[WIP] Warhammer 40K Sword Critique

WarriorN2000

Hello everyone, I am currently working on some fan art of a sword from Warhammer 40K and I was hoping to get some critiques on what I could improve with it, any advice would be much appreciated.

Ashervisalis

I think you need roughness variation, and to spend some more time on texturing.

KrashDer

Do you have any reference to show ? I'll add some glow effect that come with "Futuristic sword" 

WarriorN2000

So I made some changes with the roughness and colour for the blade and hilt, and I also added a glow effect to the veins and the fiery cracks that I added to the hilt.
Below is an image of the sword I am using as a reference. For background the sword is a weapon from W40K that is possessed by a demon

PhilippSch

Your materials are very basic and miss a lot of edge wear and variation of micro details, which makes them not very believable and the whole model very toy-like in my opinion. I don't know what style you are going for, but even when you are trying to get a stylized look you should try to get some variation in the materials. Next to edgewear, scratches, impact hits, and other stuff like this, it really helps to use noise maps to variate your roughness and maybe color. I think you should take a look at some different references, next to this main one, for the style you try to achieve and look for references for specific details, like metal edgewear, leather, and whatever you need. 
Next to this, the edges of your reference are way smoother than your 3d model a the moment. I also think your model is slightly too thick, which makes it look bulkier than the reference.
I don't know if you used an alpha or painted them on your own, but at the moment I am not a big fan of the veins. It doesn't really fit the rest of the style and shape. Maybe you could try to paint them by your own (in case you didn't already) to let them "follow" the shape of the blade and give them are more natural look with length variation and more branched. And make them more pop off. Right now, they are very nondescript because they are so short and have the same color as the blade.
Just try to get a specific idea of how you want your model to look at the end and break it down into simple parts, which you can work on step by step.
I hope I could help you, good luck with your project.

WarriorN2000

PhilippSch said:

Your materials are very basic and miss a lot of edge wear and variation of micro details, which makes them not very believable and the whole model very toy-like in my opinion. I don't know what style you are going for, but even when you are trying to get a stylized look you should try to get some variation in the materials. Next to edgewear, scratches, impact hits, and other stuff like this, it really helps to use noise maps to variate your roughness and maybe color. I think you should take a look at some different references, next to this main one, for the style you try to achieve and look for references for specific details, like metal edgewear, leather, and whatever you need. 
Next to this, the edges of your reference are way smoother than your 3d model a the moment. I also think your model is slightly too thick, which makes it look bulkier than the reference.
I don't know if you used an alpha or painted them on your own, but at the moment I am not a big fan of the veins. It doesn't really fit the rest of the style and shape. Maybe you could try to paint them by your own (in case you didn't already) to let them "follow" the shape of the blade and give them are more natural look with length variation and more branched. And make them more pop off. Right now, they are very nondescript because they are so short and have the same color as the blade.
Just try to get a specific idea of how you want your model to look at the end and break it down into simple parts, which you can work on step by step.
I hope I could help you, good luck with your project.

Thanks a lot for the very comprehensive advice, I will be sure to apply it to my model when I get the chance