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{{trope}}
A great many characters [[Weapon of Choice|take one weapon and stick with it]]. This makes a lot of sense, seeing as you often need a lifetime of practice to be fully proficient with a weapon. Training with more than one would [[Master of None|just leave you weak in both areas.]] That said, some heroes decide that flexibility is better than specialisation, realising that however skilled they are in their current field, a sword is still going to lose to a bow at long range, so it's a good idea to have a bow in reserve. This makes them something of [[The Red Mage|a Red Mage]] when it comes to fighting, as they can do two things at once, making them very flexible fighters.
[[Rule of Cool|It's also damn cool to be able to wield two completely different styles of weapons at will.]]
These come in various combinations, but a bow and a sword is the most common, as it balances range with close-quarters protection.
Subtrope is the [[Magic Knight]], who wields just one weapon but backs it up with magic rather than another weapon.
Historically this was common. Knights rode into battle on horses with lances, several lances in fact, in case one broke, but you wouldn't catch them dead without their signature swords. (Later on this gave way to maces.) Archers would wield swords if they could afford and use them, and daggers if they couldn't. Spearmen often had swords and daggers in reserve, but the absolute king of this trope in reality was the Vikings. A bow for long range, then a light throwing spear, followed by a long-handled axe, a shorter axe, and then the sword, a last desperate defence when fighting got really close.
Storing all of these may require a [[Hyperspace Arsenal]].
Common combinations (and possible tropes) include:
* '''[[Bow and Sword
* '''[[The Musketeer]]:''' A gun and a sword (or other melee weapon) combo. Typical combination for characters and armies on the advent of gunpowder, the ranged weapon in this case is often more of a throw-away weapon used to down an opponent before closing to meet with the rest. Bayonets are a special case, a type of multi-purpose weapon that originally functioned as a spear which happened to fire something before you used it, until the gun part of the weapon became more important with the advent of accurate and fast-firing rifles.
* '''[[Multi Melee Master]]:''' A character who carries more than one melee weapon. Frequently, carries a short ranged and a long reach weapon. That or a weapon that is good for offense and defence. They tend to have trouble changing between them though as it means they have to draw the new weapon and dispose of the old one somehow.
* '''[[Multi Ranged Master]]:''' A character who carries more than one ranged weapon. Frequently, carries a short ranged weapon and a long ranged weapon. That or a bullet-hose coupled with a precise weapon. Faces the same challenge as a multi-melee wielder in that they have to quickly get rid of their current weapon if they want to use their other option.
* '''[[Emergency Weapon]]:''' In more modern times, a first-person-shooter protagonist is likely to wield some kind of back-up melee weapon just in case the main blaster runs out of juice. The traditional example is a crowbar or some other [[Improvised Weapon]]. Professional soldiers usually carry knives. And of course, there are the futuristic weapons like [[Star Wars|lightsabres]] and [[Warhammer
* '''[[In Working Order]]:''' A character in a war between two different intelligent species who both use radically different weapons to each other, who is able to pick up the other side's apparently "alien" weaponry and use it themselves.
* '''[[Magic Knight]]:''' The character is either a warrior who took some time to learn a few spells, or a spellcaster who learned a non-magic attack to [[Defied Trope|defy]] the [[Squishy Wizard]] trope.
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For characters who use two different weapons at the same time, see [[Guns Akimbo]], [[Dual-Wielding]] and [[Sword and Gun]]. Contrast [[Weapon of Choice]]. When a character uses one of the above as their primary weapon and any randomly acquired instrument as their secondary, compare [[Improvised Weapon]].
The below example space is for examples that cover more than one of the above combinations. (Like Guts of [[Berserk]], who covers [[Bow and Sword
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Guts of ''[[Berserk]]'' fits [[Bow and Sword
* Vash the Stampede of the aptly named ''[[Trigun]]'' is a [[Multi Ranged Master]] who switches between three guns. He has his signature revolver for general purpose use, {{spoiler|a submachinegun built into his arm for close ranged combat, and an angel arm cannon for blowing holes in the moon.}}
** Actually, his two weapon specialties are '[[Revolvers Are Just Better]]' and '[[Improbable Weapon User|improvised]];' the latter is useful for maintaining both [[Obfuscating Stupidity]] and [[Technical Pacifist|Technical Pacifism]]. The second of the three listed above is a hold-out emergency weapon, and the third he has never intentionally fired.
