I remember getting kicked from a Heroic Menagerie fireteam after I said I wanted Death's Razor. They said, "who in the world cares about swords" and "the only thing that matters is the triumphs". I didn't mind going for the triumphs, but all of a sudden I'm not allowed to play with them because I said something... ridiculous.
I think Crota and Oryx rolled over in their graves and Eris sneezed.
Maybe some players only care about titles and the Crucible, but I know a ton of players prefer PvE. Same here. Yeah, you might be better off with a shotgun over a sword in Crucible, but let me tell you, PvE is a different story, especially after the buffs that swords last got.
With swords, especially ones with Whirlwind Blade, you can stun-lock a lot of strong enemies with the aerial combo and deal considerable damage at the same time. And they're swords, so you don't have to worry about reloading, so increasing your sword's ammo capacity isn't a bad thing when those extra swings can make up for your impact.
Two things can happen when you increase your sword's ammo capacity. When you pick up heavy ammo, you get extra ammo. And this helps in the long run with blocking.
Yeah, I said blocking. Even that's useful. Blocking also does two things. You can reduce a lot of damage at the cost of 1-10 sword ammo depending on the damage that you block. And a lot of enemies' knockback effects get reduced or nullified when you block them. Enemy quakes usually take away around 10 ammo, while regular shots take away around 1 or some value less than that. Standing in a fire (not to be confused with being inflicted by the burn status effect) will usually sap a lot of your ammo while you're in it though. Just block when you need it. Don't use it excessively unless you have a sword with Infinite Guard.
If you use an Adaptive sword, you may want to try out light attacks a lot. Using your heavy attacks too much can take away a lot of ammo and lower your potential damage output. If you like jumping, you may like chaining an aerial light attack into an aerial heavy attack. If you use that particular combo, the heavy attack only costs 1 ammo but it still does the same damage. Doing little hops into that combo repeatedly does a MASSIVE ton of damage. And since the combo comes out fast, you can be ready to block when you need it.
Now sometimes sword swings get a little weird. You might swing at a Minotaur's legs and completely miss for some reason or, if you're trying to attack a moving target, SOMETIMES you'll start lunging the wrong way for no apparent reason but not ALL THE TIME.
So, if you use your swords right and in the right situations, PvE can be a breeze.
[spoiler]Oh, and against Zulmak in the Pit of Heresy, I can confirm that legendary sword strats are a thing. Use a Well or a Bubble, maybe along with Oppressive Darkness, and you can employ these strats during damage phase. Nothing like doing in 3/4 of the boss's health yourself in 2 phases with this strat and a Nova Bomb as a 2-man fireteam.[/spoiler]
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Recently got throne cleaver with counter attack. Smacked it on my Titan with stronghold and heavy finisher (I use bottom tree sentinel for rapid super regen). And MAN, it's a fun and effective build. There were moments during the 950 nightfall where I was the last one alive at the boss, which usually can end up being a wipe but, NOPE! I was able to tank everything and rez my teammates, without much issue. My advice is to pair it with a sniper (I use izanagi) and whichever energy weapon. That way you have a solid boss DPS weapon.