Talking about the best Swords in Destiny 2 tends to result in discussions about the Falling Guillotine and Lament METAs of past seasons. While it’s true that Swords are no longer in their glory days, I’m here to tell you that these 12 are all still well worth running. Trust me; you’ll be surprised by the performances of some of these lesser-used beat-sticks.
The Lament
Element: Solar
Source: Beyond Light Exotic quest
Best For: PvE
The Lament is one of the best Swords in Destiny 2, depending on who you ask. Most people, however, would simply state that this is the best Sword in Destiny 2 – no ifs, buts, or maybes. When The Lament dropped, it instantly rose to the top of the PvE META, where it stands today despite some nasty nerfs. It’s not as dominant as it once was, but it’s still a powerful tech option for Dungeons and the like.
What makes Lament so good are three things – good ammo economics, high damage, and inherent healing. The Sword has an alt-attack mode on a charge cooldown. This does high damage and heals you on hits. A Lament player that knows how to juggle their Sword combos can output crazy damage with this while staying alive almost as if they were in a Titan Sunspot. If you’ve never used Lament, you’re missing out.
Heartshadow
Element: Solar
Source: Duality Dungeon
Best For: PvE
I’ve always been a Void Hunter main, so I know the power and value of Invisibility. If you’re not a Void Hunter, getting said Invisibility is next to impossible. You’re relying on specific weapons to trigger the buff, and Heartshadow is one of those weapons – immediately making it one of the best Swords in Destiny 2. Granted, you won’t be using this for hard end-game content.
Heartshadow’s Exotic perk makes heavy attacks done with full energy turn you Invisible, and it fires exploding Void projectiles. If you stay Invisible, you get a Sword buff, and any of those projectiles that land Weaken their targets. This is a difficult playstyle to master, but once you do, you’ll be able to breeze through most PvE encounters with no issues – while solo. It’s an invaluable piece of kit to have in your solo toolbox.
Falling Guillotine
Element: Void
Source: World loot pool
Best For: PvE
In Destiny 2’s history, only two Swords have ever shaken up the META. One of those was Lament, the other was Falling Guillotine. This unassuming world loot pool Legendary ended up being a DPS monster, all thanks to Relentless Strikes and Whirlwind Blade. Guillotine was reminiscent of the Exotic Swords that dominated the META at the end of D1’s Rise of Iron era, and it outputs just as good damage.
With that Relentless Strikes/Whirlwind Blade roll, Falling Guillotine could output the best DPS in the game. These days, it’s outclassed, but it’s still used on certain encounters, especially when Whirlwind lets you hit more than one hitbox on a particular boss. You won’t go to Falling Guillotine often in Lightfall, but you need to have one for when you do.
Crown-Splitter
Element: Void
Source: World loot pool
Best For: PvE
In terms of raw DPS, Crown-Splitter is actually the best Sword in Destiny 2. Back in the Red War days, this was an exclusive Sword for the Titan class. However, it was reintroduced in Season of the Splicer, for everyone as a part of the world loot pool. It doesn’t see much use despite that, though, which is odd considering how much boss damage it can do – especially for a Legendary.
The roll you’re looking for is Relentless Strikes/Vorpal. Alternatively, Surrounded will get you more damage than Vorpal, but you’ll have to make sure you’re only using it during boss fights with enough Adds to trigger it. Crown-Splitter, despite its damage, offers no survivability. This makes it less practical than The Lament, even though its total DPS is higher.
Half-Truths
Element: Arc
Source: Dares of Eternity
Best For: Movement tech and PvP
Half-Truths is the most unique Sword on this entire list. It’s one of the best Swords in Destiny 2, but not for its damage, Add-clear potential, support, ammo economy, or anything traditional like that. Instead, Half-Truths is one of two Swords that roll with Eager Edge – a movement perk that’s instrumental in all forms of skating, especially since Worldline Zero got nerfed.
When you pull out your Sword with Eager Edge, for a few seconds your next attack will launch you forward at a very high speed. If you’re an endgame player, you’ve used this. If you’re new, you’ve seen it. Each of the game’s classes can use this effect to “skate”, or effectively fly. By manipulating other mechanics related to our character’s velocity, we can use Eager Edge to shoot us forward like a rocket. This alone makes Half-Truths a must-have for any serious player.
Sola’s Scar
Element: Solar
Source: Trials of Osiris
Best For: PvE and PvP
Sola’s Scar is a bizarre little weapon that’s surprisingly effective in both PvE and PvP. It’s a Caster Sword, meaning it fires projectiles. This on its own is great in PvP, provided you’re actually able to aim half-decently. In PvE, though, it lets you do some pretty wacky stuff with the right perk combinations – granted you can argue it’s more of a gimmick than anything else.
