"that would never work in the street". There, somebody said it.....

Last time a dude tried to parry a great sword, he lost a duel and his comrade left his war band.

Feels like a “technically, this *IS* possible, but wildly impractical and you’ll get fucked up even if you pull it off” kinda thing

People who took middle school physics class all understand that it's not a good idea to block a huge long heavy item with a lot of momentum behind it, with a tiny light item

Hilariously, legs are a valid target for zweihanders. Wonder how easy it is for them to block a legshot when they're expecting a zornhau.

You clearly missed the parry window. Messer has a parry window during it inital frame instead of most weapon which happen during 30 ms after the initial animation starts.

If Greatsword didn’t kill you… your own blade will💀

Former HEMA instructor here. I would never attempt a single handed block against a greatsword using ANY one handed sword. Even if you dont take damage, it will have definitely moved your blade out of the center line, leaving you wide open for a follow up strike. Simple solution though. Just half-sword with your blade. Step into the attack and block/parry. It will give you an advantage as you close the gap. And with your blade being held in a half swording style, you will be able to very effectively block/parry without your blade being knocked away, and you will be in a better physical position to counter attack, while being too close for the great sword user to also be able to effectively counter attack because you're too far inside their effective range. The second to last clip is a perfect example of this. Its the only clip where the messer user didnt have their blade knocked away, and actually got close enough to counter attack. Another valid historical technique was to reverse your grip and hold your blade by the tip. Use the cross guard and pommel as a bludgeoning weapon while also taking advantage of the cross guard being able to catch and push the blade away from a further distance. This was a technique historically used by longsword users against spears and pikes.

Griffith didn't have a chance

Elden ring has taught me you need a shield, a dagger, or a curved sword to parry a greatsword

Griffith simply forgot the matchup vs Guts

At first I thought the problem was that he wasn't locking out his elbow properly, then I saw him lock his elbow and his wrist failed. Very informative.

"RAIDEN STOP THAT BLADE!"

If anyone doubts his explanation, here's a good analogy for you. Imagine this in a more modern scenario. The people with the shortswords are instead people armed with only pistols and the person with the greatsword instead has an LMG or some other kind of suitably powerful weapon. Instead of maintaining distance the pistol weilders are taking cover. Sure they could poke their head out and try to get a good shot in. It would only take one hit to take out the single person with the LMG, but they're much more likely to get shot if they poke their head out of cover than they are to hit the guy.

Reminds me of a book I read as a kid. "Because of your technique and the quality of the daggers, you should be able to block any swordsman if you're desperate enough." "... And what if we're facing an axeman?" ".. then you're better off jumping off a cliff to escape."

"Why can't I just block your dual handed, full swing, heavy weapon with one stiff arm?"

parry with your strength! "you call this a messer?!?"

Speaking from steel greatsword sparring against single sword. I used control while swinging and even with a 20-40% strenght my opponent with sword and buckler could not keep the weapons together, yer he could catch them on the buckler with the sword behind to create a bigger barrier for me to get around his defence. But fair to say that if you can't parry with the sword on it's strong, then you can't parry it. As for the redirects, the "easy" comments, with the test we made defending a narrow passage (simulating a door). The first one to go in would always die, so yeah, easy, just have one of your mates die and then you can rush in.

It’s like that video game trailer with the knight who takes out a heavy, a mage, and like 2 other people at the same time

I love how so many people here treat this like it’s some kind of game where there is a “solution” that is easier than stepping back and getting out of range of the big sword the maniac is swinging around

I find it funny that people would underestimate five or six feet of sharpened steel.

You need a buckler. It hast better parry frames. Then crit with the dagger.

When it comes to a great sword, your best bet is to anticipate the swing, close the distance as fast as possible and disarm/incapacitate the target. It's not easy but I had the same dilemma with my instructor and that was the only solution I ever found moderately effective.

I remember last year i was dueling a great sword wielder with only a shortsword, and i tried blocking even with two hands: that force is immense, i almost hurt my wrist

Previous comments: "Just parry the greatsword 4head"

I was about to say "dodge it" until I saw the "wannabe helicopter" move

this is why I always keep a scroll of fireball, don't need to engage when the enemy is ash

Everybody's gangster until the poleaxe guy shows up😂

I think all the tough talkers need to film themselves testing out their theories for how to counter the greatsword. Other than a longer weapon or a shield, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of ways to get in and get the wielder without getting wrecked.

I've been a bouncer for many years, and I can tell you with confidence that this is accurate. Whenever someone has pulled a knife or bladed weapon at the door (always one handed knives, except for one time someone went to their car and came back with a katana), I unclip a rope and start swinging a bollard (similar affect as greatsowrd). The person with the knife can pretty much do nothing but run away or get dropped. The bollards are not made as weapons, so they are slow and cumbersome to wield, but so far, no man has been patient enough to dodge the bollard and strike with their knife. A greatsword is made for fighting, so it's much less cumbersome/awkward to wield as a weapon (obviously).

