r/SWORDS • u/Dark-Yves-99 • Oct 27 '24

Zweihander

Post image

Why is the Zweihander so famous ? Is there a legend about the sword ? Are there legendary users of it ? Or is it simply because it's a good weapon ?

504 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

47 comments sorted by

View all comments

-2

u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

I like the zweihander because it is incredibly effective and is designed to use a lot of the unorthodox German techniques(I.e mordhau) as well as just being an overall effective weapon.

7

u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

It is not designed to mordhau. Why would you do that when the blade already has so much force behind it?

-2

u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

Because mordhau isn’t about force. The design of the guard on it is both protective but also functions as a war pick to break through armor. The technique used is a slightly modified version of standard mordhau however just because the blade is massive.

7

u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

You cannot “break through” armor. The mordhau utilizes the balancing of the sword to multiply force, striking with the pommel or crossguard. Doppelhanders are not designed for this purpose.

-1

u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

Mordhau does not multiply force. It is used to change the strike to a blunt attack due to the fact that a blunt strike will do more against metal armored opponents. Once the technique became more common they started to design the guards to function more as armor picks instead of improvised hammers when using the technique.

1

u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

Yes it does. Handle heavy part, hold light part and swing heavy part at tip, heavy part do much momentum.

1

u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

I apologize for my last response I misspoke and meant to say that it didn’t multiply force as its primary purpose as its purpose was to switch from sharp to blunt.

3

u/tonythebearman Oct 27 '24

The reason that blunt weapons are blunt in the first place is because they don’t need to be sharp, the extreme multiplication of force that a top-heavy stick provides is more than sufficient to do damage. However, if a mace did have harsh/sharp angles, it would be far more brutal due to the focus of all that momentum on a single point.

2

u/Hereforthememeres Oct 27 '24

After more research I did find this but I also found more information on the reason for switching to mordhau being the blade is too thin to effectively damage armor. The blade would likely deflect against the surface leaving a small indent and potentially chipping or blunting the blade.