Sword and Shield High Rank and Endgame Builds for Monster Hunter Wilds
Learn everything about the best Sword and Shield builds for High Rank as well as endgame builds for Sword and Shield in Monster Hunter Wilds including the best skills to focus on as well as the best weapons, best armor all to help you progress through High Rank.
Welcome to our Monster Hunter Wilds build guide for the Sword and Shield in both High Rank as well as endgame. Listed below you will find the best builds for the Sword and Shield both for progressing through the earlier stages of High Rank as well as the best builds for Sword and Shield at endgame.
To skip straight to the endgame builds, click the button below!
Sword and Shield Changes in Title Update 3
>Title Update 3, released on September 29th, heralded the arrival of the Final Fantasy XIV crossover event - and an additional monster to hunt: Omega Planetes and the harder version of the encounter, Omega Savage.
A quick breakdown of Sword and Shield changes on this page as of the title update are as follows:
- The recommended endgame set remains a Rey Dau Gamma set to activate Lord's Soul. The Omega set is more tailored toward group play with the Omega Resonance skill (though this does work with Support Hunters), and is too conditional to make it into generalist sets.
- Talismans remain the chase goal for your endgame gearsets - with rank 7 and 8 having access to skill combinations that, if lucky, can outperform craftable options.
Endgame Talismans for Sword and Shield
Added as a bonus update during Title Update 2, hunts against monsters that are 9 star and above can now also reward appraisable talismans. These can come with skill and decoration slots otherwise unobtainable from the smithy, and should you be lucky enough, can push your build to the next level. Rolling a perfect talisman is an extremely big time investment, so sometimes it's best to just look out for options that are good enough. Big ticket skills to look out for are:
- Offensive Guard
- Master's Touch
- Razor Sharp
- Attack Boost
- Critical Eye
Acquiring any of these skills - especially alongside a weapon decoration slot - outpaces any other option available to craft. If you can't get hold of these though, generally a Challenger Charm II or Exploiter Charm will suffice, depending on preference. Remember that when you slot in a talisman that provides weapon skills, you may need to adjust your decorations to still pick up provide the desirable armor skills.
Arch-Tempered Monsters and Gamma Sets
Traditionally the most powerful armor sets available in Monster Hunter, in Wilds the Gamma sets are being released with each Title Update. These grant access to the Lord's Soul 3-set bonus - a powerful additional cheat death effect - while coming with a slightly higher budget for strong skills. The sets currently released are:
- Rey Dau - this set focuses on Latent Power, and is currently part of the recommended set in the Endgame Builds section.
- Uth Duna - this set focuses on Peak Performance, which is currently undesirable and harder to optimize. Some pieces (especially the Legs) are great for comfort builds, and a new set including it has been added to the Endgame section.
- Nu Udra - Currently unreleased, but will be arriving during Title Update 3 on October 21st.
Sword and Shield HR 10 Armor Set
The first set to craft as you start your path through High Rank grabs some of the stronger offensive skills from Low Rank armor paired with some comfort while you get your footing farming monsters. These will slowly be phased out as you begin to unlock stronger versions of these sets, but for now the early armor on offer is fairly limited.
Your decoration collection at this stage will still be quite small, and while it may be appealing to farm them it's simply not worth the time early on. Once you gain access to some of these decorations though, it opens up room to start tailoring your build to more offensive setups.
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Balahara Blade III | N/A |
Head | G. Ebony Helm | N/A |
Chest | G. Arkveld Mail | N/A |
Gloves | G. Arkveld Vambraces | N/A |
Waist | G. Ebony Coil | N/A |
Legs | Conga Greaves β | N/A |
Talisman | Blessing Charm III | N/A |
This set strikes a good balance between comfort and offensive power for the Sword and Shield when getting started, still managing to get points in some long term high value skills such as Burst. As element counters are a key part of Sword and Shield in general you have quite a few weapon options, with Balahara Blade III providing Offensive Guard, Water element and blue sharpness while being very easy to obtain quickly. A Thunder alternative with Rey Kuara II is also a great option depending on the matchup.
