The most devastating shard weapons

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

The problem with any rope/chain weapon is that it requires a lot of training to use effectively.

 

I'm not saying it would be effective in the hands of someone who didn't know how to use it, you put a weapon in an untrained hand, no matter how devastating, the battle is already half over before it starts. 

 

With that said, I see a good amount of flaws in your logic. 

 

 

 

 I charge, it's my best bet of an early victory, so I'm charging and you throw the rope dart at me. I hit the rope with my spear tip, I duck the rope, as I wraps around the spear, and plant myself pulling on the rope, pulling you off balance, throw spear you die.

 

There's a lot of momentum in that rope. So you charge, you're running straight for the person who throws the rope dart at you, at the end a blade that can cut through anything. You use your spear to block the rope, and duck as the blade comes around...the first time. So now you've had to come to a dead stop, and you're watching the dart wrap around the spear. Meanwhile, I'm already planted, pulling on my end of the rope, which I've got wrapped around my arms to give better leverage. You've got two options, lose the spear, or risk getting pulled off balance while the dart continues to swing. 

 

Lets say you do manage to stand your grand. You try to pull me off balance, but I've been centered and yanking already, so that doesn't work. Now, you try to throw the spead...which is wrapped in a rope dart. I yank on the rope, the spear changes directions and misses. Now you're disarmed. 

 

Now let's assume, that, in fact, you are much larger than me (I am disinclined to believe that, I'm a tall burly fat guy,) and you manage to get a good yank in that could throw off my balance. I let go of the rope, which dismisses, and is now back in my hands, swinging, ready to throw again, you had to let go of your spear in order to get a good hold on the rope, at least one that could challenge my own, and you're facing the exact same problem you were just in. 

 

 

 

we found that sword, spear and normal mace are the easiest weapons to fight with because they are the most predictable in the way the move and are effected by the environment around them. It's why those where the weapons most often used throughout history in every country.

 

That's because they are the easiest to train large amounts of people in. I think the fact the the rope dart isn't predictable is what makes it the most deadly. Because so few people are exposed to those kinds of motions, they won't be able to anticipate how it moves when you block it. The fact that it's a shardweapon really solves most of the problems it had as a weapon. It will ignore armor, and one hit can end the fight. The spren can also compensate for any mistakes that you make, and not cause any harm to the wielder. 

 

 

 

Also would the rope itself cut? Because if it doesn't, then the rope becomes even more useless. If the rope does cut how would you use it?

 

The rope is a means to convey velocity into the dart, and to disarm the opponent, while providing the erratic movement that's hard to predict. Combining the ability of the rope to tangle with weapons, horses, legs, etc, to be dismissed and resummoned immediately by itself is insanely powerful.

 

I guess it all comes down to your assumption that it wouldn't be a skilled warrior using it, but if we assume that the people wielding these weapons don't have the skill necessary to fully utilize them, it really wouldn't be much of a discussion. 

 

(Also, I've recently had a friend start practicing the rope dart as a performance art (the dart is an LED) and he's gotten remarkably better in just a short time.)

 

I don't know about you, but I'd be more scared of this guy running at me knowing it was a shardblade on the end of the rope than someone with a shardspear:

 

Edited May 24, 2014 by EMTrevor

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

@EMTrevor: making them both Bonded Spren weapons makes any discussion of the merits either weapon has pointless. They both become so OP that it is ridiculous. I suggest waiting till i get to the USA for comic-con or whatever, going to a park with a rope-dart and spear and duking it out to see which is better. Also is that video similar to what Jackie Chan does in Shanghai whatever? I can't watch because my computer freaks out if i watch online videos.

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

@EMTrevor: making them both Bonded Spren weapons makes any discussion of the merits either weapon has pointless. They both become so OP that it is ridiculous. I suggest waiting till i get to the USA for comic-con or whatever, going to a park with a rope-dart and spear and duking it out to see which is better. Also is that video similar to what Jackie Chan does in Shanghai whatever? I can't watch because my computer freaks out if i watch online videos.

 

Well...that's kind of the whole point of the thread. 

[kaellok he/him]

I still think that a rope dart has an advanatge in this situation, given the training to use it correctly

 

Rope dart vs Shardblade (spear)- Without full plate, the battle is definitely in favor of the rope dart. The shardblade is going to have a hard time blocking the rope dart, as it will connect with the chain/rope, which will then pivot, and continue on its flight path towards the shardbearer-dead. Or, if they manage to dodge with the parry, the wielder of the rope dart then has a great deal of leverage to pull the shardblade or spear out or their hands. On a normal shardbearer that's game over, it poofs to mist, the rope dart is free of the weapon and able to resume its attack. 

