I feel like you can ABSOLUTELY make it really effective :D but you have to use it in the exact opposite way that you use a normal Great Sword :] So when using a Great Sword you are like the Eye of The Storm... But when using the Giant Sword you have to be The Storm itself... When wielding a normal weapon you usually go don't want the weapon to be pulling you around... But we aren't using a normal weapon >:3 to make The Giant Sword work you have to allow the Blade to Throw you around... This will make the amount of energy consumption alot less... You also have to design an entirely new foot work pattern... This will allow you to Lunge at & Pivot around your opponent with Big Unblockable Strikes powered by weight of the blade itself... Dont forget to use that tip... Allow your opponent to believe that you have left yourself open to only be jabbed straight in the gut... & Don't forget to power even your stabs with the weight of the blade... Always be as unpredictable as possible & aggressive as possible... Your foot work should be like a mix of a Boxer & a Wrestler... Always be sure that you are in a safe position with you take a rest... If you prop the blade on your fore arm you are basically welding a long as sheild use it is you ever get cornerd... Always being trying to work with your blade not against it... Jumps can allow you to hit someone out of your effctive range & spins can allow you to catch up with your opponent out if they get past your blade... Aight that's about it PEACE
@@watermelonprom7197you actually described very well what i was thinking about a giant sword, the problem is that you would need the strengh of a heavi lifter to actually do that
@@Randoman-dt9cq lol glad :] but I think it's much more about Endurance than actual Strength... Ofc having extra Strength can allow you to speed up & slow down your blade which can help off set your very predictable timing so that you can set up some powerful yet unexpected strikes... but also if you just let the blade swing both you & itself around then your won't really need to be all that strong... Which is part of the whole new footwork pattern I mentioned earlier... The reason why I said it should look like the mix between a Boxer & a Wrestler is because both Boxers & Wrestler are used to throwing around their weights... By either Pivoting to a Punch or Lunging for the Legs... With full body connection between you & the blade it will make swinging it around as easy as swinging around your own leg... The problem is Endurance... Because if you're using the proper techniques once you get the hang of it.... It's not that bad :] but swinging around something as big as that with the constant footwork & movement... Damn is it tiring- even if you try to take a break the moment of rest might not even be worth it compared to the amount of energy it will take to get the ball rolling again... & Don't even try to have some sort of formal guard position- normally if you had an axe or hammer that would be great because it's too heavy to be easily knocked out of the way by anything less than an Axe or Hammer... But with this weapon the moment someone tries to move it then you'll been going with it- unless you plan on using that momentum like a kick start to counter strike- but again if your opponent is smart they will just let you tire your self out by holding it in a that guarded position... The only static position I'd suggest is on the Ground or in the Sky... The ground gives you the most recovery while the Sky gives you an easy downward counter.... Unless you're in some sort of Ox guard where you can launch a massive thrust... Best to use it a a transitional phase to your next attack... It's also good for making your opponent feel like they have an opening only for them to get stabbed... Also as... Silly- as it is... Yes rolling might ACTUALLY be useful... Because using the momentum of the blade you can easily get back to a standing position & it can allow you to strike at some un excepted angles... Other foot work examples include Capoeria & Aikido... Just like Capoeria you should absolutely have a Guard but that guard should never be static so having some fun side to side steps while gently swing the blade around can be very useful... & Aikido as so pretty cool crouching while still upright & moving positions which is good for level changes... Aight that's about it- PEACE
even as impossibly strong as Guts is portrayed, he's often seen using large buildups of momentum to swing fast enough to be practical throwing his whole body into it, which is a detail thats always fun to spot
Guts' strength and tenacity is beyond super human, athleticism too, because how he rolls around and somersaults to do some stuff and taking into account that the Dragon Slayer must weight above 100 kg / 222 lbs... I love Berserk, the whole universe is so dark and captivating, and it's so cool to see Guts letting that sword rip! The drawing style is such a masterpiece... R.I.P. Kentarou Miura
In-universe people always called him an idiot for wielding his old, much smaller, oversized sword. If I understood correctly the whole point was not that these weapons he was using were more effective because of their size (because the opposite was true), it was that 1: using such heavy swords on a daily basis as a mercenary built up his body to levels most people could never reach, making him incredibly strong in general (rather than starting out super special and strong; in fact as a child he struggled to use an oversized sword, but insisted on sticking with it), and 2: at least at the beginning of the Golden Age arc, because of his extremely traumatic childhood he didn't really care if he died, so his fighting style was to trick an opponent into trying to parry his blows or drive him back without it being possible to stop the weight of his sword, even if it meant risking his own life due to his slower movements.
Guts also use his sword to protect his back, he use momentum to create more damage when he swing, he use his sword to reach distance enemy and crushed them on their own armor.
@moyaidrip5003 I think of this as the "Monster Hunter argument" but it really doesn't make much sense. Even if it's just that you need more power behind your swings to cut deeper to seriously debilitate your foe, the real-life tool we invented to make deep cuts through large, tough cylinders (an axe) would be better. In MH especially the argument is ridiculous because hunters also use other more reasonable weapons. Firearms also exist in this universe because Guts uses one, and those are almost certainly going to fare a lot better than any sword if the problem is that a regular sword can't make deep enough cuts.
How to make a practical big sword: 1) Extend the handle to improve reach and counter-balance the blade 2) Curve the blade so that the percussion point is a wider range 3) Get behind a guy with a shield 4) Enjoy your halberd
It's important to remember that Berserk was playing with the idea of giant weapons by having them be unrealistic in the setting but the character using them was seemingly super-human in the way many mythical figures are.
Yes. His intended targets are non-human and enormous. When he gets Dragonslayer, he even uses a "normal sword" and it fails to work; Dragonslayer was his best option.
I could see one legitimate historical use for a buster sword, actually: Executioner's Sword. It's big, long, heavy, sharp, and ultimately just needs to be dropped onto a stationary target. It's basically a portable Guillotine.
but there would be no reason to invent it for even that since there were already axes that did the job, france was the only place that tried to revolutionize the process, but it was just too clunky to be practical even then
I remember seeing that short a while ago and thinking "this guy has mixed up 'physically possible under certain circumstances' with 'practical'" quickly followed by "I wonder when SKall will do another video on this?" :)
"You can technically wield this if you have a very specific training regime, don't wield it in certain ways, and only get into specific fights. Giant swords practical, silenced by big little sword"
It wasn’t a short it was a full video and he went into more demonstrations with a real guts sword. He could swing it rather fast and could cut a wooden tree stump in half with a lazy swing.
The thing is we literally have usable "giant" swords. The problem is the fantasy of an even bigger sword is explicitly a sword that is too big to use. The moment we figure out how to make a working fast giant sword, we will shift our view towards an even bigger sword.
You are joking right? The guy in the first clip specifically stated unpractical sharp slabs they call a sword, is more deadly than a zweihänder or odachi. Purely because of our human physiology and basic physics we've made swords that are practical for different situations. Fantasy swords are fantasy for a reason, it's a nice tale to tell people but no way it's real and outwinning a spear/halberd.
@@Merilirem I did. I said what I said because fantasy swords are fantasy swords. There are limits to functionality, physics and capabilities of human strength/dexterity when using martial weapons. Hence why the useable "giant" swords look the way they do and were used to counter spear formations, in duels or on horseback. People who actually think those massive slabs of sword were or even can be used are living in fantasy land and are way too much into their Guts/Cloud cosplay.
That super strength thing always has to be taken into consideration with these swords. Guts from Berserk trained with an oversized weapon since he was a child. Sigfried from Soul Calibur was taken over by Soul Edge, which transformed into the giant sword shape. Cloud from Final Fantasy...was supposed to have a regular sized sword in the concept art, but they needed it to look cool in the game with as few polygons as possible. lol
That bit about cloud is only half true man. What you failed to say was that Cloud was originally supposed to be who Zack Fair became from the concept art. And also cloud wields the buster sword prior to any genetic mods done to him, so...
It doesn't matter how much you train, you won't be able to efficiently wield a giant sword like that. There is an upper limit to human strength that no amount of training will overcome. It makes more sense to have the superhuman characters possess some ability that's beyond human, i.e. supernatural powers like magic, cyborg upgrades, or just have them be something non-human such as aliens, angels, demons etc. That to me is always a better explanation for superhuman feats than "he trained really hard"
That one girl from Utawarerumono killed several armed men in her first appearance, and any sword she tried using shattered on the first hit. Hibiki from Symphogear only wielded Durandal twice, and both times while using her Symphogear, which boosts her physical strength so much that she can crush steel pipes in one hand, and later rip the turrets off of tanks.
"Guts' sword is totally practical!" Ah, yes, the sword that is repeatedly described as not being even remotely practical in its source material except when used by the one single lunatic with enough screws loose to dedicate almost their entire life to figuring out how to use it, and who still regularly goes "oh yeah, this things is garbage in ANY reasonably closer-quarters fight."
Guts fights in extremely close quarters frequently. I realise its a manga, but when you get up close enough to someone that OP they don't even need their sword, they just grab hold of you and start breaking pieces of your body. Also he uses knives and various other techniques to slow or weaken an opponent so he can devastate them with a killer blow from the Ol' Dragonslayer.
What people don't seem to get either, is that Guts literally has help wielding the sword too with his magnetic prosthetic hand too. But even Guts himself uses the shear weight of the weapon to his advantage in battle, as he basically from time to time just lets the weight of the sword itself take control in his swings to solely let kinetic force do the work for him while using his strength only on holding onto the blade itself.
@@The-Black-Death Gut's hand isn't ever said to be magnetic, and if anything it probably makes wielding the sword harder. He'd have to worry about his arm falling off all the time because the sword is so heavy.
@@xx_amongus_xx6987 Did you skip over the part where Rickert himself said he put a magnet in the grip of Gut's prosthetic hand to make it easier to wield his sword???
@@SMac86 Yes, but his sword is ass is the point. Its only purpose is to make him capable of dealing lethal strikes to monsters. Honestly the only reason he uses it is because he doesn't have any other options. He's like a guy with num-chuks.
As far as video games go, Kenshi has a great way to add in gigantic swords. They're used by those with superhuman strength like mutants, people with robotic limbs, or robots. Or they are used by bandits trying to compensate. The bandits usually get off one comically slow sword drop before being beaten senseless.
It's not just strength, but relative weight. The heavier the sword is in comparison to you, the more it moves you, instead of you moving the sword. So more mass makes it move less and do less damage. So the added mass has to add capability in greater amount than it decreases it, which becomes harder and harder the heavier the sword is to you. Huge swords would only fit huge people and at that point it's just a regular sword again.
Funny thing about that is the robotic arms might be stronger than the fleshy alternative but they're still attached to a meat sack which will have to cope with the weight of the sword and stresses of being swung about.
You could have some robotic arm that gives you infinite strength, if youre not heavy enough it doesnt matter. Youre going flying when you swing that sword.
A lot of giant swords fall into a category I like to refer to as Edged Clubs, which is telling of both construction and theoretical use. True Greatswords (rather than the montante/spadone/schlactschwert/light greatsword/heavy longsword) tend to be chunky and a bit slower, but even those weren't generally used directly against things like fully armored opponents without trying to go around it like any other sword. Guts' golden age sword (called that most nebulous term of Broadsword, and the one in the thumbnail) is basically a heavy greatsword, wandering a bit from depiction to depiction, but in use tends to be wielded in the manner one would a tetsubo/kanabo/godendag/greatclub, but with approximately cutting edges. Armored dude? Smack em. Giant monster? Smack em. Not-armored dude? Smack em. Someone/something with a shield or an attempt to parry without a heavy enough weapon? Lol, lmao.
The way you describe this reminds me of Heavy Weapons in Kenshi; effectively huge sharp clubs or crushing weights that also happen to do slashing damage, one mod includes the tetsubo. Described as mostly carried by those showing off, but the rare individual weilding them with skill are horrifically effective against groups. Including your characters.
Whenever you mentioned the excessive strength required all I could think was "Or swing a normal sword impossibly fast so they couldn't react in time." Even if you COULD wield such a behemoth, you could do so much more damage with a conventional weapon as long as you knew how to use it properly. And watching that greatsword movement was mesmerizing, very nice work.
