Yet Another Weapon Guide - Great Sword
The Great Sword has a simple kit, yet mastering the weapon can take many hours of practice and actual hunting. Charge your attacks, then drop it all on the monster in a single go, or run in and out while performing simple unsheath attacks! Make your enemies feel the sheer force of a giant metal blade with Great 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 Great 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 GS controls, commentary on GS styles and combinations, recommendations on progression GSs, and a final note on matchups against all monsters in the game.
Two Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art). Allows you to perform both hit and run tactics as well as the charged combo attacks!
Guild Style is the classic Great Sword style, notorious for being hard to master, but easy to learn. Mastery of Great Sword can put the beatings on any monster, and it’s satisfying to pull off a fully charged combo, isn’t it?! Use if you can pull off the Strong Charge on monsters consistently and frequently.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
The Basics
While sheathed, X, Side + B, Y.
Vertical Slash -> Side Roll -> Sheathe.
The simplest hit-and-run technique for GS. It’s okay to use this a lot at first, before you get used to monster timings.
The Simple Charge
While sheathed, X (hold), release, Side + B, Y.
Charge -> (release) -> Side Roll -> Sheathe.
The classic GS bread-and-butter technique. Remember to vary up the charge levels based on the opening you’re given.
The Works
While sheathed, X (hold), release, X, Back + X (hold), release, X, Side + B, Y.
Charge -> (release) -> Side Slap -> Strong Charge -> (release) -> Side Roll -> Sheathe.
This variation includes the Strong Charge, and should be used for a downed monster.
The Fast Charge
While unsheathed, Forward + B, X, Back + X (hold), release, Side + B, Y.
Forward Roll -> Side Slap -> Strong Charge -> (release) -> Side Roll -> Sheathe.
This combo goes from a Side Slap into a Strong Charge, for when you can’t execute the full downed combo on a monster.
3 Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art). Loses access to the Strong Charge, but cannot overcharge and gains another HA slot.
Striker Style is a slightly reduced form of Great Sword which removes Strong Charge, but prevents you from overcharging, which can lighten up the timing of those Charge attacks a little bit. Best used with a hit-and-run playstyle, due to the lack of Strong Charge.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
The Extended Charge
While Sheathed, X, X, X (hold), release.
Vertical Slash -> Side Slap -> Charge -> (release).
This combo goes from a draw attack to a Side Slap to a Charge, in case you wanted to do that for whatever reason.
The Kicking Mule
While Guarding, X, X, X (hold), release.
Guard -> Kick -> Side Slap -> Charge -> (release).
A simpler combo similar to the previous one. This variant makes you kick forward, which will gapclose you slightly.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Slam and jam monsters with repeated Charge attacks from the air, and even perform a slight jumping attack when unsheathing!
Aerial Style lets you perform faster charges while you’re midair, and makes your gapclosing from sheathe more powerful with the addition of the Aerial Slash. It’s hard to aim these Aerial Charges though, and you can’t Charge on the ground...
Recommended Hunter Arts:
The Slam ‘n Jam
While Sheathed, Forward + X, B, (Boost Jump) X (hold), release, A.
Aerial Slash -> Boost Jump -> Aerial Charge -> (release) -> Aerial Side Slash.
That small leap forward is pretty useful, especially since you don’t want to maneuver around with the awkward Aerial Hop. Use it wherever you can.
The Three-peat
(loop) B, (Boost Jump) X (hold), release, X (end loop)
(loop) Boost Jump -> Aerial Charge -> (release) -> Aerial Side Slash (end loop)
This one-two-three combo lets you Aerial Hop, Aerial Charge, and Aerial Side Slash. Useful if the monster’s down.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the Adept Dodge to dodge attacks, then counter with a chargeable rising slash, which can lead to a charge attack which charges faster than normal!
Adept Style can let you pump out a lot of damage in a short amount of time, and has the same basic combos as Striker GS, but without the Overcharge immunity. However, if you can’t land the Strong Charge post-dodge then it’s somewhat hard to justify the use of this over Striker, making those mobile monsters hard to fight.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
The Ultra
Adept Dodge, X (hold), release, X (hold), release, X.
Adept Dodge -> Adept Upswing Charge -> (release) -> Adept Strong Charge -> (release) -> Finisher Side Slash.
Pray to god that you can land this full combo, otherwise you might just look very stupid. This is the standard that you should try to perform, but remember the basic rule about charging: Timing is everything. Don’t charge too long, or you might end up missing.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Fill the Valor Gauge to enhance your charge attacks and allow yourself to move during them!
