Are new to the franchise and need to find something effective and comfortable to learn in.
Are overwhelmed by the large number of choices the game gives you starting out.
Find themselves struggling in a new encounter
Feel like their hunt times have reached the point of being intolerably long.
People who just want pointers!

You should not go out of your way to farm every set in this document unless you feel that you fall into these categories. Learning to stretch out a set of armor until you are able to go no further with your level of skill can be a healthy practice. It both helps you gauge your own limits and can give you insight to where you are struggling by magnifying some of your mistakes. However, not everyone is up for that sort of thing, and that’s okay! These sets will still leave you in a great spot as you learn the game and transition from early game to endgame.

2. Story Progression Guide

2.1 Chapter 1 progression

Simple starting set, Hope armor and Buster Sword I.

2.2 Chapter 2 Progression set

Chapter 2 set. 4 piece Doshaguma gives Powerhouse II which gives you +25 raw when you land an offset attack. Free Meal 3 is also very comfortable for progression.

2.3 Chapter 3 Progression Set

3. Early Post-Game Progression Guide

Since the goal is to get you, the player, to endgame as smoothly as possible, these sets will not require any decorations. Assume that you should slot in anything that gives you affinity on your armor, like Maximum Might, and Focus + Critical/Attack Boost on your weapons. Use whatever you have on hand.

3.1 Chapter 4 Progression Set

Start of HR. Same deal as LR. HR Doshaguma Armor for Powerhouse II and a couple of other comfort skills.

3.2 Chapter 5 Progression Set

HR21 Set.

3.3 Chapter 6 Progression Set

HR31 Set. Pulling up to the function with a whole 42% affinity. You also receive the skill, Binding Counter, which gives you +25 raw after being grabbed/frozen in place/power clashing/slept.
If you come across any maximum might jewels, please do slot them.

4. Late Post-Game Progression Guide

4.1 Early HR40+

4.2 Post-Game 2P Fulgur

This will be your standard before ATs

4.3 HR50

Set used after beating AT Rey Dau and to assist on your 9* fighting journeys.

4.4 Arch-Tempered Shadowbringer

Set used after beating AT Nu Udra.

Endgame Build Guide

A Comprehensive Guide to Wilds Greatsword

Version 1.4.2

By Jackscin and OPGZ2

FOR MOBILE USERS: Use the Google Docs app to fix blurry/not loaded images

All headers are collapsible, in order to read the paragraphs, press the

button to their left side.

Header by T3h Phish

This document can be used as a reference for video guides. However, you MUST link this document in the description if you do so.
This is so future viewers will always have easy access to an up-to-date version of the document, even if the video is out of date.

Part 3: Endgame Build Guide

Home:

A Comprehensive Guide to Wilds Greatsword

Part 3:

1. A Preface by the Author

2. Build Guide Assumptions

2.1 Skill Priority

2.1.1 Armour Skill Priority

2.1.2 Weapon Skill Priority

2.2. Gear Requirements

3. Meta Build Guide

3.1 Recommended Weapons

3.1.1 Section for Varianza

3.1.2 Craftable Alternatives to Artian

3.2. Ostrak Oblivion(s)

3.3 The Armour Sets

3.3.1 SHATTERING POVERTY

3.3.2 Shatterseal General

3.3.3 Shatterseal Resentment

3.3.4 True Shadowbringer

3.3.5 Vulcan’s Binding

3.3.6 ArkVulcan Powerhouse

3.3.7 Ebony Earplugs

3.3.8 Scorched Vulcan

3.3.9 Vulcan’s Wind

3.3.10 ArkVulcan Resentment

3.3.11 Vulcan Comfort

3.3.12 The Blackest Night

3.3.13 The Blackest Night Binding Counter

4.3 Doshaguma Attack Focus

4.4 Scorcher Attack Focus

4.5 Fulgur Attack Focus

4.6 Ebony's Power Affinity Focus

4.7 Omega Attack Focus

5. Meme Sets

5.1 Waterrrrrr

5.2 Aura Farming (A MUST USE)

5.3 Invinsible

6. Matchups

7. Changes throughout Title Updates

1. A Preface by the Author

Fig. 1. Back to Artian. Grind never stops.

- J a c k s c i n#0007

Contact Jackscin. Ping me in Monster Hunter Gathering Hall or Monster Hunter Hub in #great_sword/#great-sword respectively for feedback.

