Long Sword Guide

With Long Sword, the monster's next attack matters more than the next step of your combo. Read when that attack will arrive and whether the moment is a safe counter or a true damage opening, then turn the correct answer into higher spirit levels. Use Iai Spirit Slash or Foresight Slash to take the turn, reach red, and spend one level on Spirit Helm Breaker only when the target will stay in place.

The weapon cannot guard. Its defense comes from correctly timed counters, ordinary movement, and the Wirebug. This guide uses Sunbreak's final balance and follows the Special Sheathe counter style; Sacred Sheathe offers a different way to spend the same resource.

Use the in-game Hunter's Notes for the complete controls. The official manual lists the basics. Combat Mechanics explains why the same attack can deal different damage, and the Motion Values reference lists every move.

If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.

Two gauges

The inner Spirit Gauge fills when attacks connect. Spirit Blade attacks spend that meter, as does Foresight Slash. Filling the inner gauge does not create a color by itself.

The outer Spirit level can be none, white, yellow, or red. Landing a spirit finisher raises the color by one level. A successful Iai Spirit Slash or Silkbind Sakura Slash also raises it by one. Higher colors strengthen your attacks, and the level falls one step when its timer expires. Power Prolonger extends the powered-up duration; it does not fill the inner gauge or stop a move from consuming a level.

Keep the two resources separate in your decisions. Inner gauge pays for a route to the next color. Spirit color is the power you build and, with Spirit Helm Breaker, choose to spend.

Thrust

Thrust is a short setup attack. Even when it misses, it keeps you in an attack state from which you can enter Foresight Slash or Special Sheathe. Use it when you expect an attack but do not want to commit to a long combo.

Choose the follow-up from the timing you see. Use Foresight Slash when the hit is already close. Enter Special Sheathe when there is enough time to wait for the narrower Iai Spirit Slash counter.

Foresight Slash

Foresight Slash can be used only after another attack. It also needs some inner gauge for its counter window and empties that gauge when used. This makes the move a response to an incoming hit, not a neutral dodge that you can use without preparation.

Raising the spirit level through this route requires a complete sequence:

1. The backstep counters the incoming attack.
2. The return slash hits the monster.
3. Spirit Roundslash lands, or Spirit Reckoning lands if that Switch Skill is equipped.

Only the finisher raises the level. If the return slash misses, the finisher is not available. After a successful backstep, you can instead cancel the return slash into Special Sheathe when another attack is coming and a second counter is safer than forcing the level increase.

Evade Window does not extend the invulnerability of Foresight Slash.

Special Sheathe and Iai Spirit Slash

Special Sheathe follows most attacks. From the stance, use Iai Slash or Iai Spirit Slash. If you wait too long, the stance becomes a normal sheathe. Quick Sheathe affects the stance, and Lv 3 greatly shortens its entry.

Iai Slash is the non-counter choice. When it connects, the inner spirit gauge begins regenerating, and the move can continue into Spirit Blade II.

Iai Spirit Slash is the counter choice. It does not consume a spirit level merely because you activate it. The counter must succeed and its attack must connect to raise the level; a projectile or a fast moving body part can trigger the counter and then escape the hit. A successful counter also creates three delayed hits near the counter point, so the monster's position still matters.

After a successful counter, read the next action instead of following a fixed script:

• Enter Special Sheathe again if another attack is already coming.
• Continue through Spirit Blade III and land Spirit Roundslash to gain a second level. Use the corresponding Dividing Slash route when Spirit Reckoning is equipped.
• If you already have a color and the monster has stopped moving, use Soaring Kick into Spirit Helm Breaker, then enter Special Sheathe when you land.

Spirit Roundslash normally ends by sheathing the weapon. Entering Special Sheathe replaces that long recovery and prepares the next read.

Spirit Helm Breaker

Soaring Kick costs one Wirebug. When the kick connects and you have a spirit color, use its follow-up to perform Spirit Helm Breaker. The kick can connect without the follow-up, but the Helm Breaker consumes one color level when performed.

The move delivers seven hits at the part reached by the descending slash, so use it when the target part will remain inside the attack. Each hit applies a 0.5x element modifier. That makes physical damage especially important to this move, but it does not mean every Long Sword set must ignore element.

Sunbreak made the Wirebug gauge recover more slowly after Soaring Kick. Before spending the bug, decide whether the opening is long enough for the full attack and whether you need a Wirebug available for Wirefall.

Building a level

Counters are the shortest path to red when the monster is attacking. A successful Iai Spirit Slash gains one level by itself. If you then land Spirit Blade III and Spirit Roundslash, the finisher gains another. Foresight Slash gains its level only after the return slash connects and the finisher lands. Reaching red from no color requires three such increases.

Silkbind Sakura Slash costs one Wirebug and raises the spirit level by one when it connects. It replaces one step of the climb, not the entire climb to red.

When there is no attack to counter, use the ground route: Spirit Blade I -> Spirit Blade II -> Spirit Blade III -> Spirit Roundslash. The Spirit Blade attacks spend inner gauge, and only the finisher raises the color.

Fade Slash trades a little time for repositioning. Follow it with Spirit Step Slash -> Spirit Blade III -> Spirit Roundslash. This route skips the first two Spirit Blade attacks and therefore needs less inner gauge before the finisher.