Law of conversation of momentum. If you want to parry a 4-5 lb sword with a 1-2 lb sword, you need to be swinging the smaller sword 2-5 times as fast as the larger is moving.

Dude I was literally just about to parry a greatsword thank goodness you made this video

People watch too much kung fu movie where a finger can block a greatsword and magic.😂

I’m guessing here, but wouldn’t it make sense to time a step in and parry after a full swing. Wouldn’t there be less power on a recover swing ?

"parry this you casul" now i know why i can't parry two-handed greatsword 😂

Reminds me of that line from Uncle Iroh "You're clearly outnumbered!" "Yes. And you are clearly out-matched."

This is one of the few situations when you need to pull the ol' johnny cage

Meanwhile I pull up with my Machete.

Accidentally broke a friends wrist in LARPing because he tried to 1H block my naginata downswing. I had no idea what kind of force it could produce until then and feel horrible about it to this day. I can only imagine the force if it had been real weapons

Love the drop and run at the end, lmffao. Priceless.

Some guy with 15 years hema experience here. In the shot where the greatsword wielder is doing these big whirling strikes is suicide. Your option is get out of the way and that's it. But the first shot where the greatsword comes directly at the opponent is quite doable. The problem is that the blocker just kind of recoils while putting his sword in the way. He doesn't even really take much of a step back. That doesn't work obviously. What he should be doing is actually stepping toward the swing and rotating his top half (so it's more of a diagonal step to dodge followed up by a block for added safety) I would also recommend having the sword tip facing down while blocking and extending the arm out. What this does is create more of a brace and wider blocking potential. If you try to block the greatsword at the tip, all that momentum will carry through. If you block closer to the middle or cross guard/quillions you take away a lot of that force

Moving in closer is what you would need to do. The blocker needs attempt to parry closer to the greatsword's crossguard to deny the leverage advantage the longer blade has. As goofy as it sounds, ducking and stepping in might buy you the extra time to get a a foot or two of leverage away from them. Then you're best option probably just spring from the crouch into a body tackle, grappling them before stabbing or braining them with whatever is on hand.

You don't have to parry a greatsword, you just have to wait until the greatsword user wears themselves out swing around a large metal object....which wont be long

If I find myself trying to block a greatsword with a one handed sword I'm running back to my time machine.

I tried this with 2.5kg greatsword, and you can absolutely block it with any sword that can be used with 2 hands. Half-swording works as well

Buddy really smacked him in the face. I know he's protected but damn.

Il keep this in mind next time someone tries to attack me wielding a greatsword

I am not sure you know what the word “parry “ means friend. As per the Oxford dictionary it means: “to defend yourself against someone who is attacking you by pushing their arm, weapon, etc. to one side” What you are trying to do is “Block” a greatsword. And yes Fighting against a greatsword with a one-handed weaponis a bad idea.

Could melee counter greatsword in a 1v1? The melee is quite agile, the backdrop of a missed swing can be all you need to gapclose- you could keep swinging to neutralize the backdrop but than again you can't forever, right? I really like boxing and if I can interpret some medieval into it than do some duels that would be cool. I really am curious, you definitely could just go for the redirect but than again I don't know how much control one has on a greatsword.

"All i am surrounded by is fear, and dead men." -Darth Vader, in response to being surrounded.

Sheezus that was a nasty amount of power dude was turning and stepping into those blows...being new at this sort of content I never considered the amount of force that would be delivered onto an enemy weapon.

“Man… your sword is big. Precisely how bi- POCKET SAND!”

You have clearly underestimated my ability to throw my shoes at my opponent.

I love that if you make a sword big enough not only does spinning become a legitimate move, but people just choose not to attack you.

I tried blocking that exact type of greatsword with a saber once. My wrist did not appreciate it.

So a simple insight step plus the guard at the start of the enemies blade to redirect would help ;)

Aight boys who's taking one for the team? Parrying it with your spine is still parrying.

When he was swinging and stomping around he looked so menacing hahaha, like a horror clown

This just summed up my LARP experience in one video

That 1 kid in class everybody picked on. Kid finally broke and started waving his choice of weapon at everyone.

Good thi f I watched this, I was just brushing my teeth before going to a great sword party.

This is a 1v1 with full force on a single target, while previously was about a single person swinging in all directions, meaning much less force applied or the person getting quickly tired.

The concept was bad from the get-go...but you are honest and i do super duper appreciate that.

And thus the reason why a greatsword is a main weapon & a regular sword is a sidearm.

