Sword and Shield is one of the most beginner-friendly weapons of Monster Hunter Wilds. It has excellent offensive and defensive capabilities, and with the new changes, its responsiveness is much better, so all players can get the hang of it quickly. Whether you’re still going through Low Rank or are already facing the dangerous High Rank, we’ve prepared a couple of builds for Sword and Shield users.
Low Rank Builds
While many players may want to rush it all the way to High Rank, a few others might want to get the hang of Low Rank hunts first, which is why we’ve prepared two builds for Sword and Shield. You’ll have to swap them once you unlock better armor, but these builds should help you reach the end of the campaign.
Perfect Guard Build
| Items | Perks |
|---|---|
| Ajara Saber I | Offensive Guard |
| Guardian Doshaguma (Full Set) | Heroics Lv 3 Marathon Runner Lv 3 Iron Skin Lv 2 Doshaguma’s Might |
| Defense Charm I | Defense Boost |
This build relies on perfect blocks, offset attacks, and power clashes. All of these three are difficult to pull off. However, once you do, Doshaguma’s Might will trigger, granting you the Powerhouse II skill. This skill will give you a +25 to your attack after a power clash or offset attack. If you’re doing perfect blocks, it should trigger. On top of that, Heroics is there to give you an attack boost if your health drops below 35%. Beyond that, Marathon Runner is great, as it decreases stamina depletion when dashing. And, of course, the Ajara Saber is there to trigger Offensive Guard, which increases your attack after a perfect block.
Paralysis Build
| Items | Perks |
|---|---|
| Barina Dague II | Critical Draw Lv 1 Critical Status Lv 1 |
| Guardian Ebony (Full Set) | Burst Lv 3 Bleeding Resistance Lv 3 Ebony Odogaron’s Power |
| Foray Charm I | Foray |
This next Sword and Shield build will focus on applying the Paralysis status effect constantly and increasing one’s damage while the monster is paralyzed. Sword and Shield is an ideal weapon to do so, thanks to its fast attack speed. Dual Blades also work for this build, but let’s focus on the former.
First, you’ll need a weapon to apply paralysis, and the one in Lala Barina’s tree is perfect. While it may take a while to get, the Guardian Ebony set is great as it increases your damage the more you hit a monster. However, the bread and butter of the build relies on the Foray skill. In Low Rank, you can access this skill through a Talisman, which increases the damage you do to paralyzed and poison targets. Since you’ll be doing Paralysis damage, equipping this skill is vital for this build. Lastly, the Guardian Ebony set’s bonus will improve the Burst skill, giving you even more damage.
High Rank Builds
Moving on to High Rank, we also have two Sword and Shield builds, which people will likely use the most. While these have been great during our playtime, we’ll update this guide if we discover other powerful or, as the community calls them, “meta” builds.
Poison Build
| Items | Perks |
|---|---|
| Queen Rapier | Critical Status Lv 3 Poison Duration Up Lv 1 Poison Attack (via Venom Jewel) Critical Status (via Crit Status Jewel) |
| Guild Ace (Full Set) | Peak Performance Lv 5 Constitution Lv 5 Foray Lv 5 |
| Imbibe Charm I | Elemental Absorption Lv 1 |
The Poison build follows the same principles as the Paralysis one, especially since we’ll be using the Foray skill the most. However, we’ll focus on Poison attacks now. To get started, you need the Queen Rapier Sword and Shield, which is the most powerful poison weapon in the game so far. In terms of weapon decorations, focus on Poison Attack and Critical Status.
For the armor, you could mix and match a few sets, but the Guild Ace armor set is excellent for this build. It already has the Foray skill and adds Peak Performance and Constitution to the mix, which are helpful skills, too. For Talismans, we feel this is a flex slot, but the Imbibe Charm I can be great for the Elemental Absorption skill. Also, you can see that we didn’t list armor decorations here because you really only need to increase your Foray level. You could add Weakness Exploit for an affinity boost, but this build is flexible, so use whichever decorations you want.
Affinity Build
| Items | Perks |
|---|---|
| Verdoloto (Rarity 8 Artian Weapon/Affinity Infused) | Critical Boost Lv 4 (via Critical Jewel) Critical Eye Lv 1 (via Expert Jewel) |
| Gore (Beta) | Evade Window Lv 4 Constitution Lv 3 Coalescence Lv 1 Antivirus Lv 1 Flinch Free Lv 1 Maximum Might (via Might Jewel) Stamina Surge (via Refresh Jewel) |
| Sanity Charm I | Antivirus Lv 1 |
The one we feel is the best Sword and Shield build right now is what we call the Affinity build, or the crit build. As you may or may not know, Affinity increases your critical chance, which, in turn, increases your damage. For that, there are a few things you’ll need but won’t be easy to get.
First, you’ll need your best Artian weapon. We went with Rarity 8 here, but the highest you have should work as long as you focus on Affinity parts. The refining rolls may vary, but as long as you have your three initial pieces set to Affinity, that’s fine. Here, you need Critical Boost and Critical Eye skills, which come from the jewels we listed. Once you have them, equip them to increase your Affinity even more.
For the armor, we’ll use a whole Gore Beta set. To make this build shine, you’ll need to get infected with Frenzy and cure it, which will give you a huge boost, thanks to the skills that come with the armor set. We’ll also throw Maximum Might and Stamina Surge via jewels to give you more Affinity once you’re at max stamina. And in terms of talismans, you can add the Sanity Charm I, which gives you another level of Antivirus.