Tbf, while strength and speed are correlated, that doesn’t necessarily mean that strength to use a giant sword makes you absurdly fast with a lighter weapon. Also consider that a fantasy setting may not even have metals that can allow a normally proportioned blade to withstand the kind of force that low level superhumans can generate. Or if they do, they might be far too expensive. Our giant sword hero could also be some sort of gladiator and his impossibly large blade is part of the show.
There's also the threshold in super-strength where the audience starts asking "Why does he even need a weapon?" If the guy can swing a sword the size of a motorcycle around like it's no big deal, what's to stop him from just grabbing a hold of me and ripping my limbs off like an enraged Wookie?
@@Amigo21189 if super humans existed they would probably be fighting other super humans. Unless they happen to be the only super human on earth in which case you are right, it doesn't matter, they could just as well wear their red underwear over their clothes and go around punching people...
I like how Berserk is constantly used as a reference to giant fucking swords, when the entire point of the Millenium Arc and Guts using a much smaller sword than the Dragonslayer was seen as downright supernatural because he could use the large sword with such speed and technique. Guts was an exception to the big sword rule, because literally nobody else other than unholy demons can even try and use something close to Guts's swords.
True. And Guts doesn't use the Dragonslayer for its heft specifically, he uses it because of its durability. Pretty much every time he tries to use smaller weapons against Apostles his sword ends up breaking. This is made a point of in the Pig Demon fight. The Dragonslayer just has so much metal on it even the superhuman monsters Guts fights can't break it easily.
@@gipsymelody1268 Because it was soaked in the blood of so many supernatural creatures that it now exists on both the physical and immaterial planes. It didn't make the sword any stronger or sharper, just that it can harm incorporeal beings.
@@Xaxpplus it’s canon the dragon slayer is magic and has “death spirits” or something inhabiting it. Like it’s a canon magic sword. And magic itself probabaly effects guts body too making him superhuman
The next one you should test is if you can't pull Excalibur from the stone, can you just pick up the whole thing and fight with the stone still stuck to the sword?
What if there's the Lady of the Lake holding the sword? Can you effectively swing the sword with a fey lady stuck to it? Does it make a difference if she's wet because of the whole lake thing?
I love that Skal is discovering the same things about using giant swords that Shad & the Gang did at the start of the Titan Sword Project. Circular motion, using the blade's momentum to your advantage, utilizing the drop-blade-from-shoulder tactic, etc. The body-dynamics must really be in effect, now that we've got two examples of these sorts of adaptations.
One of the reasons i love your content is because you dont just harp about how a weapon *cant* work, you really take the time to look at it and figure out how it *could* work. Thats different from a lot of creators out there and makes your videos so much fun 😊
I know where this argument is going and we always end up back at somebody arguing that then the best weapon ever was the dagger, and a dude retorting to that that the best weapon ever was somebody cheating and shooting you with a bow and then a responding to that that the best weapon ever was somebody yeeting a rock, because no training, cheap and most importantly return to monkey. Here's my two cents, I wouldn't want to face somebody with a giant sword and I certainly wouldn't want to face somebody with a sledgehammer, both are excellent weapons under their own niche conditions.
@@anarchyandempires5452 - I think my only argument is that if I had a melee weapon of my choice and choice between fighting someone with a giant sword and someone with literally any historical battlefield melee weapon, from a greatsword to a literal caveman flint spear, I would choose the giant sword as my opponent every time. I know, that no matter how good they are, their choice of weapon is inherently more exploitable. Not saying I would WIN in EITHER, just that I would have more confidence I could outmaneuver a giant hunk of steel compared to literally any other option.
I'm fairly confident in saying that as long as I had a simple spear or longsword, I would absolutely beat any human using a giant oversized sword with my limited training. It's not hard to dodge and the moment they miss once there is absolutely nothing they can do against a quick thrust toward the face. @@Verbose_Mode
Something I think could be expanded on more is the use of giant fantasy swords against much larger enemies. If you're fighting a human dude then the guy with a rapier will cut you 7 times before you can swing a second time, but (as an entirely random example) in something like Berserk where the enemies are ginormous hell beasts that probably use a lot of their own strength to swing their limbs alone it would mean you're more properly matched than if you were fighting another human.
Dude Mira is genius, that is exactly how it works in Berserk. They establish that the Dragonslayer is basically a sledgehammer on steroids, as it can be seen slicing through concrete and armour like it’s nothing, which is a huge advantage when every monster can survive siege weapons. In fact the only reason that Guts used the Dragonslayer was because his original sword broke against an apostle. As for what you said about a normal human cutting you 7 times, absolutely! When Guts uses the Dragonslayer against humans it’s basically always crowd control, taking out large groups of enemies in a few sings. But the Serpico shows up and basically bypasses all of Guts’ defences and had a better shot at killing him than any apostle besides Zodd (Or Rosine but Guts held back at many points during their fights). It’s just that in Berserk there aren’t that many Serpicos, because when you see someone swing around a man sized hunk of iron like it’s nothing, and kill demons as a job. You don’t want to fight him, even if you have pretty good chances.
As someone who worked at UPS sorting packages for 4 years: There are several things we do to "make sure we don't @#$% our backs up," as my instructor put it. The thing that stuck with me long after working there was the "Power Zone." The power zone is the area between your chin and your pelvis (basically your torso). You want to keep packages as close to you as possible, and in that general area. If you hold a package away from you with your arms outstretched, you are effectively tripling the package's weight for how difficult it is to pick up/move around. So a 20 lb package becomes 60 lbs. A 60 lb package becomes 180 lbs. Obviously sword-wielding and package-sorting are two different things, but I think the concept of the power zone is probably why we so rarely see historical giant swords (or just swords that are heavy in general). Swords, by default, kind of have to disobey the power zone rule (You HAVE hold them outstretched from you if you want to hit your opponent). So a 60 lb giant sword is going to tire you out very quickly. A "regular" 12 lb claymore or something similar? Not so much. More practical. 👍
As much as I love big swords in games. I've always found the idea of using a large piece of metal as a practical weapon in real life amusing. As always thank you for this entertaining video! Take care!
I'd say it's more practical if u were fighting something large and non human. Like a beast or monster that a normal sword might bend or break against. But yeah, for an ordinarily squishy human, it's probably overkill.
@@CosmicG777 I love Monster hunter game series where you have big weapons and huge monsters. But realistically speaking I think humans would use just sturdier spears or siege weaponry against that kind of threats rather than big swords. It would be safer and would generate way more power rather than trying to swing upscaled weapon originally made to fight other humans.
@@Skallagrim Hey Skull, I had a question about wrist blades. Awhile back, I saw a video detailing their possible use as a predrawn sidearm, with the primary drawback being they would get in the way of any techniques that required a free wrist. That got me thinking... could they work as a sidearm today? As in wearing wrist blades while using a gun?
eyyyy we just gotta wait for a withcer like conjunction of the spheres and we can try hopping over to Roshar. see some crabs get some shardplate/shardblades etc
In the Chinese martial art style known as Baguazhang, they use oversized weapons (especially the broadsword) for training precisely because of the way it throws off the user's balance while swinging it. The user will walk in circles and turn around while swinging the sword in various arcs and the weight of the sword causes the user to develop more nimble and precise footwork from adjusting to the sword's momentum. This is especially done in Baguazhang because this style tries to maneuver in and around the opponent while attacking instead of, say, using a direct line of force, or possibly a yielding and expanding force that is used in other systems.
I recall de re militari instructing the reader to train their soldiers with swords that are far more heavier than what they actually are for similar reasons.
I saw that guy's videos a few months ago, and was astounded by how hard he was trying to validate such an obviously bad form of fighting. Seriously, go find one of his videos and check out the comment section, he has this whole written out paragraph about how "No actually its completely practical" with no real world examples or evidence. Living in a fantasy, that one.
the detail about avoiding crossed-hand lifting by grabbing the blade with your left hand is interesting. Guts always had an armor on his left hand, and post-eclipse, his entire arm is just metal. the left arm is used frequently to work the Dragonslayer in combat.
What Skall did not really mention is the weight of the sword he made. Since the entire build is made out of wood, it would probably be a good 10-12kg (woodworkers can correct me on this), while the one the guy in the shorts uses is 21kg of hardened steel (source: him, in the comments of his shorts). The only reason Skall was able to semi-do the moves he did was precisely because the weight of the sword let him, and even then he struggled compared to a regular longsword.
Yeah, that was my point. I can only swing it like an actual sword because it's much lighter than a steel version. This thing weighs a lot less than 10 kg but is still unwieldy due to the size and balance.
@@Skallagrim Figured as much. Unfortunately, the guy in the shorts is kinda confused as to what "practical" means. The sword sure is deadly, as is any slab of 20kg sharpened steel, but it lacks maneuverability, wieldability (is that even a word lel), agility and pretty much everything that makes a sword an effective battle weapon.
@@JD_Volt Agreed, but then again I don't need to. I can choose to either sidestep, or wait for my opponent to get tired from flailing a 20kg slab of steel around
@@tonyoik1012 True true. But interestingly enough, I’ve never really been big on sidestepping. Maybe it’s because I’m a big guy, but I’ve never really found it effective . But you’re right. The sword doesn’t serve a very practical purpose outside pure offense.
Made me think of Ice, the giant Stark ceremonial greatsword. It was used only for beheadings and I think this is exactly the one occasion where this actually makes some sense. The target can't dodge, the weight helps with the downward movement and with larger audiences you don't need to stand in the first three rows to see what's going on.
Ceremonial swords are also a way of showing off. In a medieval setting metal is expensive as hell and having THAT MUCH good quality steel is a way of showing off your wealth and prestige.
Execution swords are a real thing, granted like a lot of people I only learned about them through Dark Souls 3 (I guess a lot of people probably also learned about them through Game of Thrones, but I've never watched or read it). Like you said, they're basically big beheading axes meant to be used on a restrained stationary target, but are made to look like swords for aesthetics, a real-life example of the "rule of cool." There's another practical application for giant swords which I don't think Skal mentioned or maybe I blinked and missed it, and I've only seen one other commenter mention, which is body training. It isn't practical to use a giant sword in actual combat, but it is certainly practical to use a giant sword (or any giant heavy object you swing like a sword) to strengthen your muscles and practice difficult footwork.
Hey Skall! I suggested Matt Easton that in a future collab you two tackle the subject of greatsword vs pike, because you both talked about it in the past and reached different conclusions, so I think it would be a productive chat 😊
You mean to tell me all of those RPG Characters wielding giant swords were actually just Fantasy Gym-Bros all along just using Weaponized Weight Training Equipment?
I think there's a lot that depends on what's the use of the giant sword. In a fantasy setting there's the possibility of creatures that do not even attempt to evade and only exclusively rely on their armor/carapace. FFX has a very interesting approach to this. Auron's giant sword can cut through the slow and heavy armored enemies, but against birds it just misses all the time. Meanwhile agile weapons can hit fast moving enemies, but are completely ineffective against armored ones.
But then, why have that heavy of sword? We have historical weapons designed to just that sort of thing, to deal with heavy armor. And they involve weapons that put the weight at the end of a long haft, concentrating all that leveraged force into a small area. You get the force behind the blow, without most of the drawbacks. Unless the situation requires most of the length of such a heavy weapon to be edged, it's just dumb to have giant sword.
So the use of a giant sword is a woodcutting axe with larger reach, got it. FF7R has Cloud using the giant sword as a shield too, which I find pretty cool, at least against projectiles
I think a better way of thinking about the practicality of either giant swords or other fantasy things is instead of asking "Can you use it effectively" to ask "if someone was using this against you, would it work?" That way instead of thinking "how do I make this work" you or the person you are talking to will now be thinking "how do I defeat this" and you find out that it is actually really easy to defeat a giant sword that moves at half or less speed than a regular sword, you can step away, step in, thrust fast, duck even.
