Best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons tier list

What are the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons? Whether you’re a grizzled veteran or a complete beginner, choosing a weapon in Capcom’s hunting RPG requires some forethought. The series is renowned for its steep learning curve, and Wilds is no different.

Choosing a Monster Hunter Wilds weapon that’s incompatible with your combat style can hamper your enjoyment in the RPG. That’s where our MH Wilds weapons tier list comes in. We’ve outlined all the pros and cons for each weapon, including the best weapons overall, so you can take down the toughest MH Wilds monsters and have fun doing it. Your choice of weapon also dictates the best MH Wilds builds for you, including the best MH Wilds armor and MH Wilds skills, so choose carefully.

What is the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapon?

Here are the best weapons in MH Wilds:

• Great Sword
• Bow
• Long Sword

Great Sword

The best overall weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds is the Great Sword. Sporting decent range, good maneuverability, and ridiculous damage, the Great Sword is easy enough to learn for beginners. The new MH Wilds Focus Mode allows for more precise aiming, making it even more potent than ever before.

Bow

The best ranged weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds is the Bow. The Bow has both long-range and close-up attacks, plenty of evasive moves that help charge up shots, and a new trick arrow system that imbues your arrows with homing properties. As a ranged weapon, it’s also great at targeting wounds. Aside from its high learning curve, the Bow doesn’t have any major weaknesses.

Long Sword

The best versatile weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds is the Long Sword. The Long Sword has long been a fan favorite, combining reach with incredible power output from building a spirit gauge to unleash devastating attacks. No matter what monster you find yourself up against, the Long Sword is a versatile weapon that won’t take hours to learn.

Monster Hunter Wilds tier list

Our weapons tier list is based on over 100 hours of extensive in-game testing and previous experience with the series. While the highest-ranking weapons offer the most value with the fewest drawbacks, bear in mind that even the lowest-ranking weapons can shine when wielded by an expert.

Here are all the MH Wilds weapons ranked from best to worst:

All Monster Hunter Wilds weapons

There are 14 weapons types in Monster Hunter Wilds. You can bring two weapons with you during hunts, and you can swap between the two while mounted on your Seikret.

While we suggest beginners should choose an easier weapon while getting to grips with combat, there’s no real penalty for taking something like the Insect Glaive. If you’re up for the challenge, choosing the weapon that interests you the most can often be more rewarding.

Here are all the MH Wilds weapons:

• Great Sword: A powerful, well-balanced weapon with a low learning curve.
• Bow: A well-balanced ranged weapon with different types of arrows.
• Long Sword: A swift weapon that builds a Spirit Gauge capable of transforming attacks.
• Sword and Shield: An agile and defensive weapon that trades power for utility.
• Hunting Horn: A support weapon that provides blunt attacks and buffs.
• Hammer: A slow and powerful weapon that can stun with well-timed charged attacks.
• Switch Axe: A versatile weapon that can switch between axe and sword form.
• Lance: A methodical defense-first weapon with decent range.
• Gunlance: A weapon that trades mobility for great defenses and high damage.
• Charge Blade: A complicated weapon that builds power in one form to unleash it in another.
• Dual Blades: An extremely fast weapon with a special Demon Mode that greatly increases damage.
• Heavy Bowgun: A long-distance gun that hits hard but has low maneuverability.
• Light Bowgun: A mid-range weapon with a low learning curve.
• Insect Glaive: A complicated weapon that utilizes insects to power up aerial attacks.

Great Sword

• Best Great Swords: Rooster Decapitator, Destructive Torpor, Poison King
• Beginner friendly: Yes
• Guarding: Yes

The Monster Hunter Wilds Great Sword is the ideal choice for hunters that prefer simplicity, as it has straightforward, powerful attacks. For most of Monster Hunter’s history, its True Charged Slash combo has provided an effective way to deal massive damage to monstrous foes.

The rest of its kit has received a lot of damage buffs to make it less reliant on one or two moves. Furthermore, Focus Mode gives the Great Sword additional maneuverability, meaning you’ll whiff your slow attacks a lot less, and its ability to Perfect Guard makes up for slow movement speed with it unsheathed.

Its focus attack called Perforate sees your hunter run alongside the monster, cutting open wounds that are low to the ground and giving you a brief window to get off a True Charged Slash combo.

Consider bringing either the Light Bowgun for some ranged utility as the Great Sword struggles to hit wounds or weak points that aren’t low to the ground. Otherwise, the Dual Blades are a great alternative against more aggressive monsters as you’ll have a lot more speed to work with.

