Monster Hunter World - The Best Skills to Equip
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monster hunter world
There are more than 50+ unique skills in Monster Hunter World, each one enhancing various weapon types and play styles. In this detailed guide, I'm highlighting the best skills that you should equip and explaining which weapons benefit the most from particular skills.
Before we begin, let's start with a quick recap on skills in Monster Hunter World (MHW).
As you may know, skills are attached to armour and charms. They come in various forms and with varying levels - the higher the skill level the greater the benefits. Roughly half of the skills are designed to enhance general gameplay, e.g. Speed Eating, whilst the other half are designed specifically to improve weapon performance, e.g. Focus.
Buying, crafting and upgrading armour is the only way to collect new skills and also improve the level of existing skills. In order to benefit from a particular skill, the player must equip the particular item that possesses that skill. The UI screens will tell you the accumulation of all skills across your portfolio of equipped armour and charms.
There is no need to activate skills in the game; it's a simple case of switching out a particular armour piece or charm to make way for another piece with an alternate skill that you would prefer to benefit from. Note, certain armour "sets" provide set bonus skills which are only available when all pieces of the armour set are worn. These are usually high tier skills with great rewards for those who invest the time in completing an entire set.
Now let's take a look at some of the best skills in the game, starting with the very best skills overall. These will come in handy for practically any player. Further down you'll see skills that are designed to benefit particular weapon types.
Note: Not all of the skills are known yet. The list below will be updated as new skills are discovered and assessed.
Best Skills Overall
Sharpness / Handicraft - sharpness is easily one of the best skills in the game. It immediately increases the sharpness colour of your weapon which drastically increase your damage output since the sharpness multiplier is so dominant. See the sharpness guide for more information on why sharpness is so important.
Critical Eye - increases your Affinity value, which in turn increases the chance of landing critical hits during attacks. Critical hits are vastly stronger to regular hits so having the chance to land more of these is always going to be good.
Attack-Boost - increases the raw damage of your weapons, the most fundamental attack value for your weapons. Having more attack power obviously means dealing more damage, successfully killing more monsters and doing so in quicker time.
Evade Extender / Evade Window - evading attacks is a fundamental tactic in the Monster Hunter series. The Evade Extender and Evade Window skills are designed to improve your evde distance and invulnerability period respectively. It's a particular important skill for players who use weapons with no block (shield) such as Long Sword, Bow etc.
Weapon Specific Skills
Each of the 14 weapon types in Monster Hunter World benefit from their own collection of skills. The sections below highlight the particular skills that play into the hands of each of the weapon types.
Bow
- Focus - charged shots charge faster, allowing you to dish out more powerful damage in faster time.
- Special Ammo Boost - increases the power of Dragon Piecer ammo which is already an overpowered choice anyway so why not make it even better.
- Evade Window / Extender - the bow has no shield and requires quick movement and evasion.
Charge Blade (CB)
- Artillery - improves Impact Phial attacks that cause explosive damage.
- Guard - the Charge Blade has a good block maneuver so equipping the Guard skill helps to reduces knockback and reduce guarding stamina depletion.
- Razor Sharp - during axe mode the Charge Blade will consume Sharpness at a rapid rate. Equip Razor Sharp to slow the sharpness depletion.
Dual Blades (DB)
- Speed Sharpening / Razor Sharp - Dual Blades are well known for stripping your sharpness in a matter of minutes, especially if you frequently use the Demon Mode special attacks. Give yourself quicker sharpening or reduced sharpness consumption respectively with these two skills.
- Element Attack - like the SnS, Dual Blades use a lot of elemental damage.
- Stamina Surge / Constitution - speeds up your stamina recharge rate and reduces stamina depletion respectively. Together these skills provide more opportunities to engage in Demon Mode.
- Status Attack - if you're opting for a status Dual Blade then the Status Attack skill will help boost your attack level.
