Switch Axe High Rank and Endgame Builds for Monster Hunter Wilds

Welcome to our Monster Hunter Wilds build guide for the Switch Axe in both High Rank as well as endgame. Listed below you will find the best builds for the Switch Axe both for progressing through the earlier stages of High Rank as well as the best builds for Switch Axe at endgame.

To skip straight to the endgame builds, click the button below!

Title update 1, released on April 4th brought two major new monsters to hunt in High Rank - Zoh Shia and Mizutsune - each with new armor sets and weapons available. Mizutsune unlocks at HR21, adding new gear options to the pool around the midgame, while Zoh Shia only becomes available in High Rank at level 50 at the tail end of your journey.

A quick breakdown of changes on this page as of the title update are as follows:

• Due to changes to Maximum Might making it more generous with uptime, the previous endgame set has switched to 4-piece Gore Magala. It now also heavily leans into Agitator instead of Weakness Exploit.
• Mid-game and previous Endgame HR40+ sets have been merged into two steps in the HR20-40+ sections, with endgame moving to a new 50+ section.
• Zoh Shia's Switch Axe is listed as a high value craft, capable of keeping up with Artian weapons in the endgame section.
• Mizutsune Legs are now listed in the midgame HR20-39 build as a replacement for Congalala to maintain Burst.

The first set to aim for as you begin High Rank still leans very heavily on some Low Rank sets, as they have far superior offensive skill options available. The best place to start is a mix of comfort and damage to adjust to the new monsters you'll be facing so you can find your footing. As you progress through the ranks these will be slowly swapped out for more tailored pieces to go with the Switch Axe playstyle.

Decorations are still something you'll be building a collection of at this stage, and while you will start to see slots appear on more gear, it's not really worth the time to go out and farm them this early. Simply use the ones you pick up that look like they'll add some comfort and keep progressing.

This set provides you with a solid starting point to get stuck into High Rank hunts and begin raising your Hunter Rank freely. It immediately starts with a craft of the Barina Hache III to unlock a solid blue sharpness weapon with Paralysis - a running theme for the Switch Axe as you move through the ranks. That means prioritizing a Lala Barina kill as early as possible is a good idea.

For the set to match with it, generally Low Rank pieces are much more useful this early, so use these with some Armor Sphere upgrades. Sticking to the Arkveld 2-piece to grant some points in Flayer and, more importantly, the set bonus to heal from wounds provides excellent early comfort. Pairing this with Guardian Rathalos for some points in Weakness Exploit and a single Guardian Ebony Odogaron piece to get a point in Burst provides a rounded overall setup. The Leaping Charm II also keeps some points in Evade Extender as a great complimenting Switch Axe skill.

• Flayer - Level 2
• Weakness Exploit - Level 2
• Evade Extender - Level 2
• Critical Draw - Level 1
• Critical Status - Level 1
• Burst - Level 1
• Blight Resistance - Level 1
• Bleeding Resistance - Level 1
• Guardian's Pulse - 3-piece
• Rathalos's Flare - 2-piece
• Guardian Arkveld's Vitality - 2-piece

As you move deeper into High Rank and unlock monster armor sets with access to stronger skills, you can start cutting out inefficient pieces and work toward a more offensive endgame build. This starts at HR20 with many of the Alpha and Beta sets from stronger monsters, and once Gore Magala is unlocked at Rank 40+ you can make a shift to a fully offensive setup.

We've separated these two stages into the tabs below depending on what gear you currently have access to:

With the new additions in Title Update 1, the Switch Axe has some extra options to further optimize its set and remove some of the floating skills in the previous endgame Gore Magala loadout. In particular, Zoh Shia brings some extremely competitive crafts, so this set is only an option after being unlocked at HR50.

Much like the HR40+ build, this uses the Gore Magala 4-piece as the extremely efficient affinity when paired with Sane decorations is hard to pass up. The Zoh Shia Chest allows you to max out Agitator extremely efficiently, rounding out the set in a way that couldn't be done prior to Title Update 1. Counter Charm III and Maximum Might decorations remain as well as finishers to the build, along with a single efficient Burst decoration.

The Blazing Mahaiah is an extremely solid craft that competes even with very well rolled Artian weapons. Whiteflame Torrent is a flat damage proc that's simply in the background, but gets more valuable the less efficient you are with your Full Release Slash cycles. It also comes with exceptional raw, base affinity and high white sharpness making it the ideal crafted Switch Axe, and arguably one of the best available in the endgame.

A well rolled Artian Weapon is one the strongest option available for the Switch Axe in all situations, and is the end goal of endgame farming. With raw being more potent in general for the Switch Axe (though Element builds are an option too), universal crafts of either Paralysis or Blast are the go to, with our recommendation being a Paralysis Mundus Atlus for the additional CC. As of Title Update 1 however, Blazing Mahaiah is extremely competitive, so your Artian craft needs ideal rolls to keep up.

You should always aim to craft weapons with all 3 of the same status or element on your two Blades and one Device selections to maximize their infusion values. Also aim to use 3 Attack infusions to maximize the raw throughput. Ideally, you want the following reinforcements:

• Attack Boost +5
• Attack Boost +5
• Affinity Boost +5
• Affinity Boost +5
• Sharpness Boost +30

A perfect roll isn't necessary to make this a valuable craft. Ideally you're aiming to max out (or as close to) your Affinity with all other armor set buffs considered, have a small amount of Sharpness for comfort and then all the rest on raw attack. For the 3 decoration slots, you have a few options:

• Critical III recommended - a boost to your Affinity damage any way you cut it, always worth slotting in.
• Enhancer/Handicraft recommended - increases the amount of time you spend in Amped state while adding a bit of sharpness as a combination decoration. Very high value.
• Critical II/III - maxes out your Critical Boost skill for maximum offense. This is optional with the below two other choices.
• Razor Sharp/Handicraft - provides a lot of sharpness comfort in a single decoration, but is a bit overkill if you're already managing it properly.