Sunbreak Long Sword Guide: Combos, Controls and Moveset | Monster Hunter Rise｜Game8 (2024)

This is a guide to the Long Sword, a weapon in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (MH Rise). Read on to learn about new Long Sword controls and combos, how to use Long Sword counters, the Spirit Helm Breaker, as well as details on Long Sword Switch Skills.

All Long Sword Guides
	How to Use	Best Builds

Long Sword Balance Changes

Update 15.0

This change focuses on making Harvest Moon easier to execute and use. This will surely make the Long Sword more powerful and easier to use!

Long Sword New Sunbreak Attack and Moves

Official Long Sword Preview Video

Silkbind Attack: Harvest Moon

Harvest Moon is a new Silkbind Attack for the Long Sword added in Sunbreak.

An Ironsilk ring is summoned on the field and limits the range where the user can attack. While inside the ring, any move that will use the Spirit Gauge will not deplete the meter, and all counter attacks will have additional hits.

Switch Skill: Sacred Sheathe Combo

Sacred Sheathe Combo is a new Switch Skill for the Long Sword added in Sunbreak.

After an attack, the weapon is slowly sheathed and charged. This is then followed by a slash, with the damage dealt based on the level of the Spirit Gauge.

This move also acts as an automatic counter if the user gets hit with an attack before the move is finished, adding another powerful counter to the Long Sword's kit.

Tempered Spirit Blade

A move not introduced in any trailer. Tempered Spirit Blade is a quick and decisive silkbind counterattack for any monster attacks. When done correctly, the spirit gauge level would go up one level - perfect way to prime your Long Sword to Red really quickly.

Monster Hunter Rise: SunbreakRelease Date and New Monsters

How Good Is the Long Sword?

Tier List Ranking

MHRise Ranking	→	Sunbreak Ranking
(S - A - B) 3 Level Tier		(SS - S - A) 3 Level Tier

The Long Sword continues to dominate in Sunbreak despite the massive nerf. It is by far the only weapon to utilize all Switch Skills effectively because they synergize with each other extremely well.

All the additional mechanics and Switch Skills more than makes up for the nerfs, making the Long Sword more effective than ever!

Weapon Tier List

Long Sword Strengths

Use Spirit Gauge For a More Powerful Attack

The Spirit Gauge, indicated by a sword/katana bar next to the sharpness bar, is a mechanic exclusive to the Long Sword that gives certain moves more attack power. It is built up progressively through attack hits.

You can consume Spirit Gauge charges to give more power to your attacks. One of the more powerful Long Sword attacks, the Spirit Helm Breaker, consumes an entire Spirit Gauge Level, so always keep that Spirit Gauge topped up!

Attack Power Increases with the Spirit Gauge Level

The color of the Spirit Gauge changes from white → yellow → red. White has the lowest attack damage bonus, and red provides the most. Generally, the rule of thumb is to keep it red.

Counterattack Abilities

The Long Sword has various counterattack abilities with Foresight Slash and Special Sheathe, both of which returned from Monster Hunter World. With Monster Hunter Rise, a new Silkbind Attack called Serene Pose adds another counterattack move to the Long Sword's arsenal.

Long Sword Weaknesses

Low Single-Hit Damage Without Spirit Levels

The Long Sword's firepower comes from the level of the Spirit Gauge. If you do not change the color of the Spirit Gauge, the Long Sword's attack damage is very low.

No Guarding Options

The Long Sword does not have any guarding capabilities. This is compensated with the capability of counterattacking monsters by executing certain moves, but this requires timing and precision.

