The Insect Glaive is an interesting weapon in Monster Hunter: World. With its superior aerial combats abilities, the weapon type is great for hunters that want to fly through the air. However, the Insect Glaive has another unique aspect to it: the Kinsect.
Our Monster Hunter: World Kinsect guide will help you understand how to use the Kinsect effectively and how to properly upgrade your weapon add-on. And for our full Insect Glaive guide, please check out the link directly below!
- Monster Hunter: World Insect Glaive Guide – Tips, Strategies, Combos
- Monster Hunter: World Guide – What Does Affinity Do?
- How Does the Elder Melder Work – Monster Hunter: World Guide
How the Kinsect Works in Monster Hunter: World
The Kinsect is mainly used to offer an Insect Glaive user multiple buffs while fighting enemies. It’s important to take advantage of the Kinsect buffs, too. Without them, you don’t do nearly as much damage or be quite as effective while sailing through the air with your glaive.
To use the Kinsect, you need to hold the L2 or the left trigger (or whatever button you have set that would aim your slinger) with your glaive at the ready. You then need to aim at the proper monster body part to get the buff you want and press Triangle or Y.
Once the Kinsect hits the part you want, you need to recall it by holding the left trigger and then hitting either Circle or B (depending on the controller). You’ll then receive the buff. Buffs last for about 60 seconds and you can have all three buffs active at once. In fact, gathering the red, white, and orange buffs all at the same time will enhance their effects further and extend the new super-buff duration.
Kinsect Buffs
There are three buff types and an additional extract you can have your Kinsect grab.
- Red: Attack Up – Aim for the monster’s head. However, sometimes you need to hit the tail instead.
- Orange: Defense Up – Aim for the body.
- White: Speed Up – Aim for whatever limbs the monster may have. Legs, arms, and wings all count for this buff.
- Green: Small Heal – Not technically a buff, but aiming for most monsters’ tails gets you a bit of healing.
Generally, you want to get the red, orange, and white buffs quickly. Getting all three will buff your attacks and combos a bit more than usual. It’s also important to note that when you get the Attack Up buff, you’ll get extra attack animations (and by extension a higher combo). So make sure you’re prepared for that when vaulting up in the air.
Additionally, Kinsects can leave behind clouds of glittering “dust” when they attack a monster. Different Kinsects carry different dusts and different dusts having different effects. Hitting the dust with your weapon will release those special effects — such as status ailments, clouds of healing, or extra damage — on the monster.
To get the most out of dust, set your Kinsect to attack the monster automatically. Just aim your glaive’s reticle at the beast and release the trigger without firing the Kinsect itself. This will fire a blob of pheromones that tells the Kinsect to attack whatever spot you hit. Then they will continue to attack even as you damage the monster directly — until you put the Insect Glaive away, recall the Kinsect, or the Kinsect runs out of stamina.
Juggling Kinsect use with your aerial combos is the key to becoming a master Insect Glaive user. However, your Kinsect won’t be help much if you don’t upgrade it.
Upgrade Your Kinsect
Like weapons, Kinsects have upgrade trees you can work along in order to level them up. Unlike weapons, Kinsects have three main attributes: Power, Speed, and Healing. Additionally, you can imbue elements into your Kinsects to give the little bug an advantage against monsters. It’s a good idea to keep a variety of Kinsects around so you can be ready for any situation. You can always attach any Kinsect you own to any Insect Glaive!
Kinsects generally take less overall materials to upgrade than most weapons (similar to Palico armor). This should make it easy to keep your Kinsects up to par as you move through the game. The flip side of this is that you’ll likely need a whole army of Kinsects in order to be truly ready for every scenario.
There are three main aspects to keep in mind when choosing your Kinsect:
- Damage Type – Kinsects, like weapons, can either do blunt damage (which stuns monsters) or cutting damage (which severs body parts). Picking the type that’s more effective against the monster your fighting helps your Kinsect be more effective.
- Dust Effect – Basically, this is what your Kinsect’s dust does when you hit a monster with it. Having a dust effect that a monster is particularly weak to is a huge help. Of course, you can always use healing dust, too.
- Element – You can eventually add elements to your Kinsects. Elements can be easily changed around on Kinsects, so you can adjust this aspect as needed for battles.
The best Kinsect to use depends greatly on the monster you’re fighting, so make sure to create as many different Kinsects as possible to be ready for anything. For now, though, thanks for taking the time to read our Monster Hunter: World Kinsect guide! Good luck out there, hunters.
