User blog comment:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Sword and Shields/@comment-1653324-20120512133929

Arguably the most flexible weapon in the game. The small and fast Kirin? OK. The large and armored Gravios? No sweat. The hard-hitting Tigrex? Haha. Elder Dragon Kushala Daora? Give me a poison sword, and I'll do it naked. You won't win speed runs, and the reach is horrible. But almost every single monster can be SnS'd to death with little to some effort.

For dealing status effects in multiplayer, most prefer ranged weapons, as they can do it faster, and the battle won't really last long enough for more than 2-3 uses. But for single player, the SnS are a staple when it comes to status effects. We don't really have a use for paralysis in single player. Sleep has its merits in infamous Sleep bombing. And don't get me started on poison.

My favorite would be Royal Rose for status effects, and Golden Eclipse for elements. Black Curse would have been more useful if it had reached at least white sharpness though.