Polearm

No, a properly made polearm will not be cut through in a single blow. Skallagrim notes that if polearms could be easily destroyed this way, they would never have been used historically. A cut won't simply go through and hit the opponent behind it—that's movie nonsense.

The polearm user can deflect the sword by dipping the shaft under incoming attacks, a common defensive technique also seen in quarterstaff. Additionally, deflecting the flat of the sword blade is generally the best defense strategy against a sword user.

To attempt a cut on the shaft, the sword user must create an opening and close distance significantly, during which the polearm user can thrust directly at them. ThegnThrand explains that a polearm user would have time to attack the sword user's face or body before they could successfully cut the shaft.

Yes, repeated blade-to-blade contact with a polearm can accumulate damage over time, though it won't break in a single strike. ThegnThrand observed that continued striking into an axe or polearm head would eventually cause damage, similar to what can happen against a shield with sufficient force.

The Polearm group encompasses all fighting techniques using long-shafted weapons — typically ranging from five to twelve feet in length — that combine reach advantage with the leverage provided by a long handle to deliver cuts, thrusts, sweeps, and hooking actions. Polearms were the dominant battlefield weapons of virtually every pre-gunpowder civilisation because their superior reach allowed formations of soldiers to engage enemies before shorter weapons could close distance.

Polearm combat is documented in the oldest military traditions worldwide: Chinese spear (qiang) technique is recorded from the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BCE), Greek hoplite spear combat defined classical warfare, and the Japanese yari and naginata became core battlefield weapons by the Kamakura period (1185-1333). European polearm fighting was extensively documented in medieval fight books, with masters such as Fiore dei Liberi (1409) and Hans Talhoffer (1467) devoting substantial sections to pollaxe combat.

Traditional martial arts: legal — Practiced in traditional kata/forms and weapon-specific competition under var…; IWUF: legal — Legal in wushu taolu if applicable; HEMA: legal — Legal in applicable historical weapon categories

Danger rating 9/10. Extreme — spears, halberds, and naginata; maximum reach with lethal cutting/thrusting capability

The standard setup chain: Ready Position → Distance Control → Execute Technique → Return to Guard.

Standard counters include: Parry (Absetzen) — deflect the incoming blade with a counter-displacement / Void (Step Back) — withdraw from measure to avoid the cutting arc / Counter-Cut (Nachreisen) — strike into the opponent's opening during their attack.

Common variants: Standard technique (primary execution from the most common grip and stance); Competition variation (adapted for sport-specific rules and scoring); Traditional variation (classical execution as taught in the traditional art); Combination variation (chained with preceding or following techniques in a flow).

Polearm competition exists in naginata (International Naginata Federation), HEMA halberd/pollaxe, and Chinese wushu spear (gun-shu) events.

Top errors to watch for: Standing too close to the opponent — polearms are designed for distance; closing range negates their advantage / Using only the blade end — the butt end of polearms is used for strikes, sweeps, and blocks / Holding the polearm too close to the head — the hands should be positioned to maximize reach and leverage / Not using the shaft for blocking — the shaft itself is a defensive tool; blocks and deflections use the shaft.

The Polearm is also known as Nagae Buki, Polearm Combat, Long-Hafted Weapons, Reach Weapons.