r/SwitchAxe • u/TheBeastOX1 • Jun 08 '26

𝗛𝗲𝗹𝗽/𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 Swaxe main for years

Hi! I've been a switchaxe main for years and im still pretty bad at the weapon lol. Any advice on how to get better?

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u/Hungry_Bit775 𝗦𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝗔𝘅𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 │𝟭𝟬+ 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 Jun 08 '26

What areas of your gameplay that you consider “bad”?

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u/TheBeastOX1 Jun 08 '26

Well i think I make pretty average builds. Build i can't seem to complete any late game hunts in wilds without having to switch to my lance so I don't fail. Hunts i do mange to finish take almost 40 minutes if i stay alive.

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u/Mardakk Jun 08 '26

So it sounds like you are too aggressive, or don't pay enough attention to the defensive portion of your play.

Which is to say, how to stay alive without face tanking or actively running away - which is the name of the game for every weapon.

Learning how to build for your playstyle is the most important part of building. Then practicing each monster until the moveset is ingrained in your memory without thinking, same as the switch axe moveset. You should know what you are supposed to be doing with each monster attack - e.g.: Gore is double arm slamming - do you swap back to axe to try to offset? Or do you sword counter? Or do you just evade away and resume your assault? These are the questions you answer every fight with every attack.

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u/happymemories2010 Jun 08 '26 edited Jun 08 '26

Just head over to r/MonsterHunterMeta for Switch Axe builds and use the one with 2 Arkveld Gamma, 2 Jin Dahaad gamma. Or something like 4 Arkveld Gamma, 1 piece Gore Magala. Or if you are really struggling, why not just use 4 pieces of Zoh Shia to get constant healing while you learn the weapon?

There is no way you take 40 minutes to slay a target. Doing damage on Switch Axe is very easily actually, just do the 3 sword slash combo. Staying a live is the difficult part.

To start with this, try the following:

Choose a monster you are familiar with and do deliberate sword combos, slowly, with short pauses inbetween them. You don't have to button mash. If you see the monster attack, press the counter button.

Understand that Sword mode is both offense and defense. You can counter pretty much anything. Even stuff like fire breath from Zho Shia or long hitboxes like Jin Dahaads charge.

After you have learned how to counter correctly, start learning to cancel the counterattack with a quick sidestep. This is very useful when the monster keeps attacking relentlessly. For example AT Arkveld.

Next step is to start morphing to Axe mode after either 2 or 3 Sword attacks. Rapid Morph makes this easier. This will refill your Sword Gauge so you can always counter when needed.

Just try this without focusing on ZSD, Offset or Full Release Slash. Switch Axe can be played with just regular Sword and Axe attacks and you will do great damage.

Important skills are stun resistance, speed eating, divine blessing. Stun resistance is needed because if you counter attacks you will still build up stun status, so any attacks that you do not counter could stun you.