Best SINGLE-handed swords?

[(XBOX)BigQuadTodd]

as the title says, what are the best single handed swords? This is including nikanas, machetes, etc.

EDIT:

I doubt that anyone is gonna see this edit, but just incase, keep in mind that i said etc., so that means i was just a bit lazy to name all the classes of swords that happen to use one hand. So you don't have to name JUST longswords, nikanas, and machetes, you can name other ones like destreza, or daggers.

Edited September 11, 2016 by (XB1)TomTheImperator

[(PSN)abbacephas]

Depending on who you ask:

1. Nikana Prime; or
2. Broken War

[Jerogo]

Damage wise I would say Nikana Prime and Broken War are great. Prisma Skana with the syndicate augment is also nice for its syndicate proc.

[Ibro156]

Broken War third place, next to it is War (second place) and I think Galatine Prime (first place)

correct me if am wrong

[PoisonHD]

4 minutes ago, Ibro156 said:

Broken War third place, next to it is War (second place) and I think Galatine Prime (first place)

correct me if am wrong

Single handed swords. Not heavy weapons/greatswords.

For single Handed swords, I believe its the Nikana P, followed by the Broken War, then the Prisma Skana (With syndicate aug)

Edited September 7, 2016 by PoisonHD

[SmashMeat]

4 minutes ago, Ibro156 said:

Broken War third place, next to it is War (second place) and I think Galatine Prime (first place)

correct me if am wrong

They asked for single handed swords, not heavy bladed swords.

[SmashMeat]

16 minutes ago, (XB1)TomTheImperator said:

as the title says, what are the best single handed swords? This is including nikanas, machetes, etc.

I assume you mean longswords, the ones that use the Iron Pheonix or Crimson Dervish stances, in which case here they are in order of DPS:

1: Broken-War

2: Dakra Prime

3: Prisma Skana (With New Loka augment)

Dakra Prime and Prisma Skana are about neck-and-neck with DPS and are essentially interchangeable, however last I checked Dakra Prime may have pulled ahead by a few points, but I may be wrong. I'm no number cruncher. But for the most part, they're functionally identical.

EDIT: Just saw that last bit, my bad. In that case, ignore machetes entirely. The whole category is crap. So instead, I would say probably

1: Nikana Prime

2: Dragon Nikana

3: Broken War

4: Prisma Skana/Dakra Prime

Again, I could be wrong. Like I said, I'm no number cruncher, but taking stances into account, the Nikana stance "Blind Justice" features multiple sweeping and multistrike attacks, which could provide a faster DPS windup with berserker builds as opposed to Crimson Dervish. I'm just eyeballing it though.

Edited September 7, 2016 by LevitatingNarwhal

[DEADSHOT456]

In order of damage -

1. Nikana Prime
2. Broken-War
3. Dragon Nikana
4. Dakra Prime.

Points to note -

• Broken-War is the easiest to get if you do not care about it's big brother - War. Broken-War is literally handed to you after Second Dream Quest.
• As of now, among the other 3, Nikana Prime is the easiest to use if you don't mind the Void farm, since it is MR0 weapon.
• Dragon Nikana is second easiest to obtain (first being Broken-War), if you are in a clan and MR8+.
• Dakra Prime is the hardest to obtain due to being in Prime Vault and there is no reason to get that if you have one of the other three, except aesthetics.

[Arkvold]

He said single-handed swords.  Not large blades, so War and Galatine Prime are disqualified.

Dakra Prime or Broken-War, armed with either Crimson Dervish or (if you can get it) Vengeful Revenant stance.  Of the two, I typically prefer Broken-War.

I don't really consider Nikanas to be single-handed swords, as they don't use single sword stances.  Still, Nikana Prime would be among the top three if you do count it, competing hotly with Broken-War.  I personally prefer the Tranquil Cleave stance for Nikanas, but they have a whopping 3 stances all with the same polarity, so feel free to experiment.

if I were to rank them...