Your priority hunts are Balahara or Rathian early to craft a strong weapon to bring it up to blue sharpness. The 2-piece Guardian Ebony Set brings 2 points in Burst and a slight bump in power (though the main benefit comes from the first point), and the Conga Beta Set adds a third point in for good measure. Finally, the Arkveld set gives Flayer which, while not a premium skill for Sword and Shield, does provide some healing when popping wounds with the 2-piece bonus.
HR 10 Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- Burst - Level 3
- Divine Blessing - Level 3
- Offensive Guard - Level 2
- Flayer - Level 2
- Blight Resistance - Level 1
- Bleeding Resistance - Level 1
- Guardian's Pulse - 3-piece
- Ebony Odogaron's Power - 2-piece
- Guardian Arkveld's Vitality - 2-piece
Sword and Shield Mid-Game Armor Sets - HR 20-40+
As you progress through High Rank, more monsters are unlocked at High Rank and comes with more flexibility in Alpha and Beta sets available. With each tiered unlock comes more opportunity to cut away comfort skills and move toward offensive options, allowing you to round out the efficiency of your build to lean into the Sword and Shield playstyle. This starts with the midgame monsters unlocking at HR20, and is pushed even further at 40+ with Gore Magala being added to the pool.
We've separated these two stages into the tabs below depending on what gear you currently have access to:
Sword and Shield Mid-Game HR Sets
Sword and Shield HR20-39 Build
As you unlock more monsters within High Rank it's time to start pivoting toward more Affinity oriented skills, looking out for Weakness Exploit in particular to start raising your damage potential. You'll also start to open up some higher value decoration slots to make use of more valuable skills if you can grab some good pickups while farming.
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Albirath Edge II | N/A |
Head | G. Rathalos Helm β | N/A |
Chest | G. Rathalos Mail β | N/A |
Gloves | G. Rathalos Vambraces β | Sheath |
Waist | G. Rathalos Coil α | N/A |
Legs | Mizutsune Greaves β | N/A |
Talisman | Exploiter Charm I | N/A |
This set leans heavily into offense as early as possible to set you up in a good spot to transition to the endgame. As always with Sword and Shield elemental counters are strong, but Albirath Edge II and eventually Melting Point once you can craft it is an excellent all rounder providing Master's Touch to combat sharpness issues.
The armor set makes liberal use of Guardian Rathalos armor to get ranks of Weakness Exploit early paired with an Exploiter Charm I, and while the Rathalos's Flare set bonus isn't particularly strong it is free here. The Mizutsune Legs are an incredibly efficient way of accessing Burst, so is the recommended final piece. For decorations, with the number of 2-slots available on the set you should aim to slot in any Mighty decorations you find to start acquiring Maximum Might.
Your priority hunts after unlocking them becomes Guardian Rathalos and Mizutsune once unlocked to craft both your weapon and armor set, and should cover you all the way to the end of High Rank unlocks at rank 35+.
HR 20-39 Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- Weakness Exploit - Level 5
- Burst - Level 2
- Master's Touch - Level 1
- Critical Element - Level 1
- Intimidator - Level 1
- Windproof - Level 1
- Guardian's Protection - 3-piece
- Rathalos's Flare - 4-piece
Sword and Shield HR 40+ Mid-game Build
After unlocking Gore Magala and High Rank Arkveld you can start gathering Hunter Symbol III, fully unlocking the crafting tree and allowing you to craft the strongest equipment. At this stage you should be looking to maximize offense and have access to a variety of decorations, so below we'll be presenting an optimized set.
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Melting Point* see notes |
|
Head | G. Ebony Helm α |
|
Chest | Arkvulcan Mail β |
|
Gloves | G. Ebony Braces α | N/A |
Waist | Gore Coil β |
|
Legs | Gore Greaves β |
|
Talisman | Exploiter Charm II | N/A |
In a fully optimized set almost all comfort is sacrificed to make full use of both Weakness Exploit and Burst, while also grabbing Maximum Might to raise Affinity values as high as possible. Using the Gore Magala set alongside Sane decorations gives an even bigger boost when recovering from Frenzy, and will push you very close to 100% on weak points as efficiently as possible.
