In Monster Hunter Wilds, the Charge Blade is a fantastic, flexible weapon with enough power, mobility and elemental clout to handle almost any situation.
However, especially for new players, it’s a relatively complex weapon in a game full of complicated combat mechanics. But once you’ve broken it down to its basic concepts – most of which aren’t explained very fully in-game – the Charge Blade has a simple flow that’s fast, fun and devastatingly effective.
To help you make the most out of the strongest weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds and get to grips with its moveset and mechanics, here’s a breakdown of our best-loved strategies, builds and combos to get you through the early and mid-game and prepare you for the post-game.
Monster Hunter Wilds Charge Blade guide
Charge Blade Combos
The Charge Blade alternates between building up elemental energy in its Sword and Shield form, before releasing that energy as powerful Axe attacks.
First, you need to perform smaller-scale combos with the Sword by pressing Triangle and Circle at the same time, before following up with normal Triangle attacks. You can also hold Circle for a quick flurry of blows.
However, when you start to see the Sword glow, you need to Charge (R2 + Circle) to store the built up energy, otherwise your attacks will start to bounce off the monster.
You can then morph into using a wide range of huge Axe attacks, mostly by pressing Circle and Triangle and Circle together.
Also, the Charge Blade also massively benefits from breaking monster wounds, which buffs the weapon with additional rotating chainsaw blade damage. Look for a wound whenever you can by holding L2, then press R1 to break it.
The basic flow of battle goes something like this:
- Perform “Basic Sword Combo” by pressing Triangle and Circle together, then Triangle twice, then Triangle and Circle together again
- Press Triangle and Circle again at the end of the Sword combo to do a strong Axe attack, then press R2 to switch back to the Sword
- When your sword starts to glow, perform a Charge (R2 + Circle in Sword mode) to bank the elemental energy you’ve built up
- After the Charge, press Circle to immediately morph in the axe
- Depending on a monster’s position, use Triangle attacks to swing the Axe vertically (and hit their tail) or Circle attacks to swing horizontally (and hit their body)
- Press Circle three times to perform a Circle combo, press Triangle and Circle together to perform an overhead slam called the Amped Element Discharge, then press Circle again for a follow-up attack
- Once you’re out of elemental energy, return to the Sword form to charge up again
- Check regularly for wounds by holding L2 and pressing R1 to break them
Monster Hunter Wilds Charge Blade builds
Before you roll the credits in Monster Hunter Wilds, you don’t need to focus too much on perfecting your build. As long as you don’t have a massive weakness to the element of the monster you’re fighting, you’re probably going to be okay.
However, it’s never too early to start thinking about how your equipment Skills interact with each other, because it’s a fiddly system to get to grips with. These early and mid-game Charge Blade builds will help you to get the most out of your weapon, while also starting to think about stacking powerful Skills together.
Early Game
In the early game, especially if you’re new to the series or the Charge Blade as a weapon, the most difficult aspect to get the hang of is your movement speed in axe form.
If you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and get sent flying by a monster, then you’re in an extremely vulnerable position when you get back to your feet, sluggishly stow your weapon on your back and raise your healing potion to your lips with all the urgency of a Sunday morning sip of coffee.
To combat this, the best early-game build to focus on with the Charge Blade prioritizes the Quick Sheathe Skill. This Skill makes a huge difference in a pinch when you need to quickly put away your weapon to heal, which – even though the start of Monster Hunter Wilds isn’t quite as demanding as previous entries in the series – makes the learning Charge Blade’s learning curve feel a lot smoother, since you’re not punished as harshly for mistakes.
I recommend starting with the Quematrice set to fill out the rest of your gear, but definitely switch to the Balahara before the Uth Duna or the minus Water resistance will make that fight very hard.
- Weapon: Lala Barina Bouclier
- Helm: Alloy
- Cuirass: Quematrice/Balahara
- Gauntlets: Quematrice/Balahara
- Waist: Quematrice/Balahara
- Greaves: Alloy
- Talisman: Defence Charm
Mid-game
In the mid-game of Monster Hunter Wilds, you can keep your Quick Sheathe intact if you like, but this is where you can start to play with attack and Affinity-boosting buffs which make a bigger, more tangible difference to how you play.
This build involves farming a few Rey Dau pieces to craft 4 parts of that set and stacking the Latent Power Skill. After you’ve taken damage during a fight, Latent Power will activate, increasing your Affinity (critical hit damage) and powering up your dodge for a period of time. By wearing 4 pieces of the Rey Dau set you extend the time that Latent Power is active, giving you a big boost for a long time in a fight.
Alternatively, the Charge Blade is incredibly good at leveraging the 4-piece Arkveld set boost. This heals your character by a huge amount every time you break a monster wound, allowing you to be aggressive, conserve resources and make the most out of the Charge Blade’s strong wound creation ability.
With this build, I like to throw in the Guardian Rathalos legs for the Weakness Exploit ability, since it further boosts your damage to wounded areas on a monster while you’ve already buffed your ability to cause them.
Mid-game Attack Build
- Weapon: Guardian Rathalos Albirath Blade
- Helm: Rey Dau
- Cuirass: Rey Dau
- Gauntlets: Rey Dau
- Waist: Hirabami
- Greaves: Rey Dau
- Talisman: Defence/element of monster being hunted
Mid-game Wound Build
- Weapon: Guardian Rathalos Albirath Blade
- Helm: Arkveld
- Cuirass: Arkveld
- Gauntlets: Arkveld
- Waist: Arkveld
- Greaves: Guardian Rathalos
- Talisman: Defence/element of monster being hunted