Short blade

The Short Blade is a short, curved blade that is a smaller, more agile weapon than the longsword. The Short Blade trades power and reach for a faster swing rate. The Animus, in its hints and tips given to the player, recommends the Short Blade for killing off large numbers of enemies.

Assassin's Creed

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The Short Blade and its sheath in Assassin's Creed.

In Assassin's Creed, the short blade is first available after Altaïr has reached Rank 3. Like the Longsword, Altaïr's Short Blade increases in quality and power with his rank. Altair carries the short blade on his back with the handle facing down.

With speed that is faster than the longsword, he short blade can quickly dispatch a large number of weak foes. However, it becomes quite difficult when facing higher ranking enemies, as they have better armor. It seems that the short blade is just a back-up weapon when throwing knives at the enemies. When the enemies get out of the range of the throwing knives, Altair can use the short blade to counter a few blows before switching to his more powerful longsword.

While the Short Blade is selected, the player can also use throwing knives by holding down the modifier key and pressing the weapon hand key ( on Playstation 3, X on Xbox 360, Left Mouse Button for PC default layout).

Assassin's Creed II

Ezio can carry a short blade in addition to his longsword. Various short blades can be purchased at blacksmith shops with unique speed, damage and deflection properties. Unlike Altaïr, he won't carry it on his back, but next to his primary weapon. The special attack of most short blades can only be preformed from behind, and takes the form of slitting their neck, and stabbing them in the shoulder or the back, which will always result in an instant kill.

A Short Blade and a Throwing Knife in Assassin's Creed II

It should be interesting to note that the last-tier short blade in AC1 resembles the Sultan's Knife, meaning that in AC1 it is the most powerful, but in AC2 the most powerful short blade is the Notched Cinqueda. This is a contrast to the longsword as a Western short blade is the most powerful in-game; but Altairs Sword, which is made in the Middle East is the most powerful longsword in-game.

Statistics

Name	Damage	Speed	Deflect	Cost
Dagger	1	1	2	500 ƒ
Knife	1	2	3	1,300 ƒ
Stiletto	2	4	1	2,200 ƒ
Channeled Cinquedea	3	3	4	4,100 ƒ
Dark Oracle's Bone Dagger	2	4	4	N/A
Sultan's Knife	3	5	3	4,300 ƒ
Butcher Knife	4	3	5	6,400 ƒ
Notched Cinquedea	5	5	4	9,300 ƒ