Mastering the Monster Hunter Now Great Sword: A Sleep-Based Build Guide

The Great Sword in Monster Hunter Now is a powerful weapon capable of inflicting massive damage, but its size can make it unwieldy. This guide details a build maximizing sleep effects for devastating attacks.

To create this effective Great Sword build, you'll need to utilize sleep-inducing weapons and skills to frequently put monsters to sleep. Let's dive into the optimal gear:

Optimal Monster Hunter Now Great Sword Build

Unlike the Long Sword's poison focus, this Great Sword build leverages the sleep element for maximum impact. While requiring materials from a somewhat rare monster, the majority of equipment comes from more commonly encountered creatures.

Weapon Choice: The Frilled Blade

The Frilled Blade is the ideal sleep-based Great Sword. Its Evade Extender skill enhances defensive maneuvers, making it easier to dodge attacks. This weapon requires Somnacanth materials.

Helmet & Greaves: Nightmare Paolumu's Contribution

The Nightmare Paolumu, introduced in an early paid event, provides crucial components. Its parts offer the Rude Awakener skill (all three levels), significantly boosting damage against sleeping monsters (100% damage increase on the first hit). While less frequent now, they appear in events or as rare spawns.

Mail, Vambraces, & Coil: Tzitzi-Ya-Ku's Role

The remaining pieces primarily focus on maximizing Status Sneak Attack, guaranteeing sleep buildup with rear attacks. You also gain additional Evade Extender and Artful Dodger points for improved evasion. Tzitzi-Ya-Ku is a more readily available monster.

Optimizing Driftstone Slots

This build offers a significant advantage with its accessible Driftstone slots. Five slots are ideal for Sleep Attack (Azure only). Alternatively, prioritize Artful Dodger and Evade Extender (Azure only) or Sneak Attack (Pale only) to further enhance your combat effectiveness.

• Sleep Attack (Azure): Increases sleep buildup (50 at rank 1, 150 at rank 5).
• Sneak Attack (Pale): Boosts damage from rear attacks (10% at rank 1, 30% at rank 5).
• Artful Dodger (Azure): Improves evasion.
• Evade Extender (Pale): Extends evasion distance.

This comprehensive guide provides a powerful and effective Great Sword build in Monster Hunter Now, allowing you to dominate the hunt.