Long Sword Guide
Long Sword is a dance. Stay within reach and turn a monster's attack into momentum. Use short attacks so that a counter remains available. A clean Foresight Slash avoids the hit, and its return slash can lead directly to Spirit Roundslash, raising the Spirit level by one step. Once the level reaches red, spend it on Spirit Helm Breaker: thrust into a real opening, vault, turn in the air, and drop all seven hits onto the part you chose.
The weapon has no shield. Its defense comes from keeping an exit available: move away, use Foresight Slash, or enter Special Sheathe early enough to prepare Iai Spirit Slash.
This guide covers Iceborne's final balance. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes for the complete weapon controls; the official manual covers general controls. Combat Mechanics explains why the same swing hits for different numbers. Every move is in Motion Values.
If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.
Counter and resources
Long Sword cannot counter from a neutral stance. You must already be attacking. Short moves such as Thrust and Rising Slash keep the route open without trapping you in a long animation. When the monster begins its tell, that unfinished route becomes your defense.
Foresight Slash is the main counter while building Spirit level. Start it after an attack, move its backstep through the incoming hit, and decide what the monster's recovery allows. If the return slash and Spirit Roundslash can both connect safely, take the level. If you are already red and the monster will remain still long enough, skip the return slash and use the opening for Spirit Thrust into Spirit Helm Breaker.
Special Sheathe prepares a different decision. It follows most attacks but locks you in place until you choose an Iai attack or finish sheathing. Use Iai Slash after a safe attack when you want Spirit Gauge recovery. Iai Spirit Slash is the committed counter: mistiming it spends one Spirit level, while correct timing keeps the level and can create a route into Spirit Helm Breaker.
Do not judge a counter only by whether its timing condition succeeded. Read whether the attack has another hitbox, where the monster will finish, whether the target part will remain in reach, and how long the recovery lasts. Those cues decide whether to raise the level, spend red, or stop and reposition.
Two separate resources determine which counter route is available. The Spirit Gauge is the fillable bar. Eligible attacks add to it, and Spirit Blade attacks spend it. Filling this bar does not raise the weapon's color by itself.
The Spirit level is the color state: none, white, yellow, or red. Landing Spirit Roundslash spends the filled bar, raises the color one step, and resets that color's timer. When the timer expires, the color drops one step. Red multiplies physical damage by 1.20x.
| Spirit level | Physical | Duration |
|---|---|---|
| None | 1.00x | No timer |
| White | 1.05x | 3 min 15 sec |
| Yellow | 1.10x | 2 min 15 sec |
| Red | 1.20x | 1 min |
The Spirit level can remain red while the Spirit Gauge is empty. Spirit Helm Breaker and Iai Spirit Slash each spend one Spirit level. A timed Iai Spirit Slash keeps the level instead. lengthens the timers; it does not change the multipliers or remove those costs.
Thrust
Thrust is a short attack that lets you follow with Special Sheathe or Foresight Slash. The thrust does not have to hit. When you are standing still and expect an incoming swing, use Thrust into empty air so you can start Foresight Slash in time to counter it.
Use Thrust → Rising Slash → Thrust when you need to wait for a tell. Each attack is short, so you are less likely to be trapped in a long animation when the tell begins. A hit also builds enough Spirit Gauge to give Foresight Slash its full defensive property. Even if the attack misses, you can still start Foresight Slash or Special Sheathe. Once your Spirit level is red, use Thrust → Special Sheathe while waiting to counter with Iai Spirit Slash.
Foresight Slash
Foresight Slash can only start after another attack, and it spends the whole Spirit Gauge. In Iceborne, starting it without enough gauge still moves you backward, but the counter effect does not activate.
A complete level-up from Foresight Slash has three checks:
- The counter window during the backstep overlaps the incoming hit, invalidating it.
- The returning Foresight Slash connects, filling the Spirit Gauge.
- Spirit Roundslash connects, raising Spirit level.
