[Top 5] MHW Best Hunting Horn

Updated:

11 Mar 2020

The Hunting Horn has the reputation of being a support only weapon, but being a corner dooter doesn’t have to be your fate.

If you have dreams of being a War Bard then you’ve come to the right place. Hunting Horns can deal damage with the right set up, and the weapons and builds here can help you find the balance between being a literal instrument of death, and being a hospital jukebox that should be worshipped like a god by all of your ungrateful patients.

Here are the top 5 Hunting Horns.

Disclaimer: Safi weapons are not included in this list since they will be addressed in a separate article. If you want to use a Safi weapon, you can replace the Hunting Horn here with the Safi equivalent.

5. Sforzando III

MHWI: Hunting Horn Build - Fountain of Life (1800+ATK, 1000+DEF, 200 HP, with IMMORTAL TEAM)

This build is made around the idea of survival, but the Sforzando III is great since you can build it fairly early and most of the forging costs are just minerals you mine. It has a spot on this list just because this build can make sure you don’t cart, and it can do a little bit of both beating and song playing.

What's Great About Sforzando III

Easy and fast to make.
Pretty basic song list, but it has most of what you need.
It’s a good generalist Hunting Horn.

Sforzando III Stats

Rarity: 11
Sharpness:
- 60 hits of white sharpness
- 50 hits of blue sharpness
Raw Damage: 1092 (363 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 0%
Element: (360 Paralysis)
Slots:
- 2x Level 1
Song List:
- Attack Up (L)
- Health Boost (L)
- Defense Up (L)
- Wind Pressure Negated

4. Bazel Valdi Rooksearer

Monster Hunter World | Bazelreid Rookslayer (Hunting Horn) - Weapon Guide

This Hunting Horn comes with Blast element and pretty solid damage behind it. Bazel’s Hunting Horn shines best in Peak Performance builds where you can keep you and your teammates’ health in top shape. You can also augment away its negative affinity so the weapon has almost no drawbacks compared to every other blast Hunting Horn.

A build I recommend with this weapon would look like this:

This set will take advantage of high affinity and Master's Touch, which will help you lessen the number of times you have to sharpen in a hunt. Handicraft 4 and Peak Performance are also built into this set to help maximize your damage as well.

What's Great About Bazel Valdi Rooksearer

Best blast in the Hunting Horn family.
Great song list for team support and solo hunts.
Its sharpness can be on the bad side, but that’s nothing a Master’s Touch/Handicraft 4 build can’t fix.

Bazel Valdi Rooksearer Stats

Rarity: 12
Sharpness:
- Handicraft 4: 40 hits of purple sharpness, 20 hits of white sharpness
- 20 hits of white sharpness
- 50 hits of blue sharpness
Raw Damage: 1092 (353 Effective Raw) (372.69 Effective Raw with Handicraft 4)
Affinity: -10%
Element: 300 Blast (10 Effective Status)
Slots:
- 2x Level 3
Song List:
- Attack Up (L)
- Health Rec (S)
- Recovery Speed (L)
- Impact Echo Wave

3. Laguna Drum II

[MHW Iceborne] Silver Rathalos Solo - Hunting Horn 3'31" | リオレウス希少種狩猟笛ソロ

Most elemental Hunting Horns can probably be in this spot, but the Laguna Drum II is here since it can deal impressive water damage and has Attack up (Large), which we need for maximum damage.

If you’re looking for a support build, then you should probably find another Horn since the Laguna Drum will be there for any of your soloing or damage heavy adventures.

What's Great About Laguna Drum II

Lots of water Elemental damage.
Pretty decent sharpness.
It has the one song we care about for maximum damage.
While its song list can leave a little to be desired, this horn still has niche uses against opponents like Silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian.

Laguna Drum II Stats

Rarity: 10
Sharpness:
- 60 hits of white sharpness
- 50 hits of blue sharpness
Raw Damage: 1008 (336.6 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 0%
Element: 540 Water (62.1 Effective Element)
Slots:
- 1x Level 2
- 1x Level 1
Song List:
- Attack Up (L)
- Scoutfly Power Up
- Muck/Water/Deep Snow Res
- Envir. Damage Negated

2. Sonorous Eisfyl

【MHWI】ラージャン狩猟笛ソロ 06'51"51/ Rajang Hunting Horn Solo

Velkhana’s Hunting Horn earns a 2nd place spot since it can be built as a pretty flexible Horn. With pretty decent raw, decent element, and a flexible song list, the Sonorous Eisfyl can fulfill most of the needs you’ll have from a Hunting Horn.

What's Great About Sonorous Eisfyl

Great raw for a weapon like this
It has a flexible song list.
Decent Ice Element in case you need to use it against something that’s weak to Ice.
Even if the monster isn’t weak to Ice, this weapon isn’t bad for some generalist hunting.

Sonorous Eisfyl Stats

Rarity: 12
Sharpness:
- 40 hits of white sharpness
- 50 hits of blue sharpness
Raw Damage: 1134 (376.2 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 0%
Element: 270 Ice (31.05 Effective Element)
Slots:
- 1x Level 4
Song List:
- Attack Up (L)
- Health Boost (L)
- Wind Pressure Negated
- Defense Up (L)

1. Rasping Ballad

MHW Iceborne | Gold Rathian Hunting Horn Solo in 3:51

You’ll find the Rasping Ballad in the top spots for most speed runs since this Hunting Horn is made for damage. Its song list can help other Hunting Horns with their buffs, and Impact Echo Wave is one of the most damaging moves for Hunting Horns.

You may lack healing songs and sharpness, but this Hunting Horn trades those comforts to become the game’s most efficient damage dooting-machine.

What's Great About the Rasping Ballad

DAMAGE.
Impact Echo Wave with this much damage means lots of stuns and lots of Exhaust.
A Handicraft/Master’s Touch build will fix its miserable sharpness and keep your damage up-time high.
It’s a great Hunting Horn to use with other Horn players thanks to its ability to extended all Melody Effects.
Monsters can’t kill your garbage teammates if you kill the monster first.

The Rasping Ballad Stats

Rarity: 11
Sharpness:
Handicraft 5: 10 hits of purple sharpness, 20 hits of white sharpness
- 40 hits of blue sharpness
- 80 hits of Green sharpness
Raw Damage: 1218 (366 Effective Raw) (423.95 Effective Raw with Handicraft 5)
Affinity: 0%
Element: (330 Paralysis)
Slots:
- 1x Level 4
Song List:
- Attack Up (L)
- All Melody Effects Extended
- Knockbacks Negated
- Impact Echo Wave

If you enjoyed these builds and want to see more, then please visit this link.

What about Safi'Jiiva?

At the time of this article's writing, Safi'Jiiva hadn't been released on PC yet.

Hunting Horns can be built either way after Safi's release. Safi Hunting Horns are a little odd since you can take an Awaken that will determine its song list. This song list can be tailored to your own personal taste, but be aware that the level 1 attack melody isn't that great because it lacks Attack up XL.

For which Horns you want to build, raw is still one of the better options. If you're looking for damage, you can still run with a Master's Touch build with any of the abnormal status effect Horns, and awaken for Raw damage. Blast will be better for overall damage, but if you find that you can't procc blast very often or if you're in a multiplayer hunt (where the status threshold is increased), then you can also run an elemental Hunting Horn build now with Master's Touch and the Velkhana set bonus.

If you want to see builds for post-Safi Hunting Horns or see the Attack song lists based on their awaken levels, then visit this album.

Thanks for reading!

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