We’re back again with another top 7! But, this time, Great Swords are on the chopping block! 

From the elegant long sword to the fluid insect glaive, many weapons in Monster Hunter bring a sense of finesse to every hunt. Instead, the Great Sword brings a sense of finality to your quests, ensuring that whatever you hit stays down. Its simplistic moveset makes it easy to pick up and play, but it comes with enough nuance that knowing exactly what Great Sword to use and how will elevate your hunting experience.

To help with that, here are the 7 best Great Swords in Iceborne throughout all stages of play!

1. Acid Shredder II

Fitting that the first sword on this list comes from the monster with a giant sword for a tail.

Well known throughout Great Sword mains as the monster of Iceborne’s early endgame, the Acid Shredder II is crafted from the parts of the mighty Acidic Glavenus. It combined a very respectable 1392 raw with neutral affinity, a 4th level Decoration slot, and access to the Non-Elemental Boost skill.

Despite being the strongest theoretically, it was also well known for being temperamental and difficult to maintain at its peak: it only has blue sharpness, requires considerable Handicraft investment to bump it up to even a few hits of purple, and then needs additional skills like Protective Polish (taking time out of the hunt to sharpen) or Master’s Touch (requiring 100% affinity) to manage.

However, despite its shortcomings, this was still the best Great Sword to use at the beginning of the endgame cycle, and it still holds up as a very solid choice post-Fatalis.

Weapon Highlights:

• The highest achievable damage in the base game, with 1392 raw, a 5% damage bonus from Non-Elemental Boost, and a 39% increase from purple sharpness.
• While Handicraft is almost required, the 4th level Decoration Slot that comes with this weapon makes it easy to slot in.
• The skills used to maintain sharpness are either easy to slot in or recommended for the highest damage anyway, so the Acid Shredder II fits well into existing builds.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Acid+Shredder+II

2. Immovable Dharma

A powerful sword for a powerful foe - just watch out for its vibrations!

The final story boss’ Great Sword, the Immovable Dharma, was the layman’s alternative to the Acid Shredder II: perfect for those who want a comfier hunting experience, for those who don’t have the time or patience to farm every decoration and armour piece required, and for those who don’t want to spend the entire hunt managing sharpness.

It is still powerful, with 1344 raw and access to Non-Elemental Boost, and its neutral affinity makes it relatively easy to bring it up to 100% for Master’s Touch with skills like Critical Eye and the Iceborne-buffed Weakness Exploit. On top of that, it has a huge helping of white sharpness, which can be increased to a decent amount of purple with Handicraft, so it suffers none of the heavy restrictions of the Acid Shredder, allowing for a much more comfortable hunt where the only thing you need to focus on is hitting the monster as hard as possible.

Weapon Highlights:

• Sufficient damage puts it almost on par with the Acid Shredder II.
• Very high sharpness makes Handicraft a luxury, instead of a necessity.
• Access to the 540 Dragon element and high Elderseal makes the Immovable Dharma a potential prospect for Free Element, changing up your play style.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Immovable+Dharma

3. Safi’s Shattersplitter

Safi'Jiiva's elemental superiority extends even to greatswords, where elements and statuses are weakest.

It took more than three months for a weapon to dethrone the Acid Shredder II, but that weapon finally came with the introduction of Safi’Jiiva. Safi’s nine Great Swords all share the same base stats - 1296 raw, 5% affinity, solid white sharpness, and a 4th level Decoration slot - but the Safi’s Shattersplitter is the prime specimen of the nine, because of its access to 300 Blast, arguably the strongest status in the game for pure damage (especially for Great Sword).

However, the Shattersplitter’s true strength comes from its customisability. As a Safi weapon, it has the ability to awaken new powers: from affinity boosts to element and status increases to even extending the weapon’s base sharpness, allowing you to build it exactly how you want it. For Great Swords, however, the only necessary awakening is Attack - with maximum attack awakenings and augments, the Safi Shattersplitter can reach a whopping 1586 base raw, before skills like Non-Elemental Boost and Attack Boost.

Weapon Highlights:

• The most powerful available Great Sword upon its release, replacing the Acid Shredder II.
• Incredible customisability with a 4th level Decoration slot, great sharpness, and the Safi awakening system.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Safi's+Shattersplitter

4. Lightbreak Blade

What's better than a giant sword? A giant sword that makes explosions!

Just as the Immovable Dharma was the casual gamer’s alternative to the powerhouse that was the Acid Shredder II, the Lightbreak Blade is the casual gamer’s alternative to the Safi’s Shattersplitter. Cutting in just shy of the Shattersplitter’s sheer raw, the Lightbreak Blade makes up for it with an additional 3rd level Decoration Slot and even more Blast. 