Due to the Sword and Shield making use of Elemental counters in monster matchups, before Artian weapons there are specific ideal crafts depending on the monster you're facing:
-
Fire - Melting Point - Click for Match-ups
-
Water - Sandsea Katduva - Click for Match-ups
-
Ice - Precipice Mateptro - Click for Match-ups
-
Dragon - Guiding Artorius - Click for Match-ups
These are optimizations if you're looking to take down each monster as quickly as possible, but your most broadly usable general option remains Melting Point as it comes with Master's Touch as standard. When it comes to decorations, in order of importance with decorations you should be looking at the following:
- Critical Boost 3 - extremely efficient damage to go alongside the high Affinity the build uses, and should be priority decorations either as a 3-slot or a 2-slot plus a 1-slot.
- Master's Touch - the most efficient sharpness tool available when using the build, and if you have no other sharpness methods should be the go to pick. Alternatives are Razor Sharp 3 and any points in Handicraft.
- Offensive Guard 3 - perfect guards granting up to 15% extra attack is too valuable to pass up if you have spare decoration slots, and is almost always worth slotting in.
- Critical Boost 4/5 - if you already have all the above covered in your weapon, any spare slots can be spent maxing this out all the way to 5.
HR 40+ Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- Weakness Exploit - Level 5
- Burst - Level 5
- Critical Boost - Level 3
- Offensive Guard - Level 3
- Maximum Might - Level 3
- Antivirus - Level 3
- Constitution - Level 2
- Master's Touch - Level 1
- Critical Element - Level 1
- Divine Blessing - Level 1
- Flinch Free - Level 1
- Gore Magala's Tyranny - 2-piece
- Ebony Odogaron's Power - 2-piece
Sword and Shield HR 50+ Endgame Armor Set
After reaching Hunter Rank 50, you unlock access to the entire suite of current endgame monsters as well as any event quests that appear throughout each title update. Currently we have a curated endgame build to strive for as soon as you reach this level, a comfort build tailored toward more defense if you're struggling, and an entry build that can be acquired early to start farming.
Sword and Shield Endgame Sets
Sword and Shield Arch-Tempered Rey Dau Endgame Armor Set
This set utilizes Rey Dau Gamma pieces to activate Lord's Soul. While the focus on Latent Power isn't normally preferred, the sheer efficiency of the set keeps it relevant alongside the set bonus. This is slightly better than alternative options, but sacrifices a bit of comfort for damage.
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Verdoloto |
|
Head | Rey Sandhelm γ |
|
Chest | Numinous Shroud β |
|
Gloves | Rey Sandbraces γ |
|
Waist | Rey Sandcoil γ |
|
Legs | Lagiacrus Greaves β |
|
Talisman | Exploiter Charm II | N/A |
Through the Rey Dau Gamma pieces alongside some careful Decoration and Charm management, Sword and Shield is capable of maxing out both Agitator and Weakness Exploit at the same time, while still picking up the 3-piece bonus to activate Lord's Soul. Finally, it uses the new Lagiacrus Legs due to the efficient skill selection that pair well with the set.
While some crafted options can get close to Artian offerings, the value of 3-slot decorations is simply too high. Due to that, it's strongly advised to use Verdoloto variants, using element counters. You can use the dropdowns below to check match-ups for each element:
-
Fire - (Alt: Melting Point) - Click for Match-ups
-
Water - (Alt: Sandsea Katduva) - Click for Match-ups
-
Ice - (Alt: Precipice Mateptro) - Click for Match-ups
-
Dragon - (Alt: Blazing Mikal) - Click for Match-ups
Your weapon skills are also dictated by the base skill present on the weapon, as each element comes with different base effects. In order of priority you should aim for the following:
- Critical Boost 3 - extremely efficient damage to go alongside the high Affinity the build uses, and should be priority decorations either as a 3-slot or a 2-slot plus a 1-slot.
- Master's Touch - the most efficient sharpness tool available when using the build, and if you have no other sharpness methods should be the go to pick. Alternatives are Razor Sharp 3 and any points in Handicraft.
- Offensive Guard 3 - perfect guards granting up to 15% extra attack is too valuable to pass up if you have spare decoration slots, and is almost always worth slotting in.
- Critical Boost 4/5 - if you already have all the above covered in your weapon, any spare slots can be spent maxing this out all the way to 5.
