The Most Hated Weapon in Monster Hunter - The Evolution of Longsword 

I've wanted to try writing an essay for a long while now. Please tell me how you feel about it. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated 😌

I got hit with sleep on a hunt once, a long sword user desperately wanted to help me but I had flinch free on lol

Me being a lance main getting confused how weapons like LS can parry with not a single scratch while I have to haul a giant ass shield and still getting my health chipped away while blocking.

Being a Lance main i've always hated how the LS basically makes Lance looks pointless to play from a meta perspective... The parry(parries now) alone puts LS on Lance's level as a defensive weapon, except you also get to do big flashy movesets with buffed dps.

It really seems like they put way more effort into the long sword.. while the Lance and a lot of other weapons only get left behind..

The Rise Longsword favoritism wasn't just receiving it as a gift for completing the village quests. Rise is the only Monster Hunter game in history to make your DEFAULT starting weapon a Longsword instead of the Sword and Shield. They don't just nudge you towards playing it; they quite literally put a Longsword in your hands and tell you to use it. I find it funny how many people are making crazy assumptions about my character and trying to dunk on me for internet cool kid points when basically all I've said is "Yeah, Rise has longsword favoritism, I think the SnS was better."

I think what people dislike about LS is a combination of several things : The popularity which also, back in the day, resulted in us being staggered A LOT by Longsword players. Flinch Free exists mostly so you can play with LS players without getting annoyed at some point. As people already mentioned, nowadays it's too defensive and offensive at the same time while being really easy to use once you got Quick Sheath 3, at that point you don't really need any predictions but simply parry/dodge as you usually would. Sure, performing 100% clean WR speedruns still needs some skill but that doesnt make the weapon more demanding in 99% of the other hunts being played. Seeing it keep getting buffed over the games despite already performing rather well and being one, if not THE most popular weapon may also probably cause a certain spite within non-LS mains. LS basically feels like that one popular kid at school that you really wish you could punch in the face. You get a constant reminder that it's most peoples favorite all the time while it taunts you with the attention and love it gets in comparasion to other weapons. I feel like this whole "Uhm LS sucks cause weeb" reasoning is mostly cause people struggle to perceive why they actually feel the way they do. I suppose most people just feel like LS is too easy for the average damage output, too popular and receives too much attention despite already being strong and popular.

LS was hated for a long time bc it would trip any hunter on the same hemisphere of the monster but when mhw hit the weapon has been able to do more damage than a GS and the skill required to get to that level is far lower. LS has a high skill CEILING but the amount needed to put out crazy damage with minimal risk is very low when compared to any other big damage class like GS or CB. Thats my take and reasoning for disliking LS, its overtuned, requires little skill to do big damage, and has no drawbacks being a fast weapon

The issue with the longsword is that it gets the benefits of different weapons, like Lance's counter mechanic or Great Sword's damage, while also being agile like Dual blades, without ANY drawbacks. No long animations, no chip damage, no huge sharpness loss, no stamina drain, nothing. It's also extremely simple to build for it, since you ONLY need quick sheathe for it to be completely broken. Any other skills beyond that are overkill really, since you already demolish any monster in the game.

The problem with that type of unbalance is that it pushes all players to play the same weapon and not everyone properly understand the weapon not only that but what is the point on having multiple weapons if 2 weapons clearly are better than the rest

From when I started playing, LS has always been regarded as the newb weapon afaik. It was also hated cause the long reach meant people kept getting tripped which lead to an even worse reputation.

Some notes and thoughts on this video. First, props for posting a video at all. Topics like these tend to be volatile, so I respect you forming an opinion and sharing it in a concise well-edited form. Second, just as a general thought, I think what is missing from the LS kit is risk. Every weapon from a giant stick and tower shield to two kitchen knives has a degree of risk naturally attached to them. For the two I just mentioned, the Lance is heavily reliant on positioning since you have a limited degree of movement for attacking, dodging, and blocking while the Dual Blades are heavily reliant/limited by your stamina management while also having low raw damage but extremely fast attack speed. From what I know of Long Sword (correct me if I'm wrong), the main risk factor is that you have to be extremely aggressive and liberal with attacking since most of your damage is coming from the Spirit Gauge, but that leaves you more open to being punished. However, as the games progressed, this risk factor became less and less prevalent until we reach today where the Long Sword is not only extremely aggressive but extremely safe with all the movement and countering available to it. For more precise thoughts: (6:33-6:53) I can see where you are coming from, but this can be said of all weapons. One of the most prevalent gameplay loops in all MH games is being able to read a monster's movement and being able to react appropriately whether that be dodging, blocking, or attacking. (7:22-8:01) Again, I can see where you are coming from, but I think you are missing a key detail: All ranged weapons have the trade-off of limited attacks. Except for Normal Shot 1 for Bowguns and Close Range Coating (+ no coating) for Bows, all of the other ammunition is limited. This means that the ranged weapons do pack a significant punch, but only for a limited amount of time. The consequences of this are twofold: the ranged weapons are perfect for speedruns but weaken the longer a fight goes on (though this is almost completely negated in World and Rise thanks to the camps). Additionally, ranged weapons have the benefit of not being in range of most attacks, thus negating the risk of being hit, thus naturally lowering the percentage of time needed to heal. (11:04-11:40) I actually vehemently disagree with you on the topic of flinching. This is probably a volcanic take to most people, but I actually like the flinching mechanic for one simple reason: it reinforces cooperation. Part of this cooperation is tied to the niches of each weapon along with their respective damage types, but the flinching forces you to be aware of your surrounding and take into account not only the monster but the other members of your team. This sense of cooperation, in turn, reinforces the idea that each hunter is not just playing their own game, but that you are corporately playing the same game. To tangent a little, this is the same reason why I grew to love team attack doubles in Smash Bros. You have to be constantly aware of your teammate and coordinate attacks to be the most effective. To give you credit, DarkHero, I do think that some attacks should not trip. For example, the giant sweep attack of the LS and the Shrapnel Shot of the BGs since, in the former, the range is too wide to not hit someone else and, in the latter, the player has little to no control over where the shot hits. (12:05-15:42) I think you hit the nail on the head! In a game that is supposed to be all about player style freedom, it's extremely frustrating when a particular playstyle isn't up to snuff and especially when an entire weapon class is boosted to high heavens while those that desperately need buffing are Yamcha'ed. As a resident Hunting Horn (#DootHammer4Life) and Gunlance main, I'm no stranger to getting left behind, disregarded, and reviled, but the treatment the LS gets just makes it all sting a bit worse. To anyone who actually read all this, thank you for your time and I'd love to hear your opinions, *even if they're wrong and I hate them.*

