Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-118.211.8.204-20150302141811/@comment-6697950-20150918075753

73.19.129.12 wrote: 2. This is what was said: "The three-faced giant was close enough to be frightening. It would catch up in just a few seconds. If they were to be hit with those iron swords, the lightly armored Kirito and Lyfa would lose all their HP in a single hit."

Bolded it for you. Kirito and Leafa were in no way prepared for a fight with the giant. You're supposed to be heavily armoured to take on their attacks.

3. Kirito uses feints, he most likely can get a couple openings.

How often do you actually see him use feints? He's more likely to use a trick that he has up his sleeve than use a feint. And it didn't seem like he had any more tricks that would have been useful in their duel.

5. Kirito was already facing an uphill battle against Heathcliff. Heathcliff could use sword skills as he pleased, Kirito had to exercise caution when using sword skills, So Kirito would likely had to do something drastic to win. Using a sword skill in hindsight may of been a bad idea, but considering Kirito last duel with Heathcliff it was a resonable decision. He was able to get past Heathcliff's defense with a sword skill the first time they fought.

Besides in the battle with the quarter floor boss the Skull reaper, Kirito one of the two main fighters (the other being heathcliff) that took charge before anyone else did. Even though Skull Reaper cold kill players in one direct hit Kirito still took charge, overcoming his fear. So even if the instance where Kirito made a mistake during the Heathcliff battle he still operates better when he has to (in serious situations).

You know that you're contradicting yourself, right? You're saying that he had to be cautious, yet then you're saying that he had to throw out caution out the window. And no, it was not a reasonable decision. It was completely stupid and he knew that, but still gave into his emotions. During their first battle, Kirito did not know that Heathcliff was Kayaba and he only used low-combo skills that didn't leave him stunned afterwards for that long (and even then the majority of them were blocked, and Kirito later commented that Heathcliff likely saw through his skills because he was the one who designed them). He only used a higher level Sword Skill when he saw an opening - Heathcliff showed a sign of emotion when his HP was close to 50%. But during their battle in the boss room, Heathcliff's defence was impeccable, so it was all just a very risky gamble that backfired.

Why did you start talking about fear? I'm talking about stupidity and giving into emotions here, not fear. And he wasn't awfully bright in that case either. A damage dealer taking the role of a tank? He was only able to block the attacks because Asuna came to help him.