Sword and Shield |
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| Weapon Type | Melee |
| Damage Type | Cut & Blunt Damage |
| Upgrades | ?? |
Sword and Shield (片手剣 kata te ken, "paired hand and sword") is a weapon category in Monster Hunter World (MHW). Like all Weapons, it features a unique moveset and an upgrade path that branches out depending on the materials used. Please see Weapon Mechanics for details on the basics of your hunter tools.
Lightweight and easy to use, the sword & shield also boasts outstanding attack speed. The shield can be used to guard, though it may not hold up to certain attacks.
Sword and Shield Weapon Tree
For full details, including rare 9 and above weapons added with Iceborne please see Sword & Shield Weapon Tree
You can also see Iceborne Sword and Shields.
Sword and Shield Traits & Abilities
- Hunters can use Items with their weapons drawn and whilst guarding
- Fast recovery time, allowing for the chaining of attacks and blocks, at the expense of damage
- One of the highest dps raw weapons
Sword and Shield Guide
If you were to look in a Moster Hunter dictionary for the word versatility, you would find a picture of the Sword & Shield. High mobility, 2nd highest attack speed in the game, a mix of cutting and blunt attacks, a decent blocking ability, and the ability to use items and the slinger while still drawn, the Sword & Shield can do it all. On the offense, the Sword & Shield demands tenacity of its user. Hunters must stay on top of the monster and never stop attacking. The Sword & Shield specializes in rapid slashing combos, with the ocasional shield bash thrown in. This makes it equally good at severing tails and stunning monsters. Thanks to the light, quick nature of its attacks, the Sword & Shield has good reaction time when it comes to defense. Hunters can run at full speed, and dodge attacks without worrying about being locked into attack animations. The Shield part of the Sword & Shield also allows hunters to block monster attacks. While it is not the strongest block in the game, it is still an invaluable part of the Sword & Shield fighting style. Lastly, Hunters are able to use items and their slinger while their weapon is still drawn. This ability is useful in countless ways, from healing and buffing yourself and teamates, to traversing the map and shooting at distant targets.
Actions with Weapon Drawn
If you use the Sword & Shield, you can still use items while your weapon is drawn by holding down the Guard button.
Claw Uppercut
Unlike most light weapons, Sword & Shield can soften the monster in one attack sequence by using the Claw Uppercut (
after evading) - also called Clawryuken - and following it up with a clutch attack.
Falling Bash and Perfect Rush
Sword & Shield has access to two great burst damage combos after a backstep: Falling Bash, which can also deal blunt or mount damage, and Perfect Rush, one of the most damaging combos in the game.
Infinite Mount Finisher
Unique to Sword & Shield is the ability to extend the number of hits of its mount finisher almost indefinitely by delaying the button presses. This gives its teammates a huge window to attack all while building stun damage if done on the head.
Sword and Shield Advantages
- One of the most versatile and free-form weapons in the game
- The only weapon to be able to use items without sheathing
- The only weapon to be able to perform a slinger burst from neutral position
- Naturally deals sever and blunt damage
- Perfect Rush has very high damage (similar to Hammer's Big Bang combo) and can be cancelled at any time
- One of three weapons to be able to deal mounting damage without utilizing the environment or Glider Mantle (the other being the Insect Glaive and Lance)
- Reasonably high Elemental Damage and Status Ailments buildup (note that shield attacks don't apply elemental or status damage)
- Backstep has a high amount of i-frames
Sword and Shield Disadvantages
- Very short reach
- Consumes sharpness rather rapidly (note that shield attacks don't consume sharpness)
- Weakest shield in the game
- High execution requirements due to directional and timed inputs
Sword and Shield Controls
Each move has its own Motion Value (MV), which is used when calculating Raw (physical) Damage. See the article on Attack Power for more information.
All attacks deal sever damage unless mentioned otherwise.
