Swords are one of the most popular weapon types in Diablo 2 for a variety of reasons not the least of which is the broad number of functions available for this weapon set. In this guide, we're going to look at the unique swords of Diablo 2 Resurrected. Since it works so well for the amulets, we're going to go mostly by level requirement albeit within specific categories, so that every sword gets its fair moment to shine. 

Diablo 2 Resurrected Unique One-Handed & Tow-Handed Swords Tier List

Starting out to keep things organized, we'll look at the normal difficulty swords as with all uniques you can upgrade normal uniques to exceptional and exceptional to elite with the right formulas, of course but very few in the long run really benefit from this either due to their functionality being independent of their damage or just because it doesn't scale as well as later weapon options. So keep that in mind before burning your Diablo 2 runes to turn any of these into their higher stat and level requiring counterparts.

D2R Normal One-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 7 - Rixot's Keen (Short Sword)

The one-handed swords start off with the bare bottom of the barrel of level requirements with the level 2 unique short sword Rixot's Keen, this could be easily one of your favorite starter swords in the game with decent enhanced damage, a percentage  to attack rating and most importantly a lovely 25 percent crushing blow available all at level two, with absolutely no stat requirements. The only major downside is due to being such a low level item, it's actually kind of hard to find because it falls into that weird no man's land of ultra low level uniques that often require explicitly farming for them.

Top 6 - Blood Crescent Scimitar 

The Blood Crescent Scimitar is another one of the super low level while super useful weapons, with increased attack speed, damage for the level, open wounds and a solid 15 resist all. Not to mention some life steal that is only somewhat useful in normal difficulty weapons but still not bad. Blood Crescent is another starter unique you would almost always hold on to a copy of for lower level work, and thanks to being a bit higher level than Rixot's Keen, it becomes a bit more common to find floating around. Not really upgrade worthy, this usually does edge out a number of starter rune words early on due to its just sheer usefulness.

Top 5 - Skewer of Krintiz (Sabre)

Skewer of Krintiz is a bit more mundane, it doesn't quite live up to the strong start that the last two swords had. Still not bad though packing some damage for the level, ignore target defense, some stats and mana leech, it's a good early zeal or double swing weapon but will usually get replaced with a solid rare or a rune word fairly early.  It also does have its niche uses for low level experiences but it's not something you would get too worked up over having in your arsenal or not.

Top 4 - Gleamscythe (Falchion)

The one-hand sword Gleamscythe is decent damage though not quite as fast as some of the other options even with the increased attack speed buff. It looks like a machete ready to hack its way through Act 3 and will work just fine for that in normal, but it's also quickly outclassed by other weapons and really doesn't have even a niche use other than just being an reasonable damage per hit weapon.

Top 3 - Griswold's Edge (Broad Sword)

Griswold's Edge is a sword that just doesn't live up to its name and that's mostly because it packs one modifier that irritates the living sin out of the players on melee attacks and that's knock back. Other than that, it's actually a fine broadsword with fairly attack speed, good damage, solid attack rating , good fire damage for normal, and a stat  to boot. 

Top 2 - Hellplague (Long Sword)

The unique long sword Hellplague has really solid fire damage, enough poison damage dual leech, and fairly actual physical damage makes it a lot of fun for sword users in normal. The plus to fire skills makes it especially fun for a holy fire paladin. Since it functions in the same way as mage fists and leaf providing a bonus to all fire skills not just sorceress ones. While it won't hold on in nightmare for most classes, it's still a fun weapon that's often ignored.

Top 1 - Culwen's Point (War Sword)

Culwen's Point is the last normal difficulty one-hander and it's another one with a mix history as well. Actually being sought after as an item at a few points in history, it's been somewhat relegated to the sidelines these days due to better options being available. It still packs plus skills, good attack speed, hit recovery and good damage. Though it's just on the edge due to the level 29 requirement, it's nowhere near as strong as it used to be and is one of those weapons most hurt by the power creep of well the expansion and just time in general.

