Aegis Sword

The Aegis Sword is a type in Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and Torna ~ The Golden Country. In the former, it is unique to the Aegis; as such, only has Driver Arts using it. These Driver Arts are identical in animation and name, although not necessarily in stats, to those of the Broadsword. In Torna ~ The Golden Country, it is 's weapon.

Overview
The Aegis Sword is a balanced weapon focused on attack power, boasting values on the higher end of weapons (especially among those not exclusive to ). It has a slightly-below-average rate,  rate, and stability.

The Driver Arts of the Aegis Sword are mostly physical, with the exception of which is -based. They have medium ratios,  draw and cooldown, and relatively fast animations. The Arts' special effects provide a mixture of positional damage, aggro reduction, and HP Potion healing, with inflicting.

Strategy
In Xenoblade Chronicles 2, the four Driver Arts available to Rex with this weapon are relatively well-balanced in their capabilities. The standout is, an excellent which is inflicted in under a second (although the Art's animation lasts somewhat longer, making it more difficult for Rex to capitalise immediately). Anchor Shot also causes the enemy to drop HP potions, which can be useful as an emergency source of healing; for these reasons, it is wise to always have it as one of Rex's available Arts with the weapon. The other three Arts are all damage-oriented (although provides additional utility with reducing aggro and AOE). and are directly comparable: the former has a much faster animation (especially when cancelled out of using ), less cooldown, and a stronger conditional effect, while the latter does more damage and its conditional damage is easier to fulfil. It also deals two hits, either of which may activate. On the whole, however, Sword Bash is more effective, in particular with regards to building the Special gauge quickly. (This is true at all levels of play but in particular in postgame, where various effects make up for the Lightspeed Flurry deficit.) Therefore, the optimal loadout for most strategies is to use Anchor Shot, Rolling Smash, and Sword Bash.

When using the above Driver Arts with or  (at maximum Art level and ) and with 1.0 Arts recharge per second from Pouch Items, it is possible to cancel Sword Bash -> Anchor Shot -> Rolling Smash -> Sword Bash -> Anchor Shot -> Sword Bash using Arts Chain without the need to  in between. This is enough to charge the Special Gauge to level from empty. The process is faster with, however, as Sword Bash's animation is substantially shorter than the others; 6 Sword Bashes in a row therefore takes significantly less time than the above sequence. (Pressing the buttons for both Sword Bash and another Driver Art almost-simultaneously will ensure that the current Sword Bash is still cancelled out of lest it does not crit.)

The base critical hit rate of the Aegis Sword is not incredible, especially among attack-focused weapons, but both Pyra and Mythra perform particularly well with higher crit rates (due to Flaming Edge and Lightspeed Flurry respectively). Therefore, focusing on Core Chips that provide a higher crit rate may be more effective than focusing on auto-attack or block rate. The best such chip for postgame is the Moon Matter Chip. (Pneuma is unaffected by equipped Core Chips.)