Knight Attack Animation

[Janos]

Here is an animation of a knight swinging his sword. I would appreciate any advice on how to make this better.

[A2J2TIWARI]

Looks more like he's hitting a ball instead of swinging his sword. That's all I have to say 

More power, his body leaning forward, etc would add to the effect maybe; he looks so much at ease but I imagine a knight swinging his sword to slash people would be using much more power and fierceness

[Janos]

Thanks for the advice. I updated the animation to give him more of an overhead swing and made him lean into his attack. I don't want him to move too much though because I want him to stay in place and slash back and forth between two attacks.

[MysteryMeat]

Needs more motion in the legs. I'd say have him crouch a bit with the attack, would make it feel more hefty a swing.

[Janos]

I made a quick little edit with his knees bending and it made a big difference thanks for that tip.

[hapiel]

Is this for a game, or just a fun animation? If the action is triggered by a button, it needs to be instant.
If not: Take your time with the anticipation. It is rushing through the whole thing!
It should be:
Lift up the sword behind the head, small pause, bring the weight of the knight forward, then sword follows with a lot of power.

Right now his weight comes after the blow, which makes him look weak.

[Janos]

Yea this is gonna be like the main character for a game. I want to make all the animations as smooth as possible for now but yea I agree there will have to be little to no delay when you press a command before he swings. I edited the knight to make his weight shift a little before he swings his sword and also adjusted the speed to make him a little faster.

[MysteryMeat]

I tweaked the frame timing some to give it a bit more weight, and also tweaked the torso in a couple frames nearer the start to make him "lean back" a bit more.
Also, motion trail, for that extra bit of oomph.

[Janos]

That motion trail is a pretty slick addition I like it. I tried to make my own trail by making the sword wider when hes swinging it through the air. More of a blur effect that a swoosh. I don't know which I prefer

[MysteryMeat]

That's a good effect, actually. More work put in there than on my lazier one, haha.
You should have that trail vanish when the sword finishes moving though, otherwise you get sort of a lightsaber effect which you want to avoid if possible.