When it comes to taking on the beastly wyverns of Monster Hunter Rise, it's totally feasible to pick up any weapon the game offers and excel - and there are plenty of options to entice you.
Of course, it's possible that you'll turn your nose up at the host of weapons available and stick with what you're given right at the start - the humble Longsword. This weapon is one of the most popular picks for this generation of monster hunters and it's easy to see why - the Longsword offers great range, stylish attacks, and an easy-to-learn moveset.
The Longsword
The Longsword is a very satisfying weapon to use. It's as intimidating as it is large, but offers more mobility than its size lets on. The weapon's moveset and central gimmick reward the more aggressive playstyles out there, but there are some pretty neat ways to use the Longsword as a tool of evasion and counterattacking if you have the timing down. With Rise's silkbinds, the weapon's playstyle gets even more floaty and chaotic and will be a favorite of those who love to run circles around their foes.
Spirit Gauge
You'll notice that when you have a Longsword equipped, you have a new gauge available to the right of your sharpness meter. This is your Spirit Gauge.
Your Spirit Gauge will fill automatically as you connect with normal attacks, filling up the white bar in the middle of the sword-shaped meter. You can use this gauge to perform Spirit Blade attacks with ZR/RT, which are some of your most powerful attacks, and emit a trailing light from the tip of your sword.
If you don't have enough Spirit Gauge to perform a Spirit Blade, you won't be able to continue the Spirit Combo and you won't get a trailing glint of light from the tip of your blade.
The fourth stage of the Spirit Combo is a Spirit Roundslash, after which you will sheathe your blade. Every time you successfully use this attack, you'll get a stacking attack buff which has visual indicators on both the Spirit Gauge and on your Longsword itself. Both will glow a certain color depending on how many times you successfully use Spirit Roundslash - first white, then yellow, and finally red.
Both the Spirit Gauge and the attack buff gained by using Spirit Roundslash will drain over time. If you want to keep your damage output as high as possible, you'll need to alternate between filling up your Spirit Gauge with regular attacks and spending it on Spirit Blade attacks, keeping you at the red level buff at all times.
Once you've reached the maximum buff, using Spirit Roundslash again will just add time to your attack buff, filling up the bar.
Special Sheathe And Iai Slash
One of your special moves is called the Special Sheathe. To use this, press ZR/RT+A after an attack - if you try to open a combo with a Special Sheathe, you'll just perform a regular Spirit Blade.
Special Sheathe has a decently long animation that ends in a glint of light shining off your sword as it slides back into the sheathe - this is the moment you can follow up with an attack:
- Follow up with X/Y to perform an Iai Slash, which will grant you a short buff that gradually increases your Spirit Gauge over time.
- Follow up with ZR/RT to perform an Iai Spirit Slash, which is an incredibly powerful move that launches you forwards.
A useful tip to know is that the Special Sheathe move can be chained from a Spirit Roundslash, meaning you can get right back into a combo without fully sheathing your sword.
Fade Slash And Foresight Slash
You have two moves that are best used for evasion more than attacking.
- Fade Slash is performed by hitting X/Y+A/B at the same time. It attacks while pulling you backwards.
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Foresight Slash is performed by hitting ZR/RT+A/B at the same time. If you manage to successfully evade a monster's attack with this move, you can immediately chain it into a Spirit Roundslash.
- Foresight Slash will consume your Spirit Gauge.
- If you find that the Foresight Slash pulled you further away from your target than you intended, you can chain it into a Special Sheathe and use Iai Slash to launch yourself forwards without losing attack momentum.
Longsword - Skills And Abilities
Silkbind Abilities
Soaring Kick (ZL + X/Y): You'll kick off the monster and leap up into the air. This attack will be automatically followed by a Plunging Thrust, but if you have a Spirit Gauge attack buff, you can trade one stack of it to use Spirit Helm Breaker, which deals more damage.
Sakura Slash (ZL + X/Y): You'll perform a wide, horizontal double slash that has a ton of hits. This is great for inflicting status ailments and hitting hard-to-reach parts on very large monsters thanks to the huge hitbox. Additionally, this will increase your attack buff as if you'd used Spirit Roundslash.
You can only have one of Soaring Kick and Sakura Slash. Soaring Kick is great for non-elemental builds thanks to how much damage Spirit Helm Breaker does, but with status ailment builds, you cannot ignore the usefulness of Sakura Slash.
Serene Pose (ZL + A/B): You'll summon a web of Wirebug silk in front of you get ready in a counter stance. If any attack enters the web, you'll automatically avoid damage and counter the attack. This is a very useful defensive move and lasts quite a while, but you will be locked into the animation.
Switch Abilities
Overhead Opener (X/Y)
- Step Slash: A simple overhead swing with high damage.
- Drawn Double Slash: An overhead swing followed by an upward swing. Can block some enemy attacks on the first few frames and can be chained immediately into the second attack of the Spirit Blade combo.
Spirit Combo Finisher (ZR/RT)
- Spirit Roundslash: Chains from the third Spirit Blade attack and comes out much faster.
- Spirit Reckoning: Chains from the second Spirit Blade attack and is stronger, but harder to aim.
Longsword - Tips And Tricks
Take It To The Training Area
You can access the Training Area by interacting with the small boat in the Buddy Plaza. Here, you can get an in-depth study into the Longsword's moveset against a customizable enemy.
Practicing your combos here is a great way to get used to the intricacies of the Longsword. You'll get a feel for how quickly the Spirit Gauge fills up and how best to weave Spirit Blades, Special Sheathes, and Foresight Slashes into your attack patterns.
The best reason to head to the Training Area is that you can pay special attention to your actions here, thanks to your combos showing up on the screen and the fact that you don't have the distractions of the real combat areas to worry about.
Endless Combo
While your Overhead Slash (Y) is a great opener, you should learn quickly that the Longsword has a pretty effective infinite combo. Once you're in a combo, just mash the Thrust (A/B) attack to get into an endless loop of Thrusts and Rising Slashes.
This combo is mostly useful for filling up your Spirit Gauge very quickly but is also great for taking on pesky Small Monsters and getting a lot of damage out of small windows of opportunity when facing Large Monsters.
Utilize Your Iai Slash To Fuel Combos
Whether you're just starting a fight or spending far too much time chasing a monster that's fled, you will inevitably run out of your attack buff eventually. Building it up again can be a frustrating chore, so it's a good idea to learn how to weave an Iai Slash into your attack patterns flawlessly.
The Iai Slash's passive Spirit Gauge acquisition buff will let you spam the Spirit Roundslash combo pretty effectively.