D2R Normal Tow-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 6 - Shadowfang (Demonblade)

For the normal two-handed swords we see weapons that receive a bit less love because people like shields and only the barbarian can wield them in one hand. Starting with Shadowfang at only level 12 requirement, it's actually not a bad sword for similar reasons that Hellplague, comes with decent dual leech, good enough damage for the levels, solid elemental damage, albeit cold this time instead of fire, and even some cold resist and a vain attempt to make up for the lack of a shield. While it won't last into the mid game as a low level character it's actually good enough for getting through normal. 

Top 5 - Soulflay (Claymore)

Soulflay follows a very similar structure albeit mostly physical damage again we have dual leech but less this time all resistances though which is a little bit better than the cold resists provided by Shadowfang. There's not much that is special about the sword, but as far as low-level two-handed swords go, you can definitely do worse.

Top 4 - Kinemil's Awl (Giant Sword)

Kinemil's Awl is an interesting little unique that most people forget about existing, but it's an actually an excellent tool for chippy farming in normal or even just equipping on a low-level paladin if your resists are fine from other sources. Mainly because this weapon may not be super fast but it packs reasonable physical damage, good fire damage, and attack rating , that's pretty big for normal and a whopping plus 6 to holy fire which in normal can really ramp up your damage enough to carry you through by itself. The major drawback though is that it's a two-hander and generally only useful to a paladin with the bonuses being far less significant to any other class.

Top 3 - Blacktongue (Bastard Sword)

Blacktongue is actually not very good, because outside of the poison resist, you can generally do better with a good three socket one-handed sword and a few towel runes from the countess. It has fairly damage, some poison damage,  prevent monster heal which is a bit redundant with poison damage, but there are so many other easier to find options that you would much rather use than this.

Top 2 - Ripsaw (Flamberge)

Ripsaw is a fun weapon albeit not much more useful than Blacktongue packing good damage from normal, a nice 80 chance of open wounds to deal some extra damage over time, as well as keep things from healing. It's not terrible and it has good speed for a two-handed sword, but it just doesn't do enough special to make it really have a special place.

Top 1 - The Patriarch (Great Sword)

With its minimum damage being almost as high as Ripsaw's maximum damage, the Patriarch does good physical damage for late normal even in a pinch early nightmare though you would want to find an upgrade fairly quickly. The Patriarch also packs some stats damage mitigation and a pretty good bit of extra gold for how early you can find it. The blind target functionality can also be used in a decent number of situations and strategies but it's still not going to be like god tier or anything like that.

D2R Exceptional One-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 8 - Bloodletter (Gladius)

Bloodletter is at only one level higher requirement, packing similar damage to the Patriarch, definitely far from bad. Combine that with increased attack speed solid life leech plus whirlwind and sword mastery, you actually have a weapon that can easily carry you through nightmare without a problem. Unfortunately it's somewhat mediocre to upgrade due to a good chunk of its damage coming from an AD damage function rather than a damage percent, but it's still good for the difficulty.

Top 7 - Coldsteel Eye (Cutlass)

While it may look less impressive on paper, Coldsteel Eye is actually a fairly solid competitor with solid damage attack speed even mana leech combined with nice modifiers like blind and slow target all topped off with a 50 deadly strike, which makes this weapon do a lot more damage for a fast attacking character than you would think at first. It may look less impressive in the damage readout on your character screen but what it deals out is more than enough for nightmare because of that deadly strike chance.

Top 6 - Hexfire (Shamshir)

Hexfire is basically the Hellplague's big brother plus three fire skills and again we have the damage increase situation like Bloodletter where it's from the adds function rather than percent, but it's still not bad, especially since this has ignored target defense which can help save you on having to invest extra into dexterity to get those hits against well just normal enemies at least, since ignoring target defense doesn't work against bosses for example. Packing some fire resist  as well, it can be good for certain fights but it's usually not the top of your list for exceptional swords neither is it at the bottom it's just kind of good enough.

