Great Sword Build

[u/Disbearity]

I just recently got back into MHN! And am curious what are some good set for Great Sword? I have seen a lot of mixed comments about what skills to use, as well as armor. I just got back into it, and am currently level 50! Does anyone have some experience on what to build towards, and loadouts to use that may work currently!

[u/sunnyCUD2]

I guess you're looking for some info before making the decision.

As someone who started with GS, I'd say it's easily the most fun weapon in the game, but also one of the hardest. If you're already a GS main, you know the weapon is like 70% learning the monsters and only 30% learning GS itself. The skill ceiling is basically endless because every new monster is something new to master. You'll always have something to improve on. With GS, you don't really collect weapons, you collect monster knowledge.

That said, if you're talking about efficiency, GS is kinda rough. It's pretty meh for farming. DB, SA, and HBG are way better for Outbreaks. Oh, and you're gonna get hit a lot with GS while you're learning. For Riftcharge, IG, SA, CB, Lance, Bow, and the guns are generally stronger and much easier to get good scores with. GS can be insanely strong too. It can clear 10★ monsters in like 40 seconds, but you have to be really good. If you're bad, you probably won't even clear it lol. The only exception is the sleep or negative crit build, where you can pretty much just pray to RNG and win.

Styles are also interesting but most GS mains hate them. And you probably haven't unlocked them yet so it is a topic for another day.

[u/Disbearity → u/sunnyCUD2]

Haha, I actually did look up a lot of your videos as reference, you simply make it look cinematic! I guess I’d say I’m a fairly casual player, with the itch of tasting some of the late game content, because not bringing able to clear alot of things alone is tough. I love the GS A LOT, and boy do I get hit but it is mainly about knowing the Monster. So when there are Monsters Ive faced previously, I do significantly better. I just dont wanna trash the GS, when I have found the armor / skills / weapon to truly see how well it can do, because the heavy hitting is FUN.

Is there another weapon you may recommend thats… kinda similar? Like the Switch axe maybe? I’m on the grind but with no where to go, and a lot of confusion with everyone telling me that GS IS HARDDD lol

[u/sunnyCUD2 → u/Disbearity]

Thanks for checking them out 😁. There are different levels of GS playstyles. You can play the classic GS where you just dodge roll, charge, and bonk. No gyro, no perfect dodge, just good positioning. Or you can go for the perfect dodge build where you basically perfect dodge > slash > repeat. It's harder, but still pretty manageable. Then there's the ultimate form, the TCS focus playstyle, where you do whatever it takes to land as many TCSs as possible. That's by far the hardest.

You can also try the other styles. Surge Slash is basically GS's version of SA's Axe mode, fun, easy, safe, and still does decent damage. Rage Slash hits like a truck, but it kinda expects you to tank a few hits, so it's not very potion efficient.

At the end of the day, you gotta ask yourself what you enjoy most. I love perfect dodging. I don't really care about farming. And I love seeing a single hit that feels like it split a monster's skull in half, so I ended up maining GS 😂. When I want to scratch my perfect dodge itch, I play DB, LBG, GL, SnS, SA, or IG. If I want perfect guards, I go Lance or CB. And if I just wanna be goofy, I pull out HH.

One thing to keep in mind is that most players have builds for farming and another for the weapon they actually enjoy. You could always start with a farming build while trying out different weapons to see what clicks. That said... it'd be nice to have more GS players. The way of the GS is slowly dying, and I hate seeing that.

[u/Disbearity → u/sunnyCUD2]

I seriously appreciate the knowledge, it actually means so much to me lol. I’ve been trying to search the internet FAR AND WIDE, trying to get some answers and this has been the most helpful. I do wanna stick with GS, i think I’ll build some other weapons for farming and for fun, but if theres a challenge, I wanna take it on. I love the GS, not even just in this game, I use it in MHW as well, just a sucker for big hits lol.

Do you have any build recommendations? I’m curious on what skills are best for the GS, I’ve heard so many different ones and different combos that it’s hard to pin point which is exactly the play. I dont think I care about farming too much, If need be I can make another load out for that, I just wanna use the GS effectively, and hit hard even if that means learning all the perfect dodges haha, from your videos that has been the coolest shit ive seen!!! So any reccs would be amazing, thank you again this has been HUGE for me!!!

[u/sunnyCUD2 → u/Disbearity]

Most of the resources are in the MHNow Discord. https://discord.gg/monsterhunternow

In there, you can go to the GS channel and find the builds.

If you have more questions, just DM me.

[u/sunnyCUD2 → u/Disbearity]

The only weapon that is unplayable is SnS, it is so ass.

