Monster Hunter Rise

So you're committing yourself to not peeing for a significant amount of time.

At my age, that's not an option.

Surely it's fine, the Switch is portable.

Can't disagree they've taken some of the 'feel' out with all the streamlining they've done (bring back hot/cold potions again, it made those zones feel naturally anti-human and hostile!), but as for content they did just casually drop some Elder Dragons for us last night at least, it'll get there I think.

I fought one of them last night with a Friend, Chameleos, the big lizard who goes invisible then scares the shit out of you after repositioning.

Apparently they stealth dropped

Spoiler - click to showBazelgeuse

in the patch without announcing it in advance. I'm going to have to give that a go at least, just to see if he's still as much of an arsehole as he was before.

Spoiler - click to showThey did, sadly the Elder tells you almost immediately and without much fanfare which is a shame as I'd love to have been shocked by him interfering in a hunt in that same lovably irritating way he's known for in World. And he's as super fun to fight as ever, his entire body feels like a weakspot due to his exploding scales. It's like beating on someone who's been sunburned all over with a baseball bat.

Yeah, I love him. (I'm still talking exclusively about World/Iceborne, of course.) He was actually a good barometer for me, as if I could fight him (alongside whatever I was actually trying to fight) with a weapon it felt like that meant I knew I could use that weapon reasonably well. As such, he's actually why I gave up on the Longsword when I did, as I could do well with that in theory, but as soon as there were multiple monsters in play I felt like it all went to pieces a bit.

With that said, despite a couple of false starts, and at one point describing it to my nephew as 'feeling like a T-Rex but trying to punch things to death' (because of the range), it turns out that I really like the Hammer now. Like, really like.

Practicing Hammer on Acidic Glavenus really sold me on Hammer, no counter guards, just roll evading and chinning him with the Lv2 uppercut swing.

Yeah, I'd intermittently tried it because it appealed to me (and so many people seem to love it), but it hadn't clicked yet. Then I thought maybe it had, so I just decided to go for it. I think my fifteenth ever quest with it was the one to unlock MR 70, which was fighting a tempered Glavenus and tempered Brachydios, as I figured that if I could take them out with it (what with them being taller, and harder to go for the head on) I was probably good to go…

Happily, it turned out that I was, and now it is my favourite.

I like it whenever a Monster only seems to give you short windows to do damage or something, and the Hammer with it's ready to unleash charge is perfect for hit and run, until you get a dizzy (which is a nice quality to have) then you turn its head into pulp.

I’ve played Hammer for several games in a row, switched to Hunting Horn this time and loved it just as much. I always used to appreciate it when a HH player showed up and gave the team lots of lovely buffs, and now I am that guy. Toot toot motherfuckers.

OK, a quick look at the game post-patch and it definitely feels like a solid improvement. There's actually the beginnings of an endgame there now - even though it's just a requirement to raise your HR to a particular level to unlock something new, it's a long-term goal that didn't exist previously. Fighting different monsters and experimenting with weapons and armour all feels like it's contributing towards that long-term goal and the game's now about more than just ticking monsters off a list. It's a small change but a very significant one.

One of the returning fights is basically such a significant improvement over the version in World I can safely say they brought my all time favourite monster back after World made it absolute bullshit to fight. I haven't fought the last one but so far every patch monster is amazing. They also added more decos to craft, something that was already amazing but now we can craft stuff like Crit Boost and Handicraft! And we're getting the story update sometime later, I honestly think the game is shaping up just fine.

Also, anyone getting Monster Hunter Riders 2 or whatever it's called.

Approaching 100 hunts with it, but the Hammer has started to feel a bit… lacking? Especially in MP hunts, where you're not doing much stunning. I love the playstyle, and the Switch skills, but I think I'm drifting away, even with Water Strike finally unlocked…

Great Sword is also hard to get back in the swing with. I'm finding that it lacks the coherent flow of the Hammer, and on some monsters (what with Rise generally being much faster anyway), especially on MP hunts (with the more unpredictable monster movement), I'm just chasing around half the time hoping I don't whiff my attacks. I've had some good hunts with it, and I like Rage Slash, but I don't think it's for me this time around.