I mean giant swords are a lot faster than half speed normal swords though the real issue is the insane reach they have when facing them because when to be safe from it have to be multiple steps away from being able to hit them with your sword The actual best tactic to deal with the is fight defensively even just makes them chase you because they are going to tire faster than you(sure being defensive is also a strength of giant swords because can easily defend and threaten in 360 without Turing and the sheer reach and power) really a good video going into it is shadveristy where they spar with foam/larp(can’t quite remember of the top of my head which of these they were sparing with) giant sword vs both normal sword and a few sword and shield cases The reach is what really makes the whole just step in and thrust have problems because well you have step in and thrust but are still to far away to harm them while inside the reach of said giant sword aka the same reason the spear is the king of the battlefield because reach beats pretty much everything else. Speed is not a super problem for giant swords though is a downgrade from normal swords, the stainma issue is much bigger
I was so happy to see Asmon finally FINALLY reacting to some of your vids. I hope you get absolutely flooded with views and subs, love your content bro.
I could also see it for training for using a "light" greatsword. Use that to train basic moves, footing, etc and then swap to the regular lighter, normal one and it should feel like a kitchen knife
The problem is that you're going to end up needing to move differently and engage your muscles differently, not just more, in order to avoid injuring yourself with something like this. While the physical strength might be transferable, it'd only really be because it's essentially a full-body workout, nothing to do with it being a sword. It'd be no different than just lifting weights and getting stronger. You'd still have to train with the actual sword you were going to use to get the proper motions and muscle memory, so it's not really a special application at that point, just a different shape of the classic strategy of "lift heavy rock"
Funny is that from a distance that flame tape looks like a nicely decorated grip. I think that might be sanded down dragonskin with red silkweave and Dwarven golden thread. Perfect for an oversized fantasy sword.
The exercise tool concept reminds me of the saburi bokken from Japan. A large heavy wooden training sword designed to strengthen arms and make it easier to use a real sword that is much lighter.
I think people forget that Guts is supposed to be the exception in Berserk. The Dragonslayer sword is actively said to be too big for anyone to wield, it is symbolic of Guts indomitable will that he can use it. There are times that he has been backed into a corner by faster people wielding smaller blades, showing it is an active penalty on him. I do hate that people thought "that's cool" without understanding what made it cool in the first place.
Guts is depicted as reaching the limits of human ability _before_ getting the Dragonslayer, and as a world-class prodigy. Within the context of his own world, he is depicted as the apex of anomolies in both sheer talent and in reaching a level of skill arguably exceeding human limits, given he is incrementally tapping into the supernatural side of reality.
@@NevisYsbryd to your point on that, it was much, much before he got the dragonslayer that he -actually- willpowered enough strength to demolish a -very- serious griffith, a supernatural entity that was already acknowledged by everyone to have surpassed humanity both in combat and genius, which i think taps really nicely into his continued survival and struggle - guts was already stomping on the limits of humanity back in the golden age arc, and he never stopped. then of course there's that supernatural element in the lore where certain people or objects can interact enough with the supernatural to -become- supernatural. supernatural. -my- personal theory, is that with guts' birth circumstances, the encounter with zodd, and the 100 soldiers, he was already getting to that point, and then pippin seasoned him with fairy dust. guts may have been -the- human with the most supernatural contact outside of the witches, not to mention what effect causing all that death may have had. i would imagine a similar thing happened with zodd before becoming an apostle
@@ScrufflesTPK Bro why did you do a bunch of -strikethroughs- where you should've done _italics?_ Strikethroughs are hyphens (-) and italics are underscores (_) by the way.
I do wonder about how in many of these games they fight giant monsters that are often mindless beasts and if that justifies making it more ludicrous in size. Would a spear still be more effective? Probably! But as with all games the rule of cool often supersedes practicality
In Berserk manga series, which is where many of these take inspiration from, the main character Guts is constantly agains demons that are like 3 or more times his size and also very fleshy, and any smaller/thinner swords would either not penetrate the creatures hide enough or would end up breaking from It's attack/resistance
I think Monster Hunter portrays giant swords best, as it shows how slow and heavy giant swords are, and how the swords are used less like a sword and more like an axe.
Against larger monsters that aren't going to be coming at you with advanced tactics, a large sword like this is definitely worthwhile. Granted, you'd want to have sidearms like a sword and maybe even a short mace within reach, which would make the larger more cumbersome swings a little more sketchy. But if it grabs the weapon, you're fucked you aren't getting it back in time to not be smacked and die in one hit. So letting go and just going for a sidearm instead is better. So yes it would be good, but sidearms are 100% mandatory to pair with it. Spears against big monsters are sketchy for solo or small party fights tbh. Sure it might impale itself on a spear if you set the butt into the ground, but it will also probably kill you in the process by momentum. And larger monsters won't be felled by one spear. So if you're one and done, like with the big sword, RIP.
I think one of the other aspects in games is that the monsters/beasts tend to be fantastical in size and defense so a simple sword might not be able to penetrate or if they can, might not be able to reach anything lethal.
On Gut's Dragonslayer, the English Dub of the most recent animation said this about his weapon. "His weapon was far too large to be rightfully called a sword. It was larger, thicker, heavier, and cruder than any normal blade. By all accounts, it was no more than a hulking mass of iron." Giant Swords are just cool. They're so visceral in appearance and intended purpose. Sure, they're not practical IRL but still awesome to imagine if someone had the strength and skill to wield one in combat.
Which is honestly probably the case when it comes to Berserk. The brand of sacrifice he's been stuck with has been described to put him right inbetween worlds in such a way that spirits can readily target him, but at some point in the story, a witch describes how it's possible to shape the laws of said world through willpower and energy. So it's fully possible that he's quite literally wound up magically inhuman as a result of living and struggling for so long@@AL-lh2ht
The old swordsmith did called this sword as giant mass of Iron, the old man actually have a better sword but Gun use it to fight and its broken in 2 because the apostle he fought is too strong for normal size sword
The best argument I can think of for an absurdly huge sword like this is solely in duels, because it's simply intimidating and forces your opponent into a win-or-die committal on a single engagement. A single full-body haymaker can force through most defenses, and if your positioning and timing is right they can't move in on you without going into the death zone. You can sort of dictate the terms to be "Either I win or we both lose, if you run me through I bisect your torso."
As someone who has sparred with an oversized sword vs normal armaments; yes. People think they'll "get in close", but from pretty much any position I can baseball swing that bad boy, and it's lights if you're in my reach. I had success 2v1, by outpacing my opponents and keeping them at reach with the oversized weapon. The sword I was using was bigger, longer, and heavier than a Zweihander, for reference. Oh, and I'm a normal sized guy, with no formal training in swinging big swords. Hoenstly, making oversized weapons viable in a duel is a lot easier than people think.
The main issue is that you can already pretty much do this with a smaller but still very large sword. So while its not the worst option, its still pretty questionable.
@@Merilirem I think if you're up against heavily armored opponents the size becomes more practical as enough momentum on swing should be able to penetrate armor if not at least break a few bones.
@@StarshadowMelody I read this and just immagined a guard with a giant sword strapped to his back and then when a fight starts, he just pulls a regular sword from his scabbard, with the big boy still on his back.
I've been trying to tell that dude forever that he can't hit a moving Target haha but I like crackhead autistic people because I'm an autistic crackhead so I draw attention to his channel by harassing him and it's fun 😊
Thin, long edged swords are better in handling. (Odachi, Claymore, Greatsword(including DND version), and other longswords) To be honest, the hollowed out fuller does add a bit of design. Instead of a flat chunk, it adds an intentional inward curve or curves to make it elegant.
there is a reason why the bow and spear have been independently invented in every region of the world, and a reason why this thing was invented nowhere ever until now
Right! Like everyone is 200cm and 170kg full of muscle? 😂😂😂 How tall this guy? 165cm? Not seen muscular but a perfect dad body which is totally fine! The deadlift champions are over 195cm and +170kg and their records are 500kg weights!!! Dude we really talking about fantasy and fiction?
Well, if it solved a problem or was an improvement, then people used it. But something like those "simbad" scimitars, for example (that people give to pirates and arabs in fiction yet look more like a dao), look pretty practical despite never having been used.
@d-w-b-c First, Sinbad is Chinese, not Arabian. Second, western China and Arab are practically neighbors and few people - except professional - can tell between them. Third, both scimitar and dao literally mean "sword." Overcategorizing doesn't help. Fourth, I saw dozens of such blade profiles from pirates and navy. Those blades were not unused.
I actually quite like the way the MH greatsword is used as well. The only thing that I would change is the default idle stance, no reason to hold the point out like that, prop it over the should to just have it come crashing down. Hell, i even like how its canonical that the MH hunters do indeed have superhuman strength and they still struggle to move fast with the Greatsword.
The braveheart claymore, which has a portion of the blade, the ricasso, covered in leather, was a great idea, because it allow you to move faster with it. In Final Fantasy advent children, one of the giant blades that cloud uses does have a handle that is in the blade itself and it doesn't have a traditional handle to grab.
As an experienced Siegfried/Nightmare player the next step after coming down is pressing Y to come up or X to spin attack OR if you are feeling REAL cheeky press B for a forward standing kick.
The hair, armor and overlarge sword makes you look like a dwarf :) On a more on-point note, I do believe the whole thing comes from the powercreep of media. As in popular action-manga/anime/games etc.they have a tendency to Not depict actual fights but instead the opponents just keep smashing against each other's swords so if you want to be stronger, or at least appear as such, you use a bigger sword. But irl where any blade that gets through is enough to kill, there is no reason for powercreep to this point. Just like how the claymore wasn't really all that popular even though it's not even that much bigger. But when everybody needs a thousand cuts to die... yeah, it kinda makes you want something more effective and there isn't really much more than more blades or bigger blades. Maybe faster blades but... yeah.
For reference on the weight issue, the channel Pretty Hate Machining recently finished up making a fully solid steel replica of the Dragonslayer. It weighs 324 lbs (147 kg).
Like Space Elvis Inc said, with a small head. So, yeah. It can work. Edit: I prefer adding bayonets or ax heads in the buttstock. Spearing and cleaving with the respective pieces.
Another aspect that needs to be addressed is that even if someone could swing it reasonably fast, it is still incredibly tiring to wield and even just carry it around. You could just tire him out by running in circles.
i will always point this out, range is better than girth when it comes to swords, (and other things) clouds buster might have alot of force behind it but if your opponent can hit you before you even get close, ya noooooo
The most amazing thing in this video is how that drywall behind you stayed holeless the whole time. I was pretty much cringing every time I saw the shadow of the sword tip on the wall. That was a wild ride sir!
I saw his video. I’ve also seen FMA practitioners evade and counterattack against weapons much faster than that. I have seen fencers evade swords moving faster than that. By the time he’s brought that heavy thing down an experienced fighter will have stepped diagonally and delivered a deadly counter attack with a much lighter biased weapon.
I think they'd be incredibly useful if you wanted to train either explosiveness or endurance for your regular great sword. Many people, including Roman legionnaires, train with heavier equipment. The legion used twice as heavy gladius and scutum so that when they used the actual gear it felt light and nimble.
There are lots of historic manuals that tell the users to practice with a heavier sword, that is commonplace. The major issue is when you have something so heavy, unwieldy, and off balance from the original technique it is meant to train that it is unusable and actually hinders practice. A lot of these references were because weight lifting was just not a thing back then as well. In defense of the Ancient Romans, 16th Century Venetians, etc., they also werent going around telling people a buster sword is practical.
@@That1J1that just untrue, weight lifting was definitely a thing back then. There are painting of medieval knights practicing weight lifting, they just lift and throw big boulders instead of lifting bar, and various form of calisthenics
@@jaketheasianguy3307The potential of injury and the inability to target specific muscles makes using a heavy sword much more practical it's the exact muscles you are using. Lifting big rocks makes you better at lifting big rocks, modern weight lifting is highly targeted.(take it from someone currently rehabbing a ruptured biceps you can get super specific on not just weight load but even what section of the muscle is being worked.)
@@That1J1 While the most important item of weightlifting didn't exist, the barbell, they still could and did lift. Gladiators had dumbbells that went all the way to 200 lbs.
the thing about the giant swords is that their real life impracticality makes it so much more badass when it’s used practically with devastating results. although for me it’s rarely portrayed heavy enough, only dark souls and berserk made it feel like it makes sense. With first being a huge strength and weight requirement and the second being that Guts always trained with an oversized sword, plus his enemies aren’t human, so there is no fencing to speak of (although it’s shown that he can block and fence with that slab of iron which to this day doesn’t look like it makes sense)
Honestly i hate the "but with a lighter material" argument. Yes, a light material giant sword is better than a heavy giant sword, BUT if you have such a material, there are a million better ideas than making a giant sword out of it. just make a perfectly balanced but long rapier with an absolute MASSIVE (but still lightweigth) handguard for example. If weigth is no concern, you can basically take any real sword (or any other weapon), make it (almost) weigthless and then add some weigths exactly where you want them to. Not to mention air/target resistance, cumbersomeness, manufacturing cost and so on. If it's a dumb design, a magic material wont make it good.
