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The Ultimate 4u Clownblade Progression & Basic Info Guide

Weapon progression

Armor progression

Phial information

Moves

Your actual gameplan

Settings

Endgame setups

Endgame weapons

Armor skills

Runs

Progression Weapons

Completely meme free!

Yes, this is it.

Elite Blade goes up to Kaiser Blade for Low Rank

Full Blackguard is the end of ore line for High Rank

If you need help farming for Fucium or ore in general, refer to this

Just look at Kiranico for where to get the mats/when it’s possible to upgrade

The basic ore line is just a solid pick for every level of the game till you reach the endgame. Consistently solid power and very easy, quick and consistent upgrades means you are always balanced in power for where you are in progression as long as you stay on top of upgrades (which you can find out via Kiranico). You also get a quick and easy hone with 3 slots to work with as you ease into endgame sets and weapons as a later bonus. Just keep in mind it falls off hard in endgame.

There will be a few options slightly better here or there but they get dropped basically instantly in favor of ore due to how well it upgrades which is why this is the way it is

If you want to get fancy or want a bit more power, Seregios CB when the upgrades are available will outpace ore in specific areas but you would need an entire new set for it is the main issue so don't bother.

It will however get you into the good habit of not guard pointing too much. It also maintains some niche in endgame so there's no harm in making it unlike every other CB.

A weapon progression path fitting of the intellectual prowess of CB users.

TLDR use ore

Progression Armor

CB armor progression follows the general idea of BM progression with some tweaking.

I’m very much not a fan of giving flat out armor sets to people but there are a few exceptions. For the most part what you want and when you want it depends on the player themselves in progression.

This armor set searcher is the online version and will help you  make your own sets and you will also most likely be able to progress in a way that works better for you

-just stick with the starter armor or whatever mish-mosh if you want the defense

-once you get access to the Velocidrome guild quest (which will be very early) you'll want to make that for the attack up or you can mix in yian kut ku parts to get higher levels of attack. While Velocidrome provides lower values, it's generally advised to just make Velocidrome although CB will not value sharp 1 as much this early, as ore doesn’t get blue till much later and attack up also scales phials.

Attack up will provide a significant boost in damage when you first start out due to the lower raw of weapons.

-You get the Kaiser blade upgrade just in time to be able to skip taking sharp 1. Hooray!

Your singular option for all the damage dumping. The benefits of not having to run blue sharpness for prog damage. This will carry you on for quite a while- basically till you start hitting a wall later in HR caravan so it’s worth farming for. Don’t forget to keep upgrading it with spheres.

End of low rank caravan Armor

-When you reach Caravan 8 to replace the previous set.

This is the last set you’ll make before double gore and will help with the last few quests of HR caravan.

The chest and arms are both common mats only and very easy to farm for. You can do the double velo request that you get upon reaching High rank for those parts. The Tigrex comes later.

For Torso up head you will need Skull Visage.

For Waist I would suggest Chrome Metal  Coil. Although Vangis Coil exists and has higher base def but it requires a rare mat from Jho

For Legs you can use Tetsucabra Greaves S or Velociprey Leggings S

Tetsu legs give slightly higher base def and Velociprey Legs use some of the same mats that you need for chest but if you have left over mats or think farming more for the legs are easier or quicker than going to Tetsu you can just go Veloci legs. Both are relatively free.

End of High Rank Caravan Armor

-So you finally finished caravan and got to HR5 in the Hub (or came here early).

So Double gore is usually the pinnacle of High Rank and it still kind of is-BUT-big but(heh)- if you want I will say it’s skippable only because of how CB weights attacks as well as an option later.

You are losing 20 afin and 5 raw but if you don’t feel like grinding out a new set when your current one is serviceable (and sphered already) it is not blasphemy to continue on with the previous set that was made.

This also can change if you skipped the previous set or made something worse or you didn’t do all of Caravan first.

Just keep in mind that some damage is being left on the table by skipping double gore as axe crits still exist and phials themselves still aren’t a massive portion of your damage.

