In Genshin Impact, the two best attack weapons are usually the sword and the claymore. Both weapons are among the most common in the game. As it stands, certain characters can only use specific weapons and it just so happens that choosing your main character also confines you to their weapon.
But why limit yourself? Because grinding for resources in Genshin Impact is the very definition of insanity. That's why choosing to be efficient with resources, such as enhancement ores for the weapons and adventure books for their respective characters, can make a whole world of difference when it comes to enjoying the current endgame. So between the two most popular weapons in Genshin Impact, which one is better?
10 Claymore: Perfect Mining Tool
Oddly enough, despite copying much from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Genshin Impact doesn't have a dedicated pickaxe for mining. Hence, that role goes to none other than the claymore for a faster way to chip away chunks of ores.
While it's also possible to do with the sword and other physical-damage weapons, the claymore does it way faster. That's a rather important difference especially past AR 30 when players start finding out that Crystal Chunks are a lot more precious than they thought.
9 Sword: Faster Attacks
Of course, there's that one obvious advantage that a smaller weapon has to a bigger one: speed. The sword might not look as robust or as intimidating as a claymore, but when it comes to dealing successive and consistent hits in a short amount of time, it's more reliable.
That might seem like a small advantage but in later World Levels, a dodge mid-animation or hit can be the difference between life and death. It just so happens that canceling animations in order to panic-dodge is a lot easier with the sword.
8 Claymore: More Powerful Damage Per Hit
It's easy to see why plenty of players prefer the claymore as soon as they see Noelle use it. It's big, clunky, and unapologetic, especially when taking off large sections of the enemies' health bars. The sword simply doesn't have that same level of oomph.
The claymore, even with its rather limited move animations, is a no-nonsense weapon that deals enough damage to make the sword look like a toothpick by comparison. With such huge numbers popping up on the screen, it's hard to go back to the sword or weaker weapons.
7 Sword: More Evasive Moves
Anyone who has used the claymore since AR 10 until 40 will likely be tired of its relatively unimaginative move-set by now. They're not exactly flexible attacks. Swords, however, have more creative moves per character.
Kaeya, for example, teleports to the enemy's rear at the end of every normal attack combo. Qiqi, on the other hand, has a knock-back near the end of her strikes. This makes the sword a better defensive tool in addition to being offensive.
6 Claymore: Wielded By Most DPS Characters
At the moment, all claymore users are carry or DPS characters that are pretty much the most popular choice for priority characters in Genshin Impact. Whether it's Noelle, Razor, or even Diluc, many players won't regret leveling up their best claymore.
After all, having a character who wields a big sword and deals all the damage while others sit back to support them is quite empowering. That's why most players can't go wrong with leveling that crafted 4-star claymore or that one 5-star claymore they got.
5 Sword: Wielded By Flexible Support Characters
Claymores are awe-inspiring and all, but there are still some players who prefer sword-users as their main characters. Maybe they got Keqing or prefer flexible support characters like Qiqi who can also dip into the DPS role.
Point is, sword users are simply more versatile than claymore players who will need to rely solely on DPS in order to survive. Meanwhile, utility-based sword users can easily control the battlefield and survive against certain enemies longer than claymore users.
4 Claymore: Better Against Groups Of Enemies
That isn't to say that claymores are one-trick ponies and for characters with no crowd control. Claymore move-sets have their innate crowd control in the form of wide-sweeping attacks and knockbacks.
It makes them perfect for engaging several enemies whereas swords, with their more limited melee range, are less optimal against multiple opponents in a cluster. Hence, when it comes to cleaning packs of annoying hilichurls dancing around a spit, the claymore is the best genocide tool.
3 Sword: Easier To Craft
A 4-star sword is one of the earliest endgame-viable rewards that players can get in Genshin Impact. After that, acquiring more sword prototypes for crafting in order to refine the said sword (Prototype Rancour) is easy as pie.
That makes said sword or other crafted swords easily refinable, possibly giving them a higher DPS output with better availability. By comparison, greatsword prototypes are not as easy to obtain, making crafting and refinement more of a pain.
2 Claymore: Necessary For Some Bosses
Here's the tricky part in ignoring claymores in Genshin Impact. Some bosses, such as the Geo Hypostasis, have their own frustrating gimmicks like perching on top of pillars made out of tough rock.
In order to knock it down from its pedestal in a fast enough way that won't leave the attacker too vulnerable, claymores are a must. The same goes for certain hilichurl mages who summon similar pillars and platforms.
1 Sword: Easier To Activate On-Hit Abilities
Some weapons in Genshin Impact make themselves less effective by default, such as the Whiteblind claymore that relies on consecutive attacks to stack up damage. A sword with a similar ability to stack up damage based on hits faces no such problem.
The same goes for swords with on-hit abilities as they can be fully maximized since swords attack rapidly. As they are, on-hit weapon abilities are valuable especially if players don't have top-tier or 5-star weapons.