The three weapons: foil, épée, sabre

Right of way

Priority lives at t.83–t.89 for foil and t.101–t.106 for sabre. Épée has no equivalent chapter: t.92 says that when both competitors are hit, there is a double hit and a hit is scored against each. That single absence is why épée is a game of simultaneity management and foil and sabre are games of conventional argument.

Foil (t.83–t.89)

• What makes an attack correct (t.83.2): on a simple attack, the arm straightens with the point threatening valid target before the lunge or flèche is launched. On a compound attack, the arm is straightened on the first feint and is not bent during the successive actions. On a step-forward-lunge, the straightening precedes the end of the step.
• t.83.2.d — the rule that defines the modern game: actions, steps or feints executed with a bent arm are not attacks but preparations, and lay themselves open to the opponent's offensive action. Everything a foilist does with a bent arm is legally attackable.
• t.84.3 — crossing steps: continuous steps forward with the legs crossing constitute a preparation, and on that preparation any simple attack has priority. This is the single most under-taught rule in foil.
• Point in line (t.15) and dérobement (t.84.1–t.84.2): an attack into a point in line must first deflect the blade — referees must ensure a mere contact of the blades is not treated as sufficient. If the attacker fails to find the blade, the right of attack passes to the opponent.
• Beat (t.85): a beat on the foible — the outer two-thirds — preserves the attack's priority. A beat on the forte is badly executed and gives the opponent the right to an immediate riposte.
• Parry and riposte (t.86): the parry gives the right to riposte, but to annul what follows the riposte must be immediate, without indecision or delay.
• Stop hit (t.88): into a compound attack it is valid only if it precedes the final movement by one period of fencing time.
• Renewals (t.89.5.f): a remise, redoublement or reprise loses to a riposte that is immediate, simple and made in one period of fencing time without withdrawing the arm.

Sabre (t.101–t.106)

Structurally parallel to foil, with sabre-specific differences that change everything about how the weapon is fenced:

• t.101.3.a — the deadline: the arm straightens with the point or the cutting edge continuously threatening, and the hit must arrive at the latest when the front foot lands on the piste. No other weapon has a hard structural deadline on the attack.
• t.101.5 — flèche and crossing steps are forbidden. The offence is first group; the offender's hit is annulled while the opponent's correctly executed hit stands. That asymmetry is the whole penalty.
• t.103.1.b — the quantified feint: a feint with a cut requires the arm straightened, the blade and arm forming an obtuse angle of about 135°, cutting edge threatening valid target. It is one of very few numbers in the conventions.
• t.102.1–t.102.2: point in line and dérobement work as at foil.
• t.105.2: against a cut, the parry is properly carried out when it closes the line before the attack completes — and must be judged as parried even if blade flexibility makes the tip touch the target.

At both priority weapons, fencers may not come on guard in the point-in-line position (t.22.13).

Épée

No priority. The apparatus decides, inside a tolerance band. The double hit is therefore not a refereeing failure but a resource — a fencer leading by n can trade doubles n−1 times and still win, which is why the trailing fencer is the one forced into single-light risk.

Target and hit type

• Foil (t.77.1): the trunk only — limbs and head excluded. Upper limit the collar up to 6 cm above the collar bones; sides to the sleeve seams; lower limit a horizontal line across the back joining the tops of the hip bones. It also includes the part of the bib beneath a horizontal line 1.5–2 cm below the chin, which may in no case be lower than the line of the shoulders.
• Épée (t.91): the whole of the body, including clothing and equipment. Toe, foot, hand, wrist and forearm are all valid.
• Sabre (t.97.1): any part of the body above a horizontal line drawn between the tops of the hip bones — torso, head and mask, and both arms including the hands, which register through the conductive sabre glove (m.33). Only the legs and feet are off-target.

Hit type: point only at foil (t.76.1) and épée (t.90.1); point and cutting edge at sabre — hits with the edge, flat or back all count (t.96). Hitting with the guard at sabre is annulled and penalised as a first-group offence (t.96.3, downgraded from second group by the 2024 Congress).

Off-target behaves differently at each weapon. At foil (t.78) an off-target hit stops the phrase and annuls any subsequent hit without scoring — which makes it a free reset for a fencer who is losing the phrase. At sabre (t.98) a hit on a non-valid part is not registered, does not stop the phrase and does not annul subsequent hits. At épée the concept does not exist.

The apparatus timings

These are the numbers that actually generate the three games. All are from the FIE Material Rules, Annexe B, December 2025 edition — byte-identical to the December 2021 edition.

• Foil lockout: 300 ms (±25 ms). After the first hit is signalled, the box ignores all subsequent signals. Minimum break of contact for registration: 14 ms (±1 ms).
• Sabre lockout: 170 ms (±10 ms); conforming boxes carry a 2 × 4 cm magenta "FIE 2016" label. Minimum contact 0.1–1 ms; whip-over hits are suppressed between 4 and 15 ms of blade-to-blade contact. The 170 ms figure is certain — the widely repeated "widened from 120 ms after the 2016 Games" narrative is not, because no rulebook from before 2021 could be obtained; see what is not settled.
• Épée is a band, not a lockout. An interval under 40 ms must register a double; an interval over 50 ms must register a single. The tolerance is the ground between the two — the common "40 ms lockout" shorthand is wrong. Point pressure must exceed 750 g; contact of 2–10 ms registers, and the box must not register under 2 ms.

