Destiny 2 is full of different weapons with different perks and frames, and some are naturally better than others. To help you figure out what's good and what isn't, we've got a collection of tier lists that'll give you an indication of the best weapons to look out for.
This tier list aims to appeal to both new players and experienced players, and won't be completely statistical. It'll also consider practicality, as well as how a less-experienced player would fare using it in a real-world scenario.
Overview
This tier list is on Legendary Swords, which are mainly core to the Sword DPS strategy more than anything else. Because of this, the list will mainly be ranked on DPS options, as, even as a newer player, Swords won't be beneficial for Ad Clear, unlike other Heavy options that might be used for DPS primarily, but can still do (suboptimal) Ad Clear without risk.
The only exception to this is swords that offer utility, such as the Eager Edge perk. This perk comes at a premium due to its movement tech capabilities, and so weapons with it are naturally higher on the list than they would be otherwise.
Generally speaking, D-Tier is where we would consider the cutoff for usability to be. Those weapons are the bare-bones basics of the weapon type and can still perform, even if it they're mediocre in comparison to the other available options. If you're a newer player and have a D-Tier weapon, chances are you'll probably be able to use it pretty well until you get to the point where you can get the options in the higher tiers.
Anything lower than that is just unusable in comparison, though. Those weapons serve no place in the metagame, and are worth just spending time to even get a D-tier option in comparison. There are notes on each weapon explaining why it's in the tier that it's in, and if you disagree with our rankings, then feel free to come and chat about it (civilly) in our Discord Server, or comment down below.
There are also sunset weapons on here to act as a complete archive of every single gun that Bungie has released, but those are unobtainable and generally quite weak in comparison to modern standards.
Archetypes
All weapons in Destiny fall under an Archetype, more colloquially known as a "Frame". This will define the weapon's base characteristics, such as its maximum damage output, ammo reserves, reload time, etc.
Archetypes are very important to understanding why some Legendary weapons are better than others, as it often comes down to the extra damage provided by that weapon's Frame, even if the two weapons are otherwise identical.
