Charge Blade in Monster Hunter Worlds is a tool of destruction for those who are willing to spend some hours learning about the intricate mechanics of this masterpiece of a weapon.
If you are more of a laid-back type and don’t want to spend extra hours just learning how to do basic maneuvers with the charge blade, then we have got a detailed guide for you that will cover everything from Phial System to advanced combos that you can do with the weapon. Be careful because you might feel the charge.
How to Use the Charge Blade
While the charge blade might seem like an ordinary culmination of a sword, shield, and axe, the story doesn’t end here. The weapon comes with its mechanic, known as the Phial System.
Once you equip the charge blade, you should see empty phials, right below your stamina bar. Initially, these phials are empty and the outline around them is also white. As you use the blade in Sword mode, the phials will start charging and the outline will change color. They will go from white > yellow > red > glowing red.
Yellow, means the Phials are partially charged. Red means they are fully charged and glowing red means they are overcharged. Any attack beyond that point will bounce back and not do any damage.
Now that the phials are charged, it is time to load them into your blade. You can load the phials into your blade by pressing the:
- PS5: R2 + O
- Xbox: RT + B
- PC: CTRL + Right Mouse Button
Now you can use these charged Phials to do powerful attacks and every subsequent attack will consume one phials. We will discuss those in detail in the coming section of the guide. You can also perform an insanely powerful Super Amped Elemental Discharge, that will consume all of your phials at once.
Note: Once you have loaded your phials into your blade, you can continue attacking in the sword mode and this will start charging the next round of phials so you can immediately reload your empty phials right after consuming them.
Best Charge Blade Inputs and Combos
What’s best in terms of combos and weapons is always going to be somewhat subjective and in the case of Charge Blade in MHW, we have tried to put together some of our best combos and moves that will dish out the highest amount of damage.
We suggest you practice the basic moves and combos because some of the more complex moves simply just can be performed by combining simpler combos.
Before we move on to some of the more advanced moves, let’s look at the basic moves and inputs for the charge blade:
| Move | Keybinds |
|---|---|
| Basic Attack | 🔺 |
| Charged Slash | (Hold) 🔺 |
| Forward Slash | 🔺 + ⭕ |
| Shield Thrust | 🔺 + ⭕ (After any sword attack 🔺 + ⭕ while in axe form) |
| Amped Elemental Discharge (AED) | R2 during AED/SAED windup animation |
| Super Amped Elemental Discharge (SAED) | 🔺 + ⭕ (if your shield is charged) 🔺 + ⭕ (If you are in axe form) |
| Savage Axe Slash | L2 while you are in SAED windup |
| Sliding Slash | Movement Input + ⭕ after charged slash/shield thrust |
| Morph Slash | R2 + 🔺 |
| Block | R2 |
| Reload Phials | R2 + ⭕ |
These are all of the basic moves that you will need.
Throughout the guide, we will be mentioning a lot of other combos and moves as well. They will be according to the PS5. You can use the tale below to convert to the platform of your choice.
| PS5 | Xbox | PC |
|---|---|---|
| 🔺 | Y | Left Mouse Button |
| ⭕ | B | CTRL |
| ⏹️ | X | Right Mouse Button |
| ❌ | A | Space |
| L1 | LB | Q |
| L2 | LT | Shift |
| R1 | RB | E |
| L2 | RT | Left Mouse Button (When the weapon is drawn) |
Now that we have looked at the basic moves, let’s talk about some of the most common combos that you will be using with the Charge Blade in MHW.
Three-Hit Combo:
- 🔺+ 🔺+ 🔺
This is your standard three-hit combo in sword form. You can try another variation of this by starting from a Forward Slash by pressing:
- 🔺+ ⭕ > 🔺+ 🔺
Both of these combos will generate a decent amount of Phial energy.
Charged Double Slash:
You can also do a charged slash attack but it will take a second or so to build up the energy in the sword. To do so, simply use the following combo:
- ⭕(Hold) + Sword combo of your choice.
You can use a combo of your choice after charging or you can use our suggestion:
- ⭕(Hold) + 🔺+ ⭕
This attack gives you the highest amount of Phial energy, of any attack.
Amped Elemental Discharge (Axe Mode):
While the usage of axe is a tad more situational because the attacks are slow it leaves you open to follow-ups if you miss your window. But AED in Axe mode, if you time it right, deals a massive amount of damage to the enemy. Once you have loaded your Phials and you are in Axe Mode, you can use the following combo to do an AED:
- 🔺+ ⭕
You can do as many AED as the number of Phials you have loaded.
How to Charge the Sword and Shield
The loaded Phials can not only be used for Amped Elemental Discharge attacks but they can also be loaded into your shield and sword to enhance their capabilities. Here is how you can do both:
Shield
Something to note here is that you cannot charge your sword unless your shield is charged so also prioritize keeping your shield charged as the benefits are well worth the effort. After you have loaded your Phials in MHW, here is how you can charge your shield:
- 🔺(Sword Slash) > 🔺+ ⭕ (Shield Thrust) > 🔺+ ⭕ (AED) > R2 (Elemental Roundslash)
This is for when you are in Sword Mode. You have to time the Elemental Roundslash right at the moment when your character combines Sword and Shield into the bigger weapon. If you press R2, right at that moment, all your Phials will be loaded into your Shield.
You will receive the following benefits:
- You can now do Super Amped Elemental Discharge (SAED) instead of Amped Elemental Discharge (AED).
- Every time you do a Shield Thrust with a charged shield, you will create a Phial explosion.
- Phial explosion is also now more powerful than before.
- Guard Point (will be discussed in the coming sections of the guide) will also create a Phial explosion.
- You are now able to charge your sword.
Sword
As discussed earlier, you will be able to charge your sword with Phial energy, after you have already charged your shield. You can’t charge the sword in the same way as the shield so here is how to do it:
- 🔺(Hold)
You can simply keep holding the triangle to charge your sword and after releasing it, you will do a Condensed Elemental Slash and all of your loaded Phials will be transferred to the Sword.
You will receive the following benefits:
- Attacks won’t bounce anymore, even if you have overcharged your Phial Meter.
- Your attacks will have the same effect as if you are using Phials but none of the available Phials will be used.
This effect will last for 45 seconds. You can charge both the sword and the shield again, even before the 45-second timer ends. There is a cap of 180 seconds beyond which neither of the items can be charged.
How to Guard Point with the Charge Blade
Before we sign off, there is one more concept we need to explain and that is Guard Point. This is one of the more complex and harder-to-pull-off moves for the Charged Blade in Monster Hunter World.
To put it simply, a guard point is when your character blocks an attack with its shield during some other attack animation. You can also call it unintentionally blocking an incoming attack.
There are some combos when the shield will come in front of you mid-animation. For example, if you press R2 + 🔺 to do a Morph Slash, at the end of attack animation, your shield will be out friend and if any enemy attacks at this very moment, you will automatically block that attack.
This unintentional blocking will lead to you earning a few extra benefits, such as:
- More blocking strength
- Automatic Phial Explosion (If your shield is charged)
- You can follow up immediately with either an AED or SAED
The Charge Blade is one of the most useful weapons in Monster Hunter World. With a bit of practice, patience, and experimentation, it can become a weapon of mass destruction. Get out there, Hunter. Your next challenge awaits you.