What makes every Monster Hunter game great are the plethora of builds they offer and how you can mix and match armor, charms, and weapons. This remains true in Monster Hunter World as well, and the game provides so much build variety, especially with its massive expansion Iceborne.
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Monster Hunter World is all about outfitting yourself with the tools necessary for the next big hunt. Whether that means you need fire-resistant armor or a weapon that dealsthe needed element damage, you will continuously be switching armor sets and weapons. Luckily, every weapon can deal every type of elemental damage in the game, and some are genuinely incredible. The Switch Axe is one of many weapons in the game that can be devastating when paired with the right build.
10 Kjarr Axe "Stream"
One of the best builds in Monster Hunter World: Iceborn is the Kjarr Axe "Stream" with Safi armor. Unfortunately, what hinders this build is it is somewhat situational.
While this build is useful outside of the Alatreon fight, it shines the most during it. Making it an essential build for Switch Axe users if they need help with the battle. This build can be tough to get the hang of initially due to the life drain effect, but beyond that, the elemental damage buff and sharpness will suffice once you get it under control. The Alatreon encounter can be challenging for many people, and this build will give you a much-needed edge to conquer the beast.
9 Black Harvest
This Black Harvest build benefits significantly from the current elemental meta in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and is a great overall build for the early-to-mid game.
With the Element Conversion skill, all it takes is one Elemental Res Up meal from the lovely feline chefs to sustain you throughout the entire hunt. This build offers a massive buff to your elemental damage and is relatively easy to farm. The Black Harvest is also a decent enough weapon on its own, but this build makes it shine bright.
8 Gnashing Flammenbeil+
Another early build for the Iceborne expansion, except this one, focuses on raw damage with an elemental splash.
The raw damage output is pretty excessive for this build, especially in the game's early goings. Pair that with its fire element, and you can nearly blow through many of the game's early obstacles. This Gnashing Flammenbeil build is well-rounded and packs a deadly punch, and it's also relatively easy to farm. So, there's no real reason to pass on it; it's one of the best builds in the game and acts as a great stepping stone for the crazy stuff.
7 Lohenbeil
This Lohenbeil build is instrumental in the early goings of the Iceborne expansion in Monster Hunter World and can even be beneficial to you for sometime after.
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What this build offers is insane fire damage along with massive critical damage. The Handicraft Jewel also allows you to get in twenty attacks before the sharpness drops down a tier. This Lohenbeil build is no joke and can turn the tide of most battles into your favor. The earlyhunts in Iceborne can be rough, but this build can help you overcome those challenges quite easily. The mix of significant critical damage and excessive fire damage will bring any monster that is weak to Fire down relatively quickly.
6 Lightbreak Axe
The Lightbreak Axe on its own offers the best raw damage in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, and when paired with the right armor and Jewels, it gets even better.
What makes this Lightbreak Axe build shine is its incredible sharpness and damage output. As mentioned before, the Lightbreak Axe deals massive damage by itself, but when paired with critical jewels and attack buffs, it deals unmatchable damage. Especially in the early goings. Everything is easily farmable in this build, making it less of a chore to get, unlike some others. This build is phenomenal for many reasons, but its raw damage output is what pushes it over the edge.
5 Safi'sBindaxe
The Safi's Bindaxe has phenomenal potential and can shine with the right pairings of Armor and Jewels. This build can make players deal mass damage and keep them in the fight longer.
Safi's Bindaxe is an excellent weapon in its own right. Still, when paired with a mix of Empress and Kaiser armor – and a variety of Jewels – you can deal an excessive amount of critical damage and stay in the fight with Specialized Tools as they regenerate at a much faster rate with this build. What makes this build so good is how it enables players to deal lots of damage while also staying in the battle with their Specialized Tools.
4 Safi's Hellaxe
This Hellaxe build punishes any monster that is even remotely weak to fire damage, which happens to be the lot of them in the Iceborne expansion.
Not only does this Hellaxe build dish out mass amounts of critical damage, but it will also steal life back from monsters with each successful hit you land, seemingly making you unstoppable in the right situations. This build is also phenomenal during the Alatreon battle,granted it has to start at an element that's weak to fire.
3 Safi's Shatteraxe
This Safi's Shatteraxe build focuses primarily on Specialized Tools, and when utilized correctly, it can be an enjoyable build to use and a devastating one.
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Unlike Safi's Bindaxe build that merely dips its toe in Specialized Tool cooldowns, this Safi's Shatteraxe build dives in headfirst. This build focuses on one of the best bonuses in the game, Tool Specialist, and allows you to use Mantles and Boosters with practically no cooldown. This Shatteraxe build enables you to jump straight into combat and hack away with no fear whatsoever. So as long as your mantle and booster are good.
2 Nyx Smasher II
The Nyx Smasher II is a fascinating Switch Axe on its own, as it can put monsters to sleep quite consistently, but with the right pairing, it can almost become a guarantee.
This Nyx Smasher build is pretty much phenomenal all around and encourages you to abuse it any chance you get. Since practically every monster can get put to sleep with weapons that deal the Sleep ailment, even Elder Dragons, this build can shine in a wide range of situations. This build focuses on two things: putting the monster to sleep and greatly wounding the enemy. With an additional 95% affinity bonus, this build can demolish most of the game's monsters primarily if you focus on putting them to sleep and bombing them.
1 True Fatalis End
With just the Fatalis armor set alone, you will be fine on both offense and defense, but what fun is it if you also don't have a great weapon to go along with it? Fortunately, the True Fatalis End is also one of the best Switch Axes in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne.
The grind to get the complete Fatalis set can be grueling, but it is well worth it. This build practically reaches the level cap on most of its stats (even the secret ones) and gives a significant attack buff to theSwitch Axe itself. Since your defense will be rock solid, every attack buff you receive from the set is a bonus. You can feel like an unstoppable nightmare with this set, and there's no question why this quickly became the meta in Iceborne. The True Fatalis End will also have purple sharpness, and the Handicraft Jewel will extent its durability even more. This build is the best one for Switch Axe users, and it isn't even close.
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