The Great Spiritvein Gem in MHW is one helluva a nuisance. You need it to augment Rarity 12 weapons and armor — raising their defense value and the number of buffs you can apply respectively. Not to mention certain high-level Charms require it as an upgrade material. But Great Spiritvein Gems are incredibly hard to come by. They’re tied to very specific monsters in very specific cases. Thankfully, we’re here with a guide to how and where you can farm Great Spiritvein Gems as effectively as possible!
First things first: let’s talk about which monsters carry these delightful rocks. They come from creatures in the Guiding Lands. More specifically, they come from tempered elder dragons in the Guiding Lands… kinda. The super-powered beasts can drop a Great Spiritvein Gem or three every time you kill one. But the drop rates are laughably low. Not to mention your chances lessen with every death on a given hunt.
UPDATE: After developer Capcom confirmed there would be an event quest designed to help players farm Great Spiritvein Gems, the team delivered. The mission is called “Ode to the Destruction.” Make sure to check the event quest schedule for more details.
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Besides tempered elder dragons, you can also get a Great Spiritvein Gem from any tempered Rajang or tempered Savage Deviljho in the Guiding Lands. These are all considered “Threat Level 3” monsters. And so they come with some of the same loot. But the same rules apply, no matter which monsters you’re fighting.
And the number one rule is to break, flinch, stun, and slam monsters as much as possible. Creatures in the Guiding Lands will drop many more materials on the ground than in normal missions when you do. Slamming them into walls with the Clutch Claw is especially powerful. It can drop three our four “shinies” for you to collect at once. Just make sure to grab them fast! It seems like the more parts you knock off a monster, the faster they disappear. Although severed tails stick around for quite a long time — and carving one can produce a Great Spiritvein Gem as well.
This makes Partbreaker and Slugger two very useful skills to have. The former lets you sever tails and break parts more quickly. Whereas Slugger increases the stun damage of blunt weapons. Both methods will produce extra parts and more chances at a Great Spiritvein Gem. The same is true of the Plunderblade; this Palico gadget, acquired from the Grimalkynes in the Rotten Veil, will produce more parts as your Palico attacks. And these can include a Great Spiritvein Gem. You just need to be solo or in a group of no more than two.
More Farming Tips – Great Spiritvein Gem Guide
There’s also a bug, exploit, or unlisted bonus to the Geologist skill that can make your Great Spiritvein Gem farming much easier. Including the skill on your hunter will let you pick up shiny monster materials twice. Since it’s not quite clear if this is intentional or not, your mileage may vary. Capcom could pull the plug on the bug, or it might not work altogether. But for now it seems like a very reliable way to double your earnings.
The next thing to consider is what you want to hunt. While all elder dragons are technically considered on an even playing field, we know better. Some are just plain easier than others. Not to mention, as I mentioned before, you don’t technically need to fight elder dragons at all. Rajang and Savage Deviljho also work just fine.
This might come down to personal preference. Perhaps you think Teostra is easier to fight than Namielle, or vice versa. Personally, I find Kirin to be a very easy target, but they also have only one body part you can break. At least we can all agree that Lunastra is the dirt worst… Rajang is also a pretty damn difficult pick.
There are also region levels to consider. You can check your Hunter’s Notes to see what region will spawn tempered monsters and at which level. If you meet or exceed that level, any monster you lure out with bait at a camp will be guaranteed to be a tempered variant in that region. For example, if you’re at Level 7 in the coral region, any Kirin or Namielle you summon there is guaranteed to be tempered. Whereas most that spawn naturally have a chance to be either tempered or not.
What & Where to Hunt – Great Spiritvein Gem Guide
Speaking of regions: I actually recommend Kirin and Namielle for another reason. Not only are they generally agreed to be pretty easy fights, but the coral region itself is exceptionally compact. It’s great for making sure your target is always in range of a wall to get Clutch Claw’d into. You also don’t have to worry about Effluvia, heat, or the cold. The desert and forest areas have a lot of open space and downtime between arenas by comparison, too.
Once you have your zone selected, it’s time to get to work. You can lure out monsters with bait — assuming you have any. Otherwise you may want to leave and do a normal mission to reset the current crop of monsters roaming your Guiding Lands. Normal missions will get you cash, which you’ll need to upgrade any armor you augment anyway. The load times for normal missions are also much quicker than entering and exiting the Guiding Lands. So it may ultimately be more efficient to just reset the roamers that way.
Alternatively, you can search other players’ Guiding Lands for Level 7 regions. Odds are they’re also looking for tempered elder dragons whenever possible. Even if they’re not after Great Spiritvein Gems, that doesn’t hurt your odds of getting them when fighting the rare creatures. Give it a try and good luck!
