The Great Sword is an iconic weapon in the Monster Hunter series. It’s one of the more generic weapons in the franchise, but it suits the game's theme perfectly - a hunter facing off against towering behemoths armed with a ridiculously massive sword to cleave down their foe. There’s a specific look to the Great Sword that other weapons don’t offer.
The GS is the most damaging weapon in the game. Not to mention that it also offers some of the slickest weapon designs. If you’re a Great Sword main or thinking of being one, you’ll know that it's a slow-moving slab of metal (or bone) that does thousands of damage on every hit!
And while we’re talking about big damages, we’ll be listing the 7 best Great Swords that will sweep every monster in your way.
7. Jagras Deathclaw II
Check out how Frenzy, the casual player slays High-rank Lunastra with the Jagras Deathclaw II
This is the easiest Great Sword to obtain early during your Master Rank journey. The Jagras Deathclaw II offers white sharpness and a sealed water element, which would be effective against monsters that are weak to water.
You can also strengthen it by slotting in the Non-Elemental Boost skill, which will significantly increase its raw damage potential. This Great Sword can carry you through midgame or even complete the main storyline.
Highlights:
- The best early to mid-game Great Sword options in Iceborne expansion
- Offers 600 Water damage with Free Element
- Great socket options for early game
Weapon details:
- Level 10 rarity
- 1248 damage
- 0% affinity
- 600 sealed water element
- 2 level 3 jewel slots
6. Immovable Dharma
Shara Ishvalda’s Great Sword will be your top choice during the early-post story stage as seen in this video by Team Darkside.
The Great Sword crafted from the final story boss is one of the coolest designs in the game. The Immovable Dharma also offers white sharpness like the Jagras Deathclaw II, but you can easily bring it to purple sharpness with Handicraft. This lets you focus less on sharpening and more on hitting the monsters hard!
It's considered one of the highest non-elemental damage Great Sword in the game, with 1344 attack power, which is suitable for many end-game builds. On top of that, the blade offers neutral affinity that you can bring up to 100% with Critical Eye and Weakness Exploit skills.
Highlights:
- Great design
- Offers sufficient damage for endgame
- Lets you access 540 Dragon element and high Elderseal with Free Element for slaying Elder dragons.
- Offers additional 30 defense stat bonus
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1344 damage
- 0% affinity
- 540 dragon element
- 2 level 1 jewel slots
5. Demonlord Goldrod
This Gold Rathian got slayed by the thousand volts of the thunder rod. Gameplay by Preyahdahilah.
By slaying Furious Rajang, you can craft this Great Sword of Thunder! We love the club look of the Demonlord Goldrod which makes it truly unique compared to other Great Swords.
Indeed, there are other alternative, hard-hitting Great Swords, like the Acid Shredded II. But we think that its lack of purple sharpness and jewels just requires too much trouble during hunts.
On the other hand, the Demonlord Goldenrod offers a big chunk of purple sharpness along with 15% affinity. You can extend the purple sharpness even further by slotting in Handicraft, which lets you bash monsters’ heads or tails up to 90 times with extra thunder damage.
Highlights:
- Unique club design
- Massive purple sharpness
- Strong against monsters with thunder weakness
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1344 damage
- 15% affinity
- 300 thunder element
- No slot for decorations
4. Lightbreak Blade
RageGamingVideos explains how the Lightbreak Blade is the new meta.
This beautiful blade crafted from the Raging Brachydios doesn’t just let you hit hard, it explodes in the monster’s face!
The Lightbreak Blade offers one of the highest raw damage numbers in the game, with a mighty 1440 base damage and 360 blast buildup. Even though it offers a great blast status, the sword’s base raw attack power is what makes this Great Sword truly shine, along with the hint of purple sharpness. Like other weapons, you can bump it up with some Handicraft skills.
Highlights:
- One of the highest raw damage Great Sword
- Offers decent blast damage
- Decent slots
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1440 damage
- 0% affinity
- 360 blast buildup
- One level 4 and one level 3 decoration slot
3. Safi’s Shattersplitter
Here’s a showcase of one of the Safi Great Swords against a Barioth and master rank Pukei-Pukei by IDeVaste.
When Safi’Jiiva was introduced, it brought a unique grinding system similar to Kulve Taroth where you can get random weapons based on the loot you obtain after hunting down the monster. In this case, you can obtain nine different Safi Great Swords with the same base stats; 1296 raw attack, 5% affinity, white sharpness and one level 4 decoration slot.
These may seem like average numbers, but what makes the weapon special is its customizability. You can “awaken” abilities like boost affinity, element, status and sharpness. We highly recommend you get the elemental Great Swords or the blast weapon for maximum damage output and bring its base attack to up to 1586! This doesn’t even include any attack boost skills and non-elemental boosts.
Highlights:
- Massive raw damage potential from the awakening system.
- The awakening system lets you boost elemental damage, status alignment, weapon sharpness, etc.
- The weapon also lets you have a monster’s essence, which allows more flexible builds.
- The weapon glows in different colors based on its status effect and element skills.
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1296 base damage
- 5% affinity
- 300 blast buildup
- One level 4 decoration slot
2. Alatreon Revolution
Thales Moustache shares his build to pull off devastating draw attacks with the Alatreon Revolution Great Sword.
This Great Sword comes from the mighty Alatreon, one of the most challenging fights in the game. The Alatreon Revolution offers high base damage and an epic 810 Dragon element which lets you annihilate any Elder Dragon in your way.
This slab of glowing scales is also extremely comfortable due to its two level 2 slots and 90 hits of purple sharpness. This lets you slot in some extra helpful jewels and you won’t need to worry about sharpening the weapon mid-hunt.
Highlights:
- Excellent base raw damage
- Elder Dragon killer due to its high dragon element
- Large purple sharpness that lets you hunt without sharpening
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1344 base damage
- 0% affinity
- 810 Dragon element
- Two level 2 decoration slots
1. Black Fatalis Blade
Unleash the true destructive potential of the Fatalis Black Blade with this guide by RageGamingVideos.
Our number 1 Great Sword comes from the most powerful monster in the game, Fatalis. And with 1632 raw base damage, the Black Fatalis Blade is almost like a cheat weapon that turns every monster into a sitting duck. This colossal raw attack power allowed speedrunners to reach over 10,000 damage in one hit!
Indeed, its only weakness comes from its negative affinity, but by the time you beat Fatalis, you’ll have all the high-level jewels to boost it up to 100%. Not to mention that the weapon offers two level 4 slots, and partnering it with the full Fatalis set will let you add any skill you want.
Highlights:
- Highest raw damage in the game
- Comes with purple sharpness and 2 level 4 slots
- High Elderseal to fight against Elder Dragons.
Weapon details:
- Level 12 rarity
- 1632 base damage
- -30% affinity
- 180 Dragon element
- Two level 4 decoration slots
- High Elderseal
And that concludes our list of the 7 hardest-hitting Great Swords in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne! We hope our guide will encourage you to wield this iconic weapon in the series so you can experience the massive raw numbers that come with it!