: Standard Attacks. MVs:
- Chop: 14
- Side Slash: 13
- Sword & Shield Combo: 10 (blunt) + 20
- any
(except 
) + after any attack: Spiral Slash (MV: 16; 17 if backwards) -> : Thrust (MV: 22) 
: Strong Attacks. MVs:
- Lateral Slash: 22
- Return Stroke: 21
- Roundslash: 30
- + : Shield Combo (blunt damage). MVs:
- Shield Attack: 8
- Shield Bash: 16
- Hard Bash: 31
- + after any attack: Roundslash
+ (or after evading/using certain attacks): Backstep (has high invincibility frames; hold to charge)- (Release) after charging Backstep: Falling Bash Combo. MVs:
- Charged Slash: 29 + 40
- Scaling Slash: 35
- ( after Scaling Slash) Jumping Slash: 20
- ( after Scaling Slash) Falling Bash: 43 + 39 (blunt damage)
- while holding Backstep: Perfect Rush Combo. MVs:
- Leaping Slash: 30
- Perfect Rush I: 25 (blunt) + 23 + 30
- Perfect Rush II: 35 (blunt)
- Perfect Rush III: 45 + 45 (8 if failed)
- Perfect Rush I (timed): 45 (blunt) + 45 + 60
- Perfect Rush II (timed): 55 (blunt)
- Perfect Rush III (timed): 65 + 70 (13 if failed)
- while jumping off a ledge: Jumping Slash. MV: 20
- + (or + while sheathed/release a non-fully charged Backstep): Advancing Slash. MV: 18
- after Advancing Slash: Short Shield Bash. MV: 6 (blunt damage)
- + off a ledge: Jumping Advancing Slash (MV: 18) -> / : Jumping Slash
- + against a ledge: Rising Advancing Slash (MV: 20) -> / : Jumping Slash
- + against a special wall: Helm Breaker (aka Helmsplitter). MV: 14 * number of hits
- + down a slope: Sliding Slash. MVs: 10 + 35 -> / : Jumping Rising Slash -> / : Jumping Slash
: Guard
- during Guard: Rising Slash. MV: 14
- during Guard: Guard Slash. MV: 14
- + during Guard: Backstep
- after evading: Claw Uppercut (clutches onto the monster and applies softening). MV: 8
- : Ready Slinger
- + : Fire Slinger
- +
or + : Use Items - +
: switch between Aim Slinger and Slinger Burst Aim - in Slinger Burst Aim: Slinger Burst -> : Leaping Slash (can be followed with Perfect Rush)
Sword and Shields are a type of Weapon in Monster Hunter World (MHW). This page shows a visual gallery of all different styles for Sword & Shield. Weapons are often upgraded based on previous decisions, with different paths leading to different looks and necessitating different materials. You can find detailed upgrade path information in the Sword & Shield Weapon Tree or by clicking each individual weapon below.
Iceborne Sword & Shields are Master Rank Sword & Shields in Monster Hunter World Iceborne (MHW). These rare 9 and above weapons were added with the Iceborne Expansion and can only be obtained by players who own the expansion. The weapons use Master Rank Materials that can be obtained by completing quests and doing endgame content.
Iceborne Sword & Shields
Sword & Shield Gallery MHW
Sword and Shield Ore Weapons
Sword and Shield Bone Weapons
Kulve Taroth Swords & Shields
Safi'jiiva Weapons:
AnonymousThis weapon has indeed very high dps potential but your apm has to be insane in order to achieve that.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
If used properly, one of the highest damage weapons in the game. If you time it right, perfect rush can easily deal over 1k without crazy rare decos. Not to mention sns arguably uses the environment best. Do not think this is just a beginner or support weapon. I’ve ran support for many safi sieges and still get the attention of the monster. Just try to learn the openings for perfect rush. Most moves can combo into a back step, which is when sns is most dangerous. Falling shield bash can be comboed with back step then perfect rush to help them hammer bros. Just for the love of god use flinch free if in multiplayer.
- Anonymous
Some note about certain combos/moves being only available if you purchased the expansion would have been nice. Tried for an hour to get the perfect rush combo to work with multiple youtube videos and finally found some info that i need the expansion for it to work. The same goes fot the claw uppercut i think?
- Anonymous
"One of two weapons to be able to deal mounting damage without utilizing the environment or Glider Mantle (the other being the Insect Glaive)" This line is wrong as there are three weapons that can mount without having to use the environment or glider mantle: The sword and sheild, the insect glaive, and the lance due to being able to leap up while doing it's charging move.
- Anonymous
I’m playing the iceborne beta and got to say the sns doesn’t really get anything except one combo I’ve activated twice on accident. If it did get something it’s kinda hard to notice. Kinda feels like it’s kinda got nothing but a order to share it’s toys.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
an interesting note I found is that striking monsters with just the shield does not deplete sharpness (tested on a Great Jagras), but its damage output will be based on the current sharpness level. Therefore you can technically beat up a monster with the sword and shield and never have to re-sharpen your blade if you exclusively shield bash combo (just don't strike it with the blade), which is amusing but I doubt many people will actually use that tactic...as you won't be able to use any elements if you exclusively shield bash...
- Anonymous
片手剣 kata te ken, is "one handed sword" not "paired hand and sword"
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
A complaint i have with this weapon is that outside of the perfect rush the MVs are really low. Sunbreak fixed this but they nerfed the perfect rush, which i don't like. As much as i enjoy sunbreak SnS especially the shoryugeki I find myself missing IB perfect rush whenever i perform the move.
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