"Best" & "Worst" Melee Weapons? - How to Rate Objectively

some people dedicate their lives to studying the complexities of the universe or the human brain or various technologies you and i on the other hand we chase after the mysterious elusive question of which is the king of weapons and which is the lowly beggar along with that comes another question can we be unbiased in this pursuit short answer no [Music] of course this discussion is largely pointless because i've got the king of weapons right here the stick just kidding we all know the true king of weapons is the katana right so what about all the the peasant swords and such okay i'm going to cut the memes and get into the actual serious discussion here serious business you hear me serious everybody must know which is the bestest and why it happens to be the one that they like the most because you know they attach their identity to it um yeah so how do you go about comparing weapons and uh specifically historical ones because uh we're not going to be comparing a pocket knife to nuclear warheads or you know any kind of sore to a 44 magnum revolver the most powerful hangout no wait that's totally outdated and how about we do that where i can actually point at things all right so first off i'm going to tell you something very important i need your full attention for this alright and i'm going to make sure i have it all right the question which is the best weapon or the worst for that matter is incomplete it doesn't make sense without specifiers the best for what in recent times on youtube people have thankfully started to pick up on until then criminally overlooked and underrated weapons like you know the good old spear and uh as is so often the case people tend to go the opposite extreme once they found something that oh this is underages the underdogs is my guy this is my pointy stick in this case and they started to glorify it you know the king of weapons on the battlefield which is something that people don't usually say they just say the king of weapons well it's fantastic on the battlefield but not just because it's in and of itself so awesome a big part of why it dominated the battlefield is that well it's cheap you can equip large numbers of fighters with them and they don't even need as much training as with some other weapons and they're going to be perfectly effective now i dare you to imagine carrying this around in everyday life you know for civilian self-defense i mean sure it's going to give a lot of weapons a run for their money with its regional but um if you're jumped in an alley or let alone in a tavern in confined spaces this is about as useful as a giant toothpick but there must be some objective standards right even if they need more specificity we could all agree that even in the hands of john wick a gun is better than a pencil a warhammer is better than a sword against armor things like that and of course there are certain universal qualities or lack thereof that make a weapon bad like if it's poorly made for example generally you know a an iron sword is not going to be as good as a hardened and tempered steel sword stuff like that is obvious you know certain design flaws can definitely be pointed at i'd say this is generally easier to judge in case of firearms where a poor design can lead to failures to feed failures to eject and other mechanical malfunctions obviously it's worse objectively and of course you see extreme examples in some fantasy designs like this spiky flail sort of self-annihilation which has so many problems that even if you were really generous you would have to totally redesign this thing to make it not actively threaten the user then we have cases where you can end up judging a weapon unfavorably by comparing it to earth's entire arsenal throughout its history you know for example something like this a king jiao you could easily criticize this for all kinds of things like for one it has pitiful reach well compared to what compared to a long sword yes absolutely compared to a dagger not at all it has no hand guard you know your hand is much more vulnerable than with a lot of other designs okay fair enough but what is this for this is supposed to be a blade that you can easily carry for self-defense in everyday life and that's exactly what this does it's very easy to carry this on your belt it's quite effective in a number of you know everyday kind of situations cavern brawl being jumped in an alley etc etc things like that in this case this can be great where you don't even need this sort of protection plus are you looking at this thing by itself or are you looking at the potential that it has combined with something else the obvious comparison in terms of something similar would be gladius you don't really judge a roman gladius by itself you know in a one-on-one duel on an open field yeah of course it's going to be horrible and it's a lot of other weapons it's going to be bad against a saber against a rapier against a longsword against katana against all kinds of things because it's lacking something something crucial the scutum which is just it's designed to be used with that and it's designed for battlefield use if you take it into a different environment that it's not intended for of course it's not going to be as good and if you think about axes also a good example if you think about a free-for-all where you have to pick a weapon assuming an open field and you have to pick something you don't know what the opponent has and this is there along with two-handed axes pole axes various swords why would you pick this like you're going to be outperformed in terms of reach by most other things and you can't defend very well with this compared to you know say a poll axe or a long sword even a rapier you know this versus a rapier my money's on the rapier however this with a shield against a rapier now we're talking because now you're compensating for the natural weakness of this weapon lacking in defense and then the shield gives you the protection