Long Sword Guide
The Long Sword is a severing weapon whose Spirit Gauge funds Spirit Blade attacks while white, yellow, and red Spirit level values multiply raw damage. Its defense comes from movement and counters rather than a guard.
Scope and Weapon Model
This article assumes Monster Hunter World: Iceborne under the final balance rules. Special Sheathe, Iai Slash, and Iai Spirit Slash require Iceborne. Long Sword's displayed Attack multiplier is 3.3, so displayed Attack 990 represents 300 true raw before skills and other bonuses.
Long Sword attacks use sever hitzones. The weapon has no guard. Foresight Slash evades and counters from an existing attack, while the two Iai attacks counter from Special Sheathe. These actions have different timing, resource, damage, and skill interactions.
The official manual: Hunter's Notes identifies the in-game source for weapon controls. This article omits the button map and documents properties and transitions that the control list does not expose.
Spirit Gauge and Spirit level
The Spirit Gauge display contains two related resources:
- The inner meter fills when eligible attacks connect. Spirit Blade attacks spend this meter.
- The Spirit level is shown by the outline color: none, white, yellow, or red. Landing Spirit Roundslash raises the level once and resets its timer. When the timer expires, the level drops once.
| Spirit level | Raw damage modifier | Approximate 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 |
Spirit level and inner meter are independent. Red level can remain while the inner meter is empty, and a full inner meter does not create a colored level by itself.
Eligible non-Spirit attacks add inner meter when they connect. Meter gain can be lower against a hard raw hitzone, and the meter normally drains over time; reaching maximum meter pauses that natural drain briefly. Spirit Blade I is the exception in the Spirit sequence: it can be used without sufficient meter at reduced power, while the later Spirit Blade stages require their meter cost.
Spirit Helm Breaker and Iai Spirit Slash each consume one Spirit level. A correctly timed Iai Spirit Slash counter preserves the level instead. Power Prolonger extends the level timers but does not change their damage modifiers or remove these costs.
Important Move Values
Combined raw motion value is the sum of the listed hits before sharpness, hitzones, affinity, and applicable Spirit-level modifiers.
| Move and state | Hits | Raw MV per hit | Combined raw MV | Element per hit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spirit Blade I, insufficient meter | 1 | 14 | 14 | 1.0x |
| Spirit Blade I, sufficient meter | 1 | 26 | 26 | 1.0x |
| Iai Slash | 2 | 18 + 13 | 31 | 1.0x |
| Iai Spirit Slash, no level | 1 | 17 | 17 | 1.0x |
| Iai Spirit Slash, white | 2 | 19 + 55 | 74 | 1.0x |
| Iai Spirit Slash, yellow | 2 | 31 + 72 | 103 | 1.0x |
| Iai Spirit Slash, red | 2 | 39 + 86 | 125 | 1.0x |
| Spirit Helm Breaker, white | 7 | 10 | 70 | 0.3x |
| Spirit Helm Breaker, yellow | 7 | 15 | 105 | 0.3x |
| Spirit Helm Breaker, red | 7 | 25 | 175 | 0.3x |
Spirit Thrust has motion value 26 and must connect at white level or higher to produce the vault into Spirit Helm Breaker. Helm Breaker applies only 0.3x element on each of its seven hits, so its red-level raw motion value is the main source of its damage. A landed Helm Breaker also regenerates one full inner meter over approximately 15 seconds.
Iai Slash regenerates one full inner meter over approximately 15 seconds when it connects. A timed counter extends the effect to approximately 30 seconds and doubles its total meter gain. Iai Spirit Slash's second hit ignores the normal Spirit-level raw modifier, so its state-specific motion values must not be treated as one generic draw attack.
The insufficient-meter form of Spirit Blade I also lacks the normal Spirit attack's protection from deflection. Its availability prevents the first input from failing entirely; it is not equivalent to the sufficient-meter attack.
Raising Spirit Level
The complete ground route is Spirit Blade I, Spirit Blade II, all three hits of Spirit Blade III, and Spirit Roundslash. Only the Roundslash raises Spirit level.
The move tree contains several shorter or extended routes:
- Thrust can be inserted between Spirit Blade I and Spirit Blade II without resetting the sequence. It adds inner meter before the next Spirit Blade cost.
- Rising Slash can be inserted between Spirit Blade II and Spirit Blade III without resetting the sequence for the same reason.
- A successful Foresight Slash defense followed by a connected return slash unlocks an immediate Spirit Roundslash. The return slash also refills the inner meter.
- Aerial Draw Spirit Blade can lead directly to Spirit Roundslash when its resource conditions are met.
- Slinger Burst can be inserted between Spirit Blade attacks without resetting their sequence. Its ability to create a flinch depends on the ammunition and monster state.
