Monster Hunter Wilds

[Coldgrip]

I'm curious if there's going to be a new weapon in Wilds.

...between the Lance and the Funl

Without even finishing the sentence, we all know you mean gunlance.

 

[ShitLurker]

I'm curious if there's going to be a new weapon in Wilds.

Would be neat, and it's not like they don't already have half designed stuff like the Tonfa and Magnet Spike, so could be a good time to bring them back for the new entry. I'm more hoping they keep set flexibility from Rise, I don't need to be full superman like with silk moves, but being able to spruce things up in all the weapons is something I would definitely welcome in Wilds.

Without even finishing the sentence, we all know you mean gunlance.

Hahaha, didn't notice my post cut off when I had to reload. Yeah, was just mentioning that I'm also getting used to the gunlance and it's a ton of fun in Rise thanks to the rocket man skill. I tried gunlance originally in U4 and felt like a walking clunky brick (though I was also just fucking around there), but here, I see a Bishaten being a clever fuck grabbing onto a wall? Rocket into it's face and fill it with lead mid air, metal as fuck.

I also got "credits" by beating Magnamalo, first hunt that I almost triple carted (ended up going with capture to secure not blowing it) outside of my first gathering hub with base gear mishap. Really liked Magnamalo's style and his spear tail setup. The spoopy energy reminds me of Gore Magala visually, though it certainly didn't take me for a ride as hard as Nergigante did on my first time there. Plan is still to blaze through the monster hunt quests to see the critters and their cinematics and do any sort of town quest that will give me extra dango or resources, since I believe those only come from the townspeople requesting them, I assume I can ignore all of the gathering and killing smallfry quests.

Though Magnamalo was a bit of a "oops" moment, for now I'll keep trucking assuming I still don't need to grind proper to get better armor sets and just keep working with what falls on my lap. Also, did the Gathering hub rank 2 urgent of a rampage... I beat it and I don't know why since I was convinced I fucked up massively, but I guess the last door is a shit ton harder than the prior ones.

 

[Hammr2]

Doing some threadomancy to not shit up the Monster Hunter Wilds thread. Basically, got rise + sunbreak at a heavy discount from steam and am loving it. Played World during it's original release and life cycle and loved it, but ended up "burned out" and never got into Iceborne, and since I played that on the PS4 and would rather play on PC now and I can't be assed to redo everything with a new character, I went straight to Rise.

Been having a blast with it, just hit high rank and sticking with Lance and Funlance for now (though why are there so few normal gunlances in Rare 4 dammit!). The Rampages are... certainly a thing, they feel like a clusterfuck most of the time, but I think I prefer them to Kulve Taroth and Zora Magdaros runs. Even then, I'm aware their special weapons have a very limited shelf life and that sunbreak ignores them, so I'll stick to doing the minimum of them and just keep going on my kill everything safari tour. What I have also noticed is that there are a shit ton of event quests. Any particular recommendations or suggestions anybody has in mind as worth getting into?

Since the site was ddos for a while, I didn't really bother check forums.
Also, since this Games forums here is more lax (rules) than other forum section, I don't see much need to spread out multiple threads just to discuss specific MonHun entry. Despite the game popularity, game series itself isn't that much of big deal here, for obvious reasons (culture war drama, current days gaming are bad, yada yada....). I find these complains and drama are getting tiresome as much as SJW on why games are problematic.

Event quests for Rise, click on "already available", you'll see rewards and proper hunter rank requirement. Emergency or advanced quests are hard, since they are like pretty much Master rank/G-rank monsters. Basically, they'll destroy you with your High rank weapons/armours for playing badly.
This is for Sunbreak expnasion, just click on any platform, it'll bring you to event page.

On Rampages thing, it's a lot easier than you think, like you'll feel the game is played by itself 50-60% of the time.
Although, I recommend doing long rampage quests, defending two-parts. The quest ratings is based on how many obj you have completed, not the total amount of gate health left.
Completing more obj, means leveling stronghold easier, means accessing to higher level of defense structure.


1) You can also cheesing completing obj like setting up installation by setting up one, then retracting it then setting it up again during preparation phase. Remember to retract low health structure then set it up again rather letting them be destroyed, so you don't have to wait for it to recover.

2) Always taking Farcaster in item box when started. Because for long rampage quests, 2-phase ones, the first part is always be destroyed when the main monster comes. You just use farcaster immediately, you'll be at second base and setting up defense way faster. Only rampage monster I consider to be a "Fuck you, hunter", Apex Zinogre, since it has an ability to pretty much instantly destroy all defense structures.

3) Defense structure choice:
Manual Crossbow or gatling gun version, they aren't that much different, so set them up based on limit. Canon version is the one I prefer near the gate, easier to hit multiple monsters there. Same rules apply for automatic defense structures..
Wyvern artillery, always put them on the ground and on flaming beam mode. always put them near the gate or L shape/U shape turn. If putting them at the gate, you can temporary retract one and use special Kamura NPCs if they are up. Just use them immediately, no point of saving.


