The Monster Hunter Wilds best weapon tier list shows the best weapons to pick and which ones to leave for later.
A best weapon tier list can help you make sense of the overwhelming amount of armaments in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Sure, any weapon can work against any monster, but knowing which is the strongest or which might suit you best saves you time — and, more importantly, upgrade materials.
In this Monster Hunter Wilds guide, we’ve compiled a tier list ranking each of the game’s 14 weapons based on what they offer in battle.Table of ContentsMonster Hunter Wilds best weapon tier list
The Monster Hunter Wilds best weapon tier list is as follows:
The above ranks each of the game’s 14 weapons based on how useful they are in battle — not on how easy they are to learn or how newcomer-friendly they might be. The exception to the rule is if a weapon is more complex than others without offering higher damage output or a more interesting variety of ways to play compared to others.
We’ve also taken into account how versatile a weapon is. For example, one that lets you balance offense and defense without sacrificing mobility will rank higher than one whose main draw is just letting you move more quickly.
If you’re not sure how each weapon works, here’s our list of all Monster Hunter Wilds weapon types, or check out our recommendations of the best weapon for beginners and the best secondary weapon combos.S-tier weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds
S-tier weapons offer the most utility and balance with the fewest caveats. Some still have high learning curves, such as the hunting horn, but learning how they work gives you the biggest advantages in the game.
The S-tier weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds are the long sword, bow, sword and shield, and hunting horn. Below, we explain why these weapons are S-tier.
The long sword strikes the perfect balance in almost every way. It’s multifaceted without being overwhelming, thanks to its spirit gauge attacks, and it’s capable of dealing high damage amounts across several combos, rather than relying solely on one or two burst-type attacks. Better yet, it has some of the best reach of any weapon, without being bulky and tough to aim like the great sword.
You can give a little poke to faces, wings, and other hard-to-reach areas with a simple upward strike, and if you’re a bit too close to a rampaging foe, the long sword comes with a fade slash that lashes out and sees you hop backward out of harm’s way. The classic sheathe and strike combo also lets you cover a lot of ground quickly while delivering a heavy slash attack to your target. All of these skills work even when the long sword’s spirit gauge is empty, so you’re never at a loss for ways to defend yourself and take down your target. They’re just more powerful when the gauge is full.
Capcom gave the bow a much-needed set of upgrades for Monster Hunter Wilds, including improved mobility and a broader variety of attacks. The weapon’s new trick shot gauge lets you fire tracing arrows, which act as a homing device that other arrows automatically flock to and explode after a short time, dealing extra damage. The standard arc shot attack also leaves arrows you can detonate, so if you plan well, you can drop arrows all over a monster, then use the bow’s Focus Strike to trigger multiple explosions at once.
Wilds’ bow also has a new evasion move that, with the right timing, can act as a powerful counter to an incoming attack, and Thousand Dragons Shot doesn’t require special ammo anymore. On top of all that, you can still apply special coatings and use elemental ammo. You might want to bring a melee weapon along as a secondary weapon combo in case you need to inflict more damage faster, though.
Wilds’ version of the sword and shield comes with fewer changes than some other weapons, but they make a bigger difference than you might expect. The inclusion of perfect guard counters makes defense less passive and gives you a chance to still damage your foe while blocking incoming attacks, though it takes practice to get the timing right. Capcom also added a new, multi-part charged attack that delivers an upward strike before finishing with a strong downward thrust.
