Monster Hunter Wilds Long Sword Guide

blast.tv

Mar 14, 2025March 14, 2025

3:35 PM

The Long Sword is one of the most popular weapons in the Monster Hunter franchise. The iconic samurai fantasy paired with a low skill floor and a very high skill ceiling make it a perfect choice for both beginners and seasoned veterans.

READ: Monster Hunter Wilds Beginner Tips

In Monster Hunter Wilds, like most other weapons, the Long Sword got some new moves added to its kit, which made it even more powerful than previously. Whether you are just getting into the franchise, or just want to try out the weapon after spending dozens of hours on another, our Long Sword Guide will be able to assist you in your hunts.

Long Sword Basic Moves Explained

To better understand the Long Sword, you need to know what kind of tools you have access to, starting with your most basic options. After unsheathing your weapon, you get access to a few different options from the get go:

Triangle/Y is your Standard Attack. It is slow, but hits hard and gives you a lot of Spirit Gauge. You can repeat this attack two more times, completing a three-hit combo.
Circle/B is a Thrust Attack. This one is much quicker and non-committal, but is weaker and doesn’t give as much Spirit Gauge. Its combo potential is also smaller, ending up as only a two-hit combo.
R2/RT is Spirit Blade I. Despite being available from the moment you unsheathe your Long Sword, you can’t really use it. You can use the first Spirit Blade hit, but you won’t have access to your four hit combo unless you’ve gotten some Spirit Gauge built up.
Pressing Triangle/Y and Circle/B simultaneously will give you a Fade Slash, a move that allows you to hit the monster while doing a slight hop towards the direction you choose, filling half of your Spirit Gauge in one hit.

The Long Sword operates on a builder-spender loop. You use Standard Attack and Thrusts to generate (build) Spirit Gauge, and you spend that Gauge on Spirit Blade attacks, which in turn can be used to level up your Gauge level.

Monster Hunter Wilds Spirit Gauge

Long Sword has four Gauge levels:

No border is the default state of the weapon, there are no bonuses here.
White Border gives you your first damage boost and allows you to use Spirit Helm Breaker after Spirit Thrust.
Yellow Border comes with another damage boost and an upgraded version of the Spirit Helm Breaker, dealing more hits.
Red Border, the max Gauge level, modifies multiple moves in your arsenal, including your default Standard Attacks, your Foresight Slash, further boosts the Spirit Helm Breaker and even adds an extra follow-up move to it, the Spirit Release Slash.

Your mission in every hunt is to successfully loop the builder-spender playstyle throughout the fight.

The Counters

On top of its builder-spender playstyle, the Long Sword revolves almost entirely around counters, also known as parries. The weapon comes with two distinct counter options, both with their respective pros and cons:

Foresight Slash (R2+Circle/RT+B) - An evasive backjump that will negate all damage taken during its animation, followed by a rising slash. Successfully countering an attack with this move allows the player to follow up with a Spirit Roundslash, immediately leveling up the Spirit Gauge. To do so, the player must hit the monster with the Foresight Slash hit, and the Spirit Roundslash.

Monster Hunter Wilds Special Sheathe

Iai Spirit Slash (R2/RT after a Special Sheathe (R2+X/RT+A) - The Iai Spirit Slash can only be used following during Special Sheathe, which is a state that lasts between three and four seconds. Iai Spirit Slash is a forward moving horizontal strike with a lot of range and a wide hitbox. Using it as a monster hits you will counter the hit, negating all damage. Connecting your attack with a monster on a successful counter will instantly level up your Spirit Gauge.

You must have input an attack action before using Foresight Slash or Special Sheathe, neither of these moves are available outside of what Monster Hunter Wilds considers to be a combo.

When it comes to choosing which to use, it will always depend on the situation. Foresight Slash is faster and will save you in a pinch, but it requires you to hit the two follow up attacks to level up your Spirit Gauge. Furthermore, using it spends your entire Gauge meter.

On the other hand, Special Sheathe does not cost you anything, deals more damage with Iai Spirit Slash and levels you up in a single hit, but requires a much bigger commitment, as you need enough time to sheathe your weapon and use the follow up attack, and it also has fewer iframes, making the counter window smaller.

Given the fact that both these counters level up your Spirit Gauge much faster than the normal Spirit Blade combo does, it is easy to understand how crucial Countering is to the Long Sword, and how the secret to mastering this weapon is to actually master the monster you are fighting.