@@somerando1073 not really. you wont make the material stronger by making it wider and longer. we've got enough "lighter but weaker" materials that simply dont work as blades. as clubs, yes, but not as blades. if it doesn't make a sturdy sword blade, it won't make a sturdy edge on a giant sword. It's genuinely that easy, that when you take anything and magically improve it, it will benefit the classical usages more than some weird niche ideas. And by improving i mean general improvements like "steel is now twice as strong/light/etc" not something overly specific like "steel is suddenly stronger/lighter/etc, but only if condition XY (e.g. more than 2kg in a single piece)" The only thing you can do is add something new, like "steel can passively absorb magic, based on surface area (in a similar way to rusting)" which might encourage having more surface area on a weapon. but even then, there will be better ways than a giant sword. If you want to have a change that benefits giant swords specifically the most, this change has to be just as oddly specific too.
The gun channel Demo Ranch once had someone send them a Cloud Buster sword made from steel and he had a strongman over as a guest and the srtongman had hard time lifting the thing. All he could really do was lift it with great effort, and just let the blade fall. So, a giant sword in real life isn't very practical, esp. when a strongman can't even really wield it.
That was based off of a anime sword not something designed to actually be swung. It is not a fair test for this youtuber to be testing giant swords when he is NOT FIT TO WIELD THEM
@@christopherwood8363 Matt, the owner of the channel, wasn't testing it, Demo Ranch is a gun channel, not a sword/HEMA channel and it was sent to him to be shot at. But that's besides the point, the point is that a Cloud Buster type sword made from steel is so big and heavy that not even a strongman can wield it.
@@Riceball01 Funny to see this comment. I was just down at demo ranch a few months ago and got to sharpen that buster sword and take some swings with it. Hadn't seen that sword since...2017 maybe? Anyway, hoping to get the video out soon, needs lots more editing still...
@@throbbingwiener6218 In fact, its shown that a regular sword wielded by Guts breaks during an apostle fight- when he fights his first apostle since the Eclipse (when he gets the Dragonslayer), he first starts with a normal sword- one that would best any human- before using the DS
SKALL! You're forgetting one *HUGE* point! If the fantasy setting has sword-flight as an option, a wider blade would be *MUCH* easier to balance on while sword-surfing. Admittedly it isn't that common outside of Chinese cultivation fantasy, but it's still at least one practical benefit of a bigger sword outside of a "realistic" setting.
At the end of the day theres no practicality to making a blade thicker (outside of the obvious aesthetic improvements that make it fun to draw and animate). A club benefits from more mass because it has a wide surface area to impart that force, but a sword must come to the point of the cutting edge. If you are adding more weight to a blade, length will always be more important than thickness, assuming you can still block and parry with it. The longer the sword, the more the lever effect makes the tip feel, so generally the longer the sword the thinner you'd want it. In that sense, Sephiroth has the right idea. Then again Zacks whole schick was that he only used the flat edge of the blade, and Clouds entire fight style seems to be some superhuman Berserker who uses an inhuman onslaught of heavy attacks to overwhelm the enemy. If the Buster Sword could somehow keep its edge whilst also being used as the most brutal bludgeoning tool, AND we accept that most of the enemies they are fighting are monsters not other swordfighters, AND we understand that superhuman potion chugging Cloud is EXPECTING to trade blows, then his fighting style makes some level of sense... Some...
I think letting it crash to the ground probably wouldn't work either. If I'm not mistaken, the force of the impact would cause the handle to rip itself out your hands.
It'd be fun to see this tried with a composite blade made from Kevlar or another light but strong material. Combine that with getting the biggest & strongest guy you can find to wield it.
The whole point of this kind of sword is it's mass. It doesn't even need to be sharp. Force = mass x speed. It's like an opposite of Katana that relies on light weight and sharp edge.
It’s kinda funny that I discovered the same exercise technique by cutting a handle onto a piece of lumber. Really makes you focus on balancing your own weight with the wood
to be fair guts' use of giant words could be seen as the result of psychological damage from years of abuse from gambino, remember when he was training as a boy with the merc group, gambino made him train with broadswords when he himself was only about the same size as them, as a result he became incredibly stubborn and refused to switch weapons because as gambino put it "we don't have swords for kids here" and as a result he stubbornly kept using bigger swords, since he kills gambino in self defense and has to leave with his sword which is bigger than him, chances are, he just kept increasing the side of his blades because maybe he felt uncomfortable with a smaller blade and just got used to it, as for the dragonslayer, we know it has a "presence" in the toher world and is one of very few weapons that can be used against the ghosts and demons guys fights, otherwise he'd probably be happy to use a slightly smaller greatsword.
I always wonder how these would fair against shields and/or spears. In my mind a decent shield should be able to render most of the theoretical advantages moot, though granted you would be taking *heavy* hits, though perhaps the spear would be more interesting due to the lever?
You definitely wouldn't want to try to block it with shield. It would probably break your arm or wrist taking impact. Assuming you are using a 1 handed shield against a GIANT heavy 2 handed weapon.
The best tactic against an opponent with an oversized sword when you have a shield would be to just bum rush them. Preferably, you have a dagger to stab them with at the same time. The closer you get to someone with an oversized sword, the less damage they can do with it. I also think that, while you'd still take some heavy blunt damage, it would still be fairly simple to deflect a strike from a sword like that with a proper shield.
Seez this is funny, cuz the the Dragon Slayer for example, IN UNIVERSE it was made as a joke, a literally useless hunk of junk to make fun of the king wanting a sword to "kill a dragon". The guy made a big ass sword that couldn't be used cuz he was sick of fantasy swords. He wanted to make a tool so he went "here's the tool to kill a dragon. Dragons aren't real, you can't kill them." Guts can only use it cuz he's always used swords bigger than him, and even then his attacks are fairly limited
There was another guy I heard about that actually trained with a giant sword like that every day until he could do all the moves just like Guts or Cloud do. I'd highly recommend taking a look at it.
I could believe someone in medieval times with gigantism having a custom massive sword if they were a warrior but other than that sadly there is just no way a human can use something that big. Except maybe with an exoskeleton
What your medieval giant calls a massive sword has a 2in wide, five foot long, 1/8th inch blade with a 2 ft handle. What games call a massive blade involves a foot wide five foot long three-quarter inch thick blade.
Other characters from Berserk (where this sword comes from) use slimmer blades. Griffith used a curved saber and Serpico used a Rapier. The both of them duel the main character and either won or almost won, losing on some technicality.
Shad's testing with giant sword also found similar results, if you alter the techniques to grab also the sword higher up with a hand and use a light material sword it's relatively viable. It's basically a more tarded version of a polearm though so in real life if you want "big sword-like weapon" you should get an halberd or similar instead
There's actually at least 1 historical instance of someone using a giant weapon like this, but its a hammer not a sword. During the Combat of the 30, one of the knights used a 25 pound warhammer. I can't find the source right now, but I first heard about it in a podcast called Lions Led by Donkeys. Good pod
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Ah, the garage.
The most revered gladiatorial arena, held firmly in the hearts of men everywhere.
Good to see Skall honoring the ancient traditions.
I see that i'm not the only one.
Elden Garage 😁
I'm surprised he didn't smash that sword into anything
How you swing it around and not destroy everything around you is the real astonishing part of this video lol
I feel like you can ABSOLUTELY make it really effective :D but you have to use it in the exact opposite way that you use a normal Great Sword :]
So when using a Great Sword you are like the Eye of The Storm... But when using the Giant Sword you have to be The Storm itself... When wielding a normal weapon you usually go don't want the weapon to be pulling you around... But we aren't using a normal weapon >:3 to make The Giant Sword work you have to allow the Blade to Throw you around... This will make the amount of energy consumption alot less... You also have to design an entirely new foot work pattern... This will allow you to Lunge at & Pivot around your opponent with Big Unblockable Strikes powered by weight of the blade itself... Dont forget to use that tip... Allow your opponent to believe that you have left yourself open to only be jabbed straight in the gut... & Don't forget to power even your stabs with the weight of the blade... Always be as unpredictable as possible & aggressive as possible... Your foot work should be like a mix of a Boxer & a Wrestler... Always be sure that you are in a safe position with you take a rest... If you prop the blade on your fore arm you are basically welding a long as sheild use it is you ever get cornerd... Always being trying to work with your blade not against it... Jumps can allow you to hit someone out of your effctive range & spins can allow you to catch up with your opponent out if they get past your blade... Aight that's about it PEACE
@@watermelonprom7197you actually described very well what i was thinking about a giant sword, the problem is that you would need the strengh of a heavi lifter to actually do that
@@Randoman-dt9cq lol glad :] but I think it's much more about Endurance than actual Strength... Ofc having extra Strength can allow you to speed up & slow down your blade which can help off set your very predictable timing so that you can set up some powerful yet unexpected strikes... but also if you just let the blade swing both you & itself around then your won't really need to be all that strong... Which is part of the whole new footwork pattern I mentioned earlier... The reason why I said it should look like the mix between a Boxer & a Wrestler is because both Boxers & Wrestler are used to throwing around their weights... By either Pivoting to a Punch or Lunging for the Legs... With full body connection between you & the blade it will make swinging it around as easy as swinging around your own leg... The problem is Endurance... Because if you're using the proper techniques once you get the hang of it.... It's not that bad :] but swinging around something as big as that with the constant footwork & movement... Damn is it tiring- even if you try to take a break the moment of rest might not even be worth it compared to the amount of energy it will take to get the ball rolling again... & Don't even try to have some sort of formal guard position- normally if you had an axe or hammer that would be great because it's too heavy to be easily knocked out of the way by anything less than an Axe or Hammer... But with this weapon the moment someone tries to move it then you'll been going with it- unless you plan on using that momentum like a kick start to counter strike- but again if your opponent is smart they will just let you tire your self out by holding it in a that guarded position... The only static position I'd suggest is on the Ground or in the Sky... The ground gives you the most recovery while the Sky gives you an easy downward counter.... Unless you're in some sort of Ox guard where you can launch a massive thrust... Best to use it a a transitional phase to your next attack... It's also good for making your opponent feel like they have an opening only for them to get stabbed... Also as... Silly- as it is... Yes rolling might ACTUALLY be useful... Because using the momentum of the blade you can easily get back to a standing position & it can allow you to strike at some un excepted angles... Other foot work examples include Capoeria & Aikido... Just like Capoeria you should absolutely have a Guard but that guard should never be static so having some fun side to side steps while gently swing the blade around can be very useful... & Aikido as so pretty cool crouching while still upright & moving positions which is good for level changes... Aight that's about it- PEACE
even as impossibly strong as Guts is portrayed, he's often seen using large buildups of momentum to swing fast enough to be practical throwing his whole body into it, which is a detail thats always fun to spot
Guts' strength and tenacity is beyond super human, athleticism too, because how he rolls around and somersaults to do some stuff and taking into account that the Dragon Slayer must weight above 100 kg / 222 lbs... I love Berserk, the whole universe is so dark and captivating, and it's so cool to see Guts letting that sword rip! The drawing style is such a masterpiece...
R.I.P. Kentarou Miura
In-universe people always called him an idiot for wielding his old, much smaller, oversized sword. If I understood correctly the whole point was not that these weapons he was using were more effective because of their size (because the opposite was true), it was that 1: using such heavy swords on a daily basis as a mercenary built up his body to levels most people could never reach, making him incredibly strong in general (rather than starting out super special and strong; in fact as a child he struggled to use an oversized sword, but insisted on sticking with it), and 2: at least at the beginning of the Golden Age arc, because of his extremely traumatic childhood he didn't really care if he died, so his fighting style was to trick an opponent into trying to parry his blows or drive him back without it being possible to stop the weight of his sword, even if it meant risking his own life due to his slower movements.
