Best starter Dual Blades build in Monster Hunter Wilds

The best Dual Blades build in Monster Hunter Wilds is pretty straightforward, letting you get right down to the business of hacking up monsters in a whirlwind of blows. You'll power yourself up before charging at the enemy and spinning around like a prickly Beyblade. It's cooler than it sounds, I promise.

After slicing and diving through Low Rank and into High Rank, there's certainly more nuance than meets the eye with the Dual Blades. Below I provide a path you can follow for armour and weapon upgrades, as well as a section explaining how these demon daggers actually work.

How to play Dual Blades in Monster Hunter Wilds

Next to the Insect Glaive build, the Dual Blades are king when it comes to mobility. Attacks and combo chains are fast, giving you frequent opportunities to reposition, and you can even use a special evade mechanic to dodge into attacks, Dark Souls-style, and gain buffs. It's simple to get to grips with but surprisingly hard to master.

Here's how to use the Dual Blades in Monster Hunter Wilds:

1. Press RT to activate Demon Mode, upgrading your basic attacks (Y and B)
2. Use Demon Mode's basic attacks to charge Archdemon Mode
3. Once you've got enough charge (your weapons glow white), Archdemon Mode triggers and you'll gain buffs without draining your stamina like standard Demon Mode does
4. Use the Blade Dance combo to deal massive damage, weaving it with Archdemon Mode's Demon Flurry until your charge expires and you need to repeat the process

Generally, your goal is to stay in Demon Mode for as long as possible to deal bonus damage and charge Archdemon Mode. You can see your charge level by looking at the Dual Blade icon in the top left of your screen, under the sharpness meter. Here are a few handy tricks that can help make this lengthy setup easier:

• You can almost entirely ignore using basic attacks outside of Demon Mode: Your standard set of attacks is better than nothing, but Demon Mode simply buffs these. The only drawback is that you'll constantly drain stamina while you're in demon form, though that's what the weapon and armour picks below are for.
• Use Demon Dodge to counter attacks: While in Demon Mode, you can use Demon Dodge to dodge attacks. Thanks to generous invulnerability frames, you can actually dodge towards monster attacks. Successfully dodge countering a monster grants you a temporary damage buff.
• You can weave Demon Mode and Archdemon Mode: Demon Mode's Blade Dance deals fantastic damage but rapidly drains your stamina. Once you've triggered Archdemon Mode, you can weave this attack with Archdemon Mode's Demon Flurry by pressing Y + B at the same time between Blade Dance attacks to conserve stamina.
• Use Focus Attacks for burst damage: Every weapon has a unique Focus Attack when you break a wound. For the Dual Blades, you'll grapple towards your target and slice along its back to deal great damage in one flashy animation.

Best Dual Blades build for Low Rank

This build focuses on maximising stamina efficiency and increasing your damage by extending Demon Mode, raising affinity for crits, and adding several other offensive skills. The basic playstyle remains nice and simple though, so don't fret.

• First weapon: Quematrice Silexes I

Once you're able to upgrade from the beginner Hope Daggers, the first weapon you'll want to craft is the Quematrice Silexes I. These odd-looking blades bring a lot to the table, including 5% affinity to eke out more critical hits, as well as fire damage. They also come with the Focus skill, which speeds up gauge fill rate to activate Archdemon Mode quicker. After you've beaten Ajarakan in the Oilwell Basin, you should craft:

• Second weapon: Araja Twin Edges I

The Araja Twin Edges are where things get exciting, as these blades are explosive. Blast is yet again one of the strongest statuses in Monster Hunter Wilds, so it's the backbone of this second stage of the build. Statuses require you to repeatedly attack a monster to build the ailment, so fast-hitting weapons like the Dual Blades shine here. These blades also have 10% affinity, giving you higher critical hit chance than your old Quematrice daggers.

To make the deal even sweeter, the Araja Twin Edges have two levels of Power Prolonger, which significantly increases the duration your weapon can stay powered up. This is fantastic for the Dual Blades since the majority of your damage comes from Demon form. The longer you can lash out, the more damage you'll deal. Simple!

