Looking for Monster Hunter Rise tips to help you on your hunts? I certainly hope so, because I’ve written quite a few during the hundred or so hours I’ve played game leading up to its release. It’s a dense one, so of course it comes with an equally dense list of tricks that make getting through the game just a little bit easier. Many of these are meant for total newcomers to the series. Monster Hunter Rise is just about the most welcoming game yet, after all! But I’ve written others very much with my fellow Monster Hunter World fans in mind. The new Nintendo Switch game makes a ton of changes — both entirely new to the series and in ways that hearken back to the era before the home console and PC game brought the Capcom franchise to the masses. So get ready for the long haul. This is Monster Hunter, after all.
Healing Works Differently
One of the most obvious changes in Monster Hunter Rise affects how you heal. Specifically, downing a Potion or Mega Potion is more effective than ever. This game splits the difference between past Monster Hunter titles and MHW by giving you an instant dose of hit points as soon as you start drinking. After which you continue to heal throughout the guzzling animation. You can even still move and sorta jog the whole time. The end result is a much more forgiving health system that turns Potions and Mega Potions into more of a “get out of jail free” card than before — similar to instant-use Max Potions, which are also still present.
Hold to Wall Run
Monster Hunter Rise introduces stamina-based wall-climbing in the style of Breath of the Wild. You just need to zip into a wall with the Wirebug. Your hunter will then quickly scale the surface. Though there’s actually a bit more fine control to it than that. Just zipping into the wall will cause you to run for a little bit — just before you leap off. It’s basically a more freeform version of running up coral walls in MHW. And it’s great for landing mounting attacks! To actually traverse a mountain, however, you need to hold the sprint button as you leap into the wall and begin your upward climb. This is more useful for getting around.
The Hunting Horn and Bow Saw Big Changes
Most of the weapons in Monster Hunter Rise play very similar to how they did in MHW. The biggest changes only occur when you manually select certain Switch Skills, which begin to unlock deeper into the game. The Hunting Horn, however, got an almost total overhaul. That makes at least a little sense. It’s been the least-used weapon in the series for a while — as players fear its complexity or write it off as a “support weapon.” It’s now much, much simpler to use and a tremendously aggressive weapon. The Bow, while not quite as different, actually moved in the opposite direction. It received a variety of support abilities to make it more versatile. If you’ve ever shied away from either weapon before, now might be the time to try them out!
Wirebugs Refill Stamina
Chaining together movement is easy with the Wirebug. Sprinting up cliffs understandably drains you stamina very quickly, but chaining the movement together with more Wirebug zipping gives your bar a chance to refill. This means there’s a certain cadence to climbing mountains in Monster Hunter Rise. You need to alternate the stamina refill time with the Wirebug cooldowns to make much progress. This even occurs when you press and hold the A button in midair. Your character will suspend themselves off the Wirebug for a few seconds while your stamina recharges.
Mounted Punishers Lock On
Wyvern Riding is a little bit fussy in Monster Hunter Rise. That seems to be intentional; it provides the sense of puppeteering each wild beast into action. However, it would be easy to waste the devastating Mounted Punisher each ride offers if you couldn’t count on the hits actually landing. Thankfully there’s a bit of lock-on! Activating the move close to the target monster will turn your mount to face them before they unleash the onslaught. So you don’t have to worry much about missing your final blow.
The Superman Dive
Most Monster Hunter games have a hidden evasive maneuver colloquially known as the Superman Dive. It’s easy to trigger, but can be tricky to discover… except by complete accident. Basically, any time your weapon is sheathed, you want to turn your hunter way from the monster and sprint. Then press dodge while continuing to hold the run button. If done correctly, your character will dive to the ground instead of performing a normal roll. This ability has a long recovery time — which is actually a good thing. You are completely invincible during the Superman Dive animation. This is fantastic for evading unblockable, tricky, or lengthy attacks from tougher monsters. Monster Hunter Rise even includes a skill jewel, simply called Dive, that lets the dodge last longer and trigger even while facing toward enemies.
Attacking Bubbles Breaks Them
Monster Hunter Rise players will no doubt want to bring Palamutes into battle. They are new, after all! But the Palicoes shouldn’t be discounted. These fighting felynes offer useful support skills: namely healing. One of their healing abilities brings out green bubbles, called Vigorwasps, you can approach and interact with for a quick burst of hit points. That’s not always efficient in the heat of battle, however. Sometimes you have your weapon drawn and need health immediately. Thankfully, any attack will burst these bubbles just as quickly as interacting with them, allowing you to heal even as you damage a monster (if you line things up right). This also works with the healing plant and even as a way to burst damaging Mizutsune bubbles before they hit.
