Welcome to the most practical and fundamentally in depth Greatsword guide on this sector of the interwebs. Here in this guide I'll be discussing about the Greatsword's moveset and the techniques for all the moves; including advice I can give you on them. Whether you're already an experienced Greatsword user or someone who is interested in trying it out, I have both the utmost appreciation and respect for your dedication to learning of the art of the Greatsword. If you come out of reading this guide with at least one or two new techniques learnt, then I'll be all fuzzy with joy by the end of this.

For the ease of reading this guide, I'll be splitting the moveset into categories based on the purposes of the moves. We'll be discussing each move in the same fashion of the example format below:


Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A (The input of how to perform the move)

(Here will be the description of what the move is and how we can use it. I'll be mentioning any techniques I'm aware of for this move and give advice or recommendations on how you can integrate it in your life as a Greatsword user.)

The inputs will be in Xbox buttons as I play with an Eckbok controller myself and can't figure out a universal way for displaying controls to everyone without clogging up the inputs. For those using Dualshock or Keyboard & Mouse, please bear with me and check here for button translations.

In order from Xbox to Dualshock to default KBM bindings:

Normal Attack: Y / Triangle / Mouse1
Special Attack: B / Circle / Mouse2
Roll: A / X / Spacebar
Special Action: LT / L2 / C or Mouse3
Guard: RT / R2 / Mouse4
Movement: Left stick / Left stick / WASD

There's no frame data or statistics of the like here because compared to a fighting game, those are not mandatory to success in Monster Hunter. This is a guide created for more practical knowledge and not a guide meant to carry spreadsheets. In addition, there's no builds to be featured here, but I'll be talking about skills of intrigue in Section 4. With all that settled, let's begin without further ado.

"This Greatsword of mine glows with an awesome power! It's burning grip tells me to defeat you!"

Alright, let's get this party started. We'll talk about the bare essentials and foundation of the Greatsword moveset in this section. If you've played a good amount of Greatsword then this shall be familiar to you already, but it should be worthwhile to read as a refresher and for connecting back to with future sections.


Y
Any direction + Y with weapon sheathed (Overhead Slash)
Hold Y (Charged Slash)
Any direction + Hold Y (Charged Slash from sheathe)

When in doubt, Overhead Slash. The Overhead Slash is your basic attack and the Greatsword's equivalent to an "All of the above" answer in a multiple choice exam. You can charge it up to three tiers of increased damage and aim your Greatsword during charging to land a hit on a monster or a specific spot on a monster. While charging you're able to cancel your slash by pressing B to perform a Tackle, an interesting move with purposes we'll discuss later. Poking with the Overhead Slash and resheathing immediately after to reposition until you find a good opening to do combos is a habit you're going to be doing often in your life as a Greatsword user. Remember, it's not retreating; you're just advancing in a different direction and playing cleverly.

Nailing the charge timing is another habit you'll be doing a lot because releasing the button precisely when your hunter and Greatsword are flashing a bright red will grant you more damage. Successfully doing this will cause your Greatsword to make a vibrant red effect and sound. Mistiming and doing a premature or overcharged slash will cause your damage to be the same as the previous tier of charging (EX: Overcharging the third tier will just be the same as if you perfectly charged the second tier).

If you're new to Greatsword, you'll have to figure out the timing by looking at your hunter. Eventually you'll know when to release the button from sound and feeling after a few fights. After playing for a long time, you could even do it from just muscle memory and intuition alone.

(Using this move from sheathe is called Overhead Slash and using it while your Greatsword is drawn is called Charged Slash by the game, but I'll refer to both as Overhead Slash because they're basically the same.)


Y (Overhead Slash) > Any direction + Y
Y (Overhead Slash) > Any direction + Y (Strong Charged Slash) > B (Strong Wide Slash)

Another slash that continues your main combo after the Overhead Slash and has the same mechanics of charging and tackling. The Strong Charged Slash should be used after hitting the monster with your Overhead Slash when it’s still within range and not in the process of moving or attacking to warrant a resheathe. The damage of an uncharged Overhead Slash into Strong Charged Slash is nearly equal to a triple charged Overhead Slash without taking affinity into account. With this knowledge, it’s better to do the two-piece meal if you believe the monster might relocate quickly and hit confirm the uncharged Overhead rather then whiffing the triple charged Overhead altogether.

This attack can be uniquely linked into Strong Wide Slash if you want to squeeze in some extra damage, but I don't recommend it because there are more appetizing alternatives to perform. Most especially appetizing being the extremely exciting move to be discussed below.

Side Note: Apparently some people like to pull the stick back to perform and aim charged slashes. This works, however it seems strange to me because I personally believe pushing the stick forward is easier to aim your slash. Again, either method is fine and this is just food for thought for you to see which method you may prefer when practicing.

Gotta stay ahead to hit a head.


