u/Geralt_Romalion

#Introduction Stop! Hammertime! Because who doesn’t like turning their enemies into nice flat pancakes, right? And we are going to do just that in this write-up, attempting to do it in the best way possible (just the way our Lord and Saviour Idris intended).

Back during the prehistoric age known to some as Code Vein 1, Hammer was an awkward weapon.
Sure you could play it, and once in a while during multiplayer sessions (never forget what they took from us) you would run into a cute catgirl wielding the Argent Wolf Warhammer, but it sat in a place where it would permanently hear ‘Everything you can do I can do better, I can do everything better than you!’ in the background.
Damage? Lagged behind greatsword and halberds. Hitting multiple things at once or stagger stuff?
Same story for the most part.

Luckily, Hammers got a bit of a facelift in Code Vein 2 so they could get out of the corner of shame. Finally!
This time for the most part it feels like actually swinging a huge chunk of metal. And smashing into something feels rewarding. And staggering. Hammer finally staggers. That at least makes up for some of its remaining flaws…

#Advantages and disadvantages

Hammer is something you want to play when every hit should feel impactful (as far as Code Vein 2's combat can go into that direction). BONK. SMACK. THUD. Relying less on fast attacks but on slow brute unrelenting force. That unstoppable juggernaut fantasy. Hammer delivers on this. It is also (because of this) the slowest weapon in the game, with most of its impactful forma also not exactly being speed demons. As such, when playing with hammers you should always keep an eye on not just your positioning, but have a knack for identifying the correct window to strike. Because a miscalculation with a faster weapon means you can still dodge or evade. With a hammer it most likely means pain.

#The bloodcodes and weapons

This is not going to be a highly diverse section when it comes to bloodcodes. The absolute majority of hammers that matter only care about Strength scaling. As such, for pure unfiltered raw DPS and rage, [Artificial Arm Lyle](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Patientia+Bloodline:+Lyle+(Artificial+Arm\)) comfortably sits at the top. Should for some reason your options being limited by Lyle’s statspread you can consider eating a very modest DPS loss and use [Resurgence Core](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Resurgence+Core+(Blood+Code\)) instead (the damage is a little less, but it has a way more flexible statspread, especially with the Mind stat allowing several utility/flex options).

For the one case that preferred a more balanced approach, swiss knife melee code [Hero Valentin](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Valentin+(Blood+Code\)) said hello as a highly viable and respectable (but tier 2) option.

As for the weapons themselves, I felt the following tier division to be highly defendable:

######Tier 1

The first (honestly surprising) weapon here is the Grotesque Bonemace (Brawn). And that is because this is one of those weapons where the statscreen lies to you when it comes to light attacks. It hits harder than you would expect. It has the strongest light attacks of all hammers even. And you can farm for it as early as the entire pre-Franz tutorial section with Noah (Go to the island with the dungeon entrance and respawning werebeasts). It also inflicts venom with every hit. Now you are unlikely to get venom to stick with a slow weapon like a hammer (and most stuff will be dead long before), but the once in a blue moon that you get it to trigger it’s free damage! The heavy and charged heavy are not the best, but still solid. I feel this warrants a tier 1 spot.

The next occupant of this tier is the Forma Mech Hammer Goliath (Brawn). You can trade for his as early as the Sunken City with one of Jadwiga’s merchants. And then you have one of the best hammers in the game. Not for the light attacks mind you, this is not a weapon you want to spam light attacks on. But the heavies and charged heavies Goliath will pulverize whatever poor soul you decide to unleash it on. Do note the charged heavy is a multi-hitter that can easily hit multiple things at once, so this might be preferrable against groups.

The third weapon here is the Nameless Hammer (Brawn). The light and heavy attacks on it are average. But the charged heavy, while doing not as much total as Goliath’s, does all its damage in one hit (while Goliath’s charged heavy swings four times total). That means Nameless is burstier for when you need the damage done in one hit (while Goliath can be better when you swing against a packed group). Nameless also sports the highest attack forma damage out of all hammers (Goliath comes in at 2nd place). You won’t read a lot about Nameless, but honestly, tier 1 is where it belongs!

All of the weapons above work the best with Artificial Arm Lyle (or Resurgence Core if you value the higher booster/burden flexibility).

######Tier 2

Huge Hammer is the first weapon here, being a highly consistent ‘number two’ across the board for heavies and charged heavies. It is very powerful, but behind in everything compared to Goliath (and less light attack damage than either this or Bonemace). Like Goliath it likes Lyle Artificial Arm.

The other weapon in tier 2 prefers a more balanced approach to unlock its full potential: Argent Wolf Warhammer (Vigor). You obtain it relatively late into your run towards the first ending (Insula Carcere) and it wants Hero Valentin as a code (ending 1 code). What you get in return is a weapon where none of its attacks are a liability. Only Bonemace has stronger lights (by maybe 5%) and the heavy and charged heavy attacks are relatively close to Goliath and Huge Hammer (the difference is ~7% or so). It doesn’t hit that absolute top, but you will never use an attack with it and go ‘oh yeah, that was the attack of the moveset that sucked’.

######Tier 3

In this tier you mostly find weapons that are solid, just outclassed by the monsters in Tier 1 and Tier 2. Sometimes a thing isn’t bad. But the other thing is simply superior (or the numbers look fine but the moveset makes you want to quit on the spot). It is what it is. Stuff like Heavy Axe (Brawn) and VK Hammer (Brawn) with Artificial Arm Lyle belong here, as does Primordial Battle Axe (either Vigor or Fire) with Hero Valentin.

######Tier 4

The dark abyss of a Tier 4 is here so Lost Heavy Axe (Vigor) with Hero Valentin has a home. Damagewise it is a worse Primordial Battle Axe except for the light attacks. The other weapon here is the Tyrant’s Labrys with Artificial Arm Lyle. The light and heavy attacks are nothing to speak off. BUT, the charged heavy hits extremely hard (in fact, only Goliath’s 4-hit combo charged heavy hits harder). It also costs 2 ichor everytime you use it. Still, I felt it deserved a mention.

######Buff Sticks Like always: every possible weapon that has at least 6 handling and 9-10 conversion can work as a buffstick (the weapon you load with all your buffs, so you can cast them before combat and then swap to your higher damage weapon to do the cool things).

But if you insist on using a hammer for this purpose, you only have one option: The Caged Heart Club (likely to cause overburden on Artificial Arm Lyle). Any other hammer does not have a sufficient handling+conversion stat combo to hold any combination of the four most common DPS buffs.

As such it is very likely that you have to look for either a buffing weapon from a different weapon archetype (like one-handed swords or twinblades) OR spread your buff forma between two weapons when using Lyle as a bloodcode.

At that point a dedicated buffing hammer would become a liability, so if you find yourself in this situation, pick your two hammers of choice and divide your buffs until it fits and does not hamper your effectiveness or your fun (or use Resurgence Core which thanks to a better Mind stat does not have this problem).

