Insect Glaives and Switch Axes to aim for (no Iceborne)

[Piterros990]

These two weapon classes are my favorite types, however, there are many choices and I'm not entirely sure which ones should I be going for and what to build for them. Progress-wise, I'm just before Nergigante, which weapons should I make right now, and which trees to consider in the future? Also, which armor/armor bonuses could I pair them with?

[Popcorn]

SwAxe: Kjarr Para is always good for base game, GL on rng though
Idk about glaive, haven't played it for a while now.

For base game armor? Metahemoth or 3pc teo Y

[mewlynx]

If you're not using defender, Nerg weapons aren't bad but I think the meta general go-to is Luna Blaze weapons because high affinity. Kjarr Paralysis glaive might still be okay, tho idk if you can get 100% affinity with it still.

[Veritas]

can't comment much on switch axes to make because I got lucky and got kjarr paralysis andonly got into the weapon late HR/early MR but HR insect glaive, raw is only slightly behind elemental for the majority of the base game content. you might want to make the nergigante glaive for its elderseal, since it's still high raw with a little bit of dragon element, and the freeze gale glaive for the particularly tough monsters weak to ice. I wouldn't recommend status on IG, poison is pretty weak in LR/HR and kjarr paralysis is the way to go for IG if you want to go that route, which again, good luck getting the kulve weapons you want.

as for skills it's pretty easy, crit eye, weakness exploit, crit boost and handicraft if the weapon gets extra white sharpness from it or is something like freeze gale where it doesn't have a lot of blue to work with

edit: once you have the drachen armor everything else is pretty much irrelevant as a melee weapon, master's touch is just way too powerful and that armor has most of the offense skills you want/need. at that point you just go for 100% affinity.

[LostArc]

Taking into consideration that this is before Nergigante, you should probably should stick to the defender armor set and just build one of the defender weapons.

The Defender weapons are BiS for most of the raw focused weapons pre-Iceborne, so just work on upgrading them to V. For kinsect, use the Pseudocath since a balance of Speed/Power are the most important stats for kinsects.

The meta builds for meele weapons pre-Iceborne usually revolve around the skill Master's Touch which is usually obtained by wearing 3 armor pieces from the Teostra set. Pair it along with 2 other pieces that have skills such as Critical Eye or Weakness Exploit which will complement Master's Touch. The meta focused around Master's Touch allows the player to keep the sharpness of their weapon at it's highest level of sharpness without having the need to resharpen with a whetstone (downtime). Sharpness level is also important because of the different damage multipliers applied at each level.

[JPM岩]

Defender SA is the best SA in base game. If you dont wanna use Defender, Diablos and Deviljho are extremely strong choices as well.

[Piterros990]

Thanks everyone!
I know that Defender is probably the best, I've heard that it was added to carry you through all the campaign. However, I was thinking about adding some variety (also considering elements), and I suppose that Defender weapons are outclassed by later obtainable weapons. So, I'll keep in mind the suggestions mentioned here, and thanks once again.

[I love Wild Assault!!!]

Not counting defender stuff. Deviljho weapons and diabolos were the best before. Although I personally used the styx weapons the most just for their built in razorsharp skill

[Veritas]

Originally posted by Piterros990:

Thanks everyone!
I know that Defender is probably the best, I've heard that it was added to carry you through all the campaign. However, I was thinking about adding some variety (also considering elements), and I suppose that Defender weapons are outclassed by later obtainable weapons. So, I'll keep in mind the suggestions mentioned here, and thanks once again.

Almost nothing is better than defender gear. The reason not to use defender gear is because it's blatently overpowered. The 5th level of a defender weapon is still better than the majority of tier 1 master rank weapons.

[Piterros990]

Originally posted by Snazzy Dragon:

Originally posted by Piterros990:

Thanks everyone!
I know that Defender is probably the best, I've heard that it was added to carry you through all the campaign. However, I was thinking about adding some variety (also considering elements), and I suppose that Defender weapons are outclassed by later obtainable weapons. So, I'll keep in mind the suggestions mentioned here, and thanks once again.

Almost nothing is better than defender gear. The reason not to use defender gear is because it's blatently overpowered. The 5th level of a defender weapon is still better than the majority of tier 1 master rank weapons.

Yeah, I noticed that. It's strange imo, to release a dlc, and along with it a set that carries you through the whole game, even if you don't have the dlc. But it just feels unfun, breezing through, having almost the best arsenal right from the get-go. That's why I'd like some variety, and some proper hunting, not just "go through the game and get everything you need along the way". I would understand if it was something for the beginning, so you don't immediately have to dive into different upgrade paths, stats and elements (which can be confusing for a new player), but that's just weird, for that op-ness to be carried through the entire playthrough.