Everything you need to know about the Lance in Monster Hunter Wilds, including its basic combos, Focus Strike, and more.

The Lance in Monster Hunter is arguably one of the best weapons to choose if you prefer a more defensive playstyle. Yes, there are other weapon types in the series that come with a Shield, i.e., Charge Blade and Sword and Shield. However, the Shield in those weapons serves more as an offensive tool, than a defensive one. In the case of Lance, however, the Shield is purely for defense.
Furthermore, the weapon type has dedicated combos to enhance its defensive properties. It’s a weapon that lets you stand your ground against a monster and deal constant damage while keeping you safe from most of its attacks. Furthermore, although the Lance is a bit cumbersome to use, its combos are quite easy to learn.
The Lance is also incredibly forgiving when it comes to counterattacks. While the weapon does struggle in terms of mobility, it makes up for it with its ability to target specific parts of the monster and deal elemental and raw damage to it. Here’s everything you need to know about the Lance in Monster Hunter Wilds.
How To Use the Lance in Monster Hunter Wilds?

Due to its defensive nature, the Lance has the lowest raw damage out of any other weapon type in Monster Hunter Wilds. However, since the weapon lends itself really well to stacking damage, akin to Dual Blades, that shouldn’t be an issue.
However, unlike in the case of Dual Blades, where you can freely move around the monster and even dodge its attacks, Lance will severely limit your movement options. With the Lance drawn, you cannot dodge-roll out of attacks. Instead, the dodge is more of a sidestep. However, with the Lance, you will seldom need to dodge attacks anyway. You can tank most of a monster’s attacks using the Shield.
Furthermore, to defend yourself against elemental or charged attacks, you can use the Lance’s Power Guard skill. The backstep or sidestep is only useful for repositioning yourself or dishing out attacks using the Leaping Thrust or Finishing Thrust combos. In addition to that, the Lance is quite capable of inflicting Elemental Blight on monsters. Here’s a look at the Lance’s basic combos in MH Wilds:
Combos | Button Combinations (PlayStation/Xbox) |
---|---|
Mid Thrust | Triangle > LS+Triangle > Triangle/Y > LS+Y > Y |
High Thrust | Circle (with weapon drawn)/B (with weapon drawn) |
Leaping Thrust | Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
Wide Sweep | Triangle+Circle (during Mid Thrust combos)/Y+B (during Mid Thrust combo) |
Guard | Hold-R2/Hold-RT |
Guard Dash | Hold-R2 > LS+Triangle/Hold-RT > LS+Y |
Power Guard | Hold-R2 > Circle/Hold-RT > B |
Dash Attack | Hold-R2 > Triangle+Circle/Hold-RT > Y+B |
Dash Step | LS+Cross (after Dash Attack)/LS+A (after Dash Attack) |
Finishing Thrust | Triangle (after Dash Attack)/Y (after Dash Attack) |
Return Thrust | Triangle (after Dash Attack)/ Y (after Dash Attack) |
Payback Thrust | Triangle (after successful Guard)/Y (after successful Guard) |
Lance Offset and Focus Strikes in MH Wilds

The Lance’s Offset Attack is called the Return Thrust and Payback Thrust. Both these combos can be executed after a successful Guard. The Offset combos not only deal a ton of damage but also topple monsters (even without Slugger or Stamina Thief).
Furthermore, the Lance can also topple monsters via its Focus Strike – Victory Thrust. The Focus Strike deals a ton of damage to wounds and can also help inflict elemental blight. You can follow up the Focus Strike with a Leaping Thrust, and continue your regular combos from there. Here’s a look at the Focus Strike combo for the Lance in Monster Hunter Wilds:
Combos | Button Combinations (PlayStation/Xbox) |
---|---|
Victory Thrust | Hold-L2 > R1/Hold-LT > RB |
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the Lance is an incredibly powerful weapon, albeit with the right build. While it’s not as complicated as something like the Insect Glaive or Charge Blade, it still can take a bit of getting used to, especially if you’re new to Monster Hunter. It takes quite a lot of time to properly learn the weapon’s combos. And, most importantly, the proper timings for sidesteps and draw attacks can be quite tricky to master. Although it’s not a good beginner weapon, the Lance is still a fairly solid choice if you’re familiar with Monster Hunter games and want to try out a new weapon type for MH Wilds.

We will update the article as we learn more in Monster Hunter Wilds or MHW. Meanwhile, you can check out the following Monster Hunter articles: