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, it 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 | 1.15 | 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 |
Anonymous
- Anonymous
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?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
The lance gets a penalty for hitting a monster's blunt weak zones?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Someone tested purple sharpness on reddit. It’s the nerfed version from GU at 1.39 not 1.45
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
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?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
>will be updated for MHW that's a good joke nothing on fextra is ever updated
- Anonymous
Does a weapon's raw attack stat mean: "raw attack according to its max sharpness" or "raw attack according to yellow sharpness"?
- Anonymous
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.
- Anonymous
My weapons only sharpen to green. I need to improve them but dont know how
- Anonymous
Umm it goes below red. Mine turned pink and kept getting even lower...
- Anonymous
Is this sharpness dmg chart still from MH4:U and not from MHW?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
What is with weapons sharpness gradually reducing of their own accord, even when sheathed?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
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
- Anonymous
There is no purple sharpness in MHW, someone should remove it from the chart.
- Anonymous
this mechanic makes the diablos set bonus (increase attack when weapon loses sharpness) really dumb ... or am i missing something here?
- Anonymous
What weapons/items have or give sharpness above green and where are they farmed?
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
handicraft only increase the amount but not the maximum of your weapon
- Anonymous
What is lance bouncing on blunt hitzones more supposed to mean? most weakpoints are vulnerable to both cutting and blunt. I dont see why lance would bounce on ones that are blunt weakpoints specifically either, unless the cutting hzv is low enough to bounce other weapons too? Is there some kind of internal marker that determines if a hitzone is blunt or cutting specifically so that lance has that penalty?
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