Monster Hunter World: Best Weapons for Beginners – Tier List
Choosing a weapon in Monster Hunter World is the most important decision you'll make as a hunter. Unlike most action games, each of the 14 weapon types plays like an entirely different class. Pick the wrong one, and the Great Jagras alone can feel like an elder dragon. Pick the right one, and you'll be carving through the New World with confidence. This tier list ranks every weapon by how easy it is to learn, how forgiving it is in a pinch, and how much raw power you can squeeze out early on.
How We Ranked the Weapons
We judged each weapon on four pillars every new hunter should consider:
- Ease of Learning: Are the core combos simple to understand and execute?
- Defense: Does the weapon come with a shield, a counter, or natural evasive options?
- Positioning Demands: Does it let you make mistakes or punish every misstep?
- Maintenance Needs: Does it rely on sharpening, ammo, phials, or other meter management?
With those criteria in mind, here's the definitive beginner weapon tier list.
S Tier – The Safest Bets
Sword & Shield
The humble SnS is the most versatile weapon in Monster Hunter World. It offers quick, low-commitment attacks, a shield that can block in emergencies, and the amazing ability to use items with your weapon still drawn. The Perfect Rush combo dishes out serious damage once you learn the timing, while the falling bash is an easy mount. It's the ultimate all-around pick for reading monster patterns without being glued to a huge weapon's recovery frames.
Dual Blades
If you prefer speed over raw power, Dual Blades are your best friend. Demon Mode ramps up your attack rate and lets you dash around in an anime-like flurry. The hits feel weak individually, but elemental damage stacks up fast, and the low-commitment design means you can roll out of trouble at nearly any moment. Stamina management is your only real enemy – keep a sharp eye on that green bar.
Hammer
The Hammer is laughably simple to use. Charge to level 2 or 3, release on the monster's head, and watch the KO stars fly. Exhausting monsters this way slows them down and topples them for free windows. The Hammer also has a mobile charged dash that keeps you aggressive without punishing you too harshly. Just remember to avoid hitting your teammates – launch them into the sky accidentally, and the group may not forgive you.
A Tier – Great With Small Caveats
Longsword
The katana-style Longsword is flashy but surprisingly forgiving. Its spirit gauge mechanics are easy to wrap your head around, and the Foresight Slash gives you a generous counter window when a monster roars or lunges. You'll need to land hits to build your gauge, but once you're at red spirit, your damage skyrockets. A great pick for hunters who want style without a steep complexity cliff.
Lance
Lance users are immortal apes with a toothpick. Its giant shield blocks almost everything, and the counter-thrust punishes monster attacks with poke after poke. You won't be doing the flashy numbers others get, but you'll be standing face-to-face with a Nergigante without flinching. The hardest part is learning to sheathe quickly and to resist the urge to poke blindly.
Light Bowgun
For a taste of range, the Light Bowgun is by far the safest distance option. Rapid-fire ammo lets you chain shots and apply status ailments like knockout and paralysis from afar. You can also plant Wyvernblast mines and watch monsters run into their own doom. The catch? You need to manage ammo types and craft mid-hunt, but the mobility more than makes up for it.
B Tier – Manageable but Demands Focus
Great Sword
The Great Sword is a classic but demands patience. You're forced to commit to charged slashes that can miss if you misjudge the monster's next move. Tackle grants hyper-armor to bully through attacks, but that's a skill you'll need practice to time. For patient hunters who love landing colossal hits, it's rewarding; for button-mashers, it will frustrate.
Switch Axe
Switch Axe offers two modes: fast axe and slow but damaging sword. That's manageable on paper, but the energy gauge and phial management add layers of complexity. You'll also be stuck in long attack animations when switching modes. With practice, its zero-sum discharge is a blast – just not for your first ten hours.
Charge Blade
Often called “the most complex weapon,” the Charge Blade requires you to charge phials, store energy, and unleash Super Amped Elemental Discharges. Its defensive options are weak unless you master the guard point, which is a high-skill mechanic. If you want a challenge from day one, go for it; otherwise, save this for your second character.
Hunting Horn
The Hunting Horn is the support king. It grants buffs like attack up, defense up, and health regen – no songs to collect, just played on the fly. But the recital animations leave you wide open, and your DPS is low unless you'll land encore buffs. In multiplayer with a coordinated team, it's S-tier; solo, it's a slog.
C Tier – Leave These For Later
Heavy Bowgun
The HBG is a walking artillery piece, but it has the worst mobility in the game. Slow sheathe times, sluggish rolls, and steep ammo costs make it brutally punishing for newcomers. With a shield mod it can block, but once you're staggered, you'll eat a combo to the face. It's a highly technical endgame pick, not a starter.
Gunlance
The Gunlance is a Lance with explosive shells and a wyrmstake cannon, but it trades defensive fluidity for explosive memes. Managing shell gauges, heat, and sharpness while poking in slow motion tests the patience of even seasoned hunters. Its big boom is satisfying but hard to set up, and beginners will cart while reloading.
Bow
The Bow is a glass cannon that unleashes torrents of arrows when played well. But it eats stamina for breakfast, needs precise aim and charge timing, and relies heavily on coatings for crowd control. One wrong dodge and you're a pincushion. Good grief, its skill ceiling is high – not ideal for learning the ropes.
Insect Glaive
The Glaive lets you vault into the air like an acrobat, but first you must gather extracts from different monster parts to power up your kinsect. That adds a whole pre-fight ritual that disrupts the flow of learning monster moves. Aerial attacks look flashy, but they rarely hit weak points, meaning Pikachu in a glaive just doesn't DPS. Wait until you understand the game's core loop.
Key Tips For Your First Hunting Session
- Practice in the Training Area: Warm up combos until they feel muscle-memory. No shame in swinging at a wooden dummy for 15 minutes.
- Eat the Chef's Special: The canteen provides attack, defense, or elemental buffs. Never leave camp without it.
- Sharpen When You Can: Once your weapon's sharpness drops, attacks bounce. Use ledges, zones, and mounts as breathing room.
- Carry a Full Loadout: Potions, nullberries, and a farcaster can save your life. Always stock up for long hunts.
- Watch the Monster's Eyes and Body: You'll get better at reading tells. Don't overcommit; observe first, then exploit.
Final Words
There's no “wrong” weapon in Monster Hunter World – only ones that clash with your instincts. If you want to maximize fun and minimize frustration from day one, pick a S-tier weapon like the Sword & Shield or Dual Blades. Once you feel confident, branch out into A-tier and beyond. The New World is ruthless, but the right weapon makes you its apex predator. Happy hunting!