The Epee is the same length as the foil and sabre, however, the blade is heavier than that of the foil and is triangular in section. The Epee has a large cup-shaped guard.
The epee evolved in 19th century Europe as the premiere dueling weapon replacing its predecessor, the small sword. Epee is the French word for sword. In Epee, the first person to hit is awarded the touch, regardless of priority. Double hits are possible, if they both arrive within 1/25 of a second of each other. The sport of epee fencing was developed to mirror the conditions of an actual duel in that the object of the encounter was to score "first blood".
The epee is a thrusting weapon only, so touches must be scored with the point.
Epee is much like physical chess. The target area for an epee fencer is all of their opponent's body (everything in red). Literally anything on you is a target as opposed to foil or sabre whose target area is specifically define. This causes an epee fencer to be more careful when they make an attack so that they do not get hit while doing so. The bell guard on an epee is larger for this reason. Since the closest target to your opponent is your hand, it needs to be protected. The hand is an avidly attacked target on an epee fencer and must be protected well. The epee tends to be the more cautious of the weapons.
Epee has no 'official' right of way, like the other weapons. In the other weapons, the fencer must establish an attack and must parry if that attack is taken away. The referee keeps track of who has the attack and what actions are occurring. In epee, the referee does not have to keep track of who has the attack. Who ever makes the hit has to have had the attack.
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