I actually do really like the sword! Especially in the first round or two when your attack speed is still pretty slow. The primary issues with the sword are that it bugs out a bit at higher attack speeds, you get outranged by the numerous ranged enemies pretty hard, and your character gets bogged down by dead enemies that haven't disappeared yet.
I use the sword until I get too bogged down by projectiles, and until my attack damage is high enough that the bow one-shots. Then from there, ramping attack speed on the bow let me get to the 33 minute mark pretty easily, like I said.
Imo, round 1-3 is sword>magic>bow, maybe 3-7 is bow>sword>magic, then beyond a certain point of attack speed, it's bow>magic>sword