Best Long Sword Builds

Long Sword Controls

Useful Combos

Basic Combo
Step Slash	Overhead Slash	Thrust	Rising Slash
X	X	X	X
Left Click	Left Click	Left Click	Left Click
Triangle	Triangle	Triangle	Triangle
Y	Y	Y	Y

Spirit Blade Combo (Needs Spirit Gauge)
Spirit Blade I	Spirit Blade II	Spirit Blade III	Spirit Blade Roundslash
zR	zR	zR	zR
MB4	MB4	MB4	MB4
R2	R2	R2	R2
RT	RT	RT	RT

Fade Slash Combo (Needs Spirit Gauge)
Fade Slash	Spirit Jumping Slash	Spirit Blade III	Spirit Roundslash
+ X + A	zR	zR	zR
+ Left Click + Right Click	MB4	MB4	MB4
+ Triangle + Circle	R2	R2	R2
+ Y + B	RT	RT	RT

Special Sheathe Combo 1
Step Slash	Special Sheathe	Iai Slash	Spirit Blade II
X	+ zR + B	X	zR
Left Click	+ MB4 + Space	Left Click	MB4
Triangle	+ R2 + X	Triangle	R2
Y	+ RT + A	Y	RT

Special Sheathe Combo 2
Step Slash	Foresight Slash	Spirit Roundslash
X	+ zR + A	+ zR + B
Left Click	+ MB4 + Right Click	+ MB4 + Space
Triangle	+ R2 + Circle	X
Y	+ RT + B	A

Foresight Slash Combo (When Successful)
Step Slash	Foresight Slash	Spirit Roundslash
X	+ zR + A	zR
Left Click	+ MB4 + Right Click	MB4
Triangle	+ R2 + Circle	R2
Y	+ RT + B	RT

Long Sword Silkbind Attacks

Harvest Moon

A ring around the user is spawned. As long as the hunter is inside the ring, all attacks that use up the Spirit Gauge will not use the meter. Furthermore, all successful counters will have additional hits.

Going outside the ring depletes your Spirit Gauge and cancels the move.

This move costs two Wirebug charges and has a medium recovery speed.

Soaring Kick

The Soaring Kick is a Silkbind Attack that lets you jump off a monster upward. By default, your hunter will execute a Plunging Thrust that turns your Spirit Gauge meter blue and gradually fills it.

While airborne, you may also press zR, MB4, R2, or RT to execute the Spirit Helm Breaker! This move deals massive damage but decreases your Long Sword Spirit Level by one. To maximize the damage, do this while in red Spirit Gauge.

Serene Pose

Serene Pose is a Silkbind Attack that scatters Wirebugs in front of the hunter and puts them in a counter stance. Any attack received during the counter stance duration will be negated and countered.

You can use this on anything that can damage the hunters, including barrel bombs. It can even be used as a wake-up move against monsters by utilizing barrel bomb explosions.

Silkbind Sakura Slash

The Silkbind Sakura Slash has the hunter spin around to dash and slice foe. This can be switched out with Soaring Kick.

Not only does the attack inflict multiple hits over time, causing additional damage, but it also grants 1 free Spirit Gauge on landing.

This skill is great for elemental damage builds due to its multiple hits.

Tempered Spirit Blade

A quick and decisive counterattack for all moves. When done correctly, the spirit gauge level would go up one level. This is the perfect way to prime your Long Sword to Red really quickly.

Long Sword Switch Skills

Switch Skills are unlocked with different conditions as you progress in the game. Base game MHRise provides Hunters with three (3) slots of Switch Skills, with the Sunbreak expansion adding two (2) more.

Note: Skills in red are exclusive to the Sunbreak expansion.

Switch Skills Guide: How to Use and Unlock

Drawn Double Slash

This Switch Skill replaces the draw attack of the Long Sword with a double slash attack. This deals damage twice and also negates an attack at the start of the draw.

This can also combo into Spirit Slash II but not Fade Slash.

Spirit Reckoning Combo

This Switch Skill replaces the Spirit Roundslash that normally ends the Spirit combo.

This also has a move that allows you to input a direction and rush towards that direction before executing the Reckoning combo. This increases your Spirit Gauge by one, like the Roundslash.