Y (Overhead Slash) > Any direction + Y (Strong Charged Slash) > Any direction + Y

The True Charged Slash. There are many slashes like it, but this one is mine.
The True Charged Slash is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

I still think a name like BFS (Big Family-friendly Slash) or RYNO (Rip Ya a New One) would of been cool, but TCS (True Charged Slash) does fit the bill for a move that's the shining star of your moveset. Its status as the core of your moveset is solidified by one main reason; the ecstasy of those orange numbers. The damage of the True Charged Slash is equivalent to the amount dealt to my heart after I caught my husband wiping my homemade lasagna into the trash bin. What this means is you should be using this move as much as possible to achieve the most optimal damage in a hunt. Although, it's not always possible to land this move safely due to the True Charged Slash being a lengthy two part move that demands prequisite attacks.

Throwing out the True Charged Slash all willy nilly without thinking will leave you as exposed as the midriffs for most of the female armors in this game. You have many methods to make landing the True Charged Slash safe, but for now I'll just display the super normal way of setting it up for simplicity's sake.

Orange numbers so high, it could cause stains in a few boxers or soak a couple of panties.


B while charging any of the above slashes.
A (Roll) > Y (Tackle)
B (Wide Slash) > B (Tackle)

If you thought the strongest and most durable weapon in Monster Hunter: World was the Greatsword, then you thought wrong. The true strongest weapon is your shoulder and some sheer willpower.

While charging any of the above slashes, you can ASSERT DOMINANCE by pressing B to straight up shoulder tackle through a monster's attack. The reason being is the Tackle has superarmor properties, meaning getting hit doesn't flinch or knock you down, but you still take a reduced amount of damage. This is vital since this move is your reverse UNO™ card for whenever a monster roars or attempts to harm you midst charging. The window of effect lasts around a second after tackling. So instead of tackling precisely at the moment of impact, you can tackle a little early and still superarmor through the attack. Keep in mind, this is a double edged greatsword against multi-hitting attacks as instead of being knocked on the ground from one hit of damage; you'll receive every hit and your health bar will be vaporized (EX: Bazelgeuse explosive scales).

Another vital feature of the Tackle is the ability to skip charged slashes and shortcut directly into the True Charged Slash. For a list of ways you could utilize Tackle cancelling to minimize the time needed to get to the True Charged Slash, be sure to check out Section 3.1 later on. Mastering the Tackle is sure to be an invaluable asset for a Greatsword player with a style of much valor.

Extra Tip: Having the health augment attached to your Greatsword is a blessing, thanks to the high damage per hit on slashes. The tackle is affected by the health augment as well, so the regen from a fully charged Tackle and innate damage reduction combines for excellent damage mitigation.

Oh? You're approaching me? Instead of running away, you're coming right to me?


For the sake of saving space and not cluttering up the inputs too much, we're going to abbreviate the essentials for use in future sections.

GS - Greatsword
OS - Overhead Slash
SCS - Strong Charged Slash
TCS - True Charged Slash

"Greatswords are built like a steakhouse, but they handle like a bistro!"

While the Y button is dedicated to the vernacular of your moveset, the B button is binded for use by more utility type slashes. These moves are used for more niche combat situations rather than for damage purposes. It should be worth it to use every single bit of your kit when mastering a weapon.


B
Y (OS) > B
Y + B (Rising Slash) > B and vice versa

Similar to your friend's spouse who is supposedly living in another nation, the Wide Slash doesn't exist. The Wide Slash isn't used at all in the everyday playstyle of GS and is arguably the least useful move in the list because why wouldn't you perform the OS instead? You have the option to create a looping combo with OS or the upcoming Rising Slash, but in the opening that would allow you do so, the TCS is a far better option. Both the Wide Slash and Rising Slash are unsafe, so uniting them will place you in dangerous situations about as often as testosterone and bad decisions do.

The only use I can contemplate for this move is for getting smaller monsters to back off as this move has large horizontal reach instead of vertical. Smaller monsters being those gosh darn Girros that keep paralyzing you on expedition in the Rotten Vale or Ancient Leshen's Jargas minions.


Y + B
Y (OS) > Y + B
Y (OS) > Any direction + Y (SCS) > Y + B

Alright, open your imagination. You're in a tempered Kirin SOS with one faint left and your bow teammate gets struck by a stray lightning bolt; they're instantly paralyzed. Unlike stun, normal attacks can't knock hunters out of paralysis, nevertheless you attempt to use random moves anyway to save them. Eventually you throw out a Rising Slash and before another bolt strikes them on ground, the bow player gets lifted into the air. You rescued the bow player, but unfortunately you carted from the impending lightning bolt causing the quest to fail. You didn't win the hunt, but at least you won that bow player's heart in the end.

