User Info: MartinAW4 MartinAW4 2 years ago #1



In this topic I will aim to answer all those questions in one place, giving detailed explanations for my choices.



As a disclaimer, I do not own the game, but I have been keeping up with most of the new mechanics in MHW and I have thousands of hours of experience with DB as a DB main in the last 3 MH gens. I did a similar list when MHGen came out which had over 5 times more weapons to choose from and each of my top choices also ended up being the top choice in speedruns.



So while I cannot guarantee 100% accuracy in this list, it should be mostly accurate unless there are some hidden values that haven't been discovered yet like changed sharpness modifiers. But even then, the order shouldn't change much.



As a general observation compared to past games, the element value on DB has been reduced on average by around 100. In MHW the average element on DB is only around 150-170, with the highest value being only 270.



And the weapon selection in this game is just terrible with only 20 different fully upgraded weapons to choose from in the whole game (compared to 100+ in MHGen). Luckily this will not affect gameplay too much since you only need 1 of each element anyway. But still that is not a good change for the longevity of the game especially since it seems the end game content is not very deep in MHW as is.



So with that out of the way, on to the list : DB are the weapon that benefits the most from using the correct element against the correct monster. That is why they were always the weapon with the highest number of viable end game choices, typically with at least one for each element. That is also why there has always been a lot of questions asking which DB were better.In this topic I will aim to answer all those questions in one place, giving detailed explanations for my choices.As a disclaimer, I do not own the game, but I have been keeping up with most of the new mechanics in MHW and I have thousands of hours of experience with DB as a DB main in the last 3 MH gens. I did a similar list when MHGen came out which had over 5 times more weapons to choose from and each of my top choices also ended up being the top choice in speedruns.So while I cannot guarantee 100% accuracy in this list, it should be mostly accurate unless there are some hidden values that haven't been discovered yet like changed sharpness modifiers. But even then, the order shouldn't change much.As a general observation compared to past games, the element value on DB has been reduced on average by around 100. In MHW the average element on DB is only around 150-170, with the highest value being only 270.And the weapon selection in this game is just terrible with only 20 different fully upgraded weapons to choose from in the whole game (compared to 100+ in MHGen). Luckily this will not affect gameplay too much since you only need 1 of each element anyway. But still that is not a good change for the longevity of the game especially since it seems the end game content is not very deep in MHW as is.So with that out of the way, on to the list :

User Info: MartinAW4 MartinAW4 (Topic Creator) 2 years ago #2 Dragon

Decimation Claws = 210 true raw 12 true dragon, 100 hits of blue sharpness

- these are the best dragon DB and have overall some of the best stats in the game with very high raw, excellent blue sharpness and below average element that doesn't need Awaken. This is the standard towards which all the other DB were compared and I only chose those that were capable of beating these in at least one matchup.

- Xeno Raqs are pretty much directly ouctclassed even when taking white sharpness into account and Enduring Schism only get 15 dragon at the cost of 70 raw and worse sharpness, so there should not be a matchup in the game where they would be worth using.



Fire

Anja Cyclone III = 210 true raw, -20% affinity, 21 true fire, 50 hits of blue sharpness

- best fire DB and stats on par with Decimation Claws, maybe even slightly better (better raw/element balance but half the sharpness, so it is pretty close). They will have no problem outdamaging Decimation Claws vs fire weak monsters.

- Sin which is the closest thing to a 2nd place for fire DB gets beat in both raw and element even when taking white sharpness into account and it also needs Awaken. So not worth using. The other fire DB are not even worth mentioning.



Water

Jyura Hatchets III = 190 true raw, 21 true water, 30 hits of blue

- best water DB by far, even though their stats aren't that great. Raw is average, sharpness is pretty short, only element is good by MHW standards. Still definitely worth making especially for those raw resistant monsters that are weak to water.



Thunder

Monarch = 160 true raw, 27 true thunder, 80 hits of blue

- very low raw but best element in the game and very good sharpness push it slightly ahead of the other choices. Barely capable of beating Decimation Claws, especially since many monsters weak to thunder are also weak to dragon. Use mainly vs monsters very weak to thunder.

