By Jake Buchalter
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Monster Hunter Rise
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The Charge Blade in Monster Hunter Rise is known as the most complicated weapon the game (or really any Monster Hunter game) has to offer for a reason. With mechanics like Charging Phials, Overcharging Phials, Charging the Shield, Guard Points, Amped Elemental Discharge, switching between the Sword and Axe modes, and of course the Super Amped Elemental Discharge, it's no wonder people get overwhelmed trying to learn this thing. And that's not even including all the other complex mechanics these games tend to have.
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And, with Monster Hunter Now in early access, which is the closest MH fans have to a 'cozy' entry, Monster Hunter is back in the news cycle once again in the hopes that maybe something like MHW2 is on the horizon. So, for all the people who stuck with the Charge Blade and made it to the endgame of Monster Hunter Rise, here are some of the best endgame builds.
Updated October 1st, 2023 by Jacob Buchalter: While Monster Hunter Now is a decent enough filler to hold MH fans over until the next mainline release, it'll only hold them for so long. Monster Hunter Rise hasn't had any new content in months (as expected), so fans are just eagerly waiting for any news related to the next game's development. That said, Title Update 5 still did add quite a bit of content to MHR, and players have still been picking away at it all this time. So, for those who are just getting into Rise or for those who have stayed faithful to it all this time, here are some of the most optimal Charge Blade builds for the current state of the game.
Three Primary Charge Blade Builds
Technically the Charge Blade has over 6+ 'meta' endgame builds (can't say there isn't enough build variety) if all the element variants are included such as the Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, and Dragon Builds. But, those are all just slightly altered variations of the Elemental SAED build, which alongside two others, are the best endgame builds currently in the game:
Build Name | Build Explanation |
---|---|
Elemental SAED | This is the most meta build for the Charge Blade in MHR currently, and it's centered around using different Elements and Elemental Weakspots (which vary from monster to monster) to deal as much damage per SAEDs. |
Condensed Spinning Slash | The play style is for people who like the pizza cutter-esque Savage Axe version of the CB's Axe Form. Excels in just about everything the SAED Build doesn't such as crit damage, Status Effect application, and so on. |
Impact SAED | This would be the standard Charge Blade build in any other MH game and the Elemental Builds would typically be the niche ones. However, Rise (and Sunbreak especially) really changed things up for Elemental CB builds. Still, Impact SAED builds specialize in consistent and reliable damage, have a ton of KO potential with Impact Phials, and players won't need to make a build for each Element, target specific areas (other than the head), or focus Elemental weak spots. |
All that said, these build outlines are usually targeted toward players past MHR's endgame and are basically just farming Anamoly Hunts and Anamoly Research Requests. But, if players manage to get everything built, roll a fantastic Talisman, and happen to get even better Augment rolls, here are all the Active Skills they should aim to have active for each build:
Elemental SAED | Condensed Spinning Slash | Impact SAED |
---|---|---|
Guard | Guard | Guard |
Guard Up | Guard Up | Guard Up |
Load Shells | Load Shells | Load Shells |
Rapid Morph | Rapid Morph | Rapid Morph |
Flinch Free | Flinch Free | Flinch Free |
Furious | Weakness Exploit | Artillery |
Element Exploit | Critical Boost | Focus |
Resentment | Wirebug Whisperer | Resentment |
Burst | Burst | Resuscitate |
Dereliction | Wind Mantle | Dereliction |
Dragon Conversion | Powder Mantle | Artillery |
Fire/Water/Thunder/Ice/Dragon Resistance | Intrepid Heart | Intrepid Heart |
Fire/Water/Thunder/Ice/Dragon Attack | Spiribird's Call | Dragonheart |
Narwa, Teostra, or Kushala Blessing | Recovery Up | N/A |
Stamina Surge | Stun Resistance | N/A |
Latent Power | Latent Power | N/A |
Attack Boost | Attack Boost | N/A |
Critical Eye | Critical Eye | N/A |
N/A | N/A | N/A |
Charge Blade Priority Skills & Weapon Options
Now, between these three builds, the Skills players are going to want to prioritize will change depending on what they prefer or what meshes the most with their playstyle. Some like to have Evade Extender instead of relying too heavily on Guard Points, while others swear by the Defiance Skill (especially given how prominent it is in the Title Update 5 armor sets). But, in general, the Skills listed below are important in just about every CB build:
Skill Name | Explanation |
---|---|
Load Shells | Basically just makes it way easier to charge vials. However, if a player is confident in their Counter Peak Performance timing then they don't necessarily need this. |
Rapid Morph | At Level 3 this Skill makes switching between the CB's Sword and Axe form 30 percent faster, which will have a gigantic impact overall. |
Guard | In the post-endgame content, Guard is almost mandatory for players using Charge Blade to block some attacks and survive or keep their Guard up. |
Guard Up | Same reasoning as Guard, but helps players take less damage from the big attacks they do manage to block. |
Focus | Probably the least mandatory Skill on here given that Title Updates 4 and 5 made keeping the CB charged even easier. Still very handy to have. |
That should cover all the basics, so let's start going over the individual builds players have discovered across Sunbreak's lifespan.
