In this Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build for Beginners, we will taking a look at a Switch Axe Build that can be set up relatively early in the game in the first chapter. With the Switch Axe receiving the addition of Offset damage and counters in its arsenal this build aims to utilize the Offset strike to its full potential for maximum damage. If you can get the timing of the Offset strikes down and like countering the monsters’ attacks and feel powerful, then this build is for you.
Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build for Beginners
Equipment makes up the vast majority of your Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build for Beginners, once you’ve selected your weapon type, and there are many things to consider. Let’s begin with Weapons first, since there are many many options, and some are better than others for what we are trying to do in this Switch Axe Build.
Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build – Switch Axes
Barina Hache i
The Switch Axe is one of a few weapons that excels at rapidly applying status effects while doing massive amounts of damage, so for this build we will be using the LaLa Barina Switch Axe, the Barnia Hache I. The idea with this weapon is to rapidly build up the Paralysis status effect is by any attacks using the weapon, while using its Phials on top of those attacks to get tons of paralysis on the monster.
The Barina Hache I’s phial explosions will increase its attack power while rapidly building up the paralysis status effect making it even easier to land the big damage moves once the paralysis has been triggered as any attack that is made in the amped buff state using the sword will count as a phial explosion. The skill of the Barina Hache is the Critical Draw skill and this skill will increase the critical hit chance of your draw attack by 50%.
Iron Accelerator I
Alternatively, if you want to go for more damage, you can use the the Iron Accelerator I from the Ore tree Switch Axe as a good early option since it will offer more damage. Additionally, it offers poison phials which is always helpful since monsters will keep taking poison damage while running away. Unlike the Barina Hache though, the Iron Accelerator will only apply the poison build up only with the Phial Explosions.
The weapon skill for the Iron accelerator is the Rapid Morph skill and this skill will increase the rate at which the switch axe changes between the axe and sword form by 15% at the first level.
Dosha Fleshhacker I
Another solid option that could be potentially used till the end of the story is the Doshaguma Tree Switch Axe, the Dosha Fleshhacker.
The Dosha Fleshhacker’s weapon skill is the Power extend skill and it will increase the up time of both your Amped state and power axe buffs which will help with resource management when using the Switch Axe.
Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build – Armor
For the armor set for this Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build, we will be using four sets of the Doshaguma Set. Although it can take a little while to get to the Doshaguma in the story, this armor set is amazing because the Doshaguma set skill, Doshaguma’s Mightwill increase your attack up to +25 after a successful powerclash or an Offset attack.
This skill is the core this build is structured around as the attack stat increase is massive especially this early on in the game. The four pieces of the Doshaguma Armor set used are the Doshaguma Helm, Doshaguma Mail, Doshaguma Braces and Doshaguma Greaves. Using the helm, mail and coil of the Doshaguma armor set will allow you to get the maximum level of the free meal skill, which is level 3. The Free Meal skill gives you a chance for you not to consume items whenever you use them and the max level will have a 45% chance for this effect to trigger.
The Braces will offer the level one of Recovery Speed Skill. This skill will increases the speed at which you heal recoverable damage (Red portion of the Health Gauge when you get hit) and level one of this skill will double the rate.
These four pieces of the Doshaguma Armor Set will activate the set’s passive skill, Doshaguma’s Might which provides a temporary +25 boost to the attack stat after a successful power clash or an Offset attack. You do not need to topple the monster with the Offset attack, since just landing the attack with an Offset attack will trigger this buff.
Although this build does not revolve around this skill, it is a good skill to have and it can generally help you in hunts that can become drawn out. The coil slot remains the flex slot for this build and there are a variety of options that you can put on in this slot. But because I was going for a general supporting skill, I put on the Catacabra Coil for the Speed Eating skill.
The Speed Eating skill will increase your item consumption rate considerably and it is just a nice skill to have when you have a free flexible slot.
Talismans
The talisman slot also remains a flexible option slot in this Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build as the weapon and the skills revolve mainly around the Offset attacks. And as such I went for the Glutton Charm I further increasing the speed eating skill level providing a solid improvement to item usage during your hunts.
You can easily swap both the talisman and the coil out with pieces of your choice. For example you can switch out the coil for the Balhara Coil for the Evade Extender skill or the Bone Coil for the Marathon Runner skill.
You can swap out the Glutton’s Charm for the elemental resistance charm of your choice depending on the monster you are hunting or the Defense Charm I for the +5 increase in defense value gained from level 1 of the Defense Boost skill the talisman will provide.
Drawbacks
At this build’s core is the Doshaguma’s Might Set Bonus skill and the skill will only trigger after you’ve successfully landed an offset attack. As such, if you have trouble landing the timing of the offset attacks, this build will not provide you with any additional benefits apart from the raw defense values. This build also does not have a lot of skills that will help you with the resource management, so you will need to keep a close eye on your gauges in order not to go out of the sword form when you want to deal massive damage.
Progression Route.
You can easily put this Monster Hunter Wilds Switch Axe Build together near the end of the first chapter of the story and from there you have multiple good options to upgrade into. After reaching HR 5, you can upgrade into the Nu Udra tree, the Nu Zhangyu I for the highest damage potential.
This weapon has the potential to bring you to the end of the story without needing to switch to other weapons and armor if you upgrade your armor with armor spheres as you progress through the story.
If you want to keep using the status effects, you can upgrade into the Barina Hache II for paralysis or Iron Accelerator II for poison. Although not as strong as the Nu Zhangyu I in pure damage, the status effects and the higher affinity these weapons offer can provide similar value overall.
Final Thoughts
Even though this build is centered around the offset attacks, you can put yourself into a corner by failing to land the offset attacks and getting hit after hit by the monster. Remember to utilize the Switch Axe’s both modes for maximum effect even if you don’t have the buff from Doshaguma’s might.
As daunting as landing the offset attacks every time sounds, it is entirely possible as you learn the attack patterns of the monster as you play through the game. Even though each monster is unique in their own rights, monsters of the same family will share similar attack patterns and as such sometimes you can read a monster’s move even though it is the first time you are facing that particular monster. For example, the Nerscylla will have some attack patterns that are similar to the Bargaining when they are using their claws or their stingers even though not all the moves they can do are identical as both these monsters belong to the Temnoceran family.
Another powerful move in the Switch Axe’s moveset is the Counter Slash. Even though the move may not be listed at all times, you can perform the move any time you want in the sword mode between any moves of the combos or just go straight into the counter if you see the monster’s attack coming. The counter move is really fast and you can use this reactively much faster than the offset rising slash of the axe form.
If you are having trouble triggering the status effects from the phials, the tried and true method of using zero sum discharge will help since the massive multi hits from the elemental discharge will help with the status effect immensely.
Lastly, if you want a weapon that can trigger powerclashes as well as deal offset damage, you can use the Great Sword as a secondary weapon. When you want to finish off a monster real quick when its weak and on its last leg or are struggling to land the offset rising slash using the Switch Axe, you can switch into the Great Sword and use the guard and perfect guard to trigger the power clash and get the Doshaguma’s Might Skill buff. You can switch back to the switch axe after getting the buff using the Greatsword as the buff will stay active for a certain amount of time before needing to trigger it again.
So, that wraps up the guide for the Early game Switch Axe build for monster hunter wilds.Hope you guys found this helpful.If you are looking for a specific build ,please leave it in the comments below.
Be sure to check out the wiki for other guides and tips and may the hunt favour you!
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