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== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* A pistol and (power/chain)sword-combo is very common in ''[[Warhammer
* Most characters in 3rd Edition [[Dungeons
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Your hero from ''[[Fable (video game)|Fable I]]'' is both [[Bow and Sword
** Or a crossbow, but no one cares about those.
** Fable 3 phases out crossbows completely, besides a few owned by poorer Npc's. The also add the hammer as the melee equivilent of the rifle. Of course, you can still be a [[Magic Knight]] also.
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* In ''[[Halo]]'', Master Chief can carry two weapons at a time, as well as repurpose the fundamentally different Covenant technology and use it for himself. From 2 and onwards a Musketeer style approach was possible with the energy sword and gravity hammer. Too close for comfort? Take one of them out and continue the slaughter close-up. Its better than the butt of a gun.
* In ''[[Age of Empires III]]'', all non-artillery or vehicle units have a melee weapon to defend themselves close-up. Most are only competent in one area, aside from; the musketeers who have a ranged attack to help soften up melee units and a bayonet melee attack to beat cavalry and to use against ranged units, longbowmen who use swords that make then better in melee against most other ranged infantry.
* Ranged units in ''[[Total War]]'' will either come under [[Bow and Sword
** A few melee units carry javelins as well, and there are a few units who both carry javelins and can hold their own in melee.
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' gives us Link, who wields a sword as his primary weapon, but also carries a bow, a boomerang, bombs, a whip-like weapon, and various other weapons, occasionally including magic. Justified in that Link has had no prior training in any of these weapons, meaning he hasn't had time to specialise. Of course, this just [[Instant Expert|brings up another trope...]]
** Link best fits [[Bow and Sword
* The majority of units in ''[[Battle for Wesnoth]]'' carry two different types of weapons, often one each of ranged and melee.
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' allows you to swap between a small weapon and a large one. Its sequel allows you to make this selection to be between a melee weapon and a large gun instead.
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** In ''Strikeforce'', you can have two different weapons to fight with. One is your main weapon which has a unique moveset while the secondary can be anything you want. Of course, some characters are better with certain weapons than others and some enemy units may shrug off a certain weapon while keeling to another.
** ''Dynasty Warriors 7'' takes a page from ''Strikeforce'' in that all characters can equip almost ANY two weapons, with the only real limitation being that male characters cannot equip chain whips, and female characters cannot equip great swords. Characters do have their preferred weapons, however, and will be able to execute a EX-attack if they have it equipped.
* It's a fairly good idea to have this set up in ''[[Diablo]]'', at least in the first game. Warriors occasionally find themselves needing to shoot at something (or, in the case of enemies trapped on the opposite sides of portcullises, want to pick enemies off at a distance.) A rogue often finds herself needing to resort to hand-to-hand if fast enemies are encroaching, so having a sword and shield and the strength to use both available helps. Straying out of [[Bow and Sword
** This became vastly simpler to manage in the sequel's ''Lord of Destruction'' expansion pack, which added two extra weapon/shield slots that could be toggled to and back with a single keypress (as well as providing more [[Inventory Tetris]] space, natch).
