Great Sword Builds and Best Equipment | Monster Hunter Rise | MHR (MH Rise)

This is a guide to the best builds and equipment for Great Sword in Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise) for the Nintendo Switch. Learn about the best Great Swords, and the best Skills and Armor pieces to use with the Great Sword for Low Rank, High Rank, and endgame.

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This is a developing guide for Best Great Sword Builds & Equipment. If you have any suggestions or additional information, please comment them below!

High Rank Build: Post Game (Hub Quest 7★ Cleared)

Best Weapon

Dark of Night Takes The Top Spot

Dark of Night
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	6	180	35	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	②ーー
Rampage Skills
Attack Boost III Affinity Boost II Master Rider

Dark of Night edges out the competition and earns it spot at the top of the totem pole with its great attack rating and white sharpness.

While there are other great swords with white sharpness and even higher attack ratings, Dark of Night's relative ease to build around makes it one of the most comfortable Great Swords to use at this stage of Monster Hunter Rise.

Best Armor

Critical Great Sword

A 95% affinity build with Weakness Exploit and Latent Power total. Focus Lv. 3 is included for faster charged slashes.

Lastly, overall damage is improved via Critical Boost and Attack Boost.

Piece	Armor	Base Defense	Skills
Head	Anjanath Helm S	60	Focus Lv. 1 Slugger Lv. 1
Torso	Anjanath Mail S	60	Focus Lv. 2 Marathon Runner Lv. 1
Arms	Rathalos Braces S	62	Attack Boost Lv. 2
Waist	Skalda Elytra S / Spio Elytra S	32	Weakness Exploit Lv. 2
Legs	Golden Hakama	70	Latent Power Lv. 1 Critical Boost Lv. 2
Talisman Skill		Weakness Exploit
Decorations		Attack Boost x 2 Brace Jewel x1 Steadfast Jewel x 3

High Rank Build: Endgame (Hub Quest 6★ to 7★)

Best Weapon

Dark of Night Easily Takes You All The Way

Dark of Night
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	6	180	35	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	②ーー
Rampage Skills
Attack Boost III Affinity Boost II Master Rider

A white sharpness Greatsword with 180 Base damage and 35% affinity. A great weapon that can dish out massive raw damage and is usable against any enemies you encounter!

Abominable Great Sword is a Decent Alternative

Abominable Great Sword
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	6	230	-15	Ice 20
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	②ーー
Rampage Skills
Affinity Boost I Ice Boost III Brutal Strike

A Great Sword with a higher base damage than Dark of Night. It has a negative 15 affinity to compensate so you'll have to slot in some critical eye skills to offset the negative affinity.

Best Armor

Sheathing Great Sword

Critical Draw and Weakness Exploit increases your affinity to 105% when paired with Dark of Night. Together with Power Sheath, you'll be able to rack up tons of damage for short bursts of time.

Punishing Draw Lv. 1 is included to add stun damage to your sheathed attacks. Lastly, Critical Boost further amplifies overall damage by increasing damage from critical strikes.

Piece	Armor	Base Defense	Skills
Head	Barioth Helm S	58	Critical Draw Lv. 2
Torso	Anjanath Mail S	60	Focus Lv. 2 Marathon Runner Lv. 1
Arms	Goss Harag Braces S	64	Critical Draw Lv. 1 Punishing Draw Lv. 1
Waist	Skalda Elytra S / Spio Elytra S	32	Weakness Exploit Lv. 2
Legs	Golden Hakama	70	Latent Power Lv. 1 Critical Boost Lv. 2

High Rank Build: Late game (Hub Quest 4★ to 5★)

Best Weapon

Kamura Cleaver V is a Great High Rank Starter!

Kamura Cleaver V
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	4	150	0	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	②ーー
Rampage Skills
Affinity Boost III Defense Boost II Master Rider

Easy to craft weapon with a decent 150 damage and a blue sharpness. Enough to carry you through the Village Hub's 4 star quests.

Alternative

Colossal Axeblade
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	4	180	0	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	①①①
Rampage Skills
Defense Boost III Dulling Strike Defense Grinder I

An easy to craft Great Sword at the beginning of High Rank. Gracium and Carbalite ore can easily be obtained from mining deposits via Expedition in any High Rank maps and Gracium can be obtained from white mining points in the Frost Islands. For Axeblade II, it can be crafted by getting Monster Bone + from 4★ Large monsters like the Great Izuchi.

Best Armour

High Rank Starter

This build has vital skills such as Focus, Critical Eye, and Weakness Exploit which improve the Great Sword's overall performance in High Rank Hunts.