HR 50+ Endgame Sword and Shield Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- Offensive Guard - Level 3
- Critical Boost - Level 3
- Master's Touch - Level 1
- Handicraft - Level 1
- Weakness Exploit - Level 5
- Agitator - Level 5
- Maximum Might - Level 3
- Latent Power - Level 3
- Evade Extender - Level 2
- Burst - Level 1
- Stamina Surge - Level 1
- Rey Dau's Voltage - 3-piece
- Lord's Soul - 3-piece
Sword and Shield Lord's Soul Comfort Endgame Armor Set
Using the Uth Duna Gamma Legs, the Lord's Soul set can be converted into one designed around extra comfort. THe additional 1-slot decorations give a lot of freedom to customize based on the hunt. This is a close-to-optimal setup that might be easier to take on challenging hunts, all while maintaining Lord's Soul!
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Verdoloto |
|
Head | Numinous Crown β |
|
Chest | Numinous Shroud β |
|
Gloves | Rey Sandbraces γ |
|
Waist | Rey Sandcoil γ |
|
Legs | Duna Wildgreaves γ |
|
Talisman | Exploiter Charm II | N/A |
Combining two Rey Dau pieces and the extremely versatile Uth Duna Legs allows for very comfortable activation of Lord's Soul, with a lot of room to customize with 1-slot decorations. When paired with the 2-piece from Zoh Shia for extra comfort, this covers a lot of the key skills Sword and Shield is looking for in one package.
Weakness Exploit is covered by decorations and your Talisman, while Agitator is mostly acquired via the armor piece combination and a single extra Challenger decoration. Your third slot is dedicated to picking up Maximum Might to cap it out, and you're left with 3 entire 1-slot decorations to pick and choose depending on the matchup!
While some crafted options can get close to Artian offerings, the value of 3-slot decorations is simply too high. Due to that, it's strongly advised to use Verdoloto variants, using element counters. You can use the dropdowns below to check match-ups for each element:
-
Fire - (Alt: Melting Point) - Click for Match-ups
-
Water - (Alt: Sandsea Katduva) - Click for Match-ups
-
Ice - (Alt: Precipice Mateptro) - Click for Match-ups
-
Dragon - (Alt: Blazing Mikal) - Click for Match-ups
Your weapon skills are also dictated by the base skill present on the weapon, as each element comes with different base effects. In order of priority you should aim for the following:
- Critical Boost 3 - extremely efficient damage to go alongside the high Affinity the build uses, and should be priority decorations either as a 3-slot or a 2-slot plus a 1-slot.
- Master's Touch - the most efficient sharpness tool available when using the build, and if you have no other sharpness methods should be the go to pick. Alternatives are Razor Sharp 3 and any points in Handicraft.
- Offensive Guard 3 - perfect guards granting up to 15% extra attack is too valuable to pass up if you have spare decoration slots, and is almost always worth slotting in.
- Critical Boost 4/5 - if you already have all the above covered in your weapon, any spare slots can be spent maxing this out all the way to 5.
Lord's Soul Comfort Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- 3 Free 1-Slot Decorations
- Offensive Guard - Level 3
- Critical Boost - Level 3
- Master's Touch - Level 1
- Handicraft - Level 1
- Weakness Exploit - Level 5
- Agitator - Level 5
- Maximum Might - Level 3
- Latent Power - Level 2
- Evade Extender - Level 2
- Recovery Speed - Level 1
- Burst - Level 1
- Rey Dau's Voltage - 3-piece
- Lord's Soul - 3-piece
Sword and Shield HR 50+ Entry to Endgame Armor Set
Currently the starting endgame options look to incorporate both Zoh Shia and Gore Magala pieces, then mixing up other items to complete strong skills. This means it requires HR50 to complete.
Gear | Decorations | |
---|---|---|
Weapon | Blazing Mikal* see notes |
|
Head | Gore Helm β |
|
Chest | Numinous Shroud β |
|
Gloves | Gore Vambraces β |
|
Waist | Gore Coil β |
|
Legs | Gore Greaves β |
|
Talisman | Exploiter Charm II | N/A |
Using the Zoh Shia Chest, a highly efficient Agitator piece, this shifts the build toward a 4-piece Gore Magala set with Sane decorations means affinity is mostly covered. Changes to Maximum Might management also means it's now much more realistic to maintain, meaning previous options in Guardian Fulgur Anjanath are no longer necessary.