Based on that, Switch Axe seems to be my new best bet, based on the first few hunts I've had. I've never quite got into previously, despite enjoying it in both MH4U and MHW (and stuff in the vicinity having a propensity to die quickly whenever I do use it), as there was always something I preferred. Playing it last night it feels like the balance between Axe and Sword is better in Rise though, and the second Switch skill (Wyvern something?) is brilliant.

It plays aggressive, flashy and unsubtle, with bonus explosions, so in theory it suits me down to the ground. Hopefully this time it'll stick.

It's only a matter of time til' you get back to Longsword, in the end everyone does. Once you get the hang of Iai Spirit Slash its hard to not pocket the weapon for emergencies. ;_;

I killed Valstrax a few days ago and he made me actually go back to Lance!!!! Also I enjoyed the Apex hunts leading up to him a lot, even Rathalos who I'm sure you all know I absolutely despise.

Got a Switch Lite and Rise for my birthday on Friday, only sunk a couple of hours in but already like that it has that old-skool clunkiness to it.

Of course I've gone straight back to my Switch Axe

I’ve decided to finally do some Rampage battle, other than the mandatory ones, and realised how powerful the rampage weapons are - so have now maxed out my dual blades and long sword - bow need to do the switch axe and hammer.

It's only a matter of time til' you get back to Longsword, in the end everyone does. Once you get the hang of Iai Spirit Slash its hard to not pocket the weapon for emergencies. ;_;

I went back to the Hammer :p

I do really like Switch Axe though, I will try and give it more time again at some point. I just don’t like the sidestep sometimes, and a few of the moves have a bit too much commitment. With the Hammer I just know the ways in and out, what to do when a monster is moving, still, or even airborne, and how best to take advantage of openings or downed monsters. It’s the one that makes total sense to me.

That said, I had to do an Arena quest with no Hammer option, against Rajang no less. Decided to try the Dual Blades, despite not knowing a thing about them, and it actually went pretty well. Went into training quickly, just to work out what the silkbind moves were, had another go, and got an A grade. Easiest Rajang hunts I’ve ever done. Kept to the theory that you just keep attacking, with Demon or Arch Demon up, and using A attacks to reposition and X attacks if you’re staying still. Very fluid, very nice.

Now, if only the two irl people I hunt with weren’t already also using them, I might give them a proper try…!

Still playing this (and World/IB) intermittently, often just because I get the itch to play some MH, so I'll just go in and do Random HR Quests, so I can be helpful while getting a bit of variety (as it can be anything that someone has sent out a Join Request on). I've already done just about everything there is to do, really, up to and including a quest where you fight three Apex monsters in an Arena-type setting, I just still enjoy it.

I did finally properly move away (at least somewhat) from the Hammer too, having continued to find it a bit lacking, at least in Hub quests. I'm still belligerently ignoring Al's prophecy though, and haven't touched the LS again yet, instead going back to the weapon I used most in World/Iceborne, and the Great Sword.

I'd struggled to get into the flow with it before, but as soon as you realise which moves have "armour" on them, and how to string them (and your other good moves for openings) together effectively it's an absolute beast and, as with the GS in World, is about the only weapon where it doesn't really feel like it has any bad matchups, provided you've "learned" the monsters.

I think I've mentioned before that I'd felt like Bazelgeuse was a good litmus test for how good I was with a weapon in World, and in this one I think it's been replaced by Rajang. A couple of weeks ago, after a little more practice with the GS, I went into Arena Quest 6 (which is where I found out I could use the Dual Blades a bit) and, after a couple of false starts (mainly to do with poorly chosen risks, and mistimed Rage Slashes), promptly knocked a couple of minutes off the best time I'd set with the DBs.