Once you beat the Guardian Ebony Odogaron, you'll want to craft:

• Third weapon: Cthonian Kusarigamas I

Ignoring the mouthful of a name, the Cthonian Kusarigamas are one of my favourite weapons, especially for getting through the end of Low Rank. These whirlwind blades have 10% affinity and much higher stats overall than the Araja Twin Edges while also having level two Power Prolonger. Effectively, it's a straightforward upgrade that'll see you through to the end.

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• First armour set: Bone Helm, Bone Mail, Bone Vambraces, Bone Coil, Bone Greaves

The Bone armour set is a match made in heaven for the Dual Blades, all thanks to the Marathon Runner skill. This reduces the stamina depletion for any action that continuously drains stamina. For the Dual Blades, that's Demon mode, where most of your damage is. With the full set of Bone armour equipped, you'll get a juicy 50% reduction plus two levels of Stun Resistance, which simply cuts down the duration you're stunned for.

Before you're able to craft the Bone armour, the beginner Hope armour set is actually surprisingly strong since it has three levels of Divine Blessing to occasionally outright ignore damage.

If you're struggling to stay alive before the next armour milestone, I recommend switching over to the Balahara set once you unlock it. This has a higher defence as well as 3x Evade Extender, 1x Quick Sheathe, and 1x Hunger Resistance.

• Second armour set: Hirabami Headdress, Hirabami Mail, Hirabami Vambraces, Ingot Coil, Ajarakan Greaves

Towards the end of the Oilwell Basin, it's time for the next major build upgrade. This new juice comes from a combination of the Hirabami armour with pieces of the Ingot and Ajarakan set. You might think that the full Ajarakan set sounds like the best bet considering we're using the matching Blast weapon, but Bombardier only applies to explosives like Barrel Bombs, and not weapon attacks.

The Hirabami Headdress, Mail, and Vambraces provide 3x Evade Window, 2x Recovery Speed, and 1x Ice Resistance. Evade Window extends the invulnerability period of dodging, which you'll be doing frequently with the Dual Blades as you can dash through monster attacks and continue blade-dancing. Recovery Speed does what it says on the tin, increasing the rate at which you'll heal recoverable damage. You'll also activate the Scaling Prowess set bonus, which makes it easier to mount monsters. It's best suited to something like the Insect Glaive build, but it's still good to have.

The Ingot Coil is here simply to get a level in the Divine Blessing skill. At this point you should also craft the Blessing Charm I, which takes this skill to level two, giving you a chance to take 30% less damage from an attack every now and then.

The Ajarakan Greaves provide one point in Partbreaker, meaning you'll break parts quicker and deal increased Focus Strike damage when you destroy a wound. It's simple but you'll frequently reap the rewards of this skill.

• Third armour set: Rey Sandhelm, Rey Sandmail, Rey Sandbraces, Rey Sandcoil, Rey Sandgreaves

After defeating the fearsome Rey Dau, you'll be able to craft the final gear upgrade in this Low Rank Dual Blades build. This armour set served me well into the start of High Rank, so you'll be good to go from here on out.

Unlike most armour sets, all five pieces of Rey Dau's gear are worth wearing. Altogether, you'll have three levels in Latent Power and Constitution, as well as the unique Rey Dau's Voltage set bonus. Latent Power is one of the most powerful skills for the Dual Blades, massively increasing affinity and reducing stamina depletion. In other words, you're more likely to land critical hits and you can stay in Demon form for much longer. Constitution also reduces your stamina depletion, so you can Demon-out and evade till your heart's content.

As for Rey Dau's set bonus, this simply extends the duration of the Latent Power skill so you're almost always amped up.

For a final upgrade as you head into High Rank, it's worth crafting the Guardian Ebony Odogaron set, especially the helm, braces, and coil. These all provide Burst, which gradually increases your damage after continuously attacking. That's the Dual Blades' bread and butter, so you'll get good use out of it. Furthermore, you'll also activate the Ebony Odogaron's Power set bonus to increase the duration of Burst and gain even more attack power. You can either combine this with the Rey Dau chest and boots or swap for the Ajarakan ones instead to gain two levels in Partbreaker.