you need to bridge the gap to get into a distance where this is suddenly better than the otherwise better weapon this is another one of those problems you know depending on the the available space and the reach the exact same weapon can be either better or worse than another one even in historical time some people had rather strong opinions on which is the best and the worst weapon good old george silver for example in his opinion the worst weapon is the rapier and rapier and dagger he had what you might nowadays call a bit of a hate boner for italian rapiers and kind of italians in general he certainly has opinions why is a partisan better than a halberd just like various experts you may find in the comment section on youtube he does not present arguments for his choices he just proclaims it to be so i actually think the rapier and rapier and dagger is almost perfect for a very specific purpose you know for civilian self-defense mainly to be used against other such weapons it has enormous reach it has the agility and speed advantage if you're skilled and quick on your feet you can give a lot of opponents with other weapons a run for their money if you do it right again unless they have something that you wouldn't normally find on the street carried casually by a civilian like a spear alright so if we want to rate weapons as objectively as possible how can we go about it basically with as many criteria as reasonable in my opinion well coming up with good criteria is tricky especially if you want to be as thorough as possible not omitting anything crucial but also don't want to end up with a endless long scroll of things so while editing i was looking at what i came up with and wasn't really satisfied so this is the next attempt so originally i had several criteria offensive capability was basically split up into damage types you know cut bash or blunt impact and pierce which is great for a simulator if you want to calculate how effective a weapon is against particular armor but it's too much so now i decided to split it up into general damage and anti-armor capability damage is basically you know against a naked person or an object or what have you just kind of the baseline because i use a max score of six you can divide it into three categories you know like the three classes of armor light medium heavy and then you can use the two points look at is it okay or is it good so for example if we look at the dagger this is a min maxer pretty much so damage overall this is debatable i mean you can do horrendous damage with a dagger even just a humble knife it's pretty bad but considering what else we're comparing you know battle axes and such it doesn't score that high the anti-armor rating might confuse you depending on how you envision it if you just try to stab straight through plate armor of course it's not going to happen but daggers are actually fantastic for bypassing armor you know thrusting into the gaps and through a visor things like that so for that it's actually really good durability it's pretty good it's a short blade it's unlikely to snap in most situations speed obviously this is where it shines it's same speed as your hand pretty much reach is depending on what it is either pitiful compared to most other weapons or kind of okay you could argue for a two-point reach in case of a rondelle dagger like some of them can be pretty long others not so much depends defense basically none you know even against another dagger like it's very very hard to actually parry it and parrying another weapon there are techniques shown in some of the historical manuscripts extremely difficult um this also again depends on the type if you're talking about a [ __ ] or repairing dagger it's going to be quite a bit higher in fact a pairing dagger i might rate like three maybe something like that it's pretty good now adaptability what even is that originally i had i was trying to decide between ease of carry use in tight spaces which are related generally something that is easy to carry usually is pretty good to use in confined spaces as well but there are some examples that fall out of that it is a little bit vague admittedly but it can encompass things like how how easy is it to use this in various different situations you know for example a dagger is you know is great in grappling in confined spaces no problem is decent against armor you know once you get close enough it's terrible against a weapon with long reach that has the space available that it needs to benefit from that reach so in those situations it loses score here where it gains some points is you can basically in just about any situation anyone can can wear one like it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if you're if you're traveling on foot if you're if you have a horse or even a carriage or you know if you're part of an army if you're an individual dualist if you're in the woods if you're in the desert wherever you can carry a dagger you know if nothing else has a sidearm so that's kind of the problem of trying to roll a bunch of things into one criterion because ease of carry this would be full score using tight space it would also get full score versatility pretty low right it does very poorly against a lot of other weapons so this is kind of averaging it out what about the polar opposite the spear aka dagger on the stick basically damage is pretty good it's not can't compete with a pole arm of course but um it's definitely effective anti-armor basically anything up to plate is is good you know it can easily dispatch someone on a gambeson or even a brigandine a male also not a problem it can thrust through that with enough force things like that plate it can't get right through unless i guess it's poorly made iron plate perhaps but otherwise it's not really happening uh durability that's where the suffers the leverage at the end of the spear can amplify forces acting on it which can flex it pretty hard or transfer vibration to it as well it is definitely easier to break