Dark Knights hold their swords like idiots...

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I know its a game, I know its supposed to be magical and all that. However did you see how they hold their swords in game? It looks completely uncomfortable, I even tried it in real life and my wrists are cramping up from doing it.

I don't know how they are supposed to save people holding their sword like this, however I wonder if other races besides Au'Ra hold theirs differently.

I mean, even look at how spread out their legs are...

[Lewtskie]

I THINK it's based on an actual guard stance. High guard I think, where you're aiming to parry blows like large over-arcing strikes. DRK is a Parry tank so that's the connection there.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

I THINK it's based on an actual guard stance. High guard I think, where you're aiming to parry blows like large over-arcing strikes. DRK is a Parry tank so that's the connection there.

I tried it out in real life and it just feels completely uncomfortable to me. I don't see how they even do it. I actually practice two handed martial arts though a bit from the old fight books.

[Eye_Gore]

I tried it out in real life and it just feels completely uncomfortable to me.

Watching people do yoga looks real uncomfortable to me, but that doesn't mean it is for those who can do it.

[Nektulos-Tuor]

Watching people do yoga looks real uncomfortable to me, but that doesn't mean it is for those who can do it.

I don't know, when your fighting for your life its usually better to pick a stance that doesn't look like when someone hits your sword its going to break your wrist.

[Eye_Gore]

I don't know, when your fighting for your life its usually better to pick a stance that doesn't look like when someone hits your sword its going to break your wrist.

But if you are properly trained for it, there should be no issues.

[Shurrikhan]

I don't know, when your fighting for your life its usually better to pick a stance that doesn't look like when someone hits your sword its going to break your wrist.

Better to take the impact with a palm supporting than letting it just carry through, and that stance can take quite an arm-crushing hit without breaking one's wrists.

The guard being used is akin to a hangen / hanging guard or an offset Ox guard, probably the best general stance one has against swords, staves, axes, clubs, or whatever, wherever there may be a strong downwards strike or flurry of downward blows. (Against another sword, or any weapon with similar speed ad reach, it would be raised further to actually protect the head and likely aimed more pointedly at the opponent's head or upper chest; altogether this particular variant looks very lazy, as if baiting more than blocking.) It mostly looks silly simply because it's a counter-guard, usually paired with the dodge, where the downward force of the parried attack accelerates your own circling following strike. The problem is, we don't have counters in this game. Better that, though, than something that would require winding to be of any use, such as cloud's middle guard (where the countering strike itself then looks almost exactly like the DRK guard as you offset the attack and stab or rising cut through).

Apart from that bit of realism, to take as you like, you can blame Cecil, as mentioned above.

@ErikMynhier awesome vid. I personally tend to open in Iron Door or Middle Guard, and use Ox only transitionally unless feinting, but I have fought against quite a few people who can actually make a very, very effective use of hanging out in Ox. They're usually larger, slower-footed, but very quick with thwarting and hewing strikes. By just setting themselves deep and turning frequently but naturally if you circle, it often feels like trying to get through a steel wall rather than an actual sword. Springier opponents, however, I've noticed tend to prefer to hang out in more comfortable, low-tell stances like middle or roof. Sorry, rant.

[karateorangutang]

I tried it out in real life and it just feels completely uncomfortable to me. I don't see how they even do it. I actually practice two handed martial arts though a bit from the old fight books.

Video or it didn't happen.

[Iagainsti]

I tried it out in real life and it just feels completely uncomfortable to me. I don't see how they even do it. I actually practice two handed martial arts though a bit from the old fight books.

Goliath Fechtbuch

[Noxifer]

[...]

*cough* I like when people post responses to the OP half a year or more since they made that post, and after they've returned to the thread and posted updates that may or may not invalidate the original post.


That said... I haven't done much more than try out DRK myself, and I haven't looked that closely at the stance (since I play on my TV and thus sit almost 2 metres away), but... based on the screenshots earlier in the thread, I tried to copy it (without a sword), and both holding it and looking at the screenshotted stance (from the preview stream, I think?) it to me would feel more natural to be a stance preparing for an overhead chop thing. You know, as if the character was facing the other way, with the sword behind him. Probably based on (as Atoli mentioned) how the hands are gripping the hilt "upside down"-ish.
(And no, I don't have much IRL experience with fighting, either. Done a bit of kendo, and a tiny bit SCA heavy fighting, but not enough in either to feel confident in making statements regarding stances. So while the above is my instinctual feeling, it's not really based on anything other than that ^_^)