This morning, after nearly a couple of hundred hunts with the GS, I went back in to try and check my progress, and managed to get under four minutes, which is comfortably inside the S Rank time for the quest, and was very satisfying.

I'd like Rise ultimate now, please.

I've today gotten up to the first Rampage Urgent Quest and holy crap did I suck! 😂

I'm all for defying prophecy if it leads to using my favourite weapon in the game! It helps that Rajang is a very good matchup for GS as after most of his attacks you get a charge in and he's not a complete cunt like in Iceborne (Remember how he would rebound off walls if toppled near one and lose your window of damage? Or how you couldn't normally Clutch Claw him without getting King Kong'd? >_<). If I was actually any good at the game I would probably be able to use True Charge Slash on him but in all honesty I find Rage Slash way more fun regardless.

I know you said you moved away from Hammer but between that, Greatsword and the dabble in Dual Blades you mentioned I think you'll find that versatility serves you very well in future! As for the S Rank, nothing is more Monster Hunter than learning everything about a monster to learn to fight it, other than drinking its pee.

I think I missed the Okami quest for this but I think I can still make the Akuma one in time, that said, I'd prefer getting Okami because it's freaking Okami. (But there is a Shoryuken attack with SnS…). Obviously not played in ages, but I still really like this game.

Rise is apparently free for a week for NSO members, starting tomorrow. Just incase anyone hasn't taken the plunge yet.

This game is super hard.

I've just spent 20 minutes deciding what fur colour my cat should have.

Palamutes for life.

I spent all of World with the Longsword, but now that I’ve finally tried a few different weapons, it turns out I’m a Light Bowgun guy.

That flip over their head, plant a mine, shoot the mine is super satisfying.

Longsword is busted op in this, but you need the timing for it. LBG isn't too shabby either, for best results later on you may be making multiple sets though.

Enjoying the Wirebugs, Mr Party Hat?

Finished* this in 3 days. Do I get my Alastor badge now?

I absolutely loved every second of it. It's a much better introduction to these games than World (which itself was supposedly newcomer friendly; I'd hate to play the old ones). No friction, no confusing gathering (I still don't understand what the footprints and bugs were all about in World), just gorgeous, chunky, satisfying Monster twonking. I even tried a few different weapons this time around (Longsword, Light Bowgun, Hammer), and they were all equally great.

And it looks bloody gorgeous on handheld. A few devs have worked wonders with this underpowered little thing.

*Beat Magnamalo. I appreciate the village was basically a tutorial for the hub stuff. Is there enough content now to warrant me paying 33 quid for the full game, if I've finished the village stuff for free?

*Beat Magnamalo. I appreciate the village was basically a tutorial for the hub stuff. Is there enough content now to warrant me paying 33 quid for the full game, if I've finished the village stuff for free?

Haha, god yes, the Village stuff is a tiny fraction of what's in the game. You only get Low Rank quests in the Village for a start so the majority of the Gathering Hub quests will have new monsters, old monsters with new tricks, new weapons and armour to forge and a significantly increased difficulty level.

If you've finished Village you'll be able to skip the first few ranks of Hub so you can basically pick up where you left off without having to trudge through the easy ranks again.

You can play all the Hub stuff solo, or jump into any fight with randoms for fun four-player Monster Twatting.

You have basically only completed the tutorial. The bulk of the game is still to come.

(And I'm going to have to go back to this I think, especially with the expansion round the corner. I "completed" the village and the Hub on release, but they added a load of endgame stuff later, and there was of course a ton of stuff I never got to do).

(And I'm going to have to go back to this I think, especially with the expansion round the corner)

20 minute showcase about Sunbreak today (15/03) at 14:00 GMT.

Is there enough content now to warrant me paying 33 quid for the full game, if I've finished the village stuff for free?

Looks like it's up on Amazon UK for only £28 and change, for the physical version.