In any state:
Outside of Valor State:
In Valor State:
Valor Style is a powerhouse, with the ability to easily charge up the Valor Gauge with the Valor Stance Charge attacks. Once you fill it up, your ability to perform charge attacks vastly increases, with the sheathed charge charging up quickly while the unsheathed charge can let you maneuver around by letting you move forward when you unleash the charge.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
The Charging Charge
Y, then X (hold), then release.
Valor Sheathe -> Valor Stance Charge -> (release).
The basic and most common way to charge Valor. GS can charge Valor quite quickly, but do make sure you have the window to actually set up the Valor Charge.
The Charging Slash
Y, then A.
Valor Sheathe -> Valor Side Swing.
The less common way to charge Valor.
The Power Draw
While in Valor State, Sheathed: Forward + X (hold), release.
Valor Draw Slash -> (release).
Bread and butter GS play, but much more powerful. Combine with Crit Draw for much fun.
The Charging Dash
While in Valor State, unsheathed: X (hold), A.
Valor Charge -> Valor Finisher Side Slash.
This should be used for when you’re just far enough from the monster that normal attacks won’t land. Also a very good positioning tool, though it won’t carry you halfway across the map.
3 Hunter Art slots (3 SP Arts). Can use the Alchemy Barrel along with a new Side Slash.
Alchemy Style lets you use an Alchemy Barrel alongside the typical Striker GS fare, except you can Overcharge. Granted, this means you don’t lose much in comparison to the other styles, and you actually gain an attack. However, Alchemy Side Slash is super slow, and it has a crap ton of recovery frames where you can’t do anything. I suggest treating this like Striker GS, except you can Overcharge.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Overall, the style hierarchy is Valor > Guild/Striker > Aerial/Adept/Alchemy, with Valor leading the fray with its easy-to-charge Valor Gauge and ability to land Charge Attacks in Valor State. Guild and Striker work mostly the same as in other games, and usage is generally preferential, with slight advantages to Guild when you can Strong Charge, and Striker if you cannot. Aerial, Adept, and Alchemy have increasingly niche usage, especially Alchemy, which is essentially a worse version of Striker.
Drags your Great Sword along the ground, then swings upward, dealing multiple hits of damage. Increasing ranks of this HA provides more hits that deal more damage.
HA Rank | To Charge | Total Damage |
I | 630 (956 SP) | 50 + 20 * 2 = 90% / 3 hits |
II | 670 (1004 SP) | 50 + 21 * 3 = 113% / 4 hits |
III | 830 (1196 SP) | 50 + 22 * 4 = 138% / 5 hits |
Knocks up ally hunters in range.
This HA is okay, but is eclipsed by the presence of charge attacks, since in the time you’ll execute this you can likely perform one full charge combo. It also knocks up ally hunters too, interrupting them. I’d suggest against using this.
Performs a wide swing of your Great Sword before sheathing and powering yourself up. For your next attack, you’ll deal more damage.
HA Rank | To Charge | Damage (Initial Swing) | Effects |
I | 290 (548 SP) | 48% | 1.1x Attack |
II | 350 (620 SP) | 52% | 1.2x Attack |
III | 500 (800 SP) | 66% | 1.33x Attack |
Lion’s Maw is the best GS HA among the bunch, simply because it boosts your next attack’s damage. Obviously, since you’re GS, you can perform an unsheath Charge attack and take the most advantage of the move. But this also includes things like the Kick, and that deals 1 fixed damage.
Performs an ultra-focused powerful charge. If you take an attack while you’re charging, you’ll automatically unleash the attack.
HA Rank | To Charge | Max Charge Level |
I | 1250 (1700 SP) | 1 |
II | 1500 (2000 SP) | 2 |
III | 1670 (2204 SP) | 3 |
Charge Level | Damage | Sharpness Modifier |
0 | 130% | 1x |
1 | 150% | 1.1x |
2 | 175% | 1.2x |
3 | 190% | 1.3x |
If you unleashed the attack by taking damage, the damage received directly adds more damage per point of health lost, up to +50% for losing 50 health, and the damage taken is converted to red health.
You can actually fucking die if you take a strong enough attack since this HA doesn’t prevent you from carting or increase your defense in any way. So the best way to use this art is to charge for all 10 seconds, or explode yourself with a Small Barrel Bomb. Unfortunately this HA also has that cripplingly-slow charge time attached to it. Yeah, too many restrictions.