Invalidating the attack alone does not raise the level. Missing the return slash prevents the direct Spirit Roundslash. The return slash can hit a different target than the attack you countered. When the counter succeeds, the return slash deals 1.3x its normal damage.
The backstep does not force you to perform the return slash. After a successful backstep, choose between these two routes:
- Return slash → Spirit Roundslash — the level-up.
- Skip the return slash → Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker. Spirit Thrust from Thrust or Spirit Blade cannot turn backward; the backstep of Foresight Slash can face any direction before the vault. Use this backstep route when you already have a color and the target part is behind you.
After the backstep, you can enter Special Sheathe before the return slash begins. Use this branch when the counter misses or the monster moves out of reach, so you do not commit to a return slash that cannot help. Then land Iai Slash to start regenerating the Spirit Gauge.
extends the invulnerability of Foresight Slash. It does not extend Iai Spirit Slash.
Special Sheathe and Iai
Special Sheathe is available after most Long Sword attacks. It turns recovery into a stance with two exits. You cannot move or roll until you perform an Iai attack or allow the stance to end in a normal sheathe.
- Iai Slash is a two-hit draw. Landing it starts gradual Spirit Gauge recovery that lasts about 15 seconds. Correctly timing it against an attack extends that recovery to about 30 seconds.
- Iai Spirit Slash is the fight-loop counter. Damage depends on the Spirit level when you use it. A successful counter keeps the level; a mistimed attempt still performs the attack and spends the level.
Iai Spirit Slash begins with a short counter window inside a slightly longer invulnerability window. The hit that triggers a properly timed counter deals no damage. Success then grants about two seconds of hyper armor: a lingering or later hitbox can deal half damage after the invulnerability ends, but it will not knock you back. The first hit was avoided; the follow-up was endured.
From yellow or red, a successful Iai Spirit Slash can lead into Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker. Take that route only when the countered attack leaves enough recovery for the thrust and descending hit. If Iai Spirit Slash is mistimed, it has already spent the level, so Spirit Helm Breaker cannot use that same color.
Spirit Roundslash normally ends in a long sheathe. Special Sheathe replaces that recovery. The landing pose after Spirit Helm Breaker is another long recovery. Special Sheathe is the direct cancel after landing; otherwise wait until the normal recovery allows you to move or roll.
Spirit Blade III has three hits. You can enter Special Sheathe before the third hit instead of finishing the attack. Use this cancel when a swing is coming and you need an Iai counter more than the final hit.
Once you enter Special Sheathe, you must wait for an Iai attack or a normal sheathe before you can move again. The Spirit Gauge recovery from Iai Slash overlaps with the recovery from Spirit Helm Breaker. Land both attacks and the Spirit Gauge refills quickly enough to use Spirit Blade attacks without first landing extra gauge-building hits.
Spirit Helm Breaker
Spirit Thrust must connect at white or higher to vault into Spirit Helm Breaker.
| Spirit Helm Breaker | Hits | Combined physical | Element per hit | Spirit Gauge recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 7 | 70 | 0.3x | About two thirds over 10 sec |
| Yellow | 7 | 105 | 0.3x | About two thirds over 10 sec |
| Red | 7 | 175 | 0.3x | One full gauge over 15 sec |
The move spends one Spirit level, so wait for a recovery that keeps the desired part in reach for the thrust, vault, and descending cut. Red delivers 175 combined physical motion value but only 2.1x total element across all seven hits. That makes repeated red Spirit Helm Breaker strongly favor physical damage, without proving that every hunt or every Long Sword build should ignore element.
Aim the vault in a forward arc; the descending cut can turn a full circle. The seven hits can split across nearby parts.
Spirit Thrust from a Foresight Slash backstep can reach a monster that finished behind your original position. After landing, Special Sheathe cancels the recovery so you can prepare the next Iai decision.
