In Monster Hunter games, monsters can have a lot of health. In Sunbreak, with the advent of afflicted monsters, this is truer than ever. An equally massive weapon is required against such massive hit-point pools, and no weapon is more suited for dealing significant damage than the mighty Great Sword.
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When putting together the best Great Sword build, there are many things to consider, but one overarching question must be kept in mind: what does the most damage? In Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, there is one answer to this question: Strongarm Stance, the Great Sword’s new counter Switch Skill that turns devastating attacks from monsters into devastating attacks against them. This guide will explain how exactly it works and how players can build around it.
Concept: The Build Goal
To understand what the best Great Sword build looks like, one must first understand what it needs. Strongarm Stance is the Great Sword’s quickest avenue to dishing out the most damage, so the build should revolve around that. The necessary skills range from the usual suspects (Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, Weakness Exploit, Dereliction) to more niche skills that benefit Strongarm Stance in particular (Offensive Guard, Resentment, Chain Crit).
Supporting skills like Wirebug Whisperer and Stun Resistance are also essential in this build. Strongarm Stance is very wirebug hungry, so having a third wirebug goes a long way, and Wirebug Whisperer helps maintain that third wirebug. Strongarm Stance is also a single-hit counter, and any additional attacks may stun you, ending the counterattack before it even starts. As such, Stun Resistance is excellent for any rogue decoration slots.
Weapon: Fine Kamura Cleaver
When determining the best MHR weapon, several factors present themselves: raw attack power, affinity, sharpness, available decoration slots, and available rampage slots. Naturally, the more a weapon has of these factors, the better it is. However, to be in the running for the best weapon, it must also have at minimum a 2nd level rampage decoration slot since the 5% damage boost from the Anti-Dragon rampage jewel is too important to pass up.
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With those criteria, one great sword emerges above the rest: the Fine Kamura Cleaver, the final upgrade of the Kamura Cleaver I branch. With 330 raw attack, more than enough purple sharpness, and plenty of slots, this weapon is a no-nonsense answer to the problem of monsters having too much health.
Head: Lunagaron Helm
The Lunagaron Helm provides many of the skills that the build needs to defeat the most challenging bosses in Monster Hunter Rise. It comes with two levels in Critical Eye and the one required level in Wirebug Whisperer, and the two additional 2nd level slots allow for other essential skills to be slotted in as decorations.
Defensively, the Lunagaron Helm grants 130 defense fully upgraded, alongside excellent Ice resistance in exchange for a hefty weakness to Fire. Many Lunagaron hunts will be in store for hunters who wish to acquire this armor piece. On top of the other materials required to craft it, it also needs a Lunagaron Frost Jewel, which has meager chances of dropping in a typical hunt.
Chest: Archfiend Armor Baulo
The chest piece from the final boss, the Archfiend Armor Baulo has a host of powerful skills this build can benefit from significantly. One level in Weakness Exploit is always helpful. Additionally, one level each in Resentment and Chain Crit grant several significant increases to damage that work excellently with Strongarm Stance. Some damage bleeds through the counter, ensuring the hunter constantly has red health to activate Resentment, and Chain Crit boosts damage from successive hits, such as the True Charged Strike that the counter leads into.
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The Archfiend Armor Baulo also grants one 2nd and 3rd level slot for additional skills. On top of an excellent 138 defense, the Archfiend Armor Baulo also provides solid Water and Ice resistance but a blisteringly low Dragon resistance.
Arms: Barroth Vambraces X
The Barroth armor has many excellent skills for such a low-tier monster, and no piece of its armor is as stacked as the arms. Two levels of Attack Boost and one level in Offensive Guard provide three essential skills for this set. The arms also come with Affinity Sliding, granting a tremendous 30% affinity boost for 30 seconds after sliding.
On top of that, it comes with one 1st and one 2nd level slot for different skills and an extra level in Spread Up (that can be potentially replaced for better skills in the upcoming title update). Being a lower-tier armor piece, Barroth Vambraces X only grants 122 and has low defense and negative elemental resistances. However, the multitude of offensive skills it provides more than make up for its poor defensive potential.
Waist: Squire’s Belt X
The Knight Squire set is Fiorayne’s armor set, unlocked for crafting by completing her MR2 Follower quests, An Audience with the Queen (hunting a Rathian), and Flicker in the Night (hunting a Tobi Kadachi). Doing so is worth the effort because Squire’s Belt X fits perfectly into this build: one level in Weakness Exploit, Critical Boost, and Offensive Guard, alongside a valuable 3rd level decoration slot, is excellent overall.
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Despite a relatively lackluster 116 defense, Squire’s Belt X comes with positive elemental resistances across the board, making up for the set’s otherwise lackluster elemental protection. In addition, Squire’s Belt X is relatively easy to craft once unlocked, requiring no scarce materials.
Legs: Archfiend Armor Sceros
The last piece of the build is the Archfiend Armor Sceros, the leg armor from the final boss’ armor set. This piece comes with another level of Resentment and one level in Dereliction (a skill that boosts a hunter’s attack power by 25 at the cost of slowly dealing damage to the hunter), as well as one 4th level and two 2nd level decoration slots for even more powerful skills.
Dereliction can be dangerous for inexperienced hunters, but there is an alternative: Ingot Greaves X, which provides two levels in both Attack Boost and Critical Eye. The total set attack will be 60 lower (920 Dereliction, against 860 without), but survivability comes first; after all, a difference in 60 total attack power makes much less difference in hunting times than a cart.
Talisman and Decorations
Once every armor piece is collected, all that remains are the talismans and decoration slots. To achieve the highest damage possible, the following additional skills are needed: five levels of Attack Boost, five levels of Critical Boost, two levels in Critical Eye, one level in Offensive Guard, one level in Resentment, and one level in Tenderizer.
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To achieve this with the available slots, a talisman with the capacity to provide four necessary skills is required; the best talisman to accomplish this has three levels of either Attack Boost or Critical Eye and a decoration slot of 2nd level or higher. To top off the set, the Anti-Dragon rampage jewel is the best choice for the weapon’s rampage slot, and the remaining 1st level slot on Barroth Vambraces X can be used to slot in a quality-of-life decoration like Stun Resistance.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is available on Nintendo Switch and PC.
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