Why Giant Swords are Worse than Large Polearms IRL 

The ultimate truth.

Yeah, Dash Render had a two handed mace and has done some scary shit with his 9 pound mace that would make gut's pround and it alot lighter. Even assuming you solve all the issues of giant swords it still alot of material you get much hiegher points trimming in and making armor, making weapon for a friend, etc. Basically, it is hording.

@@PJDAltamirus0425 True! You could make so many more effective arming swords or spears with that one huge slab of sword.

stick also deadly, stick cheap, stick good

The folks who fought with polearms generally wore considerable amounts of armor, suggesting that weapon cost wasn't a major factor.

Most weapons are about that nimble, and anything else is a wall-hanger.

Also big sticks with little swords on them are much cheaper and easier to make than big swords on little sticks.

I'm rather left with the impression that greatswords (not giant swords) see use in various niche applications, while the spear (and other polearms) tend to be the general purpose battlefield weapons and smaller swords tend to be prefered for common self defence scenarios. Actually giant weapons just don't make sense unless the weilder is also a giant.

It's almost like, and bear with me here, ancient people thought a lot about fighting, efficient training of large numbers of troops, and sensible allocation of resources.

But who saying that giant greatswords are made for *warfare* ? In several games the characters manly fight slow-ish monsters and I think a durable comically long blade is better in this case

​@@michaelsullivan8934 Yes, an it is irritating people don't think about the virtues of wood as a material. If you go to a hardware store and buy a maul or a axe or a rake the ones with the wooden handles cost more and there are basically none with metal handles. You use plastic or wood for the hand shock alone. Even when wood isn't the cheapest, people still select it as the preferred material. Lots of rich ancient people used wood. It works great!

I love polearms as well but I fancy the Bardiche personally. I also love the Goedendag which is also doesn't appear in video games, but at least I see the Bardiche now and again.

Halberd for me

Don't forget mount and blade in general

And Exanima (Sui Generis)

Bannerlord does a right and a wrong by allowing crafting of pretty much any blade type which includes most polearms like billhook. Offering variety of blade types on handles, but a lot of the blades are just vastly inferior and pointless other than fashion. I don't think the billhook does well in the polearm section, but it is offered.

The worlds most versatile weapon

Pole to the Poleaxe God!

Im a billhook supremacist

Actual History is the best judge.

as a mordhau player, i agree, poleaxe and polehammer are S-tier for a reason

Except it eliminates the versatility of a halberd by rendering you unable to stab with it. Style points over practicality aren't great.

Halberds, glances and billhooks are all cool aesthetically too.

Hope to see more glaives amd poleaxes in future games

Funnily enough, hack and slash/character action games seem to have a lot of love for *scythes* of all thing. Main characters that mainly wield swords are surprisingly rare: Dante and Nero, War, Briar (Soulstice) , Kratos, Jack/Raiden and Ryu Hayabusa. Ryu's main weapon isn't even a *giant* sword (though he can wield one) and neither is Raiden's. Kratos' wielding of the Blade of Olympus isn't even as a main available weapon all the time: In GoW 2 it was a bonus weapon for replaying the game, and in GoW 3 it's tied to his special rage form. That leaves about four characters in the genre who use a really big sword as their *main* weapon. Two of which from the same franchise. For scythes, there's - Death's Scythes (Darksiders 2). Dual scythes that can combine into a double-headed polearm-- curved head on one end, straight head on the other. - The Scythe (Darksiders) - Stasis Hollow Scythes (Darksiders 3) - Fangs of Kukúlkan (Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death) - Dante's Death Scythe (Dante's Inferno) - Chernobog (Bayonetta 2) - Scythe of Witch's Bane (Knight's Contract-- interesting for being a folding scythe with a warhammer on the other side of the head) - Osiris (DMC: Devil May Cray) - Crescent Moon Scythe (Ninja Gaiden games) - And Nevan (DMC3). Somewhat. It's an electric guitar that's got a blade that can fold out and be used like a scythe, but generally it's a very unusual weapon. So that's around ten and a half instances of scythes within hack and slash/character action games. Admittedly, it's only four characters that use scythes as their *main* weapon (Death, DI Dante, Marlow Briggs and Heinrich from Knight's Contract), but it bears mentioning that even half of the main sword wielders (War and Dante) have wielded *some* sort of scythe in their life. Though even then, only Death and DI Dante tend to use it as a straight-headed polearm :P That's hardly a criticism-- i generally like this genre for what it is, i don't want to see it fall victim to "it has to be realistic!" I just find it a fun observation to see just how much attention scythes as a weapon get in this genre. That said, axes and maces are severely underrepresented. Only Darksiders 2, Norse GOW and Brütal Legend did anything with axes. And from what i remember, only Darksiders 2 really did much with *maces*. It also has glaives/polearms, hammers, claws, bucklers, gauntlets and arm blades.

