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Choice of Two Weapons: Difference between revisions
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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 In Accord]].''' This is probably the most popular ancient cross. Usually these characters are [[Jack of All Trades|flexible souls]], and they usually wear light to medium armour. One character you won't find with a shield, as they need to be able to swap from bow to sword fast. This combo makes sense as it gives a character range and protection, though they tend to be lightly armoured.
* '''[[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 40000|chainswords.]] Desperate FPS protagonists may show [[Good Old Fisticuffs|some rather startling boxing skills.]]
* '''[[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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* 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 In Accord]] and into [[Magic Knight]], magic is helpful to the rogue as well, though the warriors maximum magic is so low that its barely worth his while. The sorcerer is pretty damn awful with both bow and sword, but its worth giving him a bit of strength and a light sword and shield in case he runs out of mana (True, you might be screwed if this is the case, but its better than nothing).
** 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.
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* 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 [[Choice of Two Weapons]] and raises you the ability to wield any weapon he has ever seen with [[Instant Expert|nearly the same skill of the original user]], giving him the ability to wield spears as easily as swords as easily as bows [[Overly Long Gag|as easily as axes as...]]
* 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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