Fade Slash
Fade Slash has motion value 22 and 1.0x element. From neutral it moves backward; after another attack, left or right input produces Lateral Fade Slash in the selected direction. These movements do not have an invulnerability window.
Fade Slash can branch into Thrust, Foresight Slash, Spirit Thrust, or Spirit Jumping Slash. The important Spirit-level route is:
Fade Slash -> Spirit Jumping Slash -> Spirit Blade III -> Spirit Roundslash
This route omits Spirit Blade I and II. Fade Slash therefore combines directional displacement with a shorter Roundslash route, but its movement itself does not defend against an overlapping hitbox.
Special Sheathe and Iai Routes
Special Sheathe is available after most Long Sword attacks and converts their recovery into a stance with two exits:
- Iai Slash is a two-hit draw attack. A connection starts inner-meter regeneration. It has a counter window shorter than the latter Iai attack's; correct timing strengthens and extends the regeneration.
- Iai Spirit Slash is a Spirit-level-dependent draw attack with a short counter window. It consumes one level on use; a successful counter preserves the level. At white or higher it has two hits whether or not the counter succeeds.
Spirit Roundslash normally ends in a long sheathing recovery. Special Sheathe can replace that recovery. If neither Iai exit is selected, the stance eventually becomes a normal sheathe.
Entering Special Sheathe is a commitment: movement and ordinary evasion are unavailable until the stance resolves into an Iai attack or normal sheathe. The two Iai exits can turn roughly 80 degrees to either side when they begin.
A successful red Iai Spirit Slash can link directly into Spirit Thrust and red Spirit Helm Breaker. The counter preserves red long enough for Helm Breaker to use its red values; Helm Breaker then spends the level. Without the successful Iai counter, the Iai attack spends red first and the following Helm Breaker cannot use the same red state.
Using Iai Spirit Slash from red also accelerates its immediate Spirit Thrust follow-up, whether or not the counter succeeds. Counter success is still required to preserve red for a red Spirit Helm Breaker; without it, only the faster thrust remains.
The stance can cancel portions of some longer recoveries, including an unfinished Spirit Blade III sequence. That exit abandons the Roundslash route and does not raise Spirit level. Both Iai attacks can link into Spirit Thrust. Iai Slash can also return to ordinary attacks, Spirit Blade I, or Foresight Slash.
Foresight Slash
Foresight Slash can only begin after another attack and spends the entire inner meter. Some meter must be present for its full defensive property; using it from an empty meter does not provide the same result.
Thrust has a short animation and supplies enough inner meter to enable the defensive property, making it the shortest neutral starter for Foresight Slash. Any other legal preceding attack with sufficient meter remains valid.
A complete level-raising sequence contains three separate checks:
- The backward movement overlaps an incoming hit during the defensive window.
- The returning Foresight Slash connects with a valid target, filling the inner meter.
- Spirit Roundslash connects, raising Spirit level.
Avoiding the attack alone does not raise the level. Missing the return slash prevents the direct Roundslash conversion. The return slash can hit a target other than the source of the incoming attack.
The insufficient-meter return slash has motion value 12. With a successful defensive trigger it uses motion value 26 and receives a separate 1.3x final damage modifier. Before the return slash begins, Foresight Slash can instead branch into Spirit Thrust or Special Sheathe, giving up the direct Roundslash conversion.
Evade Window extends Foresight Slash's invulnerability frames, but it does not extend the counter-recognition window of the Iai counter.
Iai Spirit Slash Counter
Iai Spirit Slash begins only from Special Sheathe. Its damage is determined by the Spirit level present when it is used. Correct timing activates the counter and preserves the level; incorrect timing can still produce the same level-dependent attack, but it spends one level.
The counter does not nullify its triggering damage. It reduces that damage to 50% and supplies hyper armor. Multiple hitboxes, lingering damage, pins, and the resulting position can still cause additional damage or an unfavorable state. Evade Window does not make this counter window longer.
Core Offensive Priority
This priority assumes a general-purpose raw Iceborne set, a Long Sword responsible for maintaining its own wounds, attacks directed at wounded sever hitzones of 45 or higher, and useful enrage uptime.