For those that want to use Caged Heart Club as their DPS weapon for the memes, Josee 4 is probably your best bet for it. But be prepared to use a few years of your life over the frustration that comes with the weapon's strange delays in the moveset. #Attack Forma Your absolute strongest burst “SPLAT” forma is Mighty Smash. It takes time to charge, so you need to get your positioning (and read on what your enemy is going to do) right, but there is no denying that this has the highest burst potential.

Doomfall is another solid attack, with the restriction that it can only be activated while airborne. So you need to either jump, plunge down on something and open with this, or use a defensive forma that leaves you in the air afterward (Vanishing Hollow variants). I honestly feel this would be better if we got some hammers with an attack that send you up into the air, and then allow you to combo it with attacks. You have a few hammers with attacks that leave you airborne, but all of them animationlock you, meaning you cannot follow-up with a Doomfall to take advantage.

Personally I preferred Dive Bomb over Doomfall. Yes the damage is ~7% or so lower and yes it has a smaller impact/stagger radius. But you don’t have to be in the air to use it ánd for a hammer attack it activates deceptively fast (and comes with nice stagger values as well).

Fortress Stance is another interesting option. It consists of two parts, where the first bit gives you fast activating parry frames, and a secondary input allowing for an attack. Considering how slow hammers are, every option to turn a defensive action almost immediately into an offensive one is valuable. Do not sleep on this forma, once you get used to it you will find yourself parrying left and right and feel like an untouchable God.

Backdraft can be considered if you find yourself surrounded a lot and wishing for a way to create some breathing room. Then again, do you really want to propel yourself away without having access to reliable gap closers?

Severing Abyss can be used to hit certain weakspots a bit easier or to take advantage of the lifted player hitbox as pseudo evadeframes (Evasion options on Hammers are very rare. As such you could almost call this utility).

#Buffs Hammers unfortunately cannot reliably use Bladedance as a buff. In the open world this does not really matter (because your higher basedamage more than makes up for it), nor does it during short bossfights (because your buffs all give their damagebonus upfront, while with Bladedance you start with 0 and need to build up stacks). But eventually (against later bosses) the weapontypes capable of running BladeDance WILL surpass your damage output.

Like usual, I would recommend to bring at least 4 buffs that are ideally from different buff groups to take advantage of multiplicative scaling. More buffs will obviously always result in higher damage, but I would try to bring at least four.

#######Group 1: Double Down You simply are too slow to effectively use BladeDance, with a slow weapon might have issues evading unless already used to it (meaning Overdrive is probably out) and depending on your ichor economy solution you might dislike the bleed build-up penalty from Thirsting Blade. So Double Down (20% damage boost in exchange for losing a bit of Shield/LP) seems like a fair option for a DPS buff from Group 1. You can run another Group 1 buff here if you wish, I just feel Double Down is your best option.

######Group 2: Offensive Order A strong boost, but also makes you take a lot more damage. If you feel highly uncomfortable with this you can eat a modest DPS loss and add another group 1 buff like Overdrive or an Elemental Weapon. Technically Highlander could also work, but it gets a bit annoying to lose partner benefits because of Highlander eating all of your LP.

######Group 3: Warrior Spirit: Might This requires you to be in melee range for the best effect and if you hug your target can scale a bit beyond 20% as a buff. Because it sits in its own buff group, this is also worth it if you have a tiny bit of distance to your target (you only need 13% for this to be better than an extra group 1 buff). Do note that the buff percentage goes down HARD when not in melee. But you will be in melee whenever you do damage anyway, so this is a drawback that essentially does not exist for you.

######Group 4: Open buff slot You can run any additional buff from group 1 here. Overdrive if you are greedy and confident in your dodge/block/evasion skills, but any of the group 1 buffs mentioned earlier can fill this slot. You can also put some utility here if you wish, but it might be the best to just run four buffs and put utility in a single slot on your DPS set. Personally I just like to have 4 buffs (I know, I am repeating myself) on me as a minimum (more is always better, but not everyone likes the idea of 5/6/7/8 buffs spread over their weapons).

######Utility: Sacrificial Edge can be used as another melee buff. Forma Extension can be extremely powerful to keep your buffs up longer.

Ichor Regeneration is another thing to try as it will regain ichor for you while you are busy doing other things. It is no “ICHOR! NOW!” option, but it is a considerable positive flow over time.

Unlike in Code Vein 1, I do not recommend Red Shoes. And that is simply because Code Vein 2 has removed cooldowns on your attacks and spells, meaning you have less downtime between spamming your forma. You simply don't need the stamina this provides because spamming forma doesn't consume any and your basic stamina is more than enough for the amount of dodges or non-forma attacks you will do during a fight. At least personally I did not ever find myself in a situation that made me go "man, Red Shoes would really have helped right now..." If stamina truly is an issue, try Serene Stance instead.

If you prefer to focus on hitting with your heavies or charged heavies (to conserve ichor or because you feel the open world encounters don't warrant forma spam) you can try Time Crunch. Super Charge can technically work, but I'd prefer a buff that works with everything I do, not one that only works with charged actions.

Keep in mind that fitting all buffs and attacks/spells together might require some tinkering depending on your choices.

#Boosters Hammer Mastery is very obvious.And then you stack as many DPS boosters as you feel comfortable with. If you can reliably get and stay below 50% health then Survival Instinct is a premium boost of over 22%. Overheat is another strong boost( this needs Bloodline Agnostic) but make sure to check how much slower it makes your chosen Attack Forma.

Gain ichor on overheal is good, but the Mind requirement means this is a Resurgence Core only option.

Glutton is the exact same story. If you want to go with double food buffs it is obviously solid, but the Mind requirement means Artificial Arm Lyle cannot bring it.

Persistence Animus gives you a 2% damage bonus whenever you hit something, but resets to 0 if you miss. It is allright, just don't miss.

Another option is Boosted Technique if you spam your attack forma (makes them cost 2 additional ichor, but deal 20% more damage. Good for bursting, less if the fight draws out. So be aggressive and try to end fights quickly. Considering most Hammer forma (the ones that are good anyway) are single hits, I think this is a defendable option for more burst oriented players.

Ceaseless Assault ( 20% additional damage while you have LP but lose LP with every hit) can be ran as well, but be prepared to often use your heals just to fully recover your LP in that case. That might get irritating when fights drag on, but when you are bursting or can rest in the open world between foes this can be a reliable DPS booster worth considering.

If you really get into Burden troubles (you NEVER want to get overburdened. It just isn't worth it, considering how many of your boosters have a 'don't be overburdened' requirement) see if Weapon Rack helps.

Keep in mind some of these options NEED Bloodline Agnostic! #Jail The answer is the same as always: Reaper if it doesn’t overburden you, because having built-in parry frames is insane utility. If Reaper overburdens you, go with something else, it won’t break your build.

#Defensive Forma: It is truly your call. Mutinous Bracer if you could not use Reaper and still want parry, or an Evasive Forma of your choice like Vanishing Hollow/Vanishing Hollow Light, or something that helps with mobility like maybe Dodge Spin/[Dodge Spin Light](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dodge+Spin+(Light\)).

