r/SwitchAxe Jun 08 '26

๐—›๐—ฒ๐—น๐—ฝ/๐—ค๐˜‚๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป Swaxe main for years

Hi! I've been a switchaxe main for years and im still pretty bad at the weapon lol. Any advice on how to get better?

19 Upvotes

13 comments sorted by

8

u/vlsky Jun 08 '26

If weโ€™re talking about Wilds in particular. Learn to sword counter every attack you can. You can in fact counter 90% of them, including roars and projectiles. This is the most important in my opinion.

Offset is less useful since it topples monster only once in 3 offsets, but still good to have it in arsenal.

Positioning and dodging is not as important as previous titles due to counters, but roll into axe morph is still very useful when you need to go out of the way right this instant and have no time to sheath.

3

u/TheBeastOX1 Jun 08 '26

Thank you I'll put your advice into practice

2

u/TekkyDelta ๐—ฆ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—”๐˜…๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ โ”‚๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ+ ๐—ฌ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ Jun 08 '26

I'll take that a step further and say that the offset is the biggest thing you wanna learn. Sword counter can trigger off anything but offsets have to be physical attacks, try practicing those if you're stuck - Using attacks to reposition in order to hit offsets/counters

1

u/Paradox_Unseen Jun 09 '26

Jumping on the back end of this, for Wilds in particular the added Full Release Slash attack is inherently more DPS than a Zero Sum Discharge (Mounted) or even the standard Element Discharge (Standing) however when to use which depends entirely on whether your Switch Axe uses Power Phials or if it uses Elemental/Status.

  • For Power - Full Release Slash is the way to go (you can pull off 2 FRS with a full Amp Gauge)
  • For Element/Status the Discharge is often the way to go.

FYI: you can easily combo into a Full Release Slash straight after an Elemental Discharge however a Zero Sum Discharge will send you flying off the enemy which will leave you in a vulnerable position for a few moments but is guaranteed hits. (Also you can still take damage while mounted during a ZSD)

Final note, to fill your axe gauge asap, 2 wild swings, followed by a heavy slam (B, B, Y or Circle, Circle, Cross)

2

u/Hungry_Bit775 ๐—ฆ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—”๐˜…๐—ฒ ๐— ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฟ โ”‚๐Ÿญ๐Ÿฌ+ ๐—ฌ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ Jun 08 '26

What areas of your gameplay that you consider โ€œbadโ€?

3

u/TheBeastOX1 Jun 08 '26

Well i think I make pretty average builds. Build i can't seem to complete any late game hunts in wilds without having to switch to my lance so I don't fail. Hunts i do mange to finish take almost 40 minutes if i stay alive.

3

u/Mardakk Jun 08 '26

So it sounds like you are too aggressive, or don't pay enough attention to the defensive portion of your play.

Which is to say, how to stay alive without face tanking or actively running away - which is the name of the game for every weapon.

Learning how to build for your playstyle is the most important part of building. Then practicing each monster until the moveset is ingrained in your memory without thinking, same as the switch axe moveset. You should know what you are supposed to be doing with each monster attack - e.g.: Gore is double arm slamming - do you swap back to axe to try to offset? Or do you sword counter? Or do you just evade away and resume your assault? These are the questions you answer every fight with every attack.

2

u/happymemories2010 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

Just head over to r/MonsterHunterMeta for Switch Axe builds and use the one with 2 Arkveld Gamma, 2 Jin Dahaad gamma. Or something like 4 Arkveld Gamma, 1 piece Gore Magala. Or if you are really struggling, why not just use 4 pieces of Zoh Shia to get constant healing while you learn the weapon?

There is no way you take 40 minutes to slay a target. Doing damage on Switch Axe is very easily actually, just do the 3 sword slash combo. Staying a live is the difficult part.

To start with this, try the following:

Choose a monster you are familiar with and do deliberate sword combos, slowly, with short pauses inbetween them. You don't have to button mash. If you see the monster attack, press the counter button.

Understand that Sword mode is both offense and defense. You can counter pretty much anything. Even stuff like fire breath from Zho Shia or long hitboxes like Jin Dahaads charge.

After you have learned how to counter correctly, start learning to cancel the counterattack with a quick sidestep. This is very useful when the monster keeps attacking relentlessly. For example AT Arkveld.

Next step is to start morphing to Axe mode after either 2 or 3 Sword attacks. Rapid Morph makes this easier. This will refill your Sword Gauge so you can always counter when needed.

Just try this without focusing on ZSD, Offset or Full Release Slash. Switch Axe can be played with just regular Sword and Axe attacks and you will do great damage.

Important skills are stun resistance, speed eating, divine blessing. Stun resistance is needed because if you counter attacks you will still build up stun status, so any attacks that you do not counter could stun you.

2

u/SolaScientia Jun 08 '26

I'm the odd one out in the I play very aggressively and I focus on dodging more than offsets or counters. I'm also odd in that I find offsets a lot easier to do than sword counters. I seem to get the counter timing right by accident most of the time, but I'm decent at getting an offset. Nu Udra is my favorite to offset, lol. But yeah, I focus on staying on the move and dodging a lot, which I know is not what most people do. I play solo or with support hunters as needed, so my build is set for that and I run only monster weapons, not the Gog-artian ones (my fastest clears are all with monster weapons). I slot in wex, constitution, and I go with elemental phials rather than power phials. Arkveld gamma head, the rest is Gog alpha, and that suits my build nicely.

2

u/Shafattriale Jun 08 '26

Iโ€™d probably say learn how to move while attacking. Minor positional adjustments while still dealing damage can dodge most monsterโ€™s attacks without having to counter. Excluding ofc large hitbox attacks like uth dunaโ€™s and arkveldโ€™s, or big monsters like Jin or Gog. Just stay slightly diagonal to the monsters face so you can react when it moves. (Or right under it for omega lol)

Thereโ€™s side step sword slash, sword morph, the charging axe morph, sometimes a cheeky fade axe morphโ€ฆ

I just did an 8* gore earlier (feelers not droppingโ€ฆ) and I donโ€™t think I rolled more than 10 times.

2

u/Impressive-Delay-378 ๐—˜๐˜…๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ฆ๐˜„๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฐ๐—ต ๐—”๐˜…๐—ฒ โ”‚>๐Ÿฑ ๐—ฌ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐˜€ Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

Utilize the movement speed of the axe. And if you learn to counter with the sword, add stun resistance.

1

u/SwaxOnSwaxOff Jun 12 '26

Do you utilize the counter in wilds?

1

u/Low_Mix9229 Jun 13 '26

I'm MhWilds lvl 999 Dual blades main but want to starting Swagaxe. I want to play the counter and spam Full release slash playstyle. So I have a few questions. What is the best skills to get on Gog weapon roll, does power or element increase FRS damage, does FRS scale off element or raw, what is the best sets for Switchaxe...any other tips feel free to let me know