Scimitar

The scimitar is one of the seventeen sword types available to players in the game. It is produced at iron mongers. On subscription oceans, the scimitar may only be used by subscribers.

The scimitar, like the falchion, is a strike sword. Unlike the falchion, however, which excels in offence, the scimitar is a defensive sword. The practical difference is hard to grasp at first, but becomes prevalent at higher levels of swordfighting. The difference lies in what should be sent: a falchion should send very large strikes to try to cripple the opponent instantly; a scimitar should send small strikes very quickly, in order to disrupt the opponent. The defensive power of the scimitar becomes apparent after the first attack: the falchion, on the whole, is probably a harder sword to counter than the scimitar. However, the scimitar is very hard to counter using another strike attack, as the aftermath of a scimitar attack must be sprinkled to be cleared. Thus, if a scimitar and a falchion trade small strikes, the scimitar quickly gains the advantage, because it can send repeated strikes, using the falchion's sprinkles as fuel, while the falchion user must clear much of the scimitar's attacks before it can build a strike of his own.

While the scimitar excels at strikes, the scimitar does have some problems with attacking the center. The sprinkles in columns 3 and 4 are both monochromatic and the scimitar cannot introduce new colors into these columns without strikes. While vertical sword strikes can fall into column three, getting a sword to fall into column four is difficult. The only other way the scimitar can introduce new colors into columns 3 and 4 is with horizontal strikes.

Recipe

 * Enamel: 3 units
 * Enamel: 3 units
 * Iron: 2 units
 * Lorandite: 3 units
 * Masuyite: 3 units
 * 25 hours of basic labor
 * 15 hours of skilled labor
 * 25 hours of expert labor

Historical notes
The current drop pattern of the scimitar used to belong to the skull dagger, and vice versa.