## Basics ![[SnS Tips-1741290070885.png]][^1] ## Bash Tips The SnS Shield Bash combo (forward+O, O, O) does not consume sharpness. This is not too consequential in early game because the damage difference between yellow and green sharpness is only 5%. Later though, the damage difference between sharpness may be as high as 15%, and conserving this sharpness can greatly improve your DPS. Note that in the beta shield bashes did not scale with sharpness, but in the full release they do. The recovery of the Shield Bash combo can also be cancelled by performing a guard slash (R2+O), which allows you to loop the shield bash combo faster (i.e. forward+O, O, O, R2+O, forward+O, O, O, R2+O...). This puts its DPS closer to that of the △ combos for raw damage builds, with the added long-term benefit of lower sharpness consumption. Shield bashes do not do elemental damage or status buildup, so you are better served doing △ combos for those builds. Shield bashes inherently do stun damage, though, so aim for the head to get a couple of stuns each hunt. Finally, shield bashes do not bounce off of the monster. Keep this in mind if your sword starts bouncing off of a monster or your opportunity to attack is on a bad hit zone. [^1]: Credit to [Mordred](https://bsky.app/profile/mor-dread.bsky.social)