Elemental SAED Skills & Weapons
As far as weapons and skills go for the standard Elemental SAED build, it's all about what Skills or Weapon combinations can reach the highest Element damage numbers. Title Update 4 introduced Risen Crimson Glow Valstrax whose armor has a skill called Dragon Conversion, and this played a large part in changing the 'meta' build for this play style. Meanwhile, Title Update 5 introduced the Heaven-Sent Skill as part of the Amatsu set which allowed CB users to go in even harder. Below are the Skills players will want to have active when possible as well as their choices for most 'optimal' weapons to use:
Skill Name | Minimum Levels Equipped | Reasoning | |
---|---|---|---|
Dragon Conversion | 3/3 | Turns every 4 points of Elemental Resistance into +1 Elemental damage with whatever weapon the player currently has equipped. | |
Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, & Dragon Resistance | 3/3 | Works in combination with Dragon Conversion to get Elemental damage even higher. | |
Guard | 4/5 | Should probably have at least Guard 4 if not Guard 5. Doing so makes it so most attacks can be Guard Point'ed and players won't have that long recovering animation after blocking. | |
Guard Up | 2/3 | It makes unguardable moves more guardable, players will be getting used to blocking over avoiding attacks and this makes Guarding almost always the safer option anyway. | |
Load Shells | 2/2 | Mandatory on any CB Build since Lvl 2 Load Shells mean players have full vials when they're yellow instead of red. | |
Furious | 3/3 | While equipped player gets extra Defenses on Red Scroll, at Max Rank +30 Defense that gets added into Dragon Conversion for Elemental damage. | |
Element Exploit | 1/3 | Huge boost in Elemental damage and should always be equipped when possible | |
Resentment | 1/3 | Only worth using if running Dereliction as well, is a pretty sizeable buff to all non-Elemental damage. | |
Rapid Morph | 3/3 | Some say it's only necessary for convenience, others say it's mandatory, either way having it reduces all transition animation time from Sword to Axe mode, vice versa, and the AED/SAED animations as well. | |
Burst | 1/3 | CB, even without Spinning Slash, deals a lot of hits in a short span of time, which means Burst is often active. When active it increases both regular and Elemental attacks. | |
Elder Dragon Blessing (Narwa, Teostra, Kushala) | 2/4 & Stormsoul 3/5 | The blessing equipped highly depends on what Element Build that player is currently running. Stormsoul for Thunder, Teostra Blessing for Fire, and Kushala Blessing for both Water and Ice. | |
Shock Absorber | 1/1 | This Skill replaced Flinch Free after Title Update 5 and has since made multiplayer so much more fun overall thanks to friends not being able to interrupt each other's attacks. | |
Heaven-Sent | 3/3 | If possible, try and get either 1 or 3 points in Heaven-Sent, as it just makes hunts overall a bit safer and more streamlined when active. | |
Weapon(s) | |||
Weapon Name | Weapon Element | Weapon Tree | Phial Type |
Crawling Crusher | Fire | Rakna-Kadaki Tree | Element |
Armordraad | Water | Vaik Tree | Element |
Flicker Blizzard Wail | Ice | Auroracanth Tree | Element |
Asylum Pearl | Thunder | Narwa Tree | Element |
Crimson Mechwing | Dragon | Valstrax Tree | Element |
Condensed Spinning Slash Skills & Weapons
As previously mentioned, there are a lot of Skills that players using either a SAED or CSS build will tend to use. However, CSS Builds focus more on Critical Chance, Critical Damage, and overall Attack Damage Skills than the SAED builds do. There's one key reason for this, Phial Explosions can't critically hit so of course SAED builds don't care about crit-based stats. But the Savage Axe sure can, and because it spins like a chainsaw this weapon is one of the highest multi-hitting options in the game.
