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No retreat, no surrender!

Overview

The Lance is an incredibly defensive weapon, packing one of the most durable shields in the game. In addition, its range is pretty impressive, able to hit even the tallest of monsters, and its balance of attack speed and power is very fulfilling. Be a strategic hitter by utilizing the powerful counterstab to punish a monster for attacking you, or be a hornet, impossible to hit, by constantly sidestepping around the monster to keep in close quarters. The possibilities are endless!

Pros

• Shield is very durable, especially if augmented with skills

• Possesses a jump attack, making it the only other weapon aside from Insect Glaive that can jump attack without a ledge

• Will deal the kind of damage that the monster is weakest to! For example, if a monster’s part takes more damage from an impact weapon, then the Lance’s attack will use that figure (keep in mind the Lance will always deal cutting damage, it just uses the numbers)
  Cons

• When the weapon is unsheathed, you walk very slowly, and sheathing time is moderately long

• Loss of the forward combat roll

• Weapon is very precise, making it easy to miss

Usage Tips

Lances are all about threes. Attack three times with X and/or A, then sidestep or backstep and start over again. Poke, poke, poke, hope, repeat. There are many different styles of lancing, but the big two that are common are guard lancing and evasive lancing. Guard lancers make use of their enormous shield and proper timing to unleash powerful counterstabs. Evasive lancers forego their shield entirely, and take full advantage of side and backsteps to dance around the monster and attack nonstop. No matter what, follow the rule of three!

Keep tabs on your stamina, no matter what you’re doing. Hopping around and blocking both take stamina, especially blocking a heavy attack. Things like Mega Dash Juice can help in a pinch.

Recommended Skills

Especially if you use your shield a lot, invest in Guard+1/+2 and/or Guard Up . Guard+1/+2 will decrease recoil and stamina usage when blocking, and Guard Up will make certain unblockable attacks (for example, a fire laser from Gravios) blockable. The latter is very situational, because not every monster has attacks that are unblockable, but it can come in handy. If you prefer to use the hops to evade, Evasion+1/+2 and Evade Distance Up are invaluable. Later on, skills like Mind’s Eye will be useful to pick up. The Lance, unlike other weapons such as Dual Blades, lacks any reliable attack with guaranteed ESP (the Dual Blades have Demon and Archdemon Mode, for example), and so if you are fighting a monster with particularly tough hide, Mind’s Eye will help you.