MH4U: Long Sword (LS) Overview!

(Image from MHwikia)

Long Swords or LS is a weapon that infuses skill and spirit! But must be handled with care when playing online or with others. The LS can't block but you can delay your evade out of an attack animation making use of the Evade + (Most notably just Evade +1) skill worthwhile. The combo system for the LS revolves mostly for the damage multiplier it'll get from the Spirit Gauge located at the top left corner under your stamina bar.

The LS motion values for attacks may look weak when compared with other weapons but like what I said earlier, the LS is bound by spirit! When you fill the gauge by attacking the monster with X & A attacks, it'll light up and give you 5% more damage. This gauge allows you to do the Spirit Combo which is R, R, R, R. The gauge depletes by itself or when using an R attack so always keep an eye on that gauge!

The final hit of the Spirit Combo the Roundhouse, when it connects, it'll make the LS glow from white-yellow-red for each Roundhouse you do to a monster. The color of the glow depicts the damage multiplier you'll have.

White is 5% more and lasts for 6 mins
Yellow is 10% more and lasts 4 mins
Red is 30% more and lasts for 2 mins

See the jump in damage for red?

Also, when you hit the monster with the center of the LS you do 12% more damage as well! So to sum that up, you have your multiplier of 1.12 x 1.05 x 1.30 whilst in Spirit Mode with red glow! Once the red glow goes away, you'll have to build up that gauge again. Sounds like a lot of work right? But it's not actually that hard to build it up again, why you ask? That's for the Fade Slash to answer.

The LS has a Fade Slash X+A that you can do in mid combo. You can either fade sideways by holding the analog left or right or just go backwards like a normal Fade Slash. This is key in positioning yourself out of harms way or you can press R to do a close-in Upward Slash that combos straight to the 3rd Spirit Combo (which is the 3-hit attack) and do a Roundhouse afterwards. This is why it is a lot easier building up your Spirit Gauge again and again through out the fight.

Reposition yourself, exploit those openings and combo away! I'm sure you'll be doing quick work of quests! So hone those LS skill of yours and let's hunt! Happy hunting!

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

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!

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