Thought I'd share a few tips and tricks with the the sword of crota that I've acquired over time of hours and hours of messing around with the sword of crota quest and relic shield (both have similar melee mechanics). Since the new raid is heavily sword mechanics Dependant, it would be ideal to practice a little with how staggering, the super, and combos work against Ultras and normal minions. Alright guys check this out... [u]Key[/u] melee button = R1 Shoot button = R2 [b][u]Combos[/u][/b] R1 + R1 + R1 = basic slashes R1 + R1 + R2 = basic slashes with a stagger swipe finish R2 in air = slow ground slam R2 on ground = fast ground slam [b][u]Tips and Tricks[/u][/b] 1) for better air control and movement, basic slash (R1) to move in the direction as needed in the air. This will make you harder to hit by enemies and also get you into better positioning instead of running straight at enemies. This is also faster than running if you swipe continuously. Swiping continuously will keep you suspended in the air longer and get you across larger gaps. 2)Hold your weapon swap button to drop the sword of crota where you stand. This is good to know in case you pick it up by mistake. 3) Preforming a ground slam using R2 in the air isn't recommended unless there is multiple SMALLER enemies directly below you that will die in 1 slam. The animation for recovering back to moving position is slower than if you preformed it on the ground. 4) Ultras and normal enemies have different stagger hit boxes. Normal enemies that are not killed by a ground slam (R2) are staggered in the aoe area as long as they take damage. Ultras are only staggered if they are directly hit by the ground slam and only if they haven't staggered in the past 2 or 3 seconds. 5) The super bar for the sword is completely separate from your class super. 6) The swords super sends out a 4 wave shockwave similar to a striker titans shockwave super or a psions shockwave. The initial damage area where the super was slammed does more damage than the waves, dealing less damage as it moves through the 4 waves. It also knocks up and pushes back in the direction it was used so this is perfect for a disengage to get some space away from an ultra or a large mob. 7) you can still use grenades while wielding your sword. 8) A certain load out while wielding the sword is ideal. You're going to be close to enemies so try and max out your armor on your perk tree. Also, try and equip a grenade that is good for taking out single targets (sticky grenades). Your ground slam already does enough crowd control for the smaller enemies so there is no need for something that does small, aoe damage to multiple enemies. [i]under construction[/i] More to come guys... .