You forgot this on the OT milk
SnS are usually pretty bad raw damage wise but there is a big selection of status effects they can inflict, and they can use items without sheathing the weapons, making them probably the best support weapon out there. Tehy can also use Blade coatings in Cross
Dual Blades are fast hitting, all offence weapons that specialise in elemental damage. They have zero defence, but a pretty nice dash. You can go in an alternate stance called Demonization where you have a new selection of moves, and charge aup a bar that, when full, lets you turn off demonization and go into Arch Demon mode without draining stamina. They have zero reach though, and require you to be constantly in the monster's grill. They eat through sharpness.
Greatswords are probably the best Weapon. They have unparalelled power and mobility, due to how one of your strongest attacks is the unseathe charge move. Should things get hairy, you can sacrifice sharpness to block a move. Raw pwoer above all else. Great sinergy with many skills like Critical Draw, quick sheathe and Punishing draw. Good reach, but you want to hit with the middle of the sword.
Longswords are the most annoying weapon. They are very combo heavy, and rquire constant agression. As you hit mosnters you charge a bar that when full can allow for a auto combo that, if finished, icnreases the power of your weapon. This can be done up to 3 times, after which you must start from zero. Usually elemental heavy, but they also need a hefty raw. Great reach, but due to how wide it's attacks are you0'll end up tripping your team mates, specially if they are lance users.
Hammer is one of the toughest weapons to use. Since they are blunt weapons, they usually have very little sharpness, especially in the early game. You NEED to be targetting the head, which boosts your damage output massivly and allows you to stun monsters, which nets you and your team like 8 secs of free damage wherever you want. If you hit the body instead you'll build up fatigue, which will slow down the monster. You'll be bouncing a lot, which coupled with the playstyle of always being in the line of fire means you must know the monster's behaviour or you'll eat a lot of damage. Evasion skills are needed unless you play adept style in cross. Best move is the Golfswing which has 6 seconds of setup time. Super Pound is a fine, easier alternative which is both faster and more leaning on the recovery, but you need to chage it before hand and can't combo after. Medium reach and low sharpness consumption.
Hunting Horn is a weaker Hammer in terms of damage but you can buff your team mates. Everyone likes a horn on their team. Infinite Stamina and damage boosts are the best songs, followed by Wind Resistence and Earplugs. Very wierd move set, attacks go in all sorts of directions. Should focus the head. Good reach.
Lance is unrelenting agression coupled with the best defence. One of the most satisfying weapons to learn. Amazing reach, needs good raw and elemental. Tripple stabing, dodging, stabbing again, countering constantly to keep yourself moving forward. Evasion skills are great with this. Eats through sharpness. Good starting weapon. Slow walk speed, backstepping is a better way to mvoe around unless you want to sheathe.
Gunlance has been massively reworked so what I say may not be applicable to Cross. Odd version of the lance. Good defence, nice offence. Blast damage is fixed so tis not reduced by hardness and whatnot, but it eats your sharpness. 3 styles of lance in Normal, Wide and Long. Long boosts Dragonfire, Normal normal shots and Wide charged shots. Also known to knock team mates around.
Switchaxe has two modes, axe mode and longsword mode, both with different walk speed, moveset and transitional combos. Good evasion options, zero defence. Power phials are pretty much the best. Axe mode is a slow weapon with nice flowing combos, Sword mode unleashes the phials for damage/elemental boost and constant aggression. Can unleash a Phial blast for decent damage, but it takes a while to finish. Medium sharpness useage. Best Reach in the game in axe mode, stubbier in sword mdoe. Sword mode doesn't bounce off monsters hard parts, but it still takes a damage and sharpness penalty.
Insect Glaive is a Longsword-style weapon with great, constant combos, but coupled with the mounting ability and the benefit of not tripping your team mates. You need to shoot a bug into the monster to get buffs, otherwise you're very weak. Head and claws usually give red buff, an offensive buff that extends your combos and damage. Back and torso usually gives orange, a defensive buff that gives earplugs and def up. Legs and Wings give White buff, which buffs your movespeed and extends the other buffs. If you have all 3 you enter a special mode where everything is buffed even further. Tails give an optional green buff that heals you a bit. Hard weapon to upgrade. Uses a lot of sharpness, decent reach. Was better in 4 where mounting was OP.
Charge blade has 2 modes, SnS and Axe. SnS mode has the decent offence and lets your charge phials to use in Axe mode. Blocking costs sharpness like the GS. Axe mode has as much reach as SwitchAxe's axe mode, and you can use the phials you stored up to unleash specials mvoes thatd eal stunning or elemental damage. If you have all phials stored up, you can do a super burst to deal even more damage or you can cancel it into a buff that boosts your damage, which is reccomended. This weapon has th best defence in the game known as guard points. If during an attack animation the shield is raised, you will automaticly block the monster move, unless a small burst, and gives you the option to cancel into a superburst. Beyond OP in 4G, it's quite bad now aparently.
LightBowGun focuses on Rapid Firing elemental, status and explosive shots. Real fun to use, even if the aiming is clunky. You need to be eithe rapid firing or shooting status shots, preferably both. You need to make your own ammo if you want the best dps. Boomstick is always fun. Note that gunner armour is very frail and has half the armour value of the blademaster's counterpart.
HeavyBowGun Is all about the raw. Slow weapon, massive dps if you have decent lockdown in Hammers, Mounting, Traps or Status. Pierce are usually the best ammo, but never discount the power of normal shots. Never use pellet. Evasion and Evade extender and grat skills to have to help with the mobility.
Bow is a more unrestrainged ranged weapon. You can coat your arrow with status or damage buffs, but element is bound to the bow itself. Load up and Focus are almost essential skills. Evaision helps too. There's usually only 1 bow worth using in every game. In 4G it was Seregios. In Cross it's Teostra. Never the ebst weapon, but it's fun to use.
Additionally, in Cross you have 4 styles that change how you play the game on top of special hunter arts (basicly super moves)
Guild is standart style.
Aerial sacrifices your roll dodge but gives you a springboard jump siilar to insect glaive, but you need a monster, team mates or a barrel to jump from.
Adept is beyond OP and gives your roll a lot more invincibility frames, puts you in a run state, and allows you to use a few new moves.
Striker makes you charge the super moves way quicker.
Note that all styles apart from guild remove certain moves from your weapon (example, you can't uppercut with the hammer or do a guard point discharge with a charge blade)
