Current Events > Zombie apocalypse: Spear or Katana

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm not just talking about a regular spears, I mean like the ones you'd find in JRPGs. Choose your weapon.

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Crowbar

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Flamethrower

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Spear would be the best choice for keeping distance.

Though katana would cause more damage for sure.


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Spear.

Spear > Katana. All day, every day. Just need to poke a hole in the zombie from a distance, not strike cool poses.

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Spear. I don't have faith that I'll use a katana effectively and it'll probably be less durable.

Ill take the spear if I also get a shield and like 4,000 other dudes to march in phalanx with me

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Lorenzo_2003 posted...

Spear > Katana. All day, every day. Just need to poke a hole in the zombie from a distance

Yeah until it gets stuck in one

A perfect katana slash will rip straight through

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A spear is much more practical for most situations.

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If my time in Blade and Sorcery taught me anything, it's that spears are OP.

if the zombie skulls is squishy enough that you can crush it when stepping on it, spears

if not, then katana for cutting heads off

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The only scenario in which a katana would be better than a spear is if you're an anime character.

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Spear. Easier to fix when it breaks. Easy as balls to use. There's a reason why the spear is the most used weapon in history.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

Yeah until it gets stuck in one

A perfect katana slash will rip straight through

Your scenario involves perfect sword slashes and mine (what?) are shitty spear strikes?

Riiiight. Spear over katana. Dont be mad. Be alive.

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Katana would require too much maintenance to be worth it and would be easier to get stuck in bone

Also, how exactly is a JRPG spear different from a regular spear?

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Try_Another___ posted...

Ill take the spear if I also get a shield and like 4,000 other dudes to march in phalanx with me

I'll join you.

Katana will not be able to slice a zombie realistically, zombies don't become playdough after reanimation.
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JRPG spears are like, always naginata. So yes, I'll take the slashy spear.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

Yeah until it gets stuck in one

A perfect katana slash will rip straight through

But unless youre Musashi Miyamoto, chances are that itll also get stuck while trying to cut flesh.

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katana can cut rocks in half like paper

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The zombie survival handbook says katana

Project zomboid says spear

not sure who to trust more

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Spear for killing zombies outdoors.

Indoors I would rather have a machete than a katana.

Wasnt the spear the gold standard in warfare until the invention of the bow? I think its technically a ranged weapon. Anyone choosing a Katana is just a mall ninja who watches too many cartoons.

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Aelia posted...

Wasnt the spear the gold standard in warfare until the invention of the bow? I think its technically a ranged weapon. Anyone choosing a Katana is just a mall ninja who watches too many cartoons.

It was the gold standard because they could give them to untrained peasant conscripts and they could be effective with it.

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Spear for sure. It's not like the shows, you aren't just gonna slice heads in half with a katana, you need something with better stabbing power, go in through the eye socket to the brain. You have more thrusting power and range with a spear. You can also use it to fish.

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MabusIncarnate posted...

Spear for sure. It's not like the shows, you aren't just gonna slice heads in half with a katana, you need something with better stabbing power, go in through the eye socket to the brain. You have more thrusting power and range with a spear. You can also use it to fish.

I think you underestimate how difficult hitting a moving small target like that would be especially under duress with your adrenaline going off the charts and your heartbeat going crazy.

TBQH, something like a hammer would be better for our average joe.

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If it can cut as well as michonne from TWD, then katana. Otherwise, spear.

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PatrickMahomes posted...

Yeah until it gets stuck in one

A perfect katana slash will rip straight through

Lol katana would have more chance getting stuck in bones especially if you are not skilled

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Katanas also don't stay sharp forever. Especially if you are hacking and slashing through bone and gore consistently.

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GranolaPanic posted...

Spear. But more specifically a halberd. This way you can use it for thrusting and slashing.

This guy knows whats up, a spear with an axe on it is what you want for taking apart zombies.

Poking holes in them wont do much, and most people would be terrible with a katana.

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Kaladin! The words!

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THIS IS Katana. SHE HAS GOT MY BACK! HER SWORD TRAPS THE SOULS OF HER ENEMIES. I WOULD ADVISE NOT GETTING KILLED BY HER.