Mining is More Lucrative Than Ever
MHW eliminated the need to craft and carry pickaxes when mining materials. Now Monster Hunter Rise makes the process even faster. You no longer need to swing your pickaxe three times to collect ore. You will, however, still receive three chunks for a single strike. That makes mining a more efficient gathering method — and a better source of money to boot. Nearly all gear in the game only requires a nominal number of mining materials to craft, if it requires it at all. So you can sell surplus ore for quick cash. Speaking of which…
Sell Your Trade-In Items
Selling trade-in items is one of the very few ways Monster Hunter Rise feels like a step back in terms of quality-of-life. There is no more automatic “sell all” button, which previously let you exchange junk items only meant to zenny all at once. Luckily, they’re still easy to find and get rid of if you know where to look. Just select “Sell” at the market, choose your Item Box, and finally use the auto-sort feature (the minus button on a Nintendo Switch). This will sort all your items by type. Now all trade-in items will be nestled between your arena coins and buddy gear scraps (if you’ve never entered the arena, it will be between your Rampage Tickets and the scraps). Eventually you’ll learn to recognize trade-in items on sight — like the very common Steel Egg. They usually say things like “fetches a good price” in the item description. But this is an excellent way to be sure you’re not selling something that might be useful for crafting.
You Can Block and Dodge Roars
Monster roars are annoying. That’s why the Earplugs skill exists. It will reduce and even fully negate all monster roars (which normally stun you for up to several seconds) at high enough levels. That’s not your only option, though. The brief window of invincibility you get during a dodge roll, if timed properly, will also cancel out the roar stun. This lets you get back into the fight faster! You can even block most roars with shielded weapons (e.g. the Lance).
English Voice Acting is Annoying, but Useful
I don’t entirely hate the English voice acting in Monster Hunter Rise. It’s kinda fun in a corny sorta way. More than that, though, it’s often very useful. Most monsters in this series feature signature super-attacks. They can range from shooting a high-pressure water beam to… farting really loud. It depends on the threat level of beast. Over time, you will almost definitely begin to recognize the “tells” for each deadly maneuver. That’s part of the fun. Monster Hunter Rise just makes it a little easier to know when you’re in danger. Your hunter will now shout a quick, obvious warning — something like “Here it comes!” — depending on the voice you selected for your character. This indicates a powerful hit is on the way and that you should prepare. The Superman Dive is amazing for this.
Sprinting Sheathes the Weapon
The item button (Y on a Nintendo Switch controller) will manually sheathe most weapons. The Sword & Shield is of course the one exception, since it can use items while blocking. But what if you want to skip a step? What if you need to run or prepare a Superman Dive right now? Easy! Just hit the sprint button. The game will automatically sheathe your weapon if you try to run with it out. This saves a small but important step when you’re on the defensive.
Watch the Blue Numbers
In past Monster Hunter games, mounting damage required a bit of guesswork. You just had to know that jumping attacks brought beasts closer and closer to being mounted each time. Now that mounting is completely gone (and replaced with Wyvern Riding) there are many, many more ways to dish out the special damage that brings creatures closer to a ridable state. Thankfully, it’s easy to tell exactly when you’re doing the right kind of damage. Just look for the blue numbers! These are almost exclusively tied to jumping attacks and Silkbind moves (those special maneuvers that require a Wirebug charge to activate). But now you’ll know exactly when you’re landing the proper hits to trigger a Wyvern Ride — and how much damage each move does — at a glance.
Wirefall is Way More Useful Than it Sounds
The name “Wirefall” didn’t inspire a lot of confidence when I first played Monster Hunter Rise. The new ability is only available when you get knocked away by a monster. Because of this, I figured it was just a way to speed up the process of hitting the ground. Not so! The Wirefall completely resets your character in midair — in any direction you choose. That includes right back at the monster. You can land a midair mounting attack, immediately start healing, or launch into a wall to zip away to safety. The choices are pretty limitless.
There are, however, some things to note. Using the Wirefall will instantly sheathe your weapon. It also cancels out the usual “i-frames,” or brief window of invincibility that you receive when a monster swats you away. A common Monster Hunter tactic is to stay limp on the ground, waiting for the right moment to “wake up,” lest you get hit with a follow-up attack. Wirefalling takes that option away. An enraged Nargacuga, for example, will catch unwary players with a double tail swipe if they Wirefall directly into the beast after the first hit.
