6/28/22: Page created
6/30/22: Added 2 progression builds (Early and Late Master Rank)
7/2/22: Added 2 progression builds (Postgame MR6+ and MR30+)
7/3/22: Added recommended rampage decos
7/4/22: Added first wave of endgame builds (2 general purpose impact, 1 spinning axe, 5 element)
7/8/22: Added non-dereliction spinning axe build, best endgame charge blades section
7/12/22: Added Elemental SAED Dereliction and "Double Suicide" builds. Changed Dragon SAED build to use Valstrax weapon
8/13/22: Updated builds for patch 11.0.1
10/1/22: Updated builds for patch 12.0.0.0 (TU2). Added Impact Elemental charge blade recommendations.
11/26/22: Updated builds for patch 13.0.0.0 (TU3). Details below:
Q: How do you unlock Knight Squire armor?
A: Complete Fiorayne's follower quest M★2 Flicker in the Night.
Q: How do you unlock Hoplite/Heavy Knight armor?
A: Complete Arena Master Arlow's follower quest M★4 Unknown Invader.
Q: What to augment on armor? (Qurious crafting system)
A: The armor augment system is too difficult to aim for specific skills for, so I won't include them in the builds here. For general advice, try upgrading level 2 or 3 slots to level 4 slots, upgrading level 1 slots to level 2 slots, or getting points of skills that can free up decoration slots.
Q: Some of these decorations aren't available until Anomaly Research level 100+ (i.e level 4 element attack)! What can I make in the meantime?
A: Please check the previous versions of those builds under Previous Revisions to see what they used before those decorations were added.
Defense Master (Level 3)
Prevents sharpness loss on guarding; restore sharpness by 1 instead.
Kushala Daora Soul (Level 3)
Increase affinity by 5% for 3 seconds when landing a hit. Upgrades to 15% after landing 5 hits without expiring.
Elembane (Level 3)
Increase damage by 15% when exploiting an enemy's elemental weakness. Affects hitzones with elemental value greater than 25, and works on phial damage. Only use for power element phial charge blades. Note that for some monsters, this decoration is not very impactful as they may only have elemental hitzone value over 25 on a small part of their body, meaning most SAED phials will not benefit.
Narwa Soul (Level 2)
Increase affinity by 5% for each piece of Ibushi armor equipped (10% for the Narwa/Ibushi mixed set).
Valstrax Soul (Level 2)
Increase base Dragon element value by 20% when affected by dragonblight (from Valstrax armor).
Brutal Strike (Level 2)
When affinity is negative, gives a 25% chance to negatively crit for +50% damage instead of -25%. Only use if using a weapon with high negative affinity (Final boss or Diablos) and no affinity skills.
Anti-Aquatic/Anti-Aerial/Anti-Dragon/Fanged Exploit (Level 2)
Boosts damage vs a specific monster type by 5%, including phial damage.
Defense Edge (Level 1)
Prevents sharpness loss on guarding.
Weapon
Barroth Guardian
(Barroth tree)
Switch Skills
Anything works
Skills
Guard 5
Offensive Guard 1
Attack Boost 3
Artillery 2
Load Shells 2
Critical Eye 2
Defense Boost 3
Flinch Free 1
Armor
Barroth X
Hermitaur X
Rhenoplos X
Chainmail X
Ingot X
Notes
Upgrade to Garangolm's weapon after unlocking it.
Weapon
Golm Heart+
(Garangolm tree)
Switch Skills
Anything works
Skills
Guard 3
Guard Up 3
Artillery 3
Razor Sharp 3
Load Shells 2
Offensive Guard 2
Quick Sheathe 2
Weakness Exploit 1
Critical Boost 1
Armor
Hoplite
Hoplite
Hoplite
Knight Squire
Hoplite
Weapon
Abyssal Splitter
(Final boss tree)
Switch Skills
Anything works
Skills
Agitator 5
Guard 5
Razor Sharp 3
Guard Up 3
Artillery 3
Load Shells 2
Armor
Bazelgeuse X
Bazelgeuse X
Bazelgeuse X
Bazelgeuse X
Bazelgeuse X
Notes
Bazelgeuse armor is quite similar to Hoplite so switching is optional. If you don't want to farm a Bazelgeuse mantle for gloves, Diablos X gloves are a good alternative.
