Great Sword Guide
Great Sword begins with a wager: where will the monster be when the blade lands? That read tells you whether to release the charge, preserve it with Tackle, meet the attack with Offset Rising Slash, or block with a Perfect Guard that may lead to a Power Clash. A deliberate True Charged Slash rewards the prediction when its first hit places the stronger second hit on the intended part.
These answers solve different problems. A blade guard stops the incoming attack. Tackle lets you absorb it without abandoning the charge route. Offset must collide with an eligible monster attack, so it rewards a read made before the swing arrives. Focus Strike: Perforate is a separate commitment: it bursts a wound, can keep striking while held, and opens a route back to True Charged Slash.
This guide reflects Title Update 4. Detailed weapon controls are in the in-game Hunter's Notes; the official manual covers the general controls. Combat Mechanics explains why the same swing hits for different numbers. The Motion Values page lists every move.
If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.
Charge
Charged Slash, Strong Charged Slash, and True Charged Slash are successive attacks in the ground route. Each has Lv 1, Lv 2, and Lv 3 charges, and the listed motion values rise at each level. Hold for Lv 3 only when the opening permits it. Holding past Lv 3 overcharges the attack and lowers its damage; there is no fourth level. shortens the time needed to reach those levels.
True Charged Slash has a small first hit followed by the main hit. Connect the first hit on a part to turn the second into Power. If the first hit misses, the second still lands without Power. Focus Mode turns a charging slash toward the monster, so you can correct your aim if it moves without starting the charge again.
Tackle spends stamina to withstand an attack without knockback. When you cancel a charge into Tackle, the next charged attack begins at the next stage: Charged Slash → Tackle → Strong Charged Slash, or Strong Charged Slash → Tackle → True Charged Slash. Using Tackle twice therefore advances the route to True Charged Slash. This is useful when the monster attacks during your route and you have enough health and stamina to accept the trade. If the opening will end first, release the charged attack you can land rather than treating True Charged Slash as the only worthwhile result.
Offset Rising Slash
Offset must meet an eligible monster attack. Begin charging before the attack arrives, then release so the slash collides with it. Success comes from that clash of swings, not from holding the charge while the monster hits you. After a successful Offset Rising Slash, use Follow-up Cross Slash. Its two hits inherit the Offset charge level, and their listed motion values rise with it. Continue to True Charged Slash only if the resulting opening is long enough. An ordinary hit with Offset Rising Slash does not unlock the special follow-up.
Perfect Guard
Guard with the blade and time the block to use Perfect Guard → True Charged Slash. A Perfect Guard against some heavy attacks can start a Power Clash. Qualifying guards build toward a clash, so the opportunity is a consequence of repeated defense rather than every Perfect Guard. activates from a properly timed blade guard, not from Tackle or Offset. After blocking, return to the charge route only if the monster's recovery leaves time for it.
If the next attack is a multi-hit string, Perfect Guard the last readable hit instead of the first. Catching the opener can leave you recovering into the rest of the combo with no time for True Charged Slash.
Focus Strike: Perforate
Focus Strike: Perforate is the Great Sword Focus Strike, and it can be charged. Hold the attack to keep the blade in the wound for repeated hits before the finisher. Its listed motion values rise with charge level, and holding it adds the repeated hits. Bursting the wound can topple the monster and enables an immediate route to True Charged Slash. Take that follow-up when the topple or recovery actually holds the target in reach.
Release early if the wound starts to leave reach mid-hold. Completing a long Perforate into empty air spends the Focus Strike without the topple you needed for True Charged Slash.
Fight loop
When the monster gives you a long, uncontested opening, use Charged Slash → Strong Charged Slash → True Charged Slash. For a shorter opening, release the current slash at the charge level that will connect. Use Focus Mode to correct the direction, but do not mistake steering for extra time.
When the monster attacks before you finish, choose the response that preserves your route. Against an eligible attack, prepare Offset and release it into the swing. A successful Offset Rising Slash places the monster in range for Follow-up Cross Slash, followed by True Charged Slash if the opening remains. If the incoming hit is unsuitable for Offset, use Tackle, keep charging, and continue to True Charged Slash. When you can time a blade guard against the attack, use Perfect Guard and punish with the charged attack that fits the recovery. These routes create opportunities for True Charged Slash; they do not guarantee enough time to complete one.
At the start of the hunt, choose a part you can continue to reach instead of chasing whichever wound is newest. Against Chatacabra, the head is a stable sever target and the exposed tongue takes still more sever damage. Burst a wound with Focus Strike: Perforate when its follow-up will keep your blade on that part.
During a knockdown that will last for the full route, use Charged Slash → Strong Charged Slash → Power True Charged Slash. Land the first hit on the part to empower the second, then begin charging again. Use Focus Strike: Perforate on a remaining wound when the burst and its immediate True Charged Slash route fit better than restarting from Charged Slash.
Skills
Build for the charge route you actually use. Damage skills matter only when their conditions are active, while defensive choices should answer the attacks that end your charges or make Tackle trades unsafe. Eat before every hunt. Getting Started explains meals and pouch preparation. Combat Mechanics explains wounds, , and the two skill budgets.
