When Tryndamere and Fiora get into a dual.

{quoted}

well like i said swords can spark... it just means that its made horribly and will shatter in your hands very soon.

the sparks mean there's still slag left in the metal which exponentially decreases the strength of the blade.

....And i just realized im in a talk about sword fighting and physics and crafting on a league of legends board. [slayer-jinx-wink]

[slayer-pantheon-thumbs] You have learned much Young Padawan.

In either case, primarily it's speculation because the gif moves far too fast to see if she is meant to be parrying or not. However, just watching the blue blur that I would assume is the blade, she seems to have multiple points where she tries to impact the sword at a perpendicular angle. A rapier, while designed to parry and deflect, does not do either very well vertically (or perpendicularly to be more precise). It is meant to bend and give-way enough to allow for the glancing nature of fencing maneuvers. That's why in fencing when you parry it is done with a simple push to the side, not with a full swing of the sword. In fact, an actual power-maneuver is to simply swing your sword at the opponent's sword to knock it away, and if done correctly is more than enough to knock someone off-balance.

Is it stands, though, a sword like that would not be able to perform such actions against a cleaver such as that. That's actually one of the reasons two-handed swords such as a Zweihander and Claymore were created - they were big enough to actually render the bulky armor knights wore practically worthless in that that was their sole purpose. Cleaving armor. They were much to unwieldy and slow to justify against someone unarmored, but as heavy armor was made to deflect the swords of the past - generally short swords and the like - technology evolved to next best such defenses. Then came your light, piercing weapons - rapiers, foils, etc. - not because they could stand against such weapons but because they were far faster and more precise, meaning while your enemy is swinging what was practically 7 pounds of dead, air-resistant weight, you had plenty of time to side-step and jab them in the throat.

I actually don't believe it's even suggested to try just purely deflecting such a weapon in that manner. It's easier and safer just to side-step, and it keeps you from being knocked off-balance.

But this is entirely ignoring that it's anime and it's so wildly inaccurate that 14 year old stick-girls fire the equivalent of a Barrett with one hand all the goddamn time.

While in bikinis.