There are a total of 14 different weapon types in Monster Hunter: World, and for each weapon, there are proper skill setups that can maximize the weapon's efficiency. The setups differ weapon to weapon, depending on its traits; even if two certain different weapon types are both melee, one of them may rely on attacking when an opening appears, while the other may be more suited for providing a constant stream of damage.
That is why we run simulations in our heads to creatively think up the perfect combinations of armor and decorations. However, making the simulations a reality may prove difficult, as finding the specific jewels that you need is completely dependent on luck. The content of this article will cover armor&jewel combinations for 5 of the 14 different weapon types -- combinations for both early and end-game.
The weapons covered today are:
- Greatsword
- Hammer
- Long Sword
- Charge Blade
- Switch Axe
All five weapons from the list share a similarity; they all pack a very powerful punch, but they also come with a few downsides. These weapons perform best when the target is stationary, so if the monster moves frequently and/or the wielder is constantly disrupted, it'll dish out less DPS compared to the other weapons. Therefore, when using these weapons, it's important to maximize both its attack and the ability to ignore certain disruptions.
The skills that fit well with these weapons are:
- Earplug
ㄴ Not only do you ignore roars but you can make the roar time into an opportunity to deal extra damage.
- Attack Boost
ㄴ The 5% bonus to Affinity at level 4 is very efficient.
- Weakness Exploit
ㄴ This is the most efficient offensive skill in the game.
- Handicraft
ㄴ This is a necessary skill since melee weapon damage depends on the weapon's sharpness. Blue sharpness grants 120% damage while white grants 132%.
- Health Regen Augmentations
ㄴ The weapons introduced today hit hard with a single swing, and so their synergy with the Regen Augmentation is excellent. Of course, taking this skill over more Affinity and/or Attack will give you lower damage per hit; but since you cut some of the time of having to drink potions, the overall DPS will either stay the same or even increase.
■Greatswords & Hammers
- Basic Build (Without Jewels)

1. Mhw Crit Eye
2. Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg Download
3. Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg 2
4. Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg Build
5. Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg 2017

Feb 10, 2018  First build I put together for World, using Bow's strongest attack to shred foes in a single shot. Over 400-700 dmg per well aimed Dragon piercer, if even around 1k to a. Now if you haven't noticed, Critical Element is a skill that allows your elemental damage to crit. It is a gear set skill in the Rathalos or Rath Soul set, and requires 2 pieces. My ultimate goal in all of this was to find out if Critical Element was worth it. And the obvious answer is yes, and that it obviously depends on your elemental power. Mar 02, 2018  Since the goal of this build is to apply and ramp up elemental attacks, the ideal decorations to fill those empty slots would be things like an. Nov 08, 2019  Read this Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Long Sword guide on the best loadout & armor build for this weapon. Includes recommended equipment, elements, decorations, and skills. CRITICAL BOOST ADDS A LINEAR PLUS FIVE PERCENT TO THIS. With Critical Boost 1 added – “critical hit severity” now becomes 30% BONUS DAMAGE. “1.3x Multiplier”. With Critical Boost 1 added – “critical hit severity” now becomes 30% BONUS DAMAGE. “1.3x Multiplier”.

▶Earplug 4
▶Handicraft 4
▶Attack Boost 3
▶Weakness Exploit 2
These two weapons may not share the exact same playstyle, but they do share a very big similarity; they dish out the most amount of damage when the target is stationary. Both of them also need to be charged for increased damage -- and that is why the two can function with similar setups.
This is a customization without decorations. In the earlygame, you get an Attack Boost jewel for free. Putting that jewel in any of your equipment will get you Attack Boost 4. You can also reach the highest level for both Earplug and Weakness Exploit if you can find and equip 1 jewel for each skill. If you don't have any Tenderizer jewels, you can swap out the headpiece for DragonKing Eyepatch, swap Kaiser Vambraces to Beta, and add in a couple more Earplug jewels.
This setup is the 'basic' and can be used for any melee weapon -- you can swap out a few pieces of armor and/or charm from here to set your build on the direction that you want it to go, such as switching your charm out for Earplug and putting on armor with Attack Boost. This equipment isn't only useful for a Greatsword or Hammer user, but for every melee weapon user in the game.
- Greatsword Expert (Leviathan's Fury)

