Monster Hunter Wilds secretly made the series’ most iconic weapon even better

The Monster Hunter series is well-known for its comically large weapons and the difficult to learn mechanics that come with them. But attaining true mastery of these tools and figuring out how to use them is half the fun.

No weapon is more unwieldy and rewarding than the Greatsword, Monster Hunter’s most iconic weapon. When most people think of the MH series, they think of this giant hunk of steel that’s often larger than the person holding it.

And, while the Greatsword may seem to have a similar moveset to prior games in Monster Hunter Wilds, a few small adjustments combined with systems changes have made this entry’s iteration of the weapon the best in the entire series, both in terms of how it feels to control and actual tier list ranking.

If you’ve never tried this intimidating weapon, you might want to after reading this. Here are a few key things you need to know in order to get the most out of this high risk/high reward option in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Monster Hunter Wilds’ Greatsword is much easier to control

The Greatsword’s bread and butter method of dishing damage is the three strike hit progression that leads into a massive, two part swing that has your Hunter hurling all their weight into an all-in strike. If you miss, it feels awful. But when it lands, it’s incredibly satisfying.

Before Wilds, there were only two ways to land that third and highest-damaging strike. Either you had to stun or trap a monster and immediately start that three-hit combo, or you had to just rip it and hope you got really, really lucky.

However, this entry added one key method of getting that third strike instantly: Focus Slash. If you manage to land a focus hit with the Greatsword, you immediately get that big payoff hit and can snowball it into a ton of damage, possibly knocking down the monster and giving you time to line up for another combo.

This leads into another huge quality of life change: It’s much easier to change direction with MH Wilds’ Greatsword. This weapon’s biggest struggle in past games was steering the thing, with your ability to change direction mid-combo being small adjustments at best while charging your sword. If a monster dashed to the other side of you, your damage potential evaporated.

Now, Tackle, Wide Slash, and Focus Mode all give you complete freedom to turn in whichever direction you desire. Focus Mode is especially useful considering it can be used to redirect any attack mid-combo, acting as a massive buff for this weapon.

The other huge reason this Greatsword is so good has to do with another huge core systems change for Monster Hunter Wilds.

Line ’em up, knock ’em down

One of the best things about the Greatsword in Wilds is that you don’t always have to use it. This may sound counter-intuitive, but bear with me.

The speed at which Wounds open up is determined by the number of hits you land more so than the amount of damage they do, making the Greatsword a weak tool for wounding enemies. It’s a shame considering how strong this weapon’s Focus Slash is.

However, by swapping to a weapon with a much higher attack speed as your secondary, it’s much easier to stick Wounds all over your target. So, by using a different weapon from the Greatsword, you can drastically increase your damage output when you decide to actually pull it out.

As for which weapons are best for this, I’m personally a fan of the Sword and Shield. But pretty much anything that hits fast will do the trick regardless of the monster you’re fighting’s weaknesses.

For anyone who has played previous Monster Hunter games, this weapon feels vastly improved in comparison to prior entries in the series, to the point where it’s hard to go back. Seemingly minor changes have stacked up to create a much better experience without losing the GS’ identity as being massive and unwieldy.

Now more than ever, truly skilled Greatsword users shine.