History of Swordmaster

Overview

Swordmaster is a Legendary armor set for Hunter, Titan and Warlock, with a piece set for each class. Its bonuses are built around melee combat with Sword and Glaive: landing melee hits exhausts enemies, and blocking with those weapons grants a brief damage resistance window. The set is listed as a Season 28 armor set. Reporting also places it among Renegades armor sets, so its exact origin varies by source.

Set bonuses

• Balestra (2-piece): damaging a target with a Sword, Glaive or any melee attack exhausts them. Exhausted targets deal reduced outgoing damage, so landing melee hits weakens enemies that are about to strike back.
• Stesso Tempo (4-piece): blocking attacks with a Sword or Glaive grants a short period of damage resistance against targets when you next drop your guard. The sources reviewed give no duration or percentage for either bonus. One source notes the bonuses also apply in PvP.

Four pieces from the set fill the 4-piece requirement, leaving the fifth armor slot free for an Exotic armor piece.

Acquisition

Sources disagree on where the set comes from. The Destiny 2 Wiki lists the source as Strange Gear Offers, a subvendor of Xûr, and ties the pieces to the S28 Portal Gear Set. Another guide lists the set as a reward for ranking up the Vanguard playlist and as a focusing option at Zavala. Drops and focusing options are not confirmed in the sources reviewed beyond these.

Builds and synergies

The sources reviewed name no specific exotics, subclass builds or fragments for Swordmaster. The set is built around Sword and Glaive melee, so pairing it with those weapon types suits its bonuses. One community site pairs it with the Encrypted Data Disk artifact for Swords, as the two share melee-focused mechanics.