▶Earplug 5
▶Attack Boost 4
▶Weakness Exploit 3
▶Speed Sharpening 3
▶Focus 2
▶Handicraft 2
▶Protective Polish 1
This is an appropriate lategame build that is built off the one shown above -- specialized for the popular greatsword, Leviathan's Fury. Due to Protective Polish, the weapon will retain its sharpness for a fixed amount of time -- and we've taken Speed Sharpening 3 to maintain that status for as long as possible. The reason we only took 2 in Handicraft is that 2 points are enough to bring the weapon to white sharpness. And finally, charging your weapon is important for greatsword and hammer users, so the remaining points will be put on Focus.
- Hammer Expert (Diablos Shatterer 2)

▶Earplug 5
▶Attack Boost 4
▶Handicraft 4
▶Weakness Exploit 3
▶Speed Sharpening 3
▶Protective Polish 1
▶Non-Elemental Boost 1
This is a build for the hammer that packs the hardest punch in the game, the Diablos Shatterer 2. With the 4 levels in Handicraft, we'll be able to just barely reach white sharpness for the weapon; and to make it last, taking Speed Sharpening and Protective Polish will be essential.
■Long Swords

- Basic Build (Without Jewels)

▶Earplug 4
▶Attack Boost 3
▶Weakness Exploit 3
▶Flinch Free 1
The goal of this weapon is to chain combos without being interrupted -- as the core of the long sword is to consecutively combo the Spirit Blade attacks to buff and maintain that buff on your weapon. If the chains are disrupted and canceled, you'll face a large DPS loss.
As there are no jewel requirements, this is an easy build to achieve. The Flinch Free skill will allow you to ignore small attacks from the monster, and at level 1, you'll ignore most of your teammates' attacks as well. The reason why Earplug is left at level 4 is that you can easily achieve 5 by finding 1 jewel for it. This early setup will allow you to complete the build at a quick pace as the jewels required are relatively easy to get.
-Expert (Divine Slasher)

▶ Attack Boost 4
▶ Handicraft 4
▶ Speed Sharpening 3
▶ Weakness Exploit 3
▶ Maximum Might 2
▶ Protective Polish 1
▶ Non-Elemental Boost 1
This is a setup that is built around the most popular long sword, Divine Slasher. This weapon will only reach white sharpness if you put 3 points into Handicraft, so like the earlier builds, this build will utilize Protective Polish to maximize damage. The reason why Flinch Free is taken out is that, if you reach this point in the game, you'll have a much easier time playing safely and reliably with Foresight Slash and/or proper positioning. This build is highly offensive with the lack of Earplug, but the endgame goal of the long sword is not to tank and endure but to counter-attack. This is a build that tries to optimize the weapon's strengths.
■ Charge Blade
Currently, the charge blade is regarded as the best weapon in the game -- the reason being its Super Amped Element Discharge (SAED); an attack that deals an incredible amount of damage. At its full build, a SAED pops 6 phials on its activations, and it pulls 100 damage per phial. The damage calculation of these unique phials are different to the other damage sources in the game, so the build for the charge blade will slightly differ from the other weapons.
-Basic Build (Without Jewels)

▶ Focus 3
▶ Artillery 3
▶ Attack Boost 2
▶ Weakness Exploit 2
▶ Capacity Boost 1
The core of the charge blade is in Focus, Artillery, and Capacity Boost. Focus will allow you to charge up your phials quickly with your basic attacks. Artillery will increase the damage of your phials, and finally, Capacity Boost will increase the number of said phials. The main problem with this build is that its extremely difficult to find the corresponding jewels for these skills, so the best method will be to get these skills on your basic equipment and find jewels for the remaining skills. Also, affinity will only affect your basic attacks and not your phials, so affinity will be of less importance to this build, especially when compared to the other weapons.
- Expert (Diablos Tyrannis 2)