Yes, the '''''story''''' continues well after Magnamalo into a story about some new Elder Dragons, as well as a few new hunts besides. Also some hunts are HR gated, like Valstrax the dragon that blasts off into the sky mid fight and breaks the sound barrier. Like Gar says it definitely kicks things up a bit, especially at the start when you are still wearing lower rank armour, so don't worry if you get clapped at first.

I refuse to believe there are people out there who enjoy fighting R***alos.

Yeah I've had my arse handed to me once already post credits, trying to take down the Anga-t-rex with a hammer. He really doesn't like you getting close. I managed to get through the village questline without fainting, thought I was good at the game. Quite the false sense of security!

I'm sort of tempted to craft the foreskin armour from the weird penis-neck monster. Just because of how hideous it is.

When you get armor from that same rank you should be able to take more of a beating and also dish out more in turn.

I'm sort of tempted to craft the foreskin armour from the weird penis-neck monster. Just because of how hideous it is.

Khezu is a thing of nightmares.

I'm sort of tempted to craft the foreskin armour from the weird penis-neck monster. Just because of how hideous it is.

I knew my sex tape would get me famous eventually.

Right! So, I'm back on this, in preparation for Sunbreak. (I'm having a bit of a Switch revival at the moment, that's probably worthy of a thread in its own right).

I haven't played since the original endgame (HR7, Narwa) so I'm a bit rusty. I've gone back to my trusty hammer because after several Monster Hunter games it's the only one I've actually still got some muscle memory for. I played Hunting Horn in Rise originally but that's an extra layer of things to get used to so it's back to bonking things on the head for a while I think, until I find my feet again.

Am I right in thinking my goal is basically now to start grinding my HR level up to 100, which will unlock the remaining key quests along the way? It's giving me an objective to get to HR 20 which I'm guessing is my first milestone.

I've unlocked an unbelievable amount of Event Quests from the cat in the main village square so I have no shortage of stuff to do, not counting all the village and hub quests I didn't do first time around. My impression of Rise was always that it was a little limited in terms of content but it certainly doesn't feel that way any more.

The weapons and armour upgrade tree seems confusing as shit. It will show me what I can craft but I can't see how to tell what I already own. I remember this being a bit tricky first time around too. Monster Hunter World was far clearer. Anyone got any tips?

I can't guarantee the new Sunbreak content won't be HR locked when it drops but yes, the last milestone iirc is HR100 to get the last new hunt available.

As for crafting, anything in the 'Weapon Tree' that has a chest icon it you already have, if the next weapon on the tree branch is grey it means you either lack materials or funds, you can go as far down the tree as you want if you have both and you can even rollback to some steps. There are also forks in the tree so can for example, make two Longsword upgrades in the 'Ore;' tree then it branches into either the 'Kulu' or the 'Lightning' tree.

If you press Y on any weapon and add it towishlist it will let you add it to an automatic list that informs you when you have all the things you need so you don't have to mentally keep track.

Also, the event quests has a thing called the 'Defender' set which is apparently their catch-up gearfor anyone who wants to speed through Rise to get to Sunbreak, I know you say you beat the story but it may be stronger than your current set for now, might help you get better 7-8 star ones.

I will find out what the requirements are to access Sunbreak, but you're probably better off finishing the game first.

The requirement for Sunbreak is apparently exactly where I am right now - beating the main story at HR 7 without any of the subsequent patch updates. That doesn't mean of course that I can't significantly improve my gear over the next couple of weeks, I'm pretty much at the bare minimum for access.

Although I don't have 8-star quests unlocked, that's curious. There's clearly something further I need to do there.

The Defender set looks to be a shortcut to get people to High Rank, it's definitely significantly worse than my current set. I did OK first time around. The biggest problem is working out where to go next - although I'm sure there are more tiers in the gear trees than there used to be, so I'm just going to keep plugging away.