It is also easier to get: the materials are gathered in the usual manner (by killing monsters and carving their skin) rather than the painfully unreliable RNG Safi’Jiiva hunt. It also comes with 20 hits of natural purple sharpness, meaning that Handicraft is less necessary, allowing for more customisation space.

Weapon Highlights:

• Almost as powerful as the Safi’s Shattersplitter, with much less of the RNG investment and even stronger Blast.
• A 4th and 3rd level Decoration Slot, combined with no Handicraft requirement, allows for comfier skills like Evasion Up and Fortify.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Lightbreak+Blade

5. Glacial Demon

Forged from the mighty Frostfang Barioth, this greatsword infuses your hits with chilling ice.

While the Great Sword is a particularly simple weapon within Monster Hunter, it is by no means one-note: besides the builds that hunt for those massive numbers, there are also some niche strategies that can work extremely well.

One great example of this is the Draw Great Sword build: running the Frostcraft set bonus of Velkhana and the Punishing Draw set bonus from Frostfang Barioth on top of the Critical Draw skill. This allows you to run around with your weapon sheathed, waiting for that single moment to take advantage, hitting once for a massive amount, and immediately sheathing again to keep yourself out of harm’s way.

The Glacial Demon Great Sword works well as a Crit Draw Great Sword, because of its solid raw (1296), sliver of purple sharpness, and a chunk of white sharpness. It also has 15% natural affinity, making it a good option for follow-up hits if the monster is open. It really shines against Alatreon - the massive Ice element provides tangible benefits against Alatreon’s Fire and Dragon forms, and the Crit Draw format works fantastically against its massive but predictable attacks.

Weapon Highlights:

• The Glacial Demon has excellent base raw and natural affinity, along with an Ice element big enough that even the Great Sword can benefit from it.
• A Crit Draw build makes this weapon one of the best Great Swords available against the elemental might of Alatreon.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Glacial+Demon

6. Alatreon Revolution

This greatsword is wreathed in the gorgeous white-purple flames of the Blazing Black Dragon, Alatreon.

The last Great Sword in this list has to be the Alatreon Revolution, an elemental Great Sword that absolutely tears through Elder Dragons. With a very high base raw of 1344, neutral affinity, and an absolutely atmospheric 810 Dragon element, this weapon makes minced meat out of Elder Dragons like Alatreon and Fatalis, who are very weak to Dragon.

The Alatreon Revolution is also a very comfortable weapon; with two 2nd level Decoration Slots for customisability and a whopping 90 hits with purple sharpness, you won’t have to worry about running out of slots, and you’ll never need to sharpen in a hunt again, leaving more time for whacking monsters in the face.

Weapon Highlights:

• One of the comfiest Great Swords in the game, allowing you to breeze through hunts.
• Still incredibly powerful, especially against the two biggest threats in the game.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Alatreon+Revolution

7. Black Fatalis Blade

10,813 damage in one hit???

The most powerful Great Sword fittingly comes from the most powerful monster: Fatalis. The numbers this weapon can reach are absolutely astounding, hitting 1680 raw after augments. This massive raw damage was what allowed the theory crafters at Team Darkside to break the 5-digit damage barrier, managing to deal 10813 damage in one hit.

The Black Fatalis Blade can be used in a number of ways: you could max out attack augments; you could max out attack augments; or, if you really want to spice things up, you could maybe even max out attack augments. Jokes aside, the BFB needs little more than pure attack, but mixing the Health Regen augment with Maximum Might ensures you are always at maximum health because of your massive damage - and therefore always benefitting from the damage boost of Maximum Might.

The Fatalis Blade’s only weakness is its -30% affinity. However, with the full Fatalis armour set, you have fifteen 4th level Decoration Slots, along with the two additional 4th level Slots on the sword itself - you can fit in full Critical Eye, full Weakness Exploit, full Agitator, and full Attack Boost, and still have space for Handicraft or other comfort skills.

Weapon Highlights:

• 10,000 damage in one hit. Need I say more?
• It comes with natural purple and enough slots to increase that with Handicraft.
• The 180 Dragon element is almost nothing compared to the raw of this weapon, but more damage is more damage, and the High Elderseal helps against Elder Dragons.

Weapon Details: https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Black+Fatalis+Blade

And with that, we reach the end of our Great Swords in MHW: Iceborne that wreck hard! Hopefully, you learned something now, and hopefully, this has inspired you to farm for one of these powerful weapons!

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