Weapon
Abyssal Splitter
(Final boss tree)
Switch Skills
Anything works
Skills
Guard 5
Thunder Alignment 5
Stormsoul 5
Wind Alignment 4
Guard Up 3
Offensive Guard 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Slugger 3
Artillery 3
Partbreaker 3
Flinch Free 3
Rapid Morph 3
Load Shells 2
Agitator 2
Good Luck 1
Armor
Narwa
Ibushi
Narwa
Narwa
Ibushi
Decorations
Tenderizer x3
Magazine x2
Challenger x2
Talisman
2-2-0
Notes
An easy-to-make comfy farming build with Narwa/Ibushi giving almost all required skills plus quality-of-life skills like Slugger, Partbreaker, and Guard Up.
These are not ranked in order.
Impact Phial (All-Purpose)
Pure Axe Omonshiro (Violet Mizutsune tree)
Friede/Desastre (Chaotic Gore Magala tree)*
Impact Phial (Fire)
Flamlion Blade (Rathalos tree)
Impact Phial (Ice)
Daora's Worldbearer (Kushala Daora tree)
Gluttonous Glacier (Lunagaron tree)
Impact Phial (Water)
Divine Fieldblade+ (Mizutsune tree)
Impact Phial (Thunder)
Thunderclap Otenta+ (Tobi-Kadachi tree)
Impact Phial (Dragon)
Skull Edge (Aelucanth tree)
Friede/Desastre (Chaotic Gore Magala tree)*
Element Phial (Fire)
Crawling Crusher (Rakna-Kadaki tree)
Element Phial (Ice)
Flicker Blizzard Wail (Auroracanth tree)
Element Phial (Water)
Armordraad (Vaik tree)
Element Phial (Thunder)
Asylum Peal (Narwa tree)
Element Phial (Dragon)
Crimson Mechwing (Valstrax tree)
*Chaotic Gore Magala weapons should only be used with Bloodlust, otherwise they will be capped at 70% positive affinity.
Weapon
Abyssal Splitter
(Final boss tree)
Augment
Attack 4
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Attack Boost 4
Agitator 4
Artillery 3
Offensive Guard 3
Flinch Free 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Rapid Morph 3
Razor Sharp 3
Defiance 3
Load Shells 2
Guard Up 1
Handicraft 1
Armor
Lucent Nargacuga
Risen Kushala
Barroth X
Bazelgeuse X
Violet Mizutsune
Decorations
Artillery+ x1
Artillery x1
Challenger x1
Ironwall+ x2
Shield x1
Tenderizer x1
Cornerstone x3
Talisman
Rapid Morph 3
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, etc.
Weapon
Friede/Desastre
(Chaotic Gore Magala tree)
Augment
Attack 4
or
Attack 2
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Attack Boost 7
Agitator 5
Guard 5
Wirebug Whisperer 3
Razor Sharp 3
Defiance 3
Critical Boost 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Embolden 2
Wind Mantle 1
Stamina Surge 1
Adrenaline Rush 1
Bloodlust 1
Burst 1
Armor
Risen Kushala
Risen Kushala
Violet Mizutsune
Violet Mizutsune
Shagaru Magala
Decorations
Attack x3
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Critical x3
Ironwall+ x2
Ironwall x1
Tenderizer x3
Talisman
Attack 2, 2-0-0
Notes
Embolden helps Ready Stance block almost everything with minimum knockback, allowing you to stay in Axe mode.
Improvements
Add Guard Up or Blood Rite (Bloodening jewel) as needed. Personally, I like Evade Extender too.