I started playing Monster Hunter in MH4U, and longsword was already a deeply disliked weapon in my group. There was only three of us so we'd usually fill the last slot with a random. We ran into so many longsword user's that constantly tripped us over.

Honestly, I think you missed the mark completely on why people don't like LS in the modern era. In fairness though, the video was made before sunbreak, so I'm not going to rant about information DarkHero 2 couldn't have known so I'll attempt to keep post release knowledge to a minimum. TLDR: Ranged users can die for the DPS they provide, LS doesn't. LS is better than every melee weapon at everything, while also being the safest. Pick a power line between hunters and monsters and buff weapons under it, and nerf LS down to it, don't just buff everything cause I don't want to see MH devolve into Glass Cannon vs Glass Cannon. if the devs want a counter focused weapon, sure, fine, I won't play it but others will enjoy that, and I'm totally cool with that. But that counter weapon can't also be better than every other weapon at everything. In regards to the tripping thing: it used to be annoying, but frankly, anyone that can't find a single 1 deco slot to put in flinch free is just being stubborn. Plenty of weapons trip people, and FF should be standard in every players set. If you aren't slotting that in, you have no business complaining. So wouldn't actually put that on LS. It was a problem, the devs gave people the solution in the form of Flinch Free. much like stun res, or tremor res. You can't complain about a mechanic, when the game provided you with an optional solution that you, as the player, are choosing to opt out of. Onto the actual LS though. What I think you missed the most was the reason Ranged Weapons aren't as hated as LS despite doing more or equivalent damage. And what i believe is this: Ranged weapon users can actually die on hunts. Their damage comes at a cost a vulnerability, uptime, ammo management, and mediocre silkbinds. The reason speedrunning HBG tends to be so good is because the monster literally never gets to play the game, sticky ammo, into spread, into traps, into para, etc etc etc. But on a normal hunt without a cracked speedrunner, HBG users can get wrecked from tons of hits from different monsters, some outright potentially killing them if they haven't got health birds. Bow is the closest in terms of offense and defense to LS, but even then, bow only has Dodgebolt, and other than that, the normal rolling like everyone else. And if a bow user does get hit, just like HBG that is gonna HURT. Now longsword on the other hand is doing better damage than all other melee weapons and comparable to ranged weapons while ALSO getting the defensive bonus of being melee in general, on top of its multitude of counters that require no defensive armor skills to be improved saved for Quick Sheathe 3, which is incredibly easy to get on TOP of the fact Long Sword has no unique armor skills required to improve itself beyond that. No Rapid Morph, Load Shells, Evasion skills, Stam skills (bow and DBs). Foresight slash is a better dodge than evade window 5 dodge in any other weapon, can be used almost anywhere in the LS combos, can go any direction and if the slice lands, goes immediately into the stage 4 of the spirit slash for instant gauge. That alone makes it the best defensive weapon in the entire game. Better than any weapon with a shield. Additionally, the Iai double slash gives passive LS gauge to get spriit slashes. Boy I sure do wish SA, CB, DB, GL got a move that give passive Gauge or Ammo, even while they're using said resources. LS does why can't anyone else?. on TOP of all that, the red gauge, while giving LS a totally unecessary massive damage buff, there's no move in the LS arsenal that really spends the gauge realisticly, and ever if they do, you just get the level back. Additionally LS can refresh the red gauge at any time to keep it permanent if its not spending it. And this is all before getting to the silkbinds. Pre-sunbreak, I'm willing to bet Soaring Kick did more effective DPS than any other silkbind in the game. While also only costing 1 bug, decent recovery time, fast usage, very easy to hit, and when it did hit, all the hits activated regardless. Post sunbreak, they gave it impossibly long recovery time, effectively bricking it, cause the other LS silkbinds are so good to its not much of a loss. Finally, I don't agree with the sentiments of "just buff all weapons to be as good as LS" and for the reason that power creep is a thing. The balance between hunter power and monster power has to be maintained, and if all weapons got super buffed to LS levels, the monsters would have to follow. Which would eventually lead to Glass Cannon fights where because the weapons are so forgiving, the monsters have to be unforgiving to punish mistakes. And having to play perfectly to not get 1 shot(or comboed) is stressful and generally can be unfun. What I'm worried about is the devs will listen to people saying buff all the weapons, trivializing monsters, then buffing monsters, and the game devolves from when it was about Forethought, monster knowledge, precise movement and attacks, to something more twitchy, where you don't have to know anything about what you're fighting, cause you have the tools and animation cancels to auto-correct regardless of whatever the monster tries. Now if the devs want a counter focused weapon like that, sure, fine, I won't play it but others will enjoy that, and I'm totally cool with that. But that twitchy counter weapon can't also be better than every other weapon at everything. That ability to counter has to come at a cost though.

