Crescent Phoenix (Guild)/Zenith's Guide

Low damage, but an incredibly fast combo. A good sword for T1 and T2, but at T3 the extremely aggressive playing style requires a good deal of skill to use without dying excessively. The cutter upgrades into the Wild Hunting Blade, or WHB, and the Dread Venom Striker, or DVS. The WHB has a damage bonus against beasts, while the DVS can poison enemies

WHB vs DVS

The DVS is better than the WHB in most circumstances. The poison lets it do a great deal more damage than the WHB, and the WHB's beast damage bonus is far outmatched by any piercing sword.

The Flourish line's attack pattern lets players follow enemies as they are knocked back, or as they dodge. The second attack of the combo can interrupt Greavers, and the third can even interrupt Trojans. The Flourish line's charge attacks do a massive amount of damage on a small packed cluster of enemies (See vortex bombs). However, due to the fact that this cannot be interrupted by the player, and traverses a lot of the map, making it easy to either veer into a floor trap, or miss and be hit while vunerable.

Final Flourish vs Fearless Rigadoon vs Furious Flamberge

It is not reconmended to get the Rigadoon or Flamberge line, as the chance of the fire or stun affecting the enemy is lower than 10%. They also do over 20% less damage than the FF.

The Snarble Barb's regular combo attack pattern and mechanics are identical to the Flourishes, but the charge attack is different.

The Snarble Barb line fires a wide spread of spikes that travel a short distance, making it ideal for crowd control, such as against a large mass of wolvers.

The spur has a basic combo similar to the brandish or calibur lines, except that each swing will propel the player forward a fair distance. At 4* each slash also creates a small projectile to be generated in front of each sword swing. The charge attack makes the user step back a short distance, then do a powerful slash that fires a bolt of energy forward.

The spur currently has no 5* upgrade, making it not-so-good for endgame players.

The Calibur line is generally a sword used by beginning knights, as it does normal damage, and it handles like the Proto Sword. It also does a 360 degree charge attack that can hit multiple times on stationary enemies, like gun puppies. However, this sword is generally considered a great annoyance in parties, due to its high knockback in all directions, commonly propelling enemies right into teammates.

Levithian vs Cold Iron Carver

The Levithian is almost always considered superior to the CIC, due to the fact that the CIC has a small boost in damage against undead, but does less damage to every other monster type. Furthermore, the Levithian's knockback is far greater.

The Combuster, Glacius, and Voltedge come from the Brandish line. These three swords are the Elemental branches from the brandish. These swords can inflict status effects on enemies from the charged attacks. The charge attack consists of a sword swing, and then a series of explosions after it, the number depending on how many stars the sword has.

Combuster vs Glacius vs Voltedge

There is no clear best sword here, as each are quite identical except for the status effect. The combuster helps do more damage, but is not as useful in places like the Firestorm Citadel, which is crawling with fire-themed enemies. The glacius is a great solo weapon, as it allows for freezing enemies for getaways, but can interrupt a teammate's attack or kite. The voltedge is commonly used in PvP, as shock leaves a knight vunerable to attacks.

The Acheron is the shadow upgrade to the Brandish, but lacks a status effect. The attack patterns are the same as the Combuster, Glacius, and Voltedge

The Fail Joke Cautery sword cannot be upgraded farther than 3*, and its only apparent upside, the damage bonus against slimes, is completely overshadowed by the fact that a nightblade, also 3*, will do far more damage against slimes. It's highly recommended to avoid this sword.

One of the hardest swords to obtain, the Fang of Vog, or FoV, can only be obtained by trading Brinks 40 Almirian Seals. The regular attacks are slower and do less damage than other 5* swords, making it outclassed by the Combuster in that aspect.

