weapon skills

[true_practioner_of Kokoro]

How would you rank weapons as far as easiest to hardest to learn

[bushido_man96]

In Western Martial arts, most weapons training began with the long sword or quarterstaff, and then moved into other weapons. However, they may be easy to learn, but difficult to master.

[Feathers of Doom]

The easiest weapon is the one that every kid has growing up. Ever play with sticks in the back yard? Anyone can pick up a stick and do damage with it. And once mastered, a stick weapon is an effective tool. After that I put blades. Similar to the stick weapon, but it now has a greater chance of hurting you with the sharp blade. Spears bridge the gap and eventually leads to swords. These are the best in terms of balancing the weapons equation (extension of body, greater damage, increased range) after that it gets harder. I put section weapons next. It takes a long time to make it feel like you’re in control of the seemingly random weapons. The hardest by far would have to be ranged. Throwing weapons and bows take a long time to master.

[ashworth]

with section weapons there is always a point when you not in complete control of the weapon

[AikiGuy]

I agree with Feathers of Doom. Sticks aren't too tough to handle, so I would say Escrima would be first (easiest). After that here's how I would rank them.

This list is only the weapons used in my system.

Bo

Tonfa

Kama

Katana

Sai

Nunchaku

[ARADOX]

I think i'm gonna differ a bit here, if you're a karate practitioner, tonfa, if you are familiar wih karate then you will be familiar with tonfa, also, I believe that sai are a very similar weapon to tonfa and since karate isn't exactly difficult to use, I would advocate using a weapon similar to tonfa, failing that of course you could always go for the knuckle duster (don't see that much point in it myself but there ya go), the escrima has a fair few locking and throwing movements that may seem offputting to someone who considers themselves good at using a similar weapon, if you ever get bored of knuckledusters of tonfa get some mandarin duck razors, (or rooster knives as they are sometimes called) now THOSE do damage

I'm gonna agree that chained weapons or sectioned weapons are very difficult to use effectively, and that's AFTER you get past the stage where all you can hit is your own head

[ps1]

I would put them in this order from easiest to hardest:

Staff based (bo, tanbo, yawara ect...)

Staff/blade combo (kama, spear, axe ect...)

Blade only (knife, sword...)

Flail (nunchaku, three section staff, ect...)

I say flailing weapons are hardest, as mentioned earlier, because you never have full control of them when they are flailing (if your system uses them in that manner). However, some systems use them like staff based weapons that have levers, this would make them easier to learn.

[lordtariel]

I think it really depends on your initial system. Bo was the easiest to pick up when studying karate, while I imagine that tai chi staff(if I could of found an instructor less than 300 miles away in any direction) would have been far harder to learn at first than the broadsword which I picked up fairly easily.

[Neo Dragon]

Bo staff I thought was the easiest. But then again after training In karate I picked up a pair of Sai and pretty much instantly knew how to use alot of it's techniques. Its all a matter of oppinion.

[TigerCrane]

I think the staff is the easiest and most basic to learn. I have heard that the Kwan Do is one of the hardest weapons to learn.