The Rising Slash is a move with properties similar to Hammer's 2nd charged swing or Switchaxe's Y+B which means friendlies within range of this slash will be sent flying into the air. This is great for utility because you can save friendlies from sleep or paralysis like above and even create those montage worthy teamwork mount moments. Or you know, grief people in the 60 second post-hunt period.

It's heavily discouraged to use the Rising Slash for offence since it's painfully slow. You'd think this would be a helpful move for those pesky flying wyverns and dragons, but it's atrociously unsafe with how prolonged both the windup and recovery are. You could run back to camp and switch to a Glaive (ew) to swat the wyvern out of the sky faster than a GS could attempt to anti-air with the Rising Slash.

Side Note: The Rising Slash has a strange, yet interesting quirk to it's hurtbox. After swinging forward, it'll swing behind and strike any monsters on your seven o' clock. It's not exactly 180 degrees backwards and is more so diagonally left to those sweet cheeks you've got down below. This is nothing revolutionary, but to experienced Hunting Horn users; this is a familiar technique possibly of value.

Spectral-chan helps demonstrate the value of aerial gymnastics. Thank you Spectral-chan, very cool.


After a Tackle, press B to perform the Jumping Wide Slash.
B (Wide Slash) > B (Tackle) > B

Speaking of safe and unsafe moves, let's jump into discussion about the Jumping Wide Slash. After doing a tackle you could go directly for the TCS, but what if it's too dangerous for you to do at the moment? You could roll out of the way sure, yet where's the damage you gain in doing that? This is where the Jumping Wide Slash comes in handy. It's a much quicker one part attack that causes your hunter to swing themselves forward and land a meaty slash on anything in the way. It costs no stamina and does decent damage, but hold on to your Felynes because that's not all.

Remember when cancelling a charged slash carried a charge over to the tackle? Well, the charge carries over even further from the tackle to the Jumping Wide Slash. It's not fully charged TCS tiers of damage, but equal to uncharged TCS damage which is splendid when you consider the JWS is more safe and places you into a new position right after.

Disappear in your own humiliation and go get a new one at the retail store!

"I am not trapped in here with this monster. This monster is trapped in here with me."

GS is an unstoppable force on the offence, but it can be the immovable object when it needs to be on the defence. Akin to Tackle and JWS, there are other multipurpose moves GS can use for offence or defence.


Y after any Charged or Strong Charged Slash without tilting towards a direction
Y after a Jumping Wide Slash
RT+Y after a Tackle

Nearly a forgotten move due to the lack of damage and most people going ahead to the next charged slash instead, but one with a meaningful purpose nevertheless. The Side Blow is done by pressing Y after an OS or SCS without tilting the stick in any direction. It's quicker then doing a continued slash which is nifty because it allows you to recover faster when the monster is moving away from your attack without having to do a roll.

Another benefit to doing the Booty Slap Side Blow is stamina management. Tackling costs a large amount of stamina and rolling right after adds up to a huge loss in stamina. Side Blow gives your stamina an in between moment to regenerate, giving you the chance to do another roll or run without getting exhausted.


RT
RT + LT + Tilt right stick in any direction (Change direction)

You're aware of the amazing defensive capabilities of the tackle, but whattdya do in those situations where you don't have enough time to setup the tackle or you're in a completely terrible position getting stunlocked by the monster in the corner? The solution is the Block. By holding RT you can do your best Lance roleplay by raising your GS to tank monster attacks.

Be wary as blocking costs stamina and causes chip damage to your health, so blocking with low stamina in reserve is no bueno and certain multi-hitting monster attacks can be a deathwish. Blocking attacks also affects the sharpness of your GS. Depending on how much sharpness you have, one strong monster attack can straight up snatch one bar away; so use this move sparingly. You'll mainly want to save the block for situations where you can't tackle in time or you're waking up from the ground in the middle of a monster's attack (EX: Rathian chicken running attack).

On the other hand, blocking roars and tremors doesn’t consume sharpness since these don’t inflict damage upon you themselves (except for Tigrex & B.Tigrex roars). Again, it’s a backup option to have if you don’t have time to setup the tackle or the tell to dodge the monster’s roar/tremors is concealed. Certain monsters like Vaal Hazak, Deviljho and Xeno/Safi’Jiiva possess lengthy roars that can’t be dodged by the normal roll. This makes the block convenient if you don’t have the Evade Window skill equipped on your armor or Evasion Mantle on standby to increase the iframes of your roll.

Extra Tip: The stun status occurs when you get knocked down by a monster multiple times within a short period. If you've been knocked down twice or thrice and know you're about to be stunned, block and reposition for a breather.

Nice try Donkey Kong. Your okizeme after F-throw is expired bananas now.


RT + Y
RT (Block) > Y

Here's a riddle; what's something that players consider to be a unnecessary part to the game and joke about it's uselessness? If you guessed the Handler, then you're incorrect because the answer was the Kick, but you're technically not wrong I suppose.