ALTERNATIVELY HOWEVER

If you cheat a little and scroll ahead to the next set, you shall see, it uses the Head and Waist used in double gore as well as the Chest and Arms of your previous set. So you can pick those up here if you want to do that now to prep for what I think is the best path.

End of High Rank Armor

Little tidbit

G1 monsters don’t really hit hard for the most part. Every monster here is comfortably in the 3 shot range on eating big hits which is the usual to generous and I wouldn’t expect any better. On top of this all the armor here is bad. Treat it as extended late High rank.

Just make sure you have both Armor charm and talon and you’ll be fine with around 400 defense but more is also fine. CB prog being as easy as it is, the weapon you’ll be using for the rest of prog also gives you a bit more def.

G1

For the biggest brain strats CB players will ever see is this abomination of a g1 set sponsored by a good 3 slot ore prog weapon. This also doesn’t account for better charms.

The only thing holding you back from making this before G1 were the deco jewels used to craft spirit 2 decos which are only found in G1. The good news is you have all the parts besides the legs already. The better news is the new legs use basically all common mats and are easy CB matchups. The even better news is you need to farm ore to upgrade your cb anyways!

The set is almost free and you get to prep for the endgame by making spirit 2 decos

(which you will use)

Keep in mind for the M tiggy legs you need to do the Caravan quest prickly pair first which then unlocks another request that gives you the molten quest.

I highly suggest you do this.

G2

- Come G2 is basically where you are cut off from highly specific sets. From here it’s basically upgrade as you need and for the parts you want to use/farm for.

Use a set searcher

You can use any of these sets and more if you want a tad more def than The Atrocious SetTM

You can also skip these if you feel comfortable but either way you can swap out a part or two for some G rank def parts.

That’s it basically

G3

-G3 is the same as G2 but you get some actual endgame parts.

You can use the same base of Challenger 2/Sharp 1/ art nov but now with more options than attack S

You can get WE there. You can put Attack M there now. You can get funky and put tar res in there for gog if you want to embrace the true lazy CB spirit. You can do it for the small offensive increase as well as true G rank def now or just use what you had before.

Use an armor set searcher and keep in mind you don’t need to upgrade your armor every chance you get if you value your time.

You can also farm Star Knight which is a great transitional G rank set and has basically all the stock skills for CB besides honed which you can’t get yet anyways but doing the quest could suck depending on the type of player you are. CB already has it really easy with the sets they can make.

End of prog

Post gog

The actual meat of the game. You get to make various sets for 1 weapon now and multiple monsters as your heart desires.

Ore CB is terrible now compared to the endgame weapons you can make so it’s time to put that to rest finally but you can hone it for 20 extra raw on your way to the better CBs.

Endgame weapons, armor and monster specific sets are covered further down.

Don’t forget to always hone for attack for the 20 free true raw.

Oh and 140s will actually punish you for your training wheels now- have fun.

Phials

Impact has KO and fixed damage that scales with raw. Element phial has no KO, scales with ele instead of raw and has rare situational damage via ele hitzones on a select few niche monsters that can be counted on one hand. Take impact phial. If you try to use ele phial for general use you can end up doing actually 0 damage with phial attacks on certain monsters. You also lose your KO.

Artillery the armor skill almost caps your phial damage and then eating for the food skill Bombardier gives you the last 10%. It will cap out your potential damage on phials (totals to 40%) in terms of % increases. More raw will still scale phial damage. Art nov + the food skill will reach the phial cap and any higher levels of Artillery will do absolutely nothing.

Phials cannot crit and they do not take into account the sharpness of the weapon. They ignore Hitzones (well at least impact does) and like almost everything else in the game is still impacted by defense modifiers.

The axe hit of an AED however is around 70% to 80% of its total damage and that still is impacted by crits and sharpness. Don't start going around saying "sharpness and affinity don't matter at all on CB!" especially when considering one of the better cbs in the game rely on it.