My first ever Morrowind run was a cheese caking the game almost by accident, by combining spear with boots of blinding speed.

except against an ax (in game)

Halberd?

Spear = Forever King

@@secretname2670 Thinking about it, I can't come up with a single scenario where the halberd actually wins over the spear. It's sad because as a child it was my absolute favorit weapon.

Dont think that's a good argument. While as a bodyguard there would be scenarios where a polearm would be disadvantaged by the terrain or ensclosure of a building/structure, the same would also apply to a greatswords. Even today in modern era, security experts warn first thing about home defense and long weapons (carbine rifles or shortguns or even baseball bats) that they can be hindered greatly by hallways and doors in a home defense scenario. a bodyguard would have to take such things into consideration, too. even outside, most side streets and alleys were pretty narrow by today's standards, too.

Historical greatswords are also far better looking than most fantasy giant swords.

@@unclebounce1495 Its worth remembering that swords can be carried as sidearms. So if you think the main weapon is too big for where you are, just grab your sidearm.

@@unclebounce1495 The historical evidence tell us just this though. If you find fencing sources for greatswords they usually mention bodyguard work and multiple opponents as well as practical scenarios like this. We know they were bodyguard weapons as well as halberds (sometimes glaives too) from ample evidence available. I’m not suggesting greatswords are the only body guard weapon, but we are told this is one of their primary functions.

Greatswords have that particular "Area offence" fighting style where you keep swinging the blade around using its momentum. Which would be useful to deter multiple attackers, even if surrounded. Which would work well for bodyguards if the threats they would encounter were things like muggings/caravan raids. I'm not sure there's much evidence of crime happening within buildings back in the day (At least the sorts of crime that would warrant a bodyguard) outside maybe tavern brawls but those aren't always armed fights, even IF people were armed.

My man's on that Phalanx grindset.

I think the pikes from pike and shot formations have you covered there. Damn things were almost postal codes in length.

The Buster Halberd! 😊

Pikes so long you need a scope on them to see the tip...

@@tarille1043 Instead of a formation being a hundred men side by side, it's just 100 men one in front of the other along the whole length.

and of course then we have the nagamaki which sits between the largest swords and short-hafted/long-bladed polearms.

@@JaneDoe-dg1gv Well, I don't have one of those unfortunately. I have an ashwood pole though!

@@BeamMonsterZeus odachi were able to be field converted to nagamaki by wrapping the lower blade with leather or rope to increase the handle length to roughly match the remaining blade length. Before true nagamaki were made, this modification was done to odachi to make them more nimble.

@@JaneDoe-dg1gv I don't really recommend that nowadays and I'm never going to be "on the field" with this. It's fine as it is and suits my purposes.

@@BeamMonsterZeus Just talking about the evolutionary history of these weapon types.

So basically a glaive or a ghiavarina?

Existed, take an sword and put an long stick instead of the standard hilt. Naginata is an example. Now I think an halberd is more versatile as you could have an spike on the back for penetration of armor.

