Great Sword

The

Great Sword (GS) in Frontier retains its core mechanics from the mainline series—slow but powerful, with charge attacks that capitalize on openings and precise timing. With this weapon, raw damage reigns supreme, while elemental or status effects are secondary.

The

Great Sword can generate Super Armor, which completely negates knockback. This can be a double-edged sword. For instance, if you activate it while a is launching a fireball, you can absorb the hit without flinching and potentially land a charged attack on its face. However, if you try to tank a multi-hit attack, like a pecking, you'll take damage from each hit, potentially far exceeding the damage of a single hit due to the loss of iframes from the knockdown.

For an explanation on element damage, see our Elements page

. For more information on motion values, see the Damage Calculator

Earth Style

Earth Style is the classic

Great Sword moveset, similar to the one used since MH Dos. It includes a charge on the vertical downswing, which you should use to hit monsters with powerful strikes.

Heaven Style

Heaven Style is a unique approach that replaces all charge attacks with a counter. This counter resembles a horizontal slash but raises the

Great Sword in front of you, allowing you to block any attack that would be blockable with without taking chip damage. While this counter is highly effective, it doesn’t offer the consistent damage output of a fully charged attack.

Storm Style

Storm Style modifies the charging mechanic, placing it on the upswing rather than the downswing, with a fourth level of charge available. This level can deal significantly higher damage, but it's more challenging to land accurately. If mistimed, the charge downgrades to a level 2, which reduces its effectiveness. This style also includes the counter from Heaven Style, making it a more skill-based option, as it removes the ability to manually guard, offering stronger charges and a more dynamic guarding method instead.

The charge levels in Storm Style are as follows:

Lv1: 92
Lv2: 112 x1.1
Lv3: 157 x1.2
Lv4: 200 x1.3 (downgrades to Lv2: 112 x1.1 if mistimed). Proper timing for the Level 4 charge is crucial, as missing it can waste up to 136 motion value.

Extreme Style

Extreme Style combines elements of Storm and Earth Styles, replacing the Counter Slash with a Parry mechanic. This allows you to chain into powerful downslashes or faster but weaker horizontal slashes. Additionally, you can build up an invisible meter to unleash a Shining Sword attack, a 15-hit combo dealing around 455-467 total motion.

As with the other Extreme Styles, you can run with your

Great Sword unsheathed, which is a significant upgrade since the weapon was previously limited by its slow movement and reliance on rolls for closing distance. You can perform a horizontal slash with iframes or a charged upswing from a dash, providing versatility in combat.

This style allows you to use charges from both Earth and Storm Styles interchangeably and even combo them, making it particularly effective for hitting tails.

The Parry mechanic absorbs any guardable attack without consuming stamina or causing knockback. Some attacks may still deal chip damage. From a parry, you can evade, perform a downslash (200 motion), or execute a horizontal slash (125 motion), all of which deliver high damage with ease. After successfully parrying three times, you can unleash the Shining Sword attack, which has a motion value of around 456 and hits 15 times, making it one of the few instances where the

Great Sword excels in elemental and status output.


GS Tech Master	Twin Hiden, 30	Sharpness level +1 is added to GS Tech 【Sword King】.
GS Tech 【Sword King】	30	Gives Super High-Grade Earplugs, Attack x1.2 when wielding a Great Sword, Fencing +1 and Guard slash counter block recovers half the sharpness that would be lost. Also grants Faster charging (stacks with Focus), charge remains at level 4 longer before dropping to level 2 charge (Storm Style). Perfectly timed blocks cause no knockback, can be evaded out of, drain no stamina, and recover half the sharpness that would be lost. Sharpness recovery effect works while using Sharp Sword and allows you to recover sharpness with +2.
GS Tech Kaiden	20	Increases attack by 1.1 and grants Fencing+1 when wielding Great Sword.
GS Tech Expert	10	Fencing+1 when wielding Great Sword.
GS Tech Novice	-10	Attack x0.8 when wielding Great Sword.

Skill Interactions


	Adjusts the element hitzones by +15. Determination applies the effects of Dissolver without the need for hitzone requirements, effectively forcing element damage or reducing/negating negative hitzones.
	+7 True Raw per hit. Up to 80 True Raw can be gained through leeching.
	120 seconds uptime. The duration can be refreshed by successfully using i-frames again.
	+5 sharpness recovery. When using Stylish Up, get 2 free hits before sharpness is reduced.
	-6 sharpness per hit. Lavish Attack reduces the free hits granted by Stylish Up to 1.
	Max stack of 225 True Raw. Obscurity Up maxes out after two perfect guards, allowing subsequent guards to restore 5 or 15 sharpness depending on timing.
	1/8/17 hits to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively. All weapons share the same stage decay timer; Ice Age Up only affects the third stage’s decay rate.
	34/1700/? total Motion Value to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively. The third stage, exclusive to Rush Up, has a limited duration.
	15 seconds decay window. 7/21/26 hits required to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively (5/16/26 with Ceaseless Up). The third stage is also exclusive to Ceaseless Up, which decays by stages rather than all at once.
	55 seconds duration. 6/3 hits to reach stages 1/2 respectively (5/3 with Fencing+2). The previously hit hitzone is more vulnerable at Stage 2, and Fencing +2 slightly eases activation.
	1/2/5 evasions or 1/3/6 perfect guards to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively. These effects apply to both successful evasions and perfect guards (where applicable), but attacking is necessary to advance stages.

Sigils Usability Ratings


		Boosts the Motion Value of the Upswing Attack (56 > 72). Does not affect Upswing Charges.	Tech Boost
		Boosts the Motion Value of the Horizontal Slash Attack (44 > 57).	Tech Boost
		Allows the Guard Slash to block an additional hit, increasing the counter's damage. Heaven and Storm Style Only. Max of two additional blocked attacks for a total of three (up to 2 sigils are useful).	Tech Boost
		Increases the length of your weapon and decreases your True Raw by 25. Does not affect the True Raw decrease if multiple of this sigil are used.	Other

Tips and Tricks

You can be a liability when it comes to friendly fire. The item
Item
Elixir of Peace can prevent this.
Hold R1 before unsheathing to perform a regular overhead attack; otherwise, you’ll execute a special wide slash (which can still combo into any charged slash). You can also perform upswing charges and parries (Storm, Extreme) from a sheathed state.
Very Long length is the most popular choice due to its vertical slices and the added flexibility in maintaining distance. Long length is still quite usable.
Armor Skill
Combat Supremacy is the Frontier equivalent of Critical Draw for , making it ideal for hit-and-run strategies with its stamina drain and 1.20x raw damage increase. with is a good alternative for continuous unsheathed play.
Weapon
Great Sword benefits the most from (from ), although they don’t work on the shining attack. Fortunately, they aren’t consumed in the process.
The unsheathed running hop attack has a few invincibility frames at the start, but it’s rarely used.
Well-timed parries with
Item
Great Sword Hiden and effectively manage sharpness when paired with .
Utilizing large amounts of hitstop can be a valid strategy for avoiding certain attacks.
If you have 30
Item
Power Crystals with a and the hunt isn’t over by the time they’re all used up, something is wrong.

Weapons: Dual Swords

Weapons: Long Sword