If you’ve ever wanted to feel like an unstoppable walking fortress while taking down giant wyverns, the Monster Hunter Wilds lance is the perfect weapon for you. Unlike fast, squishy options like the dual blades or insect glaive, the lance rewards careful positioning, patient timing, and turning even the most devastating monster attacks into openings for your own counterstrikes. I’ve mained lance across every Monster Hunter entry since World, and I’ve spent dozens of hours testing the new Wilds iteration to break down exactly what works, what doesn’t, and how you can start dominating hunts with it on your first try.
Core Monster Hunter Wilds Lance Mechanics You Need to Master First
The Wilds lance got several key reworks that make it far more accessible than its Rise or World counterparts, and you don’t need to memorize 20 different moves to use it effectively. Guard rework in Wilds is the biggest change: you can now hold guard and shuffle slowly left or right, no longer being rooted in place while you block attacks. That means you can stay locked onto a monster’s weak point even while you soak up incoming damage, which cuts down on repositioning time drastically.
Perfect Guard window is also 20% larger than in previous entries, so you don’t need frame-perfect timing to pull it off. Land a Perfect Guard right as an attack hits, and you’ll take zero damage, lose no stamina, and get a massive damage boost on your next attack. You’ll also notice the new dash thrust move, which lets you close 10+ feet of distance in half a second without sheathing your weapon, solving the lance’s old problem of being too slow to catch up to running monsters.
You don’t need to master every mechanic on your first hunt, either. Start with just practicing blocking basic attacks and landing simple thrusts, then work in Perfect Guards and counters as you get more comfortable. I still mess up Perfect Guard timings on fast, unpredictable monster attacks, so don’t beat yourself up if you miss a few at first.
Optimal Lance Combos for Every Hunt Scenario
Lance combos are far simpler than most other melee weapons, but using the right combo for the right situation will double your damage output without any extra effort. The basic bread-and-butter combo for when a monster is stunned or trapped is triple thrust > upward thrust > heavy charge thrust, which deals 20% more damage than spamming basic thrusts repeatedly. Counter combo after a perfect guard is your highest damage option by far: land a Perfect Guard, then immediately hit counter thrust > wide sweep > dash thrust to unload a full burst of damage before the monster can recover.
You’ll need to adjust your combos depending on the monster you’re fighting, too. Here are three situational combos I use every single hunt:
- For small, fast monsters (like the new Wilds scrub lizards): Use short tap thrusts + quick guard cancels to avoid being swarmed, you don’t need long, slow combos here
- For broken monster parts: Aim your upward thrust at weak points like heads or severable tails to get 3x part break damage, which cuts hunt time down drastically and gets you extra crafting materials
- For mounted monster states: Spam the heavy thrust attack while mounted to fill the stagger bar 40% faster than other melee weapons, letting you knock the monster down for extra damage bursts sooner
Don't overextend your combos – if the monster starts moving away or winding up a big attack, cut the combo short and reposition instead of chasing. You’ll waste less time and avoid taking unnecessary damage that could have been easily avoided. I used to make this mistake all the time, and it cost me more faints than any monster attack ever did.
Best Early and Endgame Lance Builds for New Players
You don’t need to grind for rare, endgame gear to be effective with the lance, but picking the right early game build will make your first 20 hunts far smoother. For low rank (the first 10 hunts), use the Kulu-Ya-Ku lance, which has 120 raw damage, 10% affinity, and no negative elemental penalties. Pair it with the base Alloy armor set, which gives you Guard Level 2 and Stamina Surge Level 1, so you won’t get staggered by small attacks and your stamina will regenerate faster between blocks.
For high rank, swap to the Rathian lance, which has a built-in poison element that ticks 5 damage per second on most monsters for 10 seconds after each hit. Pair it with the Rathian armor set to get Guard Up Level 1, which lets you block previously unblockable attacks like fire breaths and large rock throws. This build will carry you all the way through to the endgame elder dragon hunts, no upgrades needed unless you want to make things even easier.
For endgame, the best lance currently is the Storm Elder Dragon lance, which has 230 raw damage, 15% affinity, and 30 thunder element that works on 80% of endgame monsters. Pair it with the Storm Elder armor set to get Guard Level 5, Guard Up Level 3, and Offensive Guard Level 3, which gives you a 30% damage boost for 5 seconds after every successful Perfect Guard. This build turns you into a near-unstoppable tank that can one-phase most endgame monsters if you land your counters correctly.
Common Lance Mistakes to Avoid for Faster Hunts
The lance is forgiving, but there are a few common mistakes that new players make that slow down their hunts and lead to unnecessary faints. The first is spamming guard for every tiny attack. You don’t need to block a small tail swipe that only does 5 damage, just step to the side and keep attacking. That saves your stamina for big, un-dodgeable attacks like roars or full-body charges that would otherwise one-shot you.
Another mistake is ignoring offensive skills in favor of stacking only defensive buffs. Offensive Guard is the single best damage skill for lance in Wilds, and it turns your defensive play into huge damage bursts that cut hunt times in half. You don’t need to stack it to level 3 right away, but even level 1 gives you a 15% damage boost after each Perfect Guard, which adds up fast over the course of a 15 minute hunt.
A lot of players also carry over old habits from previous Monster Hunter games where you were rooted while guarding, and forget you can move while blocking in Wilds. Shuffling left or right while holding guard lets you stay right next to a monster’s weak point even as it moves around, so you don’t have to drop your guard and reposition every few seconds. I still see experienced lance players forgetting this, so it’s worth practicing early.
The last big mistake is using the long charge attack too often. The full charge lance attack does massive damage, but it leaves you completely open for 3 full seconds if the monster moves. Only use it when the monster is stunned, trapped, or knocked completely on its back, so you don’t get caught mid-attack by a sudden counter from the monster.
The Monster Hunter Wilds lance isn't the flashiest weapon in the game, but it's easily one of the most consistent and forgiving options for players who prefer methodical, low-risk play. Once you get the hang of perfect guards and counter combos, you'll be able to take down even the hardest endgame monsters without fainting once, and you'll have a ton of fun doing it. Don't get discouraged if you mess up your timing the first few hunts, even experienced lance players take a little time to adjust to the new Wilds mechanics. Grab your first lance, head out into the new open world, and start testing what works for your playstyle.