Sounsyy is an efficient, brute force attacker. She realizes that most enemies she faces will be bigger and stronger than she is, so she uses that to her advantage, oftentimes using her smaller stature and an opponent's misconception that she's weak to throw her attacker off balance. She then uses her large, heavy scutum shield as a battering ram to further disorient her enemy. Nearly twenty pounds of metal swung by a swimmer's arm into someone's thighs, hips, ribs, or face is usually enough to stagger or incapacitate most enemies.
This is when her shortsword comes into play. It's a thick blade, good for parrying or causing deep gauges or dents in armor when swung. But it's largely non-lethal until she stabs someone with it, which is her tactic to finish off disoriented opponents. If an opponent is too tall, she'll try to get in close with her blade and sting their leg or knee so they go down closer to her level. There she can hit them in the face with her shield to daze them. Then it's a matter of running the blade between their ribs or up into their side to kill them. In sport combat, she usually just leaves her attacking to her shield and will leave her opponent dazed or unconscious.
Sounsyy's also a musketeer, now Maelstrom, but formerly of the Knights of the Barracuda. When she's in Limsa or on a naval vessel, she keeps a Lominsan double-shot pistol strapped to her hip. Her musket is optimal at close to medium range only, and takes too long to reload in an actual battle, so this gets used for emergencies or cheap shots. If say a full-sized Roegadyn marauder charged her, she'd wait until he was nearly point blank and knock him down with a single shot to the face or chest. Sounsyy is a better tactician than she is a fighter, any day. Just because she knows how to fight larger opponents, doesn't always mean its the best use of her energy on a large battlefield with multiple enemies.
This is when her shortsword comes into play. It's a thick blade, good for parrying or causing deep gauges or dents in armor when swung. But it's largely non-lethal until she stabs someone with it, which is her tactic to finish off disoriented opponents. If an opponent is too tall, she'll try to get in close with her blade and sting their leg or knee so they go down closer to her level. There she can hit them in the face with her shield to daze them. Then it's a matter of running the blade between their ribs or up into their side to kill them. In sport combat, she usually just leaves her attacking to her shield and will leave her opponent dazed or unconscious.
Sounsyy's also a musketeer, now Maelstrom, but formerly of the Knights of the Barracuda. When she's in Limsa or on a naval vessel, she keeps a Lominsan double-shot pistol strapped to her hip. Her musket is optimal at close to medium range only, and takes too long to reload in an actual battle, so this gets used for emergencies or cheap shots. If say a full-sized Roegadyn marauder charged her, she'd wait until he was nearly point blank and knock him down with a single shot to the face or chest. Sounsyy is a better tactician than she is a fighter, any day. Just because she knows how to fight larger opponents, doesn't always mean its the best use of her energy on a large battlefield with multiple enemies.