Weapon
Friede/Desastre
(Chaotic Gore Magala tree)
Augment
Attack 4
or
Attack 2
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Resentment 5
Guard 5
Attack Boost 4
Wirebug Whisperer 3
Razor Sharp 3
Agitator 3
Defiance 3
Critical Boost 3
Wind Mantle 1
Burst 1
Berserk 1*
Bloodlust 1
Embolden 1
Adrenaline Rush 1
Dereliction 1
Armor
Risen Kushala
Risen Kushala
Chaotic Gore Magala
Violet Mizutsune
Archfiend
Decorations
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Critical x3
Furor x1
Ironwall+ x2
Ironwall x1
Razor x1
Tenderizer x3
Talisman
Attack 2, 2-0-0
Notes
This comes with Berserk 1 which activates on the Blue Switch Scroll, which is also where Dereliction gives the attack boost. You should use a Chaotic Gore Magala arm piece with Berserk removed via Qurio Augment for this set.
Improvements
Add Guard Up or Blood Rite (Bloodening jewel) as needed. Personally, I like Evade Extender too.
Weapon
Friede/Desastre
(Chaotic Gore Magala tree)
Augment
Attack 4
or
Attack 2
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Attack Boost 5
Resentment 5
Wirebug Whisperer 3
Razor Sharp 3
Coalescence 3
Defiance 3
Critical Boost 3
Stun Resistance 3
Weakness Exploit 2
Berserk 2
Bloodlust 2
Wind Mantle 1
Burst 1
Strife 1
Armor
Risen Kushala
Risen Kushala
Chaotic Gore Magala
Chaotic Gore Magala
Chaotic Gore Magala
Decorations
Attack x1
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Critical x3
Razor x1
Tenderizer x2
Talisman
Attack 2, 2-0-0
Notes
A very fun set for farming afflicted monsters (and Malzeno). Berserk on the Blue Switch Scroll makes you take no damage from monster attacks, but causes your health to drain, speeding up after taking damage from monsters. Air Dash can be spammed in Spinning Axe mode to deal lots of damage, super-armoring through monster attacks that give you Bloodblight, which lets you sustain through the health loss from Berserk.
Improvements
Add Blood Rite (Bloodening jewel) as needed. Personally, I like Evade Extender too.
Weapon
Elemental Impact CB
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
[Element] Attack 5
Agitator 5
Guard 5
Razor Sharp 3
Wirebug Whisperer 3
Critical Eye 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Critical Boost 3
Defiance 3
Embolden 2
Resentment 1
Strife 1
Wind Mantle 1
Stamina Surge 1
Adrenaline Rush 1
Dereliction 1
Burst 1
Armor
Risen Kushala
Chaotic Gore Magala
Violet Mizutsune
Violet Mizutsune
Archfiend
Decorations
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Critical x1
Hard [Element] x1
[Element]+ x1
Expert x1
Razor x3
Ironwall+ x2
Ironwall x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
Weakness Exploit 2, 2-0-0
Notes
See Best Endgame Charge Blades section for weapon recommendations. Impact Phial is recommended over Element because the spinning axe playstyle greatly benefits from KOs. If using a Fire, Ice, or Water weapon, use Flamescale/Ironshell (level 1) decos instead of Defiance.
Improvements
Add Guard Up or Blood Rite as needed. With a good talisman, add points of Resentment, Attack, Critical Eye, etc.
Weapon
Asylum Peal
(Narwa tree)
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Thunder Attack 5
Thunder Alignment 3
Rapid Morph 3
Stormsoul 3
Burst 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Load Shells 2
Element Exploit 1
Critical Element 1
Wind Alignment 1
Offensive Guard 1
Partbreaker 1
Wind Mantle 1
Armor
Narwa
Silver Sol
Narwa
Narwa
Risen Kushala
Decorations
Hard Bolt+ x1
Bolt x1
Chain x2
Ironwall+ x1
Ironwall x1
Magazine+ x1
Quickswitch+ x1
Talisman
Weakness Exploit 2, 2-0-0
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Offensive Guard, Attack Boost, Agitator, Razor Sharp, etc.
