Weapon Advantages

== Intro ==
Weapon advantages refer to the natural abilities of a weapon. These advantages can be skewed/overcome or even manifested in certain levels of play.
For example, a katana is considered to have a slight disadvantage against a medium shield in standard fighting. But in high-levels of play the medium shield would be more likely to have a great advantage over a katana.
== Explained ==
=== Great Advantages/Disadvantages ===
These fights would largely be considered unfair in random testing. We never throw these fights together unless a test is specifically asking for it.
=== Advantages/Disadvantages ===
These fights are unbalanced enough where the weapons in play DO ACTUALLY put one fighter in a noticeable and real advantage/disadvantage. 
=== Slight Advantages/Disadvantages ===
These fights are very close to balanced but will require one fighter to adapt their style to counter the opponent’s. If a fighter does not know how to do this, the weapons will seem to have a stronger advantage/disadvantage than they actually do. This level of imbalance is the most common and should be considered normal fighting.
=== No Advantage ===
Weapons really do not offer any distinct advantages at competent fighting levels.
== Overcoming Advantages ==
The absolute and most effective practice when fighting at a disadvantage is patience.
Often times fighters will know they have a weapon advantage over you and get sloppy with their offense. If you play at max range you are likely to catch your opponent making an unsafe approach that you can easily punish.
Some techniques can really magnify an advantage through proper footwork and defensive advances. For example highly skilled medium shield users can actually function at a level that would warrant Large Shield advantage/disadvantage variables.
Ultimately skill and proper play dictate who will win a match.
Category:Fighting Technique