Watched that vid and made a sns build where I maxed out my affinity and crit boost. Yeah that damage blows attack boost out the water. Also found put elementless jewel got nerfed from 10% to 5% boost.
Is a elementless dps build worth it anymore? Or are elemental sns builds superior now? Especially with the new perfect guard skill
Took damn near all day but I finally get the right Tempered Lvl 2 monster to show upā¦
Good Olā Cliffordā¦O-Dog.
Thanks to him I was able finally craft Loyal Thunder, which has long been known as pretty much as Glutton 2.0!!!
I dub this build āOMAR COMINā!!! 2.0ā
Elementless depends on the weapon. Slow weapons still work with elementless, for example a GD like Acid Slasher 2 still runs better with it. For SNS though, element is probably better now.
EDIT: @CDB2 Youāre missing out on Crit Boost 3.
Havenāt had any luck with gaining Critical Jewels.
The best thing about how armors are now, is that itās easy to build stuff thatāll save your life, while still being on meta.
@Eskills ok so I know you opinion on SA but can you check this out:
Skip to like 11 minutes in where he talks about why he thinks the changes makes SA way better.
Also, like, yeah, I donāt play SA, but I keep seeing you guys say it sucks but I keep seeing other people say IB made it way better and I just really want to understand why this big if a difference in opinion in the weapon capability is happening. And this guy seems to have well thought out arguments, even if the delivery is kind of annoying.
Iāve followed a jinx a long time(already watched). Iām just complaining about bad matchups, and I donāt like managing meter for both sides of the weapon.
Like power axe mode is pretty damn great, but Iāve never really cared for axe mode or ZSD spam in past games.
I really just want them to give me my hops back at full glory so I can stay in sword mode, do some morph swings, hop everything like a badass and get back in there with amped swings.
If Iām being completely honest when I say Switchaxe sucks, really I just mean itās unnecessarily hard, especially since thereās so many moves you simply canāt dodge while in sword mode.(jinx touches on this) Like Tigrex sucksss for sword mode, but axe mode pretty much dumpsters him with flinch locks. I donāt want to use axe. 
If I could wholly rely on sword mode I-frames Iād have nothing to complain about. For whatever reason they gimped sword mode hop distance/I-frames and it sucks so bad for me. Overall yeah Swax is better, just not the way I want.
I think youāre the first person Iāve seen say that donāt want to have to use axe mode at all lol. Thanks for the clear explanation though, I get it now.
Past games kinda let you never need to use it much if at all. 
I gotta be honest, after watching that video I kind of want to try it out now. I never thought Iād be interested in actually playing SA
I love the weapon no matter how much I complain lol. Iāve done a few lbg runs, but the overwhelming majority of Iceborne play has been SA.
The combo routes, the movement and aggressiveness is just unmatched. And fat deeps amped state? So gooddd.
Iād trade the ZSD cheese to improve my hops. 
Edit: Jinx also touches on playstyles and how sticking to one mode is probably the most optimal way to play SA. I was feeling that myself.
Yeah I watched it all, I think itās fine if sticking to one mode is best as long as there are situations where using other attacks is optimal. Like for Hammer you use Charge 2/3 like 90% of the time in neutral but Upswing combo has itās uses as well, and even using Big Bang combo vs Upswing combo depends on if they were downed or KOd for example.
some Lance player(s):
Lance would be in a great spot had they not nerfed itās elemental modifiers. They get like .7 or something trash? Itās hits are too weak for me.
Kinda weak damage numbers, but ridiculously good every where else though.
Switch axe isnt a broken mess anymore. Itās now playable. But in pales in comparison to other weapons that actually got much better, where as SA is just functional.
I mean if weāre only comparing Swax to other melee weapons it really aināt that big a gap.
GS does whatās its always done but Velk set bonus brought the one true best crit draw play, kinda busted. LS is just amazingly versatile, much easier to use and can handle any matchup. But it only has burst damage in helmbreaker and iai slash. Itās average DPS is pretty terrible. CB again amazing versatile with lots of burst, DPS is low. Savage axe is great on downs and trash outside of that cause crazy animation lock. Sns new move has high dps downtime didnāt change much outside element being better. DB is pretty damn great. Lance got cheesy clutch counter and GL while better is pretty locked into Long shell or bust. Hammer didnāt change really and HH is great.
SA has the 2nd highest DPS while in Sword Amped state and likely the King of trips with power axe. Power axe mode also helps break parts faster and the combo itself has amazing motion values. It beats out morph slash if youāre not staying in sword mode. And ZSD mantle cheese is retarded (shame all the electric SAs are trashhh). The caveat is SA is dumb hard to get good with and your 1337 skills would go so far with other weapons.
Getting help from Devilbro is the new meta.
Forgot, it definitely isnāt mentioned at all but Sword mode did get buffs other than ZSD.
The end part of the double slash (heavensward slash) got stronger and the triple slash finisher got more damage and takes less gauge. These are extremely significant coupled with the new clutch claw slash.
Full double slash combo > discharge > clutch claw slash completely fills sword gauge and does phenomenal damage.
Triple slash finisher is the best dps route on downs, but double slash > overhead slash is still good.
Velkhana Great Sword build is viable but still not as good as Masterās Touch with Acid Glav Great Sword. Raw damage is still king.
Acidic glav GS with protective polish gem and 4 piece velk set??? I prefer ruiner nerg though. 
I like crit draw lol.
