What's Your Favorite Weapon in 'Monster Hunter: World'?

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My first few days with Monster Hunter: World, which series vets assure me has been the easiest of the series to really get into, were a sort of confused tumble forward. Within the first 20 hours, I had to contend with dozens of systems: weapon sharpness, stamina management, cooking, crafting and upgrading equipment, "tailrider safaris," bounty quests… This list goes on and on, and while none of these is particularly complex on its own, the overall variety means that it's easy to feel like I'm missing something, somewhere.

What ended up saving me was focus. I decided to come to grips with one of the game's most fundamental systems: my weapon. That wasn't easy either, after all each of Monster Hunter: World's 14 weapons, each with its own idiosyncratic mechanics and unique moveset. These range from the familiar to the surprising, sometimes even within the same weapon: The Charge Blade changes forms, like a "trick weapon" from Bloodborne… but it also requires you to manage a special resource called phials with a series of complex maneuvers; the Glaive let's you double jump and air dash… and to get the most out of it, you need to regularly shoot a special beetle at various parts of the monster you're hunting.

Starting out, I didn't even have the knowledge necessary to know how to evaluate these axes, blades, bows, and hammers. How could I know what was for me if I didn't know exactly know how I'd be using them? Because I was playing before the game launched, I didn't have a lot of Monster Hunter: World specific resources. Capcom's own videos on each weapon were surface level, so I turned to YouTube video tutorials from past games and Monster Hunter: World preview content from YouTube video makers like Arekkz. It was one of his videos that got me to pick up my first weapon, the Switch Axe:

(I should note that now that World has actually released, there are lots of great resources out there. One of my favorites is this video, which compares the game's numerous weapons to the combat experiences in other games.)

Once I had handle of the Switch Axe, the game began to open up, and my anxiety about the overwhelming amount of Stuff To Care About began to vanish. I could tackle all those other systems because I knew, at the very least, my faithful weapon would work the way I knew it would.

Soon enough, I knew all about weapon sharpness, cooking, charms, and all the rest, and once those were taken care of, I was able to revisit the weapon itself. Over the last few days, I've bounced from Switch Axe to Charge Blade, from Charge Blade to Bow, from Bow to Gun Lance. This experimentation has been some of the most rewarding time I've put into the game, especially as I've begun to play more with friends, and have been able to learn how our weapons might work together in concert.

This shouldn't be a surprise, because it's one of my favorite types of experiences in games. It's why I love deckbuilders and roguelikes—each new run is an excuse to find a new style to play, and to identify your personal preference. It's why I've probably started and restarted every modern Bethesda RPG a dozen times, trying out new character builds each time. Monster Hunter: World just boils that experience down, and forges it into a giant sword with some really cool animations.

I still have a lot of weapons to try out, and I keep wondering if I'll find something that will fully supplant my current favorite. But so far at least, learning about the rest of my options has only made my loyalty to the Switch Axe stronger. How could my love ever falter when it can do things like this:

Honestly, it's perfect.

If you're playing Monster Hunter: World, let me know what your favorite weapon is over in the forums! If not, then still let us know about another game where you loved the experience of learning its intricacies!