I think that since longsword has now a bunch of tools in its kit they need to put some love into other weapons of dire need, such as lance and others.

This also reminded me when the elder gave me a long sword as the story progresses. Me as a lance main at that time: what am I supposed to do with this?

the thing about the LS is that there has only been added more and more to the kit, without removing anything or giving the moves any drawbacks. its become the most overloaded weapon imo and -even if it might be fun to play for many people, its become kind of boring for me as all these counterattacks and instant evades take away much of the basic skill when playing the game (roll dodging for the most part. Who even does that with LS anymore?).

Longsword has ALWAYS had a history of being a MH Pariah. Mainly due to tripping. It’s a cool weapon, no arguments there, and watching a high skilled Longsword main do their thing emphasizes the elegance of the weapon. But man. Don’t I feel like every player and content creator just straight up ignore the beautiful possibilities of the other weapons.

~Sees the longsword get upgrades~ ~Still a loyal Gun-lance main~

CB and IG were absolutely broken 4U to GU, them being retooled and balanced were warranted. If you want to talk about weapons getting absolutely destroyed, look towards the bow, while the dragon piercer and new moves, stamina problem was what gutted it absolutely for early to midgame.

Personally what I don't like about the LS is that the game is now getting designed around it. Maybe it's just me, but I'm getting the feeling the monsters got adjusted (moving around like they have the zoomies) to compensate for how OP the LS and its counters are. So now slower weapons don't have as much openings to exploit. :(

The only problem I have with it is: If you use it, you *better* be able to take a hit if you miss your parry. The number of carts I've seen from overconfident LS users that screwed up and took a hit they could have easily dodged is way too damn high. I don't want to fight a monster for 10-15 minutes only for some overconfident LS user taking a hit at low health and being the 3rd cart. *Make sure you have enough health to survive a hit if you screw up that parry.* That is all. If you keep an eye on that health, we'll get along just fine. This is coming from a DB psychopath that dodge dances with monsters and gets enough airtime to make a IG user blush.

I'm a hammer main, and nearly every time knock down a creature long swords go for the head messing up my combos. They never seem to go for anything but the head in my experience.

No lie, you have to put in a lot of work to become a parry god that doesn't take damage. It has an insane skill gap for most players. Its a rewarding playstyle. As someone who played the souls series first it was always the most appealing

I’m perfectly fine with LS being a powerful weapon. My biggest issue comes with the risk/reward ratio. There is little to no risk with LS. If missing a counter or move REMOVED a level like MHWI, I’d say it’s worth it. Since that risk is gone but it keeps the reward, that’s how it feels broken

i started in 3u, and was in the community for GU. before world, the weapon had playful jokes about tripping, but nothing like the straight malice that i, and the community now share. i will state, i liked 3U LS, and GU LS, however even valor has a BUNCH of differences from current Rise LS, which from my understanding is a bit more similar to Frontier Z's LS. Old LS was very punishing, and has always been a side main, and one of my fav BM weapons until World, where lance felt buttery smooth. not only did you have to fight this ticking clock on your weapon but also keep your spirit gauge full to have the dmg boost from that, and then expend it in bursts. this meant to be a good LS you had to basically always be on the monster, and with the range of its teeth and claws. GS could sheath is weapon and disengage to set up a new headsnipe, Lances had their shields, Sns had its disengages and a lesser shield, Dual blades had its quick steps. LS really didnt have a defensive option until Gu with crit juncture (which is worse than serene pose btw). Ls only had the roll, and the fade slash which was a positioning tool to stay on the monster. You could argue fade slash was a defensive tool, but it was slow af, didnt have i frames, and didnt go all that far. i dont think you could escape Teo's claw swipe when he has blast aura. If you were being a coward as an LS, or getting hit too often, blade level loss. got carted? all levels lost. not being aggressive enough post Spirit combo? lost your buff. Compare that to even ice borne LS, you now have special sheath, and iai slash just gives you free unlimited spirit for a time, that you can do whenever, and got back when you helm breaker. meaning high tier LS play was, iai slashing, getting to level 3, Helm breaker, an attack, then spirit combo and then helm breaker again. Add a Counter that give copious I frames, normie Iai slash also gives I frames, foresight slash, which gives i frames, and a free blade level if you were bout to get hit. Rise, gave LS a better crit junture, that can be used more often, and automatically hits the target if they hit you. Crit juncture once triggered, wasnt free dmg, you had to actually land the attack as well. on top of that Crit juncture was a skill that took a lot of time to build, maybe granting 2 attacks on the avg hunt, 3 on long ones and up to like 5 on lao shan lung. Also hunter arts required you to hit the monster to build, while wirebugs recharge on a timer. Overall the worst addition to LS was the special sheath. The normal Iai slash is often overlooked because it doesnt have good dmg, and isnt that flashy. However Iai slash completely trivialized the basic mechanic of the weapon that required hunters to be able to consistently hit a monster over the course of a hunt. LS will never be considered a well balanced weapon until special sheath as a whole gets fuckin Culled.