- Dual Destroyers II and Kadachi Claws are both very close in terms of power to Monarch, trading some element and sharpness for more raw. However taking this more raw heavy approach makes them more easily outclassed by Decimation Claws, so overall I rank Monarch highest.

But overall the stats for thunder DB are the worst among all elemental DB.



Ice

Fire & Ice = 180 true raw, 24 true Ice and 24 true Blast, 60 hits of blue

- very close between these and Diablos DB. The raw is a bit over 40 points lower, but they have effectively 12 ice and 12 blast (values halved since only present on one blade each), which is just enough to close the gap. The fact they have twice as much blue just barely makes them better, but not by much at all.

Diablos Clubs II = 230 raw -10% affinity, (9 true ice) with Awaken, 30 hits of blue

- highest raw DB in the game even with the -10% affinity but below average sharpness, really low element and needs Awaken. Not that great overall, but the fact that most ice weak monsters are weak to raw helps them, so if Awaken is easy to get, they might end up the best for ice.

- Freeze Chain II is worth mentioning for having the highest ice. But at 150 ice, that is still pretty low and with only 180 raw, they are mostly outclassed by Fire & Ice. They might have some use for a full elemental build though but it would be hard to find a matchup where they could beat Decimation Claws.

- In general, Ice DB are dangerously close to being outclassed by Decimation Claws.

User Info: MartinAW4 MartinAW4 (Topic Creator) 2 years ago #3 Sleep has only one choice in Arcanaria III, with not very good stats -> 170 raw +20% affinity (12 true sleep) with Awaken), 50 blue sharpness.

But sleep being the best status in the game is enough to make them worth crafting. 12 sleep might not seem like much, but on DB and with status boosts, you will be able to put the monster to sleep at least 2-3 times per hunt. Good for sleep bombing, especially when trying to break hard to reach parts for DB mains.



Blast

Bazelhawk Rookslayer = 200 true raw, -10% affinity, 15 true blast, 30 hits of blue

Strong Hatchets = 190 raw, (18 blast) with Awaken, 60 blue sharpness

- the two above are the best choices for blast, but their stats seem just below the minimum to be viable, since even against monsters weak to blast, they will be outdamaged either by Decimation Claws or Anja Cyclone. So I wouldn't recommend making either of these.



For Poison and Para , there is only one choice and it's bad enough in both cases, that there's no point in making either. Though their stats are decent enough to be used as end game choices, so if you like their looks and don't mind being suboptimal you won't hinder yourself too much by using them.

User Info: ryokayin ryokayin 2 years ago #4 If you think you have it, you don't...

If you think you don't have it, you still don't. Are those Sleep DBs as good as the Gog ones from 4U?

User Info: pyrohamster2 pyrohamster2 2 years ago #5 Martin ahhhhhhhhhh im ur biggest fan

User Info: Pentao Pentao 2 years ago #6



I will probably run some sub optimal blades just for design purposes. "Religion keeps pressing B when we try to evolve." - pirategeorge

[3DS FC: 2380-6270-7971 (Pentao)] Thanks for this. Wondering if the ele up skills in this game might make a difference.I will probably run some sub optimal blades just for design purposes.

User Info: Kiutsu Kiutsu 2 years ago #7 Have you taken into consideration the Odogaron bonus set which gives protective coatings after sharpening? For 1 minute you do not lose any sharpness and the set also gives speed sharpening.



Odogaron Alpha no slots:

Bleeding Resistance x3, Critical Eye x5, Constitution x1, Quick Sheath x1, Speed Sharpening x3



Odogaron Beta, 7 slots:

Bleeding Resistance x2, Critical Eye x2, Constitution x1, Quick Sheath x1, Speed Sharpening x2



The helmet can easily be replaced for Dragonking Alpha which gives Weakness Exploit+2(30% affinity) and 1 slot.

User Info: cloud_8f8f cloud_8f8f 2 years ago #8 Playing: Monster Hunter: World (PS4)

Awaiting: TBA This is excellent. Now do a list for every weapon type.

User Info: huyi huyi 2 years ago #9 UK Female Gamer

Who needs special edition consoles when you have this --> http://tinyurl.com/jxaf4j4 You don't have to buy it, it's optional m'kay. hmm, thanks for the list, i'll compare my weapon tree to what i'm making with this one to see if i'm on track.