▶ Earplug 5
▶ Attack Boost 4
▶ Focus 3
▶ Artillery 3
▶ Weakness Exploit 2
▶ Capacity Boost 1
▶ Non-Elemental Boost 1
▶ Handicraft 2, Flinch Free 1, Etc
This is a build that requires you to find all the necessary jewels. The big advantage of using this build is that you have the freedom of choice to pick whichever greaves you want to equip. If you need Flinch Free, equip Xeno's. If you are looking to grind Vaal Hazaak, wear his equipment.
■ Switch Axe
The Switch Axe is in some ways, the most unalike weapon in this list. As a matter of fact, this weapon is closer to the Insect Glaive than anything else here. This weapon has an ultimate-like ability called Element Discharge, but in actuality, it's a pretty pointless skill -- in fact, you're better off staying in your sword form for optimized DPS.
- Basic Build (Without Jewels)

▶ Earplug 5
▶ Attack Boost 4
▶ Weakness Exploit 3
In truth, this is a compact setup that is usable with most other weapons as well. At this point in time, it is recommended to use Dying Light (Created from Nergigante parts) with the reason being that it has a near max level of blue sharpness; so we won't have to worry about Handicraft or Speed Sharpening.
- Expert(Axe of Demons)

▶ Earplug 5
▶ Handicraft 4
▶ Weakness Exploit 3
▶ Speed Sharpening 3
▶ Maximum Might 2
▶ Protective Polish 1
▶ Non - Elemental Boost 1
This build will be using Earplug to prevent as much interruption as possible and allow for continuous attacks. Although Attack Boost is taken out, due to the high attack rating of the Axe of Demons, your overall DPS won't drop by a noticeable amount. If you want a more offensive build, you can always swap your charm and the Bazel Coil for the Attack Boost Charm and Nergigante Coil.
4 levels of Handicraft will guarantee white sharpness on your weapon. So with Protective Polish, you'll be able to maintain white sharpness throughout the fight.

Comments :5

• level 1 Scoots_Effd

  2

  The switch axe not switch blade or sa for short has a high range of motion and area reach. I've been maining it since its release in 3.

  It is a weapon of full offense power giving up defense for damage capabilities. Ill give my 2 cents for the switch axe.

  
  

  Both the axe and sword mode have there pros and cons.

  
  

  Axe form:

  Pros: high reach with upward attacks

  
  

  Wide reach with somewhat fast attacks for a large weapon that can lead to

  
  

  A potential infinite combo depending in your stamina bar (don't forget to bring your dash juice)

  
  

  This form is better for doing more hits then damage (better part breaking)

  
  

  Cons: no blocking capability

  
  

  Getting out midcombo can be difficult when a monster takes aim

  
  

  In this form you can cancel other players moves

  -------

  Sword form:

  Pros: higher damage potential due to this form having the elmentals/status

  
  

  Elemental Discharge: great for trying to afflict status or pesuo-mounting.

  
  

  Cons: no blocking capabilities

  
  

  Each swing uses part of your charge bar regardless if you hit or not.

  
  

  Both your moving speed and attack animations are slow.

  ------

  
  

  Tips: you can draw out from sword mode while sheeth as you draw your weapon immediately push the transform buttons while attacking. (In game it leads to an attack swing. Outside game you look like a button mashing spaz)

  
  

  While on a downward slope while sliding pudding the triangle or y button I believe (sorry Xbox people I have it on ps4 the top attack) will have you swing at the ground to get some air to attempt to mount a monster.

  
  

  Wide swing in axe mode can be used to get people out of sleep or stun.

  
  

  You can send people up in the air with you o +triangle (x+ y for Xbox I believe) it can be used to get people out of the way or to help them mount.(if you push attack while airborne from this you can attack and not have a I need to get up animation and if timed correctly can attempt to mount)

  
  

  When going for the infinite combo if you attempt to transform into sword mode you will meteor swing which leads to a sword slash. The second part of the axe swing does a tramenous amount of damage if hits.