 

Rope dart vs Shardplate only- I think this is a better match up, but the speed and force with which the rope dart can be launched by a surgebinder would be devastating, and hard to account for. Again, the conventional weapon will be no help in blocking, especially since the surgebinder can easily use it to disarm them, then recall the weapon back to their hands after it was tangled, immediately putting momentum back into it to go on the offensive again. A few hits to the head and the match is over.

 

Rope dart vs full shardbearer-I truly think this is a worse match up than without a shardblade. As soon as their disarmed, the battle is going to go very poorly for them, and the aggressor is going to keep a lot of pressure on the sword arm as they continue to attempt to resummon it. 

 

I think the only way to combat that would be to have instantaneous weapon control yourself.

 

I think that you are HUGELY underestimating anyone in Plate, or Odium-based monsters that won't be instagibbed by Blades.  So you disarm them of their weapon; big deal.  One of the primary tactics to use against someone with a Blade is to get in close--if you have Plate, you can do so relatively safely.  The dart on a rope is much weaker at close range than a Blade is, because, as you said, it's a velocity weapon, and the dart is what actually does the damage. 

 

So while you're spinning your rope around, I'll charge in close and use a Stick^TM or spear or sword or some other object that has a little bit of reach into your maelstrom.  Yes, this will cause me to lose my weapon, and yes you will be able to keep yours--but it will KILL your momentum, and as soon as I place it in I'm going to charge you and start pounding your face in with my Plate gauntlets.  If you decide to run, then again, you've lost your key advantage of velocity, and you can bet damnation I'll be chasing you down.

 

Against enemies with no defense against it, the rope and dart weapon will be super effective, but against anyone who can survive a Blade hit who isn't brand new to combat then it is substantially weaker.  And your friend's moves are pretty impressive, but not really the same thing as combat at all--somewhat intimidating to fight if I didn't have something to absorb the blows, but he doesn't seem to have the control to send the dart exactly where he wants it when he wants it.  ie, he can't slam the dart into the same section of Plate over and over again in a row in order to shatter it as a tactical decision that we see other Shardbearers using.  Put some jagged edges and blades on the rope that can cut like a Blade does, and we have an entirely different fight on our hands, of course.

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

@EMTrevor: OK so no Shardplate I assume? Cool, heres how I win, you start your dance to get velocity up I throw my 6-foot Blade of death at you, you dodge losing all of the velocity. I then Throw it again and again constantly, never going closer than 10 metres until you can no longer block and you die. I'm sorry, I really am but the sword wins. Insta- resummon makes it sooooo OP because it's just grab and go. The Rope, however, needs to be constantly in motion or its just a Short-Sword/Hammer/Hook with a Rope. Eventually my 6-foot Blade of death is going to hit you and you will die.
( This sounds harsher than I meant it to be. )

I'm also throwing the Blade horizontally. As the Rope is not solid enough to block it, the only way to stop it is to create tension in the Rope or dodge the Blade.

The Spear has a similar scenario, Except no blocking only dodging.

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

I think that you are HUGELY underestimating anyone in Plate, or Odium-based monsters that won't be instagibbed by Blades.  So you disarm them of their weapon; big deal.  One of the primary tactics to use against someone with a Blade is to get in close--if you have Plate, you can do so relatively safely.  The dart on a rope is much weaker at close range than a Blade is, because, as you said, it's a velocity weapon, and the dart is what actually does the damage. 

 

So while you're spinning your rope around, I'll charge in close and use a Stick^TM or spear or sword or some other object that has a little bit of reach into your maelstrom.  Yes, this will cause me to lose my weapon, and yes you will be able to keep yours--but it will KILL your momentum, and as soon as I place it in I'm going to charge you and start pounding your face in with my Plate gauntlets.  If you decide to run, then again, you've lost your key advantage of velocity, and you can bet damnation I'll be chasing you down.