People jest about the Kick being a useless meme move, but truth be told this move has practicality despite being the weakest move in the GS arsenal. It's your fastest move considering you don't need to perform a move before it (well block technically, but you get what I mean) plus it has faster windup and recovery then any of your slashes. This lets you whack friendlies out of stun quickly without endangering yourself with an unsafe swing animation. That's not all though, because here's the kicker.

The kick can lead into other moves for you to shortcut into:

RT (Block) > Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle)
Notice the tackle? From this point you can do stuff like...
RT (Block) > Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)
RT (Block) > Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) > B (JWS)

Using RT (Block) > Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) opens the option for you to tackle through roars from a standstill without having to prep a charged slash or hope a monster roars in the middle of your slash charging. The linked tackle after the kick works as a cancelled OS, so combo into anything you desire.

Greatsword users aren't brave, they're just incapable of feeling fear.

"It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Rathalos with a Greatsword on top!"

No aerial raves, helmbreakers and jump cancels to be found here sadly. GS has some techniques to use with aerial attacks despite having a standard kit in the air and that means we gotta put them up in the air for analysis.


Y while in the air.

How to get into the air?

• Jump off a ledge
  
• Run towards a wall you can bounce off
  
• Fall with the Glider Mantle on
  
• Jump while sliding
  
• Get launched by a teammate
  
• Run into a hot air geyser

Oh boy, if you had experience with GS before Iceborne then you know exactly what's the hubbub with the Midair Charged Slash. This is essentially an OS done in the air and as a result, you can charge this slash too for extra damage with a very speedy rate at that. The highlight about this move though, is you can redirect yourself and gain momentum in the air by charging the slash. With this in mind, you can spam this attack by jumping off a ledge and charging yourself back on the ledge up and down again and again like a cowgirl. Very broken technique and had a playstyle of it's own in the base game until the damage was nerfed to sensible levels in Iceborne.

You can still apply this ledge strategy, but it's best kept for quick and easy mounting due to it's current state of damage. Plus aerial circus tricks are better left to Glaives anyways.

Face it straight and give it all your weight! Bounce that chest and do your best!


Y when sliding (Charged Rising Slash) > Y while in the air (Plunging Thrust)
Plunging Thrust can be followed up with Y or B for Strong Wide Slash

Sliding down a slope will let you execute the Charged Rising Slash which is similar to it's normal counterpart in the fact it can launch any friendlies who happens to be in the way to space. It can be charged while you are sliding for more damage. The Charged Rising Slash is followed in the air by the Plunging Thrust; a unique multi-hitting mounting attack. Due to the multi-hitting properties of the Plunging Thrust, you must be very accurate to land this move fully because the hitbox is about as trustworthy as a nun who owns two vibrating toothbrushes.

After the Plunging Thrust, you can lead into the Strong Wide Slash back on the ground and continue with an SCS or Wide Slash as usual. It's worth noting that charging from the Charged Rising Slash will transfer into both the Plunging Thrust and Strong Wide Slash.

While this process is quite the spectacle to look at, I personally prefer to jump while sliding and perform the Midair Charged Slash instead because it's much faster and simple.

"Is that a Greatsword in your pants? Or are you just happy to beat the crap out of Ruiner Nergigante?"

Iceborne has added new moves to every weapon and GS has definitely been gifted some useful ones. Useful to the point that they have smoothly integrated with the newborne GS playstyle.


Y while clutch claw mounted on a monster.

Anyone else think impaling a monster with your GS and slamming it down with your body weight is hardcore and brutal, yet really radical? The Clutch Claw Weapon Attack is used to soften parts of monsters for more damage and thanks to GS being a heavy weapon, only one attack is necessary for softening. GS's Clutch Claw Weapon Attack is more on the slower side compared to other weapons though, so you'll most likely have to wait until the monster is drooling or sacrifice a TCS opening to soften a monster. This is preferable, since your team will appreciate you for the extra damage and you'll be glad when your imminent TCSs deal over one thousand damage.

Multiple readers have sent private message requests about detailing a certain claw mechanic. While I feel it isn't a specific tactic exclusive to GS, I suppose I’ll add it in for completion.

Extra Tip: Upon using the clutch claw on a drooling monster for the first time, the duration the monster is drooling will be reset. This is known as a “clagger” by the community; short for claw stagger. The clagger grants you the insurance to complete GS’s lengthy clutch claw attack even if you claw mount the monster late. If the part you’re attacking is already tenderized then you can abuse this window by dropping down with the Jump/Roll Button and landing a few meaty charged slashes. This isn't solely a GS technique and can be used by any other weapon which means if you’ve got a teammate doing the clagger, you can prep and land a swagger TCS for free.

They are rage, brutal, without mercy. But you. You will be worse. Rip and tear, until it is done.


