Background: the wife was out of town this past weekend visiting her sister in South Carolina, so from Friday evening after work through Monday evening before reset, I had the pleasure of Destiny-binging with little to no remorse. I decided to spend most of my weekend (when not doing bounties, random strikes, and some pvp) as a swordbearing sherpa for LFG groups trying to down Crota on normal. About me: 32 warlock. Have cleared normal and hard numerous times. Have all I really want from CE (Fang, Word, Necrochasm [yes, even though it sucks, wanted it for collector's purposes]), and at this point, am simply running it with my clan and with others to help. Here's what I learned from running sword approximately 30 times over the weekend: Running the sword on normal mode is easy. Personally, I used left-side strategy with each of my groups, and would blink-jump from the left ledge as soon as I saw a couple of rockets start smacking Crota's face. If the DPS is continuous (truly continuous), you can literally just sit in his back pocket without him even touching you until he starts to kneel, at which point you can get a head-start on him and start whacking him; with this method, I was able to get 4 hits with each half of a sword phase, and ultimately, get him down with two swords. Left-side strategy seems easiest for groups running normal. Though I prefer left-side, many groups insisted on center ledge; I didn't mind, as it made little to no difference to me. However, I did find that more often than not, I'd have to take down the swordbearer by myself with center strat, because he'd get squirrely and the group wouldn't be able to shoot him while I was down on the ground getting ready to pounce on the sword. Also, I found a lot of the CE normal groups had difficulty getting back inside without dying when using center strat. Not sure why, but it was a consistent issue. Rockets matter. Gjallarhorns can make a world of difference, but aren't necessary. Rockets in general are, though. And obviously, tracking makes it go much more smoothly. With continuous and simultaneous rocket fire on Crota, the swordbearer can jump up to Crota without fear of even being touched and simply wait for him to start kneeling, and when he does, begin hacking on his way down. Without continuous rocket fire, it can be a little more dicey from a timing-standpoint, and the swordbearer will likely have to rely on the team calling out Crota's shield nearing zero. People still don't understand the mechanics of CE. I ran sword for numerous groups with folks who claimed they had 32s and were simply running alts through CE. However, when they insisted on using primary weapons instead of rockets, they couldn't seem to understand why that would typically translate to one half of a sword phase instead of a full two sets of swings. It's a timing issue. You don't have forever and a day with the sword, if for no other reason than Crota's rotation. If you're not willing to shoot rockets, and want to rely on primary, then be well aware that by the time the first four swings are done, he's likely going to be rotating on his way out of middle before there's an opportunity to down him again for a new set of four swipes. So, to the stingy groups using primary only: count on four total swings per sword if you'd like to avoid wiping. A hunter may be able to make it work better, but he's still going to have an issue hanging around for the primaries on the second half of the sword. People are entitled. There were far too many groups who refused to use heavy syntheses because they weren't "going to waste money on that shit" and yet refused to accept the reality that downing Crota would take longer as a result. These are mainly 30s, mind you, so it's not as if their DPS is through the roof to begin with. I don't mind a primary-only DPS downing, but don't expect it to be a smooth ride. Running the sword is an addiction. After the first few Crota kills as swordbearer, I couldn't get enough. I kept trolling the LFG site, looking for checkpoint groups who needed a swordbearer. There were others just like me on there. The groups that invited me were shocked I was running sword as a warlock for fun. They couldn't fathom the idea that I'd want to run sword even without the promise of loot. But it's that much fun. Once you're familiar with it, get used to it, understand the best method to hack that sucker, you can't stop. I imagine this is what a drug or alcohol addiction feels like. I had no control over myself. Over and over again, I just wanted to hack him to pieces, and I did. At first, it'd take me three swords. Then I got it down to two regularly. Oh, man, was that a high. In any event, you must try it. Once you succeed, you'll never go back to boomer duty or rocket man. Screw the gally. Pick up the blade and wreck that SOB. 'Tis truly better to give than to receive. Really, it is. So many groups, after inviting me, were clearly downtrodden, frustrated, maybe lost a swordbearer or two before me, and feared they'd never down him. "Our swordbearer couldn't stay alive" they'd say. "He said we couldn't have the chalice" they'd tell me. It was disheartening. Sad. I would confidently tell them, so long as they provided the DPS, I would ensure a kill. Their ears perked, they got a little excited, a bit of promise was restored, and hope resurfaced. They didn't understand how someone could be so confident, but I felt it was my job to make sure they got that ugly shader and emblem. And hopefully, along the way, someone would get black hammer or HoC and really make it a love-fest. Upon delivery of the downing, the ecstatic reactions were priceless. Best. High. Ever. Hearing the whooping and hooting and hollering of squeakers, grown men, and those in between, simply besides themselves to finally have bested that bastard after clearly failing a litany of times. "Dude, you were so good!" "Man, you're an awesome swordbearer! I'm adding you." Sure, the ego boost was nice, but man, watching them succeed...like watching your little guy grow up. Loved every -blam!-ing minute of it. My favorite group was one that I spent a couple of hours with. They were broken, downtrodden, glimmer-poor, couldn't afford synthesis, and simply praying for heavy ammo drops with each run. Finally, the heavy dropped, it all came together, and 3 out of 5 of them downed him for the first time. I wanted to cry for them. They were so happy, and I really felt good getting to know them during the run. Great group. So happy for them. I loved it. TL;DR: Ran sword for normal groups just for fun all weekend. Loved every minute of it. Learned a grip. EDIT: Loving all the comments and feedback. Honored to be part of the Destiny community!