Heavy weapon
Heavy weapons were weapons that relied on sheer force and power to inflict bone-breaking damage.
Combat
When swung with sufficient strength, heavy weapons were able to smash through attempts to parry with smaller weapons, and opponents caught under the full weight of the blow mostly collapsed or could even drop their weapons.
Heavy weapons could only be countered by Long or other heavy weapons, as well as the Hidden Blade, though the small timing window involved made the latter more difficult and riskier.
Defense
When it came to countering heavy weapons, the Assassin Ezio Auditore could disarm his opponent with his fists, and if he was equipped with the Hidden Gun or Poison Blade, Ezio would automatically counter with his Hidden Blade.
On the other hand, countering with a heavy weapon always proved lethal to the target, though Ezio would sometimes leave the weapon in the victim's body.
Smash kill
Before the siege of Monteriggioni, Ezio acquired the Smash skill through training with the mercenary instructor in Monteriggioni, to which he could use it whenever he had a heavy weapon equipped.
A Smash took a long time to build up, during which Ezio was vulnerable to interruption, though when a fully charged Smash connected, it broke through enemy defense to cause a large amount of damage, including further effects. It was unparryable and the victim would be disarmed, or possibly have their long weapon broken if they wielded one.
When in Rome, the Smash skill was no longer available to Ezio, and had been replaced by the ability to throw heavy weapons at enemies. This could be done to perform instant kills, up to the distance of around ten meters away.
Accompanying this, Ezio could pick up the heavy weapon after throwing it, though if he picked up a short or medium weapon from a deceased guard, his weapon would change to to that, and he would have to go to a blacksmith to re-equip the heavy weapon (at no cost). Contrary to the Smash kill though, this skill did not need to be learned.
Heavy sheath
Ezio could purchase a heavy sheath from a tailor after he had traveled to Rome, which allowed him to equip two-handed weapons as his primary weapon, except for long weapons. Upon wielding a heavy weapon however, it took up the room normally assigned to his medium weapon, requiring him to return to a blacksmith or the Assassin hideout on Tiber Island to replace it.
Statistics
Rome
| Name | Damage | Speed | Deflect |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bastard Sword | 3 | 4 | 3 |
| Bearded Axe | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| Labrys (Bartolomeo's Axe) | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Stocco | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Spada Lunga | 4 | 5 | 3 |
| Spadone | 5 | 4 | 4 |
Constantinople and Cappadocia
| Name | Damage | Speed | Deflect | Price | Availability |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bearded Axe | 2 | 3 | 4 | 8,050 
|
Sequence 2 |
| French Bastard Sword | 3 | 4 | 3 | 14,260
|
Sequence 4 |
| Condottiero Axe | 3 | 2 | 5 | 23,460
|
Sequence 6 |
| Prussian Longsword* | 3 | 5 | 5 | 30,015
|
Sequence 7 |
| Broadsword | 5 | 4 | 4 | N/A | Complete all Mercenary Guild Challenges |
| Almogavar Axe | 5 | 5 | 5 | N/A | Complete "The Champion, Part 2" memory |
* Cappadocia only.
Trivia
- Heavy weapons could only be re-obtained from bodies in Assassin's Creed II after they have been lodged in them through combat, by simply picking up the body, which will cause the weapon to drop off. This also happened when a long weapon has been lodged into bodies. This differs in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed: Revelations, where Ezio could pick up the heavy weapon or long weapon directly from the body.
- The maximum amount of combo hits with a heavy weapon is 3.
- Ezio could disarm a weapon from Brutes in the first attempt, whereas it could take several attempts to disarm Elite or Leader guards.
- Heavy weapons were the most common weapons used by mercenaries.
- In Brotherhood, when thrown, heavy weapons would become stuck in the target's head while long weapons would impale the target.
- Taunting was an effective method to disarm tougher guards such as Brutes or Papal Guards, as it made them attack faster and gave Ezio more chances to disarm them.
- In comparison to Assassin's Creed II, Brutes in Brotherhood were harder to disarm.
- Assassin recruits below the rank of Assassino could wield heavy weapons, and although these weapons were described as axes in the recruit's training interface, they could manifest themselves as two-handed swords as well.
- In Brotherhood, although Ezio could no longer perform the Smash skill, enemy guards still could. They could not, however, perform the disarm move.
- Occasionally, when a heavy weapon was thrown at a guard that was in mid-air from freerunning after [[Pickpocketing]|pickpockets], it would stay in their head and they would stand still. From then on, the guard would appear dead and wouldn't attack Ezio, but when the Assassin removes his heavy weapon from the body, however, the weapon would fall to the ground and could be retrieved as usual.
- In Brotherhood, heavy weapons lacked the ability to counter-attack other heavy or long weapon users, except during an execution or counter-kill animation. Despite this, long weapons retained the ability to counter other long/heavy weapons.
- In Revelations, heavy weapons could be countered against with medium weapons.
- The Broadsword in Revelations, although listed as a heavy weapon, was wielded like a medium weapon. However the sound effects in kill animations were a mix of both medium and heavy weapon sounds.
- In Revelations, heavy weapons no longer became lodged into enemies when counter-killing them, allowing Ezio to keep using them for the duration of the battle, unless they were thrown.
- A mace can be seen used by Fredrick the Redin Bloodlines even though heavy weapons aren't present in the game.
Gallery
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Mercenaries and Ezio using Bearded axes.
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Ezio using a two-handed axe.
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The heavy sheath as it appears in a shop.
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The shop quest necessary to unlock one of the heavy weapons.
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Left to right: Labrys, Bearded axe, Bastard sword.
Source
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