Everybody loves Monster Hunter Rise‘s Dual Blades, the highly mobile weapon that allows you to spin like a top along a dragon’s spine — before the dragon swipes you away mid-Beyblade, of course. While the Devil May Cry-esque weapons have very satisfying playstyle, the increased difficulty of the Sunbreak expansion is enough to break even veteran hunters.

Though the early MR1 and MR2 hunts can be challenging in their own right for newbies, Sunbreak really ratchets up the difficulty past MR3. That means you’ll need a decent build to carry you through to the final boss. As such, here’s a build that’s available around MR3 and MR4 that combines key Dual Blades skills like Critical Eye and Critical Element for an elementally-focused build.

The best Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak build

Weapon: Despot’s Blitz+

In Sunbreak, if you want to play Dual Blades to their full potential, you will need to build a maxed weapon with each element. However, I don’t recommend doing that until you get to the post-game, as it takes quite a lot of time and effort.

I recommend the thunder Dual Blades Despot’s Blitz+. They have good raw damage, white sharpness, and aren’t particularly difficult to make after grinding Zinogre a few times in MR4. It also has one level 2 decoration slot, which is helpful.

Head: Lunagaron Helm

Obtainable as soon as you hit MR4, the Lunagaron Helm is one of the best general-purpose midgame helms thanks to Critical Eye 2 and Wirebug Whisperer 1. It also has two decorations slots, both level 2.

Body: Zinogre Mail X

Zinogre Mail X’s Latent Power 1, Thunder Attack 2 and Weakness Exploit 2 gives you ranks in two key skills, along with three level 1 decoration slots.

Arms: Rathalos Braces X

The Rathalos Braces X give Attack Boost 2 and Earplugs 2, both very useful skills, as well as one level 2 decoration slot.

Waist: Rathalos Coil X

Continuing the Rathalos theme, the Rathalos Coil X gives Attack Boost 2, Windproof 3, and Critical Boost 1, all very good skills, as well as one level 2 decoration slot.

Legs: Ingot Greaves X

The Ingot Greaves X have Attack Boost 2 and Critical Eye 2, making them one of the most versatile pieces of armor before the post-game. It also has two level 1 decoration slots. In order to unlock it, you must mine white or blue mining outcrops in the Master Rank Flooded Forest.

Talisman: Weakness Exploit

(With two level 2 decoration slots)

Due to the random nature of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak’s talisman system, it’s more important to have a talisman with at least two level 2 decoration slots rather than random skills. Ideally, something with Weakness Exploit, Critical Eye, or Critical Element is best for Dual Blades, but the extra decoration slots are much more vital to a good build.

Recommended Decorations:

• Element attack of your choice (ideally x5)
• Critical Element Jewel 2 (x3)
• Critical Jewel 2 (x2)
• Grinder Jewel 1 (x1, or x3 if running thunder)
• Expert Jewel 2 (x1)

Recommended Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Dual Blades skill spread

• Attack Boost lv. 6
• Critical Eye lv. 5
• Elemental Attack (varies) lv. 5
• Critical Boost lv. 3
• Critical Element lv. 3
• Weakness Exploit lv. 3
• Windproof lv. 3
• Earplugs lv. 2
• Wirebug Whisperer lv. 1
• Latent Power lv. 1
• Speed Sharpening lv. 1 (or 3)

This build requires a fair amount of grinding, but it delivers every key skill you want in a basic Dual Blades build. Attack Boost, Critical Eye, and Elemental Attack give you good base damage. Critical Boost, Critical Element, and Weakness Exploit ensure that you’ll be doing big numbers when you hit a monster’s weak point with the new Spiral Slash switch skill or your awesome aerial attacks.

The rest of the skills are minor quality-of-life adjustments which are nice to have. Windproof 3 prevents you from flinching from even the strongest wind effects, Earplugs 2 cancels out most beast roars, and Speed Sharpening ensures you’ll be back in the action that much sooner when you need to sharpen. (Then again, if you’re playing Dual Blades well, you can use the new Ironshine Silk skill to avoid sharpening entirely most of the time, but it’s still sometimes necessary.)

Wirebug Whisperer gives you your wirebugs back faster for those silkbind attacks, and Latent Power gives you a little extra damage and less stamina consumption every few minutes. They’re not the best skills at level 1, but they are a bit helpful.

If you’d rather have more survivability, I recommend swapping some of the damage-focused decorations for skills like Evade Extender and Evade Window. These will give you the ability to dodge more effectively, especially if you’re using less-mobile Dual Blades skills like Feral Demon Mode. And don’t forget that you can upgrade your armor with Armor Spheres after most major milestones.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is available now for Nintendo Switch and PC.