Because the Savage Axe is a beast in terms of multi-hit potential, it's also a fantastic build for the different Status Effects in Rise such as Poison, Paralysis, and Blast. However, a Raw Damage weapon also works equally as well with this playstyle for massive DPS.
Skill Name | Minimum Levels Equipped | Reasoning | |
---|---|---|---|
Guard | 4/5 | Should probably have at least Guard 4 if not Guard 5. Doing so makes it so most attacks can be Guard Point'ed and players won't have that long recovering animation after blocking. | |
Guard Up | 2/3 | It makes unguardable moves more guardable, players will be getting used to blocking over avoiding attacks and this makes Guarding almost always the safer option anyway. | |
Load Shells | 2/2 | Mandatory on any CB Build since Lvl 2 Load Shells mean players have full vials when they're yellow instead of red. | |
Rapid Morph | 3/3 | Some say it's only necessary for convenience, others say it's mandatory, either way having it reduces all transition animation time from Sword to Axe mode, vice versa, and the AED/SAED animations as well. | |
Attack Boost | 7/7 | Because Savage Axe hits so often, any flat buffs to Attack damage have massive benefits. | |
Weakness Exploit | 1/3 | As long as players are attacking weak spots often, they'll find themselves critting a lot more with this active. Again, a huge benefit for multi-hitting attacks. | |
Critical Boost | 1/3 | Improves crit damage by 30 to 40 percent at Max Rank, and this build crits quite a lot. | |
Critical Eye | 3/7 | Additional Affinity equals more crits overall. | |
Burst | 1/3 | Leaps and bounds better on this build than the other two since the constant multi-hits from Savage Axe will constantly have this active. | |
Wind Mantle | 1/3 | Regardless of the Switch Skills used, whether it's Ready Stance or Counter Peak Performance, players will be using Silkbind Attacks a lot. So this will keep Wirebug charges active more often. | |
Powder Mantle | 1/3 | Basically adds the Blast status effect to any build, as long as players build up the charge completely without getting hit. There's also no downside for getting hit outside of charge level resetting, despite what the Skill description says. | |
Intrepid Heart | 1/2 | Every 68 hits players get 75 percent damage resistance on the next attack that hits them (if at Rank 2). Plus, that same attack will also ignore damage reactions, which means Savage Axe mode is interrupted less. | |
Shock Absorber | 1/1 | This Skill replaced Flinch Free after Title Update 5 and has since made multiplayer so much more fun overall thanks to friends not being able to interrupt each other's attacks. | |
Heaven-Sent | 3/3 | If possible, try and get either 1 or 3 points in Heaven-Sent, as it just makes hunts overall a bit safer and more streamlined when active. | |
Best Weapon Options | |||
Weapon Name | Weapon Element | Weapon Tree | Phial Type |
Royal Order Battleaxe+ | Raw | Royal Order Tree | Impact |
Vengeful Broadfeller | Blast | Scorned Magna Tree | Impact |
Vortax+ | Paralysis | Volvidon Tree | Impact |
Luna Eostre | Poison | Gold Rathian Tree | Impact |
Impact SAED Skills & Weapon
Then there are the Impact SAED build Skills and weapon choices. To reiterate, this Impact SAED build doesn't hit quite the same damage numbers as either the Elemental or CSS builds above. But, it's consistent in damage overall and is great at constantly causing the monster to flinch or get KO'd.
