Yet Another Weapon Guide - Long Sword
Adept Style
Valor Style
If you want to play a weapon that can pack a punch but also has good mobility, then Long Sword is for you. Long Sword has the power to empower itself through its Spirit Combos and gracefully move around the enemy with Fade Slashes! Also, let’s be honest, you want to be a weeb if you want to play Long Sword. DON’T LIE. WE ALL KNOW. It’s basically a requirement to play Long Sword.
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This guide is meant for new players of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (MHGU) or for players who haven’t played Blademaster in the old-school games, and wish to play as Long Sword. Note that this guide will not assume any prior knowledge, regardless of games played before in the Monster Hunter series.
This guide will contain a comprehensive guide on Long Sword controls, commentary on LS styles and combinations, recommendations on progression LSs, and a final note on matchups against all monsters in the game.
Two Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art). Use Fade Slashes to lead into Spirit Combos, extend your Spirit Combos, and more!
Guild Style’s main draw is the ability to Spirit Slash directly from Fade Slashes, as well as the ability to increase Spirit Gauge color with Spirit Roundslash without any caveats. There’s a lot of ways to cheat out faster Spirit Combos with Guild, such as from off a ledge or after a Fade Slash, so experiment.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Dragonball Z Power-Up Sequence
(loop) X, X, A, (end loop)
(loop) Overhead Slash -> Overhead Slash II -> Thrust (end loop)
The basic way to charge up your Spirit Gauge. Did you know that attacking softer parts increases your Spirit Gauge more?
Subs > Dubs
With Spirit: R, R, R, R
Spirit Slash I -> Spirit Slash II -> Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash
The essential, fastest way to level up your Spirit Gauge. Remember that you can only do this with long enough openings.
GLORIOUS NIPPON STEEL, FOLDED OVER 1000 TIMES
With Spirit: R, X, R, X, R, R
Spirit Slash I -> Mid-Spirit Thrust -> Spirit Slash II -> Spirit Rising Slash -> Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash.
The extended Spirit Roundslash Combo. This variant is useful if you don’t have enough Spirit Gauge for the full combo but the monster is downed.
Baka Gaijin
With Spirit: X, Left/Right + X + A, R, X, R, R
Spirit Slash I -> Side Fade Slash -> Rushing Spirit Slash -> Spirit Rising Slash -> Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash.
A simple post Fade Slash combo. Try linking to this from other combos!
3 Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art). Can’t Side Fade Slash nor can you go into a Spirit Slash from a Fade Slash, but grants you an additional HA slot.
Striker Style may remove some utility but grants you infinitely more power in the additional HA slot. With that slot you can run one of the other two noteworthy LS Arts. You also lose some mobility from the Side Fade Slashes, but the standard Fade Slashes should suffice for most fights.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Omoe wa moe shindieru
X, X, A, X, X + A
Overhead Slash -> Overhead Slash II -> Thrust -> Overhead Slash -> Fade Slash.
A slightly more advanced way to charge Spirit quickly. This combo also applies to Guild. Fade Slashes can be useful, depending on your prediction skills.
Moshi moshi motherfucker desu
With Spirit: X, R, R, R, R
Overhead Slash -> Spirit Slash I -> Spirit Slash II -> Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash.
The typical Spirit Roundslash Combo, but with X to start up the combo. Useful for gapclosing. Be sure to stop the combo short if the monster’s gonna move.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Removes your ability to perform Spirit Slashes on the ground but in exchange lets you perform faster Spirit Combos starting in midair.
Aerial Style forces you to hop off of monsters to gain access to your Spirit Slashes again, which is more frustrating than you think in practice. Sure you can spam a lot of Spirit Slashes mid-air, but spamming doesn’t necessarily mean more damage. Furthermore, this is hampered by requiring you to get at least White Spirit Gauge before you can really ramp up your Spirit Gauge, but once you do you can maintain your Spirit Gauge relatively easily, so much so that you’ll sometimes need to before normal attacks to regain Spirit again.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Am I Kawaii Yet?