While performing TCS, if the first hit lands; the next hit will deal extra damage

You'd think Capcom would name this refurbished move "True Charged Slash (Hyper Turbo Remix)" or something exquisite, but I'll accept TCS (Power) as an adequate title. While not really a new move, but a new mechanic, TCS (Power) causes the second hit of TCS to hit harder if you land the first hit before it. This now makes it important to land both hits of TCS, instead of having the first hit being negligible like in the base game. When done successfully, there'll be a violent effect and sound with an obvious bonus to damage. The bonus damage gained helps bring TCS to new heights of orange numbers as it's now capable of reaching over 2000+ on final hit. I'd almost call that nasty, and I've seen squid tentacles with white stuff inside cute women within my lifetime. huh, you've never ordered calamari and tartar sauce to eat at a sorority party?

This newly added feature seems like a total positive and it sure is if you charge TCS fully. However, Iceborne has nerfed the damage of the uncharged and single charged TCS (most likely because of the next move) which suggests TCS (Power) is made to compensate for this loss in damage.


LT after certain slash attacks with slinger ammo in reserve.
Example: Y (OS) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)

Awwww yeah, this is the good stuff. Have you ever had a moment where the monster is wiggling all over the ground and it's head nearly evades your TCS or perhaps you've had an experience where Vaal Hazak's head pulled you into the wrong direction? The Slinger Burst is your one stop easy solution to all those problems. Performing a Slinger Burst lets you shortcut to TCS and it allows the ability to redirect yourself before committing to your attack.

That's right, Slinger Burst is another method of getting to TCS and it's very hasty and safe. You can link into this move from a variety of slashes as long as you possess slinger ammo in reserve and it'll lead into TCS no matter what move you started with. This grants you the gift of choice of two options when the opportunity presents itself. Tackle, if you need to absorb a hit or don't have ammunition and Slinger Burst, if you need to redirect or wish to conserve stamina.

Speaking of lacking ammunition, if you're ever in a situation where you can't find some rocks to Slinger Burst; you could always just start throwing your poop. No really, you can legitimately use Dung Pods as a substitute for slinger ammo to use Slinger Burst for one area monsters. Our evolutionary ancestors were on the ball and knew what they were doing.

Extra Tip: Using a flinching ammo (EX: Piercing Pods, Crystalburst, Thorn Pods, etc.) on a monster that isn't immune can create a small opportunity to land your attack or to save yourself from getting hit in the middle of your combo.

Hehe, and that one was left-handed!

"Three words. 16 letters. Say it, and I'm yours."
"True Charged Slash."

The GS playstyle revolves around getting to the TCS and there are plenty of methods and strategies to doing so. These are probably not all the combinations you can employ, but should be most of the ones you can make use of.

*Any combination designated with an asterisk involves Slinger Burst, an Iceborne exclusive move that requires slinger ammo to utilize.


Y (OS) > Any direction + Y (SCS) > Any direction + Y (TCS)
Replace any of the former two attacks to get quicker combinations like:
Cancelled OS Tackle > Any direction + Y (SCS) > Any direction + Y (TCS)
Y (OS) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)
Cancelled OS Tackle > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)

Ideally if the monster is knocked down or disabled temporarily, you'll want to reposition to a favourable weakpoint. Then from here, you should use a double tackle cancel to shortcut into TCS the fastest before the monster recovers. If you're already in a good position like the head or tail, then using any of the other combinations to incorporate more slashes and charges for more damage is optimal. Maybe even using all three fully charged slashes if you're feeling lucky. In reality, charging is a key factor you'll have to fine-tune yourself for the scenario at hand. An example is deciding between going for the fully charged TCS at the end or simply doing all three uncharged slashes for comparable damage with the insurance of the first two hits landing.

Figuring how to accomplish optimal damage with your BnB combo is made easy by asking yourself mid procedure the good ol’ five Ws + how.

• Who: Who in the team is wounding the monster for more damage or have I wounded the monster before going for full damage? (assuming it isn’t tenderized already)
  
• What: What moves can I string together to land the TCS in time while doing the most damage? Do I need to swap some slashes for tackles in this situation?
  
• When: When is a good time to start setting up the TCS? Is the monster knocked down, under status aliment or trapped? Or maybe it's just being a plain doofus?
  
• Where: Where is the monster in correlation to me? Do I need to close the gap and what part of the monster should I go for? Am I feeling like ravishing the top or bottom today?
  
• How: How much charging should I apply for each slash to maximize damage?
  
• Why: Why am I here? Why am I brutalizing this animal? Why am I wielding this big stick?

This seems like a lot of things to take in and contemplate in the heat of the moment, but whether your brain processing speed is an i3 or i7; you'll have to invest many hours and hunts with a variety of monsters and situations to discover the best solving combinations. Only then shall you be postulating the possibilities on those bad mama jammas with the greatest of ease.