Building a level
The full ground Spirit route is Spirit Blade I → Spirit Blade II → Spirit Blade III → Spirit Roundslash. Only Spirit Roundslash raises the level. Then Special Sheathe replaces the long sheathe, and you climb again or wait.
Spirit Blade I steps forward without being a roll. It can still come out with too little Spirit Gauge, but with reduced power, and it can bounce. Later Spirit Blade stages require their full gauge cost.
Fade Slash repositions without ending the attack route; left or right input produces the lateral version. Follow either one with Spirit Jumping Slash → Spirit Blade III → Spirit Roundslash. This skips Spirit Blade I and Spirit Blade II, so the complete route to Spirit Roundslash costs less Spirit Gauge while moving you to a better angle.
Use these shorter routes during a hunt:
- Spirit Blade I → Thrust → Spirit Blade II, or Spirit Blade II → Rising Slash → Spirit Blade III. The insert does not reset the sequence. Both add Spirit Gauge before the next Spirit cost.
- Spirit Blade I (or II, or Spirit Blade III) → Slinger Burst → the next Spirit hit, facing any direction. You cannot insert Slinger Burst after Spirit Roundslash. Whether the burst flinches depends on the ammo.
- When the return slash of Foresight Slash connects, follow it with Spirit Roundslash to raise the level. When you already have a color and the opening is large enough for Spirit Helm Breaker, skip the return slash and use Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker instead.
- When jumping from a ledge with the weapon sheathed, use Aerial Draw Spirit Blade → Spirit Roundslash on landing. With the weapon drawn, use Jumping Spirit Blade → Spirit Roundslash. A slope slide can also lead from a Spirit attack into Spirit Roundslash. The earlier hit builds Spirit Gauge; the Roundslash at the end is what raises the level.
Fight loop
First raise the Spirit level to red. While building color, use Thrust → Rising Slash → Thrust to stay active without committing to a long animation. When a tell begins, start Foresight Slash from the attack already in progress. If you were standing still, use Thrust into empty air first to make the counter available. After the backstep succeeds, connect the return slash and Spirit Roundslash to raise the level.
At red, keep using short attacks while waiting for the monster to commit. Enter Special Sheathe only when you are prepared to hold the stance. A correctly timed Iai Spirit Slash keeps red and leaves you close to the monster. Continue immediately into Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker only when the monster's recovery is long enough and the desired part will remain in reach. Otherwise, take the successful counter and return to short attacks instead of forcing the spend.
Foresight Slash creates the same choice. When you still need color, use its return slash into Spirit Roundslash. When you are already red, you may skip the return slash and use Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker, but only if the countered attack has actually left a long punish window. After landing, use Special Sheathe to cancel the recovery and prepare the next decision.
Against Great Jagras, practice the opening by using Flinch Shot to drive it into a wall, then wound the head, or the belly after it swallows an Aptonoth. Long Sword is a light weapon, so it normally needs two clutch weapon attacks to wound unless you have . Use the knockdown to raise Spirit level rather than waiting for a counter that cannot occur while the monster is down.
During any knockdown, use a route into Spirit Roundslash when the level is below red. When it is already red, use Spirit Thrust → Spirit Helm Breaker on the target part. Do not spend a non-attacking opening waiting for Iai Spirit Slash. Use Special Sheathe after landing to prepare for the monster's wake-up attack.
When an attack threatens, prefer Foresight Slash while building color because its successful return route can raise the level. At red, Iai Spirit Slash can preserve that level and leave you close enough to punish the monster's recovery, but mistiming it spends red. Choose it only for a tell you can read. When you need Spirit Gauge recovery, use Iai Slash proactively after a safe attack rather than treating it as a replacement for those defensive counters.
Skills
When hits start to hurt, finish the Core defensive priorities before adding more damage. Getting Started explains meals, the path, and Armor Sphere use. Combat Mechanics explains Defense, the effect of reaching 20 resistance, and . Target a wounded severable part whose physical hitzone is 45 or higher.
