Best Sword and Shield Skills in MHWilds- InMonster Hunter Wilds, the satisfying gameplay loop of hunting monsters to get loot to craft stronger gear to hunt strongermonstersmakes a grand return. And with this grand return also comes the return of a variety of skills that come with the equipment you will be forging and using in your hunts.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, there are a total of 148Skillsthat have unique effects, and each one of them is helpful in a particular aspect when you are playing the game. A lot of the skills that were in the previous games make a return with a few newly added skills.
The biggest change to skills in Monster Hunter Wilds is that some of the Equipment skills that were on the armor pieces in the previous games have been moved to the weapons. This particular change makes it so that you will not be locked into specific monster trees when using a particular weapon.
In this guide, we will be taking a look at the skills that will bring out the Sword and Shield weapon’s full potential during your hunts.
TheSword and Shieldis a very versatile weapon that is good at a lot of things, even though it may not excel in any single aspect. The Sword and Shield features a very mobile moveset where you’re able to slash the monster with quick, successive strikes, or stun the monster with a power shield combo, or go into the backstep combos, which have the option to fling you into the air with the scaling slash, making it easier to mount monsters. The Sword and Shield is able to do all that while offering a decent guarding capability with its shield. As a very versatile weapon, there are a lot of skills that will work well with the Sword and Shield depending on what you want to focus on.
Best Sword and Shield Skills in MHWilds
Best Sword and ShieldSkills
Second Best Sword and ShieldSkills
Optional Sword and ShieldSkills
Tier I Skills
There are quite a few good options to go for the Sword and Shield for the weapon equipment skills owing to the versatile nature of the weapon
Critical Eye
Critical Eye- The Critical Eye skill increases your affinity, and at the max level, it increases the affinity by +20%. This increase in affinity is really great with the Sword and Shield, especially with weapons that have high base affinity, and will let you land more critical hits overall. Since the Sword and Shield weapon does not have any special mechanics that it functions around, you may easily go for the straightforward skills and it will provide you with the most value.
Critical Boost
Critical Boost -The next skill, Critical Boost, is also great on the Sword and Shield. If you want more damage with your Critical hits, the Critical Boost skill will increase the damage by up to 40% at the max level, level 5. The Critical Eye and Critical Boost skills working together can bring up the damage output of the Sword and Shield quite considerably in your hunts.
Guard Up- The Guard Up skill increases the level of your guard, making it possible to block attacks that were previously unblockable, such as roars and tremors, and it also reduces the incoming damage of bigger attacks by up to 80% at the max level, level 3. This skill is great for Sword and Shield users who are more prone to a defensive playstyle, as they will be able to rely more on their shield and guarding, even if it is not to the level of the lance.
Offensive Guard
Offensive Guard- The Offensive Guard skill gives a temporary increase in attack power after performing a perfect guard, and it will provide the Sword and Shield with an easy and reliable way to increase its attack power with perfect guards.
Slugger– The Slugger is an amazing skill to use, which is why I’ve included it in this Best Sword and Shield Skills in MHWilds Guide, as it increases the stunning power of your attacks by up to 40% at the maximum level (level 3). Although it might not seem like the sword and shield has much stunning potential, every attack with the shield deals blunt damage and can easily stun monsters, opening great windows of opportunity for attacking.
All these skills are amazing to use with the Sword and Shield, but you would have to choose what you want to focus on with this weapon. Being versatile, there are many skills that work really well with the Sword and Shield, and as such, there are many great choices—especially with the equipment skills on the weapons.
Burst -Another amazing skill to have when using the Sword and Shield is the Burst skill. The Burst skill gives you a temporary, small increase in attack from the initial hit and elemental attack, which is replaced by a larger boost after the fifth hit. This works really well with the Sword and Shield because the weapon’s attack speed is faster than you might think, allowing you to reach the fifth hit easily and gain the huge stat boost if you have the skill at its maximum level.
Flayer -The last skill in the best tier list is the Flayer skill, and it is simply amazing because it makes it easier to inflict Wounds on monsters. When you strike these Wounds with the Focus Strike using the Sword and Shield, you have the option to perform either a power slash attack that destroys all Wounds in the immediate vicinity or a powerful shield bash that deals a considerable amount of stun damage while launching you upward, making it easier to mount monsters.
These skills are the best to use with the Sword and Shield because they allow the weapon to deal more damage by fully utilizing its versatility and unique characteristics. However, the weapon also has the potential to use other skills, depending on whether you prefer physical damage, elemental damage, or status effects.
These next set of skills are good to use with the Sword and Shield as well but compared to the skills in the best tier, they will have less overall damage output, so they are the Tier II Skills of this Best Sword and Shield Skills in MHWilds Guide.
Guard -The Guard skill reduces the stamina depletion of your guards and using this skill will let you guard more often when using the Sword and Shield leaning towards defense more with this skill.
Critical Element&Critical Status
The next two skills—Critical ElementandCritical Status—will help with specific Sword and Shield builds, whether you’re focusing on elemental damage or status effect buildup. The Critical Element skill increases the elemental damage of your critical hits, while the Critical Status skill boosts the buildup of status effects from critical hits. These added bonuses can help increase your overall damage when using the Sword and Shield.
Weakness Exploit
Weakness Exploit -The Weakness Exploit skill increases the affinity of your attacks that hit monster weak points (e.g., head, wings, and tail) and further boosts affinity if you hit or destroy a Wound on a monster. At maximum level, it can increase your affinity by 30%, with an additional 20%—for a total of 50%—if you hit a Wound. This skill is in the second-best tier rather than the best tier because it requires additional skills to unlock a weapon’s full potential, even though it offers great buffs on its own.
Stamina Surge
Stamina Surge -The next skill, Stamina Surge, significantly increases your stamina regeneration rate. At maximum level (level 3), it boosts the regeneration rate by 50%. Having this skill in your loadout ensures that you will rarely run out of stamina, as you may quickly regenerate it between perfect guards while striking a monster.
Constitution
Constitution -The Constitution skill is another stamina-related ability that benefits the Sword and Shield user by decreasing the stamina depletion cost of actions such as dodges and evades. At maximum level, it reduces the cost by 50%, making your stamina management a little easier during hunts.
Optional Skills for the Sword and Shield
In addition to the skills we mentioned earlier, this next set of skills can help with very specific aspects when using the Sword and Shield, so we’ve included them in this Best Sword and Shield Skills in MHWilds Guide.
Protective Polish
Protective Polish- Since the Sword and Shield has a relatively fast attack rate compared to most weapons, the sharpness level can drop quickly during hunts. The Protective Polish skill helps in this regard by providing a period during which the weapon will not lose its sharpness with each attack.
Foray -The Foray skill is an armor skill that works with very specific weapons, as it increases attack and affinity against monsters affected by poison or paralysis. At the maximum level (level 5), it provides an attack increase of +15 and +20% affinity once the required conditions are met. The only downside to this skill is that it requires very specific weapons and skills to be effective.
Poison Duration Up
Poison Duration Up -The next weapon skill, Poison Duration Up, extends the duration of poison by 20%. Similar to the Foray skill, it is very specific and will work extremely well if you are running a poison-centric loadout.
So, these are the best skills to use with the Sword and Shield in bringing out its full potential in my opinion. I hope you find this helpful. If you disagree or have suggestions on which skills could work better with the Sword and Shield, please leave them in the comment below. Be sure to check outthe wikifor more tips andguidesand May the Hunt Favour You!