Before obtaining White Spirit Gauge, with Spirit: (Boost Jump) R, R, R, R
Boost Jump -> Aerial Spirit Slash I -> Spirit Slash II -> Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash.
The main way you’ll get up to White Spirit Gauge. This combo is extremely long, so you’ll have to wait until the monster is downed, most likely from your mounts, in order to initiate it.
Nani The Fuck Is This
After obtaining White Spirit Gauge, with Spirit: (Boost Jump) R, R
Boost Jump -> Aerial Spirit Slash III -> Spirit Roundslash.
After you get White Spirit Gauge, this is the combo that you’ll be performing. This style has extremely good Spirit Gauge maintenance, so long as you can reliably land the Roundslash.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Cannot perform Spirit Roundslashes or normal Fade Slashes, but lets you counterattack and gain Spirit Gauge boosts easily, as long as you dodge incoming attacks!
Bushido Style can make it easy to get to and maintain high Spirit Gauge, so long as you dodge attacks quickly, and can aim the Spirit Reckoning attack. Note that the only part that counts towards leveling your Spirit Gauge is the second hit on Spirit Reckoning, so if you can’t land that, you can’t level your gauge.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Your waifu is trash
With Spirit: Bushido Dodge, X, R
Bushido Dodge -> Bushido Cut-In -> Spirit Reckoning.
The most common way you’ll level and maintain your Spirit Gauge. Remember, only the second hit of Spirit Reckoning counts towards your level up, so make sure that you’ll at least hit something with it.
[Insert Waifu] Is Best Girl
Bushido Dodge, X, X, X, X, A
Bushido Dodge -> Bushido Cut-In -> Rising Slash -> Overhead Slash I -> Overhead Slash II -> Thrust.
A combo for charging up Spirit on Bushido LS. This can lead into your typical combos.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Literally become a god when you enter Brave State by Guard Pointing everything that comes your way.
In any state:
Outside of Brave State:
While in Brave State:
Brave Style literally lets you become a god while you’re in Brave State. Simply press R to attain true godhood and prevent yourself from taking any damage, so long as you can guard the attack normally. Oh, and some people may say that the GP lasts a short time but don’t listen to them. Just press R and it’ll be okay.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
THIS IS THE POWER OF MY STANDO
Y, then X, X, X
Brave Sheathe -> Brave Roundslash -> Overhead Slash -> Overhead Slash II.
The basic Spirit charging combo for Brave LS. Charges both your Spirit Gauge and your Valor Gauge.
STAR PLATINUM
Y, then Left/Right + X + A, A, X, X
Brave Sheathe -> Brave Fade Slash -> Thrust -> Rising Slash -> Overhead Slash.
A slightly different variant of the above which uses the Fade Slash to reposition yourself. Useful for those mobile boys.
ORA ORA ORA
With Spirit: Y, then R, R
Brave Sheathe -> Spirit Slash I -> Spirit Slash II.
If you have Spirit but not Valor State, then execute this combo to charge it up faster.
ZA WARUDO
While in Brave State: R, then after landing the counter, R, R
Brave Spirit Slash I -> Brave Counter -> Brave Spirit Slash III -> Brave Reckoning Slash.
The typical post Brave GP combo. Landing it will give you faster access to the finisher, so you better land it.
MUDA MUDA MUDA
While in Brave State: (loop) R, then after landing the counter, X, (end loop)
(loop) Brave Spirit Slash I -> Brave Counter -> Rising Slash (end loop)
This combo is for countering consecutive attacks. You will have to interrupt your combo for this, so that attack better not come in at too fast of intervals.
3 Hunter Art slots (3 SP Arts). Moves Fade Slashes to the A button and makes you perform the infinite combo with X, and lets you use the Alchemy Barrel.
