Monster Hunter Wilds – Ultimate Charge Blade Guide

Charge Blade Guide and Tips

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Gameplay

Standard Loop

Charge Blade has two playstyles in Wilds: Savage Axe and SAED (Super Amped Elemental Discharge). In Wilds, Savaxe is much stronger for most monsters, but SAED can still be used.

The standard damage combo is ED (elemental discharge) loop which is ED I -> ED II -> AED (Amped Elemental Discharge) -> AED Followup. This can be done by pressing the secondary attack button (B for XBox, Circle for Playstation, RMB for PC) four times.

Sometimes, it is better to cut the combo short and stop before AED or AED Followup, or skip AED entirely and go into Rising Slash -> ED I. This will depend on the opening. 

For SAED, the goal is to overcharge phials and dump them into the monster as often as possible. In Wilds, SAED was changed so it can not be done from neutral or shield thrust. Instead, it must be used after AED or AED Followup. Guard Point or Perfect Guard into SAED still works. 

Perfect Guard

Wilds CB added a new Guard called Perfect Guard. This can be done by tapping the guard button right before getting hit. This functions as a guard point with infinite guard and can be followed up with Savage Axe Slash, Double Slash, or AED/SAED. This means Sword -> Axe GP is basically useless for guarding and extremely niche, as it is essentially a weaker version of PG. One use would be morph to Savaxe without blocking when in Sword mode.

Charged Shield and Power Axe

Before you can spam ED for damage, you should do 2 things: Charge Shield and get Power Axe buff. Loading phials and then cancelling AED with the Guard button will load the phials into your shield, charging it. This is important because it gives all axe hits a 10% raw bonus. 

Power Axe is the buff that allows you to spin the axe, or Savage Axe (Savaxe for short). This can be done in 3 ways:

• Perfect Guard (tap guard right before getting hit) and go into Savage Axe Slash, which is the same input as Axe Overhead Slash.
  • Guarding can lead into a Power Clash. This depends on the monster attack and has a cooldown (value unknown), and can be followed up with Savage Axe Slash.
• Using the focus attack on a wound from either Sword or Axe, this puts you into Savaxe at the end of the Focus Strike. 
• Mounting the monster and then destroying the wound. 

Perfect Guard will be the most common way to activate Savaxe. The standard gameplan for most monsters will be Sneak Attack -> Charged Double Slash -> Perfect Guard roar -> activate Savaxe -> charge shield and phials -> ED Loop.

Focus Strikes are available whenever a wound appears. They should be used to refresh Savaxe and get flinches/topples. 

Mounting is not recommended since it takes a long time, but if you happen to mount, create a wound and break it for Savaxe. 

Low Rank

There isn’t much going on in Low Rank, so early progression will focus on a few weapon and armor options.

Chapter 1

Early armor doesn’t provide anything useful, except for maybe some comfort skills. Use whatever you’d like.

For the weapon, anything with more attack than the default weapon is fine, but Lala Barina is nice for the Paralysis. 

Chapter 2

At this point, still no great armor pieces. Hirabami is an option if you want some comfort skills, but not needed.

A couple weapon recommendations:

• Feel free to upgrade the Lala Barina CB, it gains 10 raw and some sharpness. 

• Nerscylla CB is slightly stronger since it comes with Offensive Guard 1. Also has sleep, but para is better.

Chapter 3

Guardian Ebony allows us to get to finally some decent damage skills. Burst 2 with the 4p set bonus gives a solid +25 raw. Anything works for the chest, Rey Sandmail is just there as a placeholder.

Guardian Rathalos CB is the best option at the end of Low Rank with good raw, decent sharpness, and some base affinity. Comes with Master’s Touch which doesn’t do much just yet, but better than nothing.

High Rank

HR 10

Same set as before, but uses Low Rank Guardian Arkveld Mail for Flayer 1. 

Rathian CB is the recommended upgrade. While it has the same raw and affinity as G. Rathalos CB, the extra sharpness and poison are good. From this point on, slot any Razor Sharp/Handicraft or Offensive Guard decos that drop. 

HR 20

Farm the Weakness Exploit Charm, it will be used from now on.

HR 20 unlocks some Guardian Rathalos, letting us finally get some decent affinity. Slot in Maximum Might if you have it.

Upgrading the Guardian Rathalos CB gives more raw and some extra sharpness with Master’s Touch.

HR 35

Gore Magala unlocks after hunting Jin Dahaad and the other Apexes, and its set bonus with Antivirus 3 gives a nice 25% affinity.

A couple weapon recommendations after Gore Magala. Whichever weapon you use, slot any good decorations you have. 

Rathian CB for its good sharpness, raw, and affinity.

Lala Barina CB has less raw than Rathian CB, but Paralysis and better sharpness can make up for it.

Nerscylla CB is stronger than both Rathian and Lala Barina if you can maintain Offensive Guard. 

HR 40

Upgrade your Weakness Exploit Charm. Hunter Symbol III needs Tier 3 Tempered Investigations.

Barebones set to start farming endgame investigations. Slot any good decorations you have.

One final weapon upgrade before endgame.

Gore Magala CB has good white sharpness, 210 base raw, and 20% affinity. This allows us to reach 70% affinity, and 100% if you have Max Might. Slot any Critical Boost and Handicraft/Razor Sharp decorations may have.

Endgame

Artian Weapons

In endgame we switch to Artian weapons. Artian weapons are strong because they come with great slots, customizable Status/Element, and good base stats once upgraded. Artian weapons can be forged with parts obtained from Investigations. 

To forge an Artian weapon with a specific Status or Element, it’s best to use 3 of the same type. Whether you choose attack or affinity affusions will depend on the set.

To upgrade an Artian weapon, you need to reinforce with ores melded from the smithy in Azuz. The available reinforcements for Charge Blade are as follows:

• +5 attack
• +5 element
• +5% affinity
• +30 sharpness

Unfortunately, reinforcements are completely random. Good luck!

Raw Savaxe

Standard raw Savage Axe set, try to maintain Offensive Guard as much as possible. If playing multiplayer, Load Shells/Handicraft decoration can be used instead. Swap Weakness Exploit charm for Agitator depending on owned decorations. 

2 more raw (lmao) on average compared to the previous set, and then an additional 25 raw for 1 minute after a Power Clash. Also has Evade Window 2, but loses 3 lvl 1 slots and Flinch Free, so not recommended for multiplayer. 

Infusions and Reinforcements:

Paralysis is used for the free CC.

Element Savaxe

Elemental Savaxe is quite strong, beating raw in certain matchups. Unfortunately, this means we have to farm 5 different Artian CB. Swap out the weapon and ele atk decoration according to the matchup.

Infusions and Reinforcements:

Element SAED

SAED is actually quite strong for some matchups if you max element. 

Affusions and Reinforcements:

Affinity doesn’t matter here, can be replaced with Attack or Sharpness. The 4 Element Boosts are what you want. 

Motion Values

• Motion Value Table (Google Sheets).

Savaxe Matchups

Click to enlarge…