As the only Gunlance main left on the planet, I used the longsword once for a reason. To see how annoying it was to hit your teammates rather than than them hitting you. It is annoying and I find hitting people with my Wyvernfire funnier and at times somewhat helpful.

"the long sword has high skill ceiling because you need to learn the timing of the monsters in order to evade and punish them" as opposed to the other weapons that don't need to learn monster attacks? That's not a good argument. LS just makes it so that instead of having like 0.1s of i-frame you have 1s instead.

It's hard to be a lance and a longsword main lol I use baiscally every weapons (some more than others, but i still use all of them time to time) and yeah, some really need better things... the new "hidden" moves for lance that weren't in the demo (the new shield dash and that one that sends you flying backwards) are actually very useful defensively, but i don't like the skyward thrust, lance really needs a Big hitting move i feel, like the Corkscrew jab from mhgu, i loved that art

The main issues: - You needing to sacrifice a flinchfree jewel to even be near the monster. - They don't focus the bloody tail despite having severe damage. - Favouritism.

My problem with longsword isn’t that its flashy or getting buffed or anything! I think thats fantastic that its able to do so many cool moves :) my problem with it is that the other weapons don’t get the same treatment., the moves added to lance in sunbreak felt like the biggest slap in the face after icebornes additions.,

I've been using longsword for a long long time. How much more fluid the moveset has become is great, but it's overtuned by a lot. The s for counter moves all last about 95 minutes of a 50 minute quest if you even need more than 5. The new silkbind moves also have crazy damage for how easy they are to pull off. If I can hit for 500-1000 damage with low rank gear and no armor skills, it's too high. That said, I still love the weapon, and I won't be too upset if it (we know the devs won't hurt their baby) ever gets nerfed to a reasonable level.

I always loved the longsword because of it’s really cool design and because I always had a soft spot for weapons like the Nodachi but LS really didn’t need that much of a buff in rise especially considering how OP the LS already is in MHW. I like using switch axe and I’m considering getting into weapons like CB and GS and I’ve already noticed how much harder hunts are. Switch axe isn’t as bad because I have prior experience unlike CB and GS, but with things like spirit Iai slash, and foresight which is just a “fuck you” to damage, I can see why most people see no point in switching off LS because it’s just so easy. It’s a low risk-ridiculously high reward weapon and giving it more damage negating abilities and other broken shit is stupid af. Especially when other weapons were in actual need of some decent buffs at the very least were just completely ignored. I love LS but I completely understand why people dislike the weapon for what it is because the weapon is dumb OP.

Freedom 2 LS main here. Loved it even before it has its fancy counters. I can't comment about how should it be balanced compared to other weapons, and about how it stands in the community due to bias. But I think a big problem is the risks didn't scale with the rewards. If devs increased the risk (chip damage, gauge reduction, stamina consumption, massive sharpness loss), then it should make players give more thought about the trade-offs and hopefully raise the skill ceiling. Also it shouldn't alienate the current LS mains because it still carries its essence. Though I don't know how it will affect the pick rate because I think a challenging weapon is just as enticing as an easy one. But it shouldn't matter because players would be picking it up anyway for what it'll be. It's up to the devs on how they can make the rest keep up or have it all on the same page.

As a hammer main, my main problem with LS is that I keep flinching which it makes me miss great opportunites to KO the monster or prevents me from doing huge damage combos while the monster is down.

I think the reasoning for player vs player flinching is due to the desire to see players working with more coordination.

Longswords actually received several hard nerfs. It was a lot stronger before sunbreak.

for me at least, I use the LS specifically because i'm not very good at A: multiple weapon forms and combos, and B: monster hunter as a whole. I either hunt solo or use it so I don't bog my team down by being terrible and so I can still have fun.

The iai counter is what made me play less with LS because of that small window timing. I watch other LS speed runner video clips and felt like my sword is being dragged through the mud.

The Longsword in Freedom Unite was fun and kinda balanced. Then in Portable 3rd/Tri we got the spirit gauge system, which was fine as well. I only see the Longsword becoming a problem from World onwards, since in Gen/XX every weapon was overturned if used with the right style. It became really frustrating to stand anywhere really when you get knocked on your butt all the time by lingering hitboxes. You know there's a reason why this weapon has an accurate nickname in German. Stolperstock (literally Stumble Stick) because you couldn't do anything without flinch free. But not only the Longsword had a habit of flinching people. On the topic of speedrunning I can see why people say Bow is way stronger. But as a bow main since Gen/XX I kinda beg to differ a bit. Yes it's strong but you really have to hit the parts that are weak to ranged weapons or you don't do any damage at all. I'm talking e.g. an optimal shot with a Spread 5 bow doing 5x50 damage while hitting a bit to the left makes that 5x1-3. Compared to Longsword where optimal hits do about 80 and suboptimal do 30-40 higher floor lower ceiling. What I'm saying is: ranged weapons are volatile. Let's take Kushala daora as an example of "ungrateful" ranged targets. As a blademaster you hit effectively on head, tail and forelegs. Ranged weapons? Forelegs. One critzone that doesn't like to stay put. When he does his wind shield everything except tail and head is a 0 for bow. No hits at all. Another one of those monsters is Rakna Kadaki. Only effective hitzone is the head, which is surrounded by pincers, legs and butt. But the most infuriating thing I have seen, and that's done mostly by longswords, is not staying where you do make sense. If you have a bladed weapon you aim is tail severs first. Then do whatever. But if I am using a hammer don't come close to me with that Longsword trying to hit the head when the tail is still attached. Rant ended. Thanks for coming to my ted talk.