Y (OS) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

Considering this starts off with OS, it's the most used path to Slinger Burst and you'll be using this combo very often in Iceborne. It's close to, if not faster then the double tackle combo in terms of TCS setup speed. Hipfiring from Slinger Burst is also much more quick then aiming and firing your slinger normally. I mentioned in the Slinger Burst section that you're able to use flinching ammo to your advantage, but did you know you could also utilize the slinger's distraction properties?

With the normal slinger, you'd use this to shoot a stone into the center of the special capture arena to trick the monster into the rock trap or perhaps to lure it near a wall for a wall bang. Slinger Burst distracts monsters as well, except to your location instead of where you're aiming. Thus if you're skilled enough, it's feasible to start a hunt by luring the monster with Slinger Burst and then slam it with the chained TCS once it gets near.


A (Roll) > Y (Tackle) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)
A (Roll) > Y (Tackle) > RT+Y (Side Blow) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*
A (Roll) > B (Wide Slash) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

Starting off with a roll is a great way to close the distance when you need to get into range first. You can perform TCS off a roll to save some precious time when the monster is knocked down from a distance or as a counterattack after an evasion. I'd suggest using the Side Blow or Slinger Burst method for counterattacks due to the hefty stamina cost of the roll + double tackle.


B (Wide Slash) > B (Tackle) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)
B (Wide Slash) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*
Y + B (Rising Slash) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*
Y (OS) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > B (JWS) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

I guess if you wanted to use the utility slashes, this is the best method to make purpose from them offensively. OS isn't the only slash with access to Slinger Burst as the move can be done right after Wide Slash and Rising Slash. Most notably and worthwhile though, is being able to do a Slinger Burst immediately after JWS and utilize both the redirection and mobility together, which creates an amazing unison on par with some gin and tonic after a day on the grind for sweet sweet monies.


RT+Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)
RT+Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) > B (JWS) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*
RT+Y (Kick) > Y (Tackle) > RT+Y (Side-Blow) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

Transitioning a kick into a tackle lets you take advantage of a monster's roar to sneak in a TCS. It's wonderful if you're at risk of overshooting the monster's head and need to setup TCS without moving too much. Relating back to the Rolling Start, you could use this for an additional method of counterattacking with TCS. The kick being faster and more neutral in movement than the roll.


Y while in the air (Midair Charged Slash) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

Y when sliding (Charged Rising Slash) > Y while in the air (Plunging Thrust) > Y or B (Strong Wide Slash) > Cancelled SCS Tackle > Any direction + Y (TCS)

Y when sliding (Charged Rising Slash) > Y while in the air (Plunging Thrust) > Y or B (Strong Wide Slash) > B (Wide Slash) > LT (Slinger Burst) > Any direction + Y (TCS)*

Getting to TCS from a slide is a complicated and questionably useful process, but it's there if you need it. Using Slinger Burst after a Midair Charged Slash is superb, as having the high ground makes it quicker and safer then OS in some situations.

Side Note: Why is there no super neato GIFs here for demonstration of these shortcut combinations? The answer is I'd display it for sure if I could, but it's very difficult to balance GIF size+quality while having a duration showcasing the full combo string.

"Set 'em up and I'll knock 'em down!"

You've been in a hunt long enough that the monster is aching all around beat up to a pulp and it just wants to go home and sleep or perhaps one of your teammates have induced it to nap via some wily wily methods. In either scenario there's a technique all GS users should know and learn about and that's the sleepbomb wakeup. If you've played for a while then you're probably aware of the usual routine of placing bombs near sleeping monsters, but did you know the first hit that wakes up a monster deals double damage?

From that, we can conclude the intelligent course of action to take would be to use your strongest attack to wake up the monster. GS's strongest attack without a doubt is the mighty TCS, but how do we land it on a sleeping monster when it requires you to do some prequisite attacks? That's exactly where this five step wikiHow comes in handy.

How to perform a sleepbomb wakeup:


First before anything, you want to get nice and snug with sleeping beauty's head. You'll want to be in a position where none of the other parts of the monster are going to interfere and get hit untimely before your TCS lands on the monster's head. It's important to place yourself in a spot not covered by bombs, so your TCS doesn't detonate any of them before it lands on the monster's head as the explosion will knock you back and wake up the monster early.


Now that you've found a good spot for huggie wuggies, you'll want to straighten yourself and line up in the direction you'll be swinging towards the monster. This is simple as all you need to do is Block (RT) and angle yourself in the direction you want. Make sure you have enough space directly behind you for at least one roll.


With all calibrations calculated and calculations calibrated, it's now time to begin setting up the TCS. Start things off by rolling backwards once straight in the angle you have setup. Exactly only one roll is needed as that is generally the correct range to be around in most situations for you to land the TCS.