Take the High Roads
Max Potions and Ancient Potions are shadows of their former selves. While still useful for instant healing, raising your maximum stamina and hit points is now mostly achieved via Spiribirds. These green and yellow helpers (there are also red and orange ones for offense and defense) raise your stats past the usual maximum. Spiribirds are almost always found in high places — above the normal combat zones where you battle monsters. The best time to grab this is on your way to each monster at the start of a hunt. In some ways, this is actually a good incentive to bring a Palico instead of the Palamute during multiplayer hunts, since dog-riding is a little clunky when you need to do a lot of climbing anyway.
Wyvern Riding Makes You Invincible (Even During the Animation)
Mounting has been replaced with Wyvern Riding Monster Hunter Rise. The new process takes a few seconds to trigger, as your hunter puppeteers and climbs aboard the unlucky animal. You don’t need to be wary, though. The animation leaves you completely invincible to enemy attacks. With some skill (and a lot of luck) you can even use this to dodge normally very tricky assaults. It might also buy your teammates time to heal you with the Wide-Range Skill. Assuming they actually brought the support ability, of course. Finally, once you’re aboard, you’re also free to go hog wild. Your monster mount may take damage — and even topple you off if you’re not careful — but your hunter is completely immune to any hits throughout.
Sprint While Calling Your Dog for Max Efficiency
This is an incredibly small detail, but it does shave a few seconds off every hunt. You can summon your Palamute for a ride in one of two ways — both of which can be performed while you’re already moving. The mounting animation will trigger automatically even while you sprint towards your destination! The first method is to simply hold down the A button. This will summon your canyne companion, but for some reason feels a little less consistent than using the “let me ride” command from your radial menu. This latter option seems to “stick” unless you stop to do something else (like carve a monster or gather from an ore deposit).
There’s a Mario Kart Drift Boost
Speaking of small, dog-related details: you can drift. Just press ZL by default while sprinting and turning on your Palamute. This is useful for getting around tight corners, of course, but it comes with a hidden boost that Mario Kart fans might find familiar. You literally get a speed boost after drifting — just like in Nintendo’s popular racing series. It’s a silly feature, but a useful one when you’re chasing down wounded foes!
Dogs Can Look (and Climb) Up
Palamutes are a great way to get around the world. They’re faster than your average hunter and allow you to sharpen, eat, or heal while you ride. One thing they can’t do is run up walls. That’s a purely human talent it seems. Except of course if there are vines to climb. Parkour makes these leafy greens less important than in previous Monster Hunter games. Though they do still keep you from draining stamina while making your way up mountains. Now they also come with the added bonus of being the only spots dogs can climb up with their companions.
Check Behind the Buddy Plaza
There’s a great, big tree visible at the back of your Buddy Plaza just as you enter. It just looks like decoration at first. But circle behind the tree and you’ll find a wall of vines leading up into the canopy. There’s a Cohoot nest up here. And inside that nest you’ll find a whole lot of useful items that refill after every mission. Of particular note are trade-in items worth good money at the market. In fact, the quality of the items seems to improve the longer you go without collecting them. Make sure you don’t forget to check back every once in a while, though!
The SOS Flare is Still There
Multiplayer is a lot smoother in Monster Hunter Rise. It’s still not perfect, though. You can create or join a four-player lobby via the felyne mail carrier in the center of Kamura. This will allow players to squad up and hang out with you. The other option is to pick “Accept Via Join Request” when starting a mission from the Gathering Hub. This will let just about anyone matchmake into your hunt — if they choose “Respond to Join Request” from the Quest Board. If you forget to do this at the start of a mission, however, don’t sweat it! You can still open up your hunt to fellow players mid-mission. When you’re in a lobby and start a Gathering Hub hunt, just pick “Join Request” from the start menu. This functions almost exactly like the SOS Flare from MHW. It just has an ever-so-slightly clearer name when you know to look for it.
It’s Easy to See When Monsters Are Ready for Capture
For quite some time, I thought the only ways to know a monster was ready for capture in Monster Hunter Rise were keeping an eye out for limping and/or Palico dialogue. That’s not the case! The game actually indicates several monster statuses (like when they’re ready for capture) at the top-right of the screen by default. The small, dark rectangles under their icons are the key. These start out blank, but will produce a blue skull icon when a beast is ready for traps and tranqs. You can also check this section for other statuses — like when a monster is being baited by a Stinkmink.
