Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25266931-20170224140119/@comment-26397825-20170228030411

They actually explained in the RTX Sydney 2017 that Qrow didn't use his scythe because it's a terrible weapon to use against someone like Tyrian. Tyrian is small and fast, he gets in close and doesn't give people time to react. A scythe is a slow weapon, and unworldly in extreme close quarters. If you notice Ruby's fighting style, it's mostly based around keeping people at pole-distance or doing fly-by slashes. That's because that's the type of fighting a scythe is used for.

Qrow's not stupid, he wouldn't willingly give himself a handicap no matter how confident he was that he could defeat Tyrian.