They could EASILY make it so that you ONLY hit teammates if they are in a state that benefits from them being hit (stun/sleep).

My problem with this weapon is that it’s too easy to use. The dmg and counter capabilities are way higher than the lance. Why should a long sword be able to counter and be more defensive than a lance and shield? It literally makes no sense and lance users have been getting nothing for years.

So far I've never met a "Bad" longsword user in Rise. But when I do, "load Heavy bowgun with malicious (cluster) intent". See if you can dodge these.

Despite longsword being advertised strongly, I actually seen light bowgun users lot more than longsword users in my games throughout my sunbreak experience.

At this rate I stick to using IG when playing multiplayer because 1) It’s my fallback weapon on monsters that I’m facing off against for the first time. 2) You get flinch free and earplugs for free, which in this day and age is very useful because of how many LS I see. I get so annoyed because I want to be able to use something like hammer or gunlance because they are fun to play. But when I down a monster with the hammer I’m not able to do the head combo because I keep getting tripped by LS users who seem to refuse to focus on the tail. It just feels frustrating that people should have to waste a precious decoration slot because other people can’t position for shit.

Honestly, as a long sword main since FU, I think LS changes are for the worse. I don't like how it became a weapon solely focused around counters. Before it used to be a very tactical weapon which rewarded knowledge of the monster and aggressive but calculated plays. I completely skipped world and picked up the LS with a mindset similar to how it used to be, trying to incorporate some of the new moves, with foresight feeling like just the right addition. But with how strong the counter playstyle is in rise with the LS, I ended up being more successful just focusing on parrying than by playing aggressive with fade slash. And honestly, I don't like it, it's not like the weapon I previously loved. It's sure is flashy and powerful, but it's not what I'm after. I think counters shouldn't exist in MH, or atleast be very scarce and be more akin to GS tackle or CB guard points.

So it sounds like the fix (if you want to keep the cinematic moves) would be about a 20% decrease in damage (or tie damage more closely to spirit gauge), and about a 40% decrease in i-frames, so it feels like the damage is the reward for being good at "the dance". Not just for picking up the weapon.

had the displeasure of explaining to a LS main of a friend why the longsword is hated, Just moments later of me placing in flinch free I get hit by HIS sleeptoad and he wonders why he can't simply knock me out of the sleep. we failed the quest because of that.

10:48 is not and will not ever be a good response to this issue. I as a teammate shouldn't have to equip gear, items or abilities in a game meant to contend with another teammates weapon or skills of choice. The LS should just not trip at all tbh because it's the only fix I can think of that won't piss off a ton of people. Personally? I want the LS to be rewarding but also have downsides. As it stands it's frustrating to go into games and run into one to two LS users who trip everyone and cut the hunts down to barely nothing. It really cuts the fun out of the game tbh. My only good fix that makes it all *balanced* is to Nerf the LS and only give it like one or two counters that eat a resource and punish overuse, cut the max damage potential down a bit or buff other weapons to be comparable in DPS in risk vs reward ratio and to buff all other weapons and give them all unique and better skills and techniques.

I feel obligated to point out that at world launch the window for forsight slash wasn't generous that happened in the jho patch

I’ve been playing LS pretty heavily since 3U and have been enjoying the pacing of the weapon, as a HH, GL, CB main I enjoy weapons that taken a more technical approach, and with how old LS needed a kind of dance with the monster to get the maximum out of the LS was fun and rewarding. Being able to just tank an attack and counter with crazy damage values and forgo the LS restrictions with the Wirebug mechanic with movement and even more counters is where the current hate comes from.

I think the weirdest part is that the game has potential for stuff like the holy trinity of MMO's (dps/supp/tank) YET they give the offensive weapons absolute capability to essentially tank on their own with no drawback. This makes stuff like lance and gunlance feel like second thoughts as they designed them to be tanky and survivable but have no damage at all.

Reasons why I dislike it: - extremely overused by so many players. Because of this I havent seen much team variety when I played Iceborne. It sometimes felt like they have never played another weapon while also not being very good with the LS anyway. - back in Iceborne, I remember that about 90% of players that died in the stupidest ways possible or died the most compared to other party members where long sword players. Sometimes it seemed like they want to die on purpose. - The main reason people used Flinch Free Was mostly due to LS players and not monsters. It was really annoying always being staggered by LS players. It barely happened with other weapons. - it receives so much attention from Capcom that it basicly became Capcoms Charizard. When it was introduced it was a normal balanced weapon but now it became somewhat of a overused mascot that is made popular just because Capcom designed it to be.

I'm loving your channel. I stopped playing Rise only a few weeks after release, I just wasn't feeling it. Then Sunbreak was announced and a ton of brand new content has also been added to the base game since I last played, that was enough to get me interested in the series again. It's so much easier to catch up on news when all of the information is one place. Thank you!