​@magnemoe1 was about to say,they did have em,and for style points I'm with sword staffs. But ye,halberd is better, in most situations

@@kuesdav Yes, a functional "sword spear" would probably be based on a glaive. I'm just thinking how close we can keep the power and strength of an ultra great sword without completely losing its look. The closest I can think of is again taking a sword the size he uses and assuming it's real, you would need the hilt to be the same length or as long as a hilt needs to be that you can hold apart for stability and movement. You would most likely need to hold the hilt like you are holding a spear as close to the tip with one hand and further away closest to the other end. To be able to swing a "great sword" esq tip. Which has anyone actually done anything like that? Fuse a great sword and spear? That would be an "ultra great sword" just due to its shear size. Almost like an Odachi.

To the best of my knowledge no one has ever done that, no. Tbh, I cannot see why anyone would, mostly because it would just be cumbersome and difficult to use. Closest thing I can think of is a nakamaki and that is basically a more typical length blade on a very long hilt. I think glaives/ghiavarina/naginata etc would each and every one be more usable and more effective.@@CinnamonToastKing

appearently a big part of the pvp meta is using cross naginatas or 2-handing serpent hunter, art truly imitates life tho i use mohgwyn sacred spear, it has the best reach out of every colossal spear, has the signature lightning fast crouch-poke, and its ash-of-war is extremely good, especially against ganks

The Chaoseater from Darksiders is one of my personal favourites where it concerns giant swords. Simple general design that's still striking, and a lot of decorative detail on the blade itself. What with all the horrible anguishing and demonic visages and all that. The Ashen Vindicator from Soulstice isn't too bad either. A very simple symmetrical shape, but one of the edge sides is replaced by a shaft instead.

Is that the "godslayer" weapon or are you confusing it for the Onyx gs in DS3

@@JK96Jt You mean Soulstice? Flip yeah man, i really liked the game! Has a lot to offer, as a selection of shortcomings or things that push people away, is generally a very solid time and I hope it can deliver on all its potential in a future title or two. Awesome to see a fellow Soulstice fan here. But if you meant Darksiders instead: Awesome to see a fellow Darksiders fan here.

@@JK96Jtgot you, thank you for clarifying. Whenever Darksiders *does* get talked about, the fans flock to it quite hard in a relatively short amount of time. Last few years were quite good on the front of Darksiders series video essays: those of acritical, djjaxter and MayorHairBear can attest to that. Whitelight also did a *super* in-depth video on Darksiders 2 specifically a while ago. And another channel called Selwen has videos on the main 3 Darksiders games from about 3 years ago that are worth watching too. (he never did a vid on Genesis). Here's to hoping for a good future for Darksiders, Soulstice and games like them. They've got good stuff to offer and do deserve a good continuation and eventual ending to their sagas. And just talking about them can help a lot. (and if you like those types of gameplay in general, i recommend to keep your eye out for the upcoming Enenra and Genokids. The character action or hack-and-slash genre needs all the help it can get)

It’d be… interesting. But definitely NOT better then a proper polearm. Sorta a weird combination of attributes of a polearm and a b i g sword. Might be good for a sorta bodyguard role, but for battlefield or self defense use, it’d be pretty mediocre.

@@tricksterjoy9740 Oh I agree, I'd still rather have a proper polearm, my favorites are the bill and swordstaff.

you can arm a whole army with whatever you want, if you got coin

@@marcogenovesi8570 Yes, but a spear takes less metal and you can train a lot of people to fight with it in a really short time.

@@michaelsmith8028either way, the idle is to have both.

@@Specter_1125 Yeah, but swords are a sidearm. You'd be better off with mostly spears.

Pole arms is to protect your longrange weapons. you are right that you can´t use great sword for that. but it´s kind of hard to use a pole arm to push another pole arm aside.

Also a matter of what they're meant to be used for. SPOILERS BELOW Shardblades are mostly that big cause it's a statement and anyone with a living blade can change the shape. Kaladin liked using a shard spear

That's actually going to depend on not just the overall weight, but both the length and the mass distribution of the sword in question. If the sword has zero distal taper and is exceptionally long, it's going to be difficult to handle than something of the exact same weight and better balanced. It's also going to depend on the size, experience, and fitness of the swordsman. Brian Shaw is going to be able to comfortably handle a much larger mass than Bruce Lee could have, simply because of the difference in size. As a rule of thumb, I'd suggest you're going to max out at about 3 kilograms for highest level of utility for your average swordsman unless you've got an exceptionally large and strong individual.