Top 5 - Blade of Ali Baba (Tulwar)

Blade of Ali Baba is one of the more popular magic find weapons in the game, it has mediocre damage and really not ideal speed. It makes up for that with per level  to gold and magic find, in addition to packing two sockets that can let you kind of modify it in pretty much any manner you want. Anyway it's one of the more sought after magic find Diablo 2 items in the game thanks to all these factors that we just mentioned. It's fairly common so it probably won't be too expensive for you to get a hold of if you're trading for it and it's pretty easy to find if you farm nightmare a decent amount.

Blade of Ali Baba

One-Hand Damage: (25-35) To (56-77) (40.5-56 Avg)
Required Level: 35
Required Strength: 70
Required Dexterity: 42
Durability: 32
Base Weapon Speed: [20]
+60-120% Enhanced Damage (varies)
+ (2.5 Per Character Level) 2-247 % Extra Gold From Monsters (Based On Character Level)
+ (1 Per Character Level) 1-99 % Better Chance of Getting Magic Items (Based On Character Level)
+15 To Mana
+5-15 To Dexterity (varies)
Socketed (2)
(Only Spawns In Patch 1.09 or later)

Top 4 - Ginther's Rift (Dimensional Blade)

A reat answer for early physical immunes though it won't carry its weight too well into hell, Ginther's Rift is an auto repairing damage dealing, fairly fast striking source of 50 to 120 magic damage on top of its normal physical damage. Though it is probably more well known for being one of the more common fashion upgrades to have an ethereal phase blade, since people used to seek out ethereal Ginther's Rift for just that purpose. It's not even a terrible upgrade it's just not quite on par with options of like say grief.

Top 3 - Headstriker (Battle Sword)

It is scale oddly well for an exceptional weapon with pretty good base damage, it stacks on a scaling maximum damage  as well as a scaling deadly strike that can well get over a hundred percent easily, meaning guaranteed double damage with each hit. The prevent monster heel thing on there is just a nice little bit of icing on the cake. Despite some mixed opinions on it, head striker fits in among the better unique swords to find while making your way through nightmare.

Top 2 - Plague Bearer (Rune Sword)

The unique rune sword is actually decent weapon damage wise and packs some nice bonuses as well, such as a reasonable amount of poison damage, some poison resists and poison nova on striking, it's not terribly slow naturally either. It's a fun option but not necessarily the best option for that particular build.

Top 1 - The Atlantean (Ancient Sword)

The paladin sword The Atlantean has decent damage not terribly great speed, but a paladin can overcome that. It's got some good stat s, a pretty hefty  to attack rating this makes the sword not bad though moving up in the level requirement of 42 does make it compete with other slightly more interesting options.

D2R Exceptional Two-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 6 - Cranite Vomir (Espandon)

It's an interesting beast not terribly insane damage, but it packs a lot of defense and weird mods - massive attack speed , ed run speed slow target, and percent damage reduction, making it an interesting defensive choice to wield, but not necessarily the best offensive choice.

Top 5 - Bing SZ Wang (Dacian Falx)

A two-handed cold sword comes with casting frozen orb on striking, dealing a moderately chunky amount of cold damage. It could see even use on a few builds but if you're going 200 swords we can think of plenty that fill this weapons niche a little bit better as far as like what you can make with rune words and stuff.

Top 4 - The Vile Husk (Tusk Sword)

The Vile Husk is a sword you can sneak on act 5 mercenaries if you find it early, thanks to that 6 chance to cast amplified damage. It packs decent damage, scaling damage against undead on top of that which can help you clear out some of the unleashable buggers a little quicker. The poison damage and poison resist are nice to have as well usually this would get quickly replaced with a lawbringer for decrepify, but it is still a worthy mention for a cheap early barbarian merck option.

Top 3 - Cloudcrack (Gothic Sword)

Cloudcrack is another fall from glory weapon, basically the sword equivalent of gold strike arch. It packs good damage, some plus auras, a few offensive and defensive perks centered around lightning, but most famously it has a chance to cast fist of the heavens which used to be a lot of fun with it. But overtime has just sort of fallen out of favor as the game changed and made that trigger less useful and fun to play around with.

