SWORDS DO NOT CUT THROUGH PEOPLE LIKE HOT BUTTER!
Most guards, or knights would opt for a mace or hammer, or some other bludgeoning weapons, over a sword. When a sword would be used, it would be used for stabbing primarily, and in that case, a spear, or halberd could be used instead.
You can't say a sword would be used for stabbing primarily. It depends on the blade. Are you going to use a scimitar to primarily thrust with? Or a katana to thrust with? Or broodsword, or falchion... The list goes on. And even then, the classification of sword still doesn't cover everything. Longswords, for example. Some are tapered to the point of 70% thrusting, some blades are the exact opposite (but they're still tapered in some way, to keep the balance near the hilt, and not be clumsy unlike a lot of asian blades*).
If the opponent isn't wearing armour, a sword (that can cut, so not rapiers but arming swords for example), and the user knows how to weild his blade (cuts, rotation, edge allignment) the sword will go through
flesh like butter, which is enough to kill someone (like rolling 15/20 for example, that's a good hit, but the opponent still has a chance to survive because we have magic to be able to heal injuries only modern medicine can today. If you get your guts spilled though, it's probably a 99% chance for death). As for bone, you don't have to go through bone and cut your opponent in half or decapitate them to win a swordfight. (Beasty cutters are overrated, you can do so many things with the design by not spending it all on cutting.)
Thrusting would be used more commonly against armour though, or for the
non-eastern types of swords, you could always flip the sword, grab it by the blade (can also be done bare handed and with a sharp edge, so long as it doesn't slide) and basically use the crossguard/pommel as a hammer, as most of the weight would be on the hilt, meaning you could blunt-attack armour, breaking bones underneath. (Especially swords such as longswords hit like a lorry. But it does make them clumsier and top-heavy, like axes or hammers, so you lose the
incredible swiftness of the longsword.)
Or you can keep you hand on the hilt, and grab the blade, using only a few cantimetres towards the tip (like 30 cantimetres, making it an improvised dagger), to increase point accuracy and therefore increase you chances of slipping through the creaks of your opponent's armour from impossible, to almost impossible.
Also people, you
are invulnurable to cuts to your plate, all the way down to mail. Cuts are a joke against mail (but you're still going to feel the impact, so if you mess with a montate or an axe in mail, it'll break your bones. Cuts are a joke, but the impact force isn't). And you can theoretically disloccte and go through the links of mail with a thrust, but actually being able to land a hit that would mean something is near impossible, coupled with the padding underneath, most
clean thrusts do as much damage as cutting your finger while making a salad.
And also IF I SEE YOU SPINNING DURING CRP, I'M GOING TO LUNGE AT YOUR BACK. DON'T SPIN IN A SWORDFIGHT, IT'S NOT THE SAME AS MMA, WE'RE METRES AWAY FROM EACH OTHER AND I CAN SEE WHAT YOU'RE DOING A MILLENIA EARLIER THAN YOUR STRIKE.
There are exceptions of course, but generally avoid it.
*The katana isn't clumsy, because it's not as long. Nodachis for example, are clumsier than zweihanders, because their blades are so much thicker and don't have tapering either.