History Main / SliceAndDiceSwordsmanship

* In ''Webcomic/BitsFair'', [[http://bitsfair.com/comic/3-54-59 at the end of chapter three]], Ananda's oppponent dual wields punch daggers, but seems to use them more for slashing than for stabbing.

** Most other NipponIchi games like to play this one straight. ''MakaiKingdom'' subverts this somewhat by having swords and rapiers as separate weapon classes. Swords and katanas are used for slashing, while rapiers stick primarily with thrusting attacks. Though in ''Franchise/{{Disgaea}}'', ridiculous special attacks aside, weapons were actually used properly.

* This happens with the Rapiers in TheLastRemnant, even if they appear to be useless as a slashing weapon.

[[AC:{{LARP}}]]
* {{Enforced}} in LARP fights, as foam weapons can be damaged by stabbing with them.

* ''CityOfHeroes''' sword sets (Katana, Broadsword, [[SwordsAkimbo Dual Blades]]) let the player customize what kind of weapon(s) their character uses. The animation stays the same no matter what weapon is chosen (katana, rapier, sai...).

* In ''VideoGame/BetrayalAtKrondor'', all swords can be used to slash or stab -- normally, a stab is accurate, while a slash sacrifices accuracy for more power. However, one of the swords is a rapier, where the slash is appropriately less accurate ''and'' less damaging.

** The Estoc is a straight example. Its in-game item description in DarkSouls mentions that the blade has been sharpened to allow for slicing.

* Completely averted with DemonsSouls. While the normal short sword-type weapons can both slash and thrust (and indeed, the unique AwesomeButImpractical Penetrator Sword has bonus damage on thrusting and has a very wide slash range due to its long blade), slash weapons like Falchion, Kilij and Uchigatana can only slash while straight swords like Rapier and Estoc can only thrust. Same goes with thrust-only spears, while weapons like Halberd primarily slash. The thrusting weapons are very efficient against armor (as it pierces) and can be used while blocking; slash weapons inflict Bleeding status effect, which is basically a weapon-induced Poison effect, with reduced healing capability thrown in.
** Also averted with its SpiritualSuccessor ''DarkSouls''. The Balder Side Sword, for example, averts this trope due to the fact that the weapon it is based on, the side sword/arming sword, is sharpened along its edges, allowing for slashing attacks as well as a piercing attack (like the in-game strong attack portrays).
** The Estoc is actually a straight example. Its in-game item description in DarkSouls mentions that the blade has been sharpened to allow for slicing.

* The only way to kill an armored opponent with a sword is to thrust and penetrate the armor, as slashing is comparable to clubbing them to death, which a mace would be more suitable for. This is why swords actually intended for combat weigh no more than 6 pounds.

* Playing straight with [[BayonetYa sword bayonets]]. While they are intended for thrusting, they are ''extremely'' suitable for slashing as well, effectively turning the rifle into a halberd. Many bayonet fighting techniques include slashes.

* ''{{GURPS}}'' actually distinguishes between swinging and thrusting damage for a given strength in melee, and any given weapon may be suitable for use in one way, the other, or both. Thrusting damage tends to be lower, but more primarily thrusting weapons will do "impaling" damage, which is more effective at both penetrating certain kinds of armor and inflicting actual injury to the body underneath; in addition, some weapons (such as polearms) recover faster from a thrust than from a swing.
* Averted by ''DungeonsAndDragons 3.5'', which specifically classed weapons as piercing, slashing or bludgeoning. This came into effect when you faced an enemy that had Damage Reduction against a certain type of attack. Ever tried to stab a skeleton? (4th Edition has no such classification, mainly as part of its campaign to make things simpler.)

* Fiercely averted in ''RoleMaster'' (and, to a smaller extent, ''Middle-Earth RPG'', which is based on a simplified version of the RM rules), where not only does every single weapon type have its own damage table, but the tables are cross-referenced with the target's armour (20 types, from naked skin to full gothic plate). Critical hits also varied from weapon to weapon AND armour to armour. E.g. an axe striking naked flesh would likely do Slashing crits, but use it on a very heavy hauberk and it becomes a crushing weapon - unless you strike really, really hard :).

* ''VideoGame/{{Soulbringer}}'' averts this. The game uses "piercing, slashing, and bludgeoning" damage types like [[DungeonsAndDragons D&D]] below, with certain types doing better against certain kinds of armor; bashing works against non-human creatures like skeletons or rock beasts, slashing against unarmored enemies, piercing against humans wearing metal armor. Unlike D&D, some weapons do more than one type, depending on the attack, and attack positioning can overcome type weaknesses. Greatswords, for example, do slashing damage...but attacking the legs or bringing it down hard on the head of a helmeted foe still hurts like hell ([[BreakableWeapons your weapon, too]]).

* ''RagnarokOnline'' Plays this rather straight in a few ways. Rapiers are available as a one-handed sword, yet it carries the same slashing animation that every sword uses in the game. Knights are also able to use an [=AoE=] skill called Brandish Spear, which involves swinging a spear to knock away nearby enemies (although the attack animation doesn't change).

* The earliest ''FinalFantasy'' games show all melee weapons as making over-the-shoulder slashes, rather like axes. This gets somewhat comical when Kain does it in the fourth game with spears that were clearly designed to pierce rather than cut. By the sixth game, however, spears get a special thrusting animation, and later games give each weapon and/or character a different attack animation (though they all do the same damage.)

* Subverted, inverted and played stright in ''ArxFatalis'', where type of melee attack depends upon your movement at the moment you start charging the attack (if you are backpedaling, you will prepare to a thrust, if strafing - a side swing, and if running forward - an [[SwordOverHead overhead slam]]; if standing still, you make a hacking move). This, however, doesn't save you neither from slashing with the rapier-like sword nor from much more interesting things like stabbing a full-plated foe with ''a hammer''. [[spoiler: Or with HUGE one-handed machete thing with long side-pointed spike on its already blunt tip.]]

* One episode of ''HighlanderTheSeries'' featured Duncan lopping off a head while using a spear. It was, however, a heavy-bladed spear with a leaf-shaped blade, and the decapitation required a full 360-degree spin for momentum, with the spear being held near the base of the shaft.

** Halbreds were given poor slash damage since all polearms in the game were classified as "spears".

** The Estoc is actually a straight example. Its standing power attack is a giant slash.

* Scorpion seems to use his spear to slice a victim in one of his ''VideoGame/MortalKombat2'' fatalities.

-->--'''Syrio Forel''', ''ASongOfIceAndFire''

* Soma in ''VideoGame/{{Castlevania}}: Dawn of Sorrow'' averts this. Rapiers thrust, short swords slash, etc and both are considered different kind of damage (others including bludgeon and light). The same went for the earlier ''Aria of Sorrow'', ''prequel to Dawn''.

** Most other NipponIchi games like to play this one straight. ''MakaiKingdom'' subverts this somewhat by having swords and rapiers as separate weapon classes. Swords and katanas are used for slashing, while rapiers stick primarily with thrusting attacks.
*** Though in ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea}}'', ridiculous special attacks aside, weapons were actually used properly.

->''"Remember, child, this is not the iron dance of Westeros we are learning, the knight's dance, hacking and hammering, no. This is the bravo's dance, the water dance, swift and sudden."''