User blog comment:Appelmonkey/Rematch: Samurai vs. Knights/@comment-27334870-20180821231802

Dargoo Faust's [REDACTED] EDGES: "Kagayaku Yoroinokishi"

Now, I'm going to disregard a lot of the secondary melee weapons they have acess to here, since both are melee fighters primarily, they will likely use one weapon and stick with it (switching weapons in a heated melee fight unsurprisingly doesn't happen often). Therefore, I will focus mostly on how they stack up in a straight melee fight with the Arming Sword/Longsword and Katana.

I'm mostly sourcing my information from this article and some others.

Katana Advantages

The Katana certainly has better cutting/slicing power, it's what the weapon was primarily designed to do. As the article I linked states, a curved blade will be able to cut through even decent plate armor if used with enough precision and force. It has a good penetration power, due to the somewhat better metallurgy. As a lighter sword, it also boasts advantages in speed, which compliments the slicing motions typically used by it.

Longsword/Arming Sword Advantages

The longsword certainly functions as a more defensive weapon, and while it certainly lacks the burst slicing power of the katana, it makes up for that with better piercing capabilities. Sadly, the osei-gusoku armor appears to look like it can negate a bit of this thrusting power. The Longsword and Arming sword also have a versatility advantage being double-edged, and can be used in a greater variety of angled attacks. You can kind of see where this is going, now; the Samurai's arsenal focuses on explosive burst damage, whereas the Knight is more defense-oriented for drawn out duels. The larger height and bulk of the Knight on average also helps with this, as they will be unlikely to topple over in combat.

Overall Verdict

Now, I think if this was a ranged battle, The Samurai would have been able to put up more of a fight, but in a straight melee battle, the Knight is better equipped to counter the Samurai's style and weapons. The Samurai will likely open up with swift and powerful slicing attacks, however Plate Armor is particularly good at defending against such attacks. The Knight will counter with some slashing, cutting, and thrusting attacks, which won't break through his enemy's armor immediately, will work to wear them out.

Basically, the Knight needs to endure battle with the Samurai long enough to where their powerful singular slices drain them of energy, and the defensive capabilities of their sword and armor really help them in this endeavor. Now, this is particularly close as this are, relatively speaking, minor advantages and disadvantages, however the Knight will likely edge this one out by the hairs on his chin.