Destiny 2’s only good Exotic Sword is getting nerfed and it makes no sense

On May 15, 2024, Bungie announced that The Lament will receive some hefty nerfs once The Final Shape is released, but one change just doesn’t make sense.

Swords are not the most useful weapons in Destiny 2. There are specific encounters like Crota or the final boss of Grasp of Avarice where swords function well but apart from that, they are mostly used as a traversal tool with Eager Edge.

The Lament is an Exotic sword that doesn’t have the Eager Edge perk, so it’s only useful for dealing damage. Bungie has recently announced that Lament will receive the following nerfs:

• Reduced healing effect by 20%
• The high end damage of the high end of the chained heavy attack reduced by 20% from that point. 

These two changes feel unnecessary when it comes to The Lament. First of all, swords are already difficult weapons to use. When fighting against a boss or a champion, swords are risky to use due to their inherent lack of range as melee weapons.

This means the healing from The Lament was a key feature, but now, thanks to the nerf, The Lament is going to be far harder to use in high-end content without a Well of Radiance or a Titan’s Banner of Waṛ.

As for the second point, the damage reduction feels odd since both Bequest and the new Falling Guillotine are better DPS weapons. Therefore, The Lament falls even further down the ranking in a class that is seldom used in the first place.

While Bungie has stated that the overall 7% buff to swords stays intact for The Lament, the main damage nerf still hurts the weapon massively. Additionally, The Lament is inconsistent when it comes to damage. There are times when after a charge, some of the hits will miss the target randomly, bringing its consistency into question.

You are left with an Exotic sword that does less damage, has inconsistencies, and will soon have no added survivability. In fact, such is the state of swords that Bungie had to make Crota take 25% extra damage against this weapon type to make it viable.

Exotic weapons are supposed to be special in the game. These weapons are expected to bring uniqueness and utility to a particular class. Currently, Lament is the only Exotic DPS sword that is viable for damage purposes. The others are niche and work in maybe one or two scenarios.

However, with this nerf, some of the Legendary swords outmatch Lament even more now, which makes this weapon a detriment for high-end content.