Swords

A sword will increase melee damage. It will also boost your enemy's dodging chances because they are trying to avoid being cut to pieces. It is also possible to change the sword's icon and damage value although the higher the damage, the more chances of it being dodged.

Physical Damaging Style
Physical damage is the normal melee damage type, it does damage based on your opponent's durabiltiy and your own strength. This is good if you made your strength mod high instead of your force mod. It can also be good if your enemy has a lot of resistence and low durability. Analysing his stats and changing your sword can be a good tactic.

Energy Damaging Style
Energy damage does damage based on your opponent's resistence, but only does about 90% of the damage a Physical Sword does. 50% of your Force and 50% of your Strength go into the energy sword. This can also be used as a good tactic if you know your enemy's resistence is low while their durability is high. Energy swords can also be used to still use your force while bypassing any force fields.