than a lot of other things speed is excellent with thrusts with strikes not so much but i think overall since this is primarily a thrusting weapon we can rate this pretty highly reach basically can't beat i mean you can beat it but that would be something like a pike or a longer pole arm defense is a mixed bag on the one hand you could consider it to be excellent if you're able to use your reach you know if you have superior reach to the opponent you're able to keep them at bay you're going to be perfectly safe of course the problem is once they get past your point basically especially if they're able to grab it you're doomed so this is like either amazing or horrible so it ends up kind of averaged out adaptability this again doesn't do very well in different situations it's really only applicable in select scenarios you know like on the battlefield for example otherwise in a judicial duel okay but you're not generally going to be carrying a spear on your person as you go about your daily business it's way too awkward to carry for that where it gains points is in its ability to deal with a variety of other weapons again due to the reach advantage but of course if you're dealing with limited space then you're kind of screwed unless it's a situation where let's say you're in a long alley or a corridor because it's pretty much dependent on a sidearm to a large extent that limits the adaptability in my opinion and affordability of course is where it shines it's pretty quick and easy to make it's basically only beaten by things like clubs particularly if you take wooden spears into account you just fire heart and tip okay this is probably where my bias comes through longsword scores suspiciously highly it's um well damage again it's an unarmored person yeah limbs will be flying it's not going to be pretty it's again depending on the type and this is the problem i've mentioned that before if you're comparing long swords to other sorts like what type it's going to make a huge difference whether you have something like the principe with its enormously wide blade or a particularly narrow more thrusting oriented sword there the damage would be quite a bit lower but if we want to go with like a an average long sword whatever that means in other words one that's cotton thrust you know keeping it fairly versatile not over emphasizing one over the other then yeah probably some way here anti-armor not with a cot obviously but um you know half sorting thrusting into the gaps striking with a garden palm all is there plenty of techniques available for that durability edge damage is a problem for sure with just about any sword really and the longer the blade is the more likely it is to bend or break so there's that speed is quite good you know it's not going to be as good as a short sword but um you can you can wield it pretty fast reach not as good as a great sword or let alone pull arm but it's definitely up there defense is quite good that's true for a lot of swords you know particularly if you think about grabbing the blade and doing a two-handed block if you have to against a more powerful weapon that you wouldn't otherwise be able to deal with or deflectional parries things like that adaptability pretty high it is a versatile kind of sword you can carry it you know in everyday life as a self-defense weapon you can bring it to the battlefield you can't even use it together with a shield if you really want to it's not going to be as good as a shorter one like an arming sword but it's possible there are a lot of things you can do and using it in confined spaces has some limitations but again sorting and this and then the other is not too bad affordability well most swords are not going to score terribly highly there and back in historical times they were not cheap they still aren't cheap like if you want a high quality replica nowadays okay what about its rival according to the internet the katana uh oh torches and pitchforks well i actually think it's quite similar really where i think it scores less highly is reach because they tend to be shorter and anti-armor capability because you can't have sword with this absolutely i've seen techniques you know where you press the palm of your hand against the swine and you could also pinch the flat as opposed to wrap your fingers around the edge but you're not going to be as effective in striking with the hilt as you are with a long sword but hey before you start angrily typing i would consider giving it an extra point in adaptability because it is easier to carry than long sword not just because it's shorter it's just more compact overall and yeah it's a little bit less cumbersome to have on your belt or in a sash or what have you plus you know the the ability to draw it pretty easily and quickly obviously you can do that with a long sword too but the katana is just slightly more well suited to that in my opinion and i think the better direct comparison to a long sword would be the tachi which has a longer blade and is overall in reach much more comparable to the longsword so this i rate pretty much the same as longsword with the exception of anti-armor again not quite as good now don't underestimate how effective this could be you know smacking someone in the helmet with the spine is going to be an unpleasant experience for them for sure not as bad as getting smashed with a pommel but still some of you might be confused that i give it the same defense rating as the long sword you might say yeah but what about the guard on a long sword and this is something that i think has been overstated i've done that too in the past it's when you really think about it and if you spar quite a bit with a long sword you will get a significant number of hand hits especially if your opponent deliberately aims for that which is a great way to end the fight quickly and safely against someone who snipes your hands they're going to be just as vulnerable either way unless you're wearing gauntlets or unless you have you know some kind