Many players continue to believe that the Monster Hunter World Punishing Draw skill is worth using. Though more useful in World than it was in previous Monster Hunter games, Punishing Draw still seems like a weak choice for any and all classes. Let’s try to put this debate to rest by explaining what Punishing Draw actually accomplishes. In a nutshell, Punishing Draw adds a very small attack and stun bonus to the first attack after unsheathing.
Monster Hunter World Punishing Draw: Skill Viability Analysis
While it would seem like an obvious choice for weapons like Greatsword and Hammer, it’s something of a waste to intentionally build for. There are two reasons for this. The first is that it requires you to use up two armor slots. The second is that there are much better ways to build for massive damage even on its best weapons. Draw-focused builds in Monster Hunter World are already niche. Given the tools that the dev team gave traditionally draw-optimal weapons to stay in the fight, it only makes sense if you need the added mobility of sheathing your weapon. At that point, however, you’re better off using a lighter weapon like Dual Blades, Light Bowgun, or Hunting Horn.
On Greatsword, you have the ability to cancel charges to achieve stronger attacks. This means you don’t need to put as much importance on that first draw attack. It also means that both Critical Draw and Punishing Draw are minimally useful. On Hammer, the bonus stun is irrelevant in the face of the stun damage you’re already bringing to the table. Additionally, Monster Hunter World’s Hammer works best off of quantity rather than quality. One big hit can never equal up to a few smaller hits based off of stun and damage numbers. Hammer users should focus on stunning the monster so that they can unleash a full Big Bang Combo.
Monster Hunter World Punishing Draw: Can it Ever be Viable?
So are there any attacks that can make use of Punishing Draw? Honestly, nothing can really make use of it intentionally. For the same cost of putting it on a set (two armor pieces from the Odogaron set), you could add two useful pieces. Individually, the Odogaron armor pieces are mediocre or situational at best. The Odogaron set is only useful when building for its four-piece Mastery skill Protective Polish. However, most weapons which benefit from Protective Polish (preventing your sharpness from decreasing for its duration) see nearly no benefit from Punishing Draw. The weapons that best use draw builds – Greatsword, Hammer, and Bow – have minimal or no need to worry about sharpness loss. On the weapons that you’d be tempted to build Punishing Draw into, it’s a much better idea to stack attack skills (like on the Nergigante set) or utility skills (like on Bazelguese or Teostra).