The Vanishing Hollow variants should be your preference if you play with Doomfall, so you can chain a defensive action right back into an offensive one. For pure evasion Umbral Shift is as reliable as ever.

If you prefer to block, Bleeding Shield (Light) can also work, but personally I prefer Vanishing Holliw variants for Hammers.

#Offensive Forma: Absolute Executioner is strong on paper, but also takes very long to execute, meaning you are not getting this off unless the boss is stunned/staggered or otherwise rooted in place. Still, might be worth it during a stagger window. If you run Argent Wolf Warhammer with Hero Valentin (or another Hero Valentin option), Bloodreaver Blade can also perform very acceptable.

#Food: Hammers are overwhelmingly Strength Weapons, meaning Sukiyaki will perform the best with most of them (with lower-tier alternatives being Steak or Hamburger). If you have something more balanced/quality scaling with an equivalent code like Hero Valentin, it will highly depend on the scaling. If it is truly equal Strength/Dexterity scaling, then Sukiyaki and Consomme soup will perform the exact same. If there is even the slightest more scaling for Strength, Sukiyaki will still be the way to go.

#Consumables: For direct damage the elemental salve of your choice will fare the best and is the biggest boost when comparing everything you can eat or ingest.

Attack Injection S would be the next option (it has a low duration, so save it for when you get the most out of it or when you really need a bit more oomph).

Stat enhancers like Strength/Dexterity/Willpower Enhancer S can be used, but do not expect them to add more than 2-3% damage at best. The boost is so small you can safely ignore it unless you happen to find yourself in a speedrun tournament and really want to push that Code Vein 2 (Any% No Glitches All Bosses) category.

#TL;DR:

######Best Bloodcodes:

Tier 1: Artificial Arm Lyle, Resurgence Core for pure Strength.

While leveling, you can use Josee or Craig.

Tier 2: Hero Valentin for more balanced/quality weapons.

while leveling you can use balanced codes like Valentin or Zenon.

######Best weapons:

Tier 1: Nameless Hammer (brawn), Forma Mech Hammer Goliath (brawn), Grotesque Bonemace (brawn)

Tier 2: Huge Hammer, Argent Wolf Warhammer (Vigor)

Tier 3: Heavy Axe (Brawn), VK Hammer (Brawn), Primordial Battle Axe (Vigor/Fire)

Tier 4: Lost Heavy Axe (Vigor), Tyrant's Labrys

Buff Stick: Caged Heart Club (but seriously, do consider non-hammer alternatives for your buffs, especially on Artificial Arm Lyle. Especially on that code it is not worth it to jump through several hoops of transformations+active forma+boosters just to get it to function).

######DPS Buff options Double Down, Offensive Order, Warrior Spirit: Might, Overdrive, an Elemental Buff, maybe Highlander, Thirsting Blade or Sacrificial Edge.

######Booster options: Hammer Mastery, Survival Instinct, Overheat, Bloodline Agnostic, Persistence Animus, Boosted Technique, Ceaseless Assault, Glutton, Gain Ichor On Overheal, Weapon Rack.

######Utility: Forma Extension, Ichor Regeneration, etc. Honestly, whatever you feel helps you do damage faster/better or keeps you from failure. Possibly Time Crunch or Super Charge, depending how hard you decide to lean into heavy or charged heavy attacks.

######Attacks: Mighty Smash (premium SPLAT), Doomfall (requires you to be airborne), Dive Bomb (hit's hard enough and activates fast), Fortress Stance (fast activating parry frames and damaging follow-up), Severing Abyss (for specific weakspots or pseudo evade frames), Backdraft (if you feel you need a "Get me out of here now" option).

######Jail: Reaper if it does not overburden you, any other jail if it does.

######Offensive Forma: I would say Absolute Executioner if you seek something hard hitting but more occasional. Bloodreaver can be used instead of attack forma on Hero Valentin.

######Defensive Forma: Mutinous Bracer if you want to parry, Dodge Spin variants for offensive evasion combo’s, Umbral Shift for pure defensive evasion.

######Consumables and food: Sukiyaki is pretty much the clear winner for all Hammers no matter the build variant.

Elemental Salves are fine DPS boosts. Attack Injection is solid, but has a low duration so save it on your hotbar for burst windows. You can use Enhancers that boost the stats your weapon scales with, but expect below 3% damage boosts.

#And now you have reached the end! Compared to the first Code Vein game hammers have definitely improved. No longer are they the awkward weapon that you only ran 'for the lolz', it is a solid and defendable option in this game! I hope this gave you a few pointers should you want to play Code Vein 2 with a Hammer build. Thanks for reading!

#Introduction: It is time to talk about Halberds, in my opinion the best two-handed weapontype in Code Vein 2 for DPS. The halberd was already very good in the first game as a weapontype, but in the sequel it might even be better! That said, I am a bit afraid that it might hinge on the interaction between two specific forma to be as busted as I am claiming it is. If they would take that away Halberd would still be good, but it would not be ‘busted’ anymore.

#Advantages and disadvantages

Does the halberd even have disadvantages? I am joking a little, but overall Halberd really is an amazing weapontype. You have movesets for both single target and multiple targets (and attack forma that can enhance either of those options), most halberds have basic mobility baked in (and else you can once again use your moveset to fill that gap), you have reasonable speed, you have an absolute ton of viable weapons to pick from, you even have evade options. If there is a disadvantage to be named it should probably be aftercast/animation-lock on some forma or after certain parts in the moveset, locking you in place a bit longer than is ideal. But when you look at all that you get in return, isn’t that a fair trade-off?

#The bloodcodes and weapons

For the most part Halberds seemed to really like a balanced statspread, causing [Hero Valentin](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Valentin+(Blood+Code\)) to absolutely dominate everywhere in the bloodcode department. You also have some dedicated Strength options, those liked [Artificial Arm Lyle](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Patientia+Bloodline:+Lyle+(Artificial+Arm\)) the most. Once again pure Dexterity codes could not shine bar a single exception where Lyle 3 could put in some work.

There is, just like with one-handed swords, the Dark Horse option of [Hero Lyle](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Lyle+(Blood+Code\)), but I would advice against this despite the numbers speaking in its favour. This is because Hero Lyle consumes LP upon hit, but to get into ‘halberd busted’ territory we are going to make use of multi-hit tactics (causing your LP to already be gone by 70% by the time the setup is done).

######Tier 1 In tier 1 you find the Bardiche (Vigor) for the highest light attack of all halberds albeit a little slow (probably to compensate), and the 2nd best heavies and charged heavies (keep in mind that both of these do a small backstep before lunging in). For something that seems to simple at first glance it is surprisingly strong.

The other weapon in this tier is the Cultist Ceremonial Halberd (Vigor), sporting the best heavies, charged heavies ánd attack forma damage (so basically most of the stuff that matters). Both of these work the best when paired with Hero Valentin.

######Tier 2 Tier 2 is populated firstly by your best choice if you go down the Strength Route in Iron Mass: Heavy Halberd (Brawn) paired with Artificial Arm Lyle.