MabusIncarnate posted...

Spear for sure. It's not like the shows, you aren't just gonna slice heads in half with a katana, you need something with better stabbing power, go in through the eye socket to the brain. You have more thrusting power and range with a spear. You can also use it to fish.

I would not fish with my zombie spear.

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Spear
Range and ease of use

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PatrickMahomes posted...

Yeah until it gets stuck in one

A perfect katana slash will rip straight through

Proper cuts are very difficult to do. Even in iaido, where you get a stationary rolled up mat as a target, being able to cut clean through it is considered a higher level skill.

That, and katana are honestly kinda shit. They were secondary weapons in actual war, for when your spear was compromised, and they wear out easily. They gained major political and spiritual status over time, but not because they were actually any good. They were a result of blacksmiths doing the best they could do with limited and poor resources.

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JRPG spears? So I can use spells or skills with it?

I would take a Diabolic Spear from Disgaea.

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Can I have a glaive or voulge instead

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Katana. Spear is useless if you get swarmed and you'd need to precise to use it.

Katana you just slice some heads.

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OffTempo posted...

Katana. Spear is useless if you get swarmed and you'd need to precise to use it.

Katana you just slice some heads.

You need quite a bit of precision to cut with a katana. If you just swing as hard as you can, you'll get a shallow cut, possibly a bend blade. This is why iaido practitioners never seem to slash as fast as they could: precision is hard.

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If it's normal zombie rules, in which you have to destroy the brain to kill them, then I'd go with the katana.

Obviously, against living people the spear would be more more effective because any hit could potentially disable them, but with zombies you've only really got the head as a target. You either have to aim for the eye sockets with the spear, which would be incredibly difficult to do consistently, or just hope that it doesn't glance off the skull.

Katana all the way.


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Xavier_On_High posted...

If it's normal zombie rules, in which you have to destroy the brain to kill them, then I'd go with the katana.

Obviously, against living people the spear would be more more effective because any hit could potentially disable them, but with zombies you've only really got the head as a target. You either have to aim for the eye sockets with the spear, which would be incredibly difficult to do consistently, or just hope that it doesn't glance off the skull.

Katana all the way.

But a Katana is gonna be useless against a zombie realistically speaking.
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Ill have a spear that has a detachable katana

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Slayer_22 posted...

But a Katana is gonna be useless against a zombie realistically speaking.

How so?

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Xavier_On_High posted...

How so?

You can't actually cut through, say, it's neck. You're more likely to get the blade caught on bone or muscle, which can be quite difficult to pull out.
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pogo_rabid posted...

It was the gold standard because they could give them to untrained peasant conscripts and they could be effective with it.

And they were cheap and to make. It's literally a stick with a point on it.

So Katana, if properly maintained and cut with, will sever limbs pretty easily. I mean, that's what it was made for, cutting the shit out of poorly armored opponents. The issue is that it's easy to fuck up. Because of the geometry of the blade if your angle is slightly off you will bog down or get stuck, or in the case of a really bad cut you can literally bend the whole blade, making it useless.

Go find videos of people cutting tatami with a katana. You'll see people with terrible technique get stuck in a single piece and you'll people with great technique cut through four or five.

Bamboo is similar, but instead of bending the whole blade you can fuck it up and roll the edge, also making it essentially useless.

A spear doesn't require that level of training to use effectively, you literally point the stabby bit at someone and shove. That doesn't mean there can't be some artistry to it, I've seen Kung fu practioners do some really wild deadly shit with what is essentially a pointy stick.

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Katana if I'm wearing a suit of armor that protects against bites. Spear if I'm not.

Slayer_22 posted...

You can't actually cut through, say, it's neck. You're more likely to get the blade caught on bone or muscle, which can be quite difficult to pull out.

I don't know why you think that. A katana absolutely can cut off heads and limbs. Even if it doesn't slice through the bone, the sheer impact can tear the head off anyway.

I'm not a katana cultist, btw; this is true of most swords of similar length, weight and sharpness. A falchion or langmesser, for instance.

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Katana because Combat is Madness

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Spear is slow, breaks easily, and is useless in close quarters. Katana all the way.

Though a machete would be preferable to both.

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