2. Build Guide Assumptions

2.1 Skill Priority

2.1.1 Armour Skill Priority

1	Weakness Exploit	Crit skills are essential since Greatsword is a raw focused weapon through and through. And since they are on the armour set they don’t take away what we need on our weapon.
1	Latent Power
1	MM3
1*	Agitator
1	Counterstrike	+25 raw for 45 seconds on Hyper Armor/Offset trades
1	Burst	+10 total raw. 5 raw initially for attacking. Another 5 for attacking consecutively within the next 5 seconds.
2	Flayer	Everso slightly makes wounds easier to appear, and does a fixed 140 damage. Over the course of a 3-4 minute hunt, you’ll get 3-4 of these procs. (Doesn’t proc on Kick, Tackle, Focus Strikes after doing a charge slash, and Cross-Up Slash)
2	Convert Element	Similarly to Flayer, this is a fixed damage proc that consistently happens over the length of a hunt. 150+ per proc.
2	Earplugs	Comfort and/or additional damage opening on roars.
2	Resentment	Additional damage when you have recoverable damage. Perfect synergy with Darkside (if you use True Shadowbringer)

Fig. 2.1A - Offensive Armour Skill Priority

2.1.2 Weapon Skill Priority

1	Focus 3	Makes charging attacks faster. Biggest DPS gain for Greatsword.
1	Critical Boost	Strongest skill in the game
2	Handicraft	+10 sharpness per level. Should be comboed with Offensive Guard and/or Focus on a decoration
2	Attack Boost	More raw.
3	Critical Draw	This is the most viable “Crit Draw” playstyle has even been since pre-5th gen games due to the massive buffs to Draw Slash MV along with some other factors. Paired with Adrenaline Rush and you’ve got something very decent.
-10	Punishing Draw	Not worth slotting. 1-2 slot must take up Critical Boost, another takes up Focus, and that leaves no space for Punishing Draw

Fig. 2.1B - Weapon Skill Priority

2.2. Gear Requirements

At least HR41 is required for the listed sets

Talismans and Artian weapons however, might take a while to properly come online.
Every Non-Level 3 Decoration becomes target meldable at HR 100, which means you should be able to obtain a build after a sufficient amount of time.

3. Meta Build Guide

3.1 Recommended Weapons

3.1.1 Section for Varianza

Rarity 8 Artian Greatswords currently stand as one the best Greatswords in the game.

- Natural White

- High Raw

- Affinity

- Sensational Slotage (3-3-3)

Fig 3.1 Varianza

For base artisans, these two are the best reinforcements you can roll before upgrading Varianza to a Gogma. They’re basically interchangeable, with 220-10 barely, I mean like barely being superior.
For the element, I don’t expect most of you to want to make more than one Artian due to RNG, so the best general element is Fire as most relevant matchups (and most monsters in general) are weak to it.
If you are going to make a GS per element, the order of relevance would be:
Fire>Thunder>Water>Ice>Dragon

Decos setup:

3.1.2 Craftable Alternatives to Artian

- Powerful craftable that comes with Focus 3 built-in.

- Has 40 hits of white. Whiteflame Torrent can make up for the loss of 2 levels of CB compared to Stalwart Lamorak.

- Best craftable until True Shadowbringer.

- The best.

3.2. Ostrak Oblivion(s)

Fig 3.3a Gogma Materials
When going to upgrade your Varianza to Ostrak, you will be greeted with 3 upgrade paths. You cannot re-roll your upgrade once chosen, you would have to make a new Varianza from scratch so choose wisely.
Attack Focus: +10 attack -15% affinity +10 sharpness
Affinity Focus: +10% Affinity, -10 Attack, -2 Element, -10 Sharpness

Element Focus: +4 Element, -5% Affinity

Fig 3.2b Ostrak Oblivions

When choosing a focus from the start, selecting Affinity is the most ideal. Attack Focus can work as well, but requires you to rely on horn affinity buff and/or heavily relying on Latent Power. The former which only lasts for 3 minutes and the latter which generally only has an uptime of 50% - 55% so it can be quite inconvenient; however if you have already rolled Attack Focus, not to worry, it can still be good.
When it comes to rolling skills on your Gogma, you have options.:
Soul/Soul works best with Affinity Focus

Gore/Soul works best with Affinity Focus (Regarding specifically the JinGore set)

The skills in the middle can work with either focus,

just adjust your decorations accordingly.

Flare/Soul works best with Attack Focus

Gogma/Guardian works best with Attack Focus (Regarding specifically the Invinsible Meme Set)

These are the most ideal reinforcements and active skills to have.
Soul of the Dark Knight is the 2p Bale set bonus that gives you Flood of Shadow, the purple wave that comes out after a level 3 charge of any of the Charged Combos (Overhead Slash, Strong Charge Slash, True Charge Slash). It deals an extra 30MV. A common misconception seen is people mixing this skill up with True Shadowbringer’s skill, Darkside. No, this does not drain your health.

Rathalos’s Flare is a 2p set bonus that lets your attack deal an extra residual damage.Consistently too.

Fulgur Anjanath’s Will extends your stamina bar. Stamina used within this extra bar does not cause Maximum Might to deactivate. This heavily raises its uptime from 70% to 90%.
Doshaguma’s Might grants you the skill Powerhouse which gives you +10 raw for 3 minutes after you successfully perform an offset. It refreshes every time you land another one as well. If you’re consistent at landing
offsets, this skill will be up the entire hunt.
Ebony Odogaron’s Power extends the duration of the skill Burst and adds +8 raw to it. If you’re in multiplayer, and/or dealing with a MU who is not that aggressive enough to constantly land offsets, or you’re just rubbish at performing offsets.
Omega Resonance is strictly a multiplayer skill. It will give you either attack or affinity buff at the start

and will alternate between those two every 90 seconds. It does work with Support Hunters too.