Then you get an absolute slew of Halberds that like being paired with Hero Valentin like Ancient Retainers Ring Spear (Vigor) with a very fast poke moveset but a low reliability stat,

Judgement Halberd Gregory (Vigor),

Pisars Venom Pike (Vigor) which shares part of its moveset with the Bardiche but can also apply venom by default,

Pelagic Spear (Vigor) which is faster than Pisar thanks to the 'poke poke poke' moveset but doesnt apply venom and has slightly lower basedamage…

The weirdo in this tier is the Impaler. Impaler is a lightning fast weapon, but it suffers from low base values on especially the light attacks ánd has low reliability, meaning you cannot stack it with attack forma but probably have to settle for one or two.

######Tier 3 Tier 3 has the Hero Valentin enjoyers in the form of Halberd Of The Minion: Praise (Adroit) and Nameless Halberd (Vigor).

The second half of the tier has some additional Artificial Arm Lyle halberd love in Obliterator Axe. This was a grand weapon in the first Code Vein, but it has fallen off in the sequel. It retained some of its wide sweep moveset, but generally the Iron Mass: Heavy Halberd is simply better at everything the Obliterator Axe could do.

######Dark Horse tier Then there is the Dark Horse Tier for those that feel like watching their LP bar like a hawk and play with the Hero Lyle code. You can get some competitive numbers compared to tier 2 and even some tier 1 options when paired with Impaler, Lost Bardiche or Assassins Sickle. But once your LP is gone your damage plummets. And it also means no attack-boost-per-hit stacking. You can migitate this by changing out a buff, but that would put you on a notable DPS disadvantage (not to mention Hero Lyle will 100% have you run into problems with Burden). I name it because of its theoretical numbers, but I do not recommend it.

######Buff sticks Any kind of weapon that has 6 handling and 9-10 conversion can work as a buff stick (put all your buffs here, use them before the fight, then switch to your high damage weapon to do the cool and fun things).

But if you insist in using a Halberd, Lance of the Moon King is probably the superior pick if it fits in your build (because it comes with some very hefty burden requirements). It is a lategame option, but it sports a very impressive 14 handling and conversion. Other options are the Black Halberd or the Garnet Splitter (note its high Mind burden!), which should still be able to hold pretty much any conventional 4 buff combination.

#Attack Forma

Now here is the first half of why Halberds can poke above their weight, taking the shape of the Drill Breaker forma. It isn’t overly fast. It doesn’t hit overly hard. But it does hit 12 times. And do you know what buff gives you better DPS for each attack you make during it? Blade Dance. It needs 15 hits to reach the maximum bonus of 75%. With the 12 hits from Drill Breaker you are almost capped out with one attack!

The other two-handed weapons cannot properly do this, giving you a huge advantage over them DPS wise. Meanwhile you have higher basedamage than the one-handers do ánd build up that Blade Dance even faster than twinblades do. And if you ever decide you hate straightforward DPS and want to run a status build? Every single one of those 12 pokes from Drill Breaker applies status (at a reduced amount mind you, but it is still a good amount of application). The combination of Blade Dance and Drill Breaker existing makes Halberd an utter top-tier weapon archetype that is insanely versatile. It essentially makes every single Halberd at least ‘good enough’ (including every single Halberd that did not make it into at least tier 3). Drill Breaker is thát good here.

Use this combination. Make it the first thing you slap into your Halberd forma slots. It costs 4 reliability to slot, which cán make things a bit tight on Halberds with lower reliability stats, but it is 100% worth doing.

#####Options for other slots could be:

Severing Abyss (if you have an issue hitting certain enemy weak spots. Do note that on Halberds the DPS of Severing Abyss is on the lower end compared to other options).

Mad Turbulence (hits decently hard in an AoE with multiple hits, this could cap out Blade Dance on its own against groups).

Heliosphere (it cán hit insanely hard, but it is VERY dependant on timing to hit the sweet spot, this might be very hard in demanding fights. We talk about a damage variance of over 100%)

Piercing Leap (on the lower end of damage but it has invulnerability frames)

Piercing Leap tremor (very reliable to hit high numbers with, but very costly. You want to activate the secondary hit here)

Chariot Reave or Chariot Reave Blast (both can hit hard, but you can get combo-locked)

Flash Fleche (high damage multi packet hit with forward mobility, the damage varies based on your starting point)

Boosted Blade (single target. The activation time is long, and the charged one even more. I would not bother with the charged bit. I wonder how reliably you can get this off against a boss, but at least you can channel your inner Saber with it while shouting 'EXCALIBUR!').

Boosted Blade Horizon (This can solve a problem that surfaces if you pick a halberd with mostly single target poking (in that it can do a highly damaging area sweep). Like its single target variant I would not bother with the charged version unless you are 100% sure the enemy group moves so incredibly slow that you can hit them right as they get into melee range. 9 out of 10 times you shouldnt attempt it.)

This was probably the longest list of attack forma I have written down so far. But thats part of the Halberd versatility: So many of them are good or at least defendable options depending on the situation.

#Buffs If you have seen my other write-ups you know what to expect by now: 3-4 buffs minimum, ideally from different buff groups, more is better.

######Group 1: Bladedance This is really a non-negotiable buff. This is what makes Halberd bonkers. Because you can run a buff on a slower weapon with the efficiency of a fast hitting type while keeping the two-hander higher basedamage values. Don’t replace this. Ever.

######Group 2: Offensive Order A strong boost, but also makes you take a lot more damage. If you feel highly uncomfortable with this you can eat a modest DPS loss and add another group 1 buff like Overdrive, [Thirsting Blade](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Thirsting+Blade,[Double Down](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Double+Down) or an Elemental Weapon.

######Group 3: Warrior Spirit: Might This requires you to be in melee range for the best effect and if you hug your target can scale a bit beyond 20% as a buff. Because it sits in its own buff group, this is also worth it if you have a tiny bit of distance to your target (you only need 13% for this to be better than an extra group 1 buff). Do note that the buff percentage goes down HARD when not in melee. But you will be in melee whenever you do damage anyway, so this is a drawback that essentially does not exist for you.

######Group 4: Open buff slot You can run any additional buff from group 1 here. Overdrive if you are greedy and confident in your dodge/block/evasion skills, but any of the group 1 buffs mentioned earlier can fill this slot. You can also put some utility here if you wish, but it might be the best to just run four buffs and put utility in a single slot on your DPS set. Personally I just like to have 4 buffs on me as a minimum (more is always better, but not everyone likes the idea of 5/6/7/8 buffs spread over their weapons). If you are trying to make status work you can use Venom Mark as well. In that case you might want to use a Sunblight transformation on your weapon as well since Sunblight is the only ‘burst status’in the game.

######Utility: Sacrificial Edge can be used as another melee buff. Forma Extension can be extremely powerful to keep your buffs up longer, especially because without it Bladedance only has a medium duration at best (and you want to avoid it falling off and having to rebuild stacks as much as you can. Throw this in if you have room. It makes your life a lot easier).