The max length is more or less around the height of the user and the maximum weight is more or less around 10 lbs or 4.5 kg

The bigger and heavier, and the shorter the grip, the less versatile and more special-circumstance-only it becomes. Sliding scale. Even medium length suffer restrictions, especially in structures where hallways and doorsways are a problem. In a home defense/in building combat, something shorter while almost always be superior to anything medium length or longer. Gladius or the shorter greek variant or a machete would be far superior than just about any long one-handed weapon. same in dense forests, too, which is why machetes are short in jungles and aren't two-handed greatswords.

@@unclebounce1495 Fair points. I guess mostly I was wandering about that "goldilocks zone" for REALLY big swords. What's the axis upon which the size and weight balances between being "still useable by humans" to straight up Anime Big Fucking Sword category.

@@scottmacgregor3444 There's indeed a lot of nuance and "what ifs" in this equation. For example that one Dutch madlad who wielded a sword taller than most men. Still, I think it's an interesting question and could see someone make a video titled: "when is a big sword too big?" etc.

Combination of martial arts with polearms has a variety of extra uses that people don't think about, like using your arms or legs to manipulate said weapon to do things to catch an opponent offguard... You can kick the shaft of your polearm for instance to give it momentum to rise up when it's blade head is touching the ground.

people really still watch him?

Historical two handers like great swords or the shorter long swords aren’t the best for battlefield use but they both excel in civilian environments where they were mostly used Most European great swords like zwei handers and montanes were actually body guard street sweepers which is what you see a lot in treatises, but they were also quite good defensive weapons against pike blocks specifically because of the way you can bat aside lots at once without too much resistance(because it’s a pike lol, not too good against a shorter halberd or worse poll axe) However the soldiers fighting like that died a lot more often hence they got paid double lol Longswords are first and foremost self defence weapons they’re good when you’re going about daily life but they only act as secondary in the battlefield Knights of the 14,15 and 16th century were using lances, spears, halberds and pollaxes as primary weapons Sometimes the sword being a back up to a back up, especially on horse back where one handed hammers and axes were used after the lance was lost

Swords are practical but like every weapon in the right context Also I think you are right on the physiological aspect of big sword unga bunga After all bearing swords were a thing in Europe, oversized great swords that were 7-9ft long overly thick and heavy but they were made of material not suitable to fight they’d bend and shatter if you actually used them Same thing probably goes for that like 13fr katana found in a shrine completely unusable from the design to the materials

🙄Sword catcher rattles down the length of the great sword and off its tip after the sword catcher's wielder fails to stop the momentum of the great sword and looses their head.

Pretty sure the overall focus here is against fantasy "giant" swords. Yes, there are advantages against functional greatswords, and those are mentioned, but mostly he is talking the fantasy sword thing. Actual greatswords are far more capable . That said, absolutely nothing wrong with a glaive.

@@kuesdav thanks for the reply, I did get that the focus of the video is mainly about greatswords in fantasy. Nothing against greatswords in general of course, and the story I'm working on is also pure fantasy. I also chose a glaive because I think it's overall a decent weapon and it would personally be my preferred choice over a sword. But of course, even the glaive has its disadvantages like any other medieval weapon

Blood and bloody ashes!

Tbh, having a protagonist use a glaive in a story would be refreshing change of pace from the omnipresent sword. Good luck with the writing!@@Reaperwing47

There's a Japanese weapon called a Nagamaki with two feet of blade and two feet of handle, designed for closer quarters than a spear.

yeah youre right, if humans somehow got super strength without effecting speed greatswords would be the superior weapon, but at that point i imagine all of medieval combat would change.

There are so many polearm heads to choose from, that I default to Bardiche for its simplicity. Basically a super-axe.