Monster Hunter Wilds continues the franchise's tradition of offering various weapon types, each with a different playstyle and strategic advantage. In this guide, we'll rank all weapons based on their damage output, ease of use, and overall effectiveness.
This tier list is based on the global release of Monster Hunter Wilds. Weapon balance will likely evolve through Title Updates, patches and as players discover optimal builds and strategies for each weapon type. We will keep this section regularly updated!
Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon Tier List
The current weapon meta in Monster Hunter Wilds favors weapons with high damage output and the ability to exploit the offset attack mechanics. Weapons with powerful counter abilities and consistent damage have risen to the top, while those that struggle with mobility or require complex setups tend to rank lower.
S Tier
B Tier
C Tier
Best Weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds
Long Sword
The Long Sword earns its S tier ranking by perfectly aligning with Monster Hunter Wilds' counter-focused combat design. This weapon excels at maintaining high damage through its fluid combos and counter abilities.
The weapon revolves around building and maintaining your Spirit Gauge. Key additions include the Spirit Charge move for easier gauge building and, when in red gauge, access to powerful moves like the Foresight Whirl Slash. The weapon's defensive options shine through counters like Foresight Slash providing both invulnerability frames and opportunities to build your gauge when timed correctly.
While mastering these counters requires practice, the Long Sword's combination of range, mobility, and combo flexibility makes it accessible to newcomers while offering considerable depth for experienced players.
Bow
The Bow maintains its position at the top of the S tier due to its exceptional combination of mobility, range, and consistent damage output. In Monster Hunter Wilds, the Bow has received significant changes to its mechanics.
The powerful Focus Fire: Hailstorm ability deals massive damage when targeting monster wounds, while the Tracer system lets you mark a spot on a monster so all your arrows will automatically fly toward that spot.
The Bow also retains powerful moves like Dragon Piercer, Thousand Dragons, and Arc Shot, with the latter now placing Fuse Arrows that linger on monsters for later detonation. Despite having a medium learning curve, the Bow's versatility and defensive options make it accessible to players of various skill levels.
Charge Blade
The Charge Blade is the last weapon we will be ranking in the S tier position. This transforming weapon shifts between Sword mode for mobility and defense and Axe mode for powerful attacks. The weapon revolves around storing energy in phials while in Sword mode, then unleashing them in Axe mode for devastating damage.
Key mechanics include Power Axe mode, which reduces phial usage by half and allows for multiple hits when holding attack buttons as they connect with monsters. The ability to perform Perfect Guards and trigger Power Clashes adds defensive utility. While the Charge Blade has one of the steeper learning curves among weapons, its ability to convert defensive actions into offensive opportunities makes it exceptionally rewarding for players willing to master its complexities.
Sword & Shield
The Sword and Shield offers quick attacks, good mobility, and the ability to use items without sheathing - a unique feature no other weapon has. The shield gives you solid defensive options, allowing you to perform Perfect Guards that lead into Counter Slash attacks. What makes this weapon special is its ability to deal both cutting damage with the sword (good for severing tails) and blunt damage with the shield (great for stunning monsters). The weapon also excels at mounting monsters through its jumping attacks.
While the Sword and Shield doesn't have the raw damage output of the other S-tier weapons, its utility, item usage while drawn, and balance between offense and defense make it an excellent choice for beginners.
A Tier Weapons
Gunlance
The Gunlance has undergone significant improvements in Monster Hunter Wilds. The ability to move while shelling represents a fundamental quality-of-life improvement that dramatically increases combat fluidity.
The weapon features two Wyvern Fire charges, which can be replenished faster by landing shells. After performing a Wide Sweep, you can execute the powerful Wyrmstake Full Blast combo that unloads all shells and the Wyrmstake Cannon for massive damage.
With its three different shelling types (Normal, Wide, and Long) offering diverse playstyles, excellent reach, and powerful explosive damage, the Gunlance has truly come into its own in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Great Sword
The Great Sword is the perfect example of the high-risk, high-reward playstyle that many hunters love. Its playstyle rewards hunters who master positioning and timing with immensely satisfying damage payoffs. This weapon excels at delivering powerful charged attacks, which boast one of the highest damage per hit in the game.
The weapon's ability to block and perform powerful counters gives it defensive utility that complements its offensive capabilities.
What keeps the Great Sword from the S tier is its slower mobility and the execution challenge of consistently landing charged attacks, but these limitations are design features that define its satisfying gameplay identity rather than flaws.
Hunting Horn
The Hunting Horn earns its A-tier ranking through its impressive combination of support capabilities and offensive potential. This unique weapon allows you to play melodies that provide powerful buffs to yourself and your teammates while also dealing significant blunt damage. Monster Hunter Wilds introduces the Echo Bubble system, which creates special effect zones that resonate when you perform notes, emitting additional damage-dealing attacks against nearby monsters.
This weapon excels in multiplayer environments where its melodies provide substantial team-wide benefits, but its improved attack power ensures solo hunters aren't sacrificing efficiency for style. The stun potential from head strikes creates valuable openings for both personal and team damage windows.
The Hunting Horn balances offensive and supportive play in a way no other weapon achieves, making it particularly valuable for hunters who enjoy tactical depth beyond direct damage calculations.