@@vitriolicAmaranth Very good analysis, that's exactly what happened in the story! Thanks for refreshing my memories about it!
Guts also use his sword to protect his back, he use momentum to create more damage when he swing, he use his sword to reach distance enemy and crushed them on their own armor.
@moyaidrip5003 I think of this as the "Monster Hunter argument" but it really doesn't make much sense. Even if it's just that you need more power behind your swings to cut deeper to seriously debilitate your foe, the real-life tool we invented to make deep cuts through large, tough cylinders (an axe) would be better. In MH especially the argument is ridiculous because hunters also use other more reasonable weapons. Firearms also exist in this universe because Guts uses one, and those are almost certainly going to fare a lot better than any sword if the problem is that a regular sword can't make deep enough cuts.
How to make a practical big sword:
1) Extend the handle to improve reach and counter-balance the blade
2) Curve the blade so that the percussion point is a wider range
3) Get behind a guy with a shield
4) Enjoy your halberd
It's important to remember that Berserk was playing with the idea of giant weapons by having them be unrealistic in the setting but the character using them was seemingly super-human in the way many mythical figures are.
Yes. His intended targets are non-human and enormous. When he gets Dragonslayer, he even uses a "normal sword" and it fails to work; Dragonslayer was his best option.
Yeah it's a little realistic tho when Guts swings dragon slayer too fast he bleeds from the weight
I could see one legitimate historical use for a buster sword, actually:
Executioner's Sword.
It's big, long, heavy, sharp, and ultimately just needs to be dropped onto a stationary target. It's basically a portable Guillotine.
Even then though it's a waste of material and effort as an axe would do the work just as well with less of both.
@@jongustavsson5874but less of a spectacle 😊
but there would be no reason to invent it for even that since there were already axes that did the job, france was the only place that tried to revolutionize the process, but it was just too clunky to be practical even then
Hah, that's an interesting idea.
@@bugsmith9751 Swords are cooler though
I remember seeing that short a while ago and thinking "this guy has mixed up 'physically possible under certain circumstances' with 'practical'" quickly followed by "I wonder when SKall will do another video on this?" :)
"You can technically wield this if you have a very specific training regime, don't wield it in certain ways, and only get into specific fights. Giant swords practical, silenced by big little sword"
It wasn’t a short it was a full video and he went into more demonstrations with a real guts sword. He could swing it rather fast and could cut a wooden tree stump in half with a lazy swing.
But there were big bulky swords in the medieval and early modern period. And they were used and rather practical - just not on the battlefield.
@@zzodysseuszzand if he misses once he's dead
@@SantaMuerte1813 can you show some examples?
The thing is we literally have usable "giant" swords. The problem is the fantasy of an even bigger sword is explicitly a sword that is too big to use. The moment we figure out how to make a working fast giant sword, we will shift our view towards an even bigger sword.
You are joking right? The guy in the first clip specifically stated unpractical sharp slabs they call a sword, is more deadly than a zweihänder or odachi.
Purely because of our human physiology and basic physics we've made swords that are practical for different situations.
Fantasy swords are fantasy for a reason, it's a nice tale to tell people but no way it's real and outwinning a spear/halberd.
@@VVabsa Did you read my comment? Because you replied as if you didn't read my comment. Perhaps you just don't understand it. Maybe try again?
@@Merilirem I did. I said what I said because fantasy swords are fantasy swords. There are limits to functionality, physics and capabilities of human strength/dexterity when using martial weapons. Hence why the useable "giant" swords look the way they do and were used to counter spear formations, in duels or on horseback.
People who actually think those massive slabs of sword were or even can be used are living in fantasy land and are way too much into their Guts/Cloud cosplay.
@@VVabsayou're agreeing with his post.
@@FingerSpazmHow and where?
That super strength thing always has to be taken into consideration with these swords.
Guts from Berserk trained with an oversized weapon since he was a child.
Sigfried from Soul Calibur was taken over by Soul Edge, which transformed into the giant sword shape.
Cloud from Final Fantasy...was supposed to have a regular sized sword in the concept art, but they needed it to look cool in the game with as few polygons as possible. lol
That bit about cloud is only half true man. What you failed to say was that Cloud was originally supposed to be who Zack Fair became from the concept art.
And also cloud wields the buster sword prior to any genetic mods done to him, so...
Siegfried's sword was pretty big too, souledge was just huuuge
There's literally a guy releasing clips of his progress in trying to wield Guts Dragonslayer
It doesn't matter how much you train, you won't be able to efficiently wield a giant sword like that. There is an upper limit to human strength that no amount of training will overcome.
It makes more sense to have the superhuman characters possess some ability that's beyond human, i.e. supernatural powers like magic, cyborg upgrades, or just have them be something non-human such as aliens, angels, demons etc. That to me is always a better explanation for superhuman feats than "he trained really hard"
That one girl from Utawarerumono killed several armed men in her first appearance, and any sword she tried using shattered on the first hit.
Hibiki from Symphogear only wielded Durandal twice, and both times while using her Symphogear, which boosts her physical strength so much that she can crush steel pipes in one hand, and later rip the turrets off of tanks.
7:09 "Or perhaps I can raise it up to just present the point, and make them think twice about rushing in."
You actually do have a point there, Skall.
"Guts' sword is totally practical!" Ah, yes, the sword that is repeatedly described as not being even remotely practical in its source material except when used by the one single lunatic with enough screws loose to dedicate almost their entire life to figuring out how to use it, and who still regularly goes "oh yeah, this things is garbage in ANY reasonably closer-quarters fight."
Guts fights in extremely close quarters frequently. I realise its a manga, but when you get up close enough to someone that OP they don't even need their sword, they just grab hold of you and start breaking pieces of your body. Also he uses knives and various other techniques to slow or weaken an opponent so he can devastate them with a killer blow from the Ol' Dragonslayer.
What people don't seem to get either, is that Guts literally has help wielding the sword too with his magnetic prosthetic hand too. But even Guts himself uses the shear weight of the weapon to his advantage in battle, as he basically from time to time just lets the weight of the sword itself take control in his swings to solely let kinetic force do the work for him while using his strength only on holding onto the blade itself.
@@The-Black-Death Gut's hand isn't ever said to be magnetic, and if anything it probably makes wielding the sword harder. He'd have to worry about his arm falling off all the time because the sword is so heavy.
@@xx_amongus_xx6987 Did you skip over the part where Rickert himself said he put a magnet in the grip of Gut's prosthetic hand to make it easier to wield his sword???
@@SMac86 Yes, but his sword is ass is the point. Its only purpose is to make him capable of dealing lethal strikes to monsters. Honestly the only reason he uses it is because he doesn't have any other options. He's like a guy with num-chuks.
We really need to appreciate that Montante work more. Absolutely mesmerising, well done Skall!
As far as video games go, Kenshi has a great way to add in gigantic swords. They're used by those with superhuman strength like mutants, people with robotic limbs, or robots. Or they are used by bandits trying to compensate. The bandits usually get off one comically slow sword drop before being beaten senseless.
but a falling sun or fragment axe would totally be practical for a normal person!
It's not just strength, but relative weight. The heavier the sword is in comparison to you, the more it moves you, instead of you moving the sword. So more mass makes it move less and do less damage. So the added mass has to add capability in greater amount than it decreases it, which becomes harder and harder the heavier the sword is to you. Huge swords would only fit huge people and at that point it's just a regular sword again.
Funny thing about that is the robotic arms might be stronger than the fleshy alternative but they're still attached to a meat sack which will have to cope with the weight of the sword and stresses of being swung about.
You could have some robotic arm that gives you infinite strength, if youre not heavy enough it doesnt matter. Youre going flying when you swing that sword.
Unless you are small, but made out of neutron star matter :D Volume doesn't matter, its the mass.
A lot of giant swords fall into a category I like to refer to as Edged Clubs, which is telling of both construction and theoretical use. True Greatswords (rather than the montante/spadone/schlactschwert/light greatsword/heavy longsword) tend to be chunky and a bit slower, but even those weren't generally used directly against things like fully armored opponents without trying to go around it like any other sword. Guts' golden age sword (called that most nebulous term of Broadsword, and the one in the thumbnail) is basically a heavy greatsword, wandering a bit from depiction to depiction, but in use tends to be wielded in the manner one would a tetsubo/kanabo/godendag/greatclub, but with approximately cutting edges. Armored dude? Smack em. Giant monster? Smack em. Not-armored dude? Smack em. Someone/something with a shield or an attempt to parry without a heavy enough weapon? Lol, lmao.
The way you describe this reminds me of Heavy Weapons in Kenshi; effectively huge sharp clubs or crushing weights that also happen to do slashing damage, one mod includes the tetsubo. Described as mostly carried by those showing off, but the rare individual weilding them with skill are horrifically effective against groups. Including your characters.
Whenever you mentioned the excessive strength required all I could think was "Or swing a normal sword impossibly fast so they couldn't react in time." Even if you COULD wield such a behemoth, you could do so much more damage with a conventional weapon as long as you knew how to use it properly.
And watching that greatsword movement was mesmerizing, very nice work.
Tbf, while strength and speed are correlated, that doesn’t necessarily mean that strength to use a giant sword makes you absurdly fast with a lighter weapon.
Also consider that a fantasy setting may not even have metals that can allow a normally proportioned blade to withstand the kind of force that low level superhumans can generate. Or if they do, they might be far too expensive.
Our giant sword hero could also be some sort of gladiator and his impossibly large blade is part of the show.
There's also the threshold in super-strength where the audience starts asking "Why does he even need a weapon?" If the guy can swing a sword the size of a motorcycle around like it's no big deal, what's to stop him from just grabbing a hold of me and ripping my limbs off like an enraged Wookie?
@@Amigo21189 probably your own sword
@@Amigo21189 if super humans existed they would probably be fighting other super humans.
Unless they happen to be the only super human on earth in which case you are right, it doesn't matter, they could just as well wear their red underwear over their clothes and go around punching people...
@@Amigo21189 Read Berserk, he needs that big sword.
I like how Berserk is constantly used as a reference to giant fucking swords, when the entire point of the Millenium Arc and Guts using a much smaller sword than the Dragonslayer was seen as downright supernatural because he could use the large sword with such speed and technique. Guts was an exception to the big sword rule, because literally nobody else other than unholy demons can even try and use something close to Guts's swords.
True. And Guts doesn't use the Dragonslayer for its heft specifically, he uses it because of its durability. Pretty much every time he tries to use smaller weapons against Apostles his sword ends up breaking. This is made a point of in the Pig Demon fight. The Dragonslayer just has so much metal on it even the superhuman monsters Guts fights can't break it easily.
@@Xaxpnot just that! It is even stated how the sword eventually become magical by guts!
@@gipsymelody1268 Because it was soaked in the blood of so many supernatural creatures that it now exists on both the physical and immaterial planes. It didn't make the sword any stronger or sharper, just that it can harm incorporeal beings.
04:44 this is actually gold as reference for animation. Only thing you have to do is speed it up a little
@@Xaxpplus it’s canon the dragon slayer is magic and has “death spirits” or something inhabiting it.
Like it’s a canon magic sword. And magic itself probabaly effects guts body too making him superhuman
The next one you should test is if you can't pull Excalibur from the stone, can you just pick up the whole thing and fight with the stone still stuck to the sword?
jack horner
How much of the stone is stuck to it and can't be chiseled away?
@@miruneverdies Yes
What if there's the Lady of the Lake holding the sword? Can you effectively swing the sword with a fey lady stuck to it? Does it make a difference if she's wet because of the whole lake thing?
That was so hilarious imagining that.
I gotta say, that montante work in your garage is really impressive. Solid flow, nothing broken in the process.
Wanted to say the same, looked fantastic.
Agreed. Was pleasantly surprised with his training.
Thanks!
@@Skallagrim I keep coming back to your channel because you walk the walk and talk the talk! Keep learning and practicing!
I love that Skal is discovering the same things about using giant swords that Shad & the Gang did at the start of the Titan Sword Project. Circular motion, using the blade's momentum to your advantage, utilizing the drop-blade-from-shoulder tactic, etc. The body-dynamics must really be in effect, now that we've got two examples of these sorts of adaptations.