The Group Skill, Lord’s Soul, once paired with 2 Gamma pieces gives you Guts and a 5% damage buff.
The damage buff goes away when Guts is activated.

Finally, the reinforcements. ATTACK BOOST EX x2, ATTACK BOOST III x2, Sharpness EX
or ATTACK BOOST EX x2, AFFINITY BOOST EX, Attack Boost III, Sharpness EX are the most ideal rolls
to have. With Affinity Boost EX, some sets may overcap affinity, so be vigilant with that.

3.3 The Armour Sets

Most of these sets will feature an Attack Boost 2, Critical Eye 1, Burst 1 1w-1-1 charm.

The Critical Eye 1 is superfluous. The same charm without Critical Eye 1 will produce
the same result. The craftable AGI3 charm will work as well, just shift around your decorations.
Another thing, while you’ll notice that a majority of these sets have Stun Resistance 3, it is not mandatory-
Sort of. Offsets and Tackles will build-up stun in the background. So if you’re dealing with someone with someone who is very aggressive (Sir Regios, Nu Udra, Arkveld to name a few), someone who you’re always offsetting, to get stunned in the middle of an attack will result in a cart. So if you’re dealing with that, then yes, you should slot Stun Resistance, but if you’re not dealing with that, then you can drop it and put what you like.

3.3.1 SHATTERING POVERTY

New Greatsword on the block. Shatterseal. Shatterseal’s weapon skill,
Shattering Reflection is a 45MV attack after a level 3 Overhead Slash, Strong Charge Slash
and True Charge Slash. It can be stacked and used along with Flood of Shadow. So reading this, your question is probably, “Is this greatsword better than the Gogma Artians?” The answer is no. While an extra total 75MV on your charged combo sounds enticing, the nature of Wilds GS in endgame revolves around doing Offset Rising Slashes a majority of the time which Shattering Reflection does not effect. Also, only having 210 base raw is lowkey pathetic. Also also, because it has no element, it cannot take advantage of Convert Element. Combining all these factors, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on who you are), this sword is not the definitive best Greatsword; but if you want to avoid the Gog RNG and/or you find the lifedrain from
True Shadowbringer is uncomfortable, or you’re just new to Greatsword and want to test if you like the weapon class without blowing your munyuns, then this is the weapon for you.

3.3.2 Shatterseal General

Same set as 3.3.1, but with the most ideal charm.

3.3.3 Shatterseal Resentment

Anti Sir Regios Set. Sir Regios applies the bleed effect. With Bleed Resistance 2, You will still get bled,
but it makes the bleed much more manageable. When you’re bleeding, you are always left with a red portion of your health. Not only that, but every movement you make will tick down your health slightly. These two factors will skyrocket your Resentment and Latent Power uptime. Can be uncomfortable, but it’s one the strongest and most entertaining ways to fight Sir Regios. This set can also work in hot areas if you don’t drink a Cool Drink.

3.3.4 True Shadowbringer

True Shadowbringer still remains one of the best craftable greatswords in the game.
Debately better than Shatterseal as well. It’s recommended to drink Immunizers to deal with the constant health drain.

3.3.5 Vulcan’s Binding

Binding Counter set. Binding counter I gives you +25 Raw for 90 seconds after a successful powerclash, after being pinned, being webbed, or being frozen in place. Notable matchups include Ajarakan, Arkveld, Blangonga, Nu Udra, Omega Planetes, and Xu Wu. When dealing with pins from Ajarkan Arkveld Nu Udra, Xu Wu, enemies that will physically grab you leading the pin QTE animation where your hunter is knifing the monster to escape, it is advised to have throwing knives or some type of slinger ammo equipped that instantly frees you from a pin before you go get intentionally grabbed. When dealing with Blangona, Omega Jin Dahaad, enemies that freeze you in place, you can drop Stun Resistance 3 for Bind Resistance 2, or just bring Cleansers. Because this set has 3 Gamma pieces, it can double as an entry level set as you don’t need to roll Lord’s Soul on the weapon.

3.3.6 ArkVulcan Powerhouse

2 Piece Doshaguma now with Convert Element 3. 2P Dosha gives you the skill “Powerhouse” which gives you +10 raw when you successfully land an offset or a Power Clash. It lasts for 3 minutes and refreshes every time you successfully land the aforementioned. Convert Element is a damage proc skill. When you get “hit” with an elementally based attack, (Hit as in you can still tackle or offset), you will notice your weapon is surrounded with dragon energy. After a while, while you’re attacking, it will deal about 280-300 damage depending on who you’re fighting. On average, you’ll get about 3-4 of these procs per hunt. If you’re only interested in one making a single set for Greatsword, then this would be considered the “General Set” as most matchups in endgame revolve around using Offsets.

