Monster Hunter Now Great Sword guide

Want to just absolutely smash monsters into pieces, but don’t know where to start? We’ve got you covered with our Monster Hunter Now Great Sword guide.

When you’re faced with big monsters, you have to bring an even bigger weapon! The Great Sword is the large and in charge weapon of the six weapons available in Monster Hunter Now, trading speed for raw strength.

Guide to using the Great Sword in Monster Hunter Now

The Great Sword excels at unleashing extremely powerful charge slashes… provided you have enough time to pull them off. Despite the simple and straightforward move set, the Great Sword is actually a bit tricky to use, since getting hit knocks you out of a charge, which means that reckless charging can result in low damage. Our guide should help you familiarize yourself with the Great Sword move set so that you can judge when to go for charge attacks.

Great Sword basic combo

Tap the screen to perform an overhead swing. You can tap again to follow it up with a side swing, then tap once more to finish the combo with an upswing. This basic combo is relatively fast but slower than the other weapon types, so be careful about throwing it out randomly.

Did you know we also have Monster Hunter Now Bow guide? If you like ranged weapons, that’s a must-read for you!

Alternatively, if you tap right after a dodge, you’ll perform a side swing. This is a good way to counterattack after dodging a monster’s attack, and it’s perfect for hit-and-run tactics.

Great Sword charge attacks

Long pressing the screen brings your Great Sword over your shoulder as you begin to charge it. The longer you can hold the charge, the more damage it’ll do. Great Sword charge attacks can be charged up to three times—you’ll see the Great Sword flash every time you’ve gone up a charge level. After you see three flashes, you’re at max level, so let it rip!

You can long press immediately after your first charge attack to begin charging a second attack, or you can just tap for a quicker slash. If you don’t think you have enough time for another charge attack, it’s okay to dodge or go for a quick attack.

If you’re feeling daring, you can go for a third and final charge attack, which is your strongest normal move if you can pull it off. Once fully charged, you perform a quick overhead slash followed by another one, known as the True Charged Slash.

Great Sword tackle

At any point during a charge, if you swipe forward and let go of the screen, your Hunter interrupts their charge and performs a shoulder tackle forward. Tackling doesn’t do much damage, but your Hunter can tackle through monster attacks without getting staggered.

With proper timing and a careful eye, you can power through monster attacks and follow it up with a charge attack, though you still receive some damage. What’s even better is that tackling is still considered to be an attack in the combo, which means that your next attack will resume the combo as normal, which is nice for getting to the True Charged Slash hit.

So, for example, you do one charge attack, then you tackle for your second attack. If you start charging immediately after, you’ll be doing the True Charged Slash. Keep in mind that you can do the tackle at any point, so you could also technically start with a tackle, do another tackle, then get to the True Charged Slash faster!

One more thing: If you just tap instead of long pressing after a tackle, you’ll perform a sweeping wide slash. This move swings your Great Sword in a wide arc, making it useful for quick counterattacks.

Great Sword Special Skill: True Charged Slash

The Special Skill version of True Charged Slash just sends you immediately into a True Charged Slash without having to build your combo first. If you just want to wallop the monster in one big hit, this is the way to do it, especially since you’re invincible during Special Skill animations.

Recommended Great Sword skills

Here are some of the best armor skills you can use with the Bow. Note that we won’t list the universally good options, like Attack Boost, Health Boost, and so forth.

• Focus: Speeds up the charge time for your charge attacks, letting you land more big hits in a hunt.
• Weakness Exploit: Though it’s tricky, landing a charge attack on a monster’s weak point (such as their head) with Weakness Exploit can result in some truly terrifying damage.

Though it’s a bit harder to work with since it’s the slowest weapon in the game, the Great Sword can still hold its own with proper positioning and timing. Learning monster patterns is especially important when using the Great Sword, as you can time your charge attacks better.