Sharpness in Monster Hunter World (MHW) is a factor in determining the cutting power of a Weapon and its damage output.
For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.
The Sharpness level of a weapon will degrade over the course of a fight. When wielding a Blademaster Weapon is is important to keep it at its maximum Sharpness with Whetstones. This will make cutting Monster parts easier (blade weapons only) and lower the chance of an attack being deflected.
There are 7 levels of Sharpness. Damaging Monster parts sometimes requires a weapon to currently be at a certain level.
Low Level Sharpness
Red - This is the first and lowest level of Sharpness possible. Most if not all attacks made at this Sharpness will cause a blade (or blunt weapon) to bounce off the hides of monsters.
Orange - The second level of Sharpness that is not much better than red. Many attacks will be deflected.
Yellow - The third level of Sharpness. At this level some hits can be landed on a monster in the early stages of the game.
Medium Level Sharpness
Green - The fourth level of Sharpness. This is where most attacks will be successful.
Blue - The fifth level of Sharpness. Attacks will be even more successful unless striking monsters hard parts.
High Level Sharpness
White - The sixth level of Sharpness. All attacks will be successful unless striking some monsters hard parts (particularly on Master Rank monsters).
Purple - The seventh level of Sharpness. Master Rank weapons only. All attacks will be successful unless striking some monsters hard parts.
In addition to reducing chance of deflection, Sharpness will also increase Raw (Physical) Damage and Elemental Damage.
See Attack Power for more information.
Sharpness Raw Damage Multiplier
| Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue | White | Purple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.50 | 0.75 | 1.00 | 1.05 | 1.20 | 1.32 | 1.39 |
Sharpness Elemental Damage Multiplier
| Red | Orange | Yellow | Green | Blue | White | Purple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.25 | 0.50 | 0.75 | 1.00 | 1.0625 | 1.125 | 1.25 |
Sharpness Consumption by Weapon and Motion
Sharpness consumption rate is often -1 Sharpness per hit. Some weapons or attacks for specific weapons may consume Sharpness at a faster rate.
Please note that guarding against roars, wind pressure and tremors does not cost any Sharpness.
| Motion |  |
|---|---|
| Any weapon regular attacks (hit) | -1 |
| Any weapon regular attacks (bounce) | -2 |
| Guarding (Great Sword or Charge Blade), resulting in small knockback | -1 |
| Guarding (Great Sword or Charge Blade), resulting in medium knockback | -2 |
| Guarding (Great Sword or Charge Blade), resulting in large knockback | -10 |
| Gunlance Normal Shells | -2 |
| Gunlance Long Shells | -2 |
| Gunlance Wide Shells | -3 |
| Gunlance Wyvernfire | -10 |
| Weapon | When | |
|---|---|---|
| Great Sword | Level 3 charged attacks | Significant Bonus |
| Great Sword | Level 2 charged attacks | Medium Bonus |
| Melee attacks | Effect of Demon Ammo is active | Small Bonus |
| Great Sword | Level 1 charged attacks | Small Bonus |
| Long Sword | When at maxed spirit gauge | Small Bonus |
| Sword & Shield | All attacks | Very Small Bonus |
| Great Sword | Hitting monster with the middle portion of your sword | Very Small Bonus |
| Long Sword | Hitting monster with the middle portion of your sword | Very Small Bonus |
| Lance | Using Cut damage in a Blunt hitzone | Significant Penalty |
| Blademaster weapons | Hitting monster at end of a swing, during yellow Sharpness | Significant Penalty |
| Blademaster weapons | Hitting monster at start of a swing, during yellow Sharpness | Very Significant Penalty |
Anonymous28 Apr 2020 22:38
Two questions. 1: At the end of the sharpness bar of each weapon, I can see a small portion of the bar with a glowing outline, because of which I can't see the color of that portion, what does that mean? 2: After that glowing portion, there's another one that usually has a higher sharpness color than the last one before it and it doesn't fill out the full width of the blade, instead just a very thin one, and the color of this portion doesn't seem to get detected if I filter for sharpness so I assume the weapon doesn't really have that sharpness, can anyone tell me more about this?
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15 Sep 2019 18:41
Someone tested purple sharpness on reddit. It’s the nerfed version from GU at 1.39 not 1.45
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27 Jun 2019 07:39
ouvi dizer que o fio branco além deixar muito baixa a chance de refletir ataques e possuir um dano bruto e elemental maior que os demais níveis, ela aumenta o ataque base da arma em 12 por cento .... é verídica essa informação?
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19 Aug 2018 03:04
Does a weapon's raw attack stat mean: "raw attack according to its max sharpness" or "raw attack according to yellow sharpness"?
- Anonymous
15 Aug 2018 02:30
Lunastra's "empress" weapons currently(at the time of this post) have the highest sharpness in the game. Base level has quite a bit of white sharpness and with the handicraft skill it is greatly extended.
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22 Feb 2018 03:45
What is with weapons sharpness gradually reducing of their own accord, even when sheathed?
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18 Feb 2018 15:46
I made a build with handicraft 4 or 5 working fine on diablos weapons with a rare decoration that grants polish effect after sharpening, so you can keep white sharpness indefinitely. Otherwise the odagaron set effect has the same bonus. The gem in question is the sharp gem I received on a tempered elder dragon quest (Val hazaak hr50) so while you can't extend the sharpness past the meter, it doesn't matter if you just sharpen every once in a while you can maintain white
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07 Feb 2018 23:18
this mechanic makes the diablos set bonus (increase attack when weapon loses sharpness) really dumb ... or am i missing something here?
13 Jun 2020 15:35
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