Great Sword [GS]
The weapon requiring the least effort and risk for reward. Stand at a distance, shoot, reload, and dodge when an attack comes your way. A decent special too. Skill tax hurts, though.
Notes
Armor marked by a 🔸 indicate that the piece is optional, and adds either minimal power to your set or has strong competition in the slot. These sets are created to maximize offensive firepower without many difficult-to-activate conditional skills. The listed grades will be the minimum required to obtain the offensive skills, and it is recommend you upgrade them further than listed if you find the need for more defense. **The build site shows max armor skills.
Other weapon builds
Early Game (Pre-Anjanath)
| Head | Kulu Headpiece (Grade 2) |
| Body Armor | Leather Mail (Grade 2) |
| Vambraces | Girros Vambraces (Grade 2) 🔸 |
| Belt | Leather Belt (Grade 2) 🔸 |
| Greaves | Jyura Greaves (Grade 3) 🔸 |
The Kulu Headpiece is the most important, as they translate well even into late-game. Jyuratodus Greaves are equally potent, although can be switched for Kulu Greaves. The Girros Vambraces may be swapped for Kulu Vambraces, although the Crit Eye is unlocked at Grade 4.
Mid-Game (Pre-Diablos)
| Head | Kulu Headpiece (Grade 4) |
| Body Armor | Pukei Mail (Grade 4) 🔸 |
| Vambraces | Kulu Vambraces (Grade 4) |
| Belt | Paolumu Coil (Grade 3) 🔸 |
| Greaves | Jyura Greaves (Grade 3) 🔸 |
The Anja Mail provides higher damage on your True Charge Slash, but Focus is the lifeblood of GS. The Jagras Coil is also theoretically higher damage, but divine blessing from Paolumu is great for a face-tank style.
End Game (Pre-Rathalos)
| Head | Rathalos Helm (Grade 4) |
| Body Armor | Rathalos Mail (Grade 6) |
| Vambraces | Rathian Vambraces (Grade 6) |
| Belt | Rathalos Coil (Grade 5) |
| Greaves | Jyura Greaves (Grade 6) 🔸 |
I do not recommend deviating much from this unless you've mastered openings. At most, replace Jyuratodus Greaves with Kulu for more affinity. Good luck.
Great Sword (GS) Weapon Choice
| Blooming Blade (Pukei) | a fine choice, just like most other Pukei weapons. The same raw as Ore with extra poison on top is simply good. |
| Girros Blade (Girros) | an acceptable choice if you learn to play around Paralysis as a gimmick. It should provide a long enough opening to tackle skip and land a meaty True Charge Slash (non-special) on the monster's weak point. |
| Carapace Buster (Barroth) | unfortunately the "strongest" choice for raw Great Sword at the moment. Capping out at a lower raw than most other weapons, but still the go-to if you just want to do pure damage. |
| Thunder Blade (Tobi-Kadachi) | your only Thunder GS. If you want to use elemental GS on Jyura or the Raths, this is it. |
| Aqua Slasher (Jyuratodus) | your Water GS. Statistically better than Jagras, and will be your main Water GS if you actually invest into element. |
| Freeze Blade (Legiana) | the Ice GS. Only good for slaying Diablos, but it's got the stats. |
| Flame Blade (Rathalos) | the Fire GS of choice. Better than Anjanath by stats, and looks cooler too. Show off the 1000 degree Great Sword challenge to the fire matchups. |
