Sacred 2:Book 4 - Dual Wield

From The Art of Cooking
Book 4

Dual Wield

"Shields are overrated"
--- Aimantin, in his book "The Art of Two Swords" (written in 529)

The oldest document of a dual wielding fighting style is dated 1500 years ago. It's a small image in the Elisithian manuscript and shows a Seraphim defeating a Camach with two longswords. Numerous Heroes and masters at arms are known to have used this style in battles, duels and tournaments. The most well known of all is certainly Armatin Tarabath, Warlord under Emperor Turiam III in the limes of the Six Wars. Every student of dual wield sword fighting is still following his techniques and principles, as described in bis famous book "The Art of Two Swords". Because of this huge influence, dual wield sword fighting is commonly known as armantin-style or armanlin for short.

Wielding one weapon in each hand is without any doubt the most aggressive fighting style. The armantin fighter dismisses the protective element of a shield in exchange for an extra sword. This automatically determines his fighting style and tactics. The lack of blocking capacity makes it impossible for him to fight defensively. Instead, he will try to kill his opponent as quickly as possible by covering him with enormous amounts of combined swings at an incredible speed, keeping his shield and weapon constantly busy. A good armantine fighter will try to force his opponent to move his shield, thereby leaving gaps in his defense.

Fighting armantin requires lots of practice. Both arms need to be equally skilled and trained. If the off-hand isn't able to deliver swings, blows and thrusts at the same speed and precision as the main-hand, the offensive advantage of the extra weapon will vanish and leave the fighter with a poor shield in the form of a sword. Only truly ambidextrous fighters can fight armantin to its full potential. But armantin is not only about training the arms. Movement and balance are of equal importance. While fighting with a single weapon and shield can be quite static, the armantin fighter needs to be able to move around and readjust the balance of his body, which is constantly changing during the combination of swings.

"Your arms may deliver the deciding strike. But your legs win the fight."
--- Armantin in this book "The Art of Two Swords"

Of course, armantin is not limited to fighting with two swords (although Armantin himself never used a weapon other than the sword). There are many possible combinations, such as sword and axe, sword and dagger, two axes, mace and sword and so on. While the combination of a crush and a slash weapon certainly can be helpful in some fights, most fighters tend to use weapons of the same kind, because it's a lot easier to master the flow of motions.

"The two-weapon fighter should always try to use the longest weapons he can comfortably swing. It's essential to attack the opponent before he gets a chance to get too close to you. You should always aim for the initiative, and kill your opponent as soon as he's into your weapon range"
--- Passage from "The Art of Two Swords"