The Zoh Shia weapon, Blazing Mikal, is the ideal crafted weapon until reaching Artian offerings. As always though, the Sword and Shield leans into element counters, so a list of ideal crafts with dropdowns of match-ups is as follows:
-
Fire - Melting Point - Click for Match-ups
-
Water - Sandsea Katduva - Click for Match-ups
-
Ice - Precipice Mateptro - Click for Match-ups
-
Dragon - Blazing Mikal - Click for Match-ups
Your weapon skills are also dictated by the base skill present on the weapon, as each element comes with different base effects. In order of priority you should aim for the following:
- Critical Boost 3 - extremely efficient damage to go alongside the high Affinity the build uses, and should be priority decorations either as a 3-slot or a 2-slot plus a 1-slot.
- Master's Touch - the most efficient sharpness tool available when using the build, and if you have no other sharpness methods should be the go to pick. Alternatives are Razor Sharp 3 and any points in Handicraft.
- Offensive Guard 3 - perfect guards granting up to 15% extra attack is too valuable to pass up if you have spare decoration slots, and is almost always worth slotting in.
- Critical Boost 4/5 - if you already have all the above covered in your weapon, any spare slots can be spent maxing this out all the way to 5.
HR 50+ Endgame Sword and Shield Armor Set Skills and Set Bonuses
- Weakness Exploit - Level 5
- Constitution - Level 4
- Critical Boost - Level 3
- Offensive Guard - Level 3
- Maximum Might - Level 3
- Antivirus - Level 3
- Agitator - Level 2
- Evade Window - Level 2
- Whiteflame Torrent - Level 1
- Coalescence - Level 1
- Burst - Level 1
- Flinch Free - Level 1
- Gore Magala's Tyranny - 4-piece
- Scale Layering - 2-piece
Artian Weapons for the Sword and Shield
Artian Weapons are the strongest available options for the Sword and Shield in all scenarios, and due to it leaning into element counters you may find yourself needing to craft quite a few. These will generally be the strongest options even before you max out reinforcements largely because of the triple 3-slot decorations you can fit in, and picking some tailored Verdoloto weapons to cover each match-up is your ultimate goal when completing your sets.
You should always aim to craft weapons with all 3 of the same element on your Blade, Disc and Tube selections to maximize its values. Also aim to use 3 Attack infusions to maximize the raw throughput. Ideally, you want the following reinforcements:
- Attack Boost +5
- Attack Boost +5
- Attack Boost +5
- Attack Boost +5
- Sharpness Boost +30
This can shift around some and having a perfectly optimized craft doesn't detract from how much better Artian weapons are in general, so don't worry too much about getting it absolutely perfect.
For the 3 decoration slots, fill this with Critical Jewel III, Guardian/Handicraft and Master's Touch to cover the three main bases of ideal weapon decorations.
Element Counters
As the absolute strongest options available to the Sword and Shield involve using element counters to specific Monster weaknesses, you want to aim to cover all the bases. Ideally, you have a Sword and Shield for each element (although the Lagiacrus weapon High Lagia Sword can cover Thunder). Below are drop-down lists of which Monsters are countered by each element:
-
Fire - Click for Match-ups
-
Water - Click for Match-ups
-
Ice - Click for Match-ups
-
Dragon - Click for Match-ups
Changelog
- 11 Oct. 2025: Updated for Title Update 3. No changes with new sets. Added Talisman section.
- 28 Jul. 2025: Updated for Uth Duna Gamma sets, added Lord's Soul comfort set.
- 06 Jul. 2025: Updated for Title Update 2 build changes.
- 08 May 2025: Updated with Arch-Tempered Rey Dau sets.
- 13 Apr. 2025: Updated for Title Update 1 build changes.
- 19 Mar. 2025: Guide added.
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Written by Wordup, a veteran Hunter since all the way back in Generation 1 (with thousands of carts under his belt). Just like in MMOs he plays, he sticks to getting up close and personal with melee weapons, even if it doesn't always look as cool as he thinks it does.
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