The Great Sword in Monster Hunter Now is a formidable weapon, known for its high damage output per swing, though its size can make it somewhat challenging to handle. To maximize the effectiveness of your Great Sword, you'll want to incorporate a sleep-based build, which requires specific monster materials and skills to trigger sleep effects efficiently. Here's a comprehensive guide to crafting the best Monster Hunter Now Great Sword build.
Best Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Build
While the Long Sword build in Monster Hunter Now often focuses on poison, the Great Sword excels with sleep-inducing capabilities. To fully equip this build, you'll need to hunt a somewhat rare monster, but the majority of the equipment can be obtained from more common foes.
Full Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Build
| Item | Effect | |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Frilled Blade | - Element: Sleep - Evade Extender I (Grade 8) |
| Helmet | Nightshade Paolumu Helmet | - Rude Awakener I (Grade 5) - Rude Awakener II (Grade 8) - Driftstone Slot (Grade 8) |
| Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Mail | - Status Sneak Attack (Grade 2) - Artful Dodger (Grade 4) - Driftstone Slot (Grade 5) | |
| Vambraces | Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Vambraces | - Status Sneak Attack I (Grade 2) - Status Sneak Attack II (Grade 4) - Driftstone Slot (Grade 5) |
| Coil | Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Coil | - Evade Extender (Grade 2) - Status Sneak Attack (Grade 4) - Driftstone Slot (Grade 5) |
| Greaves | Nightshade Paolumu Greaves | - Rude Awakener (Grade 5) - Status Sneak Attack (Grade 6) - Driftstone Slot (Grade 5) |
Weapon
For a sleep-based Great Sword, the Frilled Blade is your best bet. It comes with the Evade Extender skill, which helps in creating distance after dodging an attack, enhancing your defensive capabilities. To craft this weapon, you'll need to hunt the Somnacanth for its materials.
Helmet & Greaves
The core of this build is sourced from the Nightmare Paolumu, introduced in the first paid event. This monster provides essential parts and skills like Rude Awakener, which boosts your damage by 100% on the first hit to a sleeping monster. Although Nightmare Paolumu have become more common, they might still require some patience to encounter, either during events or as rare spawns post-story quest.
Mail, Gauntlets, & Coil
The remainder of your gear focuses on maximizing the Status Sneak Attack skill, which guarantees sleep buildup when attacking from behind. You'll also gain points in Evade Extender and Artful Dodger, aiding in evasion. These parts are primarily sourced from the more commonly encountered Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, made easier to track with the paintball feature.
Best Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Driftsmelt Slots
This build benefits from a relatively low threshold to unlock all its Driftstone slots. Ideally, aim for five slots in Sleep Attack to maximize your sleep buildup. Alternatively, you can enhance your evasion with Artful Dodger and Evade Extender, or increase the damage dealt from behind with Sneak Attack.
- Sleep Attack - Boosts the weapon's sleep buildup value. Rank 1 provides 50, while rank 5 offers 150. (Azure only)
- Sneak Attack - Enhances damage when attacking from behind. Rank 1 increases damage by 10%, and rank 5 by 30%. (Pale only)
- Artful Dodger - Makes evading easier. Slightly easier at rank 1, significantly so at rank 5. (Azure only)
- Evade Extender - Extends evasion distance. Very slightly at rank 1, massively at rank 5. (Pale only)