Reject Longsword, embrace Hunting Horn Edit: Hunting Horn is best weapon in the game, fight me

I feel like it's kind of dumb to say: "LS isn't OP, ranged weapons are OP. It's in the top 5 with them, in fact it's number 4, the best melee weapon." Plus, a lot of the weapons you mentioned don't flinch players as often as LS does.

Gameplay of the Sacred Sheath Guard Point Counter and a majority of Frontier look near identical to me. Standing your ground while a monster desperately tries to hit you with anything.

The hate for longsword stems way before world. The memes that longsword users can't tell a head from a tail and that they constantly hit their allies comes all the way from freedom unite eras. Longsword users were notoriously bad at playing with teams as they completely disregarded positioning and the spirit slash hits so wide that they would always hit others. Don't even get me started with the poor hammer mains that were at the monsters head constantly being flinched by the confused longsword user that doesn't know what a tail looks like

When I play online in "Sunbreak", longsword users tend to cart more than other weapons. I attribute that to bad counter timing, and master rank is less forgiving.

I'd argue the current identity of the long sword being the parry god started before World. Remember Valor LS in XX? I felt invincible using the parry using the first Spirit Slash and mainly used it to cheese monsters together with the parry hunter art (forgot the name tho).

"Everyone says this weapon is broken but have you see THIS weapon? Stop hating and look at THAT one!"

I don’t mind most long sword players as long as they’re good and understand positioning but with so many people using it because it’s popular and strength. You get saturated with players that don’t understand positioning.

I think things especially need to be balanced in pve because diversity keep player retention. Who will want to pick up lance when the long sword does it better kinda thing. So instead of them learning the lance because they saw something cool once they pick it up they are gonna notice their times take a lot longer and more often then not drop it. So if things where to be balanced there would be a very high retention rate because people could try out all the weapons without worrying if a hunt is now going to be 3 min longer because of it.

It is absolutely the kit that makes the ls a problem, watching a weapon get 6 different counters as well as a move that buffs them is aggravating when gs or swaxe just got one now in sunbreak, it is the Swiss army knife if weapons and makes no effort to hide it, serene pose can out damage great sword hits, it has more mobility than dual blades, it's better at defending than the Lance, and doesn't need to worry about bouncing like gunlance. The spirit gage is a joke at this point, in older games you had to build meter, execute the combo and then do it again 2 more times to get to red witch is a 20% damage increase! It's still the same modifier, but you just gotta counter 3 attacks to get there now, it takes less than a minute to do. In online it's a cutting weapon so it should target the tail, but no long sword player ever does, and why should they when they are better at every other weapons job? Tripping is less of an issue for the other weapons because in general terms it just happens less, "oh well just build in flinch free so then I can't trip you with my long sword" yeah, it's easy to say, but ls doesn't have to do that for other weapons, infact it doesn't have to worry about tripping at all, it gets it for free at spirit gage level 1. Yes it has a ridiculously high skill ceiling, but the reality is that the skill floor is practically as high as other weapons skill ceilings.

Bro I just wanted to play with the cool looking big katana, I didnt sign up for the death threats and hate messages-

"U cUlD EqUiP FlInCh FrEe" I should NOT need to swap MY SET to accommodate for SOMEONE else's BS. Never tell someone "Oh u can just do XYZ so I can play what I want" cuz all that's gonna get you is a bunch of people not wanting to play with you.

I'm relatively new to the series, so when I first played Rise, I loved the LS. It was so stylish and did so much damage, why wouldn't I use it? Of course, as time went on I began to get bored of it. After much experimentation, I finally settled on LB, Bow, and SnS. I enjoy being a support/long-range player, and I found SnS to be more rewarding when I wanted something melee. That said, I still have a soft spot for the hand-me-down LS, and still use it occasionally.

The only legitimate complaint about about LS I've ever heard is that it's shown too much favoritism. Do I need 6 counters? No but I'm glad to have the option if LS is going to be the "counter" weapon. In World I spent days learning each weapon to figure out what my main should be and it actually hurts that there are weapons literally left in the dirt while others have well tuned kits that make them feel like they never evolved from there early kits.

The only reason why i hated Longsword is Capcom only keep caring the weapon to death compared to other weapons Look at the sad state of Rise Insect Glaive, Bow, Lance, Chargeblade, and ESPECIALLY Gunlance who still never gets any good treatment at all in every Gen Longsword keep eternally being pandered towards being strong when the player use it properly and actually reward you for doing it while some weapons i mentioned earlier BARELY gets any reward especially Gunlance If Switchaxe wasnt buffed like it is now i would have complained about how bad they treated Swaxe in Gen and World

Its the whole package. LS players not only get the best offensive and defensive moveset, they also have among the fastest movement and generally quick handling.

Came back to this video to let everyone know I just watched a Longsword take all 3 faints from Fatalis trying to Iai Slash his breath.

I don’t mind longsword being stronger than other weapons, however I feel that it’s a bit unfair how much preferential treatment longsword is getting in comparison to weapons like lance and light bowgun

"It's super skillful" but it's not. It can have the highest skill cap in existence, that doesn't matter if it's so overloaded you don't need to use a quarter of it's potential to out preform every other weapon. On something like the greatsword, you need to surpass a skill floor to start succeeding, with the long sword you can just pick up and start dominating at every skill bracket.

