Summary
Monster Hunter Wilds' first title update has brought a lot of players back to the game. The prospect of there being new monsters to fight and new gear to earn is just too tempting for mostMonster Hunterfans to pass up. Some fans might be returning to a fully-kitted endgame character, while others might just be resuming their journey to high rank. Wherever players are in the game progress-wise, having the right weapon can make hunts go a lot easier. For Switch Axe players, that means having the right skills and the right phial type, as well as the right damage type. This will make a big difference to how efficiently the player is able to switch between weapon modes and keep up their maximum DPS output.
Rather than just listing every Switch Axe with the highest raw attack value, this topic will examine the best Switch Axes to use throughout the campaign and leveling experience while also providing some great endgame options. With that in mind, these are thebest Switch Axe weapons inMonster Hunter Wilds.
8Nu Zhangyu
Early Fire Damage
Early in the game, practically any weapon will do the job; players can stick with Bone weapons as their first upgrade without too much issue. Once players get above Hunter Rank 3, though, they might want to get a bit more specific with their choices.
Nu Zhangyu, the first weapon in the Nu Udra tree, is a good early option thatcomes with fire elemental damage. The best feature of the weapon is the innate level two Rapid Morph skill, which will make those all-important weapon mode switches a lot more fluid and give a boost to morph attack damage.
7G. Veldian Securis
Innate Focus
The Guardian Rathalos weapon G. Veldian Securis is a good option for Hunter Ranks 6 to 8. It comes with Dragon element damage and has the level two focus skill, which will make the switch gauge and amp gauge charge faster. This is a very useful utility skill for the Switch Axe, which is all about managing these two gauges.
On top of that, it can be combined with Rapid Morph on the player’s armor so as not to lose out on that quality of life quick-switching. It’s only a rarity 4 weapon, but it should be able to get players all the way through to Hunter Rank 9 without too much trouble.
6Dragonmaiden Axe
Poison Application
Once players get to High Rank 9 and above, a more focused strategy for a combination of weapon and armor is advisable. A good option is the Dragonmaiden Axe from the Rathian tree, which deals innate Poison status damage and comes with the skills Critical Status and Poison Duration Up, which both boost its effectiveness.
Players can combine this with the Foray skill via their armor todeal significant damage to poisoned monsters. They should also still be able to fit Flayer and Weakness Exploit onto their armor, too, allowing for an early High Rank build with a lot of damage potential.
5Rath Flamesplitter
Mid-Game Fire Power
Once players get past the early part of High Rank, getting a rarity 6 weapon will be their highest priority. At this stage, players who have the resources may be able to build the first tier of Artian weapon for the Switch Axe andcustomize it to an element or status, but for those who want to stick with monster weapons for now, the Rath Flamesplitter can be a powerful choice.
Having three levels of critical boost innately is incredibly powerful; this will raise the damage of critical hits by 34%. Players can make this even more effective by using a combination of Second Wind and Maximum Might on their armor, which will result in a 30% boost to affinity.
4Eisengeist
Critical Dragon
Once players get to the highest tiers of High Rank (Rank 36 and above), getting a rarity 8 weapon is essential. Thefinal upgrade in the Gore Magala treefor the Switch Axe is Eisengeist, and this is a strong Dragon element-based endgame option.
Having Critical Element at level 3 on the weapon by default will help for big hits against enemies with a Dragon element weakness, and the power phial means that the extra attack damage from phials is based on the weapon’s decent raw damage stat. Players can continue using the Second Wind and Maximum Might trick for higher affinity and boost this even further with the Gore Magala set bonus, Black Eclipse, along with the Anitvirus skill.
3Gorehacker Urgahaac
Raw Damage
The Gorehacker Urgahaac is the final upgrade in the Guardian Doshaguma tree for the Switch Axe, and it has the best raw damage of any Switch Axe weapon, including the Artian options. There’s no innate element on the weapon, though the phial it comes with is the Dragon Phial, which means that phial explosions will trigger a burst of Dragon element damage.
The Focus skill is a nice utilityfor fast gauge charging. The Gorehacker will also work with the same armor sets as the Eisengeist, benefiting from Second Wind, Maximum Might, the Gore Magala combo, or even alternate options like Weakness Exploit and Flayer.
2Blazing Mahaiah
Whiteflame Torrent
If players aren’t going with an Artian weapon for their endgame choice, then the Zoh Shia weapon, Blazing Mahaiah, makes for a good alternative option. That’s in part thanks to the unique weapon skill Whiteflame Torrent, which adds an extra 50 damage (flat) on top of attacks, can trigger roughly every 3 seconds, and triggers semi-randomly. The ideal armor set up for the endgame will be the same whether players use this or an Artian weapon.
Second Wind can be ditched, as affinity is now coming from multiple sources with Weakness Exploit, Agitator, and the Gore Magala/Antivirus combo. Players should try and fit Power Prolonger level 3 on their weapon, too, for extended amped mode duration.
1Mundus Atlus
Artian Switch Axe
Like most of the weapon categories, the best weapon choice for the endgame is probably the final Artian weapon upgrade. In this case, that’s Mundus Atlus. This Switch Axe can be customized with any element or status, and players can also affect the phial type depending on the parts used.
The high amount of customizabilityleaves plenty of room for weapon decorations, but the ideal set-up remains the same as with the Blazing Mahaiah. Getting max level Critical Boost and Power Prolonger as high as possible from weapon decorations is advisable. Armor skills are mostly used to boost affinity as before, with Recovery Speed and Evade Extender for defensive utility, if possible.