However, the true ability of the FoV is it's charge attack. Done correctly, the charge attack can do over 2000 damage, able to OHKO most enemies, especially solo. However, the charge attack also has a chance to set the user on fire, so remedies are generally good to have on hand

The Divine Avenger (DA) and the Gran Faust (GF) are some of the most famous and easily recognizable endgame swords. The DA has a two-swing combo, like most slow swords. The DA's charge attack is three energy swords that shoot forward, dealing a high amount of damage, making it good for distant gun puppies or large crowds.

The GF's charge attack is one shadowy energy sword that can deal curse. However, using the charge attack can also inflict curse on the user as well.

The Troika Line offers very slow, very powerful attacks. The Sudaruska branch has a chance to do stun from the charge attack. The charge attack also does a lot of Area of Effect, or AoE, damage. The Triglav branch can do freeze with both the second swing and the charge attack. The charge attack is similar to the Sudaruska.

Triglav vs Sudaruska

Unknown, still collecting data/user experiences due to the fact that I do not own either of these swords

The final attack of a sword's combo does more damage than the previous attacks, have more knockback, inflict status effects, or other things. If the enemy is just out of reach, you can always just begin a new combo, but sometimes that finisher could be vital and finish off the enemy before it can attack you. The solution? Beat. You don't always HAVE to keep attacking at maximum speed, you can pause a little bit between attacks and still continue the combo. Since enemies tend to move toward players, waiting a beat can give the monster just enough time to get in range of your finisher.

The final attack of a sword combo generally does more damage than the attacks leading up to it, and may also have a larger hit area or greater knockback. While you can always begin a new combo, sometimes you really want to get that finisher, and the enemy just isn't in the right place.

If you hold down the attack button after making a sword attack, you will start to charge for a charge attack. Releasing the button before the charge is complete will execute a normal attack. If you release it at just the right time, it will continue your previous combo instead of starting a new one. Unlike while performing a combo, you can move when charging an attack. Continuing a combo with this technique lets you move a square in any direction without breaking the combo.

This can be done between any two attacks in a sword combo. However, because it relies on holding down the attack button when making the previous attack, a lunge cannot be performed before and after the same attack--you can do it at most once every two attacks.

Shield canceling is one of the most useful techniques, especially with swords. This is based on holding your shield right after you attack with your sword, which will cancel the attack animation, not only finishing quicker, but also the chance of shield bumping or blocking an enemy attack. Although shield canceling doesn't change the length of a combo, the first attack after blocking will always be the opening attack. For example, the flourish's combo normally consists of a wide sweeping motion followed by two narrow lunges. First does not move the player, second hit moves the player forward one space, third moves player three spaces. When shield canceling, each attack will be the wide swing. If you only cancel the first attack, you can do the first attack twice, and then the finisher, still dealing the damage it would normally do, but decreasing the amount the weapon would ordinarily propel you forward.

Though shield canceling does not change the maximum length of your combo, your first attack after blocking will always be your weapon's opening attack. For example, the Brandish normally performs a 3-hit combo where the first attack is made standing still, the second is made with a step forward, and the final attack has a step with increased sweep and damage. If you shield cancel the first attack and then continue attacking, you will perform the first attack twice, followed by the normal finisher--effectively replacing the second attack of the combo with a copy of the first attack.

The Prismatech line does pure elemental damage with no status effect. The lack of a status effect is made up for by the higher raw damage.

The charged attack is quite a bit more powerful than the status alchemers

The Cryotech line does elemental damage and can induce freeze onto targets. All shots, as well as the richochets have a chance to freeze the target, but each bullet can also break the freeze.

The Firotech Line does elemental damage and can set fire to enemies. It is the arguably highest powered alchemer, able to do more overall damage than the Prismatech in some situations.

The Voltech Line does elemental damage and can shock enemies. It can provide crowd control via shock spasms, and also do a steady, although unpredictable, damage. The shock is particularly useful in tight crowds where the shock travels through each monster and affects all of them.

The Umbra Driver line does shadow damage and has no status. The raw damage output is the same as the Prismatech's.

The Prismatech is generally not reconmended, as it only does a little bit more damage than the status effect alchemers, and if damage is what you're looking for, the firotech will do that.