Bow

• Best Bows: Renowned Tristram, Nershock, Queen’s Melody
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Bow is the best ranged weapon to focus on with an incredible amount of versatility, receiving a massive buff with the Trick Arrow Gauge. Instead of using consumable coatings, you now build the Trick Arrow Gauge by attacking enemies.

These include Tracer Arrows which automatically make your successive arrows hone in on monsters. Building the gauge for these special arrow types takes a lot of skill as you have to perfect dodge and juggle a few different mechanics, making this weapon a bit more difficult to learn than something like the Light Bowgun.

The focus attack for the Bow is called Hailstorm, which fires a hail of arrows at a monster you’ve pegged with a Tracer Arrow. After that, you automatically follow up with a powerful attack.

We expect many players to pair the Bow with one of the more versatile melee weapons, such as the Great Sword, Switch Axe, or Long Sword, to give their Hunter the most utility possible.

Long Sword

• Best Long Swords: Rompo Mytoxin, Fatecleaver Kimkemush, Righteous Lancelot
• Beginner friendly: Yes
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Long Sword is easy to pick up and difficult to master. Specific attacks will charge up a Spirit Gauge, which your Hunter can then use to unleash powerful Spirit Blade attacks. The Long Sword’s range is great and it features quite a lot of verticality, meaning you jump up high and hit those hard-to-reach wounds.

Capcom hasn’t changed a lot this time around but instead added some new moves to build the Spirit Gauge quicker, meaning you will do more damage quicker, as well as giving you the ability to cancel out of the high-flying Helm Breaker attack.

Likewise, the focus attack for the Long Sword is a thrust attack that builds Spirit Gauge levels depending on how many wounds and weak points you manage to hit.

It’s difficult to choose a weapon to pair with the Long Sword as it’s pretty good in all situations, though it does lack range and defense. Therefore, bringing along a weapon like the Light Bowgun or Sword and Shield may help with certain phases of stronger monsters.

Sword and Shield

• Best Sword and Shields: Chief Kukri, Lala Acanthopelm, Viperine Saber
• Beginner friendly: Yes
• Guarding: Yes

Hunters should pick up the Monster Hunter Wilds Sword and Shield if they’re unsure what kind of weapon they want to use, as it’s strong in practically any situation. Agile with plenty of defensive options, your Hunter can get quick hits in while dodging or defending when necessary, and can even pop a potion without having to sheath your weapon.

This time around, Capcom has improved the Sword and Shield by introducing new attacks like the Charged Chop to help target specific areas when fighting stubborn monsters. Throw in the ability to Perfect Guard, and you won’t find many situations the Sword and Shield can’t handle.

Its focus attack, Vital Stab, is a simple stab forward that latches onto the monster if you hit a wound. This allows you to either slash downward for massive wound damage or slash upward to become airborne, letting you mount the monster.

You may want to consider taking the Great Sword as it’s also a beginner-friendly weapon that hits hard and has great range, making up for the Sword and Shield’s drawbacks.

Hunting Horn

• Best Hunting Horns: G. Resounding Galahad, Queen Chordmaker, Glass Royale
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Hunting Horn is primarily a support weapon that has blunt, hammer-like attacks. If you’re planning on playing with friends, consider picking this up as a primary or secondary weapon. The Hunting Horn has within it a pseudo-mini-game, allowing you to cast party-wide buffs by using certain attacks to channel melodies.

It also features Echo Bubbles, which are AoE buffs for you and your friends. It’s easy enough to pick up how the Hunting Horn works, but it’s difficult to wrap your head around initially as you’ll have to memorize many inputs to make the most use of it.

The focus attack for the Hunting Horn is quite amusing. If you hit a wound, you’ll play your Hunting Horn like a guitar. Timing your inputs correctly provides melodies for buffing.

Consider using the Hammer with the Hunting Horn when you need to deal massive damage, like when a monster is wounded and fleeing, or the Light Bowgun to provide support to your friends when you’ve already buffed them up.

Hammer

• Best Hammers: Shrouded Aghaturi, Binder Mace, Grimmblick
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: None

On the surface, the Monster Hunter Wilds Hammer looks straightforward: hit the monster on the head with charged attacks to stun them and repeat. That is, however, easier said than done, as it requires you to have an acute knowledge of monster movesets. Furthermore, it lacks defensive options. The Hammer has received buffs to its moveset in Wilds, primarily with the inclusion of the easy-to-connect Spinning Bludgeon follow-up move.

