Monster Hunter Rise - Builds Guide (Long Sword Master)


This article will follow up on some Long Sword builds througout the game. I main in LS, so I can share my experience and what worked well for me. It's really hard to suggest builds for other weapons and styles, so I will at least try and do this one.

Beginner Guide for Long Swords

When you start your journey, you may want to continue using the Long Sword. It's kind of a most-balanced weapon and most common starting point in Monster Hunter games. I really love the playstyle, dodging and countering, so this was my love from the very start.

Long Sword Bar

Everything starts with this bar. There are 4 levels of that bar (outside glow), empty, white, yellow, and red. Red is where you want to be all te time. By having the red bar you do the most damage. It also does the most damage with special attacks - you want that. 

Spirit Gauge (the inside of that bar) is used to attack with special combo using button. You can fill that by attacking with basic combos (usually that are and buttons).

Left of that bar is the sharpness bar. Green and above means you are good, yellow and below is not the best. When your weapon isn't shard, it will bounce from enemies and do less damage.

I suggest that you start with the training (you can enter the training area from the Buddy Plaza using a boat). This is the list of moves you can pull of using a Long Sword:

Moves

  • Basic Combo: , , ,

Basic combo is my most used combo. It's needed for filling the bar for heavy attacks that will raise your Long Sword bar level (if you read the paragraph above, the red is where you where you want to be. Fill the inside of the sword (Spirit Gauge) icon using basic attacks:

  • Spirit Blade Combo (Needs Spirit Gauge): , , ,  

It requires almost a full Spirit  Gauge (the inside bar of the sword icon in upper-left). Doing the last move from this moveset raises the level of your Long Sword bar (to white, yellow and red). This is also a move I use the most.

White Level 1 Bar

Yellow level 2 bar

Red Level 3 (max) bar

  • Foresight Slash Combo (When Successful): , + ,

Maybe the best way to level up your LS bar is to execute this move. You start with the basic attack, and then you press + at the same time. Now, this is where it gets tricky. This move is a counter move. If you execute it when an enemy is about to attack you, you will dodge its attack and execute a counter move. You MUST hit the enemy, after which you can follow up with to level up your bar. If you miss with the counter, you lose the inside bar od the LS icon (Spirit Gauge). This for me is the best way to dodge attacks and fill your LS meter levels.

  • Fade Slash Combo (Needs Spirit Gauge):  +

I'm not a fan of this one, but this is another way to fill your LS meter level. It's a somewhat shorter variation of specials attack, where the starting move can also switch direction if you tilt your left analogue when you perform it

  • Spirit Helm Breaker (Requires 1 Wirebug bar): (just draw your sword before the next move),

This is a special move that I spam the most. When you have a red bar and at least 1 Wirebug bar, press what is written above to execute this powerfull attack. It will drain 1 level of your gauge. This is a starting move you have, and it can carry you through most of the game

More moves and details coming soon (I need to learn them first!)...

Beginner Long Sword Builds (Low Rank quests)

Let the fun start! This build can carry you through all Village quests up to 5-Star quest. It's also enough for all 1 and 2-Star Hub Quests. This is what I've used and it's really powerfull, although Affinity on Low Rank equipment doesn't work as good as some Attack + type of build. I would prefer the Fire or elemental based build instead, or pure Attack Power stack.

Wind Thief Scimitar is good weapon because it has Affinity boost. Affinity, to put it simply, is its Critical Chance - how likely a weapon is to land a critical attack. I love this, so I tend to use it often on weapons. Combined with armor skills it can raise your critical to high levels. Just a note that Critical build is not so great on Low Level equipment and Low Rank, it's better to go with some pure attack stacks, but it can still carry you through first few levels of Low Rank quests.

Aknosom Sabre gives Fire Damage. This is what I use for Low Rank quests, and it works good! I will show you which armor sets I use to enhance this a bit more (raw elemental power is good against monsters weak to these, but it can be a problem if they have good resistance towards it).

As stated above, the best and the most basic way to start your Low Rank is to invest in Attack Power.  This weapon is the strongest Rarity 2 LS weapon, but it has somewhat bad sharpness levels. I still went with Fire-based weapon for first few Low Rank Star levels.

Izuchi Helm comes with Critical Eye passive skill (Increases Critical Chance). If you stack Critical Eye to its max level, it will raise Affinity by 40% on Level 7 (if you stack 7 levels of Critical Eye).

Izuchi Mail comes with the same skill as the Helm, but has a Recovery Speed skill that will speed up your recovery. If you stack Critical Eye to its max level, it will raise Affinity by 40% on Level 7 (if you stack 7 levels of Critical Eye).

Jaggi Gaungles gives Attack Boost. On stack level 7 it raises your Attack by 10% and for +10 extra points.

Izuchi Coil is another piece with Critical Eye skill. If you stack Critical Eye to its max level, it will raise Affinity by 40% on Level 7 (if you stack 7 levels of Critical Eye).

Aknosom Greaves will boost your Fire attack by 20% and +4 points on level 5.

Upgrade all of these by weapon/armor vendor (you can farm Armor Spheres by doing the Optional requests). You can also attach Rampage passive skills after your first Rampage, and equip Talismans such as Novice Talisman that comes with one more Critical Eye skill, or better - just invest in pure attack points at this point. This is it for now, this set rulz! The next set is going to be a much better one, which I use for Village 5-Star and Hub 3-Start quests.

Intermediate Long Sword Builds (Low Rank quests)

This part will carry you through 4-Star Village Quests, up to 6-Star Village Quests, and 3-Star hub quests without any problem. My advise to you is to beat Magnamalo in Village Quests (Urgent quest after you beat required number of 4-Star Village Quests). You can also farm him in 2-Star Hub Quests, but it's harder there. When you have enough resources, do yourself a favor and forge his sword:

This beast has 140 Raw Attack Power, blue level of sharpness, and exploding damage skill (which do 100 or more damage points when it activates during strikes). Now you can breeze through quests and work towards unlocking more monsters and their armor set. I'm now in the phase where I'm looking for the optimal armor set, so I will add when I find what fits the best.

In short, I have Rathalos Helm, Tobi-Kadachi Mail, Rathalos Braces, Anjarath Coil, and Ingot Greaves. I will find what works the best, but this alone is really strong, I'm killing monsters in 4 minutes in Low Rank Village quests for 5-Stars difficulty.

Let me give you more tips on skills. Switch Skills. You want to forge 8 different Long Sword weapons to unlock a new Switch Skill - Drawn Double Slash. Talk to Master Utsushi in the Gathering Hub to get it. Having this opens a new, shorter combo, which requires less Spirit Gauge to chain into Spirit Blade Combo. Go to your equipment box and change Switch Skill:

Now you can do the Spirit Blade Combo with 1 less move.

  • Spirit Blade Combo (Needs Spirit Gauge): Weapon not draw,  , , ,  

If you start with your weapon not ready, run and press , you now stat with 2-slash move that fills your Spirit Gauge. It requires less Gage to perform Spirit Blade Combo. I love this  move.

More sets coming soon..

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