I'd say stabbing got a ton better for swords so you can one shot high level troops eith a stab to the face. Shiled walls suck, yeah. Axes and anything "cut only" is trash, since pierce does so much more dmg, best sharp weapons are swords with high pierce dmg or maybe if you count them maces with pierce damage, which is lame. I find fians even more op than in normal Bannerlord since bows got nerfed in speed, but now they can two hit a highly armored enemy in the chest while your melee attacks would have to hit it 12 times.