Piece	Armor	Base Defense	Skills
Head	Khezu Helm S	38	Focus Lv. 1 Recovery Up Lv. 1
Torso	Izuchi Mail S	36	Critical Eye Lv. 2 Recovery Speed Lv. 1
Arms	Kamura Braces S	30	Critical Eye Lv. 2 Heroics Lv. 1
Waist	Skalda Elytra S / Spio Elytra S	32	Weakness Exploit Lv. 2
Legs	Bone Greaves S	32	Focus Lv. 1 Muck Resistance Lv. 2

Low Rank Build: Mid game (Village Quest 4★ to 6★)

Best Great Swords

Gossblade I is a Base Attack Monster!

Gossblade I Stats

Gossblade I
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	3	170	-15	Ice 15
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	ーーー
Rampage Skills
Affinity Boost I Ice Boost I Brutal Strike

Gossblade I has a base attack rating of 170, one of the highest at this stage of the game. Its -15% affinity rating can be easily negated by three levels of Critical Eye as well to maximize the Gossblade's damage.

Buster Blade is an Excellent All-Rounded Great Sword

Buster Blade Stats

Buster Blade
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	3	140	0	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	ーーー
Rampage Skills
Attack Boost II Defense Boost II Silkbind Boost

Buster Blade a Great Sword with great stats across the board. It is also the next upgrade from the Buster Sword I, further solidifying the reliabilty of the Great Sword's Ore Tree.

Best Armor

Critical Draw + Critical Eye Combination

The armor combination we listed below re-introduces an old Great Sword playstyle with the help of the Critical Draw skill. This allows you to maximize your Great Sword's draw attacks by increasing the affinity of those particular attacks, improving overall mobility in the process!

Combined with Critical Eye, this offense-oriented set ensures that you dish out optimal damage across the board.

Piece	Armor	Base Defense	Skills
Head	Barioth Helm	20	Critical Draw Lv. 1
Torso	Goss Harag Mail	30	Critical Draw Lv. 1
Arms	Goss Harag Braces	30	Critical Draw Lv. 1 Punishing Draw Lv. 1
Waist	Barioth Coil	20	Critical Eye Lv. 2
Legs	Aelucanth Crura / Rhopessa Crura	24	Critical Eye Lv. 2

Low Rank Build: Early game (Village Quest 1★ to 4★)

Best Great Swords

Buster Sword I Provides Stable Crit Damage

Buster Sword I Stats

Buster Sword I
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	2	110	0	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	ーーー
Rampage Skills
Attack Boost II Affinity Boost I Defense Boost II

The Buster Sword I, along with the other Great Swords within the Ore Tree, provide great base attack damage, have neutral affinity ratings (0%) across the board, and are relatively cheap to craft compared to its peers.

These factors make these particular Great Swords one of the best and most reliable weapons at this stage of the game.

Carapace Sword II Provides High Attack Power

Carapace Sword II Stats

Carapace Sword II
	Rarity	Attack	Affinity	Elem.
	2	130	-20	- -
	Defense	Slots	Sharpness
	-	ーーー
Rampage Skills
Affinity Boost I Defense Boost II Brutal Strike

Barroth's Carapace Sword II provides amazing attack damage (130) in the early stages of the game at the cost of its -20% affinity rating.

The negative affinity rating may seem off-putting at first, but this disadvantage can be easily negated when combined with our recommended armor combination for the early game.

Best Armor

Damage Is High Priority

The Great Sword's strength lies in its ability to dish out insane amounts of damage with its slow, but strong attacks. In light of this, we want to make the most out of each swing of this behemoth of a weapon type!

The armor combination we recommend below prioritizes the Critical Eye skill to amplify the Great Sword's high base attack, providing its wearer the most bang for every buck.

You can start with the full Izuchi Set for starters since most of its pieces provide Critical Eye. Defense is not an issue in 1★ to 4★ quests so prioritize pumping out as much damage as possible!

Piece	Armor	Base Defense	Skills
Head	Izuchi Helm	10	Critical Eye Lv. 1
Torso	Izuchi Mail	10	Critical Eye Lv. 1 Recovery Speed Lv. 1
Arms	Barioth Vambraces	20	Critical Eye Lv. 1
Waist	Barioth Coil	20	Critical Eye Lv. 2
Legs	Ingot Greaves	18	Attack Boost Lv. 1 Critical Eye Lv. 1

Best Skills for Great Sword

Monster Hunter Rise Related Links

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Hammer	Hunting Horn	Lance	Gunlance
Switch Axe	Charge Blade	Insect Glaive	Bow
Light Bowgun	Heavy Bowgun

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