User blog comment:Lord Loss/Discussion of the Week: Sword and Shields/@comment-174.126.63.74-20120514055813

Although yes, SnS's lack pretty badly in base damage, they more than make up for it with elemental and special damage. When hunting down certain elder dragons in MHFU, I usually go with the Queen's Rapier, a poison element, or the Azure Ogre Blade, a dragon element. Either of them work great on the Aura dragons and deal some pretty heavy damage when you know how to use them. The introduction of the shield bash also helped a lot in Tri. It's great for countering Barioth's speed as well, along with bashing those tusks off his face.

But there's another edge to this blade. The speed and mobility of a SnS can often get one pretty cocky in a battle against a monster. You start getting greedy and going in for those extra hits. It takes skill to really use a SnS to its true potential, but in the hands of even a beginner it can be a great weapon. Though I myself prefer gunlances, SnS is still one of the good ones for pure elemental or status damage.