While you’re hacking and slashing your way through slimes, you may be wondering if your sword is worth running over another. Here are the best swords for you to run if you’re playing with a sword user (y’know, like the main character).
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Blacksmith Swords
The Blacksmith will be your most reliable method of getting 4 star weapons. You may struggle to find the necessary ingredients, but if you make sure to send out explorers from Katheryne every day to get crafting materials, you’ll set yourself up nicely. The two swords you can craft are:
Prototype Rancour (Recommended)
You’ll need 1 Northlander Sword Prototype, 50 Crystal Chunks, and 50 White Iron Chunks to forge this sword.
LVL 1 Base Stats: 44 Base ATK and 7.5% Physical Damage Bonus
“Smashed Stone: On hit, normal or Charged Attacks increase ATK and DEF by 4% for 6s. Max 4 stacks. This effect can only occur once every 0.3s.”
Iron Sting
Crafting recipes are the same for identical weapon types.
LVL 1 Base Stats: 42 Base ATK and 36 Elemental Mastery
“Infusion Stinger: Dealing Elemental DMG increases all DMG by 6% for 6s. Max 2 stacks. Can occur once every 1s”
For the most part, if you’re looking to craft a weapon at the blacksmith, you’ll want to go with the Prototype Rancour. The physical DMG and ATK bonuses stack more often and will last longer than if you run Iron Sting. Overall, your sword output will be more powerful. These are your most accessible swords – swords you can get purely by playing the game. So, Prototype Rancour is the most effective sword you can reliably get to level 5 refinement.
5-Star Swords
Base probability for 5 star items is .6%, so 5 star weapons are as rare as you can get.
There are two five-star swords so far in Genshin Impact. These swords can only be obtained through wishes. Their attack alone makes them the best slashers in the game, but should you be lucky enough to get two five-star swords, here’s how I see it:
Aquila Favonia
5 star weapons will occasionally appear with increased drop rates, as seen here with Aquila Favonia.
LVL 1 Base Stats:48 Base ATK and 9% Physical Damage Bonus
“Falcon’s Defiance: ATK is increased by 20%. Triggers on taking DMG: The soul of the Falcon of the West awakens, holding the banner of the resistance aloft, regenerating HP equal to 100% of ATK and dealing 200% of ATK as DMG to surrounding enemies. This effect can only occur once every 15s.”
Aquila Favonia is a phenomenal weapon. I would run this on any sword character. I have always been a fan of the massive DMG AOE perks, and with the HP on top of that, this sword is unstoppable.
Skyward Blade
Skyward Blade featured under the Wanderlust Invocation wish screen.
LVL 1 Base Stats: 46 Base Attack and 12% Energy Recharge
“Sky-Piercing Fang: Crit Rate increased by 4%. Gains Skypiercing Might upon using Elemental Burst: Increases Movement SPD by 10%, increases ATK SPD by 10%, and increases the DMG of Normal and Charged Attack hits by 20% for 12s.”
This weapon lacks the HP gain you get from Aquila Favonia, but the increased crit rate is certainly an excellent combo with the ATK SPD. With the bonus energy recharge, you could have elemental burst pretty often. It’s also important to note that with this weapon, you’ll want to build for greater crit damage, recharge rate, and crit rate with your artifacts.
Notable 4-Star Swords
These are weapons to use if you don’t yet have a 5-star sword and you’re looking for something better than what you can already forge. These swords can come from the Battle Pass or the Gacha.
The Black Sword (Battle Pass)
The Black Sword is only available through the Battle Pass, acquired at level 30.
LVL 1 Base Stats: 42 Base ATK and 6% Crit Rate
“Justice: Increases DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks by 20%. Additionally, regenerates 60% of ATK as HP when Normal and Charged Attacks score a CRIT Hit. This effect can occur once every 5s.”
The HP help is really crucial to sword users, who can find so little to actually bump their HP in a pinch without a designated healer. It’s a great all around weapon that will keep you alive as long as you build damage and Crit Rate around it.
Blackcliff Longsword (Gacha or Paimon’s Bargains)
The means for getting this sword are up in the air.
LVL 1 Base Stats: 44 Base ATK and 8% Physical DMG Bonus
“Press the Advantage: After defeating an enemy, ATK is increased by 12% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others.”
This sword has better damage potential than other 4-star swords. If you don’t mind relying on a healer, this is probably the sword to burst down enemies when you have time restrictions. Build for DMG.
Wrap Up
If you don’t have one of the 5-star swords, or any of the 4-star swords I mentioned, your best bet is to go with the blacksmith weapons. You may even be able to get you blacksmith weapon to Refinement Rank 5, and honestly, that will be incredibly beneficial. While it is incredibly unlikely, you may be in the situation where your only 4-star weapon is not on this list. You should gather materials for the blacksmith immediately, and build a good weapon. Don’t settle for bad swords!
Pyromania
I disagree with your recommendation. Iron Sting and Prototype Rancour are equally as good until you pair them with the right character. Prototype Rancour should be used for physical DPS characters and the Iron Sting should be paired with characters using elemental DMG. For a character like Keqing, you would give her an Iron Sting. For a character like Xingqiu, you would give him the Prototype Rancour. No weapon is better than the other until you give it a character to use it.