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TheCharge Bladeis perhaps the most mechanically-complex weapon inMonster Hunter World. It transforms from an oversized Sword and Shield into a gigantic axe at the press of a button, and its strength lies in the methodical manipulation of both forms in order to attack and defend effectively.
Players who are looking for a challenging weapon to master have a lot to be excited about with the Charge Blade. It pays off its user’s training with devastating attacks and versatile combos that make it incrediblypowerful against all monsters. Here’s a beginner’s guide for this weapon covering basic weapon manipulation, combos, and a few tricks for general gameplay.
Updated July 31, 2025 by Marc Santos:The Charge Blade is a powerful but complex weapon that can be very strong in the right hands. Apart from complicated controls, this weapon also has the ability to perform Guard Points, an advanced technique that can take your Charge Blade skills to the next level. We’ve updated this guide to include a section dedicated to Guard Pointing.
How to Use The Charge Blade
The Charge Blade is a heavy weapon that makes use of aphial systemthat affects its attacks. Knowing how to manage these phials is the key to mastering this weapon, and you’ll need to know how to charge, load, and unleash these phials before youstart thinking about combos.
When you have a Charge Blade equipped, you’ll notice phials below your stamina bar — these will light up and change colors as you attack with the weapon in sword and shield form. Once the phials become red-hot,your attacks will start bouncing off monsters. To avoid this, you’ll need to press R2+◯ toload the phialsinto your blade.
After the animation, you’ll notice that the phial indicators are now filled. If you press R2+◯ while your indicators are colored yellow, you’ll only load half the number of phials. You can reload again to fill the remaining phials, and you can reload while at full phials without losing anything.
Now that you’re fully loaded, you can unleash these phials by pressing ◯while in axe form. Each hit will consume one phial. Alternatively, you can press △+◯ while in axe form to do anAmped Elemental Discharge.Once all phials are expended, you’ll have to charge the weapon up again.
Charge Blades are divided into theImpact and Elemental categories, which are dictated by their phial type and the effects theirphial attacks(moves that consume phials) have. The former can stun monsters if you hit their head, while the latter deals more elemental damage overall. Impact CBs have generally stronger SAEDs, while Elemental CBs have better DPS with Savage Axe mode.
△, △, △
△+◯
△+◯ after any sword attack
△+◯ while in axe form
R2 during AED/SAED windup animation
△+◯ while the shield is charged
L2 during SAED windup
Movement input + ◯ after Charged Slash or Shield Thrust
Block
R2
These are the most commonly used moves for the Charge Blade, and you’ll want to familiarize yourself with how they chain with each other as you learn the weapon. You’ll be spending most of your time in sword form since axe form is slower andhas niche use cases.
The most efficient way to charge your phials is to loopCharged Slash and Shield Thrusttogether. Consider this your bread-and-butter combo as it deals the most DPS. It also transitions nicely to AED/SAED, letting you charge your shield up seamlessly mid-combo.
Super Amped Elemental Discharge can be hard to hit, but there’s a trick to landing it. Once a monster is knocked down, do the bread-and-butter combo, then pull back on your movement stick and press ◯ to do a backward Sliding Slash. This places you just at the tip of the axe’s range, making AED/SAED easier to connect to a monster’s face.
How to Charge the Sword and Shield
Now comes the tricky part. Phials can be used to charge your sword and shield by doing the following combos with any number of loaded phials:
To charge the shield, press △+◯ after a Shield Thrust to do an Amped Elemental Discharge (AED). The animation for the latter has two phases: the loading/windup phase and the swing. You’ll want to press either R2once you hear the click sound during the windup phase. This will cancel your AED into an Elemental Roundslash, charging your shield in the process. Learning this form of animation canceling is mandatory as it is a key part of using the Charge Blade. Such techniques are alsopresent in Great Swords.
To charge the sword, load your phials with R2+◯, then hold the △ button down until the shield compresses. Let the button go to unleash an overhead slash that charges your sword.
The Charge Blade’s signature move, theSuper Amped Elemental Discharge(SAED) can only be accessed if the shield is charged. It replaces the normal Amped Elemental Discharge and uses the same button inputs. you’re able to also cancel SAED with L2 to perform a Savage Axe Slash, which causes your axe blade to spin and function like a circular chainsaw.
Charge Blade Tips & Tricks
How to Guard Point with the Charge Blade in MHW
Guard Pointing is a Charge Blade technique where players block incoming damage using certain animation frames in the weapon’s moveset. There are a few ways to perform a Guard Point:
Basically, if the shield is in front of you after your attacks, then it will absorb incoming hits (including roars). Guard Pointing has a stronger guard level than your average block, which means you’ll take less chip damage, and you won’t lose any weapon sharpness. Additionally, a successful Guard Point can be followed up with an AED/SAED.