3.3.7 Ebony Earplugs

2 Piece Odogaron. Burst Boost extends the duration of Burst and adds +8 raw. If you’re bad at offsets, or the monster is infrequently offsetted or can’t be offset (Fraudmazios) or you’re playing a multiplayer setting where offsets can be infrequent, then this set is the set to use.

3.3.8 Scorched Vulcan

2 Piece G. Rathalos. Scorcher is a fire element blast proc-skill. Most monsters in this game are weak to fire and over the course of a hunt you activate Scorcher about 16 times. It also scales off of Fire element weaposn as well.

3.3.9 Vulcan’s Wind

Two Piece Fulgur. This gives you the skill Second Wind. It extends your stamina bar. On average Max Might uptime is about 70%, but with the extended stamina bar, the stamina used within that extension does not deactivate Max Might. This makes Max Might’s uptime go from 70% to 90%+ which means you retain your affinity for a much longer period.

3.3.10 ArkVulcan Resentment

Anti-Sir Regios set. Same deal as 3.3.3, but with Gogma Artian, No Convert Element 3 because
Sir Regios doesn’t hit you with anything elemental. Also comes with 3 Gamma pieces,
so rolling Lord’s Soul on the weapon is not required.

3.3.11 Vulcan Comfort

Same set bonus as 3.3.9, but designed for maximum comfort.

3.3.12 The Blackest Night

4 Pieces of Bale give you access to the ability “The Blackest Night”. The Blackest Night is counter
which upon proccing will deal 800-1.1k damage, set your health to 1 with the full red portion still there.
During this state, Undead Redemption, the red portion of your health cannot be dissipated even when taking damage, you gain +350 defense, and hits you deal to the monster will recover health. The Blackest Night
has 75 second cooldown, and Undead Redemption lasts for 30 seconds.

3.3.13 The Blackest Night Binding Counter

Same deal as 3.3.12 but with Binding Counter. This is one of the safest sets to fight AT Arkveld with.

3.3.14 Omega Vulcan

Strictly multiplayer set. Works with Support Hunters too. When starting the quest, you will start with either Local
Resonance or Remote Resonance. Local gives +20% Affinity and Remote gives +10 attack. After 90 seconds, the buff will change. The buff you get afterwards will depend on the distance you are from your members. If everyone is close, you will get Local(Affinity), if they are far, you will get Remote.

4. Alternative Sets

4.1 Kriticool Draw

Kriticool Draw is the traditional pre-world Greatsword playstyle where you prioritize draw slashes mostly. With the buffs to Overhead and Strong Charged’s Motion Values, the addition of 2pc Bale, Shattering Reflection and the buffs to the Critical Draw skill, this playstyle returns as a pretty great alternative.

Note: With CritDraw’s lingering affinity, you can do a lvl2 SCS or lvl3 Offset Rising Slash after a Draw Slash. Draw Slash can be any charge level since the timer only starts ticking after you land Draw Slash; however with 2pc bale and Shattering Reflection addition, it is stronger to do SCS3 even if it doesn’t crit. It is also highly recommended that you eat Tumbler Meal when you play this set. It Will greatly help in activating Adren. Rush.

4.2 JinGore

AFFINITY FOCUS. AT Jin armor with Gore Magala’s set bonus. With 2p Jin comes the skill Binding Counter which gives you +25 raw after power clashing, getting binded of sorts (Webbed(Nercyslla), Frozen(Blangonga/Jin Dahaad) ) or getting grabbed. It procs on every pin, but it’s most effective on matchups like Nu Udra, Arkveld, and Ajarakan because it’s very easy to just cancel their grabs with a knife/luring pod and instantly proc the skill.
Note: If you get an affinity EX roll,, this set will overcap on affinity. To offset (ahahaha) this, either re-roll it or drop the two antivirus's (The latter option will still leave you overcapped by 2%, but at least you have free slots to do w/e)

4.3 Doshaguma Attack Focus

2p Dosha bonus, but one piece is rolled on the weapon.
“Attack Focus” means that the weapon focus chosen for the Gogma Artian was attack.
“Affinity Focus” means that the weapon focus chosen for the Gogma Artian was affinity.

4.4 Scorcher Attack Focus

2p G.Rath bonus, but one piece is rolled on the weapon.

4.5 Fulgur Attack Focus

2p G.Fulgur bonus, but one piece is rolled on the weapon.

4.6 Ebony's Power Affinity Focus

2p G.Ebony bonus, but one piece is rolled on the weapon.

4.7 Omega Attack Focus

2p Omega bonus, but one piece is rolled on the weapon. Made for multiplayer.
Does work with Support Hunters.

5. Meme Sets

5.1 Waterrrrrr

Set for Scarlet Forest/Oilwell Basin/Any place that has a lot of waterrr. Slicked Blade 3 phase 1 gives 9% affinity for being wet. Being “wet” includes rain, water, and puddles. Phase 2 of Slick Blade gives 21% when Bubbly Dance II is activated.

