The Long Sword is historically one of the most popular weapons in the Monster Hunter series, thanks to its graceful move set and powerful attacks. Any Hunter can perform well with the Long Sword, but it requires some finesse if you truly want to master it, and armor skills can help bring out its full potential. Here are some of the best Long Sword builds in Monster Hunter Now.
The best Long Sword builds in Monster Hunter Now
The Long Sword can attack swiftly and build up a special meter known as the Spirit Gauge, which empowers its attacks. You can also skillfully counter monster attacks with certain moves, so the Long Sword is all about dancing through monster attacks and counterattacking twofold. As such, these builds aim to strengthen the Long Sword’s innate abilities.
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The one skill that is great across all Long Sword builds is Focus. Normally, Focus speeds up charge attack times, but for the Long Sword, it increases the rate at which the Spirit Gauge fills. Building up your Spirit Gauge to red as fast as possible is the key to the Long Sword, as you deal more damage and are able to use different moves.
Aside from Focus, here are universally good skills that are great with any weapon:
- Artful Dodger: Makes it easier to perform perfect evades. This does not affect the counter window for Iai Spirit Slash.
- Attack Boost: Increase attack.
- Concentration: Speeds up Special Skill gauge fill rate.
- Critical Eye: Increases affinity.
- Defense Boost: Increases defense.
- Divine Blessing: Chance to reduce incoming damage.
- Earplugs: Reduces the effect of monster roars.
- Evade Extender: Increases evade distance.
- Lock On: Focuses the camera on selected monster parts, making it easier to hit them.
- Partbreaker: Makes it easier to break monster parts.
- Weakness Exploit: Increases affinity when attacking monster weak points.
If you need some ideas or just want to copy some builds, here are some Long Sword builds that we’ve had the best experiences with.
Quick Spirit Gauge build
| Armor | Skills |
|---|---|
| Head: Pukei Hood | Focus, Health Boost Lv. 2 |
| Chest: Pukei Mail | Poison Resist, Focus |
| Arms: Rathian Vambraces | Lock On, Burst Lv. 2 |
| Waist: Rathalos Coil | Focus, Fire Attack |
| Legs: Jyura Greaves | Focus Lv. 2, Last Stand |
With Focus level 5, your Spirit Gauge fills up 30% faster, so you should have no problem getting to red Spirit Gauge with this build. To complement the damage, Burst increases your attack power when you land multiple hits in quick succession, and you’ve got Lock On for breaking parts and targeting weak points.
Critical build
| Armor | Skills |
|---|---|
| Head: Kulu Headpiece | Lock On, Critical Eye |
| Chest: Rathalos | Weakness Exploit Lv. 2 |
| Arms: Kulu Vambraces | Last Stand, Critical Eye |
| Waist: Rathalos Coil | Focus, Fire Attack |
| Legs: Kulu Greaves | Critical Eye Lv. 2 |
This build is all about landing critical hits, and works well with raw (non-elemental) weapons. Critical Eye passively boosts your Affinity, and Weakness Exploit grants even more when you hit monster weak points. Lock On helps you target weak points, and you get one level of Focus to help you build Spirit Gauge.
Quick Special Skill build
| Armor | Skills |
|---|---|
| Head: Lumu Hat | Concentration, Windproof |
| Chest: Anja Mail | Special Boost Lv. 2 |
| Arms: Lumu Vambraces | Concentration Lv. 2, Divine Blessing |
| Waist: Anja Coil | Fire Resistance, Special Boost |
| Legs: Free choice | ? |
We don’t know how viable this build will be in the long run, but man, it is tons of fun! This build is all about building your Special Skill gauge fast and spamming Spirit Helm Breaker as much as possible. Right now, Concentration and Special Boost can only go up to level 3, so this build may get a little stronger in the future.
As always, there are tons of different ways to build in Monster Hunter Now, so these builds aren’t set in stone. Feel free to modify it however you like, and let us know what skills and armor pieces you think are the best for Long Sword in the comments below!
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Monster Hunter Now best Long Sword builds