Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-203.129.23.222-20130906131117/@comment-12744597-20130907013836

DinoQueen13 wrote:

Well, I think it's a mixture of both. He had to work with what he had at the time -- which was just Pyrrha and Nora. He did give them orders, knowing who would be better suited at doing what; Pyrrha nullifying the scorpion's most dangerous asset, and Nora just crushing it with sheer force (although how did he know that Pyrrha would be able to use her shield as a boomerang is beyond me; maybe they did some talking while we weren't watching them). Pyrrha being able to get her shield back was not a big concern at the moment. The biggest concerns were not getting stabbed by the Deathstalker, and maybe being able to incapacitate it and not get stabbed a minute later, either. Did he know that she could throw her shield effectively? Possibly not. He did know that she had the ability to call back her spear (seen in First Steps), and she had shown exceptional precision when she snagged him out of the air with her spear from hundreds of yards away (First Steps, Part 2). A target smaller than him, but less than 100 feet away? No trouble at all. Besides, she has the sharp weapons; Nora's hammer or grenades might not achieve the desired results.

As far as knowing that Nora could crush the stinger through the Deathstalker? Well, she had pretty much destroyed a walkway less than a minute ago with her hammer, but in the heat of a melee, he was still able to remember that detail despite not having seen her do anything in combat prior to right then. Might seem trivial to you or me watching the show, but in the middle of a battle, even simple details can be easily overlooked.

I'm not claiming he's a tactical genius; his tactical abilities are much like his chosen weapons. They're not flashy, they're not elaborate, but they can get the job done, just like a simple sword and shield can serve effectively on the battlefield.