Alchemy Style really puts the restrictions on your moveset, but makes your basic combo really obvious, just mash X. Access to 3 HAs is good, but you won’t be using SP Mode much, except on Absolute Readiness, since you want those HAs up ASAP.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
People Die When They Are Killed
(loop) X, X, X (end loop)
(loop) Overhead Slash -> Overhead Slash II -> Thrust (end loop)
The typical Spirit charging combo for Alchemy. It’s nice to have a one-button infinite combo, right?
TL Note: ‘Keikaku’ Means ‘Plan’
(loop) X, A, X, A (end loop)
(loop) Overhead Slash -> Side Fade Slash -> Overhead Slash -> Side Fade Slash (end loop).
An alternative combo that uses the Fade Slashes assigned to A.
The style hierarchy is USE BRAVE ALSO DON’T FAIL THE COUNTER OTHERWISE YOU’LL DIE IN A POOL OF YOUR OWN TEARS WHILE EVERYONE ELSE IS LAUGHING AT YOU
cough
Anyway Brave > Guild/Striker > Bushido > Aerial/Alchemy, because Guard Points leading into 51 MV instant counters are a totally balanced gameplay mechanic when you combine them with immortality when you press Y. Striker because LS arts are great, Guild because it’s more flexible and still allows you to take two HAs. Bushido wins out over the last two because despite the nerf, you still hit pretty hard. Alchemy is slower paced than Striker and loses Rushing Slash out of Fade Slash, while Aerial really needs a good opening to get started.
Puts all of your weeb energy into your blade, then slices forward twice. Through sheer force of weeb, slashes that connected will attack with followup slashes a few moments later. Landing hits with this HA automatically raises your Spirit Gauge level by one, but only once per use.
HA Ranku | To Charge | Total Damage |
I | 670 (1004 SP) | 10 + 10 + 40 + 40 = 100% / 4 hits |
II | 750 (1100 SP) | 10 + 10 + 40 + 20 + 40 + 20 = 140% / 6 hits |
III | 830 (1196 SP) | 10 + 10 + 40 + 15 + 15 + 40 + 15 + 15 = 160% / 8 hits |
桜花気刃斬, cough, sorry, Sakura Slash is a great HA overall, packing both damage and utility. Simply landing one of the wide-range slashes on any monster will instantly level your Spirit Gauge, letting you, say, perform a Spirit Roundslash and canceling that into this HA. Or, if you don’t have the time to perform a full Spirit Combo, you can just pop this and level up your gauge, or more often, maintain Red Spirit. You can also use this on Brave LS to get White Spirit while you don’t have Brave Mode… for some reason?
Pent up weeb energy inside of yourself, then exclaim that someone’s your waifu, and unleash a forward Spirit Slash. For the duration of the HA, you’ll have infinite Spirit Gauge and you won’t lose the active effect of the Spirit Gauge either.
HA Rank | To Charge | Duration |
I | 420 (704 SP) | 30 seconds |
II | 500 (800 SP) | 60 |
III | 580 (896 SP) | 90 |
The opening slash of this HA can chain into the rest of the Spirit Combo, and has the same MV as Spirit Slash I - 28% damage.
Unhinged Spirit’s usefulness relies on how often the monster leaves itself open, which… isn’t much of the time admittedly. Still, this HA has its uses, like spamming Spirit Slashes on Alchemy LS to charge the gauge quickly or on Aerial LS to ignore the high consumption of Spirit.
Defend your choice of subs vs. dubs, then raise your sword in a direction. If an attack connects that you can block, counter attack instantly.
HA Rank | To Charge | Damage |
I | 1080 (1496 SP) | 100% |
II | 1170 (1604 SP) | 140% |
III | 1250 (1700 SP) | 180% |
Critical Juncture is super-effective against most monsters in the game. However, you should know that if there are multiple parts to the attack, you’ll counter but then get hit by the additional effect. For that reason you should strive to block non-multiple part attacks. Oh and make sure to actually face the direction of the attack, otherwise you’ll get hit out of your counter animation.