To activate Bubbly Dance II, just roll 3 times. It lasts for 30 seconds, which is more than enough time to have both Bubbly Dance II and Maximum Might up at the same time. For additional spiciness, you can drop WEX1 for Adrenaline Rush 1.

5.2 Aura Farming (A MUST USE)

One of the best sets in the game. The way this set works is simple. You use the self-inflicted damage from Shadowbringer to bring you down to Heroics hp range. After this, you now aura farm on the monster by doing (mostly) draw slashes. Like I’m not even trolling, this set will save your life. Before, I was getting like 35 minute clear times. After discovering and using this set, I am now clearing everything in 7 minutes or less.

5.3 Invinsible

Undamagable. Unbreakable. Immovable. Mentally Untouchable.

6. Matchups

Fig 6.0 Elemental Matchups

7. Changes throughout Title Updates

7.1 Base game -> TU1

Due to the stealth buff, Maximum Might still persists 3s after you’ve lost stamina. Due to this yuge shadow buff (and superior pieces being added), 2P Fulgur is no longer required.
Update: As of May 28th, the Akuma update, this has been undone. But 2P Fulgur is still dead.
Gore 4P is now the best set for damage due to Zoh Shia Chest Beta allowing it to fit in Burst 1.
On April 29th, Arch Tempered Rey Dau was added, and with its addition, came Rey Y armor. 3p yields 5% raw
and has Guts. It also brought Latent Power to the forefront as being a viable skill.

7.2 TU1 -> TU2

GS received MV buffs to Charged Slash, Strong Charge Slash, Strong Wide Slash and True Charged Slash. Its element modifiers were also increased across the board. Attack speed changes were also made. SWS -> TCS’s animation was significantly sped up. The animation speed of JWS -> Side Blow was also sped up.

On July 12, Arch Tempered Uth Duna was added (1 week earlier than scheduled), and with that came its
armor set Duna Gamma. Because the emphasis of this armor was Peak Performance, this set barely saw use, but its leg piece came in clutch with Agitator 1, Quick Sheathe 3 and a 3 slot; and because it’s a Gamma piece, it allowed us to synergize with two other pieces of Rey Gamma allowing for Lord’s Soul.

On August 13th, RNG charms were added to the game which increased the power of sets.

7.3 TU2 -> TU3

Greatsword was heavily buffed with the addition of True Shadowbringer and Bale armor.
True Shadowbringer’s weapon skill, Darkside increases damage on Charge Slash, Strong Charge Slash
and True Charge Slash if you charged to at least level 2. Bale armor, its 2 piece set bonus came with the skill The Dark Arts which essentially adds a 20MV to Charge Slash, Strong Charge Slash, True Charge Slash on charge levels 2-3. The 4 piece gives you the skill called The Blackest Night.
On October 22, Arch-Tempered Nu Udra was added alongside its very efficient pieces which emboldened the already good skill Resentment.

7.4 TU3 -> TU4

The charged combo was buffed once more. The addition of the Gogma Artians with their reinforcements and ability to add armor and group skill to them, makes GS stronger than ever.
On December 24th, Arch Tempered Jin Dahaad was added. Pieces were mostly sidegrades, but
it brought Binding Counter back into relevancy.

7.5 TU4 -> TU4.5

Added AT Arkveld and Shatterseal greatsword. AT Arkveld’s pieces were incredibly good, and it
allowed us to fit Convert Element 3 on most sets.

8. FAQs

Q: Which mantle to use?
A: Corrupted and Rocksteady mantle.

Q: What about Flayer, how does it work?

A: It makes wounds appear faster. Level 2 makes them appear the fastest, it does not work as intended currently. Addendum: Allegedly, that is the intended function. Source: Reddit, Reddit 2, Official Capcom FAQ.

Q: Elemental sets

A: As of TU4, Elemental matching is viable, but requires a lot of work, i.e rolling a Gogma Artian per element.
So while elemental matching is viable, if you don’t want to do that, then just stick to Fire as most monsters in this game are weak to it.

Q: Why not Partbreaker, it says it increases Focus Strike damage?

A: It only increases the wound pop damage, which is around 30 per pop.

Q: Why do the sets overcap affinity? Frenzy gives 15% and Antivirus 3 gives 15%!

A: Description was fixed in TU2.

Q: How much does Power Charm add?

A: Power Charm grants +6 Raw.

Q: How to make Artian weapons? What’s the best one?
A: Section 3.1.1 covers Artian weapons.

Q: How does the Offset work? Why does it topple sometimes but not all time?
A: Offset operates on a threshold. At the start of the hunt, the threshold starts at 150 and maxes out at 601, every time the actual offset happens, the threshold increases. Which would explain why the offset effect (big shotgun sound effect) appears on your screen, but the actual topple doesn’t happen. You need to reach the threshold everytime. If the topple doesn’t happen, you can still go for a follow-up TCS

Q: Why do I randomly get disconnected from MP? Why am I still in the hunt/group/lobby after disconnecting? Why do monsters teleport?