4) Always use manual defense structure, and only attacking monsters with normal hunter weapon when there is a counter signal (big damage boost for your weapon). Or use counter gong if you want signal immediately.
5) Always use dragonator on cooldown at L-shape/U-shape turn with multiple monsters. And splitting wyvern shot for second phase if you see the main monster spawn. Don't bother with the pumping coal into furnace to reducde cooldown, thats for coop multiplayer, solo isn't enough. You don't have to aim canon either, just time it right time with main monster spawning.

6) Use Wyvern riding if possible, just good damage on demands, monster drops and depending on what kind of monsters. You can even complete "inflict ailment" obj.
7) A weird "advice", don't be afraid of bump rushing and dying if you have to. There isn't a limit of how many times you die.

Last thing, if you need to grind Hunter rank levels to unlock monsters. Rampage quests are to go, since you breeze through like lots of HR levels, can try to mix it up with normal quests if you find things "burning out"/"boring". Also, Rampage weapons are considered best weapons in base game, so... They just become obselete in Sunbreak because Sunbreak has zero rampage quest, no more upgrade weapon trees.
If you use Gunlance, check Canyne tree. It's a long shelling gunlance, aka most versatile shelling in Rise-break. Normal shelling, wyvern stake and fullburst are all good. Tigrex for slap-lance.

 

[ShitLurker]

Nobody gives a shit I imagine, but I've continued with my ventures in Monster Hunter Rise, now Sunbreak, where I'm in Master Rank 4. I only did a few of the emergency high rank quests, apex mizutsune and apez zinogre ruined my shit, apex Rathalos I took down, but I was using the Hermitaur set so I consider that cheating. I also fought Crimson Glow Vastrax, got absolutely felted, then came back multiple hours later after some experience in Master Rank, but using my high rank set and managed to take it down in an attempt after two back to back carts, so feel pretty damn proud of that one. Really have to go back and do all of the apex at least once using my high rank set for the full experience, though might be unneeded if the APEX show up later.

Added the hammer to my weapon rotation. so Lance, Gunlance and Hamme and I just shift around. For now using the Magnamalo Lance with mixed set of Rathalos,. Magnamalo, Gore Magala and Lunagaron, just upgraded to Nargacuga gunlance (I know the affinity is kind of wasted, but I really needed an upgrade and I had the parts) with Hermitaur set but looking to upgrade to diablos and the Orangeten hammer with Garangolm set.

I'm also noticing which weapons I could use in other Monster hunter games and which ones would probably feel horrible after rise. Lance I barely use anything weird, I prefer to stick with hop and poke + sideslam, I use the drill rush wirebug because it's fun more than effective, always constantly forget to set up the tether and so on. I'll try the vertical drill and quick retreat for the lols, but shield bash and shield charge never really sat well with me either. Insta Block is the only thing I actually use and you do feel awesome when you get it consistently, so I definitely hope it goes into wilds.

Hammer on the other hand, between being able to swap between courage and strength, wirebug dash while keeping charge (just got this but I know it will be a game changer), being able to air hammer spin whenever I want, having the ability to use the spin to win charge which is usually shit to bob and weave into other charge attacks, hammer is a bloody delight in Sunbreak and I cannot imagine playing it without all of these awesome features. I'm barely experimenting with the self buff but I also expect it to be a winner.

Gunlance just for rocket man is leagues better than it's ever been, quick dash into smash and full unload is incredibly satisfying, as well as being able to easilly air shell. I am having a hard time using the full unload wire bug, between the cost and you committing to a direction for like 3-seconds in advance means I'm fucking up a lot with it, but I'm in the early stages of getting used to it. I also appreciate the short wyrmstake self buff a lot more than the normal wyrmstake, mostly because of how fast it is, if I fuck an input and do a wyrmstake, it's a lot faster to course correct and it has a better hitbox anyway.

So Lance I could play on any Monster Hunter and be fine, but the other 2 seem like I would have a very hard time adapting to older titles. I hope Wilds keeps switch skills and some of the good shit that hammer and gunlance got.

I am thinking of adding a 4th weapon to the fuck around pile, maybe switch ax.

In case it's not obvious, I'm still loving my time with the game, close to sinking 100 into it already and still going strong. Love the follower quests and mechanics and it's really showing me how barren base Rise was even though it had much better monster variety than release World. Next hunt is Astalos and really looking forward to facing that thing.