1. Nikana Prime
2. Broken-War
3. Dakra Prime
4. Prisma Skana (w/Bright Purity mod only)

Edited September 7, 2016 by Arkvold

[ashrah]

i like nikana prime with blind justice+ primed reach max.. its pretty fast and very universal...played t4 suv solo almost 2h using only nikana prime^ its really good

[Dama73]

For me personally Nikana (although its status as a one handed weapon is a bit shaky imo), Broken War and Dakra are easily the best performers in the one handed melee catagory.

Edited September 7, 2016 by Nova73

[FierceRadiance]

Just out of pure cussed nosiness....since we can't dual-wield anything (that isn't already "dual'd") what's the difference between wielding a Nikana Prime vs. a Galatine?  Don't both effectively require both hands (i.e., every melee weapon, one-handed or two-, ties up both hands)? Obviously there are damage and other differences.  But in terms of one-handed or two?

Edited September 7, 2016 by FierceRadiance

[shut]

Why are so many people suggesting the Prisma Skana? It has some of the lowest melee damage in the entire game, with only the decent 20% crit chance to make up for it.

Keep in mind that something like the Broken War does nearly triple its base damage-- which a sliver of extra crit chance and an Augment mod (which is literally just a Spoiled Strike without the speed penalty) are simply not going to overtake.

 

The best two 1H swords that you'll find are the Nikana Prime and the Broken War. In second place are Dragkana and Dakra Prime-- but keep in mind that they're both straight downgrades to the #1 weapons, so while they're not "useless" or "unviable" by any means, they are most certainly obsolete. Same goes for virtually all other weapons in their respective categories.

[Desperado14]

Destreza isn't bad.  I would say it beats the dakra and skana.  But broken war and nikana prime definitely take the cake.  

Edited September 8, 2016 by Desperado14

[Kiyomaru-EN-]

16 hours ago, FierceRadiance said:

Just out of pure cussed nosiness....since we can't dual-wield anything (that isn't already "dual'd") what's the difference between wielding a Nikana Prime vs. a Galatine?  Don't both effectively require both hands (i.e., every melee weapon, one-handed or two-, ties up both hands)? Obviously there are damage and other differences.  But in terms of one-handed or two?

Well, if your warframe wields the Nikana with one or two hands, actually depends on the Stance you are using. The onyl Stance where your Warframe truly is using both hands to wield a Nikana is Decisive Judgement, while in the others you are merely holding onto the scabbard (Blind Justice - the reverse grip) or holding it in your hand and flailing it around with out hitting something with it (Tranquil Cleave - powerful slashing arcs) with the other which is actually just eyecandy and doesn't really do much. At least that's what I can tell so far from checking the Wiki, there might be some interactions in the came that I am unaware of.

[ChromeKat]

11 hours ago, SortaRandom said:

Why are so many people suggesting the Prisma Skana? It has some of the lowest melee damage in the entire game, with only the decent 20% crit chance to make up for it.

Keep in mind that something like the Broken War does nearly triple its base damage-- which a sliver of extra crit chance and an Augment mod (which is literally just a Spoiled Strike without the speed penalty) are simply not going to overtake.

Prisma skana with the new loka augment gives it double damage along with the purity effect, meaning it can also heal you. This easily puts prisma skana on around the same tier as dakra prime. But as we all know, the true king (for now) would be broken war for single swords.

 

[shut]

9 hours ago, 4holes said:

Prisma skana with the new loka augment gives it double damage

It doesn't. It adds +100% base damage, which, when paired together with Primed Pressure Point, adds 38% more total damage to your weapon than PPP alone. Even less if one of your teammates has Steel Charge on.

Not that the mod isn't worth the slot (it totally is, especially if you don't have a maxed PPP), but it simply is not going to double your damage unless you for some godforsaken reason decide not to use Pressure Point. Its damage will be outclassed by the Dakra Prime and completely obliterated by the Broken War.

[Aglethe]

Here's a dps comparison of some (I didn't bother to do the Dakra Prime since it's exactly 2/3rds of Broken War's dps) of the weapons mentioned above using Dunking Machine's stance values. All weapons use this build (the augment for the Prisma Skana is a dps loss), except the Prime Fury Broken War variant which uses this one. The Nikana P is using the Bind Justice Heeding Call combo, the "longsword"s use Crimson Dervish Coiling Impale, and the Destreza's are Vulpine Mask Duel Secrets (not really sure this is the best one, but it's all Dunking Machine tested).