A: Multiplayer is currently bugged.

Q: Why can I not join SOS’s? Why does the SOS say 1/4 but when I try to join it says it's full?
A: SOS is currently bugged.

Q: Why do I sometimes just have my mantle active?

A: Mantles don't work properly currently, they sometimes get auto equipped.

Q: Why can’t I talk to certain NPCs?

A: NPC interaction detection currently isn’t working properly. If you’re too close to an NPC, you cannot talk to them.

Q: How does Scorcher work?
A: Similar to how Status works. It “randomly” (likely pre-determined chance like status, i.e. 10 out of 30 hits; needs testing) procs an extra hit of pure fire damage. That proc does not scale with Attack and doesn’t care about innate weapon element, but scales with Burst, Coalescence and Fire Attack. On the dummy (80/30 hitzones), the procs are worth 12/30 damage respectively for 2/4 piece rathalos. Addendum: After initial theory of the damage being 100 (scalable) flat fire and thus being always equal to the fire hitzone, this has since been discarded; the damage is wildly inconsistent. On Chatacabra’s butt, it will sometimes proc as 6 damage, despite it being a 10 hitzone for fire. It will however never exceed 6, and seemingly randomly throw 3 and 1 as values. This could be explained either by defense modifiers, or bugs.

Q: What does Frenzy Mantle do?

A: While equipped, it drains health, but procs an additional hit on some combos, depending on Weapon Type.

For Greatsword, these moves are:

Overhead Slash, Charged Slash, Strong Charged Slash, True Charged Slash (outside of the first hit).

Additionally, while attacking with this mantle equipped, an invisible gauge is filled, likely based on how much MV the attacks have. Once cleared, this mantle also grants +10% Affinity as well as +5% Raw.

Q: Why do you recommend X charms? They don’t exist!
A: The game does not currently tell you what is required to upgrade charms, it will only let you open the upgrade menu if you happen to have the materials required to upgrade them.

Q: How much damage do you get from wakeup hits? Is it worth putting bombs for sleeping monsters?
A: 2x damage for the hit that wakes up the monster. It’s not worth it to put bombs, since they deal very little damage and are time consuming.

Q: Does hitting the first hit of TCS matter?
A: Yes! If you hit the first hit of TCS on a weak point (45 HZV or more,) TCS will deal more damage.

Q: Is Zoh Shia GS stronger than Artian GS?
A: No lmaooo.

9. Resources

Wilds ASS here
Datamines here
Wilds builder here
Wilds database through Kiranico here
Monster Hunter Gathering Hall discord here

10. Acknowledgements

Daykeras#6169 for Artian GS maths.
Knuckles#6097, Sense#8397 and Speng#7717 for WEX recalculations,
and overall major TC contributions.
Some sections of this doc are based on Sasch’s SwAxe build guide.

Dataminers such as dtlnor who've made our lives much easier.

Upgreid, who created the Wiggler Standard.

11. Final words

- Zero

Femboys hmu, @Kage_MH

Jackscin? More like Jacksoff - Aki

Gameplay Guide

A Comprehensive Guide to Wilds Greatsword

Version 1.4.2

By Jackscin and OPGZ2

FOR MOBILE USERS: Use the Google Docs app to fix blurry/not loaded images

All headers are collapsible, in order to read the paragraphs, press the

button to their left side.

Header by T3h Phish

Part 1: Gameplay Guide (WIP)

1. About the Author

Jackscin. He plays Greatsword with a sense of whimsy and wonder.

2. Introduction to the Weapon

3. Inputs and Basics

The following is a list of the used moves:
Terms:
CS = Overhead Slash
SCS = Strong Charge Slash
TCS = True Charge Slash
ORS = Offset Rising Slash
FCS = Follow-Up Cross Slash
PG = Perfect Guard
Perforate = Focus Strike
SWS = Strong Wide Slash
LWS = Leaping Wide Slash

4. Mechanics

Greatsword revolves around the mechanic of charging your attacks. Up to 3 levels.
The higher your charge, the more damage you’ll do. Do be careful however, as holding charge for too long will result in an overcharge (Overcharged attacks are the same damage as level 2 charge.).