Dificulty wise, not much is really giving me shit outside of what I mentioned in the first paragraphs, I am starting to notice that monsters that I start filing as jobbers suddenly have enough damage to two shot me if I'm not careful, though I do tend to favor a lot of comfy skills with perpetual blight immunity (got fantastic early game decoration with blight resistance 3, blast resistance 1 and a 2 deco slot) and 3 divine blessing in any set. As for kill times, I do abuse a lot the Weakener dango, but it's usually 15 to 20 minutes per hunt, so I'd say I'm doing good for myself.

Favorite monsters... loved Valstrax, it's just so retarded yet cool at the same time, love the fucking thing and am sad Glavenus never made it in. Went into an early event quest just to go for Gore Magala and I still love it. Garangolm and Lunagaron are also pretty cool. Nargacuga I really liked as well though I fought it so many times it's kind of trivial now. Rathalos gets me some proper high as well. Lots of stuff to enjoy here basically.

Most hated? Rathian, I hate the fucking thing moving around so much and me getting impatient and eating charges or tail slams. Aside from that, nothing I properly hate, just more of an apathy thing like with Basarios or Volvidon.

Aside from that, I do really regret now not playing Iceborne, it's the first time I do proper Master Rank and my god is it fun. But the idea of botting up the PS4 gives me so much laziness and having to replay on PC low rank and high rank but without all of the shit I accumulated is something that leaves me pretty dour. I'll most likely go into GU if I still have a burning desire for MonHunt and if anomalies bore me too much.

As for Wilds, I can live without wirebug tricks and monster driving, but by god, keep switch skills and let the raptor lizard thing be as mobile as a palamute. I also hope it doesn't go too far up it's ass appealing to western piggus or obsesses too much on the "hunt aspect" of the game, once I'm hunting for parts, I want it to be quick and proper, not waste half an hour to find another fucking Rathalos for a gem just because "I'm a huntah!". Making it open world can really make or break the formula. Though if they do stick with paired releases where one goes more mainstream to appeal to normies with spectacle and the other sticks to being more about fighting the monsters I can also live with that.

 

[Hammr2]

@ShitLurker
Lance, spiral thrust vs skyward thrust. Unfortunately, only two monsters that I can feel use for latter are Astalos (when flying) and Gaismagorm.
Hammer, with dash wirebug (Keeping Sway). During starting small time frame of winding up, you get iframe. It's pretty good tool to use beside rolling.

Courage gets a lot better post game, since monsters are faster, you can deal damage more consistently. Also, level 3 charge courage doesn't have problem of "over KO" monster like level 3 charge strength hammer. Basically, when you see a monster start drooling, LV3 charge strength can make monsters going back on first animation hit, then you'll miss the other damage of unfinished attack animation. Strength hammer relies on Impact Crater more than normal combo like Courage hammer.

Hammer, changing from blue to yellow will give you charge level 3 instantly. Ideally, most of the time you'll be in blue hammer. If I remember correctly, when you counter hit properly with Water strike, you can follow up a instantly to level 3 charge instantly with courage hammer.
Yeah, try to keep so self-buffed (Impact Burst) up all the time, just more damage for every charge attack.

Armor, defense ratings wise, remember using appropriate armor sphere from minor/side quests. I don't think anyone should have problem with amount of armor sphere for upgrading, considering also completing bunch of side quests. Collect plants, bugs, digging ores, hunt x amount of large monsters, etc....

The thing with MonHun, after being able to play around G-rank/Master rank comfortably. People will notice MonHun base game or most of its contents aren't that hard or challenging. There are few or some monsters can be annoying, match up wise, "lacklustered" armor build or first time fighting whatsoever. It's usually post game content grind, "the definitely true real final boss" or certain challenge events like hunt 4 "latest" endgame monsters with no death requirement, or "super buffed stat" version of two monsters.

Rise-sunbreak has bunch of QoL comparing to Worldborne people talk about. Faster quest menu navigation vs book transition in World, loadout options, better NPC layout in town. Elgado in Sunbreak, how conveniently close are NPCs, item boxes and food eating together. Charm vs decos farming, you can achieve "ideal" build much easier in Rise without perfet charm.
But hey, you still can mod stuffs in Worldborne to cheat rng grind anyway,.....
Flat ground "arena" fighting is still lot better than bunch of slopes, fuck any kind of slopes.
Though, for whatever reasons in Rise multiplayer, Capcom decides to have region lock, so you need like a mod to remove restriction.
I think they need better - more robust keybindings in future. Since Rise-sunbreak starts to bloat with switch skills moveset, the keybinding when playing range weapons can be quite cubersome.

 

[ShitLurker]

Lance, spiral thrust vs skyward thrust. Unfortunately, only two monsters that I can feel use for latter are Astalos (when flying) and Gaismagorm.

Noticed this when I remembered I had it vs Astalos and it absolutely decimated Steve who I managed to take it down in a surprising 13 minutes by spamming it. Skyward is fun as fuck but it's definitely a lot worse against anything that isn't a flying wyvern. I love the drill moves purely on Flair (last hit on Seregios was the rising strike) but for the most part Lance seems to work better with a keep it simple stupid philosophy. I also am a faggot and love hiding behind the shield.

