Great Sword — Varianza Weapon-as-Piece Arkveld's Hunger Compression Meta

Overview

Pure raw GS Attack Focus for patch 1.041, built on Varianza (Gogma Artian) with Arkveld's Hunger (Hasten Recovery) + Lord's Soul (Guts/Tenacity) rolled in. A generalist endgame AT build with an "aggressive tank" profile — Hasten Recovery II + Guts removes the healing pressure between TCS and frees up cash-out commits.

What sets it apart from the pure 5pc Arkvulcan γ comp: here weapon-as-piece frees chest and waist for Counterstrike 2 + base Agitator 3 — turning defensive density into active DPS, at the cost of double-RNG in crafting.

Core rotation

The loop is the TCS chain — True Charged Slash is the cash-out that takes ~20% of an endgame monster's HP on a crit:

• Canonical sequence. Charge Lv3 → Strong Charged Slash → True Charged Slash.
• Hyperarmor window. Shoulder Tackle lets you trade through a roar or tail sweep, keeping the loop alive without resetting the charge.
• Short punish. Offset Slash on a predictable telegraph — it also triggers Adrenaline Rush 3 without needing a clean evade.

Focus 3 shortens the Lv3 charge by ~15-20%, speeding up the time to the next TCS. WEX 5 + CB 3 make every TCS crit hard on a wound.

Structural thesis — weapon-as-piece

The Gogma Artian weapon counts as a piece toward set-bonus and group-skill thresholds. On the paper doll the armor has only 3 Arkvulcan γ pieces (helm + vambraces + greaves), which would suggest 2pc Arkveld's Hunger (Hasten Recovery I). With the weapon as an invisible 4th piece:

• 4pc Arkveld's Hunger → activates full Hasten Recovery II.
• 3pc Lord's Soul (the 5 γ armor pieces + weapon = 6 carrying the marker) → activates Guts/Tenacity.

The roll pool is universal — any Gogma Artian rolls any set or group skill except Festival Spirit, Prayers and Master of the Fist. RNG is seeded by the base element, so the farm path varies with the element you pick. GS Attack Focus is pure raw, so the element follows the target monster's weakness.

Group skills don't scale with extra pieces — they activate at 3+ pieces and stop there. The extra set bonuses (Nu Udra's Mutiny 1pc via the Udra γ chest, Jin Dahaad's Revolt 1pc via the Dahaad γ waist) sit dormant for lack of a 2nd piece — a deliberate trade-off to gain Counterstrike 2 + base Agitator 3 in the density.

Reinforcement — 2× Attack EX + 2× Affinity EX + 1× Sharpness I

This canonical combination is Varianza's theoretical ceiling. It respects the schema's maxPerBonusType: 2 (max 2 EX per kind).

RNG fallback: if EX won't roll, swap in an extra III (same layout: 2× each + 1 Sharpness I). DPS drops ~8-12% at the ceiling, but the build stays functional.

Structural fallback if Arkveld's Hunger won't roll: the build collapses to the 2pc set bonus (Hasten Recovery I), losing ~50% of the HP recovery. Migrate to the pure 5pc Arkvulcan γ comp — you lose Counterstrike 2 + base Agitator 3 but gain native Blight Res 3 + Convert Element 3 + Elemental Absorption 3 + WEX 5 + Flayer 3, and Hasten Recovery II activates straight from the 4pc. Rolling Lord's Soul on the weapon keeps Guts active even without Arkveld's Hunger.

Native skills and the Guts → burst cycle

Guts (Lord's Soul 3pc) — survive one lethal hit. The layering here is the heart of the build's offensive profile:

1. Survive the one-shot via Guts.
2. The hit counts as "being hit" → triggers Counterstrike 2 (Udra Miremail γ): +15 raw for 35s.
3. The next TCS lands with a flat +15 raw on top of an already-offensive stack.

Adrenaline Rush 3 (Counterattack Charm III) is a parallel layer: it activates on a perfect dodge / i-frame and gives a flat attack boost for 30s. On GS, Shoulder Tackle hyperarmor and Offset Slash trigger it without needing a clean evade.

Hasten Recovery II (Arkveld's Hunger 4pc) returns ~15-20 HP per hit on slow weapons (GS qualifies). Over a 5-8 min hunt the hunter connects 40-80 hits — 600-1600 HP regenerated passively. It removes the healing pressure between TCS and turns the profile from "fragile tank" into "aggressive tank with a safety net".

Agitator 5 during the rage window (~1-2 min between enrages) is where the crit trinity lines up — WEX 5 + CB 3 + Max Might 2 + the Agitator's +28 raw and 15% affinity. Reserve one full-commit TCS to open the rage and chain 2-3 TCS inside the window if the monster allows.

Elemental trade-off — Blight Resistance 2 vs 3

This comp runs Blight Res 2 (vs 3 in the pure 5pc Arkvulcan γ comp). In AT hunts with sustained elemental damage (AT Jin Dahaad, fire-heavy, being the priority), status ticks hurt one tier more. Counterstrike 2 and Guts make up for raw damage, but ticks aren't a "lethal hit" and don't trigger Guts. For extensive AT Jin Dahaad farming, consider 5pc Arkvulcan γ as a target-specific alternative.

Charm — Counterattack III default

Counterattack Charm III (Adrenaline Rush +3) is the canonical charm. It pairs with WEX 5 already capped by the armor, freeing the slot for a parallel offensive layer.

Matchups and team synergies

• AT Arkveld. Dream matchup. Clear hitzones for WEX 5, the aggro sequence triggers Counterstrike reliably, and Hasten Recovery II offsets the characteristic poison ticks.
• AT Gogmazios. Good — high wound generation, and Shoulder Tackle hyperarmor covers the tail sweeps.
• AT Nu Udra. Decent against the tentacles; the central body has a low hitrate, so Counterstrike triggers irregularly.
• AT Jin Dahaad. Decent with a caveat — fire ticks hurt with Blight Res 2. Go 5pc target-specific for extensive farming.

Multiplayer: the build becomes the comp's "aggressive tank" — near-uninterrupted uptime frees a dedicated HH for other buffs. A Lance/Gunlance on Offensive Guard redirecting aggro is a multiplier. Avoid 2× GS in a party (role redundancy).

Target profile

A generalist endgame AT pick for patch 1.041 — AT Arkveld as the priority, AT Gogmazios, AT Nu Udra, and AT Jin Dahaad with the elemental caveat. No target-specific pivot.