Pressing the Buttons

Draws

Forward + X = Lunge

R + X = Overhead Axe draw

Guard point morph

Sword to Axe = Guard point starts frame 0 and lasts a millennium

IMPORTANT NOTE - cannot hold guard then morph or gp will not appear. YOU MUST press R+X at the same or you will not get the gp. You can also skip this by simply using the kick/special attack button. Using the kick button will also let you guard normally into a morph GP.

There will be a distinct animation difference with the shield being put out in front of you or having a normal morph if opt to not use the special button

Axe to Sword = will never use for the gp but has the normal roundslash gp

Sword

X presses = Standard 3 hit combo

GP on the roundslash hit at the end (won’t use really)

Can cancel any part into a charged slash

A = charged slash

-Hold to do a double charged slash.

-This will be your fastest way to charge phials. Always charge it and this move is the sole purpose of the A button.

-Can do from neutral with no other moves

-Goes into round slash if you press X after and ends combo

X+A = Lunge slash

The slash from the draw attack, copied out of SnS’s book except it counts as the first hit of the X combo

ANY Move > B left or right = side step

-Can go into phial load or roundslash after side step

-can use to build a tad more phial charge at the end of a combo or just chain into more double slashes or simply position (not that a cb player would understand that)

R (guard) + A = Phial load

-Yellow will load 3 phials, Red will load 5 phials

-Hitting with overcharge will cause auto bounce

(Branch off from here)

-Can press X after to do a sword “discharge” slash

-Can morph into axe phial discharges with A

-Can AED/SAED after a guard

ANY move > X+A = Shield thrust

Basically useless on it’s own but lets you do 3 very important things

-lets you chain more things (it resets your X combo)

-more importantly leads into AED/SAED

-lets you charge shield

-also enables A hold>Shield thrust>A hold for fastest phial charge combo

ANY move > (X+A) shield thrust > X+A = AED (or SAED with Shield Charge)

-one of your main damage dump options

-with an uncharged shield will default to AED (the axe hit that uses a single phial) and SAED is not possible

-charged shield will default to SAED (the axe hit with the big blast that expends all phials)

-TO USE AED WITH RED SHIELD YOU MUST HOLD BACK ON THE DIRECTION STICK(more in settings)

AED = (Advanced Erectile Dysfunction) SAED = (Super Advanced Erectile Dysfunction)

Shield gets hit in guard point animation > press X+A to go into AED/SAED

When it works it works. When it doesn't it doesn't. Don't spam it.

ANY move > (X+A)shield thrust > (X+A) AED/SAED> Press R before AED/SAED goes off = Shield charge

-TLDR mash X+A and then press R

-Provides very important Axe damage boost that should always be active

-Turns AED default into SAED

Congratulations that's basically all there is to CB

R(guard) + X = Morph into overhead Axe

Axe

Stationary + X = Upswing

Forward + X = overhead

Can technically chain up down and be a better axe mode SA but don’t do that

A presses = will expend phials

DO NOT start an axe combo with an A press unless you are trying to burn phials and refuse to SAED. Standard Axe combo is to start with an upswing or overhead then press A for axe double swing then loop between X+ A presses

X after roll = side hit

Only good thing about this is that it counts as a hit to get into axe double swings.

You can also AED or SAED in axe mode just like you can in sword mode except it just happens if you press X+A. No need for any filler moves.

That's basically it.

The buttons you’re actually going to press

Double slashes and shield thrusts and a whole bunch of AEDs is what CB gameplay boils down to in most cases on a caveman level.

Double slash provides the most damage and phial charge which means it’s also sharpness efficient which you will care about.

The only GP you will ever care about in 99% of cases is the Sword into Axe morph GP.

Make sure the shield is charged, then commence the unga bunga and that's basically it.

Keep in mind to not spam shield thrust, you can even consider whiffing it in some cases if you can as it does burn sharpness up more compared to normal moves and provide almost no damage.

Yes GP>AED is easy to do, yes it does damage, no it is not efficient in every single case. People fall into the same pitfall things like bad players with valor LS in gu. The pitfall of waiting around doing nothing waiting to go into the move you could have already done 3 of while waiting.