2x combo multiplier

Spoiler

2x combo multiplier

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       50,852
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   31,522
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        27,309
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   26,979
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   17,552

 

4x combo multiplier

Spoiler

4x combo multiplier

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       163,675
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   89,369
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        87,897
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   81,136
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   56,494

 

4x combo multiplier with Naramon Deadly Intent

Spoiler

4x combo multiplier with Naramon Deadly Intent

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       206,499
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        110,889
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   105,445
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   99,913
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   71,070

 

The Nikana P comes out way ahead in terms of raw dps, though the other swords do have access to prompted finishers which can be quite potent. On the other hand though, by the time enemies have enough armour that you need the finishers, a bleed build (that's just one example, there's other ways to do it as well of course) on the Nikana P tends to still fare better.

When it comes to the Destreza vs Broken War it's pretty much down to personal preference, though if you don't have acccess to a ranked up Prime Fury the Destreza is probably the better option. It is worth noting though, that when Dunking Machine added Arcane Avenger procs into the equation, Broken War was seeing larger proportional gains than the Destreza. So if you run with that and/or crit kitties Broken War might be the prefered choice.

And if you're curious how these swords compare to some of the other top melee weapons, there's a post that covers a number of them here.

[shut]

5 hours ago, Aglethe said:

Here's a dps comparison of some (I didn't bother to do the Dakra Prime since it's exactly 2/3rds of Broken War's dps) of the weapons mentioned above using Dunking Machine's stance values. All weapons use this build (the augment for the Prisma Skana is a dps loss), except the Prime Fury Broken War variant which uses this one. The Nikana P is using the Bind Justice Heeding Call combo, the "longsword"s use Crimson Dervish Coiling Impale, and the Destreza's are Vulpine Mask Duel Secrets (not really sure this is the best one, but it's all Dunking Machine tested).

2x combo multiplier

  Hide contents

2x combo multiplier

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       50,852
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   31,522
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        27,309
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   26,979
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   17,552

 

4x combo multiplier

  Hide contents

4x combo multiplier

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       163,675
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   89,369
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        87,897
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   81,136
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   56,494

 

4x combo multiplier with Naramon Deadly Intent

  Hide contents

4x combo multiplier with Naramon Deadly Intent

Nikana Prime-    Blind Justice: Heeding Call-       206,499
Destreza-        Vulpine Mask: Duel Secrets-        110,889
PF Broken War-   Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   105,445
Broken War-      Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   99,913
Prisma Skana-    Crimson Dervish: Coiling Impale-   71,070

 

The Nikana P comes out way ahead in terms of raw dps, though the other swords do have access to prompted finishers which can be quite potent. On the other hand though, by the time enemies have enough armour that you need the finishers, a bleed build (that's just one example, there's other ways to do it as well of course) on the Nikana P tends to still fare better.

When it comes to the Destreza vs Broken War it's pretty much down to personal preference, though if you don't have acccess to a ranked up Prime Fury the Destreza is probably the better option. It is worth noting though, that when Dunking Machine added Arcane Avenger procs into the equation, Broken War was seeing larger proportional gains than the Destreza. So if you run with that and/or crit kitties Broken War might be the prefered choice.

And if you're curious how these swords compare to some of the other top melee weapons, there's a post that covers a number of them here.

Thank you for actually crunching the numbers together!

Looks like I was wrong in my above posts. At a glance, it looks like a Primed-Fury Dakra Prime (which does almost exactly 66.67% of the DPS of a Primed-Fury Broken War) would be roughly on par with the Prisma Skana in terms of DPS alone; as opposed to completely outclassing it like I expected.

 

Kinda off-topic, but I'm a bit bummed that /u/Dunking_Machine_ didn't get much attention for his work. Seeing the combos and stances being taken into account for once was really refreshing.