After the roll you should be facing away from the monster's head and will now need to turn around to face the monster. This should be enough distance from the monster for you to safely land the final hit on TCS on it's head on flat elevation without obstacles. If you're on a slope you'll have adjust yourself slightly away from the monster and if the monster is elevated on a bump then you'll have to adjust slightly towards it. You're mostly alone with your own judgement with this part, but I believe in you. Just remember it's better to whiff and retry then to overshoot and land the first hit of TCS.

Anyways, we'll now start talking about the next ste- wait the palico there raising your hand in the back row, what's your question?

"mewmewmew... so what if the meowster uses evade extender nya?"

Ah... that's a good question, always gotta have that one smarty in the class. If you're using Evade Extender then your roll will have covered more distance then normal. There's really no surefire way to do a sleepbomb wakeup with Evade Extender, so you'll have to eyeball it and practice the needed adjustment on your own. You'll have to move slightly away from the monster and increase with increments depending on what level of extender you have. It's annoying for sure, but consider it extracurricular work.


It's time. Start off swinging by doing the OS with no charging or tackling then continue with the SCS with again no charging or tackling. Now you can charge your TCS to maximum and completely destroy the monster's head. If you've done everything correctly, then congratulations. You have successfully vandalized the head of something that really just wanted to take a nap in peace.

Honey, I've got your favourite breakfast cereal! Trinitrotoluene!


A lot of GS players have trouble with performing a perfect sleepbomb and myself included can't do it on 100% of hunts due to the many varieties of monsters and terrain. You can come close to 100% consistency with practice of course, but you won't have many opportunities to practice in multiplayer.

I suggest heading to the training area and using the steps above to land final hits on the pole. Inventory is infinite in the training area, so place as many bombs to your heart's content to understand how you should be angling yourself. For more real, but still clandestine testing you should try soloing a lower rank monster quest as you'll be capable of sending the monster into the sleeping phase very quickly. Very useful for figuring out the variables of monsters as their heads and lairs won't always be similar to the training pole.

Eventually your opportunity to shine will come in an actual hunt and you'll have to strut your stuff with confidence. Just with an impatient HR999 Longsword, a Wyvern Fire happy Gunlance and a fellow eager Greatsword in the background watching you. No pressure... teehee~

"The right decoration in the wrong armor can make all the difference in the hunt..."

In terms of builds, GS has the ease of creation of a lock in a sock with all the lethality included. I assume you most likely already know the standard armor skills like Attack Boost, Health Boost, Critical Eye, Weakness Exploit, and etc. from tinkering around in the item box or from reading build guides. While it's natural to squeeze out as much damage as possible in your build, it's important to remember that corpses do zero DPS. Thus the skills I'll be talking about here will be utility/survival skills applicable particularly to GS and slotted in more for comfort and your personal preference.

I'll list these recommended skills in order of usefulness:

If you've felt like you could of landed that TCS if you were just slightly faster then Focus is a must-have. It's on equal terms with your essential damage skills because landing your attacks in the first place is important to your DPS. I highly approve of getting this skill maxed out to level 3 since the speed increase to your charged slashes is a more then noticeable benefit. However, if you're having trouble squeezing it in your build, then at least level 2 would be enough for a satisfying increase.

Flinch-free stops certain monster movements and attacks from tripping you, but more importantly it stops your teammates from tripping you with their attacks. A mandatory skill in multiplayer for most weapons, except doubly so for GS because you'll need to land your TCS uninterrupted with all these Longswords, Dual Blades and Insect Glaives frolicking around. If you're playing solo, then this skill is not required.

GS is woefully one of the few melee weapons that doesn't have a built-in move with Mind's Eye. Mind's Eye is a boon against armored monsters such as Barroth, Radobaan/Uragaan, Lavasioth, or monsters with temporary armor like Kirin/Rajang. It doesn't remove the damage reduction when hitting armored parts, but stops your GS from bouncing off and leaving you open for an attack.

A nice bonus skill pre-Iceborne due to bundling as a freebie with Drachen and the absurdity of vanilla Aerial GS. It's fair to hypothesize Airborne wouldn't be worthwhile after the nerf to Aerial GS in Iceborne, however Iceborne has granted a buff of +10% to +30% aerial damage to Airborne. The increased bonus regains most of Aerial GS's lost damage, if not reverses it. All for the small cost of a level 2 decoration slot which is a great value for some occasional ledge hopping or quick mounts.

You'll most likely be tight on level 2 slots and be unable to fit Airborne due to fitting Focus, Critical Boost and Weakness Exploit all together. It'd be smart to slap it on a Glider Mantle (easy mounts galore) or any other hoodie and then wear it when fighting in a ledge or slope area.