You’re also going to die terribly later in the game if all you can do to apply damage to monster is GP>AED.

Basic gameplay in standard situations outside of downs/kos/flinches and the like will basically just be a few slashes with the occasional AED. Depending on the monster it might even be appropriate to mix in some axe combos (the damage per phial is lower than aed but the dps is much higher and it has less endlag). This is great mainly for quicker monsters like Brachy or a shitmon like Velocidrome or a monster where pseudo AED GS play really isn’t an option. Important to know for prog mainly.

On trips and downs you can expand your move selection to Axe loops or even SAED depending on the situation. Axe loops with phials are much stronger than just repeatedly spamming AED if you can do so. You can even cap off your downed dps loop with an AED when the monster is about to move again.

AXE MOVE + ED2 IS APPROXIMATELY THE SAME POWER AS AED Results may vary slightly positive or negative

Normal Axe moves also depend much less on phial damage so hitzones matter more not like that really changes much though

GUARD POINTS USE UP SHARPNESS. THEY USE UP YOUR TIME WAITING TO USE THEM. THEY BASICALLY DO NO DAMAGE ON THEIR OWN.

STOP SPAMMING THEM IF THEY HAVE NO USE.

Going out on a specific monster to “practice guard points” is one of the most cringe things you can possibly do. It’s active on frame 0 as soon as you release the kick button and lasts for like a solid second and you can do it in the middle of basically any move in sword.

Additionally, that one move you’re spamming GPs on that 1 monster is nothing like the other 6 moves on the same monster and nothing like the dozens of other monsters you’re going to face.

If you need to practice GPs like that you should consider playing another weapon. or not playing MH at all

There are many more important things to practice than something that doesn’t matter or have any impact from practicing.

Settings

Keep in mind holding back by default is based on camera direction, meaning back on the movement stick changes with the camera. This may or may not impact your ability to cancel SAED into AED.

If this is causing you to have issues with canceling SAED into AED I advise you go to page 2 of settings and change Orientation from Type 1 into Type 2

This will make it so “back” will always just be “back” on your movement stick meaning you will get consistent AEDs. This will massively help if you are having issues.

There is also the ability to set the start button to the kick/special button if you fancy that. Page 2 of settings on the bottom lets you cycle between those two options. But what you want is based on preference.

Endgame Setups

In all of these cases, honed blade is preferred but you can drop it down to sharp 1 if it's too taxing to get

I will scream if I see one more person think guard is a general use skill

Weapons

Staples

Akantor CB - Absurd raw and affinity and if you can stay in blue for most of the hunt you stomp on basically all other options. Still has the strongest aeds while in green. I Strongly advise against GPing and shield thrusting everything so you don't waste the blue sharpness.

Strongest phials and AEDs in the game even among relics. Most likely stronger with more players due to quicker kills.

Has very strong SAEDs

Ceadeus CB - For when you don't stay in blue on Akantor long enough or don't use as many phial attacks like in certain monster matchups that don't let you spam phial attacks, this is the CB to use. Probably the best general use CB.

Niche

Seregios CB - used for the natural sharpness pattern. The sharpness eases up armor skill requirements and lets you fit more skills. Commonly used on Deviljho as its a skill hungry matchup with little GP use and lots of rolls and side steps. Too many GPs will ruin your sharpness. Also seen use on Shagaru because of how much rolling there is.

Chaotic Gore - Sees use on 140 gore and only on gore because of the consistent dropping of frenzy puddles which allows you to maintain the gimmick.

Do not use on frenzy/apex monsters

Outside of their frenzy and apex phases and the fact that you can't safely and consistently obtain the frenzy buff on basically all of them means Chaotic CB is playing super nerfed for about 80% of the hunt.

The definition of niche.

Ele Phial

Gold Rathian CB for Chameleos

There's like 3 other irrelevant monsters where ele phials are better than impact but I won't bother with that.

Armor skills

Challenger+2

Who would have thought a 25+ raw and 20 affinity boost for 15 points would be the strongest skill in the game for 13 out of 14 weapons.

