Wilds Lance: Grand Retribution Thrust x Charged Counter

I've been posting some of my runs on youtube and in every video someone asks wich counter is better: charged counter or power guard into grand retribution thrust. It seems to be a common question, so I'll give you guys my point of view:

I need to get really specific to answer this, so bear with me.

Short Answer: Charged Counter is better. But If you don't have time to charge your Charged Counter to level 3 (by poking three times beforehand), and at the same time the monster is throwing an attack with heavy knockback that doesn’t have a fast follow-up, then Power Guard > Grand Retribution Thrust (GRT) will be optimal. That’s a lot of "ifs," but it definitely happens. Mastering the weapon means learning how to identify these situations in real time.

In general, Charged Counter level 3 deals more damage than a full-damage GRT (red glow), but less if it's not level 3. Level 2 deals more damage than a non-full-damage GRT (aka yellow glow) or RT.

Additionally, with GRT, you have long recovery frames and short hyper armor, so if you use it to counter the wrong attack, you'll get hit by the monster’s follow-up or lingering hitbox. Power Guard also consumes stamina, making it harder to keep Maximum Might active if you're not timing it properly—resulting in less damage overall if you're not proficient with it.

As I said, GRT's max damage (red) only works on attacks with heavy knockback (though the visual cue is currently bugged and sometimes misleading), and only if you time it correctly. Holding Power Guard for too long can cause you to overcharge and deal less damage (yellow). The less time you hold Power Guard, the better your chances of landing a full-damage GRT afterward. But you need to be charging the Counter Thrust first. This is super specific and hard to explain via text, so I hope I’m clear enough.
TL;DR: Charge your Counter Thrust, and at the last moment, go into Power Guard, and then GRT. All of this considering the monster attack has heavy knockback.

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TL;DR for everything:

All of this is match-up dependent, so it's better to learn how to use both since they each have their uses, even though Charged Counter is generally superior imo. But as I said, it depends: You can’t fight Gore Magala using only Charged Counter, for example—even if you time it perfectly, you'll still get hit by the explosions. So, against Gore, Power Guard into GRT is the optimal strategy against some attacks. The same goes for Ajarakan or against any monster with fast multi-hit attacks, Power Guarding them is better than Charged Countering the first hit.

And you will be needing two pieces Fulgur to even consider power guard > GRT.

So for me, Charged Counter is the priority.

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Take all of this with a grain of salt, though—the game has only been out for two weeks, and even if we’re posting runs with good times, we’re all still learning.