Ichor Regeneration is another thing to try as it will regain ichor for you while you are busy doing other things. It is no “ICHOR! NOW!” option, but it is a considerable positive flow over time.

Keep in mind that fitting all buffs and attacks/spells together might require some tinkering depending on your choices.

#Boosters:

Halberd Mastery is very obvious. And then you stack as many DPS boosters as you feel comfortable with. If you can reliably get and stay below 50% health then Survival Instinct is a premium boost of over 22%. Overheat is another strong boost( this needs Bloodline Agnostic) but make sure to check how much slower it makes your chosen Attack Forma.

Glutton is another if you like to max out on food, but the Mind requirement makes it hard to fit in.

Gain ichor on overheal suffers from a similar fate. It's good, but the Mind requirement will keep it out of most of your bloodcodes unless you invest in a Mind Booster or default to using Lou or Lise as your companion for the Mind bonus.

Another very powerful option is Persistence Animus( likely needs Bloodline Agnostic), giving you a 2% damage bonus every time you hit, but resets to 0 if you miss. I recommend this one personally because of how great it pairs with BladeDance and Drill Breaker (Drill Breaker building up stacks for both).

You can also get this for free if you run with the Noah 4 code, but you will lose so much weaponscaling that this is not something I can recommend for DPS focused builds.

Another option is Boosted Technique if you spam your attack forma (makes them cost 2 additional ichor, but deal 20% more damage. Good for bursting, less if the fight draws out. So be aggressive and try to end fights quickly!) Also keep in mind the extra 2 ichor applies to every additional buttonpress within a Forma. So if you have a Forma that has a ‘press button again to do X action’ clause, you pay additional 2 ichor for the first cast, but an additional 2 ichor every time you press that button, adding up quickly for multi-activation gifts).

If you play a statusbuild you will want to include Ailment Chaser and Status Ailment Stacker into your booster choices.

If burden is really putting a number on your build you can try to see if Weapon Rack helps (especially on Hero Valentin).

#Jail: The answer is the same as always: Reaper if it doesn’t overburden you, because having built-in parry frames is insane utility. If Reaper overburdens you, go with something else, it won’t break your build.

#Defensive Forma It is truly your call. Mutinous Bracer if you could not use Reaper and still want parry, or an Evasive Forma of your choice like Vanishing Hollow/[Vanishing Hollow Light](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Vanishing+Hollow+(Light\)), or something that helps with mobility like maybe Dodge Spin/[Dodge Spin Light](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dodge+Spin+(Light\)). For pure evasion Umbral Shift is as reliable as ever.

#Offensive Forma Absolute Executioner is strong on paper, but also takes very long to execute, meaning you are not getting this off unless the boss is stunned/staggered or otherwise rooted in place.

Bloodreaver Blade will usually do 50-33% less damage than Absolute Executioner(depending if you use the booster for it or not), but it also costs less ichor, activates faster and is a lot more spammable (but you NEED to get the timing down).

MK Rosenritter might technically be used to bombard a group of mobs and get bladedance stacks that way, but it would be a very inefficient way to do it (so reserve this mainly for the 'shits 'n giggles').

#Food Considering the absolutely massive amount of weapons in especially tier 2, listing them all individually with their preferred food would be a list I don’t think anyone would be willing to read through. Instead, I will group things up a bit in terms of results.

######If your weapon is STR scaling only (with let’s say Lyle Artificial Arm): Sukiyaki will be your best bet, followed by Hamburger or Steak.
######If your weapon is DEX scaling only (with Lyle 3 or Hero Valentin or Hero Lyle): Consomme soup will be the best thing you can eat.
######If your weapon has both STR and DEX scaling in equal amounts (on Hero Valentin): Consomme soup and Sukiyaki will provide the same boost percentage. ######If your weapon had both STR and DEX scaling but favours STR more (on Hero Valentin: Go with Sukiyaki.
######If your weapon has both STR and DEX scaling but favours DEX more(on Hero Valentin: Go with Consomme soup.

#Consumables: For direct damage the elemental salve of your choice will fare the best and is the biggest boost when comparing everything you can eat or ingest.

Attack Injection S would be the next option (it has a low duration, so save it for when you get the most out of it or when you really need a bit more oomph).

Stat enhancers like Strength/Dexterity/Willpower Enhancer S can be used, but do not expect them to add more than 2-3% damage at best. The boost is so small you can safely ignore it unless you happen to find yourself in a speedrun tournament and really want to push that Code Vein 2 (Any% No Glitches All Bosses) category.

If you play with status consider a salve that inflicts Sunblight.

#TL;DR

######Best Bloodcodes:
Tier 1: Hero Valentin, Artificial Arm Lyle

Tier 2: Lyle 3

Tier 3: Hero Lyle

######Best weapons: Tier 1:

Cultist Ceremonial Halberd (Vigor) and Bardiche (Vigor), both with Hero Valentin.

Tier 2:

Ancient Retainers Ring Spear (Vigor), Judgement Halberd Gregory (Vigor), Pelagic Spear (Vigor), Pisars Venom Pike (Vigor) with Hero Valentin, Impaler with Lyle 3, Iron Mass: Heavy Halberd (Brawn) with Lyle Artificial Arm.

Tier 3:

Nameless Halberd (Vigor) and Halberd of the Minion: Praise (Adroit) with Hero Valentin, Obliterator Axe (Brawn) with Lyle Artificial Arm.

Dark Horse Tier:

Impaler, Lost Bardiche or Assassin’s Sickle with Hero Lyle (100% not recommended with the Drill Breaker + Blade Dance stack method).

Halberd specific buff sticks:

Lance of the Moon King, Black Halberd, Garnet Splitter.

######DPS Boosters: Halberd Mastery, Survival Instinct, Overheat, Bloodline Agnostic), Persistence Animus, Ailment Chaser (status), Status Ailment Stacker (status), Boosted Technique.

######DPS Buffs: Bladedance (A MUST), Offensive Order, Warrior Spirit: Might, Double Down, Thirsting Blade, Overdrive, Sacrificial Edge, Venom Mark (status). You can bring as many as you want, more is always better, but try to go with at least four.

######Utility: Forma Extension, Ichor Regeneration, etc. Forma Extension is recommended.

######Attacks: Drill Breaker is a 100% slot-in to almost instantly cap Blade Dance and Persistence Animus stacks.

Mad Turbulence to hit groups and/or stack bladedance stacks versus groups.

Flash Fleche for a quick hard multi-hit and mobility,

Piercing Leap if you want evade frames

Piercing Leap Tremor for a reliable super hard-hitting attack if you do the follow-up

Heliosphere if you can reliably learn the timing (your damage can more than double depending on it)

Boosted Blade or Boosted Blade Horizon depending on if you think you can reliably hit a single target or a group (and how badly you wish to channel Saber and shout ‘EXCALIBUR!!!’ at your screen)

Severing Abyss if you have trouble hitting enemy weak spots

Chariot Reave or Chariot Reave Blast if you like continuous combo’s.

