When choosing your weapon in Monster Hunter Now, the Sword and Shield combination is the one most newer hunters would gravitate toward. It gives the perfect balance of damage and quickness that makes it familiar, and there are a couple of moves that you can use to vary up your strategies somewhat.
While there are plenty of options that Monster Hunter Now gives you for decent blades, some that combo well with certain skills and Driftstones such as the best Monster Hunter Now Charge Blade build. However, for this Sword and Shield build, the aim is to give your hunter a decent supporting role in Dimension Rift hunts, as well as hold their own against even the toughest foes, with the help of the paralysis ailment.
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All the items to make the best Monster Hunter Now Switch Axe build, including several paralysis-inflicting skills and Driftores.
Best Monster Hunter Now Sword And Shield Build
The aim of this Monster Hunter Now Sword and Shield build is to try and get newer players up to speed with a decent set of abilities that maximize the potential of this beginner-friendly weapon. As such, you don’t need to wait long to find the enemy that you’ll be farming for Monster Hunter Now material parts to upgrade your weapon to its highest ranking, and it’s especially useful if you’re the kind of hunter who really likes inflicting status ailments.
Full Monster Hunter Now Sword And Shield Build
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Item |
Effect |
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|---|---|---|
|
Weapon |
Malady’s Tabar |
|
|
Helmet |
Khezu Helmet |
|
|
|
Volvidon Mail |
|
|
Vambraces |
Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Vambraces |
|
|
Coil |
Great Girros Coil |
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|
Greaves |
Somnacanth Greaves |
|
Weapon
This build focuses on paralysis, and at the time of writing, there’s only one that fits our paralysis-based strategy: the Malady’s Tabar. You get this fairly early on in the game by slaying the Great Girros. The good news is that you can make this monster appear automatically, along with most of the others, using the Monster Hunter Now paintball tracker. It also has a slot in Sneak Attack, which increases damage done from behind.
Helmet, Mail, and Coil
Speaking of Great Girros, it, along with Volvidon and Khezu, will give you armor pieces that each have points in the Paralysis Attack skill. For every rank in this skill you get, you’ll be able to inflict a larger buildup of paralysis onto your target every time it triggers, meaning that you’ll be inflicting damage and contributing to the team by rendering the monster immobile for a short time. It’s particularly handy when you’re paired with heavy-damage dealers, such as those using the best Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build.
Vambraces and Greaves
Your second skill that you’re concentrating on increasing is Status Sneak Attack. For each extra rank in this skill, your chances of triggering your paralysis effect increase from 33% to a whopping 85%. With the combination of a drastic increase to the paralysis buildup from both the Mail and Coil, this means that you’ll be inflicting damage. To get these materials, you’ll need to track down Tzitzi-Ya-Ku and Somnacanth. Both are early-to-mid-level monsters that aren’t too threatening.
Best Sword And Shield Driftsmelt Slots
Each of the five Driftsmelt slots allows you to maximize existing skills or add new ones that complement your current gear well. It’s recommended that, for this build, you increase the Sneak Attack skill by three points, as each rank increases your damage output by a higher amount for each slot you fill. You should also maximize Paralysis Attack and add a single point into Earplugs to fully negate small monster roars.
- Paralysis Attack – increases weapon’s paralysis buildup value. Rank 1 by 50, but Rank 5 by 150. (Amber only)
- Sneak Attack – increases damage done when attacking a monster from behind. 10% at Rank 1, and 30% at Rank 5. (Pale only)
- Earplugs – reduces effects of monster roars. Weak ones become fully nullified by Rank 3, and strong roars become fully nullified at Rank 5. (Pale only)
- Released
- September 14, 2023