Swipe

Skill Tree	Long Blade
Cost	200 sp
Requirements	17 Strength
Base Cooldown	15
ID	LongBladesSwipe
Infobox data from game version 2.0.202.89

Activated; cooldown 15.
Aggressive stance: You make an attack against all adjacent opponents.
Defensive stance: You push all adjacent creatures back 1 space and attempt to trip the ones that are opponents (strength save; difficulty 30).
Dueling stance: You make an attack at an opponent and attempt to disarm them (strength save; difficulty 25 + your Agi modifier). The attack is guaranteed to hit and penetrate at least once.

Swipe is an activated ability that can only be used by a creature using a long blade in the primary limb. The user's stance changes Swipe's effect. Using Swipe in one stance puts it on cooldown for all stances. It can't be used more often by switching stances.

Aggressive Stance

You aggressively swipe your blade in the air.

As soon as Swipe is activated, it attacks. No targeting required. It attacks all objects and all hostile creatures in the eight adjacent tiles, starting from top left and going clockwise. Swipe does not attack adjacent friendly creatures. Only the long blade in the primary limb attacks. Bonuses from Single Weapon Fighting apply to each of the (up to) eight attacks. Offhand weapons never attack while Swiping, even Offhand Weapons that usually can't have their offhand attack chance changed (e.g. Horns).

Defensive Stance

You swipe your blade in the air, pushing your enemies backward.
The target is knocked prone!
The target stands up.

As soon as Swipe is activated, it attacks. No targeting required. It pushes all creatures in the eight adjacent squares one square away, then attempts to trip them in that distant square. Contrary to the skill's description and the text that appears in the message log, Defensive Swipe will both push back and trip all adjacent creatures, even friendly ones. This does not make friendly creatures hostile.

Push: Force of 1000, enough to move most humanoids not equipped with anchor spikes. The attacker's stats don't affect the force.^[1]
Knock Prone: (Strength + Agility save; difficulty 30) The attacker's stats don't affect the save.^[1]

Dueling Stance

You swipe your blade at the target.
You disarm the target of their weapon.

As soon as Swipe is activated, it makes a sound. But the ability hasn't happened yet. It targets a single creature, so it needs a directional input before it activates. Only the long blade in the primary limb attacks, and is guaranteed to hit and penetrate. Offhand weapons never attack while Swiping. It also attempts to disarm the target. (Strength save; difficulty 25 + Agility modifier)^[2] Bonuses from Single Weapon Fighting can grant a second attack, but not a second disarm attempt. This is the only version of Swipe that can harm friendly creatures.

Tips

Aggressive Swipe will hit spare adjacent friendly creatures, so you can use it in a crowd without turning everyone against you.
Defensive Swipe may seem to do nothing, since most creatures will use their turn to move forward after being pushed back. They are adjacent again, but they didn't spend that turn attacking.
Dueling Swipe can disarm opponents that use equipment, making them much less threatening. Creatures don't pick up items from the ground, not even their own, so they stay weakened for the rest of the fight.
Dueling Swipe can't disarm natural weapons, like teeth and fists.
Farming turrets by disarming their guns with Dueling Swipe is a good source of tinkering bits, or value for trading. Take cover and only pop out long enough to disarm a turret. Approach in Defensive Stance, then change to Dueling Stance and Swipe in the same turn.

Ability Cooldown

Swipe's cooldown (CD) in rounds depends on the user's willpower (WI) attribute:

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	21	15	16	21	12	27	7
10	20	16	15	22	11	28	6
11	19	17	15	23	10	29	6
12	18	18	14	24	9	30	5
13	18	19	13	25	9	31	5
14	17	20	12	26	8	32	5

Factions That Teach Swipe

Swipe is not taught by any of Qud's persistent factions. However, procedurally generated factions such as village factions can teach randomly chosen skills as part of their water ritual.

Creatures That Have Swipe

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 XRL.World.Parts.LongBladeCore, method FireEvent – Event ID = "CommandSwipe", currentStance = "defensive"
↑ XRL.World.Parts.LongBladeCore, method FireEvent – Event ID = "CommandSwipe", currentStance = "dueling"

This information is reliable as of patch 2.0.210.23.

[dswipe-1] 1.0 ^1.1 XRL.World.Parts.LongBladeCore, method FireEvent – Event ID = "CommandSwipe", currentStance = "defensive"

[2] XRL.World.Parts.LongBladeCore, method FireEvent – Event ID = "CommandSwipe", currentStance = "dueling"

[1]

[2]

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	21	15	16	21	12	27	7
10	20	16	15	22	11	28	6
11	19	17	15	23	10	29	6
12	18	18	14	24	9	30	5
13	18	19	13	25	9	31	5
14	17	20	12	26	8	32	5

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	21	15	16	21	12	27	7
10	20	16	15	22	11	28	6
11	19	17	15	23	10	29	6
12	18	18	14	24	9	30	5
13	18	19	13	25	9	31	5
14	17	20	12	26	8	32	5

WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD	WI	CD
9	21	15	16	21	12	27	7
10	20	16	15	22	11	28	6
11	19	17	15	23	10	29	6
12	18	18	14	24	9	30	5
13	18	19	13	25	9	31	5
14	17	20	12	26	8	32	5