Lance's identity in Monster Hunter World revolves around its exceptional defensive capabilities. While other weapons need to sheathe and dodge, Lance users stand their ground through a diverse array of guarding options. Mastering these defensive techniques is essential for maintaining aggressive pressure and turning monster attacks into counter-offensive opportunities.

This guide breaks down each guarding option, explaining their mechanics, strengths, and optimal usage situations to help you develop an impenetrable defense against any monster.

Before diving into specific techniques, let's understand how guarding works in Monster Hunter World. Each monster attack has a specific "Power Value" that determines how difficult it is to block.

• 1️⃣

  Guard 1 increases threshold to 50

• 2️⃣

  Guard 3 increases threshold to 60

• 3️⃣

  Guard 5 increases threshold to 70

When blocking an attack, the game compares its Power Value to your Guard Threshold, resulting in three possible outcomes:

• ✅

  No Knockback: Power Value < Guard Threshold. No chip damage, minimal stamina cost, immediate follow-up possible.

• ⚠️

  Medium Knockback: Guard Threshold ≤ Power Value < (Guard Threshold + 10). 10% chip damage, moderate stamina cost, brief recovery animation.

• ❌

  Heavy Knockback: Power Value ≥ (Guard Threshold + 10). 20% chip damage, high stamina cost, lengthy recovery animation.

Higher Guard skill levels let you comfortably block stronger attacks, reducing both chip damage and stamina consumption. For most hunts, Guard 3 offers an excellent balance between investment and protection, while Guard 5 is worth considering for particularly hard-hitting monsters.

Counter Thrust is your bread-and-butter defensive response, transforming incoming attacks into immediate offensive opportunities. Perform it by pressing Guard + High Poke simultaneously, creating a brief counter window that, when triggered by an attack, automatically follows with a powerful thrust.

This Counter is your Bread And Butter Block you want to use most of the time when fighting a monster. It's very fast and low commitment. You mostly want to input as many pokes as you can before the monster Attacks and then Counter. It's gonna look something like this: Poke, Poke, Poke, Counter, Poke, Counter, etc.

This move excels in creating a rhythm of continuous offense: Poke, Poke, Poke, Counter, Poke, Counter. When executed successfully against an attack, you can even chain directly into another Counter Thrust for consecutive hits.

The technique's main limitation is that Heavy Knockback attacks will prevent the follow-up thrust. However, as we'll cover later, Power Guard can help overcome this limitation.

Guard Dash provides controlled mobility while maintaining defensive protection. Perform it by pressing Guard + Low Poke, allowing you to move in any direction while keeping your shield raised. This technique bridges the gap between offense and defense, letting you reposition without becoming vulnerable.

While Guard Dash is powerful for repositioning, it has some limitations:

• Heavy Knockback will stop the dash completely

• Follow-up attacks (Leaping Thrust/Shield Bash) are weaker in World compared to Rise

• To dash backward or sideways from neutral position, you must first aim with the slinger

Guard Dash is most effective for closing short distances while maintaining defense, particularly when you anticipate an incoming attack. For unobstructed mobility, the standard dash attack is often more efficient.

Power Guard represents your ultimate defensive stance, trading chip damage for unparalleled protection and counter-attack potential. Activate it by entering Counter Thrust stance and pressing the hop button, creating a specialized guarding position with unique properties.

Power Guard offers several exceptional advantages:

• 🔄

  360° blocking angle (vs. normal guard's 220°)

• 💪

  Eliminates stamina loss from blocking (instead drains stamina over time)

• 🏋️

  Reduced knockback distance from heavy attacks

• 🎯

  Powerful directional Counter Thrust in any direction

• ✨

  After 1.2 seconds, grants Guard Up effect (blocks unblockable attacks)

These benefits come with one significant trade-off: Power Guard increases chip damage by 10% compared to Normal Guard. However, this downside is often overshadowed by allowing: knockback cancels, blocking stamina intensive multi-hit attacks and allowing a counter in all directions.

For optimal efficiency, most experienced Lance users prefer to start with Counter Thrust and transition to Power Guard only if needed, rather than entering Power Guard directly. This approach minimizes chip damage while maintaining access to Power Guard's benefits.

Iceborne introduced two clutch-based defensive techniques that expand Lance's toolkit with unique utility: Guard Shot and Counter Claw. These options integrate the clutch claw mechanic with Lance's defensive identity.

Guard Shot provides quick access to slinger ammunition during defensive play. This technique lets you block an incoming attack and immediately follow with either a clutch claw grapple or slinger burst, adding ranged options to your defensive repertoire.

Counter Claw is one of Lance's most satisfying techniques, allowing you to convert a blocked attack directly into a clutch claw grapple. This move creates unique tenderizing and wallbang opportunities that would be impossible with other weapons.

Both of these techniques are covered in depth in our dedicated Clutch Claw guide: