Sword and Shield

The

Sword and Shield is a versatile weapon known for its quick strikes, the ability to block, use items with the weapon unsheathed, and overall high mobility.

While its raw damage output is lower due to modest motion values, the rapid attack speed makes it highly effective when paired with elemental or status-based weapons. To use the

Sword and Shield effectively, a solid understanding of hitzones is essential, as precision is key to maximizing its potential.

Several attacks with the

Sword and Shield deal both and Impact damage, allowing you to break parts that require impact damage. However, this is often impractical in most situations.

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 core style for

Sword and Shield users, featuring a powerful horizontal slash. At G Rank, this slash can be enhanced with a weapon sigil (boosting from 31 to 31･16), causing the slash to emit a beam that strikes twice, effectively doubling the elemental damage.

Heaven Style

Heaven Style swaps the horizontal slash for a Jump Slash with a motion value of 23･20. This move is especially effective for hitting tails, particularly with longer

Sword and Shield weapons. Additionally, Heaven Style allows you to perform quick side hops after attacks instead of rolls, letting you swiftly continue combos while evading.

Storm Style

Storm Style retains the quick side hops and Jump Slash from Heaven Style but replaces the standard combo with a series of Thrust Attacks. These thrusts are unique in that they carry a 140% elemental modifier, enabling significant elemental damage. You can cancel out of the thrusts with a hop, resetting back to the first thrust and allowing for rapid elemental damage output.

Extreme Style

Extreme Style builds on the Heaven Style foundation, keeping the side hops and Jump Slash while adding the Earth Style horizontal attack and introducing new moves that offer greater flexibility in combos and evasion. Like all Extreme styles,

Sword and Shield users can run with the weapon unsheathed in this style.

In Extreme Style,

Sword and Shield gains two new aerial attacks that can be initiated from various actions, including running. The first is a frontflip attack that hits twice with a motion value of 18･34 and is high enough to easily strike tails. The second is a leap into a shield bash with a motion value of 34, dealing Impact and KO damage. Additionally, there's a new Shield Bash attack that can be chained up to three times, each hit having a motion value of 20 and dealing both Impact and damage.

Finally, Extreme Style introduces an Evade Slash, allowing you to evade while attacking. This can be integrated into combo strings or followed by a hop to continue evading. The Evade Slash has a motion value of 17, which is lower than most attacks but still provides a safe and efficient way to deal damage.


SnS Tech Master	Twin Hiden, 30	Sharpness level +1 is added to SnS Tech 【Sword Saint】.
SnS Tech 【Sword Saint】	30	Gives Super High-Grade Earplugs, Attack x1.3 when wielding a One-handed Sword, All Elemental Sword Stone Skills +3, All Status Sword Stone Skills +2, Bomb Sword +2, Faster movement with SnS unsheathed, and Fencing+1. +3 versions of Crystal skills will overwrite the +2 versions included in this skill if active.
SnS Tech Kaiden	20	Increases attack by 1.1 and grants Fencing+1 when wielding Sword and Shield.
SnS Tech Expert	10	Fencing+1 when wielding Sword and Shield.
SnS Tech Novice	-10	Attack x0.8 when wielding Sword and Shield.

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.
	+4 True Raw per hit. Up to 80 True Raw can be gained through leeching.
	15 seconds uptime. The duration can be refreshed by successfully using i-frames again.
	+8 sharpness recovery. When using Stylish Up, get 4 free hits before sharpness is reduced.
	-2 sharpness per hit. Lavish Attack reduces the free hits granted by Stylish Up to 2.
	Max stack of 300 True Raw. Obscurity Up maxes out after two perfect guards, allowing subsequent guards to restore 4 or 12 sharpness depending on timing.
	1/17/38 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.
	16/800/? total Motion Value to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively. The third stage, exclusive to Rush Up, has a limited duration.
	10 seconds decay window. 20/46/54 hits required to reach stage 1/2/3 respectively (15/35/54 with Ceaseless Up). The third stage is also exclusive to Ceaseless Up, which decays by stages rather than all at once.
	30 seconds duration. 15/9 hits to reach stages 1/2 respectively (12/8 with Fencing+2). The previously hit hitzone is more vulnerable at Stage 2, and Fencing +2 slightly eases activation.
	2/3/7 evasions or 1/2/5 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 Sliding Attack (21 > 31).	Tech Boost
		Boosts the Motion Value of the Shield Attack (13 > 19) and Shield Bash (18 > 27). Does not affect Extreme Style's Continuous Bashing Combo.	Tech Boost
		Boosts the Motion Value of all three motions of the Infinite Slash (25 > 28).	Tech Boost
		Changes the property of the Horizontal Slash, adding a ranged Red Shockwave. Motion value is 31･16 with the second portion unaffected by Fencing+2. Only for Earth and Extreme Styles.	Tech Change
		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
		Adds additional raw damage based on attack strength. Formula: Attack x 0.025 x Sharp Multiplier x Hitzone. Blue: 1.0625x. White: 1.125x. Purple: 1.15x. Cyan: 1.20x. Ignores motion values, Additional 0.2x the extra damage is added by Fencing+2. Does not stack and does not work with SnS with Elemental or Status.	Other

Tips and Tricks

The slide attack offers a few invincibility frames (~9 with
Armor Skill
Evasion+2 ) and can end with a 180° turning slash.
Long length is generally a straightforward upgrade due to its increased reach. Very Long is viable if you're focusing on Roundslash spam but may require some spacing management.
Weapon
Sword and Shield has a very forgiving hit requirement to prepare the burst attack.
You can technically customize a
Buff
Transcend burst to any element by utilizing the compatibility from the Hiden skill.
Shield attacks deal impact damage and can stun, but they use white sharpness at best.
The vacuum slash adds an extra hit to the roundslash without hitlag or sharpness cost. It's not as significant today, but still useful.
Using items while unsheathed resets
Armor Skill
Rush mode.
This weapon type is very useful in
Location
Hunter's Road teams, specifically due to the ease of applying .
Notably, some speedrunners have found success by dropping
Armor Skill
Fencing+2 to reduce hitlag.
Weapon
Sword and Shield’s blocking isn’t great, but with the caravan skill and good timing, you can technically build up 300 raw attack in two blocks when combined with , maintaining it until you get knocked back.

Weapons: Overview

Weapons: Dual Swords