MH4U: Charge Blade (CB) Overview!

(Image from MHwikia)

The Charge Blade! One of two new weapons in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. This weapon serves as a heavier version of the SnS and has the ability to morph into an oversized Axe just like the Switch Axe!

The power of the Charge Blade is yes you've guessed it, comes from a lot of charging! Charge up to either yellow or red to reload 3 or 5 phials respectively and you can release these charges for tons of damage done by its Axe mode!

Or maybe even use these phials to overcharge the Shield to make it glow red meaning you're doing more damage in Axe mode, about 20% more!

The shield's guard also improves once it glows red which is now equivalent to that of the Lance instead of the Great Sword.

The Shield Thrust also uses the effect of the phial without wasting a single phial! So don't forget to charge that shield up! You can charge the shield up by cancelling the Ultra/Super burst by pressing R at the start of the animation.

You can overcharge the shield by:

Sword Mode:

X, X+A, X+A, R

Axe Mode:

X+A, R
A, A, A, R

When unsheathing: 

R+X+A, X+A, R

The Charge Blade's attacks can be chained by pretty much any attack it has, whether morphing or just the standard attack it poses no problem to do a lot of hits. Either a KO or an elemental phial CB are both strong in their own category so don't worry about the phials as they are a source of complimentary damage to the CB.

Now we go to Guard Points. Guard Points are attack frames in specific CB animations where you can block and can cancel out to a Super/Ultra burst. The Guard Point block also has the effect of the phial like the overcharged Shield Thrust making use of free phials at the same time while blocking! This is more of an advanced technique so a lot of practice and patience should be invested in but the results are very satisfying.

Me, as a fan of the SnS, I like the CB and I'd also like to help you guys in using different weapons to expand your play style. So charge up your CB and let's hunt some monsters shall we? Happy hunting!

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