Why this matters tactically. The épée window is roughly one seventh of the foil window, so a counter-attack to the hand that lands 40 ms before the body hit still yields a double, while one that lands 60 ms early yields a single: the entire épée hand game is a fight over about 20 milliseconds. At sabre the wide window plus priority means the referee, not the box, resolves nearly every exchange.

What each rule-set does to footwork

• Flèche: legal at foil and épée. Forbidden at sabre, along with any forward movement in which the rear foot completely passes the front foot (t.101.5). The flunge — a flying lunge that never crosses the feet — exists precisely because of that ban, and because of the front-foot deadline (t.101.3.a) a flunge that lands after the front foot grounds is not a correctly executed attack for priority purposes.
• Crossing steps forward: banned outright at sabre; legal but tactically fatal at foil (t.84.3 hands any simple attack priority over them); legal and unpenalised at épée.
• Corps à corps (t.25): causing it intentionally to avoid being hit is a first-group offence and the offender's hit is annulled — but bringing it about by a flèche or a vigorous advance, without brutality, is no fault (t.25.3). A flèche producing a shock that jostles the opponent is intentional brutality and second group (t.26.1).

Guard and parries by weapon

En garde: foil and épée guard in sixte — supinated, point above hand, covering the outside high line. Sabre guards in tierce — pronated, covering the outside high line and flank.

The parry systems are not the same system. Foil and épée run a sixte / octave + quarte / septime set. Sabre runs a smaller and structurally different set — tierce (outside, flank), quarte (inside, chest), quinte (head) — with seconde covering low-outside and no octave at all. Do not model sabre parries as a subset of foil parries.

The mechanics differ too. Sabre parries block an incoming attack rather than deflecting it, and because sabre cuts, the parry requires static positioning taken as late as possible to avoid being deceived by the feint. That is the opposite of the foil and épée habit of taking the parry early and in transition.

Formats and the clock

• Pools (t.38): 5 hits or 3 minutes of effective fencing time. At épée, at 4–4 the fencers fence for a deciding hit up to the time limit and any double hit is not counted (t.38.1.b) — the double is free, and the classic pool endgame follows from it.
• Direct elimination (t.39–t.40): 15 hits, or three periods of three minutes with a one-minute rest between them. Exception at sabre: the first period ends at three minutes or when a fencer reaches 8 hits.
• Veterans (t.42): 10 hits over two periods of three minutes with a one-minute rest; at sabre the first period ends at three minutes or 5 hits.
• Team relay (t.41): nine bouts to 45, cumulative in steps of five, maximum 3 minutes per bout.
• Tied at time: one extra minute for a deciding hit, with the referee drawing lots beforehand to decide the winner if the scores are still level (t.38.2.b, t.40.3, t.41.5).

Non-combativity changes on 1 September 2026. There is unwillingness to fight when there is one minute of fencing without a hit or without a hit off target; the referee halts immediately and it is a decision of fact (t.136.2), so it cannot be appealed. Until the end of the 2025-2026 season the ladder is P-yellow to both, then P-red, then P-black. From season 2026-2027 the P-yellow is abolished: P-red on the first minute, P-black on the second. In both versions, no P-card may be awarded at 14–14 individually or 44–44 in teams, and t.124 does not apply during the priority minute — so the fencer holding priority can legally stall the full 60 seconds.

What is not settled

• The sabre flèche ban is certain; its date is not. Published claims range from 1988 to about 1999, and a contemporaneous 1994 discussion describes it as a proposal, not an adopted FIE rule. Publish the rule, not a year. The ban was tested and not lifted: a 2018 FIE Congress proposal to allow a single flèche on the final scoring action was not favoured by most Commissions.
• The foil bib. The clause is verified verbatim in the rulebook. The specification is designated "M2009" and the SEMI approval list carrying it is dated 18 December 2008, with manufacturer retrofit bibs accepted from May 2009 — which makes a 2009 entry into force plausible. The Congress decision itself, and the calendar date it took effect, could not be located.
• The sabre lockout's history. 170 ms ± 10 ms is certain and byte-identical between the December 2021 and December 2025 Material Rules. The "120 ms until 2016" sequence is repeated everywhere, including by coaches who fenced through it, but no pre-2021 edition could be obtained to confirm it. Publish the current value; treat the history as unconfirmed.
• The épée double at 14–14 in a direct elimination. The 4–4 pool rule is explicit (t.38.1.b). No article governing a double at 14–14 in a DE could be located, and the only 14–14 provision found is the P-card blackout. Confirm with your national federation before relying on any interpretation.

Sources

FIE Technical Rules, 18 December 2025 (t.15, t.22, t.25–t.26, t.38–t.42, t.76–t.78, t.83–t.89, t.90–t.98, t.101–t.106, t.124, t.136) · FIE Material Rules, 18 December 2025, Annexe B · FIE "New Rules for Sabre" circular · FIE Congress decision summaries 2023–2025. Verified July 2026.