If Iceborne is anything to go by you will be wearing paper armour for a few quests in Master Rank no matter what, so I dunno' if I'd sweat it too much. As for where to go next, I would say you can go for increasing rank by doing all the ones you haven't done or grind the Rampage quests, especially the Apex ones and absolutely maybe not Solo or you will hate the game and your life.

Apparently it does now, but it didn't retroactively boost your HR for quests you did before they uncapped it, and in a game that had problems with endgame content making people have to crawl to up to HR100 for the full monster roster was really painful, even before that it just felt 'why do I need to do this to do the thing I actually want' probably the main issue with Rise as a whole.

EDIT - also, if you want, and you're not HR gated you can always laser focus to hunts that are catered to Hammer sets, you will be doing them repeatedly anyway to get all the talismans and decos and materials. That's what I would do because I hate not having specific sets, you can definitely feel it when you play the Sunbreak demo and the Longsword preset doesn't have quick sheathe.

Really enjoying being back on this - in fact in many ways it seems better than I remember it. There's a lot that's been added to the game but I also think I just under-rated it a bit before. I'd always had in my mind that this was one of the lesser MH games but there seems to be a huge amount of stuff to do there now. It also helps that I've been playing Three Houses lately so I'm used to the Switch at the moment, the lower frame rate isn't really bothering me all that much and actually I think it's a really nice-looking game. Fighting a Rajang in the caverns on the lava level with all the reflections on the water surface looked genuinely impressive.

One odd thing though, I've played a couple of multiplayer hunts and literally everyone apart from me was using ranged weapons (bow/LBG). Is this a thing now?

One odd thing though, I've played a couple of multiplayer hunts and literally everyone apart from me was using ranged weapons (bow/LBG). Is this a thing now?

I think it's generally accepted that in base Rise the strongest weapons (if you're fully specced and know what you're doing) are probably Long Sword, LBG and Bow, so that's not entirely surprising, even if it's not been my experience, even lately, as I continue to jump in just to get a couple of hunts in, because apparently I'm obsessed.

FYI, still no sign of this on the staff shop. As it's DLC, I think it won't appear until the 30th.

I got VERY cross with a Chamaleos earlier. Bastard thing.

I think the mistake I made originally with this was to play too much of it in multiplayer. I mean it’s loads of fun but I also think I was being carried by other players more than I realised. Going back to this and trying to solo the critters is proving unexpectedly tough, but also very engaging.

Is there a skill that stops me being knocked on my arse so much? I don’t mind taking the knocks but my guy does like to roll around like an imbecile each time.

FYI, still no sign of this on the staff shop. As it's DLC, I think it won't appear until the 30th.

Keep us posted please. T_T

Is there a skill that stops me being knocked on my arse so much?

There's a deco called 'Flinch Free' that can prevent a bit of staggering and such, online everyone uses it to stop being interrupted by Longsword users going ham but iirc it's okay-ish in solo too just not for the big attacks you're being annoyed by sadly. That shit is just frustratingly 'Monster Hunter' at times, certain levels of clunk people just accepted for some reason. :shrug:

Also, if you haven't bothered with Decos much you probably haven't even really had the good fights to farm them anyway so far, but they are very useful in supplementing sets and builds and reaching the point thresholds for skills you need without compromising gear, don't worry too much about them yet but you can also make them so it's not total RNG.

Some ways to get full knockback negation:

• Either buddy with a Hunting Horn user who has a particular HH that has anti knockback, or use one yourself and be fucking amazed at how these motherfuckers get songs for negating almost every mechanic…being the HH guy in a multiplayer room feels amazing because not only are you bashing the monster's head in like a Hammer user you are making your whole team feel powerful as fuck.

• Play the Insect Glaive and get the buff for firing your bug at the monsters and having it bring back their extract for you, basically an IG user is regularly always using innate earplugs, anti knockback and a damage buff…when you see your teamate not flinch during a Monsters roar simply because he is a IG user

• As you noticed earlier, just use a gun, it's like a very action orientated TPS if you use a LBG, but the need to be at optimal range, use the right bullets on the right body parts to get the nice orange numbers and not take 30 mins to kill an Izuchi might annoy at first.

