Great builds in this game range from the excellent Archfiend armor and its powerful Dereliction skill to more niche builds and complex mixsets like Narwa and Ibushi. If players want to find a powerful build to propel them through the endgame or are thinking of trying out a new weapon, read on for some of the best options.

6 Elemental Switch Axe

One of the many weapons to receive a buff in the form of a new counter switch skill, the Switch Axe has propelled itself into the limelight as of late. The Switch Axe’s quick attacks are potent for exploiting the element changes in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

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Two pieces of Archfiend and two of Malzeno come together to provide Attack Boost, Weakness Exploit, Chain Crit, and Critical Element for some hefty elemental damage. A talisman with Rapid Morph and two 2nd level Decoration slots allows the player to use the Snowshear headpiece for extra Attack Boost. However, if lady luck isn’t on the player’s side, Almudron Helm X works as a suitable replacement.

5 Antique Machina Dual Threat

The Antique Machina weapons introduced in Sunbreak add an attractive steampunk aesthetic that the game otherwise lacks. However, they are not just for fashion: the Antique Machina Dual Blades come with blast and poison. This build uses Demon Mode’s considerable boost to status and Dual Blades’ new Silkbind Attack, Spiral Slash, to turn hunters into a dancing dervish of explosive and venomous death.

This build consists primarily of Kaiser and Grand Mizuha pieces to activate the Teostra and Chameleos Blessing, which improve blast and poison, respectively. These are complemented by Espinas chest and a talisman with two levels of Foray to boost damage against poisoned monsters. In addition, because this set also has many Decoration slots, players can add small decorations like Steadfast and Grinder as necessary for a comfier play style.

4 Volcanic Dereliction

The Long Sword, was for a long time, the strongest weapon in Monster Hunter: Rise. With the nerfs it received in Sunbreak, it no longer holds the crown, but it remains a powerful weapon, especially when taking advantage of the recent buffs to elemental damage.

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This set is simple: the Volcanic Apocalypse, Magma Almudron’s weapon, combined with a complete set of Archfiend armor from the final boss. This set provides maximum Resentment, Chain Crit, and Weakness Exploit, alongside the powerful Dereliction skill. This skill, ever-present in speedrunning sets, provides a considerable boost of +20 element at the cost of slowly draining the player’s health. This set uses Volcanic Apocalypse, which has the highest base element of any Long Sword, but any elemental choice can be swapped in by replacing the appropriate element attack decorations.

3 Immortal Build

The Monster Hunter aficionados at RageGamingVideos have a tradition of creating immortal builds: mixsets so incredibly tanky that no monster can kill the hunters who wield them. At last, they have brought the immortal build to life in Sunbreak.

This set combines Kushala Blessing (a skill that allows recovery to exceed red health) and Blood Rite (a skill that heals the player for a percentage of damage they deal to broken parts). This ensures a constant stream of healing. It also comes with skills like Defense Boost, Divine Blessing, and Recovery Speed to tank attacks from Sunbreak’s most dangerous monsters. RageGamingVideos recommends either Chameleos or Royal Order as the weapon of choice: Chameleos for poison status to help hunting monsters, or Royal Order for the free 50 defense they provide.

2 Thundering Charge Blade

The Charge Blade received much-needed buffs in Sunbreak, bringing it back into the limelight. In particular, Elemental Charge Blade has seen a surge in popularity. This set works with either thunder or dragon, the weapon of choice being Asylum Peal or Draquila Reaver+ respectively, and the only difference being element attack decorations. However, more monsters are weak to thunder than dragon, so Asylum Peal is generally more useful.

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Combining Narwa’s Pure and Ibushi’s Pure to grab Stormsoul gives us a 15% bonus to thunder and dragon element. In addition, Stormsoul level 4 also increases the levels of all other armor skills by 1, which lets us get a plethora of valuable skills (Guard, Guard Up, and Offensive Guard) for free. Finally, adding Archfiend legs provides excellent slots and Dereliction, a skill that massively increases elemental damage while in Red Scroll at the cost of slowly losing health.

1 Strongarm Stance Build

Sometimes, all a hunter needs is to kill a powerful monster as quickly as possible. When that time comes, this mixset is required. Building on the Great Sword’s new Strongarm Stance counter, this mixset pushes for as many offensive skills as possible while throwing defense to the wayside. Newcomers beware, as such an aggressive play style can spell doom for unprepared hunters, not just their prey.

With the right decorations and talismans, this build can reach the maximum level in Critical Eye, Attack Boost, Critical Boost, Weakness Exploit, and Offensive Guard (which procs with Strongarm Stance) while also providing a healthy helping of Resentment and Chain Crit (both of which also proc with Strongarm Stance). When used with the Fine Kamura Cleaver, the best Great Sword available, this comes out to a staggering effective raw of 860.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is available on Nintendo Switch and PC.

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