  
  

  Pesuo-mounting. Attacking in sword mode gives you another bar along your charge bar. (A complete connecting elemental discharge fills it up faster)(the elemental discharge only uses the charge bar for the first discharge and last now) once this second bar is filled if you do a elemental discharge you will hop on the monster and discharge the energy (doesn't count as a mount) completion of it will at minimum make the monster stammer or at best fall down (I personally love to kill a monster with a discharge noting says oh shit like making your sword explode in a monsters face and or anus) higher rank sa can do it multiple times before the second bar goes out.

  But will probably need to be reloaded to do so.

  • level 1 Scoots_Effd

    @Scoots_Effd This is just from a sa main point of view. Love or hate what I'm saying.

    SA are good weapons for people who like a more aggressive gameplay and learned monsters moves. The way you reduce incoming damage is to not take any by dodgeing. (I sense sarcasm) but like I said earlier the sa has given up its defence for offense.

  • level 1 Laffa

    @Scoots_Effd

    There were some issues while writing the article because some of the texts from MHW are different, from the English version of the game to the ones from Asia. Thank you for pointing it out, however, as we've fixed the article accordingly. :)
    

• level 1 Saloon007

  Woohyun always gives the best and informative articles I wish i could meet him IRL~

• level 1 Whatever123

  So I was looking for some different views on Greatsword builds, since I started a new character who I wanted to solely focus on Greatswords and a bit of Charge Blade.

  
  

  I'm heavily disappointed, that this guide is so far up in the google results. You don't need any amount of earplugs on Charge Blade/Lance/Greatsword/Longsword etc., because all of them can already negate roars.

  
  

  Shoulderbash, foresight, guardpoint - that's what you do, since that serves the same purpose, frees up your armor choices A LOT and in most cases is even extra beneficial, considering guard-pointing correctly lets you SAED, foresight gives you a free spirit level and bash lets you sometimes knock-out or topple monsters like Nergi or Jho.

  
  

  The only weapons I could see Earplugs useful for are those that don't have natural evasion abilities, but even with those you can evade roars, although that requires much more precise timing. So something like the Switchaxe or maybe Insect Glaive could make use of Earplugs, but even then you're probably better off either learning the correct dodge timing or positioning yourself in a way you know won't get you caught.

  
  

  TL;DR: Don't waste slots/armor on earplugs.
  

• Damage Type
• Sharpness
• Elemental Value

Damage Type

When attacks strike a monster, two types of damage are dealt: Physical (Raw) damage, and Elemental damage (but only if the weapon has an Elemental attribute).

Some weapons have an abnormal status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. These weapons will Physical damage and apply Status damage.

Physical damage includes Severing-type damage, Blunt-type damage, and Projectile-type damage. Elemental damage includes Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, and Dragon. There are also other sources of damage such as Fixed damage and Status damage. All damage types are dealt independent of each other.

Severing

Severing (sometimes known as Cutting) damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

The following attacks also deal Severing damage:

• Hunting Horn's Handle Poke
• Bow's Melee Attack deals Severing damage
• Some Kinsects deal Severing damage
• Slicing shot from Bowguns

Tails can only be cut by Severing damage. This happens when sufficient Severing damage has been accumulated on the tail, which then severs it.

Blunt

Mhw Crit Eye

Blunt damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

The following attacks also deal Blunt damage:

• Sword & Shield's shield-oriented attacks
  • Sword/Shield Combo
  • Shield Attack
  • Shield Bash
  • Hard Bash
  • Falling Bash
• Lance's Shield Attack
• Kinsects with Blunt attribute

Blunt weapons deal Exhaust status when they hit a monster. If they hit a monster's head, they deal Stun damage.

Projectile

Projectile damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:

Gunlance's Shelling attacks deal Fixed damage instead of Projectile damage.

