For some barbaric guilds the battle is a simple continuation of 'raising your weapon and smashing the enemy's skull with it', to a point of utter boredom. There are more interesting ways of fighting, and this is one of them. In fencing the comprehension of different techniques and how to combine them (to create a 'cadence' into your fencing) is vital. A combination that works wonders against one foe may fail against another. You need to be flexible, you need to be clever.