Swings forward, then leaps into the air and swings downward. This HA deals additional stagger and mounting damage.
HA Rank | To Charge | Total Damage | Stagger Modifier |
I | 420 (704 SP) | 60% | 1.5x |
II | 500 (800 SP) | 12 + 70 = 82% / 2 hits | 0.9x + 2.0x |
III | 830 (1196 SP) | 10 + 12 + 80 = 102% / 3 hits | 0.9x + 0.9x + 2.5x |
Moonbreaker is another solid GS art, purely because it isn’t Brimstone Slash nor Ground Slash. It does deal slightly less damage than Ground Slash, but makes up for it in the utility department, letting you break parts easily. Like all offensive HAs, this can be interrupted by any monster actions which go past Super Armor.
The best GSs to use are typically ones with high Sharpness ratings, but not necessarily a long length of that high Sharpness. Because of this, a GS can focus on slightly different things than other Blademasters can, prioritizing raw over element. Choose a GS based on its natural Sharpness as well, since you’ll rarely be running Sharpness +2 unless you’re making a specific set for a specific GS.
Low Rank (Village 1-6*, Hub 1-3*)
The very first Great Sword you get at the beginning of the game. Doesn’t get Green Sharpness until level 4, but your Charge Attacks should compensate for a little bit of time until you can get to Village 2.
The earliest point at which you can get Green Sharpness, you’ll need Disc Stones in order to upgrade to level 2. Be sure to visit Kokoto!
Nargacuga’s Great Sword, with its high Affinity and Sharpness, is great for full charge combo plays. It even gains a bit of Blue Sharpness when you get into Village 6*.
An alternative progression option, the Tetsucabra GS has higher raw than the previous options, but also has less Sharpness and negative Affinity naturally. If you wanna hit ‘n run this is one of the early options to do so.
The Seregios GS, despite being somewhat nerfed in comparison to its 4U version, is still a great Great Sword choice when you get into Village 6*. With the capability to auto-sharpen itself on rolls, as well as natural Blue Sharpness, you can’t go wrong with this.
High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-7*)
Solid raw, natural Blue Sharpness, easy to get, this is a great GS for early High Rank shenanigans. The thin Blue may make you nervous, but it’s fine.
The Seregios GSes, especially Seditious Cleaver, have naturally good Sharpness, solid raw, and some Affinity. Compensating for their generally-below-the-belt stats is the roll to sharpen mechanic which will let you maintain that amount of sharpness easily.
The Tigrex Great Sword has natural Blue Sharpness and has higher than normal Raw. The slight negative Affinity may worry you, but once you get a Crit Draw set you’ll be good for rights. This also upgrades well into G-Rank.
High raw and high Sharpness, though it does only have slivers. You’ll need Hyper Hunter tickets for this option, so I hope you’re progressing in Guild.
The Hyper Tetsucabra GS has higher raw than the Decider, at the cost of negative Affinity. Otherwise, similar Sharpnesses.
The Diablos GS is similar to the Toad Bereaver, but doesn’t have any of the Hyper Hunter requirements and provides an additional Defense bonus. And hey, it has a different design from its 4U incarnation!
Used in Gen for Striker GS, which was meta at the time, this leverages the high raw and uses Crit Draw to offset the negative Affinity. Has a sliver of White when compared to Diablos GS which can edge it out if you’re sticking around in High Rank.
Used in Gen for those cases where you can follow up on your initial attacks in certain openings. Most useful when you can use Strong Charge, so I recommend Weakness Exploit in such sets. Best in you’re sticking around in High Rank before entering G-Rank.
G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)
Natural White Sharpness and a great 260 raw at base, the Elder Blade is a great starting GS for anyone and everyone going into G-Rank.
Upgraded fairly early on into G-Rank, it’s got a solid 240 raw, 35% natural Affinity, 2 slots, and natural White, gaining natural Purple when you get to G3.
Has an incredibly high raw of 300 when you get into G2, at the cost of negative Affinity and only a thin sliver of White Sharpness. Regardless, that raw is incredibly high for that point in the game.
Like the Millstone Bereaver, but has even more raw and more negative Affinity. You’ll need Uragaan materials from G3 to upgrade it and gain natural White Sharpness, but that 340 raw can’t be denied, right?
