Heavy weapon



Heavy Weapons are edged weapons that rely more on sheer force to inflict bone-breaking damage. When swung with sufficient strength, they smash through attempts to parry them with smaller weapons. Opponents caught under the full weight of the blow may collapse and even drop their weapons. Heavy weapons can only be countered by a Long or another Heavy weapon (with the Hidden Blade being an exception, as it can counter any weapon; though the timing involved makes the maneuver more difficult and thus risky). However, you can disarm your opponent with your fists. If you are equipped with the Hidden Gun or Poison Blade, Ezio will automatically counter with his Hidden Blade. Counters with these powerful weapons are always lethal to the target, but sometimes you will leave the weapon in the victim's body (so use it on the most dangerous enemies only to maximize the effect). The Combo length for a Heavy Weapon is 3 hits.

Special Technique
In Assassin's Creed II, the Smash skill is acquired from Training and can be used when a Heavy weapon is equipped. A smash takes a long time to build up, during which the player is vulnerable to interruption. But when a fully charged Smash connects, it breaks through enemy defence to cause a large amount of damage and further effects. It cannot be parried, and the victim will be disarmed, or may have a long weapon broken.

In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the Smash skill is no longer available, and has been replaced by the ability to throw heavy weapons at enemies, (if the player is close enough to the target, throwing the weapon will look like a Smash skill). This can be done to perform instant kills on enemies up to around ten meters away. Note that one will have to pick up your heavy weapon after you throw it, and if the player picks up a different weapon, their weapon will change to that, and one will have to go to a blacksmith to re-equip the heavy weapon (at no cost). This skill does not need to be learnt, unlike the Smash skill.

Heavy Sheath
In Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the player can purchase a heavy sheath from a Tailor shop. This allows the player to equip two-handed weapons as their primary weapon, allowing the choice of 6 more weapons. If Ezio has a two-handed weapon as his primary weapon, however, he cannot carry another primary one-handed melee weapon (e.g Swords, Warhammers, etc.) as well. If Ezio drops his heavy weapon, he can pick up a different one that he has not yet purchased and equip it, (you can re-equip one-handed weapons upon returning to the Tiber Island Hideout, as well as armor).

Trivia

 * Heavy Weapons can be re-obtained from bodies after they have been lodged in them through combat by simply picking up the body, which will cause the weapon to drop. This also happens when a long weapon has been lodged into bodies.
 * Players can disarm a weapon attack in the first attempt, whereas it can take several attempts to disarm Elite or Leader Guards who are considerably less powerful damage-wise, as opposed to Brutes.
 * Heavy Weapons are the most common weapons used by the Mercenaries.
 * In Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, Ezio has the ability to throw heavy and long weapons at his enemies. Heavy weapons will get stuck in the target's head while the long weapons will impale the target.
 * Taunting with the "Head" button will make it easier to disarm tougher guards such as Brutes or Papal Guards.
 * In Assassin's Creed II, brutes can be disarmed easily, however, in Brotherhood the brutes are very difficult to disarm, making the heavy weapons harder to obtain.
 * Assassin Apprentices below the rank of Assassino can wield axes.
 * In Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, although Ezio can no longer perform the Smash skill, enemies still can, though not the disarm smash.