Finding the Weak Spots in a Full Suit of Armor

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Wednesday, October 1st, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

One thing that every medieval warrior enthusiast or battle renactor should know is how to kill (figuratively speaking) a person in a medieval suit of armor, which can be difficult if you don’t know where to strike. To do that, we need to examine what medieval warriors did in the olden days to get through thick layers of armor. There are several weak spots or openings in the armor that the soldiers targeted. We don’t recommend you use these techniques for SCA combat or other reenactments, but it will give you a general idea as to how fighters took each other down in medieval times.

The first area that was considered a prime area to attack was the armpit. As soldiers needed freedom of movement, there was often no armor here. If there was, it was a thin layer of chainmail which could be penetrated with enough force.The focus was to push the edge of the medieval sword through the under arm. If sucessful, this would wound the soldier significantly or at least enough to take them out of commision for the rest of the battle or enough so the other side could make a finishing blow.

Another area that was probably the easiest to get at was the back of the upper legs. Especially if knights were to ride on horses or go on long marches, this area usually did not have any significant armor. This is why in many movies you see sword fighters slashing at each other’s legs.By attacking the enemy with enough force to turn him around or get around him, you could take out both of his legs with one fast swing of the weapon.Most likely this would make it impossible for additional movement in the battle field and make them available for a finishing move.

The last area to attack a person in a suit of armor was in the neck below the helmet. There was often a space inbetween the helmet and the breastplate, so one could send the tip of sword through this area.To successfully attack someone here was often fatal and was considered the best place to target.

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