Has a great 320 raw while only having -15% Affinity and more White Sharpness than the previous two options.
Main Recommendations:
The Ahtal-Ka GS has natural Purple, good raw, triple slots, and some Defense as a bonus. This is the GS that you should use, simply because it’s just great in all aspects.
The Nargacuga GS has less raw and less slots, but has some natural Affinity and natural Purple Sharpness. The best for Valor Strong Charge GS play.
Has less Sharpness than the Ahtal-Ka GS, but has slightly higher raw than it. Easy to make and use, too.
Thought you’d never see a Kecha weapon here, eh? This GS has 340 raw and 34 Water, solid stats for a GS. Its only weakness is having mildly unfavorable Sharpness, but you should be able to patch it up with Sharpness +1/2.
360 raw at the cost of Sharpness +2 is really nice but since S+2 isn’t an achievable goal on Black X, a popular GS set, you’ll have to mix up a new custom set in order to maximize your power output using this. Still, it’s a solid choice.
Off-Meta Recommendations - Don’t Use Unless You Really Want To!
Elemental GS Recommendations:
Elemental GS will always lose to pure raw GS, but… if you really want to.
The Rathalos GS has a high 330 raw and 44 Fire with natural White Sharpness. So basically it sacrifices the slots, Defense, and natural Purple for a bit of Fire damage, compared to the Ahtal-Ka GS.
The Lagiacrus GS has 340 raw, cresting it above all of its Thunder-based comrades in terms of effectiveness and damage. Slap on Sharpness +1 to get a sliver of Purple, if you want.
Big raw. Like the other Elderfrost weapons, it’s mainly held back by its natural Green Sharpness, but that can be fixed with Sharpness +2.
The Skeletal Nakarkos GS boasts a monstrous 380 raw and a nice 24 Dragon, with -25% Affinity to compensate. You’ll need Sharpness +1 to get White Sharpness, but this GS is nice against anything weak to Dragon.
Status GS Recommendations
Send in a screenshot of you actually inflicting a status on a monster with GS and you’ll get absolutely nothing of worth because Status GS sucks super-hard.
High raw, good Sharpness, the Rathian GS will make sure you don’t fail hard while you’re fruitlessly trying to inflict Poison on Kushala Daora. Stick Sharpness +1 on it for Purple, I guess.
Has an actually-good amount of raw with White Sharpness and some Para damage. So you can have a bigger version of that Deathgrip SnS while that Deathgrip SnS guy keeps on inflicting the Para while you… aren’t.
The Malfestio GS has a good 310 raw and 24 Sleep and White Sharpness. So you can try to wave around your Great Sword to hypnotize the monster I guess.
The Hyper Brachydios GS has a good 320 raw and 38 Blast which will help you in your really slow explody endeavors.
The Hellblade GS has a mediocre 300 raw and 35 Blast, but it does pack the Deviant Boost that will help out the odd Striker or Alchemy GS.
Great Sword is positively unique in terms of armor skills that it uses, compared to most other Blademaster weapons. For one, like Bow, Great Sword likes using Focus, since that’ll speed up the rate at which it charges its very important Charge attacks. Anything else is more or less optional, but other skills which are recommended are the Draw skills, since Great Sword’s playstyle revolves around sheathing, especially for hit-and-run sets.
Low Rank (Village 1-6*, Hub 1-3*)
Grants Attack Up (L) with Bulldrome Cap, Jaggi Mail, Bulldrome Vambraces, Jaggi Faulds, and Bulldrome Greaves, and a few Attack Jewels. Pretty potent for the first few hours of the game.
The Volvidon fullset grants Focus and Bio Researcher, which prevents you from being Soiled, among other effects. One of the earliest armor sets with which you can get Focus.
Rathalos’s set grants you Attack Up and Weakness Exploit by default, so you’ll lose the power of Focus, which may or may not be a deal breaker.
Composed of a Rathalos Cap, Rathalos Mail, Mosgharl Vambraces, Rathalos Faulds, and Mosgharl Greaves as well as a few decorations, the Rathalos Mixset provides Weakness Exploit and Focus normally.
Combine a few Seregios and Mosgharl armor parts for Crit Draw and Focus. Potentially has more uses than the Rathalos Mixset, but does rely on you sheathing a lot. Needs Seregios Helm, Vambraces, and Tassets, and Mosgharl Ribplate and Roots, as well as a few decorations and a single additional weapon or talisman slot.
