1. Madu

Madu was not considered to be a weapon, and the main reason for the invention of Madu was that fakirs were not allowed to carry any weapons, so they had to be very creative if they wanted to be protected. Today, the style of fighting by madu is called maan kombu (deer horns).

It’s called “deer horns” because the original material for the spikes were, in fact, different animal horns. Although it does look ultimately badass, its practitioners mainly used it for a purpose of defending themselves.

2. Shotel

We can trace back the origins of shotel to the ancient Ethiopia. As you can see, it features very specific shape, which should allow it to always hurt the opponent, because it is extremely difficult to block.

However, despite this fact, shotel was considered to be almost completely useless. People had troubles when they were trying to aim properly with it, and its shape made it very difficult to carry. European people were more than unimpressed by shotel, and even Ethiopians thought that it has no other purpose than “Impressing women”.

This is the only unusable item on our list of cool weapons, bu that doesn’t mean it didn’t deserve its spot.

3. PHASR Rifle

PHASR Rifle was released in 2007, and the Department of Defense created it. Its strength lays in the ability to release the rays of light so strong that they could cause blindness and disorientation if someone is exposed.

It is true that weapons which cause blindness are banned from using, but PHASR Rifle is escaping this ban become it causes only temporary blindness.

These weapons were originally used by the U.S. soldiers in Iraq, as a non-harmful way of stopping the opponents.

4. Chakram

Chakram was used in India. It was thrown vertically, more often than horizontally, and its razor sharp edge was made specifically for one purpose: cutting off arms or legs completely.

There are a lot of ways for using chakram, and one of them is gathering three, four, or more of these bad guys, and throwing them one after another, not giving the opponent a chance to calm down and prepare the defensive strategy.

People who were professionals at throwing these cool weapons used one specific technique: they would take the chakram, spin it around on their index finger, and then just throw it by one, but well exercised, flick of the wrist.

They used to aim unmistakably, and their throwing was lethal.

5. Zhua

Looking oddly enough, zhua was invented in China, and it does exactly what you think: It is made to resemble the human hand, and its nails are made completely out of the iron.

This is perfect for such purposes as skinning opponents and ripping their flesh off their body.

Although there are a lot of different ways zhua can be used, it was created with the idea of removing opponent’s shields, leaving them vulnerable. Also, trained professionals could use these ultimately cool weapons – zhuas, to take the soldiers off their horses.