 

Against enemies with no defense against it, the rope and dart weapon will be super effective, but against anyone who can survive a Blade hit who isn't brand new to combat then it is substantially weaker.  And your friend's moves are pretty impressive, but not really the same thing as combat at all--somewhat intimidating to fight if I didn't have something to absorb the blows, but he doesn't seem to have the control to send the dart exactly where he wants it when he wants it.  ie, he can't slam the dart into the same section of Plate over and over again in a row in order to shatter it as a tactical decision that we see other Shardbearers using.  Put some jagged edges and blades on the rope that can cut like a Blade does, and we have an entirely different fight on our hands, of course.

 

I did overstate the case on Shardplate, it wouldn't be an easy victory against shardplate, it would definitely depend on having to change into another weapon after an initial assualt. 

 

Also, that's not my friend haha, just a video on the internet that showed what someone skilled could do. He's not bad for light shows, but as far as martial arts goes, He wouldn't be worth much. I was just commenting that the skill doesn't seem to be as incredibly tough as its being made out to be. 

 

@EMTrevor: OK so no Shardplate I assume? Cool, heres how I win, you start your dance to get velocity up I throw my 6-foot Blade of death at you, you dodge losing all of the velocity. I then Throw it again and again constantly, never going closer than 10 metres until you can no longer block and you die. I'm sorry, I really am but the sword wins. Insta- resummon makes it sooooo OP because it's just grab and go. The Rope, however, needs to be constantly in motion or its just a Short-Sword/Hammer/Hook with a Rope. Eventually my 6-foot Blade of death is going to hit you and you will die.

( This sounds harsher than I meant it to be. )

I'm also throwing the Blade horizontally. As the Rope is not solid enough to block it, the only way to stop it is to create tension in the Rope or dodge the Blade.

The Spear has a similar scenario, Except no blocking only dodging.

 

I think you might want to try throwing a blade horizontally next time you're out practicing, that would work against all the balance of the weapon. The whole point of the 'dance' is to create a motion that makes it easier to dodge. I don't like putting myself into these scenarios because by all means I'm not a weapons expert in the slightest, but there's a reason Adolin doesn't practice throwing the shardblade until he thought it was a useful skill. The spear would be easier to throw accurately, but that's even easier to dodge. You you have a six foot blade of death, but the range on the rope dart is can be just as long. 

 

I think if you're going to use a throwing weapon, you're definitely going the wrong route. By even proposing the spear or sword as the main throwing weapon, you're ignoring weapons that were designed to be thrown that would also be harder to dodge. At that point the difference is just the rope. 

[SmurfAquamarineBodies he/him]

@EMTrevor: This is what I meant by pointless. I don't care enough to continue this quasi-argument, agree to dis-agree.

But upvote because "He ate my horse" and "I am a stick" are two of the best lines in the Cosmere.

( How do you split one quote into several different quotes? )

[king of nowhere]

It hasn't been emphatized enough that the better weapon would be strongly dependent on the opponent you face. And, call me boring, but a sword is really the best for most applications.

 

If you fight humanoid foes without shards, then a blade let you slice a large number of them with good control. you try dodging a 2m long sword. And being easier to control than the dart make it more valuable in that condition. you are facing unarmored foes, you want to kil them quickly and effectively. an unpredictable weapon is not good in those circumstances. But, really, there isn't much point in discussing the best strategy to kill people without shards. everything would be effective.

 

If your opponent had a kind of shard weapon, but not a plate, then I guess a rope would work fine; it is much more difficult than a blade to parry with another blade. So, if you had a spren and plate, and you faced 4 people with shardblades but unarmored, a rope would be a better weapon.

 

the main problem here is that you can use a blade or a spear to block enemy thrusts, but you cannot use a rope to block. so a dart rope against a shardblade, no plate for both, would end very quickly with a victory of the first to strike. I'd give a slight advantage to the blade because the rop is more likely to strike a limb and stop there (i mean, the limb intercepts the rope, the rope coils around the limb, the dart cut the limb, but it stops there). So blade vs rope, unarmored, I'd say ends with the balde guy losing an arm to kill the opponent.

 

If both sides have a plate and a weapon, then again i think the rope is not the best. it lack the capacity to effectively penetrate plate; it would mostly bounce against it, taking a long time to make a breach. a sword just breaks into a plate faster. I don't know about sword vs spear here.

 

And if you're fighting something big, like a chasmfiend or a thunderclast, a blade is an obligated choice because nothing else cut deeply enough to really hurt he creature.

 

In all case, a throwing weapon like the aforementioned chakram could make for a quick surprise shot, only to reform your melee weapon immediately after it strikes.

