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Monster Hunter World (MHW)

Best Skills for Each Weapon (Updated for Iceborne)

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This is a guide to the best skills to equip for each weapon in Monster Hunter World (MHW) Iceborne. Read on to check all the best for each weapons and why!

List of Contents

Best Skills for Each Weapon Type

Best Skills Guides
Charge Blade IconCharge Blade Dual Blades IconDual Blades Long Sword IconLong Sword Sword and Shield IconSword & Shield
Switch Axe IconSwitch Axe Insect Glaive IconInsect Glaive Hunting Horn IconHunting Horn Great Sword IconGreat Sword
Lance IconLance Gunlance IconGunlance Hammer IconHammer Bow IconBow
Heavy Bowgun IconHeavy Bowgun Light Bowgun IconLight Bowgun

Generally Great Skills for all Weapons

Best Meta Skills
Agitator * Weakness Exploit
Critical Boost Attack Boost
Health Boost Coalescence*
Free Meal* Tool Specialist*
Partbreaker* Evade Window*

Skills with * will be discussed below.

Agitator

The flinch shot is one of Iceborne's greatest addition. It allows hunters to make monsters run towards walls which greatly damages them and knocks them down. This, in turn, greatly enrages them which is where the agitator skill comes into play. It allows hunters to turn this otherwise, disadvantegous situation, into an additional stat boost.

Coalsescence

With the new monsters that arrived in the Iceborne Expansion pack, Blight became a daily thing. Most monsters now are capable of dealing ailments and a quick nulberry can turn these blights into offensive stats by using Coalescence.

Free Meal

The Free Meal skill may seem underwhelming but level it up to 3 via its secret allows you to snack on Max Potions and Ancient Potions like candy. This also opens up other possible builds like builds focused on Peak Performance.

Tool Specialist

With the new secret that increases the level of Tool Specialist, maintaining near permanent uptime of mantles is now realistically possible. It allows you to don the best mantles making your hunter's offensive and defensive abilities skyrocket.

Partbreaker

Partbreaker became a staple skill in Iceborne. With the addition of the Clutchclaw and the ability to wound monsters, breaking monster parts has never been more rewarding. Breaking parts of certain monsters will also weaken them which makes the partbreaker skill more valuable.

Evade Window

A maxed Evade Window can nearly double your invulnerabilit time when dodging. For dodge savvy hunters, this allows you to ignore a great deal of monster's disabling attacks such as tremors, roars, and lethal attacks with just 5 skill points.

Sharpness Protecting Skills

Skills such as Handicraft, Master's Touch, and True Razor Sharp are valuable for melee weapons. Take them if you wish to maintain those white/purple sharpness.

Best Skills For Each Weapon

The skills listed below are skills that would work particularly well with the weapon and is also not yet mentioned in the best skills section above. It's highly recommended to get a mix of both list when making your own armor build with the given skills.

Weapon TypeSkill List
Great Sword Skills Focus, Guard Up, Offensive Guard, Critical Draw
Long Sword Skills Punishing Draw, Maximum Might, Protective Polish/Master's Touch/True Razor Sharp,
Sword And Shield Skills True/Critical Element, Wide-Range, Free Meal (lvl 3, Evade Extender, Guard, Guard Up, sharpness protecting skills.
Dual Blades Skills Critical Element (true), Marathon Runner, Elemental Attack skill, Sharpness protecting skills, Constitution, Item Prolonger/Free Meal, Evade Extender
Hammer Skills Airborne, Slugger (lvl 1), Focus. Mind's Eye/Ballistics
Lance Skills Offensive Guard, Guard Up, Guard, Partbreaker, Evade Extender, Resentment, Constitution
Gunlance Skills Offensive Guard,Guard, Guard Up, Artillery, Evade Extender, Resentment, Capacity Boost, Constitution
Switch Axe Skills Power Prolonger, Divine Blessing, Focus, Mind's Eye/Ballistics
Charge Blade Skills Elemental Boost Skills (for elemental phials), Offensive Guard, Guard, Guard Up, Power Prolonger, Capacity Boost
Insect Glaive Skills Clutch Claw Boost, Partbreaker, Flinch Free
Light Bowgun Skills True Razor Sharp/Spare Shot, Free Elem/Ammo Up, DIvine Blessing, Evade Extender, Artillery, Shot skills, Special Ammo Boost
Heavy Bowgun Skills Shot skills, Special Ammo Boost, Free Elem/Ammo Up, Artillery, Guard, Guard Up,
Bow Skills Marathon Runner, Stamina Surge, Constitution, Bow Charge Plus, Spread/Power Shots, Piercing Shots, Evade Extender

MHW Related Links

List of All Skills

Skills Banner New.png

List of All Skills and New Skills

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