Mount&Blade/Proficiencies

One-handed weapons
Basic swords, axes and maces are in this category.

Two-handed weapons
Two handed weapons deal more damage than one-handed weapons, but are generally slower. While on horseback all weapons are used with only one hand, so two-handed weapons suffer a 25% penalty to speed and damage when used from horseback. You also cannot use a shield despite having a hand free.

The Bastard Sword is a special type of two-handed weapon; as indicated in its pop-up it can be wielded either way. By putting away your shield (scroll the mouse wheel up) you can switch to two-handed, and vice versa. When on foot it allows you to have the two-handed advantage against melee foes by wielding it with both hands while still leaving you the option of using a shield when under fire from ranged troops.

Polearms
Polearms are mediocre weapons when on foot. About the only effective on-foot use is skewering charging cavalry.

On horseback, however, polearms become much more deadly. While the thrust attack is still mediocre, by galloping and not clicking the mouse button the lance will "couch" into your character's armpit; in this state the tip deals impressive damage even if you are unskilled and the polearm cracked. Increasing polearm skill will increase damage and tip aiming accuracy, but to increase damage most significantly you will need to find a better weapon.

Once you have a good number of points into this skill weapon speed isn't an issue, so choose a polearm solely on how much damage it deals. Stick with one-handed if you still like the option of blocking.

See Arena for more.

Archery
See ../Archery/ for more.

Crossbows
The following crossbows exist in the game, listed in order of most damage:
 * Light Crossbow
 * Hunting Crossbow
 * Crossbow
 * Heavy Crossbow
 * Sniper Crossbow

Like other ranged weapons, crossbows can be cracked (reducing damage) or bent (reducing accuracy).

Advantages

 * deals good damage even with low skill
 * Very accurate (99%) even with low skill
 * very long range
 * shots don't arc as much making long-range shots easier

Disadvantages

 * slow reload
 * can't reload while moving on foot
 * only Light and Hunting Crossbows can be reloaded on horseback
 * damage dealt is strictly limited by the crossbow, so you need to get a better one to deal more damage

Firearms
This special type has been included from Mount&Blade 0.750 and onwards. Firearms have completely different handling from bows or crossbows. Right now only mods use this skill, such as ../Pirates/.