High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-7*)
Provides Focus and Bio Master. In case you wanted to get High Rank defense values as well as Focus, but has less damage potential than the Rathalos Mixset.
Full Rathalos S provides more Attack than the standard Rathalos set, but if you know what you’re doing, you should probably get the mixset version to get Focus too.
There’s a lot of ways you can mix up a set with both Focus and Weakness Exploit, as well as some form of Attack Up. You’ll usually have Attack Up (S) but if you’re lucky you have a triple-slot charm with which you can get at least Attack Up (M).
One specific way of getting it is using Rathalos S for the first four parts (Head, Chest, Arms, Waist) and then adding Mosgharl S for the feet. Requires a 1-slot tali and 5 Charger 1 Jwls.
The totally-not-Fatalis armor set of Black is focused around boosting the damage of Great Sword, and this is the first instance of where it’s good enough to be used. This variant has Blightproof, Crit Draw, and Focus, so definitely pick this up, as it’s your best set going into G-Rank.
Diablos was historically a Great Sword-focused set, and it doesn’t change here. It lacks Focus in comparison to Black S but it also has the new skill Sheathe Sharpen, which will restore a bit of Sharpness sometimes when you sheathe while a monster’s enraged. It also has Challenger for an extra bit of damage.
G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)
Provides Focus, Constitution +1, and Bio Master. If you want to upgrade to G-Rank Defense in G2, this is the set to do it with.
Pure Rathalos X grants Attack Up (L), Weakness Exploit, and some points in Hearing, which can let you get Earplugs, or even HG Earplugs. If you want you can also try for Focus on this set, which will be solid.
You can mix a base of Rathalos X with various other pieces to get Focus, Attack Up, and Weakness Exploit, which is great for Great Sword.
The definitive (but not absolute!) GS set for endgame. Has Sheathe Control, which is Quick Sheathe and Punish Draw wrapped up into one skill, Focus, Crit Draw, and Blightproof. If you can gem in Critical Boost, you’re all set.
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 Great Sword users goes Sharpness-related skills (Sharpness +1 or 2), Focus, Crit Draw, Crit Boost, then skills that boost Attack as appropriate. Take a look at the following section to get a good idea of what you’ll want.
Decreases the thresholds needed for Charge Attacks by 20%. Vital for Great Sword’s attacks, so much so that this is core in pretty much all styles, even the ones that speed up the charge rate naturally, especially Valor.
Increases your Affinity by 50% when you hit a weakspot. You’d better be hitting those as Great Sword, since meaty parts can really amplify your damage output. More useful on Valor Combo GS.
Increases your Affinity by 100% when you perform a draw attack. Since you’re gonna be performing those a lot as Great Sword, this is pretty great, especially for negating Negative Affinity on your Great Sword.
Increases your Critical Hit damage from 1.25x to 1.4x normal raw whenever you Critically Hit. Combined with Crit Draw you can really bolster your damage output.
Affinity booster, used to round out a set. More useful on combo GS since you’ll have Crit Draw on hit-and-run.
Challenger’s effect will kick in more often in G-Rank, due to how often the monster enrages. Some people prefer this to Critical Eye, though it is mostly a matter of preference. Note that G-Rank monsters do enrage frequently enough for this skill to be effective however.
Increases your sheathing speed by 100%. Quick Sheathe is great for any hit-and-run GS player, since this makes dodging attacks after you attack easier, and activate draw skills more frequently.
Deals a little KO and Exhaust damage on cut-type weapons with Draw Attacks. Great Sword loves to hit the head, so if you’re persistent enough, you can KO monsters with Punish Draw. It even grants you a small boost in damage.
Each time you sheathe while a monster’s enraged, you have a chance to restore some sharpness each time. One of the less reliable skills, especially since it’s only a chance of sharpening, and Absolute Readiness accomplishes the same effect. If you can manage to get this though, it’s more of a boon for those thin-sharpness GSes.
Overall, GS fairs well in Generations Ultimate, mostly due to Valor style and its improved charge attacks. It’s certainly above the chaff when it comes to speed, and with good prediction on your part, few monsters can stand up to you. Somewhat obviously, monsters that refuse to stand in one place, such as Tigrex, are slightly more difficult, unless you’re a timing god, in which case, the point is moot. Great Sword is the purest form of MonHun weapon design philosophy, where it’s really easy to pick up, but extremely hard to master. You can’t go wrong with choosing any Great Sword style, really.
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