Wound Mechanics

Wounds are our third way to level up Spirit Gauge with the Long Sword. Hitting an open wound with a focus strike (L2+R1/LT/RB) will destroy the wound, as is the case with every other weapon, but it will also level up your Spirit Gauge instantly.

Destroying multiple wounds with a single Focus Strike will level up your Gauge based on how many wounds you destroyed. Breaking wounds in any other way will not level your gauge.

Monster Hunter Wilds Wounds Destroyed

On top of this, after finishing a successful Focus Strike on a wound, you can press R2/RT right after to start your Spirit Blade combo from the third hit, allowing you to follow up with a Spirit Roundslash. Doing so gives you the option to level up your Spirit Gauge twice in short succession even when only one wound is open.

Focus Mode

As is the case with most other weapons, Focus Mode allows you to be a lot more mobile than otherwise. Using it allows you to fully rotate during a Special Sheathe, despite you being completely stuck in animation if you don’t use Focus.

READ: How to maximise FPS in Monster Hunter Wilds

Furthermore, you can use it to redirect most of your attacks, including committal moves like the Spirit Thrust. Use it as much as you can, and get used to it as early as possible.

Recommended Combos

When playing in multiplayer or when you’re not very familiar with a fight, you will not be able to rely on counters to consistently level up your Spirit Gauge. With this in mind, the fastest way to fill your gauge is with a combination of the three moves we have available from the moment we unsheathe our weapon.

Press Triangle/Y to execute a Standard Attack.
Follow it with Circle/B to perform a thrust.
Press Triangle+Circle/Y+B to finish off with a Fade Slash, entirely filling your Gauge.

With your gauge filled, you should be aiming to hit a complete Spirit Blade combo. It is important to note, that it doesn’t actually matter if you hit or miss the first three hits of the combo. As long as you hit the final Spirit Roundslash, your Gauge will level up, even if you miss every other attack.

Monster Hunter Wilds Spirit Roundslash

Despite this, you should always try to hit every part of your combo for maximum damage. Spirit Slash I (R2/RT) and Spirit Slash II (R2/RT) have quite a bit of mobility based on your directional inputs, even without using Focus Mode, so they can help you achieve higher accuracy.

You also have multiple ways to circumvent performing the full combo, by following a wound strike or even your Fade Slash, which will allow you to execute a Spirit Step Slash (R2/RT) followed by Spirit Blade III (R2/RT) into Spirit Roundslash (R2/RT).

Additionally, you can finish your Spirit Blade combo even if you run out of Gauge during it. Just hold down R2/RT instead of pressing it, and your hunter will charge up the Spirit Roundslash. Depending on which part of the combo you last used, the charging time will be shorter.

Once you reach red Gauge, you should be dishing out a ton of damage to the monster, fishing for the opportunity for a good Spirit Thrust into Spirit Helm Breaker combo. Until you get that opportunity, you can loop Standard Attacks and the first hit of Spirit Blade for a low-risk loopable combo that really hurts.

As soon as you spot an opening, you should go in for the kill:

Press R2+Triangle/RT+Y to execute a Spirit Thrust. Since you are at red gauge, you will be shot upwards.
Follow up with a Spirit Helm Breaker by pressing R2/RT during your descent.
If you were successful, finish the combo off with another press of R2/RT for a Spirit Release Slash, your highest damage attack.
Remember, you can cancel your Spirit Helm Breaker mid air by pressing Square/X or R1/RB, preventing you from wasting a Spirit Gauge level.

Long Sword Skills

Long Sword in Monster Hunter Wilds has so many defensive options, that you should stack as many offensive skills as possible here. The weapon works better as a Raw damage type, so you should choose whichever sword you have access to with the highest damage number.

Monster Hunter Wilds Spirit Thrust

The only specific skill we highly recommend is Quick Sheathe, as it will allow you to perform your Special Sheathe considerably faster, making it an even more powerful tool. If you’re having a hard time landing your counters, you can also invest into Evade Window, which will slightly boost the iframes of your Foresight Slash and Iai Spirit Slash.

With all this information available, enjoy your hunts and marvel in the fantastic tail severs that this weapon revels in. If you’re looking for more advanced guides to level up your game to the next step, we highly recommend you check out Peppo’s youtube channel, he is one of the best Long Sword minds out there.