One of the reasons i love your content is because you dont just harp about how a weapon *cant* work, you really take the time to look at it and figure out how it *could* work. Thats different from a lot of creators out there and makes your videos so much fun 😊
It was too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron
One might even say... He had a big iron on his hip
Son: Dad, if the blacksmith forges the sword, who sells it?
Dad: That's easy, son. Whoever smelt it, dealt it.
Splain
Curse you
Why I oughta...!
Go to your room and think about your life.
The sellsword sells the sword, obviously.
Sure they're deadly. So is a sledgehammer, but it's easy to avoid because of how much energy it takes to swing it.
Arguably a sledge hammer would be deadlier as it is probably less unwieldy then a giant sword.
I know where this argument is going and we always end up back at somebody arguing that then the best weapon ever was the dagger, and a dude retorting to that that the best weapon ever was somebody cheating and shooting you with a bow and then a responding to that that the best weapon ever was somebody yeeting a rock, because no training, cheap and most importantly return to monkey.
Here's my two cents, I wouldn't want to face somebody with a giant sword and I certainly wouldn't want to face somebody with a sledgehammer, both are excellent weapons under their own niche conditions.
@@anarchyandempires5452 exactly theyre all weapons capable of serious damage. But some weapons are more suited for duels than others.
@@anarchyandempires5452 - I think my only argument is that if I had a melee weapon of my choice and choice between fighting someone with a giant sword and someone with literally any historical battlefield melee weapon, from a greatsword to a literal caveman flint spear, I would choose the giant sword as my opponent every time. I know, that no matter how good they are, their choice of weapon is inherently more exploitable. Not saying I would WIN in EITHER, just that I would have more confidence I could outmaneuver a giant hunk of steel compared to literally any other option.
I'm fairly confident in saying that as long as I had a simple spear or longsword, I would absolutely beat any human using a giant oversized sword with my limited training. It's not hard to dodge and the moment they miss once there is absolutely nothing they can do against a quick thrust toward the face.
@@Verbose_Mode
Something I think could be expanded on more is the use of giant fantasy swords against much larger enemies. If you're fighting a human dude then the guy with a rapier will cut you 7 times before you can swing a second time, but (as an entirely random example) in something like Berserk where the enemies are ginormous hell beasts that probably use a lot of their own strength to swing their limbs alone it would mean you're more properly matched than if you were fighting another human.
Dude Mira is genius, that is exactly how it works in Berserk. They establish that the Dragonslayer is basically a sledgehammer on steroids, as it can be seen slicing through concrete and armour like it’s nothing, which is a huge advantage when every monster can survive siege weapons. In fact the only reason that Guts used the Dragonslayer was because his original sword broke against an apostle.
As for what you said about a normal human cutting you 7 times, absolutely! When Guts uses the Dragonslayer against humans it’s basically always crowd control, taking out large groups of enemies in a few sings. But the Serpico shows up and basically bypasses all of Guts’ defences and had a better shot at killing him than any apostle besides Zodd (Or Rosine but Guts held back at many points during their fights).
It’s just that in Berserk there aren’t that many Serpicos, because when you see someone swing around a man sized hunk of iron like it’s nothing, and kill demons as a job. You don’t want to fight him, even if you have pretty good chances.
I feel like irl, you’d just get squashed fighting a big beast, there’s just not much you can do no matter how big your weapon
@@mrcombine7983 Indomitable human willpower can achieve anything
As someone who worked at UPS sorting packages for 4 years:
There are several things we do to "make sure we don't @#$% our backs up," as my instructor put it. The thing that stuck with me long after working there was the "Power Zone." The power zone is the area between your chin and your pelvis (basically your torso). You want to keep packages as close to you as possible, and in that general area. If you hold a package away from you with your arms outstretched, you are effectively tripling the package's weight for how difficult it is to pick up/move around.
So a 20 lb package becomes 60 lbs.
A 60 lb package becomes 180 lbs.
Obviously sword-wielding and package-sorting are two different things, but I think the concept of the power zone is probably why we so rarely see historical giant swords (or just swords that are heavy in general).
Swords, by default, kind of have to disobey the power zone rule (You HAVE hold them outstretched from you if you want to hit your opponent).
So a 60 lb giant sword is going to tire you out very quickly.
A "regular" 12 lb claymore or something similar? Not so much. More practical. 👍
As much as I love big swords in games. I've always found the idea of using a large piece of metal as a practical weapon in real life amusing.
As always thank you for this entertaining video! Take care!
Thanks, I appreciate it. :)
I'd say it's more practical if u were fighting something large and non human. Like a beast or monster that a normal sword might bend or break against. But yeah, for an ordinarily squishy human, it's probably overkill.
@CosmicG777 id say less likely to bend or break, just more likely to bounce and have no effect
@@CosmicG777 I love Monster hunter game series where you have big weapons and huge monsters. But realistically speaking I think humans would use just sturdier spears or siege weaponry against that kind of threats rather than big swords. It would be safer and would generate way more power rather than trying to swing upscaled weapon originally made to fight other humans.
@@Skallagrim Hey Skull, I had a question about wrist blades.
Awhile back, I saw a video detailing their possible use as a predrawn sidearm, with the primary drawback being they would get in the way of any techniques that required a free wrist. That got me thinking... could they work as a sidearm today? As in wearing wrist blades while using a gun?
The guy from the short really wanted shardblades to be a thing. Heck even I want them to be a thing. But....physics.
eyyyy we just gotta wait for a withcer like conjunction of the spheres and we can try hopping over to Roshar. see some crabs get some shardplate/shardblades etc
Spoilers for the Stormlight Archives:
Plus, we don’t have Radiants in real life to create shardblades, let alone kill them
In the Chinese martial art style known as Baguazhang, they use oversized weapons (especially the broadsword) for training precisely because of the way it throws off the user's balance while swinging it. The user will walk in circles and turn around while swinging the sword in various arcs and the weight of the sword causes the user to develop more nimble and precise footwork from adjusting to the sword's momentum. This is especially done in Baguazhang because this style tries to maneuver in and around the opponent while attacking instead of, say, using a direct line of force, or possibly a yielding and expanding force that is used in other systems.
I recall de re militari instructing the reader to train their soldiers with swords that are far more heavier than what they actually are for similar reasons.
@@uggachugga760 Is that a Renaissance sword fighting guide?
@@bredmond812 nah it's even older than that. it's just a general "guide" i guess for new military leaders to understand how to get a working army.
@@uggachugga760 ah. OK. Thank you very much
no problem @@bredmond812 :)
Now I need a 10 hour video of Skall just wielding the Bob Slayer (or whichever name he gave to "The Log")
I saw that guy's videos a few months ago, and was astounded by how hard he was trying to validate such an obviously bad form of fighting. Seriously, go find one of his videos and check out the comment section, he has this whole written out paragraph about how "No actually its completely practical" with no real world examples or evidence. Living in a fantasy, that one.
the detail about avoiding crossed-hand lifting by grabbing the blade with your left hand is interesting. Guts always had an armor on his left hand, and post-eclipse, his entire arm is just metal. the left arm is used frequently to work the Dragonslayer in combat.
Helps that his mechanical arm is magnetized so it "sticks" to the weapon, helping him grip it.
What Skall did not really mention is the weight of the sword he made. Since the entire build is made out of wood, it would probably be a good 10-12kg (woodworkers can correct me on this), while the one the guy in the shorts uses is 21kg of hardened steel (source: him, in the comments of his shorts). The only reason Skall was able to semi-do the moves he did was precisely because the weight of the sword let him, and even then he struggled compared to a regular longsword.
Yeah, that was my point. I can only swing it like an actual sword because it's much lighter than a steel version. This thing weighs a lot less than 10 kg but is still unwieldy due to the size and balance.
@@Skallagrim Figured as much. Unfortunately, the guy in the shorts is kinda confused as to what "practical" means. The sword sure is deadly, as is any slab of 20kg sharpened steel, but it lacks maneuverability, wieldability (is that even a word lel), agility and pretty much everything that makes a sword an effective battle weapon.
@@tonyoik1012On the bright side you can’t really guard against it.
@@JD_Volt Agreed, but then again I don't need to. I can choose to either sidestep, or wait for my opponent to get tired from flailing a 20kg slab of steel around
@@tonyoik1012 True true. But interestingly enough, I’ve never really been big on sidestepping. Maybe it’s because I’m a big guy, but I’ve never really found it effective . But you’re right. The sword doesn’t serve a very practical purpose outside pure offense.
Made me think of Ice, the giant Stark ceremonial greatsword. It was used only for beheadings and I think this is exactly the one occasion where this actually makes some sense. The target can't dodge, the weight helps with the downward movement and with larger audiences you don't need to stand in the first three rows to see what's going on.
Ceremonial swords are also a way of showing off. In a medieval setting metal is expensive as hell and having THAT MUCH good quality steel is a way of showing off your wealth and prestige.
Well large swords were made in real life, so they must have also been used. Regardless of utility.
Execution swords are a real thing, granted like a lot of people I only learned about them through Dark Souls 3 (I guess a lot of people probably also learned about them through Game of Thrones, but I've never watched or read it). Like you said, they're basically big beheading axes meant to be used on a restrained stationary target, but are made to look like swords for aesthetics, a real-life example of the "rule of cool."
There's another practical application for giant swords which I don't think Skal mentioned or maybe I blinked and missed it, and I've only seen one other commenter mention, which is body training. It isn't practical to use a giant sword in actual combat, but it is certainly practical to use a giant sword (or any giant heavy object you swing like a sword) to strengthen your muscles and practice difficult footwork.
Hey Skall! I suggested Matt Easton that in a future collab you two tackle the subject of greatsword vs pike, because you both talked about it in the past and reached different conclusions, so I think it would be a productive chat 😊
You mean to tell me all of those RPG Characters wielding giant swords were actually just Fantasy Gym-Bros all along just using Weaponized Weight Training Equipment?
Bro is explaining to us the pains of being a Dark Souls boss
Edit: this does seem like good exercise thought
You will be in pain. Trying to move something heavy like this will leave you sore and stiff.
stop calling people you don't know "bro" 💀
Most dark souls bosses are big enough big honking bonkers are…not so big honking bonkers lol
@@silentassassin47no. We all brothers from different mothers. Doesn’t make it any less of human brotherhood.
@@silentassassin47 bro did you died when you type that skull emoji
I think there's a lot that depends on what's the use of the giant sword. In a fantasy setting there's the possibility of creatures that do not even attempt to evade and only exclusively rely on their armor/carapace. FFX has a very interesting approach to this. Auron's giant sword can cut through the slow and heavy armored enemies, but against birds it just misses all the time. Meanwhile agile weapons can hit fast moving enemies, but are completely ineffective against armored ones.
But then, why have that heavy of sword? We have historical weapons designed to just that sort of thing, to deal with heavy armor. And they involve weapons that put the weight at the end of a long haft, concentrating all that leveraged force into a small area. You get the force behind the blow, without most of the drawbacks. Unless the situation requires most of the length of such a heavy weapon to be edged, it's just dumb to have giant sword.
So the use of a giant sword is a woodcutting axe with larger reach, got it.
FF7R has Cloud using the giant sword as a shield too, which I find pretty cool, at least against projectiles
A Warhammer a day saves your ass definitely
@@Axterix13It's dumb to have a sword today anyway. No sword in 2023 is a practical weapon. Why not just get what you like?
Made sense for weeb.
I think a better way of thinking about the practicality of either giant swords or other fantasy things is instead of asking "Can you use it effectively" to ask "if someone was using this against you, would it work?" That way instead of thinking "how do I make this work" you or the person you are talking to will now be thinking "how do I defeat this" and you find out that it is actually really easy to defeat a giant sword that moves at half or less speed than a regular sword, you can step away, step in, thrust fast, duck even.
I mean giant swords are a lot faster than half speed normal swords though the real issue is the insane reach they have when facing them because when to be safe from it have to be multiple steps away from being able to hit them with your sword
The actual best tactic to deal with the is fight defensively even just makes them chase you because they are going to tire faster than you(sure being defensive is also a strength of giant swords because can easily defend and threaten in 360 without Turing and the sheer reach and power) really a good video going into it is shadveristy where they spar with foam/larp(can’t quite remember of the top of my head which of these they were sparing with) giant sword vs both normal sword and a few sword and shield cases
The reach is what really makes the whole just step in and thrust have problems because well you have step in and thrust but are still to far away to harm them while inside the reach of said giant sword aka the same reason the spear is the king of the battlefield because reach beats pretty much everything else.