 

So, the blade is still the most useful weapon in most circumstances, with other weapn having niche uses. Good thing you dopn't have to choose which you want to carry in advance.

 

EDIT: also other considerations on yourself and your opponent would need to be taken into account. For example, if i were in a solo duel against a weaker opponent, I'd want a blade or a spear, a weapon requiring strategy to capitalize on my superiority. if I was facing a stronger opponent, I'd instead wanted a dart rope (assuming i could use it), because it is more unpredictable, and unpredictability gives the underdog a better chance to be lucky.

Edited May 25, 2014 by king of nowhere

[Patrick Star]

How about a vehicle? It would be cool for there to be a shardmobile.

[Mikanium]

Even though we will probably never see it, I would love to see Dalinar weilding The Stormfather.   I can picture the blade in my mind, with the blade made of pure stormlight.  

[Fifth of Daybreak he/him]

It hasn't been emphatized enough that the better weapon would be strongly dependent on the opponent you face. And, call me boring, but a sword is really the best for most applications.

If you fight humanoid foes without shards, then a blade let you slice a large number of them with good control. you try dodging a 2m long sword. And being easier to control than the dart make it more valuable in that condition. you are facing unarmored foes, you want to kil them quickly and effectively. an unpredictable weapon is not good in those circumstances. But, really, there isn't much point in discussing the best strategy to kill people without shards. everything would be effective.

If your opponent had a kind of shard weapon, but not a plate, then I guess a rope would work fine; it is much more difficult than a blade to parry with another blade. So, if you had a spren and plate, and you faced 4 people with shardblades but unarmored, a rope would be a better weapon.

the main problem here is that you can use a blade or a spear to block enemy thrusts, but you cannot use a rope to block. so a dart rope against a shardblade, no plate for both, would end very quickly with a victory of the first to strike. I'd give a slight advantage to the blade because the rop is more likely to strike a limb and stop there (i mean, the limb intercepts the rope, the rope coils around the limb, the dart cut the limb, but it stops there). So blade vs rope, unarmored, I'd say ends with the balde guy losing an arm to kill the opponent.

If both sides have a plate and a weapon, then again i think the rope is not the best. it lack the capacity to effectively penetrate plate; it would mostly bounce against it, taking a long time to make a breach. a sword just breaks into a plate faster. I don't know about sword vs spear here.

And if you're fighting something big, like a chasmfiend or a thunderclast, a blade is an obligated choice because nothing else cut deeply enough to really hurt he creature.

In all case, a throwing weapon like the aforementioned chakram could make for a quick surprise shot, only to reform your melee weapon immediately after it strikes.

So, the blade is still the most useful weapon in most circumstances, with other weapn having niche uses. Good thing you dopn't have to choose which you want to carry in advance.

EDIT: also other considerations on yourself and your opponent would need to be taken into account. For example, if i were in a solo duel against a weaker opponent, I'd want a blade or a spear, a weapon requiring strategy to capitalize on my superiority. if I was facing a stronger opponent, I'd instead wanted a dart rope (assuming i could use it), because it is more unpredictable, and unpredictability gives the underdog a better chance to be lucky.

I think you pretty much covered the majority of my bullheadedness, between you and Smurf(Formerly crystalbodies), and kaellok consider me properly chastised

So let's retool the thread. What would be the deadliest combos of shard weapons, and feel free to specify weather your particular combo would be against regular infantry, a partial shardbearer, or a full shardbearer. (I think the real problem we had, other than my almost fanatical devotion to the rope dart, was we were phrasing in different battle terms. As far as devastating with the rope dart meant, I had originally intended that to be against normal infantrymen in a large battle.)

Edit: For multiple quotes I generate quote bubbles and copy paste.

Edited May 26, 2014 by EMTrevor

[NeutroniumAlchemist he/him]

Shardsand! You can melt it down and make the most powerful lens from it

[Cstryon he/him]

Shard body suit, against a regular army with no shards.

Plate, and sword against another plate and sword.

Quarter staff against 2-4 shard blades (changing the length as you need within whatever limits there are.)

Changing your weapon like Kal did, with no plate, vs multiple foes with both plate and blade. Full body suit again when you're needing to get out of a tight spot.

[Shaggai]

Shard Ball and Chain. With the fact that Shardblades are pretty light, and that it can smash through anything, you have a weapon of mass destruction. It's unwieldy, but in the right hands, it's an absolute monster. 