Silkbind Sakura Slash

This Silkbind Attack Switch Skill has your hunter dash forward while swinging your sword twice in a circle. This also instantly increases your Spirit Gauge level by 1.

The point where the blades hit will receive lingering damage. This is great for status and elemental builds!

Though this Switch Skill is viable for some, we don't recommend switching it out for Soaring Kick. Soaring Kick is the only way to execute the Spirit Helm Breaker, which is too strong to pass on.

Tempered Spirit Blade

A quick and decisive counterattack for all moves. When done correctly, the spirit gauge level would go up one level. This is the perfect way to prime your Long Sword to Red really quickly.

Sacred Sheathe Combo

A variation to the Special Sheathe Combo that utilizes instantaneous countering than waiting on a monster to attack the Hunter.

The Hunter can even finish the sheathing animation to enter the charging state, consuming all spirit gauge charges into a devastating flurry of attacks. Pretty awesome move, to be honest.

Harvest Moon

This creates a pseudo-arena that requires you to go toe-to-toe with the monster inside it. Perform coutnerattacks to dish out extra hits and deal increased damage! Careful, you can't get out of the ring so use then when you're confident enough!

Long Sword Attacks and Moves

Spirit Helm Breaker

The Spirit Helm Breaker is a returning move in Monster Hunter Rise. This is generally considered the highest damage skill for the Long Sword. It is also recommended due to its ease of use since it can be executed following a Soaring Kick. Note that this will reduce your Spirit Level by 1 and cannot be used if your Spirit Gauge has no color.

Foresight Slash

The Foresight Slash also makes a return in Monster Hunter Rise! It's an evasive maneuver that completely depletes your Spirit Gauge but fills it again after connecting the attack. It can be followed up with a Spirit Roundslash to increase your current Spirit Level by 1, but only when you successfully hit the final slash.

Remember, this move is executed in-between combos, and the counter-slash must hit the monster to execute the final Spirit Roundslash.

Special Sheathe

Special Sheathe is a move that sheathes your weapon, as the name suggests, but only after performing an attack.

You can follow this up with X, Left-click, Triangle, or Y to execute an Iai Slash. Press zR, MB4, R2, or RT instead to execute an Iai Spirit Slash.

Iai Slash

Iai Slash is one of the two possible moves you can perform while using Special Sheathe. It's a quick two-hit combo that can be used to chain your combos and set your Spirit Gauge meter to blue (Spirit Gauge will charge bit-by-bit automatically).

It also doesn't cost any resources to use, so it's going to be your default move to use if you can't properly counter with Iai Spirit Slash.

Iai Spirit Slash

A strong evasive move that raises your Spirit Level by 1 when the counterattack hits successfully. Three additional slashes follow the counterattack. It also has a huge number of invulnerability frames, so it can be used to dodge and counter monster attacks with perfect timing.

What's more, you can follow it up with Spirit Blade III and then a Spirit Roundslash to charge up another Spirit Gauge Level quickly.

Recommended Combos For the Long Sword

Sakura Slash Spam Cancel

This combo uses the quick motion nature of Special Sheathe to enable usage of Silkbind Sakura Slash one after the other. Since Silkbind Sakura Slash increases your gauge level on successful hit, this combo essentially elevates your spirit level by 2!

Sakura Slash to Helmbreaker Swap Loop

In Base MH Rise, you can only choose between Silkbind Sakura Slash and Soaring Kick. With the introduction of Skill Swap in the Sunbreak expansion, you can now easily swap between the two.

This combo makes use of the spirit gauge increase nature of Sikbind Sakura Slash to maintain a topped up spirit gauge then expends it with Soaring Kick to Spirit Helm Breaker when needed.

Sacred Sheathe to Spirit Roundslash Quick Level Gain

This combo is a quick way to gain spirit gauge level while finishing with the Spirit Roundslash! This can even be executed mid-combo as you only have to successfully execute the first part of Sacred Sheathe.