Speed is not a super problem for giant swords though is a downgrade from normal swords, the stainma issue is much bigger
I was so happy to see Asmon finally FINALLY reacting to some of your vids. I hope you get absolutely flooded with views and subs, love your content bro.
I am glad someone with more influence in swordsmaship community told them this.
I could also see it for training for using a "light" greatsword. Use that to train basic moves, footing, etc and then swap to the regular lighter, normal one and it should feel like a kitchen knife
The problem is that you're going to end up needing to move differently and engage your muscles differently, not just more, in order to avoid injuring yourself with something like this. While the physical strength might be transferable, it'd only really be because it's essentially a full-body workout, nothing to do with it being a sword. It'd be no different than just lifting weights and getting stronger. You'd still have to train with the actual sword you were going to use to get the proper motions and muscle memory, so it's not really a special application at that point, just a different shape of the classic strategy of "lift heavy rock"
Thank you Skall for always putting so much effort into your videos.
Funny is that from a distance that flame tape looks like a nicely decorated grip. I think that might be sanded down dragonskin with red silkweave and Dwarven golden thread.
Perfect for an oversized fantasy sword.
The sudden cut to Skall swinging a greatsword with peaceful music playing made me chuckle a little
The exercise tool concept reminds me of the saburi bokken from Japan. A large heavy wooden training sword designed to strengthen arms and make it easier to use a real sword that is much lighter.
I think people forget that Guts is supposed to be the exception in Berserk. The Dragonslayer sword is actively said to be too big for anyone to wield, it is symbolic of Guts indomitable will that he can use it. There are times that he has been backed into a corner by faster people wielding smaller blades, showing it is an active penalty on him.
I do hate that people thought "that's cool" without understanding what made it cool in the first place.
Guts is depicted as reaching the limits of human ability _before_ getting the Dragonslayer, and as a world-class prodigy. Within the context of his own world, he is depicted as the apex of anomolies in both sheer talent and in reaching a level of skill arguably exceeding human limits, given he is incrementally tapping into the supernatural side of reality.
@@NevisYsbryd to your point on that, it was much, much before he got the dragonslayer that he -actually- willpowered enough strength to demolish a -very- serious griffith, a supernatural entity that was already acknowledged by everyone to have surpassed humanity both in combat and genius, which i think taps really nicely into his continued survival and struggle - guts was already stomping on the limits of humanity back in the golden age arc, and he never stopped. then of course there's that supernatural element in the lore where certain people or objects can interact enough with the supernatural to -become- supernatural. supernatural. -my- personal theory, is that with guts' birth circumstances, the encounter with zodd, and the 100 soldiers, he was already getting to that point, and then pippin seasoned him with fairy dust. guts may have been -the- human with the most supernatural contact outside of the witches, not to mention what effect causing all that death may have had. i would imagine a similar thing happened with zodd before becoming an apostle
@@ScrufflesTPK Bro why did you do a bunch of -strikethroughs- where you should've done _italics?_ Strikethroughs are hyphens (-) and italics are underscores (_) by the way.
I do wonder about how in many of these games they fight giant monsters that are often mindless beasts and if that justifies making it more ludicrous in size. Would a spear still be more effective? Probably! But as with all games the rule of cool often supersedes practicality
In Berserk manga series, which is where many of these take inspiration from, the main character Guts is constantly agains demons that are like 3 or more times his size and also very fleshy, and any smaller/thinner swords would either not penetrate the creatures hide enough or would end up breaking from It's attack/resistance
I think Monster Hunter portrays giant swords best, as it shows how slow and heavy giant swords are, and how the swords are used less like a sword and more like an axe.
I mean the point is to escape the real world
Against larger monsters that aren't going to be coming at you with advanced tactics, a large sword like this is definitely worthwhile. Granted, you'd want to have sidearms like a sword and maybe even a short mace within reach, which would make the larger more cumbersome swings a little more sketchy. But if it grabs the weapon, you're fucked you aren't getting it back in time to not be smacked and die in one hit. So letting go and just going for a sidearm instead is better.
So yes it would be good, but sidearms are 100% mandatory to pair with it.
Spears against big monsters are sketchy for solo or small party fights tbh. Sure it might impale itself on a spear if you set the butt into the ground, but it will also probably kill you in the process by momentum. And larger monsters won't be felled by one spear. So if you're one and done, like with the big sword, RIP.
I think one of the other aspects in games is that the monsters/beasts tend to be fantastical in size and defense so a simple sword might not be able to penetrate or if they can, might not be able to reach anything lethal.
My man has never heard of strength and dexterity requirements.
All other swords: the sword is an extension of the body
Giant swords: the body is an extension of the sword
Man, I take my hat off to you for actually bothering to give it a legit go at swinging that thing around.
I feel like your footwork has to be applauded sir. You move with such intent and certainty, it really is awesome to watch!
On Gut's Dragonslayer, the English Dub of the most recent animation said this about his weapon. "His weapon was far too large to be rightfully called a sword. It was larger, thicker, heavier, and cruder than any normal blade. By all accounts, it was no more than a hulking mass of iron."
Giant Swords are just cool. They're so visceral in appearance and intended purpose. Sure, they're not practical IRL but still awesome to imagine if someone had the strength and skill to wield one in combat.
To be fair that is pretty much along the lines of the manga as well where it is referred to as a heap of raw iron.
We need good story, not realism😂 If Guts is swinging 100-kilos sword let him swing it, it's cool💪
@@dima45ft93basically any realist issue can be explained by magic.
Which is honestly probably the case when it comes to Berserk. The brand of sacrifice he's been stuck with has been described to put him right inbetween worlds in such a way that spirits can readily target him, but at some point in the story, a witch describes how it's possible to shape the laws of said world through willpower and energy. So it's fully possible that he's quite literally wound up magically inhuman as a result of living and struggling for so long@@AL-lh2ht
The old swordsmith did called this sword as giant mass of Iron, the old man actually have a better sword but Gun use it to fight and its broken in 2 because the apostle he fought is too strong for normal size sword
The best argument I can think of for an absurdly huge sword like this is solely in duels, because it's simply intimidating and forces your opponent into a win-or-die committal on a single engagement. A single full-body haymaker can force through most defenses, and if your positioning and timing is right they can't move in on you without going into the death zone. You can sort of dictate the terms to be "Either I win or we both lose, if you run me through I bisect your torso."
I was kind of thinking I'd give them to a peacekeeper of some sort, someone for whom preventing the fight is more important than the fight itself.
As someone who has sparred with an oversized sword vs normal armaments; yes.
People think they'll "get in close", but from pretty much any position I can baseball swing that bad boy, and it's lights if you're in my reach.
I had success 2v1, by outpacing my opponents and keeping them at reach with the oversized weapon.
The sword I was using was bigger, longer, and heavier than a Zweihander, for reference.
Oh, and I'm a normal sized guy, with no formal training in swinging big swords.
Hoenstly, making oversized weapons viable in a duel is a lot easier than people think.
The main issue is that you can already pretty much do this with a smaller but still very large sword. So while its not the worst option, its still pretty questionable.
@@Merilirem I think if you're up against heavily armored opponents the size becomes more practical as enough momentum on swing should be able to penetrate armor if not at least break a few bones.
@@StarshadowMelody I read this and just immagined a guard with a giant sword strapped to his back and then when a fight starts, he just pulls a regular sword from his scabbard, with the big boy still on his back.
The way the sword is proportioned, I kept imagining that you had become a tiny little dwarf wielding a normal human-sized weapon.
After six months of training this sword your katana cuts becomes deadly
Ruining giant swords for me too?! Damnit man! 😂
In the book the Eaters of the Dead, the Viking king Beowulf carried humongous swords.
I've been trying to tell that dude forever that he can't hit a moving Target haha but I like crackhead autistic people because I'm an autistic crackhead so I draw attention to his channel by harassing him and it's fun
😊
I'm gonna guess you've been watching SHAD rip "giant swords" apart....when you say "too"
Quick, look up Soulstice and its giant sword that transforms into a warhammer to restore your fascination for the fantastic!
Thin, long edged swords are better in handling. (Odachi, Claymore, Greatsword(including DND version), and other longswords)
To be honest, the hollowed out fuller does add a bit of design.
Instead of a flat chunk, it adds an intentional inward curve or curves to make it elegant.
Just one sentence: If it were practical, people would have actually used it.
there is a reason why the bow and spear have been independently invented in every region of the world, and a reason why this thing was invented nowhere ever until now
Right! Like everyone is 200cm and 170kg full of muscle? 😂😂😂
How tall this guy? 165cm? Not seen muscular but a perfect dad body which is totally fine!
The deadlift champions are over 195cm and +170kg and their records are 500kg weights!!! Dude we really talking about fantasy and fiction?
Well, if it solved a problem or was an improvement, then people used it. But something like those "simbad" scimitars, for example (that people give to pirates and arabs in fiction yet look more like a dao), look pretty practical despite never having been used.
@d-w-b-c First, Sinbad is Chinese, not Arabian. Second, western China and Arab are practically neighbors and few people - except professional - can tell between them. Third, both scimitar and dao literally mean "sword." Overcategorizing doesn't help. Fourth, I saw dozens of such blade profiles from pirates and navy. Those blades were not unused.
Skall using that giant prop sword like Monster Hunter character did it... and that is the point. You're not swinging the sword, the sword swings you!
Honestly it's one of the more realistic depictions of giant sword use. Even the long swords are a bit slower than a single handed sword.
I actually quite like the way the MH greatsword is used as well. The only thing that I would change is the default idle stance, no reason to hold the point out like that, prop it over the should to just have it come crashing down.
Hell, i even like how its canonical that the MH hunters do indeed have superhuman strength and they still struggle to move fast with the Greatsword.
The braveheart claymore, which has a portion of the blade, the ricasso, covered in leather, was a great idea, because it allow you to move faster with it. In Final Fantasy advent children, one of the giant blades that cloud uses does have a handle that is in the blade itself and it doesn't have a traditional handle to grab.
As an experienced Siegfried/Nightmare player the next step after coming down is pressing Y to come up or X to spin attack OR if you are feeling REAL cheeky press B for a forward standing kick.
The hair, armor and overlarge sword makes you look like a dwarf :)
On a more on-point note, I do believe the whole thing comes from the powercreep of media. As in popular action-manga/anime/games etc.they have a tendency to Not depict actual fights but instead the opponents just keep smashing against each other's swords so if you want to be stronger, or at least appear as such, you use a bigger sword.
But irl where any blade that gets through is enough to kill, there is no reason for powercreep to this point. Just like how the claymore wasn't really all that popular even though it's not even that much bigger.
But when everybody needs a thousand cuts to die... yeah, it kinda makes you want something more effective and there isn't really much more than more blades or bigger blades. Maybe faster blades but... yeah.
For reference on the weight issue, the channel Pretty Hate Machining recently finished up making a fully solid steel replica of the Dragonslayer. It weighs 324 lbs (147 kg).
very practical! i have been looking for something that will collapse my floor just by setting it down!
@@bugsmith9751your floor is kinda shit...
@countbozula that guy is a hackjob
Sooooo giant gun hammers are still good right?
hammers are actually better the smaller the head is, all the power focused in a smaller space instead of spread out
Boom hammer gang rise
Like Space Elvis Inc said, with a small head. So, yeah. It can work.
Edit: I prefer adding bayonets or ax heads in the buttstock. Spearing and cleaving with the respective pieces.
@@SpaceElvisInc That seems like a terrible fashion faux pas to hunt giant monster with an efficient weapon though. 🤣
I love them gloves, I instantly thought 'Ohhh Darth Vader's gloves' :)
Good vid as always.
Another aspect that needs to be addressed is that even if someone could swing it reasonably fast, it is still incredibly tiring to wield and even just carry it around.
