Introduction

About the Great Sword

Great Sword’s core mechanic is to charge up your attacks to increase their damage. There are three charge levels, with level 3 being the strongest. Take care not to hold your charge for too long, as if you continue charging past level 3 your attacks will actually decrease in damage. This is known as an overcharge. An overcharged attack deals the same amount of damage as a level 2 charge.

Because GS attacks take such a long time to execute, it’s a weapon which rewards good timing, positioning & monster knowledge. Unlike combo weapons such as Long Sword or Switch Axe, you don’t have a single combo that you essentially repeat irrespective of the situation. Instead, you react to the monster’s behaviour and choose the most appropriate response from your moveset.

What’s New for Great Sword in Wilds?

Monster Hunter Wilds introduced several new mechanics which really change up the GS playstyle.

• Focus Mode - Free form camera movement and positioning during attacks
• Perfect Tackles - Charge retention through defensive play
• Perfect Guards - Fast, responsive defense that enables quick counterattacks
• Offset Rising Slash - A completely new offensive tool for interacting with monsters

These mechanics are covered in more detail on the Mechanics page.

Playstyles

Great Sword offers two distinct playstyles in Wilds:

Standard (Strongest)

This is Wilds’s version of the “modern” GS playstyle. In this incarnation, you utilize your whole moveset: Charge Slash, Strong Charge Slash, Jumping Wide Slash, Truce Charge Slash and Offset Rising Slash. Wilds is not as laser-focused on True Charge Slash as previous games; TCS motion values have been reduced while those of Draw Slash and SCS have been increased. The game also incentivizes frequent use of Offsets for both DPS and defense; for endgame monsters it is functionally mandatory. This is the strongest playstyle.

Critical Draw (Traditional)

This is the “old-school” GS playstyle that focuses on Draw Slash and Critical Draw. The basic flowchart is Hit → Sheathe → Run → Repeat. Crit Draw playstyle is significantly weaker than standard, but it’s actually the strongest it’s ever been in modern Monster Hunter.

Skill Benchmarks

Understanding where you currently stand helps you set goals and guide your practice sessions.

Level	Description	Typical Hunt Time
Inexperienced	Constantly getting hit, missing timings, failing quests sometimes	15 minutes or longer
Intermediate	Understand moveset, hit ~50% counters, clear quests reliably	7-14 minutes
Advanced	Target specific parts, react and adapt, land most offsets, strong reactivity	5-7 minutes
Expert	Perfect moveset mastery, land nearly all offsets/guards/TCS, fully utilize tech	Under 5 minutes