Greatsword (GS)
- Focus - increases the charge rate for weapons with charge attacks. Since the Greatsword has a slow but powerful charge attack, the Focus skill is a great compliment to deal those really big hits more often.
- Quick Sheath - speeds up weapon sheathing, the process of withdrawing your weapon. The Greatsword has a rather slow sheath animation which leaves you open to attack.
Gunlance
- Artillery - strengthens explosives attacks for the Gunlance. A no brainer skill for the Gunlance really.
- Sharpness / Razor Sharp - the Gunlance is another weapon that strips your Sharpness levels very quickly. Opt for Sharpness for an increased sharpness level or Razor Sharp to prevent sharpness depletion.
- Quick sheath - the Gunlance sheath animation is slow, opt for Quick Sheath to eliminate this issue and buy yourself valuable time when trying to withdraw your weapon.
Hammer
- Evade Window / Extender - the Hammer is arguably the slowest weapon in the game and with no shield you're going to need a lot of evade skills. Opt for either or both of these to give yourself the edge when fighting.
- Sharpness - it might sound strange but the Hammer does benefit from the Sharpness skill too. Notching up a sharpness colour can seriously increase your Hammers damage output.
Heavy Bowgun (HBG)
- Special Ammo Boost - increases the power of Bowgun special ammo. A no brainer for Bowgun players.
- Evade Window / Extender - if you're going solo with the Bowgun then evading is essential. For multiplayer you could neglect these skills and take the risk by staying out of range of monster attacks or relying on the Bowguns shield.
Hunting Horn (HH)
- Horn Maestro - increases the duration of Horn buffs (melodies). This skill is tailor made ONLY for the Horn weapon so grab it if you can
- Evade Window / Extender - the Horn has no block maneuver and swings like a hammer, therefore the Evade skills are a must.
- Sharpness - again, the Sharpness skill actually benefits the Horn weapon as well.
Insect Glaive (IG)
- Sharpness / Razor Sharp - the Glaive is a fast hitting weapon and hence it consumes Sharpness quickly. Notch up the Sharpness with the Sharpness skill or go for Razor Sharp to reduce the depletion rate.
- Evade Window / Extender - you know the story by now: no shield, needs evade
- Mount Master - the Glaive is perfectly designed for ariel attacks and mounting. The Mount Master skill makes it even easier to complete those mounts.
Lance
- Sharpness - the Lance hits a lot and therefore suffers from fairly fast Sharpness depletion.
- Guard - reduces knockbacks and stamina depletion when you're guarding. The Lance is one of the better weapons for blocking monster attacks so opt for the Guard skill to improve your effectiveness in this area.
Light Bowgun (LBG)
- Element Attack - increases the LBG's elemental attacks.
- Status Attack - increases the LBG's status attacks
- Evade Window / Extender - the LBG has no shield so Evade skills are necessary for survival.
- Bonus Shot - provides one extra shot while rapid firing.
Long Sword (LS)
- Focus - helps to refill the spirit gauge faster, leading to high powered attacks more often.
- Sharpness - you'll eat through sharpness with the Long Sword so having either the Sharpness or Razor Sharp skill is wise.
- Evade Window / Extender - there is no shield option with the Long Sword so an improvement to evade speed and effectiveness is important to counteract this weakness.
Switch Axe (SA)
- Evade Window / Extender - with no shield, evade skills will certainly improve your survivability.
Sword and Shield (SnS)
- Evade Window / Extender - even though you have a shield it's very weak, meaning that evade is still an important strategy.
- Speed Sharpening - speeds up your weapon sharpening when using a whetstone. For prolonged battles, you'll find yourself sharpening on a regular basis with SnS.
- Element Attack - increases your element attack power. Like Dual Blades, the SnS uses a lot of elemental damage.
- Status Attack - increases the speed of status buildup. Use this skill if you're going for a status SnS.
Note: This list may be updated with new skills once discovered and assessed.