######Jail: Reaper if it does not overburden you, any other jail if it does.

######Offensive Forma: I would say Absolute Executioner if you seek something hard hitting but more occasional. Bloodreaver for something more spammable. You might be able to get off some shenanigans against groups with the MK Rosenritter, but 99 out of 100 times taking any other action will prove to be more effective.

######Defensive Forma: Mutinous Bracer if you want to parry, Dodge Spin variants for offensive evasion combo’s, Umbral Shift for pure defensive evasion.

######Consumables and food:

If your weapon is STR scaling only (with let’s say Lyle Artificial Arm): Sukiyaki will be your best bet, followed by Hamburger or Steak.

If your weapon is DEX scaling only (with Lyle 3 or Hero Valentin or Hero Lyle): Consomme soup will be the best thing you can eat.

If your weapon has both STR and DEX scaling in equal amounts (on Hero Valentin): Consomme soup and Sukiyaki will provide the same boost percentage.

If your weapon had both STR and DEX scaling but favours STR more (on Hero Valentin): Go with Sukiyaki.

If your weapon has both STR and DEX scaling but favours DEX more(on Hero Valentin): Go with Consomme Soup.

Elemental Salves are fine DPS boosts. Attack Injection is solid, but has a low duration so save it on your hotbar for burst windows. You can use Enhancers that boost the stats your weapon scales with, but expect below 3% damage boosts.

Consider a Solar Solve on status builds.

#And now you have reached the end!

Thanks for reading this long wall of text, I hope it helped you or at least gave you some ideas. If it wasn’t obvious yet: Halberds are great and I love them. But I also think that the thing that makes Halberds excel among two-handed weapons is something that could easily be hit with the nerf bat in the future. Especially nerfing Drill Breaker’s amount of hits (or Blade Dance bonusdamage cap) would really put a dent in on how much power you can amass as well as hitting your build and weapon versatility. It is not as bad as Final Journey was in the first game, but if your melee build can pull off Blade Dance you do have a notable advantage!

Today I am going to write a little bit about one-handed swords in Code Vein 2. When I begun with my typical array of tests I found swords to be a weapon in need of a niche. Because twinblades have higher DPS and more evasion, Runeblades have better magic damage, bayonets have more range, and obviously two-handers have the better burst. So where exactly do swords fit in the game? Do they have a superb niche of any kind?

#Advantages and disadvantages

I’d say that in a way, swords are perhaps an example of balance in all areas. They do not truly excel at anything, but they never end up at the bottom of the barrel either. What I like about swords is actually how many of them are viable, giving you a wide array of options to choose from. Usually you have two maybe three weapons that clearly outperform everything else within an archetype. Not swords. Swords had enough interesting candidates that I was able to divide them into multiple tiers, and every tier typically within 10% of the next one. So if you like to switch a lot between different weapons of an archetype, you are definitely going to love swords! Most swords are also easy to pick-up without the need to extensively study its quirks to get the best results.

At the same time, being a jack-of-all-trades-but-master of none means you will never hit a situation where another weapontype would not do better (but that weapontype might be worse in a different situation). I would say that is a trade-off one can live with.

#The bloodcodes and weapons

I figured that this would be a weapontype delving deeply into Dexterity, meaning something like Lyle 3 would get a chance to shine and dominate. Unfortunately that was not the case. Swords really seemed to prefer quality scaling, leading to [Hero Valentin](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Valentin+(Blood+Code\)) being the undisputed top code for most high performing swords. For strength scaling swords, Artificial Arm Lyle reigned supreme once more, and one sole exception worked the best with [Soul Saviour Valentin](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Soul+Savior+Valentin+(Blood+Code\)).

To top it off there actually is a bit of a dark horse option that uses [Hero Lyle](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Hero+Lyle+(Blood+Code\))...

######Tier 1: The undisputed top swords are Black Saber (Vigor),Carmilla’s Thorn (Vigor) and Cursed Masamune (Vigor), all doing the best when paired with Hero Valentin.

Black Saber has an extremely fast move set without many interruptions, sporting the highest light attack damage and effective DPS, on top of a very serviceable charged heavy (ignore the normal heavy, it does barely 20% more than a light). This pair greatly with Bloodreaver Blade spam builds.Unfortunately it is also a sword that you get extremely late and not as a guarantueed drop. So if you want this, be prepared to farm for it.

Carmilla’s Thorn meanwhile has the rapier move set, giving it some very fast pokes and combo attacks. The light attacks aren’t overly powerful but the attack speed makes up for it (do keep an eye out for the animation-lock in the light attack move set).

Carmilla’s Thorn shines with the rapid poking heavy attack (the best heavy damage of all one-handed swords) and also a very strong charged heavy (only one sword was capable of surpassing it). Combine that with the fact that it has some very good stagger values (it was in fact so strong that one of the first Code Vein 2 balance patches nerfed it down, and even after the nerf it is still good) and that you can get it before leaving Magmell Island and it should not be a mystery why Carmilla’s Thorn is a tier 1 sword.

Cursed Masamune (Vigor) when combined with Hero Valentin has 2% stronger light attacks than Carmilla’s and sports the highest attack forma damage, but in comparison has roughly 3-5% worse heavies and charged heavies (and a bit less stagger it seemed). Masamune is also acquired pretty early on and might have an easier time striking multiple foes (because the moveset contains more wide slashes) compared to Carmilla. If I had to pick a single sword for my damage role, Cursed Masamune would be it. But honestly, all three of these swords are top options and which one you pick will have more to do with what fits your playstyle than it will have to do with raw numbers.

######Tier 2 The first tier 2 weapon is the Flame Blade, paired with Soul Saviour Valentin. If you played the first Code Vein you will recognise the Blazing Claw weapon. So yeah, it’s back. And yeah, it’s pretty good. The light attacks are a letdown (some of the lowest values among swords), but all the power it is lacking there, the Flame Blade has put in the rest of its moveset.

The heavy attack is a relatively fast two-handed slash with some momentum (and the damage is júst barely behind Carmilla and Masamune), and the charged heavy…man…for a charged heavy it hits pretty fast and does insane damage ( it competes with the top tier hammer and greatsword heavies for damage to give an indication of how powerful it is). And it doesn’t stop there. Because Flame Blade has a special charged jump/plunge attack (press the heavy attack button while airborne). While this costs ichor, you will come crashing down in a fiery explosion that hits everything around your for heavy damage and probably staggers everything caught in it.

That makes it an extremely efficient group cleaner. So if you ever look for something that plays a little different (because you want to avoid light attacks if you can) from your typical one-hander (or you want to roleplay as your favourite anime waifu with a flaming katana, let’s say Shana from Shakugan No Shana) this is the sword to go for!

The other tier 2 weapon is the first Strength option, the Machete (Brawn), combined with Lyle Artificial Arm. Now fair is fair: the Machete is slow, especially compared to all the speedy Dexterity swords over in tier 1.