Core priorities
Build around the weapon and armor you actually use. These are priorities, not a claim that every final-balance set contains every row.
| Offensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 3 | Adds affinity when you keep hitting a wounded part whose physical hitzone is 45 or higher. If the hunt does not let you stay on that part, its real value falls. |
| and | Raise affinity toward 100% on the part you actually target, then strengthen the critical hits you can produce. The best order depends on the affinity already supplied by the weapon, , and other armor skills; affinity above 100% has no effect. |
| Adds attack and affinity while the monster is enraged. A wall collision from Flinch Shot helps bring that state forward. Lv 7 requires . | |
| Maintain white or purple sharpness | Dropping to a lower sharpness color reduces physical damage. Choose one method from Maintain sharpness below. |
| Defensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 3 | Raises the health cap to 200 after a meal. Skip it when an armor-set bonus already grants the same health increase. |
| Armor Sphere | Raises Defense at the smithy. Spend them on armor you expect to keep when hits start to hurt. |
| 20 matching resistance | Reaching 20 resistance to an element prevents its blight. Use , , , , , or as needed. |
| A chance to reduce the damage you take. Lv 5 needs . | |
| Lv 3 | Stops stun. Stun is the lock that lets the next hit faint you. |
In a group, add Lv 1. It stops common teammate knockbacks but does not stop your wide attacks from flinching them. Solo, skip it.
Often added, not required:
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 1 | Lets this light weapon wound in one clutch weapon attack instead of two. Use it when you are responsible for maintaining the wound; another hunter may already fill that role in a group. Shaver Charm or Shaver Jewel 3. |
| Lv 1 | Multiplies physical damage by 1.05 only when the weapon has no active element. It does nothing on an elemental weapon. |
| Lv 4+ | Adds attack in remaining slots. Lv 4 also adds 5% affinity. |
| Adds physical damage at full health. Any unrecovered damage turns it off. | |
| Adds attack while recoverable red health remains on the health bar. Pair it with or only when the build is deliberately designed around red health. | |
| Adds affinity at full stamina. The Thrust waiting loop does not spend stamina, but a roll turns the skill off. | |
| Raises Attack, element, and status buildup after you recover from a blight or abnormal status. | |
| Adds affinity and reduces stamina use after enough time passes or you take enough damage. Its activation is less controllable than . | |
| Each Slinger Burst between Spirit attacks consumes one round, so the larger stack gives more redirects, not a stronger burst. Extra rounds do not increase Flinch Shot damage or wall-collision damage. | |
| Breaks tails and horns faster. It does not raise damage to health. | |
| Extra attack and defense after a faint, up to two times. Do not plan to faint. |
Maintain sharpness
Choose one method for maintaining white or purple sharpness.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adds sharpness when the gauge is not already full. | |
| No sharpness loss on criticals. | |
| No sharpness loss for a fixed time after you sharpen. | |
| Fewer sharpness ticks on average. | |
| The stronger set-bonus version. | |
| In World, an interrupted whetstone restarts from the beginning. This is how a sharpen fits in a small opening. |
Comfort
Use these skills to solve a problem that is actually interrupting your hunt. When that problem stops costing openings, return the slots to damage or sharpness priorities.