Hammer, with dash wirebug (Keeping Sway). During starting small time frame of winding up, you get iframe. It's pretty good tool to use beside rolling.

That dash I started using proper vs Tigrex and Diablos and it's a boon for sure. Right now I have it paired with Strength and Courage with jumping spin, but I'm tempted to just slot the dash in both.

Courage gets a lot better post game

Good to know. I've definitely had the stun threshold be broken on one of the windup hits more than a few times.

Though I like alternating between Courage and Strength. The running lvl3 Strength smack is decently fast and packs a wallop without having to build up to it like courage. But yeah, I already default to courage in small windows anyway.

Hammer, changing from blue to yellow will give you charge level 3 instantly

Do you mean sharpness?

If I remember correctly, when you counter hit properly with Water strike, you can follow up a instantly to level 3 charge instantly with courage hammer.

Yeah, only in Courage but charging after the golf club you get auto lvl 3. But I'm horrible with Water Strike, Diablos is by far the most consistent I've been with it and I got like 4 in that hunt.

Yeah, try to keep so self-buffed (Impact Burst) up all the time, just more damage for every charge attack.

Yeah, need to get in the habit of buffing, I mostly remember once the monster is down, buff and go into the meteor strikes combo.

Armor, defense ratings wise, remember using appropriate armor sphere from minor/side quests.

I'm a fucking cheapskate with my armor spheres since I'm upgrading sets in a consistent basis and I haven't been punished by it yet, but I think I'm close to that point and I'm always doing subquests. I'm just one of those hoarder type players. I have adamant seeds to cover an army and could probably shit a ton of devil potions, but I never drink them. At least yet.

The thing with MonHun, after being able to play around G-rank/Master rank comfortably. People will notice MonHun base game or most of its contents aren't that hard or challenging.

Well, I need to play one of the older games to judge that. U4 I didn't reach master rank, kind of got trapped farming Zinogre for a crest/gem that never dropped to use against Kushala and kind of got bored. World felt challenging but it was my first proper one and the real challenge was the extra event shit. I think I solved everything except extreme behemoth (never killed it, period) and the las tempered Nergigante which is when I stopped playing.

Something tells me if I went back to U4 I'd find more walls. But who knows. I'm also playing a finished rise +sunbreak. With World I fought Ancient Leshen because it was the only thing I hadn't done. But in rise and sunbreak I just kind of keep trucking forward doing what interests me. I've not properly hunted the apex and have done a very small set of event quests for now. It's awesome having the finished product, but it also kind of feels that I'm not getting as much out of it as I could.

Rise-sunbreak has bunch of QoL comparing to Worldborne people talk about.

Definitely. The palamute is huge, everything is quick and to the point, and though monster just being on the map is kind of lame the first time, it's a blessing every other time.

That and worlds gathering QoL is what will probably be the hardest part of going back to older games, well that and how armor skills work.

Paint balls were bad enough, but bug nets and picks breaking is peak busywork for the hell of it, also npt keen on all those shitty "deliver egg" missions. Will probably also get fucked by not being able to restock midquest, but that I can deal with since I've gotten too sloppy in Rise with that.

I think they need better - more robust keybindings in future. Since Rise-sunbreak starts to bloat with switch skills moveset, the keybinding when playing range weapons can be quite cubersome.

Definitely. The control scheme is a pretzel right now, Gunlance being probably one of the worst offenders with how you need different buttons to do the sane moves in different combos.

Since I've got your attention. Was thinking of a 4th weapon to add to my rotation. I was greatsword in World and Charge Blade on U4, so I'm kind of tempted by Switch Ax or weeb blade. Which one do you think has more charm in Risebreak? I also accept suggestions for other weapons aside from the bowguns (though getting Insect Glaive buffs felt annoying when I dabbled on it)

 

[Hammr2]

Do you mean sharpness?

I mean the icon next to sharpness bar.

Changing colour/mode by charging hammer then pressing right click (my keybind)
Blue mode does more damage, yellow mode has faster recovery/less animation but less damage. It's more noticeable in STR hammer, you'll get LV3 charge immediately into Impact Crater switch skill.
Usually in big window for long damage combo, old hammer would use Big Bang, repeatedly hitting monster starting with right click. But Impact Crater is faster and stronger, so.....

I'm not well-versed in Switch Axe and Charge Blade, can't say much. Charge blade is just a more complicated button pressing Gunlance, they somewhat share similar skill build and game plan. The complicated part is understanding how to charge the shield, then sword. After that game plan is just charging phials combo into SAED. Like how Gunlance shelling into full burst or slap/slam into full burst.
Except Charge blade phials get bonus damage from crit skill, unlike being fixed damage for Gunlance shells.
But in Rise-sunbreak, you can have old school SAED focus playstyle. Or using Axe mode more, Savage Axe "Pizza Cutter", holding left/right click button to get the chainsaw feel through monster. One switch skill block let you charge all phials immediately, other one allows you to block in Axe mode.