 

Granted, my only experience with a ball and chain is playing video games, so I'm biased.

Wouldn't be very good. Shardweapons are extra-light, and most of the strengths of a mace/morningstar/ball and chain are based on how storming heavy those things are. The point is to batter the enemy into the ground.

[Patrick Star]

Lopen should get a shardcousin.  That'll protect him from anything.

 

Even better: a ShardStick.  Not quite as good as the real thing, but it should defeat anybody who dares to fight it.

[DeployParachute]

Wouldn't be very good. Shardweapons are extra-light, and most of the strengths of a mace/morningstar/ball and chain are based on how storming heavy those things are. The point is to batter the enemy into the ground.

Oh man, was typing up a nice post arguing this very point, and you beat me to it. So i'll just go ahead and attempt to elaborate on this topic and try to understand just what makes a Shard weapon better in some circumstances than a normal weapon.

First off, I feel that the number one unique advantage to a Shardblade (note I said blade and not weapon) is that it can pass through living flesh with practically no resistance and sever the soul of the object itself. That is a huge advantage it has over conventional blades when fighting living opponents as it doesn't have to worry about getting stuck on pesky matter like muscle, fat, sinew, bone etc.

Take the blade away, however, and replace it with an "impact" weapon such as a mace, a morning star, flail, and you have lost the advantage that the weapon gives you. The shard weapon then is no more effective than a normal weapon made out of steel of this type, perhaps even less so if we assume that the shard weapon is lighter.

I also think a good question to ask is: "Can any part of a shard weapon cut the way the blade of a Shardblade does?". It could be that we don't have enough information on this, but it is my interpretation of a shard based weapon that only the blade portion has the "severing" ability. I say this because I have not found anywhere in the text where I have seen the "hilt" of a shardblade used to sever the soul, or cut solid rock. I've also never seen anyone mistakenly cut themselves with the handle of either their own blade or a borrowed blade. Perhaps that's a bad example, so let's look at the other shardweapon we've seen. Kaladin's shardspear. It has a blade, so obviously I would naturally consider this deadly, but then does the haft of the spear also cut in the same way if it comes in contact with living flesh? I don't think so, I think instead if you got hit with this part of the weapon, it wouldn't feel any different than if you had gotten hit with the haft of a normal spear. Some of this might even be because the "intent" of the weapon as seen in the KR's mind forms what the shard weapon will actually do. A spear has a spearhead, which is meant for stabbing, piercing, and maybe occasionally nicking and slicing, while the haft is meant to block, or bash. Similarly, a mace it meant for bashing and blunt force trauma, a morning star similar but with added piercing effect.

Some of these weapons "intents" are not very good at playing to the strength of a shard weapon which is "severing" of a living soul or passing easily through non-living matter. So, my question is, unless you did not intent to be directly lethal (maybe you wanted to just smack someone around a bit), what would be the point in summoning a shard weapon that does not give you access to the main benefit of such a weapon?

A dart on a chain, unless you were very precise with your throw, does not hit the core of the being, and thus, does nothing. If you have an arrow, unless you got them right through the spine, the head, or the core of a limb, again, it has zero effect. A spiked ball will certainly do some crushing, but unless the spikes are long enough, there is no severing occurring.

Just some thoughts on the idea of maximizing the benefits of a shard weapon, and I feel that cutting/slicing deeply into a living enemy is key to this. So in my mind, other weapons may not be as effective in a "lethal" sense.

Edited May 27, 2014 by DeployParachute

[Cstryon he/him]

I agree with the thought of what the intent of the weapon is I think. But also I think you will also have some invested power behind your attacks. If your weapons intent was to crush, like a mace, than even though you might not sever anything unless you crushed it enough, you still would have easy crushing attacks with less effort required.

My Warhammer might just destroy your steel plate and smash your chest enough to effectively separate your top, from your bottom. It might not be very graceful, and I expect there to be some explosive debris. But I think the effect expected from the type of weapon, is what you'll get unless blocked.

My shardblade has the intent to cut, that's exactly what it does, my hammer is meant to Ham, I mean pound, that's what it does.

[Chrono she/her]

There's a scene where Kaladin smashes Szeth with a hammer and it works just as well, perhaps better, than an actual hammer made out of iron, stone, or steel. One of the limitations of a giant ball and chain thing is that it's dang heavy and requires a lot of spinning and movement to get the momentum up to the point where it can kill someone. Because Shardweapons are so light, this problem is negated.