Elemental

Elemental Attributes:

• Fire
• Water
• Thunder
• Ice
• Dragon

Blademaster weapons can have an Elemental attribute, a Status attribute, or neither. Some Dual Blades have two Elemental/Status attributes, one for each blade.

The Bow may have an Elemental attribute. The Bowguns do not have natural Elemental attributes, but they can load Elemental shots that effectively functions as dealing Elemental damage when it hits a monster.

Elemental damage is mainly affected by the weapon's Elemental value and the monster's Elemental Hitzone. Abnormal Status damage is not affected by the monster's Physical or Elemental Hitzone values. Blademaster weapons have a 1-in-3 chance per hit to apply Abnormal Status damage, while Gunner weapons always apply Abnormal Status damage.

If a monster has no weakness to a specific element on their Hitzone, then no Elemental damage is dealt. The Physical damage done by the weapon is not affected, as Elemental and Physical damage are calculated separately.

Status Attacks

Abnormal Status attributes:

• Poison
• Paralysis
• Sleep
• Blast

Blademaster weapons can have an Abnormal Status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. Bows cannot have a natural Status attribute, but may equip Status Coatings to make fired arrows apply Status damage. Equipping Status Coatings will disable the Bow's Elemental attribute temporarily. The Bowguns do not have natural Abnormal Status attributes, but can load Status shots that apply Abnormal Status damage.

For Blademaster weapons, each time an attack lands, the attack has a 1-in-3 chance of applyingAbnormal Status damage. For Gunner weapons, a successful hit will always apply Abnormal Status damage.

Applying Abnormal Status damage to a monster does not instantly activate it's effect. Instead, monsters have an innate tolerance to Status Ailments. To trigger a Status Ailment, enough Status damage must be dealt to a monster to overcome its tolerance threshold. Once a monster is affilicted with the Ailment, the accumulated Status damage is reset to 0 and additional Status damage cannot be dealt until the monster recovers. The only exception to this is Poison.

After the monster recovers, its tolerance threshold for the Ailment increases. This means it takes more Status damage must be accumulated before being able to inflict the monster with the same Ailment.

For all Ailments (except Blast), the accumulated Status damage disappears gradually due to the monster's tolerances. Overcoming this gradual decay is necessary to successfully trigger a Status Ailment on a monster.

Factors for Damage Calculation

The following factors influence damage calculations:

BM = Blademaster

Attack Value

The Attack value of the Hunter is calculated from the Hunter's equipped weapon, offensive boosts (e.g. being in DB's Archdemon Mode or having a HH attack buff), equipped skills, items, and Food skills. When damage is calculated, only True values are used, and the Displayed Attack value is adjusted down by the Display Multiplier.

Motion Values

All weapon attacks have a Motion Value (MV), which determines what proportion of the Attack value is used in damage calculations. For example, a weaker move with 40 MV uses applies 40% of the Attack Value in calculating damage, while a stronger move with 80 MV applies 80% of the Attack Value in calculating damage.

In general, slow weapons make up for their slower attacks with larger MVs, and fast weapons make up for their faster attacks with smaller MVs.

Sharpness

Sharpness describes how sharp a weapon is. Sharper weapons deal more damage and are less likely to bounce when hitting tough body parts.

Weapon Sharpness is split into discrete colors (see below). Different colors provide different multipliers to the damage dealt by the player.

In addition to lower damage, weaker Sharpness colors causes some weapons to lose functionality. For example, at Orange Sharpness, the Gunlance's shells will deal less damage, the Switch Axe may bounce while in Sword mode, and the Dual Blades will not complete its full Blade Dance animation. At Red Sharpness, the Gunlance cannot shell.

Sharpness Gauge and Consumption

Each weapon can only make a specific amount of hits in a specific sharpness color before it dulls and and the sharpness color is lowered. Sharpness is consumed when a player lands an attack, but some shield attacks from the SnS and Lance do not deplete Sharpness.

Although most attacks deplete Sharpness by one per hit, some weapons have attacks that deplete Sharpness faster:

*Charge Blade with Elemental Boost doesn't lose Sharpness when guarding.** Doesn't lose sharpness when blocking roars, wind pressure, or tremors.

