The Swordsman 2022
Chanelle Kirksey
Depends I'd say. If Adolin or Dalinar have their shards and Denth only has his sword and unnatural speed then Dalinar/Adolin, Denth could possibly do what Kaladin did, but he wont have his speed advantage anymore.
it may be denth, although we cannot be sure. he has centuries of practice and some supernatural enhancement, but swordfighting is a seondary skill to him. adolin instead did nothing else but train for it. So i wouldn't be so sure between the members of the kholin family and denth.
Yeah, two shardbearers, one of them a champion duelist, against Adolin without stormlight, and he had the upper hand. If Adolin had supernatural enhancement, he would be so amazing it would be ridiculous.
Adolin has certainly grown into a better swordsman than Dalinar at this point in time. Dalinar never had the finesse and the elegance of Adolin's careful dancing around his opponents: he has always been more set into simply crushing his enemies. So within the Stormlight Archive, I'd say Adolin is the best we have currently met.
However, Vasher and Denth are likely superior fighters than him. They had hundred of years of experience while Adolin has not even reached his peak yet. Perhaps if Adolin had a hundred years as well, he'd be as good as Arsteel...
Now that you mention it, it is odd that Vasher/Zahel is now known as a great swordmaster, given his lack of skill compared to Denth and Arsteel. Maybe he was still very skilled compared to regular mortals, he just paled in comparison to those two. Or maybe he's had a long time to improve since then.
I think he is incredibly skilled when compared to normal people, but lacking when compared to Denth or Arsteel which are insanely good. Adolin is leagues below them. Perhaps he has the potential, but he still is very young.
you also have to take into account that shardbearer fighting and sword fighting are two very different techniques. sword lenght is much different, and with shardblades you can make all the fancy swordplay that you see in movies that, if done with real swords, would cause them to go blunt and break really fast. you can also let yourself be hit for other tactical advantages, which you cannot without plate. it could be that different poeple are best at diffferent specialties.
He did kill multiple Dakhor monks by himself with just a normal sword. Disarms a veteran soldier and goes from a praying/fasting stupor to martial arts bad-chull with barely a pause during his time in Elantris. Denth might have the magical and experience advantage but he should hold his own with a shardless adolin easily.
For the first one, I'd say Artsteel would beat Denth. For the rest, I do agree. Dalinar would be the best in the melee. I would not count him out in the "dirty trick" fight as well, but Vasher probably wins.
I would say either Hrathen, Ham, or Denth, probably. Hrathen seems to be naturally skilled, and he supplements this with extreme discipline and a perfectionist attitude. While we don't see Ham use a sword often, he is a capable warrior even without Pewter. We don't know enough about his sword skills to say for sure, but he could be a contender.
Sarene seems like more of a hobbiest to me; though she is skilled in an athletic sense, she lacks actual combat experience. It is interesting that many prominent sword wielders in Brandon's books are male.
On that point, what about Eshonai? I know she's not human, so its tough to compare, but she gives Dalinar a good beating, and could probably do the same to Adolin. Doesn't it also say she is one of the best Parshendi warriors?
I'd say that shardless Adolin would fall a lot in his position even in one on one duels, since when your sword is breakable, differently balanced, shorter, denser, maybe heavier, and your armor doens't give you extra strenght, speed and thoughness, them you will have a hard time adapting.
As for Shardless Adolin...
It's not that much matter of losing strenght or speed of Shardplate... What really is the matter that fighting with a sword and fighting with Shardblade are very, very different things. With normal sword parrying and blocking is different, for starters, since you can't block with the edge as you would do with Shardblade. This alone forces a lot of changes to the way you fight. Even more, if you use a shield. No more blocking and parrying with the sword, you have to get used to blocking with a shield and also to having your sword blocked not by another blade, but a shield (this changes quite a lot).
What's more, the entire mechanism of the fight changes. You have to learn to use the sword and shield. With normal sword, you can't just smash the same segment of opponent's armor to get through - you have to aim for the openings and holes and so on.
Without Shardplate, you have to be more carefull, since no armor provides as much protection as Sharplate. You can't just think 'hey, I will receive that blow to the side, since the Plate there is in good shape and at the same time I will aim for his head'. This blow can be potentially fatal for you.
Not to mention the radical change of length of the blades and the distance from your opponent as a consequence...
I am not an expert in swordfighting, but I think most of my points are valid.
It's not that much matter of losing strenght or speed of Shardplate... What really is the matter that fighting with a sword and fighting with Shardblade are very, very different things. With normal sword parrying and blocking is different, for starters, since you can't block with the edge as you would do with Shardblade. This alone forces a lot of changes to the way you fight. Even more, if you use a shield. No more blocking and parrying with the sword, you have to get used to blocking with a shield and also to having your sword blocked not by another blade, but a shield (this changes quite a lot).
What's more, the entire mechanism of the fight changes. You have to learn to use the sword and shield. With normal sword, you can't just smash the same segment of opponent's armor to get through - you have to aim for the openings and holes and so on.
Without Shardplate, you have to be more carefull, since no armor provides as much protection as Sharplate. You can't just think 'hey, I will receive that blow to the side, since the Plate there is in good shape and at the same time I will aim for his head'. This blow can be potentially fatal for you.
Most are valid ( I do a bit of swordfighting - no shards, of course ), except that with armor hit to the side. Actually, as long as it hits the side where the armor is good, it will stop the blade. Just make sure it stays there and does not go for your axlehole.
The regular sword is heavier, can his arm take the additional weight and not bulk in fatigue prematurely? An armor is heavier, can he still maintain his mobility while wearing one? Can he keep on the same stamina while being imprisoned into a heavy armor he is not used to wear and while yielding a heavier sword then he is used to?
Basically, his entire fighting technique was developed and perfected with him being a Shardbearer. Last time he fought with a regular sword, he must have been 16 years old... He has also grown into a bold duelist, willing to take hits to secure more important ones: can he lose the instinct without his Shards? If not, he may get seriously injured. Also, his Plate is nullifying the injuries he does receive as even when covert in bruises, he can still fight nimbly, a feat he wouldn't be able to perform without it.
Swordsman is offense class.
It have scintillation that blocks 2 skills at lvl 2 (2 fighter stuns), plus thx to their RP recovery skill, you can KD them at will.
There is prop debuff too that weak them af too.
Swordsman is one of MA classes that can work with full CON/PROP gear.
Both are are ally good for PVP, non of them are better than the other, imo Swordsman is better for 1v1 and fighter better for 5v5. Fighter works really god with con/prop too, ppl only used dex on it cuz buff of dodge + dodge pot, and ppl used prop on swordsman only cuz prop debuff to increase the damage, but that became useless with N prop bug.
Btw MA's arent suppose to use energy skills, only if u do pve, but u need to max AOE energy skills for that. Speed fighter and KD Swordmaster are easy beatable cuz if the enemy has Physical Reflet + LP% u will kill urself if u atack him, if enemy has enought reflet and u alot of atack speed ur autopot cant even restore ur lp faster enought
If you want a shiny plate wearing guy with a sword and shield, go warrior. If you want to play Maximus the Gladiator, go warrior. If you want to show up drunk, mostly naked, grumpy as f, and swing a claymore at some howling lizards, go warrior.
I always thought of the Warrior as more of a Sandor Clegane type. Gritty and brutish, with abilities such as overpower that just show what a powerhouse he is. Combat Rogues to me were always more of the classic swordsman. Sort of an Inigo Montoya type of character, as they have riposte as a talent, but with no honor. I guess either could be considered a swordsman, but one is more power where the other is more finesse. Of course this is just my roleplay interpretation, so to each their own.
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