of extended knuckle guard or even a type of shell guard things like that that's going to be a problem that's going to be a problem with just about any sword used with two hands you know unless you're using a basket healed broadsword for example yeah it's going to be a problem but this is where technique comes in and skill experience so it doesn't have to be as much of a problem as long as you use the tool effectively and finally the bat lath this scores actually pretty decently in my opinion now damage is good it's not absolutely amazing it's not like a pole arm but you could deliver pretty powerful strikes with it it can cut and chop and slice and it could also deliver some degree of blunt impact force if you struck with a spine anti-armor capability this depends on how it's made exactly depends on the weight if you have a heavier version it would be better for striking with the spine but you can also use the points again to drive into the gaps of armor under the arms for example things like that that would work quite well actually durability is hard to beat because this is this is one single piece of metal so you don't have to worry about you know separate pieces that come loose you know like on a sword the guard can start a rattle things like that pommel can come loose you know in a way that you don't want i mean so this is uh pretty difficult edge damage is a concern potentially but even if this becomes blunt you could still strike pretty hard with it and you can still use the points for sure speed this depends heavily on the weight i'm just completely disregarding the canonical weight that's mentioned of what was a 5.2 kilograms completely ludicrous just has to be ignored so this is clearly a case of the writers having no clue about weapons and just throwing out a number it's just no just even within that world you can tell there's no way it's that heavy you know non klingons use it pretty with quite a bit of speed as well and you can tell that what the actors are using are aluminum versions and you can tweak this quite easily if you make it thinner it doesn't need to be that heavy but it's not going to be lightning fast by any means reach is decent you know if you swing it with one hand let go with the the off hand and use the maximum available reach it's pretty good but again can't compete with a pole arm or even a longer sword defense this is where it does really well in my opinion you're able to use those double points you know catch an opponent's blade right in between hook it drag it around things like that you've got the blade in front of your hands to protect them to an extent so there's a lot you can do here and um adaptability this is you know the more i think about it the less happy i am with this originally i had ease of carry and ease of use you know in both cases it doesn't do very well it's not easy to carry as such because you can't very easily put it on your belt for example and it's not terribly easy to use again no weapon is even swords require quite a bit of training i was also thinking about using tight space as a criterion and here it would be really good because you're able to keep this again pretty close to your body keep it kind of tucked in uh use slicing actions use the points up close you can attack with either end so it's that's that's where it's really good so adaptability is just trying to try to throw it all in the blender into one category you know portability and using tight spaces and use against in multiple different situations etc so this is where it just kind of averages out and then affordability here this is actually kind of tricky i guess technically in in the world of star trek it's not an issue if you can just replicate the thing it doesn't actually cost you anything as such uh i'm just going by what it would cost to make it in real life basically all right so this turned out quite a bit more rambly than i was hoping just entirely on me of course i could have used detailed notes and whatnot but i just wanted to talk about a more off the cuff and really as a way of starting a conversation i don't have all the answers not by any means and uh it's i just want to remind you that or how much it depends on the circumstances you know and in one particular situation one weapon could be terrible like again dagger versus most swords on an open field it's gonna be horrible but in a grappling situation the dagger is king of course it would defeat just about anything else pretty much so you need to take that into consideration and judge your weapon by what it's intended for specifically you know is this intended to be used with a shield or a buckler or in full armor things like that in case of the bat left is this intended to be used on a spaceship with probably quite a bit of confined space here and there against people who generally don't use melee weapons for that matter and it's intended to be more challenging that's what the culture is all about so if you take a step back and look at the greater picture you may often find yourself rating things more highly than you would have otherwise done and of course let's not forget that there was a lot of strange stuff in history not everything that existed in history was perfectly practical and pragmatic and you know they're bizarre combination weapons that do a little bit of this and that and the other and none of it terribly well and some are just head scratchers quite frankly and were quite rare as a result so yeah anyway i hope you found this interesting entertaining perhaps and uh thanks for watching have a good one folks [Music] you

Channel: Skallagrim

Views: 392,449

Keywords: Skall, Skallagrim, weapons, melee weapons, best sword, best weapon, longsword, katana, dagger, spear, historical weapons, arms and armor, battle axe, bat'leth, klingon, fantasy, sci-fi, fantasy design, practical, effective, katana vs longsword, polearm, swords, kindjal, rapier

Id: kdNnfApn5HE

Length: 29min 38sec (1778 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 27 2022