In the world of Monster Hunter Now, the Great Sword stands out as a formidable weapon, capable of delivering massive damage with each swing. However, its large size can make it challenging to wield effectively. To maximize the potential of the Great Sword, you'll need to incorporate strategies that slow down your opponents. Recent updates have introduced the ability to craft sleep-based weapons, which, when paired with the right skills, can significantly enhance your gameplay. Here's how to create the ultimate Monster Hunter Now Great Sword build centered around sleep effects.
Best Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Build
While the Long Sword in Monster Hunter Now excels with poison, the Great Sword shines when utilizing sleep as its primary element. This build requires you to hunt a rare monster for key components, but most of the gear can be sourced from more common monsters.
Full Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Build
| Item | Effect | |
|---|---|---|
| Weapon | Frilled Blade |
|
| Helmet | Nightshade Paolumu Helmet |
|
| Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Mail |
| |
| Vambraces | Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Vambraces |
|
| Coil | Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Coil |
|
| Greaves | Nightshade Paolumu Greaves |
|
Weapon
The Frilled Blade is your go-to sleep-based Great Sword in Monster Hunter Now. Its unique feature is the Evade Extender skill, which helps you create distance after dodging, enhancing your defensive capabilities. While not essential for the build, this skill can be a game-changer when handling the Great Sword's bulkiness. To craft the Frilled Blade, you'll need to hunt Somnacanth for the necessary materials.
Helmet & Greaves
The core components of this build come from the Nightmare Paolumu, introduced in the first paid event. This monster provides crucial parts and skills, including three levels of Rude Awakener, which boosts your damage by 100% on the first hit to a sleeping monster. While Nightmare Paolumu are more common now, they might still require some patience to encounter, either through events or as rare spawns after completing the main story quest.
Mail, Gauntlets, & Coil
The remaining pieces of the build are focused on maximizing the Status Sneak Attack skill, which ensures sleep buildup when attacking from behind. You'll also gain points in Evade Extender and Artful Dodger, aiding in evasion and positioning. Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, a more commonly encountered monster thanks to the paintball tracker, is your main source for these components.
Best Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Driftsmelt Slots
This build offers the advantage of requiring fewer Driftstone slots to unlock its full potential. Ideally, you should aim for five slots in Sleep Attack to enhance the weapon's sleep effect. Alternatively, you can allocate slots to improve your evasion with Artful Dodger and Evade Extender or increase damage from behind with Sneak Attack.
- Sleep Attack - Boosts the weapon's sleep buildup value. Increases from 50 at rank 1 to 150 at rank 5. (Azure only)
- Sneak Attack - Enhances damage dealt to a monster when attacked from behind. Increases from 10% at rank 1 to 30% at rank 5. (Pale only)
- Artful Dodger - Improves evasion performance. From slightly easier at rank 1 to significantly easier at rank 5. (Azure only)
- Evade Extender - Extends evasion distance. From very slightly at rank 1 to massively at rank 5. (Pale only)