Plus, players don't need to worry about setting up a different build for each Element or looking up monster weaknesses before each hunt, so it's by far the most 'streamlined' option. Still, it is lacking in the damage department so the meta endgame build relies heavily on Dereliction to fill in that gap:
Skill Name | Minimum Levels Equipped | Reasoning | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Dereliction | 3/3 | Only CB build that uses Blue Scroll on this Skill. A massive bonus to Attack and Stun. | ||
Resentment | 5/5 | With Dereliction, Resentment is always active which means a flat +25 Attack when combined. | ||
Resuscitate | 3/3 | 'Abnormal Status' is a deceptive description, Resuscitate is triggered by basically any negative status effect, including Dereliction and Dragonheart. | ||
Artillery | 3/3 | Gives Phials a 30 percent damage buff for each Phial Explosion. | ||
Dragonheart | 2/5 | Obviously, this build doesn't care about Elemental damage, so the Dragonblight from this Skill doesn't matter. Additionally, it gives huge Elemental Resistances when active. | ||
Load Shells | 2/2 | Mandatory on any CB Build since Lvl 2 Load Shells mean players have full vials when they're yellow instead of red. | ||
Rapid Morph | 3/3 | Some say it's only necessary for convenience, others say it's mandatory, either way having it reduces all transition animation time from Sword to Axe mode, vice versa, and the AED/SAED animations as well. | ||
Guard Up | 2/3 | It makes unguardable moves more guardable, players will be getting used to blocking over avoiding attacks and this makes Guarding almost always the safer option anyway. | ||
Guard | 4/5 | Should probably have at least Guard 4 if not Guard 5. Doing so makes it so most attacks can be Guard Point'ed and players won't have that long recovering animation after blocking. | ||
Focus | 2/3 | Makes it easier to get to Yellow Phial charge in fewer attacks. | ||
Intrepid Heart | 2/2 | Every 68 hits players get 75 percent damage resistance on the next attack that hits them (if at Rank 2). Plus, that same attack will also ignore damage reactions, which means Savage Axe mode is interrupted less. | ||
Shock Absorber | 1/1 | This Skill replaced Flinch Free after Title Update 5 and has since made multiplayer so much more fun overall thanks to friends not being able to interrupt each other's attacks. | ||
Best Weapon Option | ||||
Weapon Name | Weapon Element | Weapon Tree | Phial Type | |
Grand Gordlock | Raw | Garangolm Tree | Impact |
Mixed Armor Set Reccomendations
For the next aspect of each build, let's go over what armor sets to mix and match. Players will quickly notice that the Element and Impact SAED armor recommendations have a similar blueprint, while the CSS build is pretty unique. While this is true, that doesn't mean both sets will have the same Skills active at the end, as Decorations play a large part in separating these two.
Elemental SAED Mixed Sets
- Set Builder Images were made by using GameCat's Armorset Builder
The Elemental SAED mixed set makes complete use of the Risen Valstrax Armor introduced in Title Update 4 (Sadly Title 5's sets didn't have quite as big of an impact as CB players hoped), as the Dragon Conversion Skill on this set is crucial for getting Elemental Phial Explosions to overpowered levels of damage. Stack that already ridiculous DPS on top of the bonuses gained from Dereliction, Furious, and Resentment, and it's clear to see how these builds can reach 1000+ damage per Phial Explosion.
Armor Type | Armor Name | Important Skills |
---|---|---|
Head | Valstrax Helm - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Latent Power x2 Attack Boost x1 |
Chest | Valstrax Mail - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Dragon Resistance x3 Attack Boost x1 |
Arms | Archfiend Armor Epine | Dereliction x2 Resentment x1 |
Waist | Valstrax Coil - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Stamina Surge x3 Attack Boost x1 |
Boots | Archfiend Armor Sceros | Dereliction x1 Resentment x1 |
The Safer Elemental SAED Build Option
There is an alternate loadout for this build, as the lack of resistances from Dragon Conversion and constant HP Drain from Dereliction makes any hit pretty lethal. So, for a safer build that doesn't lose much damage and has less of a chance for players to suffer the 'embarrassment' of carting, there's:
Armor Type | Armor Name | Important Skills |
---|---|---|
Head | Valstrax Helm - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Latent Power x2 Attack Boost x1 |
Chest | Valstrax Mail - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Dragon Resistance x3 Attack Boost x1 |
Arms | Divine Ire Kote | Furious x1 Critical Eye x2 |
Waist | Valstrax Coil - Epoch | Dragon Conversion x1 Stamina Surge x3 Attack Boost x1 |
Boots | Divine Ire Hakama | Furious x1 Evade Extender x2 |
Condensed Spinning Slash (CSS) Mixed Sets
- Set Builder Images were made by using GameCat's Armorset Builder
The next mixed set utilizes a lot of different skills to achieve the optimal play style for the pizza cutter, such as:
- Wind Mantle: to have Ready Stance or Counter Peak Performance up as often as possible.