You could just tire him out by running in circles.
really cool sword drill you did there.
i will always point this out, range is better than girth when it comes to swords, (and other things)
clouds buster might have alot of force behind it but if your opponent can hit you before you even get close, ya noooooo
I will always point out THAT THIS IS REAL LIFE you clown.
Wake up, child.
Sephiroth 1
Cloud 0
Yeah, they're practical for showing off!
The most amazing thing in this video is how that drywall behind you stayed holeless the whole time. I was pretty much cringing every time I saw the shadow of the sword tip on the wall. That was a wild ride sir!
I saw his video. I’ve also seen FMA practitioners evade and counterattack against weapons much faster than that. I have seen fencers evade swords moving faster than that. By the time he’s brought that heavy thing down an experienced fighter will have stepped diagonally and delivered a deadly counter attack with a much lighter biased weapon.
They can be good for exercise and showcasing how strong you are. Just don't use them for battle, nor should you strain and hurt yourself.
I think they'd be incredibly useful if you wanted to train either explosiveness or endurance for your regular great sword. Many people, including Roman legionnaires, train with heavier equipment. The legion used twice as heavy gladius and scutum so that when they used the actual gear it felt light and nimble.
There are lots of historic manuals that tell the users to practice with a heavier sword, that is commonplace. The major issue is when you have something so heavy, unwieldy, and off balance from the original technique it is meant to train that it is unusable and actually hinders practice. A lot of these references were because weight lifting was just not a thing back then as well. In defense of the Ancient Romans, 16th Century Venetians, etc., they also werent going around telling people a buster sword is practical.
@@That1J1that just untrue, weight lifting was definitely a thing back then. There are painting of medieval knights practicing weight lifting, they just lift and throw big boulders instead of lifting bar, and various form of calisthenics
@@jaketheasianguy3307The potential of injury and the inability to target specific muscles makes using a heavy sword much more practical it's the exact muscles you are using.
Lifting big rocks makes you better at lifting big rocks, modern weight lifting is highly targeted.(take it from someone currently rehabbing a ruptured biceps you can get super specific on not just weight load but even what section of the muscle is being worked.)
@@That1J1 While the most important item of weightlifting didn't exist, the barbell, they still could and did lift. Gladiators had dumbbells that went all the way to 200 lbs.
I love how Berserk treats these things like they're impractical and oversized and ridiculous
Guts using them is what made him so abnormal originally.
Thank you Skall so much for doing this, this was funny as hell to watch!
the thing about the giant swords is that their real life impracticality makes it so much more badass when it’s used practically with devastating results.
although for me it’s rarely portrayed heavy enough, only dark souls and berserk made it feel like it makes sense. With first being a huge strength and weight requirement and the second being that Guts always trained with an oversized sword, plus his enemies aren’t human, so there is no fencing to speak of (although it’s shown that he can block and fence with that slab of iron which to this day doesn’t look like it makes sense)
They are practical for something; decoration!
Intimidation
Training
Honestly i hate the "but with a lighter material" argument. Yes, a light material giant sword is better than a heavy giant sword, BUT if you have such a material, there are a million better ideas than making a giant sword out of it. just make a perfectly balanced but long rapier with an absolute MASSIVE (but still lightweigth) handguard for example. If weigth is no concern, you can basically take any real sword (or any other weapon), make it (almost) weigthless and then add some weigths exactly where you want them to.
Not to mention air/target resistance, cumbersomeness, manufacturing cost and so on. If it's a dumb design, a magic material wont make it good.
Such a special lightweight material might not be strong enough to make a normal sized sword with, but with 5x the material then it's strong enough.
@@somerando1073 not really. you wont make the material stronger by making it wider and longer. we've got enough "lighter but weaker" materials that simply dont work as blades. as clubs, yes, but not as blades. if it doesn't make a sturdy sword blade, it won't make a sturdy edge on a giant sword.
It's genuinely that easy, that when you take anything and magically improve it, it will benefit the classical usages more than some weird niche ideas. And by improving i mean general improvements like "steel is now twice as strong/light/etc" not something overly specific like "steel is suddenly stronger/lighter/etc, but only if condition XY (e.g. more than 2kg in a single piece)"
The only thing you can do is add something new, like "steel can passively absorb magic, based on surface area (in a similar way to rusting)" which might encourage having more surface area on a weapon. but even then, there will be better ways than a giant sword. If you want to have a change that benefits giant swords specifically the most, this change has to be just as oddly specific too.
The gun channel Demo Ranch once had someone send them a Cloud Buster sword made from steel and he had a strongman over as a guest and the srtongman had hard time lifting the thing. All he could really do was lift it with great effort, and just let the blade fall. So, a giant sword in real life isn't very practical, esp. when a strongman can't even really wield it.
Worth noting it was not just a strongman, but Robert Oberst, who came in 8th in the prior year's World's Strongest Man competition.
That was based off of a anime sword not something designed to actually be swung. It is not a fair test for this youtuber to be testing giant swords when he is NOT FIT TO WIELD THEM
@@christopherwood8363 Matt, the owner of the channel, wasn't testing it, Demo Ranch is a gun channel, not a sword/HEMA channel and it was sent to him to be shot at. But that's besides the point, the point is that a Cloud Buster type sword made from steel is so big and heavy that not even a strongman can wield it.
@@Riceball01 In the Remake, a normal dude picks it up with one hand, so my guess is that it isn't actually all that heavy, in-universe.
@@Riceball01 Funny to see this comment. I was just down at demo ranch a few months ago and got to sharpen that buster sword and take some swings with it. Hadn't seen that sword since...2017 maybe? Anyway, hoping to get the video out soon, needs lots more editing still...
so glad that Asmon reacted to this....now if only pale goblin would give Skall some boost
Watch out, big sword man is probably going to try to deconstruct your points instead of coming up with good counter arguments.
They're effective at making Guts look bad-ass.
Berserk is trash
Guys would be much better at sword fighting if he used a non stupid sword tho
@@berniegran5391i doubt he can cut through apostles with a normal sword
@@realhuman3203no
@@throbbingwiener6218 In fact, its shown that a regular sword wielded by Guts breaks during an apostle fight- when he fights his first apostle since the Eclipse (when he gets the Dragonslayer), he first starts with a normal sword- one that would best any human- before using the DS
GOD DAMN! Skall looks BADASS in this video! That sparring gear is seriously cool looking, especially with the hair and beard! Great look man
Pretty sure that's motocross gear he slapped on to make fun of the dork who claims his giant sword is totally a valid choice of weapon.
SKALL! You're forgetting one *HUGE* point! If the fantasy setting has sword-flight as an option, a wider blade would be *MUCH* easier to balance on while sword-surfing. Admittedly it isn't that common outside of Chinese cultivation fantasy, but it's still at least one practical benefit of a bigger sword outside of a "realistic" setting.
Or honkai impact 3rd's herrscher of sentience sword surfing on a giant ass sword
Really liked the comment at end re: big boi sword as exercise. Would love to see Skal dive into clubs/maces as training tools
At the end of the day theres no practicality to making a blade thicker (outside of the obvious aesthetic improvements that make it fun to draw and animate). A club benefits from more mass because it has a wide surface area to impart that force, but a sword must come to the point of the cutting edge. If you are adding more weight to a blade, length will always be more important than thickness, assuming you can still block and parry with it. The longer the sword, the more the lever effect makes the tip feel, so generally the longer the sword the thinner you'd want it. In that sense, Sephiroth has the right idea. Then again Zacks whole schick was that he only used the flat edge of the blade, and Clouds entire fight style seems to be some superhuman Berserker who uses an inhuman onslaught of heavy attacks to overwhelm the enemy. If the Buster Sword could somehow keep its edge whilst also being used as the most brutal bludgeoning tool, AND we accept that most of the enemies they are fighting are monsters not other swordfighters, AND we understand that superhuman potion chugging Cloud is EXPECTING to trade blows, then his fighting style makes some level of sense... Some...
Giant swords are in fact most effective. You just have to be a giant, also.
Now what of a giant with a NORMAL sized sword?
@@spyrofrost9158Giant:" You want me to wield a dagger fighting another giant with sword?"
I think letting it crash to the ground probably wouldn't work either. If I'm not mistaken, the force of the impact would cause the handle to rip itself out your hands.
It doesn't, but the felt force on the hands and wrists is not insignificant. Lots of blisters.
It'd be fun to see this tried with a composite blade made from Kevlar or another light but strong material. Combine that with getting the biggest & strongest guy you can find to wield it.
The whole point of this kind of sword is it's mass. It doesn't even need to be sharp. Force = mass x speed.
It's like an opposite of Katana that relies on light weight and sharp edge.
It’s kinda funny that I discovered the same exercise technique by cutting a handle onto a piece of lumber. Really makes you focus on balancing your own weight with the wood
to be fair guts' use of giant words could be seen as the result of psychological damage from years of abuse from gambino, remember when he was training as a boy with the merc group, gambino made him train with broadswords when he himself was only about the same size as them, as a result he became incredibly stubborn and refused to switch weapons because as gambino put it "we don't have swords for kids here" and as a result he stubbornly kept using bigger swords, since he kills gambino in self defense and has to leave with his sword which is bigger than him, chances are, he just kept increasing the side of his blades because maybe he felt uncomfortable with a smaller blade and just got used to it, as for the dragonslayer, we know it has a "presence" in the toher world and is one of very few weapons that can be used against the ghosts and demons guys fights, otherwise he'd probably be happy to use a slightly smaller greatsword.
I always wonder how these would fair against shields and/or spears. In my mind a decent shield should be able to render most of the theoretical advantages moot, though granted you would be taking *heavy* hits, though perhaps the spear would be more interesting due to the lever?
You definitely wouldn't want to try to block it with shield. It would probably break your arm or wrist taking impact. Assuming you are using a 1 handed shield against a GIANT heavy 2 handed weapon.
The best tactic against an opponent with an oversized sword when you have a shield would be to just bum rush them. Preferably, you have a dagger to stab them with at the same time. The closer you get to someone with an oversized sword, the less damage they can do with it.
I also think that, while you'd still take some heavy blunt damage, it would still be fairly simple to deflect a strike from a sword like that with a proper shield.
Seez this is funny, cuz the the Dragon Slayer for example, IN UNIVERSE it was made as a joke, a literally useless hunk of junk to make fun of the king wanting a sword to "kill a dragon". The guy made a big ass sword that couldn't be used cuz he was sick of fantasy swords. He wanted to make a tool so he went "here's the tool to kill a dragon. Dragons aren't real, you can't kill them."
Guts can only use it cuz he's always used swords bigger than him, and even then his attacks are fairly limited
Practical? No. Badass? Absolutely.
There was another guy I heard about that actually trained with a giant sword like that every day until he could do all the moves just like Guts or Cloud do. I'd highly recommend taking a look at it.
Source?
Waiting to see your over-sized weapon workout redemption arc lol. Keep up the good content!
I could believe someone in medieval times with gigantism having a custom massive sword if they were a warrior but other than that sadly there is just no way a human can use something that big. Except maybe with an exoskeleton
Oh a human cnan definitely use it!
Just probably as something along the lines of a coffee table 😂
What your medieval giant calls a massive sword has a 2in wide, five foot long, 1/8th inch blade with a 2 ft handle. What games call a massive blade involves a foot wide five foot long three-quarter inch thick blade.
i never understood why fantasy weapons of that scale werent slimmer curved blades more often, that feels more realistic and probably more scary
Other characters from Berserk (where this sword comes from) use slimmer blades. Griffith used a curved saber and Serpico used a Rapier. The both of them duel the main character and either won or almost won, losing on some technicality.
You’re telling me hitting someone with a giant slab of concrete isn’t cool?
Theres giant curved swords in dark souls 3
Sephiroth's Masamune but a Nagamaki I guess?
Radahn in Elden Ring uses two!
Shad's testing with giant sword also found similar results, if you alter the techniques to grab also the sword higher up with a hand and use a light material sword it's relatively viable. It's basically a more tarded version of a polearm though so in real life if you want "big sword-like weapon" you should get an halberd or similar instead
There's actually at least 1 historical instance of someone using a giant weapon like this, but its a hammer not a sword. During the Combat of the 30, one of the knights used a 25 pound warhammer. I can't find the source right now, but I first heard about it in a podcast called Lions Led by Donkeys. Good pod
15-minute abs with Skal.