Weapon
Crimson Mechwing
(Valstrax tree)
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Dragon Attack 5
Stormsoul 4
Thunder Alignment 3
Wind Alignment 3
Rapid Morph 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Burst 3
Load Shells 2
Offensive Guard 2
Partbreaker 2
Guard Up 2
Flinch Free 2
Element Exploit 1
Armor
Narwa
Ibushi
Narwa
Archfiend
Ibushi
Decorations
Dragon+ x2
Dragon x1
Element Exploit x1
Ironwall+ x1
Magazine+ x1
Quickswitch x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
2-2-0
Notes
Draquila Reaver+ (Dragon tree) is usable for this build (and craftable much earlier) but I think Valstrax wins by a bit if using an anti-type rampage deco.
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Offensive Guard, Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Agitator, etc.
Weapon
Flicker Blizzard Wail
(Auroracanth tree)
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Ice Attack 5
Burst 3
Razor Sharp 3
Flinch Free 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Offensive Guard 3
Defiance 3
Element Exploit 3
Rapid Morph 3
Stun Resistance 2
Kushala Blessing 2
Attack Boost 2
Load Shells 2
Wind Mantle 1
Agitator 1
Armor
Astalos
Risen Kushala
Risen Kushala
Bazelgeuse X
Violet Mizutsune
Decorations
Hard Frost+ x1
Frost x1
Challenger x1
Cornerstone x3
Element Exploit x3
Guardian x1
Ironwall+ x2
Quickswitch+ x1
Quickswitch x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
3-2-0
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, etc.
Weapon
Armordraad
(Vaik tree)
Augment
Element 6
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Water Attack 5
Burst 3
Agitator 3
Flinch Free 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Offensive Guard 3
Rapid Morph 3
Defiance 3
Element Exploit 3
Razor Sharp 3
Kushala Blessing 2
Attack Boost 2
Load Shells 2
Handicraft 1
Wind Mantle 1
Armor
Lucent Nargacuga
Risen Kushala
Risen Kushala
Bazelgeuse X
Violet Mizutsune
Decorations
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Element Exploit x3
Guardian x1
Hard Stream+ x1
Stream x1
Ironwall+ x2
Quickswitch+ x1
Quickswitch x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
2-2-0
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, etc.
Weapon
Crawling Crusher
(Rakna tree)
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
Fire Attack 5
Burst 3
Agitator 3
Flinch Free 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Offensive Guard 3
Rapid Morph 3
Defiance 3
Element Exploit 3
Razor Sharp 3
Teostra Blessing 2
Load Shells 2
Handicraft 1
Wind Mantle 1
Critical Element 1
Armor
Lucent Nargacuga
Silver Sol
Risen Kushala
Bazelgeuse X
Violet Mizutsune
Decorations
Blaze+ x1
Chain x1
Cornerstone x3
Element Exploit x2
Flamescale x2
Guardian x1
Ironwall+ x2
Quickswitch+ x1
Quickswitch x1
Razor+ x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
2-2-0
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, etc.
Weapon
Any
Augment
Element 6
or
Element 4
Rampage Slot 1
Switch Skills
Skills
Guard 5
[Element] Attack 5
Dereliction 3
Weakness Exploit 3
Burst 3
Defiance 3
Rapid Morph 3
Coalescence 2
Resentment 2
Load Shells 2
Bloodlust 1
Element Exploit 1
Critical Element 1
Razor Sharp 1
Blood Rite 1
Armor
Shagaru Magala
Silver Sol
Archfiend
Bazelgeuse X
Archfiend
Decorations
Bloodening x1
Chain x3
Cornerstone x3
Hard [Element]+ x1
[Element]+ x1
Ironwall+ x2
Quickswitch+ x1
Quickswitch x1
Tenderizer x1
Talisman
Weakness Exploit, 2-0-0
Notes
This set uses both of the HP-draining skills Dereliction and Bloodlust (with Coalescence) to maximize elemental damage. If using a Fire, Ice, or Water weapon, use Flamescale/Ironshell (level 1) decos instead of Defiance.
Improvements
With a good talisman, add points of Agitator, Offensive Guard, Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Razor Sharp, etc.