Shield charge, there is a missing part.
Left+Right click is my button V. button F normally is block. I have to press V twice, 1st V is shield thrust, 2nd V is when you see animation doing shield into axe (SAED), you have to press F during second V animation to do the charge.


Sword charge. When you have shield charge, Guard -> Charge with pressing right click -> hold with left click, then release on your command.


Switch Axe probably has "too much" QoL, it maybe affected your feeling of gameplay comparing to older titles. With switch skill, you are pretty much like 95% time in Sword mode, Axe mode is obsolete. You don't even need to spam Zero Sum Discharge much. Counter switch skill is too good, though it costs sword energy while holding counter.

 

[ShitLurker]

I mean the icon next to sharpness bar.

Ah ok, brainfarted on that. Yeah, I'm aware that shifting from blue to yellow during a charge instantly puts it at lvl3 and one of the things I most enjoy is doing that, do the spin charge switch skill while charging to then shift to blue at lvl3 as well. Feels awesome to bob and weave all over the place, though I still need to get the hang of the backstep from shifting from yellow to blue during the spin. As for Impact Crater, I don't use it much, but the times I've had I haven't been that impressed, but I did not use it when the monster was down and I defaulted to big bang instead, so may rejig my switch setup to slot it again and try to get the best of everything with self buff, impact crater and big bang assuming I have 3 wirebugs.

Switch Axe probably has "too much" QoL, it maybe affected your feeling of gameplay comparing to older titles. With switch skill, you are pretty much like 95% time in Sword mode, Axe mode is obsolete. You don't even need to spam Zero Sum Discharge much. Counter switch skill is too good, though it costs sword energy while holding counter.

Mmm, charge blade sounds like it's still the same deal of "reach SAED as quick as possible, smash" and I already am using two shield weapons. Switch Ax also sounds like a bit of a letdown if the qol changes make half the weapon so irrelevant. I also read that hunting horn got "butchered" compared to earlier entries... might try the longsword. I am aware of how it works from World, having to account for the spirit bar was what made me pass on it, but well, if I can keep the gunlance doing it's thing I imagine Longsword won't be that much of an ask...

 

[Hammr2]

I am aware of how it works from World, having to account for the spirit bar was what made me pass on it, but well, if I can keep the gunlance doing it's thing I imagine Longsword won't be that much of an ask...

Considering this is Rise, there are tools giving Longsword spirit gauge fast. I think you'll enjoy it more since it had notorious "low risk high reward" broken in base Rise (Japanese aesthetic), cheesing with Iai Spirit Slash counter. Sunbreak nerfs motion value damage, but it doesn't really affect playstyle that much.

I'm a hipster (I like picking low popularity class/weapons), I only use like bottom 4 weapons popularity wise. But maybe you can skim through here see some combo to gain Spirit Gauge fast. Or just youtube some, it's Longsword, can't be that hard find good guide.

This reddit link, click on Sunbreak meta compilation and pick appropriate weapon. There should weapon/armor progression for all, and all of them should have guide on choosing switch skill loadout, so you have an idea of playstyle. Skill, decos and charms wise, tweak accordingly for your preference, defensive comfy skills at certain progression stage.

 

[ShitLurker]

Considering this is Rise, there are tools giving Longsword spirit gauge fast. I think you'll enjoy it more since it had notorious "low risk high reward" broken in base Rise (Japanese aesthetic), cheesing with Iai Spirit Slash counter. Sunbreak nerfs motion value damage, but it doesn't really affect playstyle that much.

Seeing how I picked lance as my main weapon you can imagine I'm a bit of a hipster as well! I'll check out some longsword guides and take it from there since I can't deny the thing doesn't have flair out of it's ass.

I'm pretty much playing everything on the fly when it comes to builds and sets, once I reach true endgame and real walls telling me to fuck off I'll probably look a loot deeper into using mixed sets. As of now I'm mostly getting full individual sets for weapons that seem to go well with it and then slotting in decorations to cover holes (weakness exploit and Divine blessing being my go to first decorations at the moment). I'm also waiting on getting all of the super meldings available before I do anymore talismans, that blight resistance one has been fantastic all this time but odds are I'll want to gamble for something juicy like critical boost once I can actually guarantee things.

