First, I would like to stress the importance of using a controller. Because this guide is written in a controller user's perspective. I don't really know how to play LS in Rise with KBM, Capcom managed to ♥♥♥♥ up control schemes once again, trust me, KBM control sucks in Rise, unlike MHW.

Second, I would like you to make sure you make the following changes to controller control configuration, because I will be using the default control scheme made for Switch and old MH games. (This way, B will be used for confirmation and A for cancel)

Let's start with the basics.

There is a Spirit Gauge next to your sharpness gauge. The higher the level, the higher damage you can deal for all attacks. There is 3 level, from weakest to strongest, white, gold, red. The goal is to charge and keep the spirit gauge at red level most of the time.

X sheaths your weapon.

Y is unsheathing. When you are running, Y instead performs a overhead slash.


B performs thrusting.


A performs dodge(rolling). For most attacks, you can roll after the animation. Pressing Arrow keys when you are dodging performs a roll to that direction.


RT (Right Trigger) performs spirit slash. Chaining RT performs a combo attack. As you can see from the clip, spirit slash combo moves your character forward slightly, you can use this to your advantage at times to attack different parts of the monster. Note that you can also perform spirit slash I when your weapon is sheathed.


Y + B performs a horizontal slash, and you jumps a bit backwards.

It's no secret long sword has a very overpowered move called the Foresight Slash (abbreviated as FSS among fans). This move is first introduced in MHW. To perform a foresight slash, press RT + B as a combo.

If timed correctly, foresight slash can completely negate the damage from the incoming attack, as well as fully filling your spirit gauge. If you press RT after the initial slash at this point, you can immediately chain spirit slash III and level up your spirit gauge.

Foresight slash DOES NOT need to hit the monster performing the incoming attack to charge your spirit gauge and chain spirit slash III, any monster will do.

Please Note:

1. Performing foresight slash will instantly empty your spirit gauge charge.

2. Foresight slash cannot negate incoming attack, nor fill up your spirit gauge, when it is performed without sufficient spirit gauge charge. (You can still perform the move)

3. Failure to counter attack with the move will leave your spirit gauge empty.

For MHW veterans, you may notice the significant reduction in both the time and area where it can counter attacks. This change prevents you from countering attacks that would have hit you otherwise when your character moves out of the way of the incoming attacks. If you come from MHW as a seasoned LS user, you will need some time to adjust how and when you should perform FSS.

Foresight slash can only be chained after most moves, i.e., you cannot initiate a foresight slash without performing an attack. There are certain moves with rather long reset animation, during which you cannot perform a foresight slash, too.

Foresight slash can not only react to incoming attacks from monsters, but also roars. You can use this to your advantage, and level up your gauge the moment you engage a monster. (Most monster performs a deafening roar when you engage it the first time in an area). Note that in Rise, not all roars are deafening, and if you use foresight slash, it won't succeed and you lose all spirit gauge charges as a result.

The following clip perfectly shows how to use FSS to level up spirit gauge. Note in the second FSS, I successfully countered the attack (sound and effect), but since the slash did not land on a monster, the spirit gauge stays empty.

In Iceborne, Capcom added another very interesting move for Long Sword, it is called Special Sheath. To perform Special Sheath, press RT + A during a combo.

What this sheath does is basically cancelling the reset animation of most attacks, and allows you to chain moves faster than usual.

2 moves can only be chained from special sheath, they are Iai slash and Iai spirit slash. I prefer calling them small and big Iai (Note it is I as big i, not l as small L). Pressing B when in special sheath pose will perform the small Iai, Pressing RT will perform Big Iai.

Back in MHW, small Iai has hyper armor when timed correctly (which means you take fewer damage than usual and does not get knocked back).

In MHR, small Iai does not give you hyper armor whatsoever, the only use of it is to cancel reset animation and to charge your spirit gauge. When you land a small Iai on a monster, your spirit gauge turns somewhat blue and will slowly go up (The rate can be changed)



Big Iai is a game changer for MHR. Back in MHW, failure to counter monster attack with this move will instantly drop your spirit gauge level, and the time window for a successful counter is so small most people do not bother using it at all. In MHR, it is changed so that failing a big Iai slash will not drop spirit gauge level, and the ease of use is increased. As a result, always try using a big Iai slash, not only because it is very cool looking, but also because it can level up your spirit gauge level when successful.

Please Note:

1. Same as Foresight Slash, Big Iai slash cannot counter multi-hit attacks. If you use it to counter attack with multiple hits, most likely you will get hit as a result.

2. If you fail to land a big Iai slash, you can press X to sheath your weapon quicker.

3. You can control the direction to which your small and big iai slashes will attack. Use it to your advantage to chain combo and hit different monsters etc.

4. To help timing your attack, try to rotate the camera angle so that your character's side faces your instead. This way you can see when the monster collides with your character (which is when you should use a big Iai slash)

5. Both Iai slashes DO NOT require a charged spirit gauge to function.

The following clips demonstrate how to use Big Iai to counter roar and attacks.

In MHR, wirebugs are added as both movement and offensive assets. You can perform different moves if you have wirebugs available.

The first move is Serene Pose. This move costs 2 wirebugs and the function is also to counter attacks. The downside to using serene pose is that it costs 2 wirebugs, they recover slower. It also has a rather long counter window, during which you cannot do anything else. So if the monster do not target you, you are stuck at Serene Pose for the entire duration. To perform Serene Pose, press LT + B.