| Priority | Skill or system | Mechanical reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clutch Claw Boost Lv 1 | Long Sword is a light clutch weapon; one completed weapon attack wounds instead of two. Available from Shaver Charm or Shaver Jewel 3. |
| 1 when eligible | Non-elemental Boost Lv 1 | A single level multiplies weapon base raw by 1.05 when the weapon has no active element or only hidden element. |
| 1 | Weakness Exploit Lv 3 | Supplies 30% affinity on weak points and another 20% when wounded. |
| 1 | Affinity to the 100% conditional cap | Makes raw attacks critical consistently and supports affinity-based sharpness effects. |
| 1 | Critical Boost Lv 3 | Raises positive critical raw damage from 1.25x to 1.40x; its value rises with affinity. |
| 1 | Required sharpness support | Preserves the weapon's intended white or purple multiplier and reduces sharpening interruptions. |
| 2 | Agitator | At Lv 7, supplies 28 true raw and 20% affinity while active; Iceborne's clutch systems can create high enrage uptime. |
| 3 | Attack Boost Lv 4+ | Lv 4 reaches the 5% affinity breakpoint; later levels continue adding flat true raw. |
Critical Eye, weapon affinity, affinity augments, Weakness Exploit, Agitator, and Attack Boost must be added together. For example, 50% from the first skill and 20% from the second leave only 30% for the weapon and other skills. Affinity above 100% under the same conditions is wasted.
For an eligible weapon, Non-elemental Boost has exceptional value per skill level. Its 1.05xmodifier applies to weapon base raw before flat attack additions; it does not multiply element, status, or later flat bonuses. The final raw-component gain can therefore be slightly below 5%.
In coordinated multiplayer, another weapon may maintain the intended wound. Clutch Claw Boost then becomes conditional on team responsibility; its mechanical effect does not become weaker.
Additional Offensive and Sharpness Skills
| Skill | When it contributes | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Peak Performance | Adds raw while health is full; pairs with a Health Regen augment. | Any unrecovered damage disables it. |
| Coalescence | Adds raw and element after recovering from a blight or abnormal status. | Depends on the monster applying a removable condition. |
| Resentment | Adds raw while recoverable health is present, notably with Dragonvein Awakening sets. | Conflicts with consistently full-health conditions. |
| Fortify | Each faint raises attack and Defense, up to two activations. | Has no value before a faint and is quest-context dependent. |
| Fire Attack, Water Attack, Thunder Attack, Ice Attack, Dragon Attack | Increase the matching active element for an element-relevant matchup. | Long Sword's strongest spender has only 0.3x element per Helm Breaker hit. |
| Critical Element or True Critical Element | Allows element to benefit from affinity. | Requires the corresponding set bonus and enough element damage to justify it. |
| Free Elem/Ammo Up | Awakens a hidden element or status. | Can disable Non-elemental Boost and costs up to Lv 3. |
| Poison Attack, Paralysis Attack, Sleep Attack, Blast Attack | Increase buildup for the matching active weapon status. | Status triggers at thresholds rather than adding direct damage to every hit. |
| Critical Status or True Critical Status | Allows successful status-applying hits to gain a critical buildup modifier. | Requires the corresponding set bonus and a status weapon. |
| Frostcraft, Critical Draw, Punishing Draw | Special Sheathe and Iai attacks enable draw-focused set interactions and added stun. | Benefits a narrower part of the move set than the general affinity package. |
| Partbreaker | Reaches breaks and sever-related objectives sooner. | Raises part damage, not the direct health damage number. |
| Latent Power | Supplies conditional affinity and reduces stamina consumption after its activation requirement. | Its activation and uptime are less controllable than wound or enrage conditions. |
| Heroics | Multiplies attack at very low health. | Requires health below 35%; Iai counter damage and ordinary chip make the condition fragile. |
| Handicraft | Reaches or lengthens a useful sharpness color. | Does nothing when the weapon's sharpness gauge is already full. |
| Master's Touch | Prevents sharpness loss on critical hits. | Requires reliable affinity and the set bonus. |
| Protective Polish | Prevents sharpness loss for a fixed period after sharpening. | Requires a sharpening cycle. |
| Razor Sharp/Spare Shot or True Razor Sharp/Spare Shot | Reduces expected sharpness consumption. | Does not guarantee that an individual hit preserves sharpness. |
| Speed Sharpening | Shortens the whetstone animation. | Does not preserve sharpness between uses. |
Long Sword is usually raw-oriented because red Spirit Helm Breaker has combined raw motion value 175 but only 0.3x element on each hit. Element remains relevant with strong hitzones, little raw tradeoff, or a hunt-specific requirement such as Alatreon's suppression threshold.
Core Defensive and Utility Priority
| Priority | Skill or system | Mechanical effect for Long Sword |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health Boost Lv 3 | Raises the normal 150 HP cap to 200, a 33.3% effective-health increase. Redundant with four-piece Fatalis armor. |
| 1 | Fully upgraded armor | Defense applies to both physical and elemental portions of incoming monster damage. |
| 2 | Divine Blessing Lv 3 or Lv 5 | Chance-based reduction of large damage spikes; Lv 5 requires Divine Blessing Secret. |
| 2 | Stun Resistance Lv 3 | Removes stun and the follow-up hits it permits. |
| 2 | Matching resistance or Blight Resistance | Twenty matching elemental resistance prevents its blight; non-elemental statuses use their own resistance skills. |
| 3 | Evade Window | Extends rolls and Foresight Slash invulnerability, but not Iai Spirit Slash's counter window. |
| 3 | Flinch Free Lv 1 | Prevents common teammate knockbacks; it does not stop the Long Sword from flinching teammates. |
Defense Boost normally adds less effective health per slot than Health Boost at Master Rank defense, but its elemental resistance or a particular survival threshold can still be relevant.