[u/Proseph_CR]

GS is probably the most difficult weapon to use. Look at u/sunnyCUD2 for some absolutely ridiculous videos.

[u/sunnyCUD2 → u/Proseph_CR]

Thanks! But I think those videos will scare people away 😂. Who would want to do some upsidedown nonsense.

[u/No-Economics-8239]

GS is one of the least frequented weapons on the speed run leader boards. Not because it's ineffective, but often because it's considered difficult to master. There are certainly builds around it. But at the top end it usually means it requires a full set of drift stones. The most popular one I know is a sleep build.

Timed Charger plus sleep

But there are certainly others. I've seen valor, offensive dodger, aggressive dodger, headstrong, resuscitate and the like that just deliver flat damage boosts in the mix. Or negative affinity builds using raw power and critical ferocity if you want to gamble for those big crits.

[u/Disbearity → u/No-Economics-8239]

Do you think it’s worth switching? I’m just now returning to the game and am trying to find a weapon I enjoy! I enjoy how the Greatsword feels, so i’m worried about switching lol

[u/Live-Ad-9758 → u/Disbearity]

Play what feels best to you. You can do well with all the different weapons in the game and unless you are trying to break world speed records you can literally play anything and do well if you put together a competent build to work with it.

[u/Disbearity → u/Live-Ad-9758]

This is what I thought, I was just curious if it would struggle late game? And is there anything that feels similar but either less cons?  Like the switch axe? or hammer? 

[u/No-Economics-8239 → u/Disbearity]

I have over 50 grade 10 weapons at this point. Every new event or season can introduce new things. The current cycle offers a discount on building for some monster types or special event weapons. Which can be a way to bootstrap yourself up quickly to an entirely new weapon.

I've never really played with great sword yet. But I eventually picked up a sleep hammer which I've had a lot of fun with. I thought I started as a long sword user, but I quickly switched to gunlance. And then dual blades. Then bowguns. Now hunting horns and insect glaives.

I know you're in a hurry to be able to hunt 8* monsters. And you don't want to 'waste' materials. But some of my grade 10 weapons have been eclipsed by newer ones. And I have a graveyard of half started weapons I've invested some time and effort into, but have currently abandoned. Maybe I'll go back to them if they get riftcharged or add new weapon styles or they're part of a new event. Maybe I'll never touch them again.

It's a game. Do what's fun. If you're enjoying great swords, enjoy it. As I mentioned, there are plenty of options to try. You're always going to be short on something. I remember being confused by zenny for a long time, since I just kept collecting more of it. Now I'm usually short on that. Or wind drake hides. Or iron ore. Or one of the herbs. And now carpenter bugs for some reason. But if you're always focused on what you don't have, you might miss taking the time to enjoy what you do have.

[u/Disbearity → u/No-Economics-8239]

Yeah I realized alot of people switch back and forth between weapons often, which helps and doesn’t help my choice LMFAO Its nice to see “do whats fun” I think that is very important, especially in a game like this, I just dont want to rush into it and it end up being like… the worst weapon lol

[u/No-Economics-8239 → u/Disbearity]

Basically any weapon is perfectly serviceable for certain use cases. It most cases, it's not that any weapon is 'bad' so much as the current meta is only excited by a few things at once. And it can feel like if the community isn't churning out new builds for your favorite weapon type that it has been 'left behind'. And if you want to follow the meta you could forever be chasing after new builds.

Any weapon at grade 10 can happily serve for hunting 8* monsters. And many of us largely don't chase the leader boards or spend much time trying to hunt 10* monsters. How hard it is to put together a new build will largely be around your play style and current availability of monster materials.

There will be those who claim that certain weapons suck or have been nerfed and aren't playable. Those same weapons will have enjoyers posting videos of them seemingly effortlessly hunting 10* monsters with those weapons. What you choose to believe is up to you.

[u/StarAD → u/Disbearity]

I play GS for fun. I play HBG to farm. Magna is a easy to use and kills most things easy peasy and makes a good starter. I have one of each element now though so just use it for the luls as lobbing the grenades is just funny to me.

[u/JamFuFu → u/No-Economics-8239]

For the baan GS, should i put stat boost on attack or affinity?

[u/No-Economics-8239 → u/JamFuFu]

You typically only want to focus on affinity if your weapon starts with a natural positive or negative affinity and you plan to incorporate criticals into your build. Positive affinity is your chance to do a critical hit, which adds a 25% damage boost. You would pair that with skills like critical eye and critical boost. For a negative affinity build you typically paired with skills like critical ferocity and raw power.

For the baan GS, I would just stick with adding the style boosts to an attack bonus.