You Can Pause Now
This one is as simple as it sounds! Hitting the home button on your Nintendo Switch will act as a one-button pause function. However, you can also manually stop the game by selecting “Pause” from the start menu. Just know that this won’t work in multiplayer. Jumping out to the Switch home menu might even disconnect you from your fellow players mid-hunt!
Orange Kinsect Extract is Special
MHW added a special, ill-explained feature to the Insect Glaive that remains present in Monster Hunter Rise. Namely, the orange extract that you harvest from monsters with the weapon does more than raise your defense. That’s what it says it does, of course, but there are a couple extra features. Previously, powering your hunter with orange juice granted Level 3 in the Windproof, Earplugs, and Tremor Resistance skills if you also had one level of Flinch Free. That still seems to be the case. Though it’s not yet 100 percent clear how potent the effect is in Monster Hunter Rise. In my experience, though, the “free” Earplugs skill at the very least seems quite strong.
Great Wirebugs Are Permanent
Throughout Monster Hunter Rise, you’ll receive side quests from Senior Hunter Hanenaga. These are usually pretty simple: like taking a single picture of any Rock Lizard. But the rewards are slightly opaque. Each of his quests award you with some number of Great Wirebugs. It almost makes them sound like consumable items to traverse the world, but no! These are permanent upgrades you can place within any locale. Just find a set of Jewel Lilies — marked on your map as little, white arrows — and deploy them there. The icons will turn yellow and red to indicate that they now house Great Wirebugs, which allow you to zip in whichever direction the arrow points. This effect persists forever! So even though you have a limited number of Great Wirebugs, you never run out of uses. You simply need to pick and choose which Jewel Lilies you upgrade until every last one is done.
Use “Move Around Village” to Find Side Quests
Back at Kamura Village — down in the bottom-right of your radial menu or midway through the “System” options — there is a feature simply called “Move Around Village.” This opens up a fast travel menu to flit around headquarters with incredible ease (and lightning fast load times). It also shows exactly the locations of NPCs with side quests for you. Just look for the small, colored dialogue icons at each location. Note that the “Village Entrance” covers a lot of ground. Certain NPCs with requests, like the aforementioned Hanenaga, won’t be visible unless you get close to them. Umbrella Merchant Hinami can also be tricky to find. She’s on the bridge at the very, very front of the village gates.
Sharpness Has a Sound Effect
While you’re out carving up monsters, you might notice a loud shattering sound in the middle of combat. The game doesn’t really explain this front and center, but it’s actually a very useful audio cue. It’s a warning that you’ve lost one level of sharpness on your melee weapon (i.e. anything but Bows and Bowguns).
Sharpness is a unique, longtime Monster Hunter mechanic. Though it’s not super clearly explained. It’s mostly used to determine which attacks bounce off which parts of a monster. The higher your sharpness, the less chance that you will be deflected by hard, armored sections (like a Barroth head). Bouncing interrupts your combos, reduces your sharpness further, and reduces the damage you do. Some attacks can’t be deflected, or their weapons come with buffs that make them hit regardless. But the damage is still reduced. In fact, the higher your sharpness the more damage you do period, even if you aren’t actually bouncing off monster hide.
Now this loud, sharp shattering sound tells you a weapon has lost one level of sharpness in the thick of combat. It’s a good reminder to back off and sharpen up. Some skills (e.g. Grinder) make this a lot easier.
You Don’t Need to Sheathe to Sharpen
Here’s another sharpening detail that was actually true in MHW as well. Selecting the sharpen feature will begin the process no matter what you’re doing. You can save significant time during a fight by sharpening while your weapon is still drawn. It even works regardless of which mode you’re using with a Charge Blade or Switch Axe!
There’s a Jump Button
I’m not talking about the Insect Glaive. I don’t mean the fact that Palamutes can jump to provide some initial height before a wall run, either. I mean there’s literally a way to jump now. Normally! Though it’s very situational and mostly just used to initiate a wall run anyway. All you need to do is press ZR while holding ZL — as if you were trying to aim and fire a Wirebug — when you don’t have any Wirebug charges. This will cause your hunter to perform a little hop. It’s not much, but you can use it to initiate a wall run or wall climb. Even without any Wirebugs in stock! This is particularly useful during the Rampage. You’ll be zipping between installations a lot during this mode. If at any point you need to get back up to a ballista or cannon, but don’t have a Wirebug ready, you can use this to start climbing right away.
