Long Sword is one of the strongest weapons inMonster Hunter Wildsas it offers great damage, the ability to dodge all kinds of attacks, and a flashy playstyle. Irrespective of whether you’re a new player or a veteran, Long Sword is one trusted friend you will never go wrong with.

However, the way builds work in the franchise has been drastically changed in Wilds with a focus on what kind of Decorations can be slotted in weapons and armor. If you’re looking for an endgame Long Sword build, here’s a guide that will help cover all the necessary details.

Long Sword in training mode in Monster Hunter Wilds

The game is still in its infancy, and builds are being discovered daily as players are still unsure which Skills are best suited for the highest damage. As such, this build will also be subject to change with future updates for an optimal setup.

Long Sword Build Overview

Long Sword is a sharp weapon, and your primary focus should bestacking up as much Critical Damage and Affinity as possibleto maximize your output. You will also be looking toopen up wounds on the monsterusing your Helm Breaker move and break those wounds with your Focus Strike.

However, you need to have high damage when breaking those wounds, which makesWeakness Exploit quite valuable. The skill increases Affinity when hitting the weak parts of a monster, which makes it a must-have.

Long Sword Build overview in Monster Hunter Wilds.

However, with changes to the Decoration system, you are restricted to the kind of buffs you can attach to your weapons and armor. As a rule of thumb,weapons have offensive Decorationssuch as Crit Boost, whilearmor will focus on defensive Decorationssuch as Evasion Jewel. However, there are exceptions, such as Challenger Jewel and Sane Jewel, which are more offensively focused, but those are armor Decorations.

Due to the restrictions, you have a choice between Attack Jewel and Critical Boost Jewel. As it happens, Critical Boost wins out massively, and Attack Jewels are no longer worth farming.

Gore Magala’s Tyranny buff display in Monster Hunter Wilds.

As such, you will have toprioritize what kind of armor you needand which Decorations offer the most value when it comes to the Long Sword so that your damage output is even greater. For instance, the Flayer buff is extremely powerful. However, it’s hard to incorporate Flayer alongside Agitator, Weakness Exploit, Antivirus, and Maximum Might. In this case, with the Long Sword, the focus will be onevery buff that will provide Affinity, which is why Flayer is less of a priority compared to the others.

Long Sword Build Guide

Here is a rundown of the entire Long Sword build for Monster Hunter Wilds:

Sane Jewel (1) x2

Long Sword Affinity showcase against Gore Magala in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Challenger Charm II

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As a starter,Artian Weapons are the best in the gamesince you can design them based on your own requirements, and they come withthree Level Three Jewel slots. You would want tocraft a good Artian Long Swordas quickly as possible once you reach the endgame and slot it with Critical Jewel. This will give you the Critical Boost skill, which will be key to your build. If you don’t have a good Artian Weapon,you can use the Gore Magala Rarity 8 Long Swordas a replacement.

When crafting Artian Gear,verify you go for Affinity Infusionfor all three pieces. Attack isn’t worth it, and you need to ensure your weapon has as much Crit value as possible.

In theHead piece, you need the Arkveld Gear since it comes withone Level Three, Level Two, and a Level One Jewel slot.You need to slot in the Challenger Jewel in the Level Three slot forAgitator buffand a Protection Jewel in the Level One slot for theDivine Blessing buff. In the Level Two slot, you may put in any kind of defensive Jewel based on your requirement.

In theChest piece, the Arkveld Gear comes in handy once again sinceit gives Weakness Exploit Level One. Apart from that, it also comes witha Level Three and a Level Two Jewel slotwhere you need to insert a Challenger Jewel Level 3 and a Mighty Jewel Level 2 for theAgitator and Maximum Might buffs.

In theHand piece, you need to use the Guardian Arkveld Gear, which only comes withthree Level One slots, but it provides Level Two Weakness Exploit,which is valuable for this build. You need to slot intwo Sane Jewels in the Level One slotsfor theAntivirus buff. you may insert a Recovery Jewel in the final Level 1 slot.

In theWaist slot, you’ll need to use the Gore Magala gear as it comes withtwo Level Two Jewel slotswhere you’re able to insert a Destroyer Jewel and a Mighty Jewel. In this case, the Mighty Jewel will give youMaximum Might, while the Destroyer Jewel will provide thePartbreaker buff. Thisgear piece also provides the Constitution Buff, which synergizes well with the Maximum Might skill.

The reason behind using two Gore Magala pieces is that it comes with theGore Magala Tyranny set bonus, whichinflicts you with Frenzywhen facing a Large Monster.

However, thisstatus is cured automatically as long as you are hitting the boss, and that gives you a ten percent Affinity Boost by default. This also triggers theAntivirusbuff you have, and that gives you an additional 15 percent.

TheLegs slotwill need another Gore Magala Gear, and it comes with theAntivirus Skill Level One. Additionally, it comes withone Level Two and two Level One Jewel Slots, where you need to insert a Mighty Jewel Level Two and a Protection Jewel Level One. Finally, you can use the final slot for a Defense Jewel Level One.

For the Charm slot, you have two options, namely aChallenger Charm or an Exploiter Charm. However, with this build, you will have really high Affinity, even without Weakness Exploit, which means Agitator offers more value, and hence, theChallenger Charm proves way more worth.

If you don’t want Agitator,you can go for a fully upgraded Exploiter Charm, which will give you Level Five Weakness Exploit along with the armor bonuses.

Long Sword Build Skill Overview

Here’s how the skills will shape up once you have completed the build:

Tips To Play With The Long Sword Build

This build is all aboutmaintaining your affinity during a fight. You will have to ensure thatyour Stamina gauge is full for most of the fight, as you need Maximum Might to be active for a 30 percent Affinity Boost. Apart from that, when you fight a Large Monster, which you will do for most of your time, the Gore Magala Tyranny set bonus kicks in from the two-piece gear.

Keep hitting the monster, and eventually, your Frenzy debuff will be cured, and you will trigger the Antivirus buff, which will provide even more Affinity. Once theAgitator buff is active, you will receive a damage bonus and Affinity boostas well. If all the buffs are active,you will have around 95 percent Affinityeven without hitting a monster’s weak part.

Once you hit a wound or a weak part of a monster, Weakness Exploit will kick in, and your Affinity will be way above 100 percent, where you will deal massive damage to the boss. As it happens, maintaining the buffs is quite easy with Long Sword since Foresight Slash allows you to dodge most attacks without the need to run or roll around, which makes it very easy to keep the Maximum Might buff active at all times.