For Serene Pose:

1. You can initiate it with no previous combo.

2. After a successful counter, you can chain many moves, but mainly special sheath or spirit slash III.

3. If you succeed in using Serene Pose to counter an attack, your spirit gauge level WILL DROP as a result.

4. It is more likely to stagger monsters than any other moves. Use this to your advantage.

The following clip showcases how to chain Serene Pose.



Soaring Kick is the default move for Long Swords. To perform this move, press LT + Y.

Soaring Kick comes in 2 parts. One part is a plunging thrust, another part is Spirit Helm Breaker. By default, without any additional input, when you kick a monster, the game will perform plunging thrust. This attack will charge your spirit gauge, much like a small Iai.


If you have at least 1 spirit gauge level (white spirit gauge), you can press RT when you kick a monster. This will chain a very powerful move called Spirit Helm Breaker instead.


When performing soaring kick and spirit helm breaker, note that you can change the direction you are facing when:

1. You perform the initial soaring kick (Move your analog stick when presing LT + Y)
2. During spirit helm breaker (Again, analog stick)

You will lose 1 spirit gauge level regardless of whether your spirit helm breaker lands hits on monsters.

Silkbind Sakura Slash is an alternative to Soaring Kick. It has to be unlocked by completing your first rampage quest.

Sakura Slash is unique in a way that it does not use your spirit gauge level, unlike Spirit Helm Breaker. Instead, it will level up your spirit gauge when it lands hits. As with any attacks, you can change the direction when you perform the move.

The downside is wirebug recovery is slower than when using Soaring Kick. The attack is also horizontal, making it much harder to target weak points of monsters.

Apart from Silkbind Sakura Slash, there exists 2 other switch skills for Long Sword, each replacing a vanilla move.

This replaces Spirit Slash III. Spirit Reckoning allows you to move to different positions from which you initiate the attack, and continue your combo. This will also affect how foresight slash combos. It takes 1 less move to finish the combo, and I recommend using this if you find spirit slash III too slow.


This replaces the step slash (pressing Y when moving). This is basically a small Iai without the spirit gauge charging effect.


It's up to you. For me, I use Drawing Double Slash, Spirit Reckoning and Soaring Kick. But YMMY. Try each of them, mix and match, and see which move allows you to combo smoothly. After all, Long Sword is all about combos.

The goal of Long Sword is:

1. Charge the spirit gauge towards Red (3rd level)

2. Repel attacks with Foresight Slash and Big Iai slash

3. Continue attacking monsters while evading attacks.

To achieve the above goals, you must chain normal moves with FSS and Iai slashes as well as silkbind moves.

A common approach to start a fight is to counter a roar with either FSS or a Big Iai slash, as demonstrated above. This will instantly give you 1 level of spirit gauge(white). After this, you can chain special sheath and a small Iai to charge your spirit gauge. Thereafter, you can chain and initiate different combos as you see fit.

Note that you can initiate an attack before the spirit gauge is full enough to perform spirit slash III or spirit reckoning, as any normal attacks will charge the spirit gauge. You do not need to wait until the spirit gauge is full to initiate the spirit slash combo set.

Reckless use of Serene Pose and Foresight Slash is ill-advised, because:

1. Serene Pose leaves you with 1 to 0 wirebugs regardless of whether you successfully performs a counter attack. If you are hit with a strong and powerful combo attack which requires you to dodge evading with wirebug, you will be unable to escape said attack, and usually carts as a result.

2. Serene Pose will immediately downgrade your spirit gauge, the potential damage except a Red Gauge is low.

3. Foresight Slash will use your entire spirit gauge charges to initiate the move. If you cannot counter the attack, you have to charge the gauge a bit before you can use spirit slashes or another foresight slash.

An example of opening a fight

An example of a full fight in Demo version

Basically, you want to aim for Quick Sheath 3. This is a core skill for Long Sword in Rise. Because quick sheath significantly affects how fast you can perform a special sheath. Level 3 allows you to special sheath almost instantly, giving you an edge when initiating combo and during fight.

Other player's attacks may also make you flinch. I recommend 1 level of Flinch Free. Flinch Free allows you to negate most attacks from teammates, preventing them from stopping your combo. Note that Long Sword has a high tendency to attack teammates due to the wide reach of its attacks. Equipping Flinch Free will prevent you being affected by a Long Sword user's attacks.

Master's Touch along with Critical Boost and Weakness Exploit is also great for Long Swords. Master's Touch prevents sharpness from dropping whenever the hit is a critical hit. Critical Boost increases damage from critical hits. Weakness Exploit increases affinity for hits that land on a monster's weakspots.

Razor Sharp can also be considered. It simply halves your sharpness loss.

As with other melee weapons, Attack Boost, Critical Eye, Agitator is very useful to increase raw damage output.

I wrote this guide to demonstrate basics of Long Sword.

The content (text, images and video) used in this guide is released under WTFPL[www.wtfpl.net], please visit the link for the full license.

The clips in this guide is cut using Kdenlive[kdenlive.org]. Try it, it's amazing.

If you want to help improve this guide, please leave a comment on what I should include, or explain better. I appreciate any feedback!