Monster Hunter Now: Weapons Guide

Monster Hunter Now features six different weapon types for you to use. The game starts you off with the Sword & Shield. As you progress through the story quests, you’ll unlock more weapons.

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All weapons have a distinct playstyle. The Great Sword, Bow, Hammer, and Long Sword are slower weapons and require you to learn the timing of your hits and monster attacks. The Sword & Shield and Light Bowgun are faster weapons and desirable if you’re a button masher.

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Unlocking Weapons

The Sword & Shield is the first and only weapon you can use until you complete the first portion of Chapter 2: Shimmering Swamp. Upon completion, you’ll unlock the Great Sword.

Once you complete all of Chapter 2, you’ll unlock the Bow, Hammer, Light Bowgun, and Long Sword. You’ll be at or around HR15 when you unlock these.

After that, you’ll unlock weapon sets from different monsters. For example, if you fought the Tobi-Kadachi for the first time over the weekend, you’ll unlock the Thunder Edge set.

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Elemental Weapons

In addition to the regular attack stat, some weapons also deal elemental damage. Most Large Monsters have an elemental weakness, allowing you to defeat them faster for a higher rank and better rewards.

There are 6 different elements: Water, Fire, Poison, Paralysis, Ice, and Thunder. Sometimes, you’ll receive quests requiring you to defeat monsters with effective weapons – basically, you need to defeat Large Monsters with a weapon containing their elemental weakness.

Other weapons will only have the attack stat. These weapons typically have higher attack damage to balance them out with elemental weapons. Generally, elemental weapons are best for taking down Large Monsters due to the time constraints. However, normal weapons are good for Small Monsters since there’s no time limit and Small Monsters don’t have an elemental weakness.

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Special Skills

After overgrading a weapon to Grade 2, it will gain a Special Skill. Overgrading a weapon will increase its Special Skill level. While fighting monsters, your weapon’s Special Skill will gradually charge. When the Skill is ready to use, you’ll see an orange button above your health bar. Using the Special Skill will grant you invincibility for a short time and allow you to perform a special attack. Each weapon has its own Special Skill.

Keep in mind that you do not need to use the Special Skill right away. The most common strategy is to let your Special Skill charge by fighting Small Monsters, then use the Special Skill during a Large Monster hunt.

Weapon	Special Skill	Description
Sword & Shield	Perfect Rush Combo	Lunge into the enemy with a dizzying flurry of strikes and bashes.
Great Sword	True Charged Slash	Gathers all of the body’s strength into a devastating slash attack.
Long Sword	Spirit Helm Breaker	Leap skywards and plunge into foes with this deadly secret technique.
Hammer	Spinning Bludgeon	Utilizes the rotational force of the hammer to deliver a shattering blow.
Light Bowgun	Wyvernblast Counter	A single shot unleashing the full destructive might of Wyvernblast ammo.
Bow	Dragon Piercer	Uses all of the body’s might to release an arrow that can pierce through anything.

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