Sharpness can be restored by sharpening the weapon with a Whetstone.

Weapon Adjustment

Certain attacks have inherent damage bonuses:

Sharpness Adjustment

Some moves modify Sharpness, which affects both damage output and the liklihood to bounce.

* Lance/Hitzone Selection

Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg Download

Critical Hits and Feeble Hits

When an attack makes a Critical Hit, additional damage is dealt. When an attack makes a Feeble Hit, damage is reduced.

Critical Hits occur when a weapon has a positive Affinity value. Positive Affinity refers to the probability of making a Critical Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with 20% Affinity will have a 20% chance of dealing a Critical Hit on an attack. Higher Affinity values will increase the likelihood of dealing a Critical Hit. A successful Critical Hit applies a +25% bonus to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.

Feeble Hits occur when a weapon has a negative Affinity value. Negative Affinity refers to the probability of making a Feeble Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with -20% affinity has a 20% chance of dealing a Feeble Hit. Lower negative Affinity Values increase the likelihood of dealing Feeble Hits. A Feeble Hit applies a -25% debuff to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.

Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg 2

The below table briefly illustrates the interaction between Affinity and the probability of making a Critical or Feeble Hit:

Some skills influence Affinity values:

Monster Hitzone

Monsters are comprised of different body parts, and each part has has different weaknesses to Physical damage and Elemental damage. The Physical weakness of a Hitzone does not affect it's Elemental weakness, and vice versa. If a Hitzone is not weak to a specific Element (i.e. a Hitzone value of 0), then no Elemental damage is dealt, but Physical damage is not impacted.

The higher the Hitzone value, the weaker it is. For example, if a monster's head has Hitzone values of 20/50/40 (corresponding to the Severing, Blunt, and Projectile damage types respectively), then Severing-type attacks deal 20% of its damage, Blunt-type attacks deal 50% of its damage, and Projectile-type attacks deal 40% of its damage.

A Hitzone is generally considered vulnerable when its Physical Hitzone value is 45 or higher or when its Elemental Hitzone value is 20 or higher.

Elemental Value

Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg Build

When a weapon with an Elemental attribute lands an attack, the weapon will deal Elemental damage on top of the Physical damage it deals. Player-dealt Elemental damage does not inflict Elemental Blights on monsters.

Unlike Physical damage, Elemental damage is not affected by Motion Values. However, some weapons may confer a bonus to its Elemental damage on specific attack moves. In general, faster hitting weapons are better suited at dealing Elemental damage because they make multiple hits in the same time it takes a slower hitting weapon to make one hit.

Excluding Hunting Horn buffs, Elemental Attack buffs from Skills and Food skills are capped at a sum of +20%.

Elemental Crit Skill Adjustment

Projectile Adjustment

Critical Distance

For Gunner Weapons, Critical Distance (or Critical Range) refers to the distance at which a fired shot deals maximal damage. If the player is in Critical Distance, the aiming reticle will look like this:

Generally, being too close or too far away from the target will put the player outside of Critical Distance. Being too close or too far (i.e. outside of Critical Distance) will reduce the damage done by player Projectiles.

Critical Distance does not affect Affinity or Critical Hits.

Rapid Fire Adjustment

Critical Boost Mhw Base Crit Dmg 2017

The Light Bowgun is capable of Rapid Fire, where the LBG shoots multiple shots in a single burst at the cost of 1 ammo. Each individual shot fired from Rapid Fire is weaker than a single shot of the same ammo type, but if most Rapid Fire shots land, their combined damage will exceed the damage done by firing just a single shot.

Fixed Damage

Fixed damage is dealt directly to the monster and does not have a damage calculation. This means that Fixed damage attacks are not mitigated by the monster's Hitzone values or affected by the player's Attack value.

Some sources of Fixed damage, such as Gunlance shelling and Wyvern Fire, and Bowgun Sticky shot and Crag shot, also deal additional Fire damage. This additional Fire damage will be impacted by damage calculations.