But it has very powerful light attacks, heavies and charged heavies that really aren't that far off the tier 1 swords and it is available in the Corroded Scar region (which is relatively soon). It also sports very high attack forma damage, only surpassed by the Cursed Masamune. So if Strength is your route of choice, this is the sword to go with. Just keep in mind that the lower swingspeed makes building bladedance stacks slower as well.

######Tier 3 In this tier you find the Broadsword (Brawn), like the Machete paired with Lyle Artificial Arm. Technically this has the highest light one-handed sword attack damage in the game, even slightly more than Black Saber's. But it is so slow that Black Saber runs laps around it when it comes to DPS. The Machete has worse lights than Broadsword but better heavies, charged heavies and attack forma damage

Another tier 3 occupant is the VK Longsword (Vigor), paired with Hero Valentin. You get it relatively early, it does not really do anything wrong and is solid, but the tier 1 and tier 2 options are simply stronger.

The final tier 3 option is the Resurgence Flamesword (Vigor), again with Hero Valentin, with a similar story as the VK Longsword. It does not really do anything wrong and isnt bad, it’s just that the tier 1 and tier 2 swords do it better.

I would like to add that early in the game, it is defendable to run with Ame No Habakiri as your DPS option (because it gives you early access to Looming Slash and Sacrificial Edge).

######Dark horse tier: Lyle’s Blade of Tenacity: Thunderstrike was bit of a puzzle. It does not even hit the middle of the pack with the normal bloodcodes, but if you (imagine that) pair it with Hero Lyle, you can pretty much get a performance that pushes it firmly into tier 2. The only problem is that Hero Lyle eats into your LP with each hit you do as a trade-off for the damageboost it comes with. This makes it very hard to run multi-hit forma (and guess what: many sword attack forma are multi-hit). I mostly mention this because of how many people like Lyle's weapon, but it is really hard to optimize for if you want to get anything close to workable DPS out of it.

If you want to use Tenacity Thunderstrike, use it on Hero Lyle (and make sure to always have LP!). You can also use the normal version (Blade of Tenacity with Adroit transformation) if you want, the difference between that and Lyle’s version comes down to 0,1%. Keep in mind that Hero Lyle has a stat spread that can make it hard to avoid overburdening with some choices, so your flexibility is limited.

######Buff sticks: Like always, I prefer a buff weapon (the weapon to hold my buffing forma) and a DPS weapon (the weapon with the higher damaging moveset that holds the fun things like attack forma). As long as you do not overburden yourself (NEVER get overburdened. It is not worth it) any weapon that can hold your buffs works, try to aim for around 6 handling and around 9-10 conversion, that will generally allow it to hold any combination of four common buffs.

If you really prefer your buffstick to be a sword, try Ame No Habakiri, Executioners Sword, Thorn of Devotion, Zealots Ceremonial Sword or Iceblood.

#Attack Forma: Swords might need a little help with racking up bladedance stacks, so this is the first time where I think Circulating Pulse is a very defendable option.

Looming Slash is also a great option that both damages and has evade frames. The same reasoning applies to Phantom Assault. Slightly less damage than Looming, but also comes with evade frames and is a little gap closer to stick to your target. Severing Abyss is strong and might help hitting enemy weakspots.

Energy Cleave can technically be used as a wide sweep attack to deal with groups, but I personally wasn’t a big fan.

Your absolute strongest burst forma is without any doubt Thunderclap. It deals truly massive damage to the point you would expect this to be a two-handed sword or hammer gift. The animation however is also pretty long, so you have to really pick your moment if you want to avoid being punished by your enemy!

You cán opt to play without any attack forma whatsoever, load up two weapons full of buffs and utility and spend ichor on something else, see the Offensive Forma section down below.

#Buffs:

If you have seen my other write-ups you know what to expect by now: 3-4 buffs minimum, ideally from different buff groups, more is better. ######Group 1: Bladedance This is really a non-negotiable buff. You need this so you can compete with other weapontypes. Swords are already in a jack-of-all-trades place and without this Runeblades but especially Twinblades will walk all over you. ######Group 2: Offensive Order A strong boost, but also makes you take a lot more damage. If you feel highly uncomfortable with this you can eat a modest DPS loss and add another group 1 buff like Overdrive, [Thirsting Blade](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Thirsting+Blade,[Double Down](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Double+Down) or an Elemental Weapon.

######Group 3: Warrior Spirit: Might This requires you to be in melee range for the best effect and if you hug your target can scale a bit beyond 20% as a buff. Because it sits in its own buff group, this is also worth it if you have a tiny bit of distance to your target (you only need 13% for this to be better than an extra group 1 buff). Do note that the buff percentage goes down HARD when not in melee. But you will be in melee whenever you do damage anyway, so this is a drawback that essentially does not exist for you. ######Group 4: Open buff slot You can run any additional buff from group 1 here. Overdrive if you are greedy and confident in your dodge/block/evasion skills, but any of the group 1 buffs mentioned earlier can fill this slot. You can also put some utility here if you wish, but it might be the best to just run four buffs and put utility in a single slot on your DPS set. Personally I just like to have 4 buffs on me as a minimum (more is always better, but not everyone likes the idea of 5/6/7/8 buffs spread over their weapons).

######Utility: Sacrificial Edge can be used as another melee buff. Forma Extension can be extremely powerful to keep your buffs up longer, especially because without it Bladedance only has a medium duration at best (and you want to avoid it falling off and having to rebuild stacks as much as you can. I think out of all archetypes, this is the closest to mandatory on swords. I strongly urge you to find room for this!). Ichor Regeneration is another thing to try as it will regain ichor for you while you are busy doing other things. It is no “ICHOR! NOW!” option, but it is a considerable positive flow over time.

Keep in mind that fitting all buffs and attacks/spells together might require some tinkering depending on your choices.

#Boosters:

One-handed-sword-Mastery is very obvious.And then you stack as many DPS boosters as you feel comfortable with. If you can reliably get and stay below 50% health then Survival Instinct is a premium boost of over 22%. Overheat is another strong boost( this needs Bloodline Agnostic on everything that isnt Soul Saviour Valentin) but make sure to check how much slower it makes your chosen Attack Forma.

Glutton is another if you like to max out on food, but the Mind requirement makes it hard to fit in.

Gain ichor on overheal suffers from a similar fate. It's good, but the Mind requirement will keep it out of most of your bloodcodes unless you invest in a Mind Booster or default to using Lou or Lise as your companion for the Mind bonus.

Another very powerful option is Persistence Animus( likely needs Bloodline Agnostic on everything that is not Soul Saviour Valentin), giving you a 2% damage bonus every time you hit, but resets to 0 if you miss. Pairs nicely with Bladedance!

You can also get this for free if you run with the Noah 4 code, but you will lose so much weaponscaling that this is not something I can recommend for DPS focused builds.

If you opt to go down the Bloodreaver Blade route (see Offensive Forma) you should give Devotion a try.

