Think of it this way.
Champion Sword sacrifices speed for a bit of length and an extra pip of damage over the lower tier, still bad stab.. (War Sword)
Italian Sword sacrifices some of its cut damage for an added stab attack at a good speed.
Nordic Sword sacrifices pierce damage for more cut, at a decent speed. (still weaker than champion in raw damage)
Now, classify all that.
Champ Sword-> More beneficial as a Cavalry Weapon. (akin to Shashka and the straight Arab swords)
Italian Sword-> A reliable weapon both cutting as stabbing.
Nordic war Sword-> Cutting weapon at good speed, less reliable stab. (Though with 6 powerstrike and good footwork should not glance.)
Before I was the spear nerd I am today, I was a decent 1h. Not the greatest, but I held my own. I learned quickly how freaking awesome your weapon selection is as a 1h, you have something for any situation(if you bring it with you). What i did then, was mentally classify the majority of the weapons into what they could be used for.
For these three in specific, I will quickly rule out the champion sword if you are infantry. Why? The CUT damage around 30-32 is not going to move much anyways. Maybe it will feel like it because you will have an unconscious mental bias when trying it out, but its not that big. The extra length is also not always a good thing, you don't want to get caught up on teammates.
Leaving with now the Nordic War Sword and the Italian Sword. This part however, is just up to preference on your end. If you used both weapons to their strengths, the Italian will SLIGHTLY come out on top due to the much higher stab score. However, if you are part of the "1h stab blows and is for losers crowd," you won't be stabbing anyways, so you might as well stack the cut damage in your favor. The reach difference is negligible.
Poll