The issue with it (specifically in base rise) doesn't take much to get it going (overall skill and build wise) in base rise, all you need is full valstrax armour and chameleos long sword. Literally the build is almost done or outright is done, maybe some decos here and there. For how easy it is to build a GL build, it isn't as easy as a LS build to be made. As well the over all cost for LS builds are hilariously cheap compared to other builds (CB, HBG and LBG to name a few) even though ranged weapons are very OP, it takes quite a bit for them to get there. With LS, it takes very minimal set up for it to be extremely good. And the whole flinch free thing, I think I can vouch for everyone when I say: I'm not gonna lower my own DPS just because your ass (not you specifically but mainly LS mains) can't be mindful of other players when you're flailing your sword around like an overweight Otaku screeching "REE!" At the top of your lungs. I don't hate LS (one of 3 main weapons I used in world) but I'm not gonna sit here and adamantly defend it either.

I think you did a good job on the video! You stayed on topic, stated facts when needed and portrayed your thoughts on the facts. In the future, it could be beneficial to show visual representations when you're mentioning changes. For instance, showing a combo chart before and after the changes with the new things highlighted. About LS: I can't talk ultra specific about it cause I haven't used it since before mhw released on pc, but I've met many Longsword mains since 4 Ultimate. Before i continue, shoutout to the true homie longsworders that secure those tail cuts and fully understand the spacing required for their weapon. However, the majority of longsword mains I've met have been arrogant know-it-alls that may be playing in a group, but they're only playing for themselves. I feel that it's there that lies a core issue with LS. It's a weapon that rewards selfish play more than the others. Don't misunderstand. LS is just as good a group weapon, it can trip the monster, it can get good flinches and of course tail cuts. But it's sweeping attacks and long reach (go figure) combined with how it's attack chains move its user forward a good amount, makes it extremely effective at unintentionally tripping hunters, especially when there's a knockdown. The anguish of getting interrupted in a key moment is very real. To be fair, this isn't exclusive to longsword. Other weapons interrupt, that's plain fact, and some are quite good at it when an effort is made. It's just that by far, it is the worst offender for the simple reason that even the most well-intentioned and careful hunter could disrupt the team without meaning to. OH BABY A TINY GOLD CROWN? SHIELD YOUR ANKLES BOYS, IM GOIN IN. At the end of the day, it is just a video game and Monster Hunter should be more about working together than highlighting differences. But any time I meet a proud longsword main, I have to remind them where they truly belong: THE TRASH.

I was about to run with this, until I saw the charge blade. Now it looks like one of it's attacks came in the form of a circular saw.

Remember people. Never commend LS users.

I loved the longsword in 4u, even if I mained dual blades most of the time. It wasn't ever problematic in multiplayer, but it might have been the fact that the two friends I played with were smart enough to let me go for the tail while they whacked whatever it was we were hunting in the face or used their consumables. With randos online it's an evil weapon that everyone hates. In a coordinated group, we found it to be pretty effective

Yet years later, I still suck at long sword, so pressing X to doubt on people's claims of how "easy" it is.

I think the real controversy started because new players who mained LS refused to comply with hunter etiquette. For those who don't know, the classic games had unwritten rules in multiplayer where you were supposed to attack where your weapon did the most part damage. LS, DB, and SnS attack tails, Hammers and HHs attack the head. However, for all the reasons you said in your video, LS did higher DPS at the head so new players kept aiming for the head to the detriment of blunt weapon users. I can't provide evidence because I left years ago but I started seeing hammer mains complaining about this in Facebook groups and LS trolls started bullying Hammers. It started to make this mentality rhat LS mains were entitled assholes who demanded everyone accommodate to them like a toxic friend who gets a hissy fit when it doesn't go their way. Everything you said in your video is true without a doubt but I think the controversy truly started because new players who didn't understand the classic players culture tried to brute force their way in and expected older players to just accept it; and the rest is history.

yes long sword is powerful but if we compare iceborne LS to rise, i will say that takes more practice to use Iceborne LS, the s are less and you are punish for failing. iai slash required a better timing and sometimes you will receibe damage since the s were not that great, and if you failed you will lose gauge, also you will not gain gauge upon success unlike rise. heck even foresight in world was harder to pull at the begining , only after a patch became easier to use.

I remember so many of Iceborne groups I was in just being filled with "it's not my job to position you should have flinch free"

im hbg main for most of rise, also lbg, in generations and world i did lance. but i must say, i was trying out charge blade this week and i was really suprised by the numbers when you do that elemental discharge stuff where the axe goes spinning, thats really crazy, like tikking 100 points for dozens of times per swing.. thats much more than bowgun rapid fires can do.. i think also more than longsword does, but i only have tried longsword for one time on low rank

The thing about longsword is that it is the perfect beginner weapon. It is a weapon that allows newcomers to get a feel for the game and understanding mechanics. It serves as a crutch for these new players but keep in mind I said crutch and just like a crutch you must cast it aside once it is no longer needed. Right now longsword is less of a crutch to lean on and more like "oh daddy please hold my cock through the entire game so I don't hurt myself". And don't go saying the other weapons are hard to learn I started in MHW and immediately picked up CB and as I pressed buttons I learned. I saw in the comments that the other weapons should be brought to LS level which is wong. Each weapon has their own distinct character and if they were given the same treatment as LS they would lose character. LS can be more defensive than the actual defensive weapons. And I'm gonna be honest you LS mains are stupid you and you piss off your team so much you don't realize it. So, in conclusion LS needs to find its own character and be nerfed.

every other weapon should get massive buffs to bring it up to where LS is. every weapon should feel insanely good in it's own way, one also shouldn't be untouchable without some type of CD or massive skill involved.