Give in to your weeb rage after seeing a bad anime tier list during a brief animation. After it, for a while afterwards, your health will drain over time, but your Attack will increase and your attacks will recover a portion of your red health instantly.
HA Rank | To Charge | Duration | Effect |
I | 670 (1004 SP) | 75 seconds | +10% Attack, 1 Health Drain / 1.5s |
II | 750 (1100 SP) | 60 | +20% Attack, 2 Health Drain / 1.25s |
III | 830 (1196 SP) | 45 | +30% Attack, 2 Health Drain / 1s |
Restores 12(ish) recoverable Health per hit.
A good HA, were it not for the really short effect time. I assume that’s to prevent excessive damage increases, but it just comes off as ineffectual. If you do use this HA, try to use it before the monster will go down from, say, a mount or while it’s para’d.
G L O R I O U S N I P P O N S T E E L is the only LS you should use because there is no compare. Nippon steel is harder, sturdier, and creates a sharper edge that only true weebs can appreciate, you filthy gaijin. ONLY USE THE IRON KATANA, THE YUKUMO LONG SWORD, THE EAGER CLEAVER, OR AIKUCHI, OR ELSE I WILL BE DISAPPOINT.
Low Rank (Village 1-6*, Hub 1-3*)
The classic progression recommendation, Petrified Saber is the basic LS you get at the beginning of the game. Doesn’t have Green Sharpness until level 4, but is serviceable enough until you get to Village 3*.
The Great Maccao LS has a tiny bit of Green, but is good enough to get you through Village 2*. Easy to make, though you’ll drop it after this.
The Iron Katana crests a bit here from Village 2 up to Village 4 thanks to its Green Sharpness length.
The Mizutsune LS has none of the strengths of the previous two recommendations, but is solid regardless. Provides more consistent and higher damage than the Hidden Saber, and even provides a little bit of Water damage. Good option for taking on Glavenus.
Mostly carried thanks to its chonkers raw, which Long Sword appreciates. The -20% Affinity is canceled out if you use Weakness Exploit from Rathalos.
Kicks in around Village 6 thanks to the level 3 upgrade. 160 raw is an appreciable difference around this point.
Earliest Blue Sharpness option. Consider sidetracking into Hub (if you haven’t already) to pick up Absolute Readiness from HR 3 Wyvern Sand Runners for easier Sharpness maintenance.
High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-7*)
Obsidian Saber remains great as a progression option, having a bit of Blue Sharpness to back up its large raw. You could even use this throughout the entirety of High Rank, if you really wanted to.
The Research LS is a decent alternative option for people who don’t want to use Obsidian LS and want to use a raw-focused option. It doesn’t become great until you get to its first final level, but when you do you get an LS with 200 raw, natural 15% Affinity and natural White.
The definitive option for taking on the old Generations endgame. Solid raw and Sharpness combined with a bit of Blast makes for a well-rounded weapon suitable for taking on most content that isn’t Hyper Monsters or especially chunky monsters.
Good for punting down longer one-on-one hunts. The higher raw means it cuts more consistently and slightly higher than Hellblade, making it win out when the Blast on the latter starts to fall off.
G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)
The Elder Series with their high raw and natural White Sharpness are great for first going into G-Rank, only requiring gatherable G-Rank Materials.
Great Maccao is one of the few Drome-type monsters to ever get an alternate weapon skin specifically for it. Why? Who knows. Regardless, this option is good for getting a longer shade of White Sharpness on your weapon.
The perennial Anti-Lao option. LS might have a harder time soloing Lao, due to its traditionally-raw focused boosts, but I believe in you! Go gettem! (Don’t forget Tremor Res)
Mizutsune’s LS shares Stahlrecht’s high raw and Affinity, but is Water and has natural White. Good all-around option.
Similar to Mizutsune’s LS in qualities, but for Fire instead.
By the time G4 rolls around, this thing suddenly gets a massive upgrade from 270 to 340 raw. That, combined with its long White Sharpness bar, means that this is a fantastic option for cutting through the rest of G4’s monsters.