 

TL;DR Blunt Shardweapons basically work the same way as a mundane one, except they're not nearly as heavy.

[kaellok he/him]

Towards the ball and chain argument:

 

If we assume that it's the sharp, pointy or edged things that cut through people so well (like a Blade), and if we also assume that a Shardbluntweapon performs better than a normal weapon of its type (as seen with Kaladin v. Szeth in the Final Battle), then what happens when you combine the two?

 

I present to you!  A ball with spikes on a chain with razors and edged spikes.  Completely ludicrous for mundane combat, yet terrifyingly effective as a Shardweapon.  It will cut through your soul with the spikes, and the heavy ball will knock you out of the way so that your corpses don't pile up near me.  Focused accuracy would only be needed when fighting someone with Plate (or its equivalent), and at that point you could change it to something more useful, like a chainsaw.

[Chrono she/her]

Chainsaw Shardblade? I like. 

[DeployParachute]

 

Towards the ball and chain argument:

 

If we assume that it's the sharp, pointy or edged things that cut through people so well (like a Blade), and if we also assume that a Shardbluntweapon performs better than a normal weapon of its type (as seen with Kaladin v. Szeth in the Final Battle), then what happens when you combine the two?

 

I present to you!  A ball with spikes on a chain with razors and edged spikes.  Completely ludicrous for mundane combat, yet terrifyingly effective as a Shardweapon.  It will cut through your soul with the spikes, and the heavy ball will knock you out of the way so that your corpses don't pile up near me.  Focused accuracy would only be needed when fighting someone with Plate (or its equivalent), and at that point you could change it to something more useful, like a chainsaw.

 

 

Can I borrow your imagination sometime?  Here, have my upvote.

[kaellok he/him]

Can I borrow your imagination sometime?  Here, have my upvote.

 

I...I don't know?  I've never loaned it out before...

 

But anyway, here's Batman firing a chaingun, while riding a T-Rex shooting lasers out of its eyes.  

 

Edited May 27, 2014 by kaellok

[Dihatimus]

I was surprised that kaladin thought to use hammerSyl on szeths shoulder, if it had been a blade it would have been much more succesful. To someone who can heal mundane wounds like broken bones with a slight thought and some stormlight this was a bad choice of attack. I was a little disappointed honestly.

 

I thought shieldSyl was interesting and with Kaladin learning the horse perhaps lanceSyl. However, blade forms probably are still best at severing souls, which is what shardthings do best...that we know of.

 

I remember it mentioned that once the living thing is dead then the blade passes easily through it, so all those jagged flamey edges on swords are awful in purpose, they slow the weapon down as it tries to go through living flesh getting all caught up in entrails and such, nasty business that, bloody difficult to use your cleave feat (groan) if your weapon loses momentum just because someone wasn't gracious enough to die faster which is downright unsociable. So by my opinion, the thinnest blade would be my choice.

 

I think a fun thingSyl would be bear traps, but not too sharp. TrapSyl would close on your leg and would only cut badly if you squirm, try to escape at all and you grey your leg. Stay put and stay calm, grey just some skin

[Cstryon he/him]

Domi, a chainsaw.... Shard tools!

Shard shovel, that Thanksgiving bbq pit will be easy to dig, every time!

Shardnailgun... That drywall will...rust, the nail just keeps going...

[king of nowhere]

A dart on a chain, unless you were very precise with your throw, does not hit the core of the being, and thus, does nothing. If you have an arrow, unless you got them right through the spine, the head, or the core of a limb, again, it has zero effect. A spiked ball will certainly do some crushing, but unless the spikes are long enough, there is no severing occurring.

Just some thoughts on the idea of maximizing the benefits of a shard weapon, and I feel that cutting/slicing deeply into a living enemy is key to this. So in my mind, other weapons may not be as effective in a "lethal" sense.

 

You sure? The way I understood it, a shardblade cutting through a body will kill the soul of the selected part of a body. so a superficial cut will cause your skin to lose sensitivity, a cut through a muscle would cause it to stop working. granted, it's less serious than a regular wound, cause you won't bleed. but it still does harm.

Also, there are several instances of someone speared by a blade being killed instantly, most notably shallan's mother and tyn that I remember, but i'm sure there are others. so unless every single one of those people was hit exactly on the spine, it means that stabbing someone in the torso with a shardblade also kill him.