Getting a roblox weapon swing animation script to work properly is usually the first hurdle most developers face when building a combat system, and it's often more annoying than it looks. You'd think you could just tell the game to play a movement and be done with it, but between replication issues, animation priorities, and getting the timing right, there's a lot that can go sideways. If your sword feels like a wet pool noodle or doesn't move at all when you click, it's usually a tiny oversight in the logic rather than a massive failure in your coding skills.
Let's talk about how to actually get a swing feeling "weighty" and responsive without pulling your hair out.
Setting up the foundation
Before you even touch a script, you've got to have your assets in order. Most beginners just throw an animation into the tool and wonder why it won't play. You need an Animation object tucked neatly inside your tool, and that object needs a valid AnimationId.
One thing that trips people up constantly is the R6 vs. R15 debate. If you've animated a beautiful overhead strike for an R15 character but your game is set to R6, that roblox weapon swing animation script isn't going to do a thing. Make sure your animation matches your game's avatar type. Also, check your Animation Priority. If you leave it at "Core" or "Idle," your walking animation will override the arm movement, and your character will just look like they're power-walking while holding a sword perfectly still. You want to set that priority to Action or Action2 so it takes precedence over everything else.
The basic local script logic
Usually, you want the input to be handled on the client side because it feels much more responsive. Nobody wants a half-second delay between clicking and seeing their sword move. A basic setup involves a LocalScript inside the tool.
You'll want to grab the player's character, the humanoid, and then load the animation onto the humanoid using humanoid:LoadAnimation(). I know, I know—LoadAnimation is technically deprecated on the humanoid and you're supposed to use the Animator object now, but the principle is the same. Loading it creates an AnimationTrack, which is what you actually play, stop, or adjust the speed of.
The logic is simple: when the tool is activated (the Activated event), you check if the animation is already playing to prevent "spam clicking" from looking glitchy, and then you call :Play(). It's the most basic version of a roblox weapon swing animation script, and it works for a prototype, but it won't handle damage or let other players see the swing properly yet.
Dealing with replication
This is where things get a bit more technical. If you play an animation in a LocalScript, Roblox is actually pretty good about replicating that movement to other players automatically. However, if you're trying to sync up damage or sound effects, you're going to need a RemoteEvent.
You don't want the client deciding if they hit someone—that's how you get exploiters killing everyone from across the map. The client should just say, "Hey, I'm swinging," and the server should handle the rest. Your roblox weapon swing animation script should trigger that RemoteEvent. On the server side, you can then perform your hit detection (maybe using a raycast or the Touched event, though Touched is notoriously unreliable) to see if that swing actually connected with something.
Making the swing feel "weighty"
A common mistake is having a swing that's just a linear motion from Point A to Point B. It looks robotic. To make a roblox weapon swing animation script feel good, you need to play with the AdjustSpeed function.
Maybe the "wind-up" of the swing is a bit slower, and then the actual "downswing" is much faster. You can actually code this into the script by using task.wait() and changing the playback speed of the animation track at specific timestamps. Alternatively, you can just do this in the Animation Editor by bunching up your keyframes, but having script control gives you more flexibility if you want to add things like "swing speed" buffs later on.
Adding the "juice"
Let's be real: a swing is just a movement unless it has some "juice." By juice, I mean the little extras that make the player feel powerful. When your script triggers the animation, that's also the perfect time to fire off a trail effect.
You can toggle the Enabled property of a Trail object (which should be inside your sword's blade) right as the swing starts and turn it off when the animation finishes. It's such a simple addition to your roblox weapon swing animation script, but it makes the combat look ten times more professional.
You should also think about camera shake. A tiny, subtle shake when the swing reaches its peak velocity can make a heavy warhammer feel like it actually has mass. You don't need a crazy plugin for this; just a few lines of code offsetting the Humanoid.CameraOffset can do the trick.
Common pitfalls to avoid
I've seen a lot of people struggle with animations not stopping. If your script plays an animation but the tool is unequipped mid-swing, sometimes the character's arm gets stuck in that pose. It looks ridiculous. To fix this, always make sure your roblox weapon swing animation script has an Unequipped listener that calls :Stop() on all active animation tracks. It's a small bit of "cleanup" code that saves you from a lot of bug reports.
Another headache is the "Animation ID not found" error. This usually happens because the animation hasn't been published under the same group or user that owns the game. Roblox is pretty strict about asset permissions. If you're making a game for a group, the animation must be uploaded to that group, or it just won't load for anyone but you.
Why timing is everything
The distance between the click and the hit is the "sweet spot" of game design. If your roblox weapon swing animation script registers a hit the millisecond you click, but the sword hasn't even moved yet, it feels jarring. You want to use "hitboxes" that are only active during a specific window of the animation.
Some people use the GetMarkerReachedSignal function. This is a lifesaver. In the Animation Editor, you can add "Events" or markers at specific frames—like exactly when the sword is at its furthest point forward. Your script can listen for that specific marker to turn on the damage part of the script. This ensures that the visual swing and the actual damage are perfectly synced up, which is crucial for a fair-feeling combat system.
Final thoughts on polish
At the end of the day, a roblox weapon swing animation script is the heart of any melee game. You can have the coolest looking sword in the world, but if the animation script is clunky, players are going to drop the game pretty quickly.
Focus on the feedback loop: Click -> Sound -> Animation -> Visual Trail -> Hit Effect. If you get those five things working in harmony, your combat will feel satisfying. Don't be afraid to iterate. Spend time tweaking the speeds and the timings. Sometimes, making a swing 10% faster is all it takes to go from "this feels okay" to "this feels amazing." Keep experimenting with the code, watch your output log for errors, and most importantly, playtest it constantly to see how it feels in-game.