The sabre is the last of the three modern fencing blades, and is also the least common.The sabre differs greatly from the foil and epee in several areas, the first of which is how to land a hit. In foil and epee, you must hit your opponent with the tip of your blade, whereas in sabre, you can hit with the point, but you can also use the edge of the blade. Because of this, it becomes much easier to score a point, making bouts of sabre incredibly short. A proper FIE legal sabre weighs no more than 500g, and is less than 105cm, a full 5cm less than a foil or epee.

    The sabre also follows the rules of right of way, which are nearly identical to the priority rules in foil. As long as the attacker is moving forward, and they hit simultaneously, the attacker will get the point. Valid sabre targets The valid target area in sabre is any part of the the body above the hips, save for the hand and the back of the head. In sabre, though you have a rather large selection of targets, it is often most beneficial to attack the head. For one, the head is a fairly large target, thus you have a fair chance of hitting it. Secondly, if you do happen to miss their head, your blade will most likely land on one of their shoulders, again, scoring you a point. The final major benefit to attacking the head is that quite often, you r opponent will lean into their attack, which then brings their head closer to you, making even easier to hit. Though that's not to say you should always aim for the head, because should you constantly attack the same place, a good opponent will be able to block your attacks more easily and lead you towards defeat.

    The origin of the sabre differs quite greatly from that of the foil and epee. The modern fencing sabre originated from the cavalry sabre, which was used on horseback and was much longer and thicker. Being as the cavalry sabre was used while mounted, it was common practice to not attack the legs, because a rival mounted soldier could possibly stay on the horse with only one leg. For whatever reason, when the sabre became a dueling weapon, they decided to keep that tradition. The dueling sabre was sharp on all edges, and was used for settling disputes similar to the purpose of the epee.