4.1 Offsets

Offset attacks are one of the new mechanics added to Greatsword. Greatsword’s offset is attached to its
new Offset Rising Slash. After charging, then upon releasing it, if any monster’s physical attack, i.e. the part of the monster’s body it used to attack you, connects with your sword, the monster will dramatically fumble over which automatically leads you into a Follow-up Cross Slash. Offset Rising Slash has 3 levels, and each level determines the MV of the Follow-Up Cross slash. Also, during the animation of the cross-up sweep where you’re lunging towards the monster, you can control the direction of where your hunter goes by pressing the directional keys/joystick. This is quite nice on MUs like Uth Duna, Seregios, and Arkveld where their head isn’t necessarily the primary weak spot. Note: Not all physical attacks can be offsetted. Take Sir Regios super-plus ultra dive kick as an example. If you attempt to offset it, your sword will just dink off of the monster, When you see these attacks, better option is to perfect tackle or perfect guard depending on the situation.
Level 1 = 44 + 180
Level 2 = 49 + 200
Level 3 = 58 + 230
Offset Rising Slash also provides damage reduction of 70%. Depending on your timing, it is possible to do no damage at all. If the monster’s body part touches you upon releasing the offset, you will take chip damage. If your sword exclusively touches the monster’s body part upon offset. you will take no damage. Note: Unlike Greatsword’s other charges, this one can be rolled out of.

4.1.1 Offset Buildup

After sometime of using Offset Rising Slash, you may have noticed that sometimes the monster won’t actually offset despite you actually getting the “offset effect” (spark efx + shotgun sfx). This is because Offset operates on a threshold system. Every time you perform an offset rising slash, and the monster does the fumbling over, the threshold increases. This is why at the start hunt, your first offset slash, even if it’s level 1, will always offset the monster, but then after the 2nd or 3rd one, it won’t always proc.

The offset buildup of Offset Rising Slash goes as following:

Level 0 = 75
Level 1 = 100
Level 2 = 150
Level 3 = 200

Overcharged is the same as level 3.

4.2 Focus Mode/Slash

Focus Mode is Wild’s most standout feature that allows you to fully turn, spin, 360 attacks in the middle of its animation; not only that, when being Focus Mode will significantly move you forward towards the monster.
If you press the Focus Mode button + left click, you will perform Focus Slash. It has two variations, pressing the forward key, will perform the overhead version, pressing a left or right key, will perform a sideways version. For the overhead version, you can control which direction your hunter is perforating in after connecting by using a directional key/input.You can then perform either a Leaping Wide Slash, Strong Charge Slash, or go into Offset Rising Slash. Also, you can perform this motion after any almost other attack, and it carries over charge.

So if you did a level 3 Strong Charge Slash, the Focus Slash will also be level 3; and if you choose to follow up with Leaping Wide Slash, that will also retain its level. When performing Focus Slash on a wound, you will do an extended version of this with many more strikes involved and will allow you to go into TCS. (TCS does not retain a level, it will start at level 1).

4.3 Perfect Tackle

Tackle is multi-faceted motion. It deals KO damage, negates oncoming damage by 90% and allows you to
shortcut into the next charge. In Wilds, Tackle was given a buff in “Perfect Tackle”. Normal tackle does skip into the next charge, however, outside of Leaping Wide Slash, tackle does not hold the previous charge; but,
Perfect Tackle does. So say, you were holding a Strong Charge Slash 3, and you Perfect Tackle a monster’s attack, your next motion, True Charge Slash, will immediately be level 3. To perform a perfect tackle, you react with a tackle right before the monster’s attack touches you.

4.4 Perfect Guards

Guarding has always been a no-no with Greatsword. A last resort if you had literally no other option to deal with a monster’s oncoming attack; until now. Unlike normal guarding, which is slow and clunky, consumes sharpness and un-offensively non-beneficial, Perfect Guard is the opposite of all that. If you press the guard button at the right time upon reacting to a monster’s motion, you will hear a very distinct guard sfx along with a different guarding animation.

As stated before, Perfect Guarding doesn’t consume any sharpness and is significantly faster than a standard guard. This speed allows you to respond rapidly with a motion coming out of your guard. You can perform either Overhead, Focus Strike and even Offset Rising Slash significantly after Perfect Guarding compared to standard guard. This is something you definitely want to master. Biggest advice for activating Perfect Guards is to press forward key (controller moves the joystick up) and whatever your guard key (RT for controller) is at the same time after ending any of your motions. This allows guarding to come out way faster than just holding the guard button.

5. Playstyles, Assumed Movesets, and Utility Moves

Greatsword has 2 playstyles. The standard one where you utilize the whole kit, and the other one being
Critical Draw. The former resolves maximizing Charge Slash, Strong Charge Clash, Jumping Wide Slash, True Charge Slash and Offset Rising Slashes to combat the monster. This is the strongest playstyle. The latter revolves around returning to the traditional Greatsword playstyle of hit -> sheathe -> run -> repeat. It is significantly weaker than the playing normally, but it is the strongest it has ever been for a modern MH.

