Monster Hunter Wilds Guide | Top 14 Best Weapons Ranked

Here's a list of the best weapons in Monster Hunters Wilds based on times against the Tempered Arkveld.

Game Guide by Joyramen on Mar 11, 2025

In Monster Hunter Wilds, weapon performance can vary a lot depending on the monster being haunted and the skills used. This guide ranks weapons based on their damage output against Tempered Arkveld, the current highest-tier monster in the game. The rankings that will be provided are derived from speed run times, focusing on consistency and avoiding the use of the Heroic Skill, which tends to mess with results due to its high-risk, high-reward nature.

Context for Ranking

Corrupted Mantle: A lot of the speed runs use the Corrupted Mantle, which gives you a 10% affinity boost and additional damage when your health is low. Dismantle significantly impacts your damage output and is a common factor in the top runs.

Heroics Skill: Runs that use the Heroics Skill were not included in this ranking for a fair comparison between the weapons.

Some skills on function correctly and patches that come out in the future may alter weapon performance. This ranking reflects on the current state of the game.

#14 Hunting Horn

Playstyle: It uses melody buffs to increase damage output and support. The corrupted Mantle adds an extra proc during attacks.

Strengths: Supportive play styles with decent enough damage output.

#13 Hammer

Playstyle: It focuses more on upswing combos and charge attacks to maximize your damage output. The corrupted Mantle adds extra procs when attacking.

Strength: It has high burst damage with really good knockout potential.

#12 Bow

Playstyles: It uses Discerning Dodge to maintain stamina and land consistent shots. The Corrupted Mantle enhances damage during rapid shots.

Strengths: It has high-range damage with strong mobility and it also gives you good stamina management.

#11 Dual Blades

Playstyle: Dual blades rely on triangle combos to build gauge and trigger the Corrupted Mantles extra damage procs.

Strength: They rely on a fast and aggressive place style, and it has high elemental damage potential.

#10 Light Bowgun

Playstyle: The Light Bowgun focuses on rapid-fire shots and Dash Shot Combo to maximize damage. The Corrupted Mantle adds extra procs when you use the rapid-fire attacks.

Strengths: It has high mobility and it deals consistent ranged damage.

#9 Heavy Bowgun

Playstyle: The Heavy Bowgun uses Piercing Shots and Wyvernheart for consistent damage. The Corrupted Mantle text affects when dealing damage during rapid-fire attacks.

Strengths: It has high-range damaged output with strong piercing capabilities.

#8 Switch Axe

Playstyle: It spams Full Release attacks, and it occasionally uses Saw Counters to enhance damage. The Corrupted Mantle adds extra procs during Full Release.

Strengths: The Switch Axe gives you high damage output and allows you to play an aggressive playstyle, especially when focusing on weak points.

#7 Gunlance

Playstyle: The Gunlance focuses on shelling and burst damage combos; the Corrupted Mantle increases your damage output during shelling attacks.

Strengths: The Gunlance deals high burst damage and has strong defensive capabilities.

#6 Sword and Shield

Playstyle: The Sword and Shield combines triangles combos with charge chops and perfect guards to maximize your damage output. The Corrupted Mantle adds additional procs during the triangle attacks.

Strength: The Sword and Shield is versatile and mobile, with a strong damage output and defensive options.

#5 Lance

Playstyle: The Lance relies on spoke spam and perfects guards to maintain constant damage. The Corrupted Mantle enhances your damage output during the pokes.

Strengths: The Lance has high defense, and it also deals with consistent damage, with the ability to counter monster attacks pretty well.

#4 Great Sword

Playstyle: The Great Sword mainly focuses on the True Charge Slash combos with occasional tackles to maintain aggression. The Corrupted Mantle is going to add additional damage when you do the True Charge attacks.

Strength: It deals massive burst damage, especially when you land wake-up hits or knockouts.

#3 Long Sword

Playstyle: The Long Sword utilizes the Crimson Slash Combo with rapid damage, avoiding the traditional Helm Breaker and Full Release attacks. The Corrupted Mantle will enhance your damage procs during the combo.

Strengths: Long Sword gives you fast and fluid gameplay, and it also has a high damage ceiling, especially when you focus on the weak points.

#2 Insect Glaive

Playstyle: The Insect Glaive replies on triangle spamming and the new Decending Attack to maximize damage output. The benefits you get from the Corrupted Mantle are the extra damage procs.

Strengths: The Insect Glaive gives you high mobility and consistent damage output with the ability to recover essence quickly for sustained DPS.

#1 Charge Blade

Playstyle: The Charge Blade focuses on Power Axe Mode using the chainsaw attack. The optimal combo is alternating between ED1 and ED2 attacks and sometimes using the Amped Element Discharge for knockouts.

Strengths: The Charge Blade has a high damage output, especially when you pair it up with the chainsaw combo, and effective use of paralysis for giving you additional control.

The Charge Blade currently holds the top spot in Monster Hunter Wilds; future updates and optimizations may improve other weapons' performance. These rankings give you a snapshot of the current situation, but you should experiment with different weapons to find the best fit for your play style.

Also, check out our Monster Hunter Wilds Review and other guides below:

Joy Rahman

Editor, NoobFeed

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