Spirit Reckoning replaces Spirit Roundslash together with its preceding Dividing Slash. Reckoning is slower and has less horizontal reach, but its final hit also raises the spirit level.

Switch Skills

Sunbreak lets two scrolls carry different choices. These pairs change how you build and spend spirit rather than simply upgrading one move:

Drawn Double Slash strikes twice from the sheathe and can absorb a hit while moving forward. It can continue directly into Spirit Blade II.

Sacred Sheathe Combo changes both the defensive choice and the payoff. If the monster hits during the sheathing motion, it automatically counters, consumes one spirit level, and cancels the sheathe. If the sheathe completes, holding the input enters a focus that can consume the built levels for a charged release; you can hop while focusing to adjust the aim. Do not confuse the automatic defensive counter with the charged attack.

Tempered Spirit Blade is a one-Wirebug parry with fast Wirebug recovery. A successful parry fills the inner gauge and raises the spirit level by one.

Serene Pose is a two-Wirebug counter stance. Harvest Moon instead creates a two-Wirebug ring. While you stay inside it, the inner spirit gauge does not decrease and successful counters add hits. Leaving the ring cancels it. In the final update, fully sheathing no longer cancels Harvest Moon.

Fight loop

At the start of a hunt, connect ordinary attacks to establish inner gauge and use the ground Spirit route if the monster gives you a long opening. When an attack is approaching, use a short move such as Thrust to prepare Foresight Slash, or enter Special Sheathe early enough to wait for Iai Spirit Slash.

After a counter, confirm that your attack connected before planning around the new level. Continue to Spirit Roundslash, or the equipped spirit finisher, only when its final hit will land. At red, stop treating every counter as a command to attack again: the monster may be starting another move. Keep countering when pressure continues, and choose Soaring Kick into Spirit Helm Breaker only when the target is committed, recovering, or knocked down.

After spending a level, return to Special Sheathe on landing and begin the climb again. A scroll with Silkbind Sakura Slash can rebuild one level without waiting for an incoming hit, while a Sacred Sheathe scroll can turn stored levels into its charged release. Switch Skill Swap lets you move between those plans, but the monster's next action still decides which one is safe.

Skills

The weapon-specific priority is to make your chosen sheathe loop function. Generic damage, defense, meals, and Spiribirds still matter, but they do not change the timing test at the center of Long Sword. See Getting Started for meals, birds, and the item pouch, and Combat Mechanics for affinity, sharpness, Defense, and hitzones.

Core

For the style taught here, Quick Sheathe Lv 3 is the defining skill because it greatly shortens entry into Special Sheathe. It gives you more time to observe the incoming attack before choosing Iai Spirit Slash; it does not make the counter window itself longer.

After that, choose offensive skills for the part you can reliably hit rather than for the training-room best case. Weakness Exploit, Critical Eye, Critical Boost, Attack Boost, and Agitator are ordinary physical damage choices. None repairs a missed counter or a Helm Breaker aimed at a part that moves away.

Maintain sharpness

Long Sword has no unique sharpness rule, so match the solution to the set. Handicraft can extend the gauge, Master's Touch can preserve sharpness when affinity is reliable, Protective Polish protects it after sharpening, and Razor Sharp reduces sharpness loss over time. Speed Sharpening is useful when the problem is finding a safe moment for the whetstone. Grinder (S) is a different plan: its boost begins after recovering enough sharpness levels, not after ordinary combo hits.

Comfort

Comfort should protect the mistake that is actually ending the hunt. Divine Blessing, Stun Resistance, or Guts can soften the cost of a missed read. Recovery Up, Recovery Speed, and Speed Eating shorten the path back to fighting after damage.

Evade Extender changes movement distance, including the hops during Sacred Sheathe Combo focus. That can help the charged style reposition, but extra movement can also carry a counter away from the part you meant to hit. Evade Window improves ordinary evasion; it does not improve Foresight Slash.

Styles

This hunt

Matchup skills earn their slots only when their condition occurs often enough to change your decisions. Use the appropriate Fire Resistance, Water Resistance, Thunder Resistance, Ice Resistance, or Dragon Resistance when elemental damage or its blight is the problem. Windproof, Tremor Resistance, and Earplugs can preserve an opening against monsters that apply those interruptions. In multiplayer, Shock Absorber addresses interruptions between hunters; Flinch Free covers a different set of reactions.

Common skill and build mistakes

• Focus is not the skill for speeding up Special Sheathe. That stance is affected by Quick Sheathe.
• Guard does not give Long Sword a guard action.
• Evade Window does not extend Foresight Slash.
• Silkbind Sakura Slash raises one spirit level, not all three levels needed to move from none to red.
• Do not spend the last Wirebug on an unnecessary Soaring Kick when a knockdown would leave you wanting Wirefall. Its Wirebug recovery is slower in Sunbreak.
• Do not leave Harvest Moon merely to reposition; the ring ends when you cross its boundary. Fully sheathing inside the ring no longer ends it in the final update.

Settings

Set automatic sheathe to Manual if you want the weapon to remain drawn until you choose to put it away. The Switch Skill display shows the active scroll. If Iai Spirit Slash does not come out from the stance, check whether that scroll has Sacred Sheathe Combo equipped instead of Special Sheathe.