If you want to try a different weapon, this guide will help you with your build. In this guide, I will go over the Longsword, and the best Longsword build in Monster Hunter Now.
The Long Sword allows for speedy and precise continuous attacks. Attacking monsters charge up a Spirit Gauge that increases attack damage, but if you take damage you’ll lose the Spirit Gauge.
It is a very offensive weapon option, and many players will feel comfortable using it. You can also learn a few things to do without just focusing on spamming attacks and the special skill when it’s ready.
If you want to look into more weapons, check out our guide on the bow and everything you need to know about it in Monster Hunter Now.
Monster Hunter Now: The Longsword Basics
The first thing you will need to know when it comes to the basics is when you unlock the Longsword weapon in the game.
By default, players will begin with the Sword and Shield. You will first need to reach Hunter Rank 15 before being able to unlock the Longsword weapon.
The Longsword plays around with two mechanics in the heat of battle.
- Foresight Slash
- The Spirit Gauge
Let’s go over first the Foresight Slash. When using the Longsword your character can evade incoming attacks. You can to all four directions by either tapping to the left or sliding right, back, and forward.
By pressing and holding, the player will sheath their swords, and wait. If players manage to evade at the perfect time they will retaliate with a foresight attack that will go through the enemy, and avoid all incoming damage.
The Spirit Gauge is the other mechanic, and it is shaped like a sword near the bottom of the screen. This gauge has two functions in the game.
- Players can charge the Spirit Gauge by dealing damage to monsters
- The Spirit Gauge will deplete naturally over time, or if the player gets hit by monsters
As the Spirit Gauge gets filled up, it will turn red. Once red when players perform a Foresight Slash they will follow that up with the Spirit Helm Breaker, dealing massive damage to monsters.
Here is a list of all the available Longswords that are in the game.
- Blazing Shotel: Anjanath Weapon Set – Fire Element
- First Dance: Kulu Weapon Set – No Element
- Glacial Shotel: Legiana Weapon Set – Ice Element
- Iron Katana: Metal Weapon Set – No Element
- Jyura Shotel: Jyuratodus Weapon Set – Water Element
- Pulsar Shotel: Kadachi Weapon Set – Thunder Element
- Wyvern Blade “Leaf”: Rathian Weapon Set – Poison Element
- Wyvern Blade “Fall”: Rathalos Weapon Set – Fire Element
This was everything you would need to know about the Longsword weapon in Monster Hunter Now.
Monster Hunter Now: Best Longsword Build
Each build can be broken down into two different sections. There is the weapon section, and then the armor section.
These sections will go over the best weapon out of the available options, and the armor will go over which pieces and skills can best bring out your weapon’s full potential.
- Weapon
For the weapon, you will want to use a No Element weapon. The one in this build is going to be the First Dance.
First Dance
- Kulu Weapon Set
- Becomes Last Dance at Grade 6
- No Element
- 1596 Physical Attack Power at Grade 10, Lvl 1
- Affinity: 5% Affinity at Grade 1, 30% Affinity at Grade 10
Skills:
- Spirit Helm Breaker Lvl 1 (Unlocked at Grade 2), Spirit Helm Breaker Lvl 2 (Unlocked at Grade 6), Spirit Helm Breaker Lvl 3 (Unlocked at Grade 8)
- Fortify Lvl 1 (Unlocked at Grade 4), Fortify Lvl 2 (Unlocked at Grade 8)
You should upgrade as high as you can, though you shouldn’t raise it so high that your armor levels fall behind too much.
- Armor
For the armor, you won’t have to equip the whole set but mix and match to get the skills you need for your character.
Rathian Helm (Must craft 20 armor pieces to unlock)
- Defense: 65 at Grade 1, 182 at Grade 10
- Skills: Health Boost Lv.2 (Unlocked at Grade 1), Poison Attack Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 6)
Health Boost Lv.2 increases your Health by 20. This paired with the high defense, will allow you to survive more, especially if you have trouble getting the perfect dogdes.
Anja Mail (Must craft 20 armor pieces to unlock)
- Defense: 65 at Grade 1, 182 at Grade 10
- Skills: Special Boost Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 1), Special Boost Lv.2 (Upgraded at Grade 6)
The Spirit Helm Breaker will deal a majority of the damage you do, and Special Boost will further increase that damage.
Lumu Vambraces (Must craft 15 armor pieces to unlock)
- Defense: 49 at Grade 1, 182 at Grade 10
- Skills: Concentration Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 1), Divine Blessing Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 4), Concentration Lv.2 (Upgraded at Grade 6)
Concentration will give you an increase in how fast you fill your special meter, and it will allow you to unleash your special more often, even if it means only once more per fight.
Lumu Coil (Must craft 15 armor pieces to unlock)
- Defense: 49 at Grade 1, 182 at Grade 10
- Skills: Divine Blessing Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 1), Divine Blessing Lv.2 (Upgraded at Grade 6)
Divine Blessing will give you the chance to avoid getting knocked out. The chance may be small, but if it procs in your time of need that’s all that matters.
Anja Greaves (Must craft 20 armor pieces to unlock)
- Defense: 65 at Grade 1, 182 at Grade 10
- Skills: Peak Performance Lv.1 (Unlocked at Grade 1), Peak Performance Lv.2 (Upgraded at Grade 6)
Peak Performance will increase your attack power by 30 when your health is full. Since the Longsword plays around with the mechanic of perfect dodges, the damage will be nullified most times, and the attack power increase will help defeat monsters faster.
Final Thoughts
Different builds, and weapon options allow for a wide range of variety. A lot of people will build on what is strong, and make it stronger, while others will find new weird interactions that work for them.
If you want to play around dealing critical hits and doing massive damage, check out our Affinity guide and how to improve it in Monster Hunter Now.
With all the information on the Longsword and the best build explained for Monster Hunter Now, you will be prepared to use it from now on. Share your thoughts in the comments about which weapons you enjoy using, and which ones intimidate you.
With thousands of hours played on Nintendo systems since the original Gameboy, Nikiforos is happy to share his endless passion for Nintendo franchises and everything he can get his hands on.
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