For its focus attack, the Hammer has Earthquake which causes your hunter to spin in a circle if you hit a wound or a monster’s head, dealing massive damage over a large area.

The Dual Blades is a great alternative pick as the Hammer truly struggles against mobile enemies, unless you’re an expert. The Dual Blades are incredibly agile, something the Hammer lacks against speedy enemies. As always, the Light Bowgun is also a great ranged backup.

Switch Axe

• Best Switch Axes: Grior’s Landmaker, Indomitable Perceval, Lala Selenocosmi
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe is a complicated weapon with two different forms, perfect for those who value versatility and appreciate a moderate but rewarding learning curve. When attacking in Axe Mode, which has good reach, the Switch Axe builds a meter that gives you access to Sword Mode. When this meter is full enough, your hunter can switch to Sword Mode for both increased speed and power. However, there’s another gauge that puts you into an Amped State where the Sword Mode becomes even more powerful, unleashing even stronger attacks.

Depending on which mode you’re using, the Switch Axe’s focus attack called Morph Combination changes. Axe Mode leads to a hefty finisher attack, while Sword Mode leads to the potent and classic Elemental Discharge as a finisher when a wound is hit.

The only downside to the Switch Axe is a lack of ranged options. Taking any of the ranged weaponry as a second type isn’t a bad idea as a result, though we lean toward the agile Light Bowgun and Bow over the Heavy Bowgun.

Lance

• Best Lances: Purifying Beaumains, Bequeathed Regret, Lala Aviculari
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: Yes

The Monster Hunter Wilds Lance has languished as one of the least-used weapons in the series – so if you want to be a hipster, the Lance is for you. This defense-first methodical weapon has received some buffs in Wilds, including the new Triple Thrust move you can combo into from a regular attack chain.

There’s very little mobility to speak of, so you’ll be keeping your guard up at all times with this weapon, counter-attacking with one of many options, making it one of the safest weapons to use. It also has a stylish new attack when riding a Seikret. The Lance’s focus attack sees your hunter charge forward and slam a monster’s wound with the shield before thrusting upwards, resulting in a safer focus attack compared to the other weapons.

We lean toward the Light Bowgun as an alternate option for the Lance, providing you with more range and mobility, both of which the Lance lacks, and can help you break parts off you otherwise can’t reach.

Gunlance

• Best Gunlances: Lawful Bors, White Cannon, Solid Gunberd
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: Yes

The Monster Hunter Wilds Gunlance is a weapon with offense and defense in equal measure but limited range and mobility. It can be a little difficult to keep up with faster monsters, but against bigger brutes, the Gunlance comes in handy as it has some of the strongest defensive tools in the game. It’s one of the few weapons that allows you to Perfect Guard in the middle of combos as well as when you reload.

The Gunlance also provides incredible burst damage when given an opening. MH Wilds makes it much easier to shell enemies as you can move more freely and weave shelling into combos. What’s more, the Gunlance also received a new attack in the form of Wyrmstake Full Blast.

The focus attack for the Gunlance is the Drake Auger, which if you hit a monster’s wound, will cause you to drill into the monster for massive damage, finishing with a Wyrmstake Cannon shot.

As a methodical and slow weapon, you’ll likely want something more agile to bring with you on hunts like the Long Sword, or maybe a Light Bowgun to be able to hit hard-to-reach wounds.

Charge Blade

• Best Charge Blades: Hard Bone Strongarm, Abiding Gawain, Venom’s Kiss
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: Yes

Not to be confused with the Switch Axe, the Monster Hunter Wilds Charge Blade also has two modes, except this time the Sword Mode comes with a shield and the Axe Mode is a powerful spinning blade. When attacking enemies in Sword Mode, you’ll charge phials seen in the top left of the screen, which you can later use to enhance Axe Mode attacks.

The Switch Axe is a great weapon to focus on learning because it truly has everything, including guarding and reach. It’s a highly technical and satisfying weapon with significant changes from previous games that make the powerful Axe Mode last longer.

The focus attack now provides the quickest way for you to switch from Sword Mode to Axe Mode. If you hit a wound with it, you’ll automatically transition and grind the monster with the axe for great damage.

While difficult to master, the Charge Blade doesn’t have much in the way of weaknesses. That said, bringing along a Light Bowgun on hunts to hit hard-to-reach wounds isn’t a bad idea.