Did you know the block of the GS counts as a shield? This means it's affected by the Guard and Guard Up skills, with the former being mediocre and the latter being very handy for some monsters. The Guard Up skill allows you to block certain unblockable attacks like...

• Teostra's Supernova
  
• Deviljho's Pin
  
• Vaal Hazak's Fart Beam
  
• Xeno/Safi'Jiiva's Laser Beam
  
• Velkhana's Ice Beam
  
• Really any laser beam type attack and many more attacks you can find out for yourself.

GS is not quite mobile enough to get out of range of these attacks all the time and Guard Up can block these attacks quickly, letting you resume your offence. Then again, you could simply tackle through most of these attacks if you're up to the challenge.

GS users will most likely be lurking around the head or tail and generating lots of damage for part breaks. Partbreaker assists in the process and is superb for when you're trying to sever the tail for the purpose of making the fight easier and receiving another carve. Not mandatory in standard quests, except I'd vouch for slotting Partbreaker in at any level for the Guiding Lands or Siege Quests like Kulve Taroth and Safi'Jiiva.

Not a crazy skill to have in the base game, but it's a great contender in Iceborne for that last empty level 1 slot you may have in your build. Slinger Capacity increases the amount of ammo you pick up and that means more chances to use Slinger Burst! This makes it less of a nuisance to Flinch Shot a monster into the wall because instead of losing all your ammo after, you'll still have some rocks to do some fast TCSs on the knocked down monster.

Level 1 increases the ammo you pick up on the ground only (EX: Stone, Redpit and Crystals)
However if you desire more of the exotic ammo dropped by monsters (EX: Bomb, Thorn and Piercing Pods), you can add more levels to increase the amount you obtain from monsters.

Decent skill, but not always needed thanks to GS's low sharpness consumption. You just need enough Handicraft to pass white or purple sharpness (assuming you don't have it on your weapon) and/or run Master's Touch to play through a phase or even an entire quest comfortably. For defensive purposes, it might be useful to add more if you want to have more sharpness in reserve for blocking.

Now that we have the more descriptive and complex skills out of the way, I'll speedrun through the other skills that are of interest.

Health augments on GS give great regen and Recovery Up 3 turns it into amazing regen. Possible to even just keep recklessly attacking and never chug potions at Level 3.

Extender is optional for GS, but very nice to have against wide reaching attacks like Teostra's tail sweep. Level 2 is the sweetspot in my personal experiences with Hunting Horn and Switchaxe.

People be sleeping on Speed Eating. Being able to chug faster or instantaneously with a weapon that sheaths often? Succulent.

One of my wishes is that Capcom will add Speed Eating Secret for one frame consumptions.

A holy relic from an older era, but this ain't the skill 4U to have on GS in World. Crit Draw has some value with OS hit and run playstyles, however it's not really worth it due to most of our damage coming from TCS. (Frostcraft is a can of worms to talk about, but I have to mention that even serious FC builds don't use Crit Draw and focus on squeezing TCS with a full bar.)

I don't appreciate the "git gud" and roll through it argument against Earplugs, but for GS I can only recommend it to new players struggling to find openings for TCS. Experienced players can simply tackle or block roars and avoid the hefty investment needed of Earplugs.

It's true we sheath a lot and can make lots of use of this skill, but the benefit is very minor. It's not something you want to slot in and is best kept as a nice bonus skill from an armor piece.

As an additional bonus supplement to the guide, here's a self-created video with subtitles showcasing my thought process and what I'm pondering during a standard Fatalis hunt. While the main focus is to help hunters viewing my Fatalis guide, it's a little tailored to Greatsword and you should be capable of using the video for an insightful perspective. I hope it'll be of valuable assistance in your future Greatsword hunts and grant you some new insights to think about.

Finally, we've arrived to the resolution of the guide. This is all the knowledge about GS I can teach you and like I said back in the beginning of the guide. I hope you've learnt at least a new technique or two about the Greatsword for that'll fulfill some sort of warm spot in my heart. If you've found success with this guide and it's not too much to ask, could you rate up this guide? I don't know if I'm worthy of your approval, but it would sure help me out and the people who are out there searching for assistance with using the Greatsword.

For those who are still not satisfied with your performance after reading the guide or feel all of this is a bit overwhelming, I recommend taking a modular approach in practicing the techniques. What I mean by modular is practicing one or two moves at a time to your fullest mastery, rather then trying to use all these techniques at once. Your playstyle with GS is going be bare bones at first, but once you start attaching these techniques one at a time, it'll all click together and you'll reach that skill level of ultra instinct.

And with that thoughtful advice, how about you head out there to slash some monsters for the satisfaction of constant improvement and for bigger and better monster booty? Before we wrap up the guide let's send off with special thanks to me, myself and I, but most importantly one other person. Who you ask?

You, of course!


Your life ends 30 minutes from now. (Artist: Boo Rad13y)