10 Best Beginner Weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds

One of the most important aspects of Monster Hunter Wilds is your weapon. While Monster Hunter Wilds allows players to carry two weapons with them on a hunt, mastering even one weapon can be difficult. Veterans will feel at home with the weapons, as most have returned and only have slight tweaks. Newcomers to the series may have issues adjusting to Monster Hunter Wilds’ gameplay and how each weapon performs. Picking a weapon you are comfortable with is important, so it’s best to practice with each of them. That said, some weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds are easier to pick up and use than others.

Every weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds is viable and can be used from the beginning of the game to the end. Some have higher difficulty curves, whether this means learning combos, mastering mechanics, or balancing playstyles. Here are the ten best weapons to use if you are new to Monster Hunter.

Sword and Shield

Sword and Shield is without a doubt the most beginner-friendly weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds. It offers great mobility which can counteract the slow and precise that many new players consider clunky. Its combos are also fast and easy to use, though there is a high skill ceiling for mastering these. Fortunately, the Sword and Shield are effective at all skill levels. The Sword and Shield also offers stun and severing attacks, giving you more options in combat.

Another feature beginners will appreciate is that the Sword and Shield can guard. Many weapons do not allow guarding, forcing players to rely on dodging. Additionally, players are normally required to sheath their weapons to use items. The Sword and Shield does not have this restriction, allowing for the use of items while your weapon is drawn. The Sword and Shield are the perfect weapons for newcomers, with many advantages the only major downside being its short range.

Great Sword

The Great Sword is the go-to weapon for beginners who like to hit hard. It offers some of the highest damage in Monster Hunter Wilds in terms of raw power. To offset the high damage, the Great Sword does have low mobility and slow attack animations with long wind-ups. However, the lack of mobility means the Great Sword is capable of guarding. This lets players block monster attacks or dodge them.

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Aside from its slowness, a drawback of the Great Sword is it requires precise attack times to fully master it. This leads to a hit-and-run strategy where you bide your time for the right time to attack. The Great Sword is capable of countering monster attacks and causing them to stagger. This lets you take advantage of their stunned stat to land powerful blows. Practicing the Great Sword’s timing is crucial, but well worth it in the end.

Lance

The Lance is designed for players who enjoy being tanky, so beginners who want to be more defensive should start with the Lance. Like the Great Sword and Heavy Bowgun, the Lance lacks mobility, but it more than offsets this with a defensive focus. It blends its offense and defense, allowing you to attack while guarding. This means it does have low damage outputs. However, its simple combos and ability to negate damage mean you can continuously attack, dealing damage over time.

While the Lance is easy to pick up, it is hard to master due to needing to learn guard timings. This is its biggest drawback, as it requires learning monster attack patterns and timings to be most effective. In the beginning, you’ll do just fine without learning these monster patterns, but it should be something you prioritize as you progress to fully master Monster Hunter Wilds’ Lance.

Light Bowgun

For newcomers who prefer to fight at range, the Light Bowgun is one of the best options. It has a great range and offers high mobility at the cost of guarding. Aside from its range, one of the main appeals of using the Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun, is its various ammo types. Monsters typically have weaknesses, and using the proper ammo type allows you to capitalize on this weakness. The flexibility this provides makes it easy to adapt to different monsters.

The main downsides of the Light Bowgun are its ammo management and lack of guarding. The high mobility and distance make up for this, giving players an easy time dodging attacks. Ammo management consists of crafting the proper ammo for a hunt and switching between it during battle. This is a skill many players can learn, but it may be challenging at first. Fortunately, once you master ammo management the Light Bowgun makes you a rapid-firing mobile nightmare.

Heavy Bowgun

The Heavy Bowgun shares many similarities with the Light Bowgun. The main difference is its mobility and fire rate. As the name implies, the Heavy Bowgun lacks the mobility of the Light Bowgun but gives players the ability to guard in addition to dodging, This gives two options for defense. Aside from that, it shares many of the pros and cons of its lighter and more mobile counterpart.

The ammo management and lack of mobility are the downsides of this weapon. Like the Light Bowgun, mastering ammo management takes time, but is key to mastering this weapon. Getting used to the slower movement and fire rate may also take some adjustment, but time will get players used to this.

Long Sword

The Long Sword strikes a nice balance between the Great Sword and Sword and Shield. It is beginner-friendly due to its simple combos and good damage output. It has a good range and offers decent mobility. It does lack the ability to guard, meaning you need to be precise with your dodges. Monster Hunter Wilds has added numerous features to the Long Sword, making it feel the best it ever has in the series.

While the Long Sword is good for beginners, mastering it will take time. Learning when to use attacks and properly countering, as well as managing the Spirit Gauge can be overwhelming. Early on you can get by just swinging the Long Sword, but mastering it requires learning these mechanics. You’ll need to memorize monster patterns and combo routes, but doing so will make the Long Sword incredibly deadly in your hands.

Dual Blades

The Dual Blades are another excellent choice for newcomers thanks to their high mobility. These weapons have some of the best mobility in the game, which can help with evading monster attacks and moving into location better. The attacks are swift but do suffer from a short range. However, the high DPS allows you to shred monsters when you do close in for your attacks.

One aspect newcomers may have issues with is managing the Demon Gauge. This allows players to perform moves in Demon or Archdemon mode, giving a dodge between combos and making the weapons more mobile. Another drawback is the high stamina usage, but this can be offset by managing stamina or using stamina recovery items. The Dual Blades offer players fast and flashy combat with hard-hitting combos.

Bow

The Bow is a classic weapon and another option for beginners who prefer to fight at range. It lacks the ammo management that Light Bowguns and Heavy Bowguns do but has coatings that can increase the effectiveness of your shots. Fortunately, you do not have to manage these, as coatings are assigned depending on what Bow you have equipped. It does mean you lose some flexibility compared to the Bowguns with their different ammo types.

The Bow is a mobile ranged weapon with various types of attacks. It is versatile in it can be used at any range, but feels best at mid-range. Your reticle informs you when you are at Critical Distance, where you deal the most damage. Combining this knowledge with the Bow’s various attacks will let you dance around the battlefield firing arrows from any location. As a result of its mobility and charging, the Bow does require stamina management, but this can be offset with items.

Hammer

The Hammer is another heavy-duty weapon in Monster Hunter Wild that is fairly easy to pick up. It has good mobility despite the size and weight of the hammer and doesn’t sacrifice damage output. It can also deliver stuns easily, giving you more time to wail on monsters. At the beginning level, you can get by just swinging the hammer, but mastering it requires learning to use offset attacks.

As stated above, offset attacks are the major drawback to the Hammer. While the hammer can deal absurd amounts of damage, you’ll need to learn how to use and master this feature. Offset attacks allow you to punish monsters and deal massive damage. This mechanic can be difficult to master as it requires precise timing, positioning, and learning monster patterns.

Gunlance

The Gunlance probably falls at the highest entry barrier for newcomer weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds, but it serves as a great intermediary and introduction to the more complicated weapons. It can loosely be called similar to the Lance, as it shares a similar defensive capability that lets you attack while guarding. This means players can dodge and guard, and even counterattack while guarding.

However, it features a gauge management system that makes it a bit more complicated. In addition, the different shelling types add further complication. This means it has a high learning curve to be effective, but it can be very deadly once you have fully learned the Gunlance. That said, players will enjoy its defensive and offensive capabilities once they have mastered them.