* In ''[[Mount
* In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', Yeager, one of the antagonists, wield a rather unique weapon, in that it is a scythe that can transform into a rifle. One of the party characters, Raven, also has a transforming weapon, his being a bow that transforms into a short sword. This is interesting to note given that they also have a more notable thing in common in that {{spoiler|both men were brought back to life and subsequently manipulated by Alexei. They also both have blastia hearts, and, most likely, loved the same woman.}}
** Actually, Yeager's Scythe had 4 or 5 settings to it; Scythe, Crossbow, Sword, Rifle, and a Sheild-looking one that may have just been the crossbow mode used for defence instead of attacking making it more of a [[Swiss Army Weapon]], and if you pay attention durring the fight you'll notice the "Rifle" setting only appears durring his [[Limit Break|Mystic Arte]] in battle. In the actual story, he uses it {{spoiler|on the Heracles to shoot Zagi out the window}}. Yeager's two lackies, Gauche and Droite, had swords that turned into guns for some of their special attacks. Sadly said swords lose that ability when the player gets ahold of them (via stealing them during the fight with Gauche and Driote) as Estelle is the only character who can use them.
** Raven might count too since he's wielding both a bow and a dagger at the same time.
* In ''[[Rogue Galaxy]]'', each character has access to two distinct weapons, generally a main one for melee and a less-cool one for ranged. Of course, the ranger switches that around with a cool bow and a lame melee weapon, and the rogue dual-wields daggers with the back-up weapon being her shoes (for [[Kick Chick|kicking]]). In practice, there are only a handful of bosses in the game where the ranged weapons are necessary, and the overpowered hero has a special ability that lets him [[Sword Beam|use his sword at range]].
* In ''[[Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]'', Richter Abend wields a sword and an axe. [[Dual-Wielding|At the same time]].
* In the earlier [[X-COM]] games, Enemy Unknown/UFO Defense and Terror from the Deep, your soldiers had two 'hand' inventory slots, where you would need to put weapons in order to use them. Most larger weapons such as rifles or rocket launchers suffered big accuracy penalties if both hands were used, but pistols did not and so having some troops wielding pistols and grenades or stun rods or thermic lances saved valuable APs by not swapping weapons when confronted with suitable situations.
** Notably, whilst dual wielding pistols or melee weapons was not penalised in any way, there was also absolutely no benefit to doing so as it took the same number of APs to use a single weapon twice as it did to use two similar weapons once each. Having two grenades handy might save a few APs, but was not as useful as a gun, and reloading took up few enough APs that having a backup pistol ready wasn't really worth it.
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* In ''[[Izuna Legend of the Unemployed Ninja]]'', Izuna can fight effectively with either a sword-and-gauntlet combination, or a set of [[Wolverine Claws|clawed gloves]]. Its sequel, ''Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns'', expands the playable character roster and the arsenal of available weapons to include [[The Archer|bows-and-arrows]], [[Marionette Master|dolls]], [[Armed Legs|battle boots]], [[Battle Boomerang|boomerangs]] and [[Killer Yoyo|yo-yos]]. Most player characters are able to use at least two types. Mitsumoto, being the series' [[The Chew Toy|Chew Toy]], can use all of the weapons, but [[Master of None|can't use any of them more exceptionally well than others]]. The only character who can't is Fuuka, who is limited to using [[Kick Chick|the battle boots]].
* In ''[[Bastion]]'' The Kid can bring two weapons with him into the field. While this makes him something of a master of many weapons, whenever you first leave the armory with a given weapon combination, The Stranger will provide a commentary on the advantages of the combo, and the versatility it would provide.
* In ''[[Fate/stay night]]'', Archer ( {{spoiler|and by extension Shirou}}) laughs at your
* In the ''[[Etrian Odyssey]]'' series, most of the combat-oriented classes have two different weapons they can equip, each with their own advantages and disadvantages. ''EOIII'' adds the ability to Subclass, making it possible to master ''more'' weapons (if that class has a 'Mastery' skill they can train in). It's up to the player whether any given guildmember focuses on one weapon profenciency over the other or learns how to wield ''both'' effectively.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* Sokka in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' has his boomerang for long range, and a club (later replaced with a sword) for melee.
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Along with the above examples, Roman legions carried javelins as an opening weapon before moving in with their signature sword and tower shield combo, while Greek armies and armies of Macedonian descent preferred using the spear as their primary, but could switch to swords when necessary.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Weapons and Wielding Tropes]]
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