I'm naturally competitive and I like to compare myself to others, my main hunting buddy has a damage meter so I usually ask about it. Longsword players outperform us with what seems like such a low barrier that I feel like my achievement is invalidated because they have an easier ticket to the same endgoal. It makes me not even want to hunt with Longsword players, or that someone in the hard endgame gear got it with less skill than would be needed normally.

The most frustrating thing is that long sword is a medium skill-cap weapon and you can just unga bunga everything until it dies whereas charge blade, gun lance and insect glaive are incredibly high skill-cap weapons and have absolutely no reward for mastering them

If they arent going to get rid of tripping, they need to introduce a gem that makes YOU incapable of tripping teammates, it shouldnt be on 3 other people to do that, it should be on the person causing it in the first place

Nobody complains about gunner because you ought to get a specific build with a specific gun, with certain crucial skills to make them work and also you need to source certain ammo types and ammo materials, set specific item loadouts, etc... Gunner is more damage, but it takes investment in making it work, meanwhile, longsword go brr. maybe get some crit skills and handicraft and nothing much else needed.

If they reduce the LS damage output so that a red gage LS is dishing out less damage than a GS, the would be unique. I like the idea of a counter-weapon. I use the Lance, GL, CB, and occasionally DB as counter weapons. It feels good and flashy to counter a monster's big move and dish out a crap tone of damage. LS just outperforms all the other weapons in this regard, mostly because the damage you deal is not linked to the attack you counter. a couple of ideas to make the LS a bit more risk/reward: >The damage to your counter is relative to the move you countered. The lance has this mechanic with anchor rage. counter a big attack, and get a sizable attack boost for a bit. With the thin blade, I could see this making more sense thematically. > Make the helm breaker consume all spirit gages levels for a sizable attack buff. give a good reason to use it, deals lots of damage, but then you lose your gages for a while. >Double the speed your gage depletes while sheathed (including special sheath stance) >Make a failed Ia counter cost a spirit gage and remove the I-frames from the counter if you have no Gage charge. Mechanically, I have always seen the long sword as a risk/reward kind of weapon. you are rewarded for managing your gage and have powerful moves, but they come at the cost of your increased damage and safety counter if you misread the monster. This would be the same as the heat gage for GL in Generations in a way, keep the gage in the red for more damage and possible safety. This would keep the weapon challenging in the late game when monsters are faster, but also more rewarding when you manage to do it correctly. the lack of an all-around easy safety net would also incentivize people to experiment with other weapons. None of the weapons are perfect and some are better at hunting some monsters than other, but Long sword lately has been a little too good at tracking everything. The Saftey of the weapon is good, but too easy to abuse. it has become Less risk, more reward. also, if you are still reading this, I feel the Long Sword designs are kind of bland when compared to some of the other weapons. GS has an amazing aesthetic look, HBG looks menacing, and Switchax/Chargeblade is always lovely.

What you want is for Capcom to give the other weapons the same treatment but you hid this premise in a video called “Longsword Problematic Weapon.”

In my experience tho, I usually get flinched by bow & bowgun users :V

i made my peace with LS users when the devs introduced flinch free

What is the claymore looking longsword you are using? I've never seen it before it looks so dope

Just take one level of flinch free and never have another problem again.

I really want to like the long sword or at least not care about it. But unfortunately it's kit and favoritism has made it so the only people I see use it are toxic jerks. I can't describe how many random people would join my friends' lobbies in world then keep tripping us up during the hunt while they would attack everything but the tail (mind you I play hunting horn so the head is my zone). And in chat we would ask them to mind their attacks and try to not hit us only to get "well just use flinch free" which would result in them getting the boot immediately. More than once I had people chat at me to either change weapons because "hh is a bad weapon" or to "go stand in the corner and heal me, you can't deal any damage anyway with that horn". I know it's not every player who is like this but I've only had bad luck with th and just hate the weapon due to it

Interesting, on your position on flinching teamates, i have the complete opposite opinion. I think they should remove flinch free as a skill. Hear me out: I hate beeing interupted as much as everyone else, but when all 4 players have flinch free you dont have too look out for each other, dont have to pay attention to your teammates. No "can i hit the head without interupting hammer, or sending gs flying". It essentially turns multiplayer into single player with others. From my experience, mh multiplayer never felt that "lonely" before. I understand some weapons (lance and gl come to mind) suffered really bad in past titles from that, and that rise's design with the huge special attacks and all dont complement this, but i really dont think we should be able to ignore each other to that extend (in the next games going forward) Would love to hear some opinions on this :)

I like whenever the longsword gets the slightest wiff of a nerf, the longsword "exclusives" as I call them (they dont just main the weapon, its the only thing they ever play) will blow the house down with how annoying they are about it.

Complaining about weapon balance in a COOPERATIVE HUNTING GAME is kinda wild

i think you overestimate how "terrible" charge blade has it in rise. ever since gen 4 it had a really expansive moveset, and with the tools given by world its a great weapon in rise. sunbreak fixed the only thing that was underwhelming being the hitboxes for SAED, and i gotta add the ready stance isnt world shattering by any means but it adds some funny animation cancels and gives higly appreciated safety in axe mode.