The Monster Hunter series has amassed great popularity over the years, bringing in franchise newcomers with every new title. Monster Hunter Rise was no exception, so today, we are doing a Hunter 101, so first-timers may get acquainted with the world, and seasoned hunters can get a refresher.
Below you will find everything you need to lead a successful hunt, such as the preparations you'll need to make, the types of quests you'll be taking on, and how to go about selecting and upgrading your gear.
Updated on January 17, 2022 by Ryan Bamsey: Along with a detailed video guide, we have added some more crucial tips to help you in your first hours of gameplay.
Monster Hunter's Tried & True Formula
Monster Hunter found a formula that worked right at the start, and they have stuck with it throughout the years. It's an easy formula to keep with straightforward steps and a customizable experience, along with a constant sense of accomplishment plus an incentive to keep on the grind.
- Select a specific monster to track down.
- Travel to one of the monster's larger known habitats.
- Track down the targeted monster.
- Take on the monster. (You can do this alone or form a small group of friends.)
- Use the drops from the slain monster to craft new and enhanced gear.
After upgrading your gear, select a new monster for a tougher challenge and set out on another hunt. You'll learn the ropes quickly enough as you are guided around the local village to get acquainted with its residents and what each of them can do for you. While getting the grand tour, you'll set out on your first monster hunt. This will introduce you to the flow of the game with plenty of tutorials, including how to go about crafting upgrades upon your return to the village.
Sub-Camps
As you get to know the various areas of the game better, you'll probably start to want ways to speed up your hunts, so you don't have to run the same old routes to find your monsters. A very useful feature is sub-camps, which are fast-travel destinations that you can use in the middle of a hunt to get from point A to point B very quickly.
Check out our guide to unlocking every sub-camp here.
A Belly Full of Dango
You never want to head out on an empty stomach. So be sure to stop off at the Canteen before each hunt to fill up on the various Dango recipes. The different types of Dango offer various boosts to enhance your skills in battle. The more hunts you complete, the more ingredients you'll come across to concoct new recipes.
You'll need a solid understanding of the monsters' different elemental types in order for Dango to be very effective. Still, once you know what you're aiming for, experiment with the ingredients for effects that will bolster you against each type of monster.
The Different Quest Types
The twins, Hinoa and Minoto, are the quest givers in Monster Hunter Rise. Both sisters have unique quest types they handle, and it is important to understand how the two quest types work off each other to progress.
Hinoa handles the solo tasks. You'll find her hanging out by the Steelworks. Minoto deals with the more trying feats and grand-scale quests with the option of taking them on as a group rather than being restricted to solo play. Here's the breakdown of each sister's quest type.
Hinoa's Quests
- Village Quests drive the story. These quests are leveled, and starting with level 1, you must complete a set number of quests in each level to move on to the next.
- Special License Tests become available after progressing to a certain point in the story. These are the missions you will need to complete to unlock higher quest ranks with Minoto.
- Optional Subquests are available from both twins. These are small tasks that are completable within any full-length quest from either sister. Up to five subquests can be queued up simultaneously, and each one offers rewards such as Armor Spheres and other crafting materials to enhance your gear.
Minoto's Quests
- Hub Quests are Minoto's department. These are more challenging endeavors than Hinoa's tasks, with monsters whose threat level scales with the number of players who've set out to take it on. Hub Quests are subsequently broken into three subcategories:
- Basic Low-Level Hub Quests will be the first quests you take on from Minoto. They still present more of a challenge than Hinoa's objectives, but they are a manageable solo feat if you wish.
- High-Rank quests are where the heat really spikes, and they progress in difficulty as you conquer more and more.
- Rampage quests are even more difficult, as you might imagine, and they come in two tiers — Low and High Rank.
Training Missions First
Training Missions are essentially hunting tutorials, broken up into different key aspects of the game. You'll pick these missions up from Hinoa, but you'll need to talk to Master Utsushi in the Gathering Hub for him to update Hinoa's quest board.
- Back To Basics is exactly what it sounds like. You'll get a run-through of Monster Hunter Rise's core mechanics.
- Learning To Ride is your Wyvern riding lesson. This skill is imperative for hacking down hunt times.
- The Basics of Capturing Monsters is rather self-explanatory as well. This tutorial will teach how to capture monsters rather than kill them, which can also reduce hunt times. Moreover, capturing monsters yields exclusive monster by-products that you can't harvest from slaying them. To make the top gear, you're going to need to master the art of capturing monsters for those exclusive materials.
- The Rampage Approaches is an introduction to Rampage mode. You're welcome to wing it when you unlock Rampage quests with Minoto, but this is a good way to find out what you're in for.