 

[Focken Kiwi]

@ShitLurker

I main Insect Glaive and I have to say that in Sunbreak, Insect Glaive is at its best. Pick up the Kinsect Slash switch skill and a dual color kinsect and give it another go. I recommend a defensive dual color so you can open fights with white/orange extracts for free earplugs and snag red extract on monster roars. Recall Kinsect works well with Kinsect Slash too. It works as an all in one evade, extract, heal and most importantly, a stamina free vault for chaining into your Kinsect Slash aerial attacks. Everyone raves about Diving Wyvern but hit and run aerial Insect Glaive is where the fun is at.

 

[Evil Peter Griffin]

I like the wirebugs. I hope they bring them back.

 

[I'm Really Feeling It]

@ShitLurker

I main Insect Glaive and I have to say that in Sunbreak, Insect Glaive is at its best. Pick up the Kinsect Slash switch skill and a dual color kinsect and give it another go. I recommend a defensive dual color so you can open fights with white/orange extracts for free earplugs and snag red extract on monster roars. Recall Kinsect works well with Kinsect Slash too. It works as an all in one evade, extract, heal and most importantly, a stamina free vault for chaining into your Kinsect Slash aerial attacks. Everyone raves about Diving Wyvern but hit and run aerial Insect Glaive is where the fun is at.

IG is pretty fun, agreed. I use the vertical thrust/bug yeet instead of Recall Kinsect, and it feels pretty effective against flying bullshit (because I play DBs mainly) and the two lesbian lover capstones of base MH:R.

Anyone got any tips for playing SnS? I want to start playing more weapons but don't know what to pick. I'd also like to know how to play ranged stuff in this game because I've completely forgotten. Feels like trying to constantly aim headshots is making uptime suffer.

 

[Hammr2]

Anyone got any tips for playing SnS? I want to start playing more weapons but don't know what to pick.

Base rise, go for raw weapons, using shield bash combo + spinning reaper on repeat. It's the bread and butter combo and won't consume much sharpness, since Perfect rush combo isn't necessary the best like in Iceborne anymore. But you can learn using backhop to dodge because it has a decent amount of i-frame.

Metsu shoryugeki (wirebug skill, uppercut attack) can also be used as counter if timing correctly. Then Sunbreak you can go normal slashing combo with elemental SnS.
Shieldbash switch skill (different thing to combo I said above) is very also very good closing gap into monster and stun damage build up.

I'd also like to know how to play ranged stuff in this game because I've completely forgotten. Feels like trying to constantly aim headshots is making uptime suffer.

Get Recoil down deco to your armor build, that's it. But you only start crafting deco around high rank. At low rank/village quest, just accept not hitting weakspot properly is normal because recoil is "bad".
Other than that, try tweaking your control sensitivity or whatever. Make sure hitting monster at critical distance, orange crosshair colour.
Usually bowguns go for raw damage type during story progression, normal - piercing - spread or slicing, check carefully what kind of bowguns they are (ammo types they can use). Learnig bowguns ammo type, so you can set up hotkeys for fast ammo crafting. Bring additional ingredients to craft ammo too. Different ammo types affect critical distance range.
Main skill would come normal/pierce/rapid up, typical crit skills. Utility skills are reload speed, ammo boost, spare shot.

Bow is well, stamina skill and stamina item boost are mandatory.

 

[ShitLurker]

@ShitLurker

I main Insect Glaive and I have to say that in Sunbreak, Insect Glaive is at its best. Pick up the Kinsect Slash switch skill and a dual color kinsect and give it another go. I recommend a defensive dual color so you can open fights with white/orange extracts for free earplugs and snag red extract on monster roars. Recall Kinsect works well with Kinsect Slash too. It works as an all in one evade, extract, heal and most importantly, a stamina free vault for chaining into your Kinsect Slash aerial attacks. Everyone raves about Diving Wyvern but hit and run aerial Insect Glaive is where the fun is at.

I'll watch a video or two on how it goes thing. My biggest annoyance was doing extract management (I remember in World it being fun once I got going), but from what you are telling me you can get two out of the gate with one of the silk skills, right?

I like the wirebugs. I hope they bring them back.

I can understand removing them since it's usually pretty safe to wirebag recover out after a bad hit (though I have wirebuged straight into a death blow more than once...)s and you would really need to rework all monsters to be able to punish that outside of bumping up the speed and aggression dial. I do very much like how useful they are for traversing and how they open up aerial combat to all weapons though. Silkbind arts I'm more mixed on the need to have them, seems like for some weapons it became "spam this for the win".

I do hope switch skills stay, wirebug stuff I can perfectly see it removed or reworked. Wilds does seems to have a hookshot of sorts, so maybe for traversal it will remain but without being a way to get out of danger with relative ease.

 

[Focken Kiwi]

I'll watch a video or two on how it goes thing. My biggest annoyance was doing extract management (I remember in World it being fun once I got going), but from what you are telling me you can get two out of the gate with one of the silk skills, right?