Artillery novice

30% boost to phial damage on all phial effects for 10 points and very easy to slot in decos.

NOTE- as mentioned before, expert and god do nothing once you eat for the food skill

Sharpness skills

Sharp +1 / Honed Blade & Razor sharp

Honed blade is a good option as you get the sharpness you need and an extra 20 raw on top to scale phials Sharpness +1 works if you can’t fit in honed blade. Razor sharp is a staple skill and CB has multiple moves that use multiple units of sharpness such as AED or use sharpness quickly like shield thrust if it hits a monster.

The skills above this are basically the core of all CB sets unless otherwise

Most sets depending on charms are going to look something like

Honed blade(sharpness+1 if you can't get it)/Razor Sharp/Art Nov/Challenger 2 as the core and then WE if you can fit it.

Some niche/situational options under

Earplugs and HG Earplugs

HG specifically will see more use than Earplugs for CB. Jho is the main matchup to take HG plugs if anything. You also have a shield and a block that can lead into your biggest attack so CB often finds itself not taking plugs as much although there are still places but the option to cut corners even if it isn't exactly optimal is still there.

Tremor Res

For Jang and Jho, mainly Jho, take it on Jho. Did I say take trem res on jho? Need I say more?

Weakness Exploit

Phials aren't impacted by weakness exploit but the Axe hit of AED is still most of your damage. That's also skipping sword mode hits so WE still has value. The issue is the value is diminished and other skills can give similar value. WE competes with art nov commonly if your charms aren't good enough and art nov is usually just a safer and more general option than WE. The basic Akantor CB set technically wants honed/razor/art nov/Challenger 2/WE for example but most people won't be able to fit WE so they drop it.

Attack up (S/M/L/XL

Usually obtained from honed blade but if you aren't taking honed blade this is a good choice for filler as it scales phials as well. Phials can't crit and with the raw scaling of CB Attack up is even more favored than usual over crit eye.

Load up

1 phial might not seem like much, but for the occasional SAED spam matchup, it's an amazing boost in DPS. A little secret is it also increases phial loading efficiency so you get technically what focus does for free on top of the extra phial which they don't tell you about.

(Element) Attack up +3

For Ele Phial specifically 

If you happen to be using ele phial in one of the few niches you can count on your hand, this is a must bring skill for your damage.

Guard +2 (specifically +2)

For Brachydios punches and Tigrex Roars so you don't recoil too much and can punish appropriately. That's it. Using this skill in basically any other place means it's either doing nothing and wasting an armor skill slot or something terribly wrong is going on.

IF IT IS NOT A TIGGY OR BRACHY DO NOT TAKE GUARD AT ALL

Side note - guard 1 is actually useless

Super duper niche

Guard Up

Applicable use is on Gravios as the stomach gas becomes a free SAED window when GPed. That's it. Every other attack is either already blockable or you shouldn't be trying to block in the first place. Same situation as guard 1 where it's doing basically nothing and taking up valuable armor skill space.

Some actually good runs from CB players that aren't scrubs

140 Stygian - (SAED) makes me moist every time I watch it. (stop spamming GPs)

140 Zinogre - (SAED) Obligatory lux shilling. (stop spamming GPs)

140 Teostra - (Axe mode) a match example where you can't play CB in any traditional fashion. Teo doesn't allow for regular openings. going for back legs is the most effective strategy, meaning you can't really GP and there isn't enough time or good enough openings for aed. (Stop spamming GPs)

140 Rajang - (SAED, AED, Axe, the whole moveset) wow you can do things like use the whole moveset? I never would have thought it wasn't optimal to just spam GPs all the time and get punished each time. Planning out each move for each opening instead of trying to make a 1 solution fits all thing? Who would have thought! (Stop spamming GPs)

140 stop spamming GPs - stop spamming GP AED if you ever want to stop being a scrub

Remember to always Clown in moderation or never clown at all.

Special Thanks

To Clownblade users for always being clowns

To Flop for letting me vent my insanity as I tried to finish armor prog for this training wheels of a weapon