Tonfa

Long Mode: This mode deals normal impact zone damage. At the end of the main attack combo, the hunter can perform a charged attack. While in midair, pressing the secondary attack button triggers a spinning drop attack. All attacks in long mode deal Impact damage with standard Impact damage modifiers.

Short Mode: In this mode, impact zone damage is reversed. At the end of the main attack combo, the hunter can unleash a quick series of swift attacks. While in midair, pressing the secondary attack button triggers a rolling kick that causes the hunter to bounce back and slightly upward if the attack hits a monster, allowing the hunter to stay airborne. In short mode, impact zone damage modifiers are inverted—the weakest Impact damage area becomes the most resistant, while the most resistant becomes the weakest. All other areas receive Impact damage adjustments based on the difference between the weakest and most resistant Impact damage zones.

The

• List Item
  Head: The monster is enveloped in a burning, yellowish aura. During this time, all attacks will inflict +1
  Ailment
  Stun damage, regardless of the damage type or where the monster is hit. Monsters that cannot be KOed (such as
  Monster
  Lao-Shan Lung ,
  Monster
  Fatalis ,
  Monster
  Yama Tsukami , and
  Monster
  Yama Kurai ) will experience one of the other effects on their heads.

• List Item
  Body: The monster emits an orange aura. Hunters close enough to the monster will have a chance to recover a small amount of weapon sharpness and gain a temporary attack boost. Note that an active Heat Blade on a
  Weapon
  Gunlance will prevent sharpness restoration.

• List Item
  Tail: The monster's tail will be injured, left bleeding, and continue to take damage, even if it cannot be cut or has already been severed. The bleeding lasts for a short period and inflicts cutting damage. If enough damage is dealt to the tail during or before this state, the tail will be severed or broken. For monsters without a distinct tail hitzone (such as Iodrome, Lao-Shan Lung's neck, or Fatalis' wings), the bleeding effect will occur in another location.

• List Item
  Salvage: This effect applies to all small monsters and a few large monsters' heads (like
  Monster
  Lao-Shan Lung ,
  Monster
  Fatalis ,
  Monster
  Yama Tsukami , and
  Monster
  Yama Kurai ). If a Hunter inflicts enough Dragon Spirit on a small monster before slaying it, using the finisher will cause the monster to drop a shiny item, based on the monster's carve rates.

For an explanation on element damage, see our Elements page

All Ryuuki finisher (i.e. explosion) effects buffed. Head: KO duration from 20s to 30s. Tail: Bleeding 1.5x damage. Body: Sharpness return from 15 to 20. Gunner Attack Up from 25 to 50.

• Accumulating 30 points in the Tonfa Tech skill adds an additional bar to the

  Weapon
  Tonfa meter.

• The Earth, Heaven, and Storm Hunting Styles for the

  Weapon
  Tonfa are distinct from each other, each using different types of gauges.

• The ability to alter how you deal Impact damage makes

  Weapon
  Tonfas highly versatile, but also more challenging for inexperienced users.

• Understanding the hitzone values on monsters is crucial to maximizing the effectiveness of the

  Weapon
  Tonfa .

• Weapon
  Tonfas can be very effective in team hunts, as well-placed finishers can benefit all members.

• Weapon
  Tonfas are naturally fast-hitting weapons with high mobility, making it essential to manage their sharpness carefully with skills like
  Armor Skill
  Razor Sharp .

• The

  Armor Skill
  Fencing+2 skill works exceptionally well with
  Weapon
  Tonfas , making
  Armor Skill
  Sword God an ideal skill to use.

• Using the finisher move without having inflicted any Dragon Spirit will result in minimal damage and leave the hunter vulnerable. This move also consumes a significant amount of sharpness, regardless of whether it hits anything.

• One of the ground-based attacks has a parrying ability if timed correctly.

• Consider always using Long Mode: it has a higher stun value than Short Mode, whose stun value is 80% and has less range. Short mode also has more hitlag and EX recovery.

• Using

  Armor Skill
  Trained+2 can help you stay in the air longer.

• Due to the way the combo meter boosts raw damage,

  Weapon
  Tonfa requires a much higher My Mission attack threshold than most other weapons.

• Long mode is the default and deals more

  Ailment
  Stun damage. Short mode has been reworked to focus on meter gain, but it has significant hitlag and isn't very effective outside of using the dash attack to build meter.

• Guard points exist on some attacks, but they aren't very practical to use. Additionally, obtaining

  Armor Skill
  Iron Arm on modern sets is quite difficult.

• The Ryuuki finisher replenishes the meters of all nearby

  Weapon
  Tonfa players and can also be triggered by Tonfa-wielding hunter NPCs. While these bursts provide some additional benefits, most of them are relatively minor.

• To maintain your combo meter, simply hit or evade enemies. The timer generally slows down if the monster is performing a lengthy attack during which you can't or shouldn't be attacking.

• EX Evasion only costs meter, not stamina.

• EX Pursuit (charged jab + meter) benefits from

  Armor Skill
  Gunnery (available via
  Armor Skill
  Blazing Majesty ),
  Armor Skill
  Charge Attack Up , and
  Armor Skill
  Focus , but is quite costly compared to airdash spam.

• Similar to

  Weapon
  Sword and Shield , two well-timed blocks with the
  Caravan Skill
  Perfect Defense caravan skill, along with
  Zenith Skill
  Obscurity Up , can boost raw damage by 300 until you get knocked back.