Additional Defensive and Utility Skills
| Skill | What it changes | Important limit |
|---|---|---|
| Evade Extender | Increases roll distance and Foresight Slash displacement. | Can move the return slash away from the intended part. |
| Recovery Up | Increases healing received, including health-regeneration effects. | Does not make an incoming hit smaller. |
| Recovery Speed | Accelerates recovery of the red portion of the health bar. | Does not restore health already lost beyond the red portion. |
| Speed Eating | Shortens consumable use time. | Changes recovery exposure, not damage reduction. |
| Free Meal | Sometimes prevents an item from being consumed. | Changes item economy, not the result of a hit. |
| Tool Specialist | Shortens mantle and booster recharge time. | Value depends on the equipped specialized tools. |
| Earplugs | Prevents specified roar levels from interrupting actions. | Expensive and overlaps with Foresight Slash when a starter attack is available. |
| Tremor Resistance | Reduces or prevents tremor interruption. | Only applies to attacks that produce tremors. |
| Windproof | Reduces or prevents ordinary wind-pressure interruption. | Does not cover every special wind effect. |
| Guts | Prevents one qualifying lethal hit while above its health threshold. | Does not protect against follow-up damage or every lethal mechanic. |
| Resuscitate | Improves evasion and reduces stamina use while afflicted by a blight or ailment. | Requires an active condition. |
| Slinger Capacity | Increases carried slinger ammunition and can change remaining ammunition after a flinch shot. | Depends on ammunition type and does not increase weapon damage directly. |
| Provoker | Makes the hunter more likely to be targeted. | Changes multiplayer targeting rather than counter timing. |
| Wide-Range | Shares supported item effects with nearby teammates. | A team-support function with no special Long Sword multiplier. |
| Mushroomancer | Makes specified mushrooms usable as consumables. | Changes item access and inventory economy rather than weapon mechanics. |
| Item Prolonger | Extends supported item-effect durations. | Applies only to listed temporary item effects. |
Monster-specific effects can make Effluvia Resistance, Bleeding Resistance, Blast Resistance, Poison Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Sleep Resistance, Heat Guard, or Aquatic/Polar Mobility more important than a general-purpose comfort skill.
Low-Impact and Non-Interactions
- Quick Sheath shortens Special Sheathe only modestly in World. It can change a narrow timing but is not the transformative Long Sword skill found in later games.
- Focus increases inner-meter generation but does not raise Spirit level directly. The two counters, Iai meter regeneration, Helm Breaker, and inserted normal attacks already provide meter sources.
- Power Prolonger extends Spirit-level timers but does not increase their modifiers. Both level-spending attacks consume a level regardless of remaining duration.
- Maximum Might depends on full stamina, which rolling and repositioning can interrupt.
- Airborne does not increase Spirit Helm Breaker damage; Helm Breaker is not treated as an eligible jumping attack for this skill.
- Guard, Guard Up, and Offensive Guard do not turn the evasion counter or either Iai counter into a guard and provide no direct counter benefit.
- Mind's Eye/Ballistics prevents ordinary deflection, but Spirit Blade attacks already have deflection protection. Neither effect improves a hard hitzone's damage.
- Slugger affects only stun buildup. Ordinary Long Sword attacks do not gain stun from it; a draw-focused set first needs a stun source such as Punishing Draw.
Settings and Mechanical Details
Setting Automatic Sheathe to Manual prevents the game from sheathing the weapon merely because the hunter has stopped attacking. It does not remove Spirit Roundslash's built-in sheathing recovery; Special Sheathe is the Iceborne transition that replaces that recovery.
- Directional input aims Foresight Slash's movement and return path. The initial movement is away from the selected direction.
- Spirit Helm Breaker can aim its vault within a forward arc and turn the descending cut through a full circle. Its seven hits can distribute over nearby parts, so they need not strike the part contacted by Spirit Thrust.
- Spirit Blade attacks resist deflection, but hard-part damage remains reduced by the hitzone and still consumes sharpness.
- Long Sword's wide arcs can flinch teammates. A teammate's Flinch Free protects that teammate; no Long Sword skill prevents the weapon's own attacks from causing that interruption.