Dual Blades
The Dual Blades secure their A-tier position through exceptional mobility and attack speed, making them perfect for aggressive playstyles. This weapon revolves around managing three distinct states: normal mode, Demon Mode, and Archdemon Mode. Activating Demon Mode with R2 boosts your attack power, movement speed, and evasion capabilities while consuming stamina. Landing attacks in Demon Mode fills the Demon Gauge, which enables Archdemon Mode when the gauge is full.
The Dual Blades excel at Perfect Evades, which trigger Demon Boost Mode for increased damage and the ability to attack while dodging. The Focus Strike: Turning Tide is particularly effective against wounds, allowing for a devastating Midair Spinning Blade Dance that can destroy multiple wounds along a monster's length.
What keeps Dual Blades from reaching S tier is their reliance on limited range. The complex gauge management and dodge timing requirements create a higher skill ceiling which might not feel welcoming for beginners.
Switch Axe
The Switch Axe transforms between two different forms: Axe Mode with better reach, and Sword Mode, with faster attacks. The basic gameplay loop involves building up the Switch Gauge in Axe Mode, then morphing to Sword Mode to unleash that power with explosive attacks.
It has some mobility limitations and lack of defensive options as its key weakness that keep it out of S tier. Without any guarding abilities, you're completely reliant on dodging - yet many of your strongest attacks lock you in place, making you vulnerable to monster attacks.
The Switch Axe also requires managing multiple gauges and modes, adding complexity that doesn't always translate to better performance compared to simpler, higher-tier weapons. While it can deal good damage, the weapon doesn't really feel beginner friendly.
B Tier Weapons
Lance
The Lance is in B tier because of its good balance of offense and defense. This weapon excels at maintaining constant damage output while staying protected behind its shield, which has the strongest blocking capability in the game.
The weapon features precise thrusting attacks that are swift and safe to execute, making it excellent for targeting specific monster parts. Its combo system revolves around Mid Thrusts and High Thrusts that can chain into powerful Counterattacks, while the Focus Strike: Victory Thrust is particularly effective against monster wounds
Despite its defensive excellence, the Lance's relatively lower mobility and longer hunt times compared to higher-tier weapons keep it in B tier, though these limitations can be overseen with proper positioning. With upcoming buffs to both offensive and defensive capabilities, the Lance may rise in effectiveness as players master its counter-focused playstyle.
Insect Glaive
The Insect Glaive is placed in the B tier. This weapon features a small bug partner called a Kinsect that gathers colored extracts from monsters to power you up. Getting all three main extracts (red, white, and orange) gives you the biggest power boost and protects against roars, wind pressure, and tremors.
The Insect Glaive's signature move is the Vault, letting you jump into the air and perform midair attacks, which is great for mounting monsters or avoiding ground attacks.
Though very mobile, the Insect Glaive requires managing extract buffs to reach its full potential, which takes time to master. This extract management system and the learning curve for aerial combat keep it from reaching higher tiers, despite its impressive mobility and versatility.
Heavy Bowgun
The last weapon in the B tier is Heavy Bowgun due to its mix of high power and significant limitations. This ranged weapon excels at dealing massive damage from a distance, with the ability to use various ammo types, including Normal, Pierce, and Spread, to adapt to different situations.
Despite its offensive power, the Heavy Bowgun has significantly slow mobility in the game, with slow movement, dodging, and animations that leave hunters vulnerable. While it does have defensive options through Auto-Guard and manual guarding, these aren't enough to offset the mobility issues.
If you enjoy positioning strategically and delivering heavy firepower without needing to move much, this weapon can still be very effective.
C Tier Weapons
Hammer
The Hammer sits in the C tier because it takes a lot of effort to make it shine compared to higher-ranked weapons. While it hits incredibly hard and can stun monsters, landing those powerful hits can be tricky. The weapon requires you to carefully time and position your attacks, especially when aiming for the monster's head to get stuns.
The Hammer does have good mobility despite its size, letting you move around while charging attacks. It has great combos like Big Bang (which builds up to a massive finisher) and the spinning Bludgeon attacks, but missing during these combos can leave you in a tough spot.
The Focus Blow: Earthquake is good for hitting monster wounds, causing you to spin and deal multiple hits. But compared to S and A tier weapons, the Hammer lacks defensive options and can't cut monster tails due to dealing only blunt damage.
Light Bowgun
The Light Bowgun offers decent mobility and mid-range attacks but lacks the power to compete with higher-tier weapons. While you can move quickly and fire from safer distances, your damage output is noticeably lower than other options. The Rapid Fire Mode lets you shoot multiple rounds by using energy from a gauge, but this feature doesn't make up for the weapon's overall damage limitations.
The biggest problems with Light Bowgun are its low damage ceiling and lack of defensive options. Without guards, you're quite reliant on dodging to avoid attacks. These limitations explain why it sits in a lower tier despite its mobility advantages.
Conclusion
Most importantly, personal playstyle preference and comfort with a weapon's mechanics often matter more than tier rankings. A hunter skilled with any "lower tier" weapon will consistently outperform someone struggling with an "S-tier" option they haven't mastered.
Remember that Monster Hunter has always been about finding the weapon that clicks with your personal playstyle. The best weapon isn't necessarily the highest on a tier list—it's the one that feels right in your hands and brings you the most hunting satisfaction.
