Short blade

thumb|right|300px|Guide to the Short BladeThe Short Blade was a short, curved blade, that traded power and reach for a faster swing rate. Though there were only two variants of short blade used by Altaïr, there were several choices that may be purchased by Ezio.

High Middle Ages

Short Blade and sheath as used by Altaïr.

The short blade became first available after Altaïr had reached Rank 3. Like the sword, Altaïr's short blade increased in quality and power with his rank. Altaïr carried the short blade on his back with the handle facing down.

Effectiveness

The short blade was much faster than the longsword, making it ideal for dispatching large numbers of low-ranked enemies. However, as an enemy's rank increased, the short blade's effectiveness diminished due to the higher quality armor used by high-level enemies.

Intention

The short blade seemed intended as a fallback weapon when using the throwing knives. When an enemy got too close, Altaïr could fend off the enemy long enough to switch to his more powerful longsword.

Throwing knives

While the short blade was selected, the user could also use throwing knives by being in high profile and using the weapon hand. When all throwing knives had been used, the short blade would become the main weapon.

Users

Outside of a few other characters, Altaïr was the only person to use a short blade. All other NPCs use long blades.

15th Century

File:ACII-dagger-icon.png

A Short Blade and a Throwing Knife.

Just like Altaïr, Ezio was equipped with both a long and short blade, though they were sheathed together at his side. Various types of short blades could be purchased at blacksmith shops with unique speed, damage and deflection properties.

Special attack

The special attack of most short blades could only be performed from behind, and took the form of slitting their throat, or stabbing them in the shoulder or the back, which would always result in an instant kill.

Notices

It should be interesting to note that the last-tier short blade Altaïr used, resembles the Sultan's Knife, meaning that it was the most powerful weapon during the Third Crusade, but when Ezio used it, the most powerful short blade was the Notched Cinquedea.

Another interesting note was that, while Ezio was not the only person in the game to wield short blades (Thieves, Courtesans, Agiles, and certain other NPCs have them as well), he was the only person in the game to hold his short blade in an icepick grip, just as Altaïr did. All other short blade users wielded theirs blade-up in combat. However, a few characters used an Icepick Grip on short blades during cutscenes (such as when Francesco de' Pazzi stabs Giuliano de' Medici).

Animus

Like the Animus mentioned, the short blade was a great way to take out large groups or weak enemies such as archers or regular guards.

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
Bone Dagger of Romulus	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	9,500 ƒ

Short Sword while in Rome.

16th Century

The short blade functioned the same way as it did previously, being a weaker, though much faster and efficient weapon than the sword or mace. Unlike in before the Siege, Ezio could now dual-wield throwing knives simultaneously with his short blade, as Altaïr did. He could also hold the weapon hand button with the short blade currently equipped to aim at multiple targets.

Statistics

Name	Damage	Speed	Deflect	Cost
Stiletto	1	1	2	300 ƒ
Knife	1	2	3	700 ƒ
Bone Dagger of Romulus	2	4	4	1900 ƒ
Dagger	2	4	1	6250 ƒ
Butcher Knife	3	5	3	5000 ƒ
Notched Cinquedea	4	4	2	8600 ƒ
Maria's Dagger	5	3	4	Unlocked by completing all Courtesan challenges
Dagger of Brutus	5	5	5	Unlocked by finding all 6 keys of Romulus and opening the door to Romulus's treasure
Channeled Cinquedea	5	2	4	N/A

• The Channeled Cinquedea could only be obtained from disarming a guard.

Trivia

The Short Sword

• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, once all throwing knives have been used up, the special attack of the short blade is switched to that of the fists, throwing sand.
• In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the Notched Cinquedea has the store image of the Channeled Cinquedea, and vice versa. The Channeled Cinquedea is an unpurchaseable weapon that can only be found from disarming a guard. This is most likely a misplacement of store images used for the Blacksmiths.
• There are only a few people who hold the Short Blade in a backhand grip. Such people are, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, Tamir, Ezio Auditore da Firenze,Francesco de' Pazzi, Bernardo Baroncelli, and Claudia Auditore da Firenze.