Big Damage Combo

This combo is used to maximize the damage output whenever there is an opening, like when the monster is down or trapped. The combo utilizes the Spirit Helm Breaker, Special Sheathe, and the Spirit Roundslash for maximum damage!

Iai Spirit Slash to Silkbind Sakura Slash

This combo utilizes the seamless transition between Iai Spirit Slash and the Switch Skill Silkbind Sakura Slash.

This is a great way of increasing your gauge level because successfully executing both the Iai Spirit Slash and the Silkbind Sakura Slash increases your Spirit Gauge level by one (1) each or a total of two (2)!

This combo also has high DPS and can be executed as long as you have Wirebugs.

Fast Spirit Gauge Up Combo

This combo replaces the initial Spirit Slash I for a Fade Slash for maximum mobility. This combo replaces Spirit Blade II with a Spirit Jumping Slash and then goes straight to Spirit Blade III!

Spirit Gauge Collection + Fast Spirit Gauge Up Combo

This combo is useful when your Spirit Gauge is empty and you want to increase it by one level. The first three inputs give you enough energy for the Spirit Slash Combo in the second half. Use this when you have big openings!

Instant Red Gauge Combo

This combo utilizes both the Foresight Slash and Iai Spirit Slash and their ability to finish with a Spirit Roundslash after counterattacking.

This is the fastest way to raise your Spirit Level from colorless to red, but it requires precision for counterattacking two consecutive times!

Tips on How to Use the Long Sword

Get a Quick Sheath Build

Quick Sheath works extremely well with the Special Sheath move of the Long Sword. An armor set with Quick Sheath Lv 3 almost doubles the animation speed of sheathing that it just becomes so fast, that it can be spammed for gaining easy Spirit Gauge levels.

Long Sword Builds and Best Armor

Maintain a Red Spirit Gauge

To effectively use the Long Sword, always keep your Spirit Gauge on red. You can see this on the Spirit Gauge meter in the HUD or on the color of the blade. This maximizes the Long Sword's firepower for a more efficient hunt.

Increase Damage by Leveling Up the Spirit Gauge

Long Sword's Spirit Gauge changes color from ''colorless → white → yellow → red'', increasing your attack damage per level. It is strongly recommended to keep this on red at all times.

You can increase your Spirit Gauge by one (1) level using the following moves:

Foresight Slash is Your Friend

In addition to it being a Long Sword counterattack, Foresight Slash is also one of the fastest ways to gain Spirit Levels (together with Special Sheathe). It takes time to master this, but once you do, you are unstoppable!

Aim for the Spirit Helm Breaker

Considered the greatest damage-dealing move of the Long Sword, it would be a shame for you to not use this. This move follows a Soaring Kick and deals tons of damage. Also, make sure to use this when with a Red Spirit Gauge Level to maximize the firepower.

Always Try to Counter

The primary gameplay style for the Long Sword revolves around effective counterattacks. The Foresight Slash, Special Sheathe, and now Serene Pose give the Long Sword more opportunities to counterattack - use them effectively.

Changes from MHW: Iceborne

Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise) Related Guides

Melee Weapon Guides

Melee Weapons
Great Sword Guide | Weapon Tree	Long Sword Guide | Weapon Tree	Sword and Shield Guide | Weapon Tree
Dual Blades Guide | Weapon Tree	Lance Guide | Weapon Tree	Gunlance Guide | Weapon Tree
Hammer Guide | Weapon Tree	Hunting Horn Guide | Weapon Tree | Melodies	Switch Axe Guide | Weapon Tree
Charge Blade Guide | Weapon Tree	Insect Glaive Guide | Weapon Tree | Kinsects

Ranged Weapon Guides

Ranged Weapons
Light Bowgun Guide | Weapon Tree	Heavy Bowgun Guide | Weapon Tree	Bow Guide | Weapon Tree