Monster Hunter World (MHW)

Best Skills for Lances

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Lance Skill Recommendations
This is a guide about the best skills for Lances. Read on to know which skills to look out for when making a Lance build and why.

Offensive Skills

Recommendations
Affinity Skills Agitator Partbreaker
Elemental Attack Skills Attack Boost

Critical Eye, Critical Boost, Weakness Exploit

Affinity Trinity.png
Affinity skills are great ways in increasing the overall damage of a weapon.

Weakness Exploit, in particular, pairs very well with the Lance due to its efficiency in abusing a monster's weak spots.

Agitator

Agitator.png
The introduction of the Clutch Claw made the Agitator Skill a community staple when making builds. When active, Agitator grants hunters +20 attack and affinity by 10% at level five. (levels six and seven are unlocked via the Agitator Secret Skill.)

The Clutch Claw, specifically its Flinch Shot Attack, gave hunters the ability to enrage the monster whenever the opportunity presents itself. This gave hunters a way to maintain their Agitator's up-time.

Partbreaker

Partbreaker.png
Lances are efficient part-breaking weapons! Partbreaker increases Part Damage by 30% at level three is a perfect compliment to the Lance's accuracy and playstyle.

Partbreaker's damage increase does NOT reflect in floating damage numbers.

Elemental Attack Skills

Elemental Attack Skills.png
Lances are great at exploiting a monster's elemental weakness. Hunters may invest in Elemental Attack Sklls (Fire Attack, Water Attack, Ice Attack, Thunder Attack, Dragon Attack) to increase their overall damage.

Attack Boost

Attack Boost.png
Attack Boost may be outperformed by the other skills in this list, but it is always worthy of consideration when met with an abundance of vacant slots.

Defensive Skills

Recommendations
Guard Guard Up Offensive Guard
Evade Extender Health Boost

Guard

Guard.png
This is the most important skill in a Lance's build. Guard greatly reduces the impact of monster attacks and stamina cost when blocking at level five.

This allows hunters to stand their ground and remain in the thick of the fight in most scenarios.

Guard Up

Guard Up.png
Undoubtebly a favorite of blocking hunters. The Guard Up Skill allows hunters to block otherwise unblockable attacks from monsters.

Offensive Guard

Offensive Guard.png
This skill is recommended for hunters that like to turn their defense into offense. Offensive Guard increases a hunter's attack by 15% at level three after executing a perfectly-timed guard. The buff only lasts for a few seconds after impact.

This is particularly effective with Lances because they can parry monster attacks with ease.

Evade Extender

Evade Extender.png
Evade Extender caters to hunters who want to improve the Lance's hops while unsheathed. This skill greatly increases the distance covered by dodge rolls and Lance hops at level three.

Health Boost

Health Boost.png
It never hurts to pump up one's HP! Health Boost increases a hunter's Health by 50 at level three, making it a solid addition to any build - especially early on in the game.

Utility Skills

Recommendations
Mind's Eye/Ballistics Protective Polish

Mind's Eye/Ballistics

Mind
Lance attacks can deflect off a monster's hide when thick enough. Hunters who find this an issue may add Mind's Eye/Ballistics to their builds.

Protective Polish

Protective Polish.png
Hunters who have sharpness issues with their Lances can invest in Protective Polish. This skill applies a protective coating around the weapon after sharpening, preventing sharpness loss for a certain amount of time.

Speed Sharpening

Speed Sharpening.png
Speed Sharpening is another skill to consider when facing sharpness issues with Lances. This skill removes three cycles of the sharpening animation at level three.

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