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Well, a light sabre is not just another sword. It is massless and have a perfect edge all round requiring no force to cut through stuff.

So what is the correct style to use with such a weapon. What we see in SW is mostly based styles of slashing swords with weight 1/3 way up. How would a pure light sabre style look like?

And there is the instant off factor that is unavaible to any HtH weapon before. I believe that alone would make blocking and parrying a futile action as the attacked can just turn off the blade and turn on after passing the blade attempting to block.

Turning a blade on and off like that is a tactic that is used by some Jedi and Sith. Most notably, Exar Kun used it to defeat some of his enemies. However, it requires Force-assisted speed and reflexes, and very skilled Force-users can even block such strikes, dodge them, or attack you before you can re-activate your own blade.

ah, the EU.....

SWPIGWANG wrote:ah, the EU.....

Do you not accept the EU, because even in canon we can clearly see that turning a lightsaber on and off is not instantaneous?

It might very well be like a hand to hand Martial arts match-up, with both of the opponants attacking then darting back out of range again. The fight itself, I think, would be in short bursts of action with each opponant looking for vulnerabilities in the opponants stance, footing etc.
The fact that a lightsabre can cleanly slice off an extremity would mean that each of the combatants would have to VERY cautious not to over extend an arm or a leg, thus explaining the short bursts of combat.

I'm off to bed now, good night!

EU = novels = annoying to read = generally not read

SWPIGWANG wrote:EU = novels = annoying to read = generally not read

Be careful of unsubstantiated categorizations. In any case, I have read all of the SW books except for the Galaxy of Fear and any Infinities novels (what's the point?), so I can testify on behalf of almost all of them. I usually respect people who refuse to accept EU claims, but if you have no objection to their accuracy then I will use them in my posts on this topic.

Well, a light sabre is not just another sword. It is massless and have a perfect edge all round requiring no force to cut through stuff.

Wrong. The lightsabre does require force to cut through things; in ESB, Luke delivers a blow to Darth Vader on the shoulder that would have been fatal had Vader's armor not stopped the blade. In TPM, Qui-Gon attempts to cut through a thick durasteel door using his sabre, and he has to use quite a bit of force to do so. In the NJO books, the Jedi have had trouble using lightsabres to cut through hardened Yuuzhan Vong amphistaffs. While a lightsabre does cut through most things with minimal force, esp. soft organic matter and weaker steel (battle droids), there are limits to what it can do.

My guess would be that the ideal way to wield a lightsabre would be to hold it to the side of your head, as Qui-Gon does in TPM, to keep the glare out of your eyes.

A real lightsabre duel would be like something from feudal japan, it would come down to one draw and one strike. From start to finish it would be about 0.7 seconds. But that doesn't look good on the screen.

Durran Korr wrote:

Well, a light sabre is not just another sword. It is massless and have a perfect edge all round requiring no force to cut through stuff.

Wrong. The lightsabre does require force to cut through things; in ESB, Luke delivers a blow to Darth Vader on the shoulder that would have been fatal had Vader's armor not stopped the blade.

I agree. If the part in ROTJ where Luke's lightsaber bounces against the railing, one would think that it's either a matter of pure chance (which I doubt) or that Luke was already applying some force opposite to the swing, which softened the blow against the railing and it was spared from the cutting.

These railings are probably harder than federation battle droids, either way.

I don't think that lightsabers are weightless either. If they were, there would be no leverage whatsoever in the swing. It would consist simply of rotating the handle.

I don't think that lightsabers are weightless either. If they were, there would be no leverage whatsoever in the swing. It would consist simply of rotating the handle.

If the lightsabre is indeed plasma, then it would have a little bit of mass, but this would be negligible in combat. Look at how Obi-Wan twists his sabre in TPM; it's clear that the center of gravity is within the handle, not within the blade. The lightsabre is indeed virtually massless, which is another reason it is so difficult to wield and only Jedi, with their force-assisted reflexes, can successfully control it.

SWPIGWANG wrote:Well, a light sabre is not just another sword. It is massless and have a perfect edge all round requiring no force to cut through stuff.

If this were true, Obi-Wan would be short one arm and one leg by now. He's not. A LS may be massless but it does require force to move the blade around and to cut things. Luke makes a comment to this affect in the SW radio drama.

How would a pure light sabre style look like?

Huh? Are Jedi training with other weapons and then applying the style to lightsabers now? We already know what a "pure light sabre style" is like.


Aaron

Just FYI, the latest SW Insider has an entire article (about 6-8 pages) of Jedi combat. It refers to several (I can't find my copy right now to give you exactly how many) different fighting styles. Most are very similar to swordfighting techniques. (Duh)

SW Episode II VD talks about the different styles of combat, also. There are at least seven different ones.

Yeah, Count Dooku uses Type II (favored for parrying), Anakin Type III (favored for power) and Kenobi Type IV (favored for defense)

IG-88E wrote:Yeah, Count Dooku uses Type II (favored for parrying), Anakin Type III (favored for power) and Kenobi Type IV (favored for defense)

And Mace Windu uses Type VII (IIRC), which is favored for strength and is borderline Dark Sider stuff.

Yeah, I think you're right.

Can you give a description of each of the styles? I'd really like to know.

It's in one of the SW:II books. I can't remember which one.

IG-88E wrote:It's in one of the SW:II books. I can't remember which one.

I know it is. I was hoping someone could post a quick summary of just that portition as I don't intend to buy the book.

it's the one where they give data on people, blasters, clothes, and everything you can think of.

IG-88E wrote:it's the one where they give data on people, blasters, clothes, and everything you can think of.

I don't need to know what book it is. I'm not buying the book!. I'm looking A SUMMARY OF THE DIFFERENT LIGHTSABRE STYLES.

IF I could find my copy of Insider, I could give that to you, but since it seems to be missing...

Dooku uses a fencing style that minimizes movements but means he kicks ass in direct one on one lightsaber combat.

Obi-Wan focuses on being able to use his lightsaber to deal with the more common threats of his time, mainly blocking and redirecting blaster bolts. This is the one supposedly favored by most Jedi at the time of the prequels.

All that they say about Anakin's style is that it favors power. ??? Supposedly his lightsaber is designed that way too.

All they say about Mace Windu's style is that it is very close to the Sith in that it focuses on combat. No more specifics???

By the way, I think Obi-Wan's style is called Form III and Anakin's is Form IV