Check Rondine’s Rare Finds
It’s easier than ever to stockpile useful harvest items in Monster Hunter Rise. Rondine the trader will let you sent out buddies to collect seeds, honey, bugs, and even fish this time. Though a few exceptionally rare crafting materials, like Kelbi Horns, are still a pain to collect on your own. That’s why the Rare Finds feature is so useful. This option is tucked away at the bottom of Rondine’s services in the Buddy Plaza. But it’s worth checking every single time you return from a hunt. Rare Finds are limited purchases that refresh and swap out whenever you return to Kamura. Some of them are pretty meh (e.g. different traps). Others, like the aforementioned horn, are incredibly tedious to get anywhere else. Always check with Rondine!
Charms and Talons
Between your armor, weapon, jewels, Petalace, and Talisman there’s an absolute mountain of gear to manage in Monster Hunter Rise. In fact, there are actually two more types of gear that the game never really tells you about: charms and talons. These items don’t actually appear anywhere on your equipment screen, however. They go directly into your item pouch instead.
The Armorcharm and Powercharm can both be purchased at the market for a decent chunk of zenny partway into the game. These provide passive bonuses to defense and attack damage, respectively. They also stack with their more powerful versions: the Armortalon and Powertalon. These must be crafted by the player. You’ll need to combine each charm with claws from the first Elder Dragon you face in the Gathering Hub. After which, you can buy another Armorcharm and Powercharm and bring all four items together with you on hunts for the maximum possible benefit.
Tents Top You Off
It’s not hard to heal or sharpen your weapon. However, doing so can eat into your time and resources. Thankfully there’s a way to do both without wasting anything. You can simply sit inside your tent! Any camp will do. Just hop inside for a split second. It’s particularly useful after fainting. You can skip the tedious sharpening animation while restocking your items that way. The same goes for when you need to return for traps, ammo, and the like.
You Don’t Lose Food Buffs on Death
This one was a real nuisance in MHW. In the previous game, you could eat meals for pre-hunt bonuses even at your tent. It made forgetting to chow down back at base quite a lot less punishing than in past games. However, the meals’ effects would dissipate any time you carted (i.e. died to a monster attack). To make matters worse, there was an invisible timer that kept you from eating two meals back to back. Your options were to sit and wait until you could eat again or fight the monster weaker than when you lost the first time.
That whole process has been completely removed. Now, if you eat before a hunt, monsters don’t seemingly pump your stomach while you’re sleeping. You can still eat from any base camp, but it’s only there for when you forget to prepare in the first place. The buffs are permanent until the end of the hunt!
You Can Change Decorations in the Field
Speaking of things you can or cannot do in the field… Decorations! MHW strangely made this the one and only thing you couldn’t change about your build mid-battle. Even then, you could technically alter your decorations (the jewels which provide levels of different skills for your armor). You just needed to set a loadout with different abilities ahead of time and select the premade outfit once you were out and about. Now the game skips that particular middleman. You are free to change your gear however and whenever you like! So long as you’re not actually in the middle of combat, of course. You still need to return to a tent to switch out items and equipment.
Do Village Quests First
Monster Hunter Rise does actually tell you about this nifty new feature. Eventually… If you play missions in the proper order. But save yourself some time and just do the Village Quests first. These are single-player exclusive missions with their own, unique set of objectives. They’re tuned specifically for one player, too, so they’re a good deal easier than Hub Quests. This is a callback to the days before MHW, before all quests were condensed into a single narrative. The nice thing is that, since Village Quests are technically Low Rank difficulty, they’ll let you skip the low-end Hub Quests altogether. That way you don’t need to churn through a bunch of weaker monsters you already proved you could beat. Just keep playing through until the game eventually tells you about special tests that skip the other set of Low Rank missions.
Rampage Tickets Are Great for Melding
Rampage Tickets are technically meant for the new “Ramp-Up” feature. This lets you improve your weapons past their normal limits, similar to augmentations in MHW. Only not nearly as good. Most Monster Hunter Rise weapons only allow for one Ramp-Up — with mixed results depending on the weapon you choose. As such you wind up with many, many more tickets than you actually need. This leaves Rampage Tickets mostly good for one thing: melding. Unlike in MHW, melding no longer allows you to create specific monster parts and jewels. Instead it’s back to the old system of creating random talismans that come with various bonuses. You need scores and scores of melding materials as a result, in order to roll that perfect talisman that complements your build. Rampage Tickets are the solution. The high-end ones award a ton of progress toward melding.
