What are the best charge Blades Iceborne?

In MHW, the best Charge Blade can be tricky to choose. Capcom has actually done a pretty fantastic job of balancing the game (especially after a much-needed buff to elemental damage). So it’s often just down to personal preference — not to mention the weaknesses of a particular monster. But if you’re just looking for a slight numerical edge, or want to know where to start with your build, we’ve got you covered. Here’s a quick look at our best MHW Charge Blade picks for Iceborne!

Note: This guide references two different kind of weapons only attainable by fighting the limited-time monster known as Safi’Jiva. Awakened Weapons are the randomized drops that you get at the end of any Safi’Jiva siege. Whereas Xeno + weapons are built normally, along the Xeno’Jiva tree, using parts from both Xeno’Jiva and Safi’Jiva to reach the highest level of upgrade.

To determine when Safi’Jiva is available on your system, please head to the official MHW event calendar for consoles right here. Steam players can find their own event calendar at this link instead.

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Master Rank Kjarr Weapons (Kulve Taroth)

The newly improved Master Rank Kulve Taroth tore through the MHW meta — and affected some weapon categories more than others. The Charge Blade was one of the hardest hit, which grants some exciting new options for players sick of using Safi’Jiva gear.

Specifically, Kjarr weapons saw a real resurgence thanks to their built-in Critical Status and Critical Element. The numbers on most of the elemental weapons really stack up already, and you get a free bonus! You can now consider them for quite a lot of elemental weapon choices in the game.

In the case of the Charge Blade, you’re specifically looking for Kjarr Strongarm “King” (for fire damage),  Kjarr Strongarm “Water” (for, well, water damage), Kjarr Strongarm “Spark” (for thunder damage), Kjarr Strongarm “Ice” (for… ice damage),  Kjarr Strongarm “Decay” (for dragon damage).

Lightbreak Charge Blade (Raging Brachydios)

If you’ve looked at any of our other “best Monster Hunter weapons” guides, you probably already know Raging Brachydios reigned supreme in most things for a while there. So it goes with the Lightbreak Charge Blade.  This new Blast weapon comes with solid sharpness, arguably the best status effect in the game (blast), and damn good damage. Plus you get those outrageous decoration slots. It more-or-less ties with Safji’Jiva Awakened Weapons by virtue of incredible build potential on top of its more rigid that basically amount to a “god roll” for pure damage. Plus you don’t have to spend a week farming Dracolite.

Safi’s Shattershield (Safi’Jiva)

This one should come as no surprise. Safi’Jiva weapons are often the best of the best in MHW. Blast damage, meanwhile, is a very versatile damage type with extra bells and whistles — like monster part damage and consistent buildup. Blast weapons also pair particularly well with Teostra armor, which grants the extremely useful Master’s Touch skill. This eliminates sharpness loss whenever you land a critical hit.

The Charge Blade has natural Mind’s Eye — meaning it cuts through tough monster parts without bouncing — during several attacks and charged states. But that doesn’t reduce the extra sharpness you lose for slicing through harder hides. Master’s Touch goes a long way towards mitigating this. Combine that with the ability to reduce the total number of Teostra armor pieces you need, using a Safi’Jiva weapon ability, and you have a tremendously powerful, very versatile pick.

Xeno Ra’atz + (Xeno’Jiva & Safi’Jiva)

If you can access Safi’Jiva, but don’t feel like farming Dracolite, give the Xeno Ra’atz + a shot. It doesn’t have quite the build versatility of a true Awakened Weapon. However, it goes a long way towards making up for it with two Level 4 decoration slots. Its meager Dragon damage doesn’t add much, but it’s something. The larger worry is its mediocre sharpness. Though there are plenty of ways to mitigate that — particularly with the extra decoration space.

Luna Eostre (Gold Rathian)

The Luna Eostre has fallen down a few pegs since it dominated the release of Iceborne. But it still boasts some of the higher Charge Blade damage in the game (third after the Rajang and Raging Brachydios options introduced in post-release updates). And like all Gold Rathian weapons, it has rock solid sharpness, decent Affinity, and strong Poison damage to boot. Given that Zorah Magdaros is the only monster in MHW immune to Poison, this Charge Blade edges out much of the competition for versatility. But also given that Awakened and Raging Brachydios weapons both have Blast, the much stronger status effect, the Luna Eostre has become a more niche pick.

The Melting Grasp (Acidic Glavenus)

If you haven’t reached the Guiding Lands at all yet, and thus can’t farm Gold Rathian, The Melting Grasp is a decent mid-game pickup. Its sharpness is abysmal, but it makes up for it with exceptionally high raw damage compared to when you can get it in the game. Plus it has a hidden element in the form of Paralysis. That means you can slot in a simple Non-Elemental Boost gem for a five percent damage increase. The simplicity of this option lets you focus your build on more utility or defense.

Soulfire Brand “Blaze,” “Ruin,” and “Styx”

While they’re no longer as exceptional as they once were, fully upgraded Lunastra weapons can still be quite useful thanks to their built-in armor skills. The “Styx” in particular comes with Razor Sharp built right in — no need to use special armor or decorations. This ability reduces sharpness loss by 50 percent. While it’s not quite as potent as Master’s Touch, it’s still a great way to supplement your build and free up slots for other things.

“Ruin,” meanwhile, can potentially save you an augmentation slot. It allows you to regenerate health after a certain number of hits on your target. Plus it comes with significantly more raw damage than either other Soulfire Brand. It may take considerably longer to acquire, though, since it needs Ruiner Nergigante parts.

Finally, “Blaze” comes with the situationally useful Guts skill: acting sort of like an extra life when you’re above certain health threshold. Like the other two choices, it comes with multiple decoration slots to further enhance your build.

Deathaxe Vaal Aspida

If you really want to do Dragon damage, this Charge Blade can help. It’s one of just a few non-event Charge Blades that deals elemental damage, has Power Element Phials, and can equip custom augments. Its raw damage is nothing to write home about. However, the combination mentioned above can help you create a Deviljho and Nergigante killing machine.

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