MH4U: The Greatsword (GS) Overview!

The Greatsword also known as GS, is a weapon unintended for newer audiences. It may be clunky and slow but this weapon takes and needs a lot of practice to perfect compared to other weapons. There are a few styles regarding this weapon such as hit and run, monster turning and charge for openings. A true GS master optimizes all of these styles and uses them correctly for different situations.

(Image from MHwikia)

The kind of attacks it has:

1. Running and pressing X unsheathes doing a Vertical Chop also known as a Draw attack. The same attack can be made with X when the sword is out. You can charge this attack by holding down X but do note there is a timing in the last phase of charge, overcharging only grants a Level 2 charge instead of the almighty Level 3.

2. When the sword is out, The A button does a Sweep attack. Be careful of this attack when hunting online as it will trip fellow hunters.

3. X + A does an upswing attack that has a good vertical reach but this attack also sends hunters flying so control those upswing temptation of yours.

4. When Jumping off cliffs you can do a Draw attack (X) that can chain to a Super Sideswipe (press X again) when you hit the ground. This combo is quite powerful to be honest.

Here is a list of things you should always know if you want to be a good GS user:

1. The Draw attack is your best friend. Only chain your attacks when the monster gives openings such as 360 tail whips and the like. There are two(2) skills that enhance draw attacks, Crit Draw and Punish Draw.

-Crit Draw - Gives the weapon 100% affinity when doing draw attacks. Doing the unsheathed charge attack also gains the Crit Draw's 100% affinity meaning a ton of damage in one fell swoop.

-Punish Draw - Draw attacks can now KO monsters when hit on the head. Dizzying the monster is great because it gives you quite a bit of time to unleash a barrage of charged hits.

2. The GS has gained a bit of attack chains in MH4U.

-You can do a Sword Slap after the Draw attack/Vertical Chop by pressing X. After the Sword Slap you can either do another Vertical Chop by pressing X or do the Baseball Charge by holding the analog stick back and pressing X. (This was already present back in MH3U/MHP3rd)

-You can now directly go to a Baseball Charge (yes this can be charged by holding down A) after a Sweep attack by pressing A. After doing the Baseball Charge you can press A again to do a Super Sideswipe that has a massive horizontal reach and deals damage depending on the Baseball Charge level you just did. But know this that the Super Sideswipe has a big after attack delay so rolling out of this animation (or any GS attack animation) is advised.

-Affinity Greatswords now have a better purpose rather than relying on Crit Draw.

3. When side rolling after an attack (press either left or right to roll sideways) you can press X to go to a Sweep attack. Rolling forward and pressing X does the Sword Slap where it deals KO damage, though the damage isn't high with Sword Slap it covers quite a distance so closing in on monsters is relatively easier compared to just rolling forward.

4. Know what Charge level you want, if you want to unleash level 3 charges faster use the Focus skill as it trims down the charge time significantly for both the Unsheathed Charge attacks and Baseball Charge.

5. The GS has a guard that is equivalent to that of the Charge Blade but both these weapons eat up sharpness when blocking.

6. Hitting a monster with the center blade of the GS does 1.05x more damage. The Longsword also has this hidden multiplier but it has 1.12. So hitting precisely and closely ends with a good hunting time.

7. Be patient and aggressive at the same time, don't waste time running around, circle the monster in a single direction as to most monsters have a dominant side that they attack to. (ie. Rajang attacks mostly to the left of him first so circle him by going towards his right)

8. The Baseball Charge cannot be overcharged which is a good thing as it will always do the Level 3 at the end.

Be calm and collective and you may just master the art of unsheathing as a Greatsword user. Hope this helps out our fellow hunters around the world! Happy Hunting Hunters!

If you've enjoyed reading this, please leave a like/share/comment because it really helps me out. Thanks!

MH4U: The Bow Overview!

Many people think the Bow is a shallow weapon of choice but in fact it's the other way around. The coatings, the level of shot type, the arc shot and the element pose a deep variation with each Bow. First and foremost let me list the important facts that should be noted by many.

(Image from MHwikia)

1. Distance is everything. When the screen shakes, it's an indication that you have the optimal range dealing 1.5x more damage.

-Rapid has 3-6 back hops away from the monster

-Spread 3-4 back hops away from the monster

-Pierce 6-8 back hops away from the monster

2. Rapid has concentrated fire. Useful for sniping specific monster parts. Spread level 4-5 fire 5 arrows forming a horizontal arc, good for wide monsters such as a zamtrios etc. Pierce as you guessed it, pierces the enemy, higher level means more hits (up to six).

3. The Arc shot type can vary from Focused, Spread and Blast. In MH4U a new arc shot was introduced, the Power shot.

-Focused - Rains pellets doing exhaust damage to the monster heads at a small radius.

-Spread - Rains pellets also doing exhaust damage to the monster heads but at a significantly larger radius compared to Focused. The pellets of Focused and Spread also hit fellow hunters so be careful as it may cause them to flinch and get hit by the monster.

-Blast - Shoot an arrow concealing a bomb that blasts an area. This by far has the highest exhaust damage compared to the first two mentioned above. Note that since it acts like a barrel bomb it knocks away fellow hunters.

-Power - I wish all the bows can have power shot because when you charge your bow and shoot it, you can press A to do a second consecutive attack which is stronger than the one you just charged up! You can also press A whilst charging but this isn't recommended.

3. Not all bows have access to all the coatings, they only have a specific selection of coatings so be sure to check the highlighted ones when you look at your Bow. The DLC Link's bow has the only access to all the coatings which is great when you want to do a bunch of status to a monster.

4. Mobility. Like the hammer, you can charge and move sniping in different directions. The running speed while the bow is out is equivalent to that of an unsheathed Dual Blades or Sword and Shield.

5. Element and status. The strength of the elemental/status damage of the Bow is solely based on the level of charge you use, this means you should use a level 2 or 3 charge. Bows only have Elemental and Blast there is no Bow that has an innate status on it. Some Bows have a special characteristic that they enhance the coating such as Sleep coating boost etc. This means faster paralyzing/sleeping effect with less coatings used.

6. Bring book of combos 1,2,3,4,5 (4 and 5 are optional). Why you ask? you can bring empty phials and combine it with nitroshrooms, parashrooms, sleep herbs, whetfishes to make more power, paralyze, sleep and close range coatings respectively. This will surely cut your hunting time by a lot.

There you have my list of perks that the Bow has. Wish this helped you become better at being an Archer! More hunts to come!

If you've enjoyed reading this, please leave a like/share/comment because it really helps me out. Thanks!