Inspired by this thread.
Here is a screenshot of the weapon relationships (I don't think this is a spoiler):
So try to explain the relationships. I will start:
Bows are strong against staffs because magic users do not wear armor. They are weak against weapon users because they do wear armor. (Yes, I know there are a number of problems with this theory. Feel free to point them out but please provide your own theory as well.)

Also the fork, knife, spoon er.... I mean.... the rock, paper, scissors umm... that's not it.... the sword, spear, axe relationship is the same as in Fire Emblem games, so your explanations will work for that game as well.

Spears trump swords because of superior range. You can poke someone with a spear while staying out of range of a sword swipe.

I'll give an alternate theory for the bow.

Historically speaking, bow users were only effective in large numbers. A master archer was indeed effective at picking off people from afar, but almost no one was ever that good. More often, if you had 2 or 3 archers against one guy with a melee weapon, the archers would miss or give a grazing hit, and then promptly die bloody deaths the moment the melee warrior reached them. Cross bows could punch through armor and were more accurate, but they had a horrendous reload time, so anyone you didn't kill with the first volley had plenty of time to march over and beat you to death.

Magic Users on the other hand, are going to stay at a distance, just like the archer is. Not to mention even getting grazed by an arrow is probably going to screw whatever incantation they were in the middle of.


Something I'm curious about, Griffon Riders use spiky clubs, these are counted as Axes. Skeletons use spiky balls and chains, basically spiky clubs, yet these are Lumps. WTH?

Axes destroy Lances because while the Lances are long, one miss and the Lance is chopped. A.k.a., the lances are not thrust as strongly in order to pull back should it miss. This counts for FE too.

Lances knock off Swords because Offense trumps Mixed of superior range as well as swords being unable to ride the lance's shaft to make contact with the thruster.

Swords render Axes useless because Swords are parrying weapons like Axes, but Axes have greater cooldown. Should they clash with each other, Swords can ride the Axes' base to make contact with the swinger.

Scythes easily beat Axes, Swords, and Lances because they do everything each one can do, but better. Lances and Scythes have the same range, but the Scythe swings like an Axe, ripping them. Scythes chop like Axes do, but can parry without lag. And to Swords, not only does the Scythe have superior range but evades the standard parry motion of Swords.

Archers beating Rod users...I'm not too sure about that one.

The Scythe is actually a very impractical weapon that would be extremely awkward in combat. It only works if you think of it as being a Halberd, in which case yes, Halberds are awesome. The length of the blade however is not helpful at all. There's a reason Scythes are farm instruments, not weapons.

Have you used a Scythe in hand-to-hand combat? It's a defensive weapon much like the Sword and the Axe. The lighter variants are the ones I used, and it was very easy to disarm someone stronger than me wielding a Sword or an Axe. Lances gave me a bit of a hard time because of the light weight Scythe I was using, but it was also taken care of.

Though, I guess, it's only the heavy ones that are good. That means, if you have enough hand skill to use them as effectively as a quarterstaff, as well as the strength to execute those moves in the first place, one wouldn't be far off from actually doing well with them. Scythes break a bit faster, though.

I will assume you're talking about the Polish War Scythe? Thats really just a crude ancestor to the Halberd, and is modified to a form that is actually practical to use, unlike the Scythes in Yggdra Union.

If you're actually talking about an Agricultural Scythe, I'm very curious where you used it.

The Agricultural Scythe is ungainly to use, and as you seem to be hinting, if it was actually light enough for reasonable wielding, it would be too fragile for practical combat (not too special if your enemies sword manages to smash through it.) Whereas if it were durable enough for continued use, it would too be heavy for decent reaction time (unless you were some kind of hulk, in which case I'm not sure how great it would be.)

Ebe: I think the difference between Griffon Riders and Skeletons is the way the weapons are used. Skeletons just attempt to thump whatever they're aiming at, bludgeoning and crushing more that cutting, with the spikes just there for extra damage. Griffon Riders make a chopping motion with their weapon, and while that is somewhat of a bash, it gives the spikes an oppotunity to rip and allows them to be parried/handled mare like an axe.

I agree with the presented Swords/Axes/Spears reasoning, but as for Rods/Magic vs Bows vs Shock troops...

Rods/Magic (we'll assume they're using magic rather than just smacking the enemy) beat Shock Troops because magic can quickly eat through armour and hurt man directly. Bows beat Magic because, as I believe Ebe said, they can hit from a distance and would probably break their concentration on their spells ala DnD. Finally, shock troops beat bows because their armour is heavy enough to turn away everything but a point-blank direct hit. The same goes for an Assassin's crossbows, unless they can hide and use hit-and-run tactics, emulated by their nighttime bonus.

The swords wins against axes because the axe users are slow to react, axes are good against spears, because knights can´t fight in ground and axes cuts spears, spears wins against swords because the knights offensive power and distance is better, and sword users can´t counterattack the knights they need to get near as possible so the result is fall, with bows and canes; bows beats canes, because the magic users are weak in phisics attacks, bows are beat by all weapons and by the magic users too (if the Magic users attacks first), but their critical reaches almost 50%. With schytes there`s no way to beat em up of one blow, but have sceptions ( Milanor`s axe if is level 12 to up)..

Staffs and Books beat Lumps because magic users have no trouble bending summoned creatures to their will.

Books beat Staffs because the magic inside the books is far stronger than Staff users' cheap parlor tricks.

Actually, I think it's because of Book Toss.