Cleaver

"A Shredder or a Boomer is a powerful weapon, but it kills acyclically. You see? It sends out harm and it takes nothing back. The bolt passes away into nothing. A sword, though, a sword is like a bridge, a crossing-point. The sword binds wielder to victim. It binds life to death. And when the binding is done—the sword remembers. When the Boomer's fire has burnt away into axion and neutrino scatter, the sword goes on, hungrier and sharper."

- Toland, the Shattered

The Cleaver is a Hive melee weapon that is normally carried by Knights. Ordinary cleavers are made of bone and metal and are of little value, but special swords exist that can be wielded by Guardians under specific circumstances.

Usage
"Carved of fossilized bone and hell-forged metal, dulled by centuries of slaughter and execution, the Cleaver is the terrible weapon of a Hive Knight. Despite their mass, they swing easily, as if the sword were aware of its action and eager to tear into the Light."

- Grimoire description

Destiny
Cleavers can be used by players as Relic weapons. Picking up the Cleaver will change the camera perspective to third-person. Pressing the melee button will do a quick swing, which can be tapped rapidly to do a combo. Pressing the fire button will do a more powerful swing. It's possible to string together two quick swings followed by one powerful swing to get a very fast yet powerful combo. Finally, if a player's Super meter is full, activating one's super will make the blade release a shockwave. Switching weapons will drop the sword, though grenades can still be used with the sword.

Destiny 2
Cleavers return in Destiny 2, both in the hands of Knights and encountered as Relics used to progress activities. Pressing the "fire" button repeatedly will start a combo of swings, while the "aim" button executes a powerful slam. When the super meter is charged, using your Super slams the sword in the ground, unleashing a powerful shockwave. In certain activities, the sword may gain different moves, sometimes shooting projectiles like Black Talon when using the "aim" button, and sometimes allowed to block with the "melee" button.

Sword of Crota
"Long ago, the Moon fell to Crota. He wielded a sword so dark, it drained whatever Light it touched."

- Master Rahool

The personal weapon of the titular Hive God himself, Crota, Son of Oryx. The sword was initially forged by his Swarm Princes through their will to be powerful enough to ravage whole worlds. Crota would wield his sword during the Great Disaster, where it cracked the surface of the Moon with every stroke and massacred countless Guardians, draining them of their Light.

Following the God-Knight's crusade and subsequent repose, the Swarm Princes took up vigil within the Hellmouth to protect their master's prized Cleaver. As they prepared for the advent of his second coming, the Cryptarch Rahool had uncovered information about the Sword from stolen intel from The World's Grave which included a way to destroy it with the deaths of its creators. With their Ghost tracking the sword's location through the stolen Light of its slain Lightbearers, The Guardian took up arms with the blade and turned its cursed edge against its makers; destroying the physical form of Crota's sword in the process. The Prince could still summon its prized weapon within his Oversoul Throne, which he turned against the Raid Fireteam that intended to slay him.

Ascendant Sword
"This is the world the Hive craves: a universe creased by the edge of the sharpest sword."

- Toland, the Shattered The chosen weapon of the Blades of Crota, an elite order of Hive Knights devoted to their namesake God and later frequently seen on Earth and the Moon during The Dark Below. Killing this knight will drop an Ascendant Sword, which functions very much like the Sword of Crota, except that it will break after about 30 seconds. Four swords also appear in the Quest Ritual of Sacrifice. In the Crota's End Raid, the Ascendant Sword is dropped by Swordbearers, and is the only weapon used to kill Gatekeepers and Crota.

Willbreaker
"Let me tell you why you should not fear Willbreaker, the sword of Oryx. Firstly: Its blade is not dulled by age. Each death it trades for life hones its edge, gives it weight and gravitas and insistence within the vortex of its own totality. Nextly: Willbreaker transcends liminality. Willbreaker demands a subjugation more diffuse than the simple snick and smash of a physical brink. It does not have to touch you to wound you. And lastly—and this is critical: To be taken in Willbreaker's grasp is to know true bliss; that is, to be simplified; that is, to be reduced to one's most basic level, shedding all higher-order thoughts of fear or duty or selfishness; that is, to feel only pain. Now do you see? Now do you understand what you've done?"

- Toland, the Shattered

The sword of Oryx, the Taken King, used exclusively by him in battle until his defeat in Regicide. Eris Morn retrieved its core to help the Guardian create Bolt-Caster, Dark-Drinker, and Raze-Lighter.

List of appearances

 * Destiny
 * The Dark Below
 * The Taken King
 * Destiny 2
 * Warmind
 * Shadowkeep
 * 30th Anniversary Pack
 * The Witch Queen
 * Season of the Risen