Main Recommendations:
The Rustrazor LS packs a whole ton of White Sharpness, allowing you to drop all Sharpness skills and just focus on pure damage. Having a solid raw of 330 and Deviant Boost just helps.
Ahtal-Ka’s LS is an alternate option for those that want to run a set with higher Defense, since Meretseger also provides 60 Defense, natural Purple, as well as triple slots, making this easier to build for.
Drilltusk’s LS, when you run both Sharpness +2 and Razor Sharp, provides slightly higher raw and a slight defense bonus when compared to Rustrazor LS. It also has Deviant Boost, which is nice.
Packs natural 25% Affinity as well as a solid chunk of Purple, allowing you to just run Razor Sharp. Also has triple slots, making this easy to build sets for.
The Old Fatalis LS has an absolutely crazy 68 Thunder, but requires you to run both Sharpness +2 and Razor Sharp. Still, when the monster is weak to Thunder, this LS is great.
Off-Meta Recommendations - Don’t Use Unless You Want To!
Elemental LS Recommendations:
Wins out because of Deviant boost. Has the same Attack as the Soulseer LS, the probably-best Water LS as well as similar Sharpness.
Soulseer’s LS has a good amount of raw and Water damage, which compounds with the natural Affinity and Deviant Boost to form a solid Water LS. Needs Sharpness +2 for a length of Purple, but is otherwise good.
You can take advantage of LS’s multiple raw boosts in order to boost the damage you deal with this LS pretty high. Though you will need Sharpness +2 and Razor Sharp, this is a good alternative LS to Drilltusk’s when you’re fighting an Ice-weak monster.
Valstrax’s LS. Has a similarity to the Rustrazor LS with the huge chunk of White Sharpness in conjunction with decent Dragon. Unfortunately, there’s no Dragon-based Deviant, so this is the best you’re gonna get.
Status LS Recommendations
Disclaimer: Status LS doesn’t work very well due to the low-ish frequency of hits as compared to other, better status-applying weapons.
The Rare 6 Yian Garuga LS has both the second-highest Poison potential but also the second-highest damage potential, as well as 3 slots and 25% Affinity. Good for applying Poison and dealing damage.
Is the best Para LS despite not having access to Purple Sharpness at all. You’ll also need Sharpness +2 to even get White Sharpness, as you’re locked into Blue without it. At least you have a slot I guess?
This Sleep LS wins by default, as the other two Sleep LSs, both Nerscylla’s, have way too low of raw to even matter.
An option for a Blast LS that requires Sharpness +2 and Razor Sharp, Brachydios’s LS has a good amount of raw at 320 and good Blast, at 32.
Hellblade’s LS doesn’t require Sharpness +2, but does require Razor Sharp. Does have Deviant Boost, but also has lower raw than Pyro Annihilator. If you want Deviant Boost, you go with this one.
THE ONLY ARMORS YOU SHOULD USE ARE ONES THAT LOOK LIKE SAMURAI ARMOR, OF WHICH THERE ARE MULTIPLE. USING ANY OTHER ARMOR SETS WILL MAKE ME DISAPPOINT. FOLLOWING IS LIST OF RECOMMENDED ARMOR:
ユクモノ, カブラヘ, ナルガ, ガルルガ, ミツネ, ホクシン, 桐花, 荒天, 暁丸, 凛, 岩穿, 白疾風, 隻眼, 天眼, 烈火・極, 和歌・極
Low Rank (Village 1-6*, Hub 1-3*)
Classic progression option for early game, use Bulldrome Cap, Jaggi Mail, Bulldrome Vambraces, Jaggi Faulds, and Bulldrome Greaves along with some Attack decorations to get Attack Up (L).
Has Razor Sharp and Critical Eye +1, and is useful if you want to have Razor Sharp instead of Attack Up (L). Critical Eye +1 is an okay option but worse than Attack Up (L) at this point.