The Arsenal
Of course, when you're talking about going head to head with larger-than-life fantastical beasts, you'll need an elaborate weapon selection.
Selecting Your Weapon
Weapons in Monster Hunter Rise boast a wide variety of play styles, meaning you'll want to do your research as weapons aren't all about DPS and cool aesthetics. With each of the 14 available weapons having its own unique playstyle, you'd think it'd be somewhat easy to pick one that matches your style. However, the application of each weapon is not always abundantly apparent just upon inspection.
Luckily the game provides a Training Area where you can go to test out the available arsenal. Follow these steps to access the Training Area:
- Select 'Manage Equipment' from the item box.
- Select 'Change Equipment' to browse the categories.
- You can select one weapon from each category to bring to the Training Area.
If you want to learn more about each weapon before trying them out, follow this step-by-step instead.
- Select 'Options'
- Select 'Info'
- Select 'Hunter's Notes'
- Select 'Weapon Controls'
We won't go into a complete weapon rundown today, but here are a few good beginner choices for learning the ropes of each weapon class.
- Dual Blades are a button masher's dream. This knife pairing offers a unique battle mode, causing significant damage by using a larger stamina expenditure.
- The Hammer fits a more tactical charge-up attack style. The hammer functions by charging up strong attacks while allowing the player to maneuver for tactical positioning in the meantime.
- The Lance is powerful and, more importantly, straightforward to use. It's not the most agile weapon choice, but it's certainly versatile. The lance allows the wielder to block and counter-attack, and it lands forceful jabs.
- The Light Bowgun is a good introduction to ranged weapons. This agile weapon allows you to move more swiftly than other ranged weaponry and will teach you the fundamentals of this weapon class, such as positioning and specialized ammo types.
- The Long Sword builds on the damage it deals. Basic attacks fill a bar that fuels special attacks, which, with tactical executions, can bolster your attack power even further.
- The Sword and Shield offer the most well-rounded gameplay, enabling the wielder to pull of versatile attack and defense maneuvers. This weapon set also offers the added perk of being able to use items with your weapon drawn.
Forging New Weapons & Armor
As you raise your Hunter Rank by besting more and more gargantuan monsters, you'll unlock new tiers of gear. Head to the Steelworks to browse the available selection, where you'll be able to take stock of the crafting materials you're going to need for the desired gear as well.
The number of materials needed for weapons crafted from specific monsters will require you to hunt that particular monster multiple times. To learn more about acquiring specific materials, follow this navigation:
- Access the Options Menu using the '+' button.
- Select 'Info'
- Select 'Hunter's Notes'
- Select 'Large Monsters'
- Select the Monster you need materials from off of the Large Monsters list.
- Select 'Materials'
The materials page will show the materials dropped by the selected monster along with their drop rates according to the manner they are found.
Upgrading Gear
It's important to understand Monster Hunter Rise's rate of progression when looking at upgrading weapons. Hinoa's lower-level story missions wrap up fairly quickly, but that is only the tip of the iceberg. After credits roll on the main story, it's on to Minoto's High Rank quests.
Once you hit the High Ranks, the weapon and armor game is significantly enhanced, making any gear you crafted during the story look like rags. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. The overpowered gear in the High Ranks gives you the freedom to experiment with weapons and armor throughout the story without suffering ramifications from not building a collaborative set.
The Wishlist
On the third tab of your menu, you can find the Wishlist option. This feature allows you to add up to 48 pieces of equipment that you are currently aiming to create, whether it's through the forge or upgrading equipment you already own.
To add an item to your Wishlist, open the sub-menu when it is highlighted at the Smithy and then select the Add to Wishlist option.
The Wishlist serves two purposes:
- You can use it to check the recipes for any desired piece of equipment quickly and on the fly, as well as how expensive it would be to craft.
- When you pick up an item that is used in a recipe that you have on your Wishlist, you will be notified of it. This will help you remember not to sell them or use them elsewhere.
Endemic Life & Plants
As with many games, it pays to interact with the environment as you trek to each monster hunt. There are vibrant insects and creatures known as Endemic Life, which are highly sought out for the stat buffs they provide upon interaction.
Because of this game mechanic, it is optimal to plot a course to each monster hunt that incorporates as many Endemic Life spawn points as possible. This will become easy enough to map out as Endemic Life respawn in the same locations every time.
You'll also want to prioritize gathering crafting ingredients for the support items you'll need to craft. A general rule to abide by is to interact with all flora and fauna you come across in the game.
That wraps up the essential gameplay mechanics beginners need to know before setting out in Monster Hunter Rise. Have you gotten a handle on the game, but having issues with a particular monster or function in the game? We've been busy bees crafting up tons of other Rise guides, so be sure to check them out if you're stuck anywhere along the hunt.