Top 2 - Todesfaelle Flamme (Zweihander)

Todesfaelle Flamme is a weapon that doesn't quite live up to its name's sake, kind of falling into the same category as the Bing SZ Wang except with fire. It actually looks cool but it just doesn't carry its weight well enough to be a main, that said you can use it as an early source of enchant for a number of characters provided you have at least the stats to equip it which are pretty high.

Top 1 - Swordguard (Executioner Sword)

Swordguard is very much a defensive weapon though it does pack good damage, it also has one of the few offshield sources of increased block chance and also pax resists a per level defense  with exceptionally low requirements. It is not a great weapon but you could forever keep at least one of these after you find it because you know memories are a thing.

D2R Elite One-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 5 - Lightsabre (Phase Blade)

Lightsabre only requires level 58, is a good tool for dealing with physical immunes in many cases, due to packing a good mix of elemental damages and packing lightning absorb for whatever that physical immune just happens to be lightning enchanted as well. OIerall though even with ignore target defense, while this sword is good to use in very specific scenarios where lightning will be an issue.

Top 4 - Bloodmoon (Elegant Blade)

Bloodmoon has open wounds life per kill lifesteal and enhanced damage with a blood golem charge, this is actually one of the only weapons we can honestly say we have never bloody used.

Top 3 - Djinn Slayer (Ataghan)

While comparable in damage to Bloodmoon, Djinn Slayer actually packs a fairly sizable amount of fire damage, two open sockets and requires more strength than dexterity making it a little easier to wield on characters not going for max block.

Top 2 - Frostwind (Cryptic Sword)

Frostwind is most well known for its massive  to arctic blast which due to being an o skill means it's limited to only plus three on a druid. Outside of that, it's pretty much just the ice version of Djinn Slayer with slightly better perks but lacking the sockets. It's fairly fast with decent cold damage and it has a freeze target effect. It is good for handling some physical immunes and certain characters in a pinch. Actually with the amount of cold damage, it does though obviously a dedicated source of elemental damage will generally be better than just weapons with chunky cold or fire damage but you use what you can get and what you need.

Top 1 - Azurewrath (Phase Blade)

We do actually have a great physical immune killer namely because it will just make you completely ignore like ghost physical resistance entirely it kind of does that for all undead by the way, and that is Azurewrath - the highest level requirement unique sword in the game at level 85. It comes with plus all skills, great attack spee, decent damage for a phase blade, bonus to all attributes and 500 to a thousand non-physical damage per hit, half cold and half magic. The main reason it slept onis because most unique phase blades you'll find are going to be lightsabers not this, so you have to be super lucky to get it. That said while it's no grief, it's still a great weapon to have as an option for a number of builds at least against normal enemies.

D2R Elite Two-Handed Swords Tier List

Top 3 - Doombringer (Champion Sword)

Doombringer is a classic highly sought-after weapon. While not as well known as Grandfather due to a few reasons, Doombringers are still fairly heavy hitters in the space with decent damage, weaken on striking, a big  to attack rating, life leech per hit and a whopping 20 percent  to maximum life. Before version 1.1, these were actually kind of highly sought after uniques and one of the forgotten super expensive items of the day.

Top 2 - Flamebellow (Balrog Blade)

Flamebellow - the inferno cousin of frostwind though notably less useful unless you need some of the odd mods on it. It's a two-handed fire sword that is outclassed by your one-handed firesword options there's not much else to say about it, besides it's got inferno.

Top 1 - The Grandfather (Colossus Blade)

The ever-famous grandfather always felt like it was half the inspiration for breath of the dying with being indestructible, big damage, attribute bonuses an attack rating and scaling max damage . It can get to quite solid amounts of damage and it used to be highly sought after but anymore not so much since it's outclassed by items that are much easier to make and find. It's still a novelty collector's item though and actually will sometimes fetch a reasonable price because it is still a reasonable weapon in and of itself.