Another option is Boosted Technique if you spam your attack forma (makes them cost 2 additional ichor, but deal 20% more damage. Good for bursting, less if the fight draws out. So be aggressive and try to end fights quickly!) Also keep in mind the extra 2 ichor applies to every additional buttonpress within a Forma. So if you have a Forma that has a ‘press button again to do X action’ clause, you pay additional 2 ichor for the first cast, but an additional 2 ichor every time you press that button, adding up quickly for multi-activation gifts).

I do not recommend Ceaseless Assault for swords ( 20% additional damage while you have LP but lose LP with every hit. If an attack or forma hits multiple times, you also lose LP multiple times. This means things like Circulating Pulse with 3-5 hits have VERY poor synergy with this, as do most other sword forma).

#Jail: The answer is the same as always: Reaper if it doesn’t overburden you, because having built-in parry frames is insane utility. If Reaper overburdens you, go with something else, it won’t break your build.

#Defensive Forma: It is truly your call. Mutinous Bracer if you could not use Reaper and still want parry, or an Evasive Forma of your choice like Vanishing Hollow/Vanishing Hollow Light, or something that helps with mobility like maybe Dodge Spin/[Dodge Spin Light](https://codevein2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dodge+Spin+(Light\)). For pure evasion Umbral Shift is as reliable as ever. #Offensive Forma: Absolute Executioner is strong on paper, but also takes very long to execute, meaning you are not getting this off unless the boss is stunned/staggered or otherwise rooted in place.

Instead, let’s talk about Bloodreaver Blade:

Bloodreaver Blade will usually do 50-33% less damage than Absolute Executioner(depending if you use the booster for it or not), but it also costs less ichor, activates faster and is a lot more spammable (but you NEED to get the timing down).

In fact, Bloodreaver Blade benefits from the same stats as your tier 1 sword options and is highly ichor efficient (it costs only 4 ichor). Efficient to the point you can forgo forma on your weapon and instead of attack forma spam Bloodreaver. Without its specific booster it is already above at least half of your attack forma options, with the booster (Devotion) only Thunderclap outdamages it (but that is less damage per ichor). You can naturally argue that most Sword Forma will activate faster or have other benefits like evasion or mult-hit, but if there is any archetype where Bloodreaver is highly competitive and a completely defendable option over Forma it is on swords (especially on Hero Valentin variants). Should you go down this route, make sure to pair it with Black Saber so you can quickly rack-up Bladedance (remember that Offensive Forma generally benefit from your offensive buffs) with its fast and high damage light attacks.

#Food: I hope your sword-wielding character likes soup. Because Hero Valentin with Black Saber, Carmilla’s Thorn AND VK Longsword all have Consommé Soup as their top food option, same for Soul Saviour Valentin with Flameblade. Cursed Musamune and Resurgence Flame Blade on Hero Valentin can technically run Sukiyaki as well (same damage bonus as Consomme Soup for those two). If you go down the dark horse route of Hero Lyle with either of the Blade of Tenacity swords: You guessed it right, Consommé Soup. The Strength Route with Machete or Broadsword preferred Sukiyaki again.

#Consumables: For direct damage the elemental salve of your choice will fare the best and is the biggest boost when comparing everything you can eat or ingest.

Attack Injection S would be the next option (it has a low duration, so save it for when you get the most out of it or when you really need a bit more oomph).

Stat enhancers like Strength/Dexterity/Willpower Enhancer S can be used, but do not expect them to add more than 2-3% damage at best. The boost is so small you can safely ignore it unless you happen to find yourself in a speedrun tournament and really want to push that Code Vein 2 (Any% No Glitches All Bosses) category.

#TL;DR:

######Best Bloodcodes:
Hero Valentin is the undisputed topcode for most things, Lyle Artificial Arm if you go down the Strength Route (but this will be less potent). Hero Lyle is a bit of a Dark Horse option for if you are determined to make Blade of Tenacity/Blade of Tenacity: Thunderstrike as powerful as possible. Soul Saviour Valentin is your best bet if you want to run a Flame Blade build.

As you level, Valentin and Zenon are viable options until you get Hero Valentin, Josee (Gula) will carry you until Lyle Artificial Arm, Holly and Jadwiga are options until you get Soul Saviour Valentin, and the Blade of Tenacity enjoyers can use normal Lyle or Noah until Hero Lyle is available to them.

######Best weapons: DPS: Black Saber, Carmilla’s Thorn and Cursed Masamune are your top tier options, with Flame Blade sitting comfortably in tier 2 accompanied by Machete (because it is the best Strength option), while tier 3 consists of Resurgence flamesword, Broadsword and VK Longsword. In the early stages of the game Ame No Habakiri is also highly defendable.

Buffing: Any weapon will do for buffing as long as it has 6 handling and 9-10 conversion. If you insist on a sword weapon, any one between Ame no Habakiri, Executioners Sword, Iceblood, Thorn of Devotion and Zealots Ceremonial Sword can get the job done. So pick something that holds your buffs and won't overburden you.

######DPS Boosters: One-handed-sword- Mastery ,Survival Instinct, Overheat, Bloodline Agnostic, Persistence Animus, Boosted technique, Devotion, etc.

######DPS Buffs: Bladedance, Offensive Order, Warrior Spirit: Might, Double Down, Thirsting Blade, Overdrive, Sacrificial Edge, you can bring as many as you want, more is always better, but try to go with at least four.

######Utility: Forma Extension, Ichor Regeneration, etc. Forma Extension is recommended.

######Attacks: Circulating Pulse if you have trouble maxing out Bladedance Stacks, Looming Slash and/or Phantom Assault for damage, mobility and evadeframes, Thunderclap as a high burst attack if the opportunity presents itself.

######Jail: Reaper if it does not overburden you, any other jail if it does.

######Offensive Forma: I would say Absolute Executioner if you seek something hard hitting but more occasional. Bloodreaver can be used instead of attack forma on Hero Valentin because it is very spammable, solid damage and ichor efficient, especially with the Devotion Booster. It is a highly defendable pick to the point you could replace spamming Attack Forma with spamming Bloodreaver Blade instead.

######Defensive Forma: Mutinous Bracer if you want to parry, Dodge Spin variants for offensive evasion combo’s, Umbral Shift for pure defensive evasion.

######Consumables and food: Hero Valentin with Black Saber, Carmilla’s Thorn or VK Longsword : Consomme Soup.

Hero Valentin with Cursed Musamune or Resurgence Flame Sword: Consomme Soup or Sukiyaki.

Soul Saviour Valentin with Flameblade: Consomme Soup.

Artificial Arm Lyle with Machete or Broadsword: Sukiyaki.

Hero Lyle with Blade of Tenacity/Blade of Tenacity: Thunderstrike : Consomme Soup.

Elemental Salves are fine DPS boosts. Attack Injection is solid, but has a low duration so save it on your hotbar for burst windows. You can use Enhancers that boost the stats your weapon scales with, but expect below 3% damage boosts.

#And now you have reached the end!

Thanks for reading this long wall of text, I hope it helped you or at least gave you some ideas. If your favourite sword was not mentioned in this post: Don't panic! This is just my personal opinion. And your favourite will still be good enough to play through the game with! Not everything is optimal, but almost everything is viable!