If they go high, duck and lunge. If they go low, shout fuck and run.

Guts be laughing in the background hearing someone trying to parry a greatsword.

Depending on the angle, you could use a less direct kind of parry where you sidestep the attack, and use your blade to keep the enemy blade in one spot whilst you close distance. It's a similar technique to getting through Spear guards; turn the size into a hinderance.

That's why you carry a Blunderbus in the off-hand to gun parry the greatsword.

Ya'll know there's a difference between parrying and blocking right? (not in every school right?) It looks like they're just eating the momentum of the shot. By not allowing the greatsword to continue with it's momentum, the one handed is also missing the opportunity for counter attack; they don't need to gang up on you. Also, engaging the tip end of the greatsword, with the closest parts of the Messer will help close the gap between the two weapons. Leverage. Length makes the two handed sword great. But it's silly to think "See, watch these guys block badly" is proving a point.

The oldest form of baseball. Is the guy who stands in front of the great weapon in motion

That opening killed me!😂😂😂

Some roadman tries to jump you with a ZK, and the other guy whips out a Claymore

I mean, parrying a greatsword is how griffith lost to guts in their rematch...

You look like a Renaissance painting of a sword-wielding man-at-arms in the company of the local duke.

That first smack got me good

Oh boy, time to try this with friends.

The only way will be approaching as soon as the aggressor starts the movement

Bro summoned entire berserk fandom

A two handed sword and parry in an upward motion like you're raising an axe to chop wood

If he have a knife, you need a bigger knife. If he brings a bigger knife, you need a greatsword.

If I were a greatsword wielder I’d use “Siegfried, Nightmare, and The Warrior’s Moveset” in my arsenal.

As a kung fu practitioner with arguably too much weapons training, some of those were able to be parried; you have to go with the flow and use their momentum and just redirect it, not block with brute force. For example, the overhead strike could have been deflected further upward if need be, but knowing how maneuverable a greatsword can be, it's frequently just better to stay away until an opening emerges.

I’m glad I do t have to Perry great-swords anytime soon. What kind gel is best for my mustache?

"Bigger doesn't mean better!" I beg to differ...

Suddenly, Guts fighting off 100 soldiers and living through it seems very realistic.

A kenjutsu technique they teach for the wakazashi is that you parry with the tip of your shortsword as far as you can down your opponent's blade towards the hilt, and then bring it back towards the tip of the opponent's sword in order to cancel out the weight and momentum. Look up Wakazashi Kata if you want to see it in action. The idea is that the tip of the sword with the most energy is "hot" and the handle which isn't moving as much is "cold," so you want to grab it where it's cold and drag it up to where it's hot to "quench" the attack. It's meant to parry longswords, not greatswords, but that messer is fairly longer than the short sword used in kenjutsu so you could catch the greatsword closer to the hilt than with a wakazashi.

Carry a shield basically. If everyone is carrying swords a shield would be really useful.

When he just drops the sword, that was funny haha

Longer lever. The end.

God that slap at the start

I definitely think making it come to a hard stop is impossible but I think you could use the smaller sword to redirect the great sword hit while moving to dodge or close in. I've not had experience doing this but it sounds possible to me

reminds me of video i saw on trying to block quaterstaffs. Those things blow right through even active parries.

A Rawlings messer weighs 600 grams, while a real Messer probably weighed 900-1200 grams. Unless the padded greatsword is also scaled down in weight this is going to be a problem for equivalency as the relative masses colliding will matter to the effect. But certainly a greatsword is hard to pary passively, you need to actively push/ punch into it or deflect it rather, or at least block further away from the body than you would a normal sized sword. Or halfsword...

I got myself a lovely little greatsword a while back and a handful of clubmates were willing to spar gently with me with mismatched weapons. We kept it about 50% speed and low intensity for safety. Even then, the greatsword had massive reach advantage and was nearly impossible to block. Sometimes the desire to win would overcome my club mates and they would ramp up so they could get in and out without getting hit. We had a diacussion and they concluded they did not want me to swing faster, and neither did I. When I ramped it up to about 70% my opponents just kept far away because they couldn't get in without getting hit, even blocking with a longsword was too difficult

Now I want to see Shad check this out.

That great sword spacing is beautiful. The same thing works for staff. Big sharp object or fast object moving fast is scary.

if someone is holding a big stick, u dont block it with a smol stick...

I mean, if I were in that situation and I wanted to block and strike, I feel like I'd side-step and deflect. Of course I probably wouldn't do that when actually sparring, seems like more of a drill thing

That's why you don't stick your shortsword in front of the extreme tip of the greatsword. You block closer to the hilt where there's not as much angular momentum.

you are playing with toys, you do not have a tool of destruction