Dual Blades

• Best Dual Blades: Lala Harpactirs, Bequeathed Oblivion, Final Battleaxes
• Beginner friendly: Yes
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Dual Blades are for aggressive players who want to go on the offensive. Extremely agile weapons, they tear down monsters with flurries of hits that increase in power by entering Demon Mode, though you’ll quickly drain stamina when using it. You can also pair Demon Mode with Archdemon Mode if you build a separate gauge by attacking, adding another layer of power.

Of course, managing all these gauges and different modes is rather difficult on a weapon with very little defense to speak of, so the Dual Blades should be reserved for those who have experience with action games.

The Dual Blade’s focus attack will send you spinning across a monster’s body if you hit a wound, dealing massive damage to other wounds you nick, while also being one of the flashiest moves in the game.

Consider pairing the Dual Blades with the Sword and Shield to maintain some speed while swapping out power for defense.

Heavy Bowgun

• Best Heavy Bowguns: Gravios Gigahowl, Ableben Abzug, Aeternal Palamedes
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: Yes

Fans of big explosions and long-ranged attacks will want to invest time learning the Monster Hunter Wilds Heavy Bowgun. It hasn’t changed much from past iterations, but it does have a few new tools, including the Wyvern Counter which is great at staggering monsters if they get too close.

This counter uses the same gauge that other moves use, making this more difficult to manage alongside selecting ammo types. Making things easier is the Auto-Guard feature that automatically blocks during certain attack animations. However, you still have to manually guard to trigger a Perfect Guard. Finally, you can use most of your attacks while mounted on a Seikret.

The Focus Blast attack with the Heavy Bowgun is called Wyvern Howl: it’s a special ammo type that does extra damage to a monster’s wounds.

Alternate weapons for the Heavy Bowgun include the Light Bowgun if you want to go all-in with ranged weaponry and special ammo types. Similarly, the Great Sword is a viable option if you want something versatile to carve a monster up when they’re low on health.

Light Bowgun

• Best Light Bowguns: Wahnschleuder, Titan Panzer, Bequeathed Animus
• Beginner friendly: Yes
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun is a much more agile version of the Heavy Bowgun that utilizes ammo to deal with specific monster types and apply status effects.

While it does have less range than its heavy cousin, the Light Bowgun is easy to pick up and now comes with a powerful Rapid Fire ability that allows you to fire off multiple shots in quick succession. It’s a great secondary weapon to bring along with you on hunts, especially when hunting for a specific body part, as it can reach areas on monsters that most melee weapons cannot.

The focus attack for the Light Bowgun is straightforward: hold down the input to deal massive damage to an enemy’s wound.

If you want to go all-in on range, swapping between the Heavy Bowgun and Light Bowgun is a fun way to play MH Wilds, as both excel at different things. Otherwise, pretty much every melee weapon pairs with the Light Bowgun, except the highly mobile ones like the Insect Glaive.

Insect Glaive

• Best Insect Glaives: Lala Stromatopelm, Enduring Tor, Queen Regalia
• Beginner friendly: No
• Guarding: None

The Monster Hunter Wilds Insect Glaive is the most complicated weapon in the game, featuring flashy movesets that some players will certainly want to learn. When entering Focus Mode, your hunter can nab essence (or buffs) off monsters by aiming your Kinsect pal. Different combinations of essences provide different buffs.

The Insect Glaive itself is a highly mobile weapon that frequently sends your hunter spinning through the air, allowing for multiple opportunities to mount monsters and reach high-up wounds. Even experienced hunters struggle to learn this weapon, so only commit to it if you’re ready for a challenge.

The focus attack move, called Leaping Strike, has your hunter stab at a monster. If you connect with a wound, your hunter leaps back and fires the Kinsect, piercing through the monster and collecting essence.

You might want something more straightforward with some solid defenses while keeping up the agile playstyle to pair with your Insect Glaive. The best choice for this is the Sword and Shield, which you can switch to if you’re struggling against more chaotic monsters.

To forge the most powerful versions of your favorite MH Wilds weapons, our MH Wilds Hunter Rank guide will help you branch out each weapon tree. We’ve also got a list of every MH Wilds quest to complete on your excursion, plus some Monster Hunter Wilds codes to give your character a special look. Alternatively, take a break from the hunt with our Monster Hunter Wilds review, which assesses how it stacks up against the rest of the series.