No. This is a new property of some of the kinsects themselves. The kinsects I'm talking about are referred to as "dual color." There are three types of dual color kinsects. They should be: Dual Color (Defence), Dual Color (Speed) and Dual Color (Attack). These kinsects always grab two extracts at a time. Defence guarantees an Orange extract, Speed guarantees a White Extract and Attack guarantees a Red Extract.

For example, and this is my recommendation by the way, with a Dual Color Defence kinsect, were you to send the kinsect to hit the monsters leg or wing (netting a White Extract usually,) you'll get both the White Extract from the part you hit and the Orange Extract as a bonus from the kinsect itself. White + Orange gives earplugs. When you open a fight, a monster typically roars giving you a free opening to attack should you have earplugs, which you normally will with the strategy I suggested. This is a fantastic opening to hit the monster in the face giving you your final Extract.

Throughout the fight a monster tends to face its business end towards you anyway so Red tends to be pretty easy to snag. I've always found Orange to be the tricker Extract to maintain but a Dual Color Defence kinsect makes it very manageable.

On the same topic of gathering Extracts, that Kinsect Slash switch skill also nets you Extracts depending on where you connect on the monster. The skill stops gathering Extracts if you have Red already though.

As for watching videos, I doubt you'll find any on combining Recall Kinsect with Kinsect Slash. Recall Kinsect was rather lackluster in base Rise and most players gravitated towards Diving Wyvern. I recommend using them together though because it gives the Insect Glaive that hyper aggressive and mobile aerial gameplay I always personally believed it should have.

Edit: There is a montage I have found though with a player running Recall Kinsect that showcases how aggressively you can be with dodging attacks and sticking to the monster but he's using Advancing Roundslash instead. Advancing Roundslash isn't bad per se. The rapid attacks make it great for Elemental based sets but the skill does leave you open to be punished if you're not careful. It's not nearly as quick to execute or as precise as Kinsect Slash.

 

[ShitLurker]

Insect Glaive wisdom

So, I gave both the longsword and Insect Glaive a spin, just grabbed them, went into the dummy and did some hunts with followers. Longsword honestly felt that I was just spamming the beyblade silk bind to build up my spirit gauge levels and spam leap - Helm striles (again, silk skill) or try to do the super charge draw and cleave (and fail). Maybe a video tutorial would help me a lot more to properly use it, but didn't feel intuitive.

Insect Glaive on the other hand, once I processed how to gather the essences It's a ton of fun and I'm actually using most of the moveset. I am basically button mashing when on the ground, but while spazzing out all over the place, damage numbers seem decent enough, so I'd say shit is working.

Kinsect Slash is huge and I pray it stays in wilds. Being able to gather essences while flipping and dipping is a lot nicer than playing shitty TPS with the kinsekt. Also, dual essence kinsekts are a fucking godsend. Though I did learn that some heads are surprisingly hard to nail, the Kadachi hides it a lot and Astalos has a small head that moves a lot.

Speaking of Astalos, god I love hunting that thing. Been farming it for it's set which seems tailor made for the Glaive, though I think 3 pieces from it and lvl 5 agitator from Luna and Gore Magala is probably better than going full Astalos unñess I'm going into electric weak monster.

I do see your point of Recall Insect as a get out of jail card that gives me air time though I have Diving wyvern on the other set. So as of now I mostly gather using Kinsekt Slash with Recall Insect for retreat+go in scenarios and then when the monster is moving less, swap to Diving Wyvern and the base circle aerial attack which seems better to line up Dives (missing a lot of those or hitting low impact areas, though when it lands good the numbers are huge) to do bigger hits.

I do think with Recall Kinsekt the somersault silkbind is redundant and I do think the exploding kinsekt silk skill is very fun, so I'll slot that one in and see if I can work with an aggressive get esssences and shoot kinsekt here and there.

Also, made me remember how much I love earplugs and why in world most of my sets had it.

Anyway, thanks for the proposals, I wouldn't have given the Glaive a chance without your nudges. Mind sharing some grounded combos for when slapping a stuned monster on the floor?

 

[Focken Kiwi]

Anyway, thanks for the proposals, I wouldn't have given the Glaive a chance without your nudges. Mind sharing some grounded combos for when slapping a stuned monster on the floor?

I just use the basic "infinite combo" (Strong Rising Slash Combo -> Strong Reaping Slash -> Strong Wide Sweep -> Repeat) when a monster is stationary and use the slower, Leaping Slash -> Tornado Slash when the monster begins getting up to get those last couple big hits in and reposition. Otherwise, the rest of the fight, I'm mostly airborne and poking at the monster wherever I feel is both the safest and will do the most damage.

On that note, I use Recall Kinsect far too aggressively to ever call it a "get out of jail card that gives me air time." Here are a couple of notes I find important for consideration.