- Kushala Blessing Rank 3: to partially counteract the HP Drain of Dereliction.
- Powder Mantle: to capitalize on the multi-hit potential of the Savage Axe.
- Dragonheart: to give a general boost to Resistances since CSS builds don't worry about Elemental damage.
Other than those Skills, the other ones on the armor pieces below might look out of place, but they absolutely help out, and the Decoration Slots on these Armor Pieces do a lot of the heavy lifting as well:
Armor Type | Armor Name | Important Skills |
---|---|---|
Head | Risen Kushala Glare | Wind Mantle x1 Wirebug Whisperer x3 |
Chest | Risen Kaiser Mail | Powder Mantle x1 Weakness Exploit x1 Critical Eye x3 |
Arms | Valstrax Braces - Epoch | Critical Boost x2 Latent Power x2 Attack Boost x1 |
Waist | Risen Kushala Cocoon | Kushala Blessing x2 Attack Boost x2 Recovery Up x3 |
Boots | Valstrax Greaves - Epoch | Critical Boost x1 Stun Resistance x3 Attack Boost x2 |
Impact SAED Mixed Sets
- Set Builder Images were made by using GameCat's Armorset Builder
And for the Impact SAED mixed set, the reasoning behind it is simple. Archfiend Head, Arms, and Greaves for Dereliction and Resentment, Valstrax Chest and Waist for Dragonheart. Players are going to have Dragonheart active constantly as well as the HP Drain from Dereliction, which will in turn keep Resentment and Resuscitate constantly active for maximum damage output.
Armor Type | Armor Name | Important Skills |
---|---|---|
Head | Archfiend Armor Cerato | Weakness Exploit x1 Resentment x2 |
Chest | Valstrax Mail - Eclipse | Dragonheart x1 Resuscitate x2 |
Arms | Archfiend Armor Epine | Dereliction x2 Resentment x1 |
Waist | Valstrax Coil - Eclipse | Dragonheart x1 Resuscitate x1 Resentment x2 |
Boots | Archfiend Armor Sceros | Dereliction x1 Resentment x1 |
Augment Skills To Look For In Quiro Armor Crafting
And for the final aspect of Charge Blade builds in Rise, let's talk about Qurio Augments. Players should absolutely not feel that they have to roll their Augments until they get the 'exact skills' listed below, as that's incredibly tedious and no fun. Instead, while rolling for fun or for quality-of-life skills such as Defiance or Recovery Up, try and also keep these Skills in mind for each build:
Augment Skill | Reasoning |
---|---|
Elemental SAED Build | |
Strife | The longer a player's red health, the more benefits this gives. Not enough benefit to warrant putting into regular build over other Skills |
Furious | By far the best thing to get on any Augment for this build. At Max Rank Furious gives bonus Defenses which give more Elemental damage from Dragon Conversion |
Condensed Spinning Slash Build | |
Razor Sharp | Spinning Axe burns through Sharpness, so this is just convenient. |
Weakness Exploit | More Weakness Exploit can't hurt, it's only ever a benefit. |
Burst | Burst, previously known as Chain Crit by the way, is only worth running at Rank 1 or Max Rank, and Max Rank benefits are pretty noticeable. |
Impact SAED Build | |
Attack Boost | Raw Damage build takes any flat bonuses to Attack it can find. |
Rapid Morph | The build, sadly, doesn't have much room for Rapid Morph, so getting it in an Augment Skill is nice. |
Burst | Burst is only worth running at Rank 1 or Max Rank, and Max Rank benefits are pretty noticeable. |
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Monster Hunter Rise
- Franchise
- Monster Hunter
- Platform(s)
- Switch , PC , PS5 , PS4 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S , Xbox One
- Released
- March 26, 2021
- Developer(s)
- Capcom
- Games
- Monster Hunter Rise
- Monster Hunter
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