If you’re looking to experiment with this type of Sword, I recommend looking for a Relentless Strikes/Chain Reaction roll for PvE. Chain Reaction may be an old-school Add-clear perk, but it’s as effective as ever. You typically only see this on Grenade Launchers, so having it on a faster weapon type is worth trying out, at least for a Strike or two.
Temptation’s Hook
Element: Void
Source: World loot pool
Best For: PvP
This Sword is what you get when Falling Guillotine and Sola’s Scar have a baby. It’s a Caster sword, but its perk pool is weighted towards PvP rather than PvE like Sola’s. This makes it a very interesting Crucible choice, granted it’s not the most effective use of your heavy ammo out there. It is fun, though, and it can be lethal in the right hands.
You’re looking for any roll of this Sword with En Garde. Your column three perk hardly matters, although no perk matters too much on a Sword. En Garde will give you 30% more damage for a second after you pull out Temptation’s Hook, which is a nice damage bump to get through Overshields and the like, but you’ll never struggle to kill with a Caster Sword in PvP, provided you’re hitting your shots.
The Other Half
Element: Void
Source: Dares of Eternity
Best For: Movement tech and PvP
The Other Half is the much, much rarer older brother to Half-Truths. Together, the two Swords make up a Halo energy sword, an homage to Bungie’s old paramour. Everything I talked about for Half-Truths holds up for The Other Half. The only thing it has going for it is the presence of Eager Edge, and nothing else really matters.
I mentioned that The Other Half is rare, and I really meant that. You won’t find many people with one of these. I’ve been playing since the 30th Anniversary and neither I nor any of my regular Fireteam has managed to have one drop. Its drop rate is minuscule, which makes having one somewhat of a flex – especially if you got lucky enough to have gotten an Eager Edge roll.
Black Talon
Element: Void
Source: Exotic Engrams
Best For: PvP
Black Talon is a very niche Destiny 2 PvP tech option that hardened Trials players may want to keep in their back pockets. The Sword fires a heavy projectile, and they’re stronger with full energy. They also partially bypass elemental shields. Altogether, this makes Black Talon the perfect super counter in PvP. However, it’s a heavy and an Exotic, so keeping it on your person at all times is pointless.
If you’re moving into a heavy ammo round of Trials, and you know the enemies have supers, running one of these might not be a bad option to hard counter, especially if you don’t have any other counters on your fireteam. Beyond that use case, though, Black Talon is pretty mediocre. It’s useless in PvE, and not great in other areas of PvP.
Eternity’s Edge
Element: Solar
Source: World loot pool
Best For: PvE
Like Crown-Splitter, Eternity’s Edge was one of the old class-exclusive Swords brought back in Season of the Splicer. Unlike Crown-Splitter, it’s a Vortex Frame. If Falling Guillotine has taught us anything, it’s that Vortex Swords are the best Swords, instantly making Eternity’s Edge something worth using, especially considering its tiny perk pool and top-tier god roll.
You’re obviously looking for Relentless Strikes and Surrounded. You won’t be able to bring this thing into a lot of encounters, but for Add-clear, or again encounters that can proc Surrounded, Eternity’s Edge is an absolute beast. It can do insane damage, clearing rooms of Adds without the need for Incandescent or Voltshot. If you manage to stumble into one of these, hold onto it.
Hero of Ages
Element: Void
Source: Grasp of Avarice Dungeon
Best For: PvE
Hero of Ages is essentially an Add-clear variant of Falling Guillotine. You don’t want to be using this thing for DPS, but its Add-clear potential is great thanks to a combination of Unrelenting and Chain Reaction. This lets you naturally heal as you’re killing enemies, and you’ll be doing a lot of that thanks to the explosive power of Chain Reaction.
Given our current PvE sandbox, it’s hard for Swords to compete. You have to give up your heavy slot for one, and why bother when you can just use an Ikelos SMG? However, Hero of Ages is about as good of an argument as you can make for an Add-clear Sword. It’s worth using despite all the factors working against it, and that’s impressive.
Last and least, we have Razor’s Edge. This is an Iron Banner Sword that never really made a splash in either the PvE or PvP sandbox, but it’s a Vortex Frame, meaning it’s instantly better than about 80% of the other Swords in Destiny 2. It also has some decent perk combinations, so it’s not a total wash despite being the weakest weapon on this list.
It has a roll that you would expect to be good in Relentless Strikes/Chain Reaction, and you’d be right. This is as simple as it is effective and a good Add-clear option when Swords are a featured weapon type of the week. Razor’s Edge isn’t worth farming Iron Banner for, but it is worth keeping a god roll if you manage to find one during your regular gameplay.
Conclusion
Those were what I consider to be the 12 best Swords in Destiny 2. While Swords aren’t exactly dominating the META during Lightfall, they’re still incredibly enjoyable to use. They’re just good enough that running them isn’t trolling, either, so if you want to bring one into a Raid (minus boss encounters), who’s stopping you?
