Monster Hunter: World - Upgrade Sharpness For Bonus Damage

Weapon sharpness is one of those features you don’t pay much attention to as you progress through Monster Hunter: World. It’s worth looking at for one reason — you can actually boost your weapon sharpness above the maximum. Start from green, you can reach blue and even white sharpness meters with the right sets of equipment. This can be a game-changer for the right weaponry, and the extra sharpness boosts your damage output / elemental damage considerably. It’s like a buff you can reset as many times as you want.

For those not already experienced in Monster Hunter: World ways, a weapon’s sharpness changes how much damage you do with regular attacks. Attacks will slowly deplete sharpness until your weapons stop dealing damage altogether. You’ll have to stop and use the whetstone — it has infinite uses, so you’ll never run out. After upgrading your sharpness, that whetstone becomes a portable, infinitely reusable buff.

More Monster Hunter: World guides on Gameranx:

Upgrade Sharpness For Bonus Damage | White Sharpness Guide

[NOTE: Upgrading sharpness is only really possible in the post-game, after completing the main story progression quests.]

The sharpness meter is located beneath your health and stamina on the HUD, represented by a meter in a sword graphic. The meter drains after every landed attack — when sharpness drops, the meter will change colors. Depending on the color, you’ll do less and less damage. Green is optimal for most of the game.

You can also boost sharpness above green — up to blue and white meters. Reaching these sharpness levels will increase damage and elemental power above what your weapon is naturally capable of. It can be very powerful for the right set, and it’s very easy to overlook.

To increase your maximum sharpness, you’ll first need to get gear with the “Handicraft” skill.
- Only a few exclusive weapons can be upgraded to white sharpness level.
At the Blacksmith, go to the Armor menu and select “Handicraft” under Search Criteria: Skills. This will show you all armor pieces that have the Handicraft skill.
- The Kushala Set [Alpha] has four pieces with the Handicraft skill.
You can also craft a Handicraft Charm from the Blacksmith.
- This charm requires a Zorah Magdaros Gem and other Magdaros parts.

Once you have the handicraft skill, you’ll have to find which weapons can actually be upgraded to Sharpness Blue / White.

Scan the Weapon Upgrade menu for weapons with Blue / White sharpness meter in the top-right corner, where it shows Sharpness. Very easy to miss this detail.

When looking at the sharpness meter, see if the meter grows beyond green sharpness. White Sharpness weapons are typically found at the end of an upgrade tree.