6. Optimal Damage Combos and Damage Loops

Greatsword is not really a combo weapon like Longsword or Switch Axe where you’re doing a set combo regardless of monster state. The motions that you perform are based upon what the monster is currently doing. So I’ll provide a couple of scenarios with the optimal motions to perform in that said scenario:

Sneak Attack Intro (Assuming not using Earplugs)
Sneak Attack -> Strong Charge Slash level 2 -> Perfect Guard -> Wide Slash -> Offset Rising Slash 3
Exceptions are monsters who have quick roars (Doshaguma and Gore Magala for example) or really long roar startups (Mizutsune). In case-by-case examples like this you would do:
For Doshaguma: Sneak Attack -> Strong Charge Slash 3 (don’t release it) -> Tackle(Ideally, Perfect Tackle) -> Offset Rising Slash
For Mizutsune: Sneak Attack -> Strong Charge Slash 2 -> Roll -> Tackle -> Strong Charge Slash 2
For Gore Magala: Sneak Attack -> Strong Charge Slash 3 -> Roll -> Tackle -> Strong Charge Slash 3

Wound Focus Striking
As mentioned prior. you can go into Perforate after any Greatsword motion. If you have performed an attack on the monster., and a wound has appeared, your best next choice of action would be to perform a Perforate on that wound. This will temporarily stop the monster from doing whatever it was doing, and flinch it, providing you just enough time to land a Leaping Wide Slash.
Tempered Wound Focus Striking
Perforate -> True Charge Slash 3 -> Perforate -> Offset Rising Slash or Leaping Wide Slash
Tempered Wounds, the blue ones, will topple the monster once they are popped. As soon as you see these, you
should be Preforating immediately.

Wound Strike QTE
Perforate -> True Charge Slash 3

Some monsters, during or after a specific motion, leave a specific body part vulnerable to a Focus Strike that will knock them down. Example(s):
Rey Dau’s face after using its major railgun blast.
Doshaguma’s belly when it is standing up on its hind legs to body press you.
Arkveld’s forearms after doing its nova.
Rompolo’s tongue after that one tongue motion.
Mizutsune’s face after blasting the ground with water.

7. Advanced Player Tips

Guarding to cancel animation endlag
When you land an offset rising slash, but it doesn’t actually offset the monster, it leaves you in a long ending animation. At first, the most optimal thing to do would be to roll out of animation, but in a majority of cases, this
is actually sub-optimal cause it is much slower to now go back into the charging state. The proper thing after connecting an offset that doesn’t actually offset is guard cancel to quickly shorten the animation. This is applicable to all motions with long ending animations, not just offset, but offset gets the most mileage out of this tech.
Fast TCS after Offset
As you know by now, successful offsets that don’t actually offset the monster will go into TCS after. Under regular inputs, your hunter will do the slow animation where they pick up the sword from the ground and go into TCS; however, you can change the TCS animation that is performed after an offset by holding a directional input. After the offset, as soon as your sword *clicks* with the ground, hold a directional input/joystick whilst pressing the TCS button, and the hunter will perform a different, but significantly faster animation.
Perfect Guard Offset animation cancel
As you know by now, the motion that you perform after an perfect guard will come out way faster than had you
performed a regular guard. This is very integral for ORS. When you PG then go into ORS, you notice your character will do the animation where they pull the sword back and start charging; however, there’s a method to make it come out even faster after a perfect guard. If you PG whilst being in Focus Mode, and you flick your camera left (It doesn’t always have to be left, but this is the most consistent method), this will skip the whole ORS startup animation and immediately start charging. If there’s any tech that you’re going to implement when playing Greatsword, this is definitely the most integral one as that animation cancel will allow
you gain an additional charge on your ORS after PG in certain situations. Places where you could land a level 1 after PG, you will now be able to get it to level 2. Places where you could land a level 2 after PG, you will now be able to get it to level 3.
Multi-Perfect Guarding
As mentioned prior, holding forward + Guard button will allow for faster PG after a motion; however if you’re dealing with a consecutive attack, you don’t want to do this, as this will cause your character to start exiting the
PG animation which can be deadly for yourself. Fighting Sir Regios for example where it jumps in the air and does the double kick. If you were to PG whilst holding a movement, you would block the first kick, but then get hit by the second one because of the recovery animation your hunter is doing. To deal with attacks like this, just press your PG button without inputting a movement motion. This will keep your hunter in blocking stance longer allowing you to PG multiple times after another. Sensational defensive option for dealing with consecutive attacks.
Perforate from sheathed
Greatsword can use a focus strike from a sheathed state. This is a godsend to perform when you want to pop
a wound that may be located in a different spot from where you are currently positioned. To perform this, the inputs are [Focus Mode Button + Perforate Button + Upswing Button].

8. Player Skill Benchmarks

Inexperienced - Players who constantly get hit. Miss their timings.
Intermediate - Players who have an understanding of the weapons moveset, can hit about half of their counters, and can clear quests reliably within 7-14 minutes.
Advanced - Players who can target and hit parts at will, formulate and adapt on the fly, consistently land their offsets, have great reactivity and usually clear without carting within 5-7 minutes.
Expert - Players who have a perfect understanding of the moveset, nail nearly all of their offsets,
perfect guards, and TCSs. They also take full advantage of all the tech.

9. Closing Thoughts

Buff TCS3 to 590MV, Buff TCS3 Power to 755MV and buff ORS3 to 254MV. Ty Capcom.