1. Aerial Insect Glaive consumes a lot of stamina. Recall Kinsect gives you airtime without eating stamina, however. In fact, if you've dodged or used an attack that consumes stamina, theres a brief window where you don't regenerate stamina at all. Recall Kinsect doesn't delay that window allowing you to get airborne faster, and usually with enough stamina from natural regeneration to get back into aggressively attacking and aerial dodging.

2. Recall Kinsect heals you. The healing is so great, in fact, that if you connect with the Kinsect consistently enough and can avoid most damage, you should be at 100% health throughout the majority of your fights. This means the armor skill Peak Performance becomes a top pick for getting extra damage in.

Speaking of Astalos, god I love hunting that thing. Been farming it for it's set which seems tailor made for the Glaive, though I think 3 pieces from it and lvl 5 agitator from Luna and Gore Magala is probably better than going full Astalos unñess I'm going into electric weak monster.

On the topic of gear, I can tell you what I'm running. I don't know if you're far enough in that you can augment your gear through afflicted monster parts so some of what I say may seem off. Assume all the armor pieces may have lost, gained or upgraded armor skill levels and decoration slots and assume appropriate decorations are used.

Spoiler: Gear sperging.

Avidya Scythe (Nargacuga Rarity 10 Insect Glaive)
Foebeetle (Kinsect)
Flaming Espinas Brain
Risen Kushala Iram
Lambent Wristrays
Archfiend Armor Ura
Valstrax Greaves - Epoch
Underworld Petalace
Wisdom Talisman (5 Constitution, 3 Recovery Speed, 3 - 2 - 1 slots.)

Armor Skills
Attack Boost Lv. 7
Constitution Lv. 5
Evade Window Lv. 5
Peak Performance Lv. 3
Critical Boost Lv. 3
Weakness Exploit Lv. 3
Master's Touch Lv. 3
Razor Sharp Lv. 3
Spare Shot Lv. 3
Recovery Speed Lv. 3
Stun Resistance Lv. 3
Kushala Blessing Lv. 3
Adrenaline Rush Lv. 3
Burst Lv. 3
Evade Extender Lv. 1
Master Mounter Lv. 1
Wind Mantle Lv. 1
Shock Absorber Lv. 1

 

[Kung Pow]

Here is a question that always bugs me, sharpness, attack or affinity?
Assuming I'm constantly progressing and swapping weapons and armor trying to beat the game.

 

[Hammr2]

Here is a question that always bugs me, sharpness, attack or affinity?
Assuming I'm constantly progressing and swapping weapons and armor trying to beat the game.

Attack is basic damage, Worldborne uses bloated number while Risebreak uses true damage number. Idea is bloated being easier to give the feeling or weapons tier damage, while true damage is easier to do math calculation. Former is easier for newbies or casual seeing "Oh this Greatsword damage is 1000 and this SnS damage is also 1000, therefore their dps are roughly be the same".

However, each weapons and their specific attacks have their own Motion Value. For example, with true damage of a raw GS is 100, motion value of first charge is 70, assume everything (monsters hitzone, critical chance/damage, etc..) else has a value of 1. Then first charge of Greatsword does 70 damage to a monster. Slower weapons have higher montion value for their attacks.

Sharpness, higher sharpness, the higher damage you do. Yellow sharpness has a multiplier of 1. First one is World, second one is Rise.


Affinity. After bunch of multiplication math, yada yada, monster hit zone whatever. Numbers can round up and down.
So let say an attack can hit between 95 and 105. Higher affinity means your attack damage hit the higher end more (Critial attack damage). Meanwhile negative affinity, you'll hit the lower end more (Weak attack damage).

So, you have some nerds will do spreadsheet calculation where deciding which weapon is better. Base attack, sharpness level and their affinity.
For example, Diablos weapons have really high base damage value, but their affinity is always negative.
Meanwhile, you have like Tigrex weapons with small amount of White sharpness. For weapons that hit monsters a lot like SnS, Dual Blades, Insect Glaive and Lance, they will require you to have Sharpness skill for comfortable play. Hitting monsters more and frequently, leads to more sharpness consumed. Weapons like Great Sword or Hammer don't have to worry about small sharpness, since their damage is big enough in one or couple attack moves. Spending more time sharpening your weapons aka more downtime aka less dps in the hunt, longer hunt time.

Also, elemetal damage isn't status damage. Elemental just means Fire, Ice, Water, Thunder. Status is Poison, Paralyze, Sleep and KO.
Monsters will increases their resistance against a status being applied to them in a hunt. You probably get like 1 - 2 times, maybe 3 with KO for Hammer & Hunting Horn in a hunt. KO is when monsters have dizzy stars on their head, stun is when monsters fall down on the ground. About KO, in multiplayer, monsters KO & stun threshold also increases along with their health, so getting KO is actually hard or "non-existent" for single Hammer/Hunting Horn user in a hunt.

Edit:
Capcom retardation screws over Steam Deck users for Rise.