Build priorities
| Offensive (weapon) | Why |
|---|---|
| Shortens charge time, which lets a fixed opening reach a higher level or release earlier. | |
| Raises the payoff from a critical True Charged Slash in proportion to actual affinity. | |
| and | Raise affinity and Attack respectively. Choose between them from the complete set rather than assuming either always wins. |
| Keep a useful sharpness color | Dropping a sharpness color lowers the damage multiplier. Budget enough sharpness or maintenance for the number of attacks and blade guards you use. |
| Offensive (armor) | Why |
|---|---|
| Adds affinity on a part with a raw hitzone of at least 45. At Lv 5, a wound on that qualifying part adds another 20%. | |
| Raises Attack and affinity while the monster is enraged. |
| Defensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Eat before every hunt | Use the meal's health and stamina before deciding that the set itself is too fragile. |
| Armor upgrades | Raise Defense before spending skill slots to compensate for under-upgraded armor. |
| 20 elemental resistance | Use this threshold when preventing the matching elemental blight matters to the hunt. |
| Can reduce damage when you choose to accept a hit during a committed charge. | |
| Lv 3 | Prevents stun when accepted hits make it a recurring reason that the charge route ends. |
In a group, use when your attacks interrupt teammates or theirs interrupt you. It has no teammate interaction to solve in solo play.
The following skills are often useful but not required:
| Skill | Why | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Activates after a timed Perfect Guard, but not after Tackle or Offset. | Weapon | |
| Raises Attack while health is full; any unrecovered damage disables it. | Armor | |
| Adds affinity while stamina is full. Charging allows stamina to recover, but Tackle and rolls spend it; use this only when your usual route restores stamina before the main hit. | Armor | |
| Shortens the time needed to sheathe and disengage; it does not shorten charge time. | Armor | |
| Temporarily raises damage after you recover from a blight or abnormal status. | Armor | |
| Adds affinity after its activation condition is met, so its uptime follows that condition rather than the part you hit. | Armor | |
| Speeds part breaks and tail severs; it does not increase damage to the monster's health. | Armor | |
| Raises Attack and Defense after a faint; it helps recover a hunt rather than defining the build. | Armor |
Keep a color
Pick one sharpness-management skill on the weapon. is available without a set bonus and becomes more effective as affinity rises.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adds sharpness when the gauge is not already full. | |
| Prevents sharpness loss on critical hits. | |
| Prevents sharpness loss for a fixed time after you sharpen. | |
| Reduces average sharpness consumption. | |
| Shortens sharpening, but an interruption forces you to restart the whetstone sequence. |
Comfort
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Increases the health restored by healing items. | |
| Shortens the time spent drinking. | |
| The red portion of the health bar returns faster. | |
| Adds Defense after the armor itself has been upgraded. | |
| Prevents blights when the matching elemental resistance cannot reach 20. | |
| Survive one qualifying lethal hit; the next hit can still make you faint. | |
| Shortens the recharge time of mantles and other specialized tools. | |
| Prevents the roars covered by the equipped level from cancelling a held charge. | |
| / | reduces knockback and stamina loss. lets the blade block certain attacks that are normally unblockable. Use them only if you often guard with the blade; Tackle still keeps the charge. |
| Extends a roll before Tackle; check whether the new endpoint keeps the intended part in range. | |
| Sometimes uses a consumable without removing it from the pouch. |
Styles
The listed Great Sword motions use standard 1.0 elemental multipliers, including the charged ground route. Compare a weapon's complete Attack, affinity, element, sharpness, slots, and skills rather than choosing from element alone.
| Style | Skills |
|---|---|
| Draw | applies to qualifying draw attacks, not to every True Charged Slash. |
This hunt
These skills answer specific matchup problems. Add one only when its condition occurs often enough in the hunt to change your charge opportunities.
| Skill | When |
|---|---|
| Prevents tremors from cancelling a charge preserved through Tackle. | |
| Prevents wind pressure from cancelling a charge in the same situation. | |
| Creates wounds faster, which extends access to the extra 20% affinity from while wounds last. | |
| Raises Attack while a blight or abnormal status is active; use it only when you expect that condition to persist. | |
| Makes a flash more effective against a flying monster, helping create a True Charged Slash opening. | |
| Raises barrel-bomb damage in a planned sleep setup. It does not change the motion value of the Great Sword wake-up hit. | |
| Makes the monster more likely to target you, which can keep the intended part in front of True Charged Slash but changes its attention in a group. | |
| Use it when oilsilt would otherwise cancel a charge. |
A hunt can also justify , , , , , or when the matching ailment repeatedly interrupts the charge route.
Common build traps
- does not activate from Tackle or Offset.
- Use Focus Strike: Perforate when bursting the wound creates a follow-up you can place, not merely because the wound exists.
- changes damage under its condition, but it does not change the part's hitzone. Compare that part with the reachable alternatives.
- Holding past Lv 3 causes overcharge rather than reaching a fourth charge level.
- does not affect a ground True Charged Slash.
- requires a slide, so it contributes only when your route and terrain produce that activation.
- serves a mounting plan; it does not improve the grounded charge route.
- is a conditional Attack bonus, not stamina management. It does not make rolls or Tackle cheaper.
Settings
Focus Mode lets you aim and turn a charge. Set automatic sheathe to Manual when you want explicit control over whether the next input continues the drawn-weapon route or begins the draw style.
If the head drifts while you hold a charge, raise or pan the camera before you release. A low view clipped into the body makes it harder to keep True Charged Slash on the stun zone instead of the neck or chest.