The level 5 Butterfly Swords are far more capable weapons than their lower level sibling. But as one of the most expensive weapons in the game (in terms of Xp), they better be. Let's have a closer look.

The Good

• The swords can deal three damage on their first attack (if you succeed at both tests and exhausts them).
• A three action potential of seven damage makes this one of the more dangerous melee weapons in the game.
• Three resources is cheap for a high-end weapon.
• Can be upgraded from (2) to (5), so can be paid for in installments.
• Each activation is split into two attacks, so missing one attack and hitting on the other will still do 1 damage. Having to test twice isn't always good though, but more on that later.

The Bad

• Two handed, so no Flashlights or the like.
• No Relic trait. It's a small thing but several of the cards competing with the swords are relics.
• Too expensive (in terms of Xp) to be a good backup weapon.
• The second attack is + , so it's better for investigators with a decent agility. Which so far means Lily Chen, alternately Mark Harrigan.

The Ugly

• What might sound good at first; "one free attack per activation! Woho!" is actually +1 damage with extra steps. But as SSW pointed out, there's a benefit to the extra step: You get two attacks each doing 1 damage, rather than one attack doing 2 damage, so missing the first and hitting on the second attack only subtracts 1 damage. But, in my mind that benefit is eclipsed by the disadvantage that is...
• ...having to pass two tests PER activation can be harsh. If you're aiming for the full potential of the weapon, that's six tests to deal seven damage. This is especially true on harder difficulties. You'll learn to hate high combat enemies with Retaliate and extra nasty special tokens.
• The swords are sorely outclassed by the Cyclopean Hammer they were released alongside. The hammer has +total to hit, which for guardians is at least +3, sometimes +4 or more. The hammer also easier to buff one or two attacks with skill cards and/or stat pumps than having to buff 4 to 6 attacks. Plus the situational but neat movement effect.

TL;DR There are two things I like about the Butterfly Swords. 1) You can deal 3 damage with your first activation each round, as long as you pass both tests. 2) you can upgrade them from level 2. Everything else are either mediocre or bad. The swords are hard sells at 5 Xp, and I would advice you to buy Cyclopean Hammers instead.

Maybe someday we'll get a card effect that will add +1 damage to each attack made that round - or something like that . That might make the swords worth your time.

Decent card for "Ashcan" Pete when he's just using Duke, I'd think...and the upgrade is even better. Both cheap, recurrable from Resourceful or Scavenging, and helps him do what he already does, be a useful bum! :)

The synergy with Lonnie Ritter is too good not to be mentioned:

This basically reads: Spend 1 resource: Heal 1 horror and cancel one non- chaos token

Note that you can trigger this effect even if Lonnie Ritter has all her sanity.

1. If you plan on using your and have access to cards, this combo is too good to ignore.

2. This is also the best Horror Management engine for low willpower such as Finn, Winifred.

3. This is especially strong if you play Hard/Expert as the symbol tokens are so punishing there.

Edit 21/04/22: Now that I've used this card in more different ways, I can identify at least 2 other niches for this card:

4.  A (Silas or Yorick) that plays Baseball Bat and Old Hunting Rifle and want to prevent the from hitting the table. Add Nightmare Bauble and/or Eucatastrophe and you'll never see your weapons leave play.

5.  Bless Decks such as Yorick and Tommy (that can also somehow both abuse this card by replaying it infinitely) to simply trigger another Draw Token Step every time you hit a symbol token, hopefully triggering your Ancient Covenant.

We can now convert an arcane slot into a couple of allies to hold our spells. But is this good? I would not say so.

To make the combo reasonable reliable and consistent, you need two copies of the Tarot, and two of Rod, for a total of 8 XP. (And the second Rod will always just be to commit, because it's unique.) Twice Charisma to get both cats into play along another ally cost 2 XP less and save 4 deck slots. It's also much more reliable, thanks to the permanent keyword. It's also a bummer, that the Rod takes an accessory slot, which is quite a competitive slot for , hence make the Hierophant necessary for the extra arcane/ accessory slot.

Or you could just take Relic Hunter, instead of the Tarot. 3 XP, 2 deckslots (and likely 3 resources and a play action) cheaper, more reliable, less flexible in the use of your natural arcane slots, and definitely less fun. But probably still not that great? As a 4 XP permanent, like Miskatonic Archaeology Funding, the Rod would sure be a fun option for Familiar Spirit, which could work in some decks.

This is to 2x Charisma what On Your Own (3) is to On Your Own (6), though at a 4xp discount. If you have to buy Relic Hunter that makes it even less worth it, since the total xp cost would be 5xp vs 6xp .

The discount on play usually would only breakeven its own play cost, unless you're playing a lot of disposable survivor creatures. Calling in Favors can double-dip on the discount.

You can get this on top of Charisma, though very few decks actually want to be this ally heavy and have all the allies in play simultaneously. Even disposable survivor allies don't stay in play for long

Few Sled Dog decks want to play even more allies due to the action/resource intensive nature of sled dogs, so the extra slot over 1x Charisma may be wasted, and it adds less reliability and more action/card tax in an already strained build.

This decent enabler for thematic decks running Raven, Cat, and/or Dog (Patrice and Yorick comes to mind), although even many such decks would be a lot more reliable with Charisma unless they desperately need the saved XP, or are just running that many allies.