that you never took into account the fact of stamina comsumtion of the whole ordeal of invading a goblin's lair, wich is mostly portrayed as a natural cave and a tunnel-like fortress that deepens down to earth. In that scenario it's imposible to consider using the same tactics or carrying the same amount of weight you would for a fight in the plains.