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Shortens the animation that enters Special Sheathe. Use it when that animation repeatedly prevents you from preparing an Iai attack in time; it does not strengthen the counter itself. | |
| Extends the timers for white, yellow, and red Spirit level. Use it when red repeatedly expires before a safe spend. A successful Iai Spirit Slash keeps the level, and Spirit Roundslash resets its timer, so a clean counter loop needs this less. | |
| Potions and other heals restore more. | |
| Drink faster. Sheathe, move, then drink. | |
| The red (recoverable) part of the health bar returns faster. | |
| More Defense on top of Armor Sphere. | |
| Lv 3 prevents elemental blights; lower levels shorten their duration. Use it when matching resistance cannot reach 20. | |
| Survives one otherwise fatal hit when health is above its activation threshold. The next hit can still faint you. | |
| Mantles come back faster. Temporal and Rocksteady make clutch attacks safer. | |
| Longer invulnerability on rolls and Foresight Slash, not Iai Spirit Slash. | |
| You keep attacking through a roar. Expensive; Foresight Slash already answers many roars when you have an attack ready to start it. | |
| Reduces the stamina cost of rolls and other actions with fixed stamina costs. It does not reduce stamina drained by sprinting. | |
| Reduces the continuous stamina drain from clutching and sprinting. | |
| Gives consumed items a chance not to be used up. |
Styles
Repeated red Spirit Helm Breaker strongly rewards physical damage, but weapon choice and the target still matter. Element and status setups replace parts of the physical package; they are not extra skills to stack on top of it.
| Style | Skills |
|---|---|
| Element | Match the target's weakness with one elemental Attack skill and one compatible armor package, such as or . matters only when the weapon's element is hidden, and activating that element disables . Do not treat every elemental set bonus in the catalog as one combined build. |
| Status | Choose the Attack skill for the weapon's status, then add or only when the armor package and affinity support it. Status buildup is not direct damage on the hit. |
This hunt
Add a matchup skill only after the target creates a specific problem in the counter loop. These rows describe the problem that justifies the cost.
| Problem during this hunt | Skill | Why |
|---|---|---|
| You choose to fight through a blight or status instead of preventing it | Improves evasion invulnerability and reduces stamina depletion only while the condition is active. It is an alternative to preventing that condition, not an addition to a resistance setup that already prevents it. | |
| The target inflicts Defense Down | Lv 3 prevents Defense Down; lower levels shorten its duration. It has no value when the target cannot inflict the ailment. | |
| Strong wind pressure repeatedly interrupts Spirit Helm Breaker | Prevents the interruption. Check the target's wind-pressure tier first; does not cover every tier. | |
| Tremors repeatedly interrupt Spirit Helm Breaker | Preserves the opening that would otherwise be lost to the tremor. | |
| Environmental effluvia in the Rotten Vale drains health while you commit to an attack | Prevents that environmental drain. It does not protect against every effluvia effect used by monsters. |
Skills that look better than they are
- accelerates Spirit Gauge gain but does not raise Spirit level. Take it only when gauge shortage is actually preventing a needed Spirit route; successful counters and the recovery from Iai Slash or Spirit Helm Breaker already supply large amounts of gauge.
- does not increase Spirit Helm Breaker.
- , , and do not turn Foresight Slash or Iai Spirit Slash into a guard.
- stops ordinary bouncing, but Spirit Blade attacks already resist bounce. It does not make a hard part a good target.
- raises attack as sharpness falls, while Long Sword normally protects white or purple sharpness for their stronger damage multipliers. Building around both goals is a contradiction.
- requires dangerously low health. A mistimed counter or a lingering hitbox that outlasts Iai Spirit Slash's invulnerability can still reach you, so committing to that counter near the activation threshold creates an immediate faint risk.
- improves exhaust buildup, but Long Sword does not build exhaust.
- requires a slide. Iai Spirit Slash does not count as one.
- improves mounting, but Spirit Helm Breaker does not deal mounting damage. Attacks performed after a ledge jump can deal mounting damage.
- requires 40% health before it reduces the stamina cost of rolls. Iai Spirit Slash and Foresight Slash do not spend stamina.
Ordinary Long Sword hits do not build stun — alone does not add any.
Settings
Set Automatic Sheathe to Manual so the game does not sheathe just because you stopped attacking. The Manual setting does not remove the built-in sheathe of Spirit Roundslash; Special Sheathe is the Iceborne replacement.
The wide arcs of Long Sword flinch teammates. Their protects them; nothing on your set stops you from causing that.