Has Attack Up and Weakness Exploit, making this an upgraded version of BuJaBu. You can’t go wrong with this set.
By sacrificing some Defense and Attack, you’ll gain Razor Sharp, which provides a bunch of utility to any Blademaster. All you need to do is use Rathalos Cap, Rathalos Mail, Ceanataur Vambraces, Rathalos Faulds, and Bnahabra Boost, along with some gems.
High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-7*)
BuJaBu but with High Rank versions of the armor parts. Only make unless you feel like you need the defense or if you didn’t make the Rathalos set.
Ceanataur S is a better version of the standard Ceanataur set, with more points in Expert. A useful set for the middle of High Rank.
More Attack compared to original Rathalos, so it packs the same amount of deadliness. Great to transition into G-Rank.
Like the same mixset from Low Rank, except with all High Rank parts. Provides more Attack compared to its Low Rank version, and is also great for transitioning into G-Rank.
A unique option for progression, Silver Sol provides both Weakness Exploit and Critical Boost. Take this if you like suffering against Silver Rathalos and if you’re confident you can hit those weakspots.
The meta set from Gen has the potential to take you all the way to HR Break with a few defense upgrades. If you’re willing to farm and complete Low Rank Village 100%, then definitely consider this set.
G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)
The mainstay for G-Rank. Critical Eye, Razor Sharp, and enough slots to gem in Weakness Exploit, what isn’t to love? Well, aside from a bunch of crab farming. Potent enough to take you all the way through the end of G-Rank.
Has a few points in Hearing as well as the classic Attack and Weakness Exploit. It’s a perfectly fine set by itself, but you will have to gem in the Hearing points yourself.
Loses the points in Hearing in exchange for Razor Sharp, which is likely worth it. Just put together Rathalos Helm X, Rathalos Mail X, Rathalos Vambraces X, Vaik Faulds X, and Bnahabra Boots X.
Provides both Sharpness +2 and Razor Sharp after HR Break, which is useful for many LSes. You can also add more skills on top of that as long as you have good enough charms.
For maximum effectiveness, you’ll generally want to tailor your set to the appropriate weapon, and sometimes even the specific monster you’re gonna be tackling. In general, the priorities for Blademasters goes Sharpness-related skills (Sharpness +1 or 2, and/or Razor Sharp), any weapon-specific core skills, then skills that boost Affinity as appropriate. Take a look at the following section to get a good idea of what you’ll want.
Adds 50% Affinity whenever you connect an attack on a weakspot of 45+. Powerful if you can hit weakspots consistently, which as LS is very doable.
Provides up to 30% Affinity with consecutive hits. Useful if, for some reason, you cannot hit the weakspot of a monster, and serves as a good alternative to Weakness Exploit.
If you have plenty of Affinity, Critical Boost amplifies the effect of your critical hits. What’s generally recommended is boosting your Affinity to about 65% before considering Critical Boost.
A simple affinity booster, and useful to finish off a skillset. Can be gotten in high amounts from certain armor pieces.
Monsters enrage frequently in G-Rank, making this skill’s uptime be nearly constant throughout a hunt.
Sharpness +2’s usefulness varies depending on the weapon, but generally you run Sharpness +2 if by default the weapon doesn’t have a long amount of a high Sharpness grade, like Blue or White.
If you have a weapon without a long Sharpness grade then Razor Sharp is pretty much required. Halving Sharpness usage greatly helps when you use this with Absolute Readiness.
Brave Long Sword is absolutely broken, and with a little bit of practice, you’re basically immortal. The only real ‘weakness’ is monsters with multi-hit attacks, but keen usage of Brave Sheathe renders them ineffective. If you really want to body every monster out there, then take Brave LS. If, like me, you’re not willing to use such an obviously broken style, then fortunately the game allows for that. The remaining styles are still relatively powerful, and LS was blessed to have great HAs. If you don’t mind a little bit of repositioning, LS is a solid tool of brutal monster murder.
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