Yeah, I played through most of the game with Hunting Horn originally and very much enjoyed it but it is still a multiplayer-focused weapon I think. In solo it's just a shit hammer with a few buffs. I'm back to actual hammer now which is definitely my comfort zone and enjoying it a lot.

I got angry with Chamelos whose poison it turns out isn't even poison but "venom" so you can't even protect yourself with the usual skills. I was knocking back antidotes like I was on a stag weekend. I'm going to take it down tomorrow though, see if I don't.

I'll have a look at Flinch Free and I'm sure I saw something in the Bunny Dango skills that promised better footing or somesuch. Cheers!

The only other thing I can think of to add to that is to mention Steadfast jewels, which will build up your Stun Resistance. That won’t stop you getting knocked over, but it will stop you getting dizzy/stunned.

I use full Stun Resist all the time, just because otherwise you can still get stunned while taking hits through Rage Slash, etc, which would make trying to tank through just about everything an even stupider option than it already sometimes is. (Hello Apex monsters.)

Jdub have you seen the new GS counter in the Sunbreak demo? You can/should do it mid power charge and it will make you start charging TCS there and then, this is on top of having Rage Slash on you as well should feel like needing it….

I really enjoy Hammer, overall I also probably prefer it to Hunting Horn but sometimes I get really annoyed with using Impact Crater on Hammer, or even just having all that damage tied to a move that has that much wind up and recovery, new HH in Rise which is basically a new weapon from past HH imo can definitely hang in there damage wise.

Yeah, I’ve seen it, looks great. Hysteria, is it called (now)?

I decided not to try the demo, in the end, and will go in completely fresh, but am really looking forward to it. Rise was the first MH I was playing while it was pretty new, and still getting content updates, etc, but Sunbreak will be the first one where I’ll go in on day one, knowing my main, and indeed my backups, as SnS, Dual Blades and Hammer round off the other weapons I’d say I’m semi-confident/competent with (I can also do a job with Switch Axe, Lance and IG, really).

And yeah, Hammer is a weird one for me in Rise, as I love it in Worldborne, and do still enjoy it here, but something just feels slightly off to me. There’s definitely a bit too much damage tied up in Impact Crater, as you say, and it feels like maybe the Motion Values (damage) are a bit lacking on some of the rest of the moves. It also felt like it was missing some of the sense of impact when you connect sometimes, and weirdly it seems like perhaps you’re less likely to stun monsters with it than you are when shield bashing with the SnS, by the late game.

I am hoping that it’s had some tweaks and maybe buffs in Sunbreak, as it’s definitely a favourite of mine, seeing as it’s the other weapon that makes you feel like you need to learn the monster more than the moveset, alongside the GS.

The Gunlance is busted in the Sunbreak demo but I'm not getting baited again so I will probably try to stick to Greatsword as much as possible. Also even though I think they're fucking clownshoes sometimes and bash them a lot I can't promise I wont abuse the hell out of Longsword and their free counter attacks into fast helmbreakers, then rage when my Iai Slash counter whiffs for seemingly no reason.

And yeah, the new counter is called Hysteria for some reason, and there's new skills we've yet to see so Sunbreak is just really exciting in that regard, can't wait to see the new ones.

I think it’s generally accepted that the Gunlance is always good in the demos, because of the way it scales (or not) with an optimised build? Like, a lot of the weapons that aren’t great in the demo will do a lot better in the main game, with the right armour set or build, and potentially leapfrog the GL again, because the ceiling for GL is lower. Something about the way shelling scales, I think?

That said, I’ve used the Gunlance very little, but something about the ludicrous thing (and it’s diehard little corner of the community) always appeals to me, so I hope Sunbreak does treat it right.

(I intended to give it a proper try in World, and ended up falling for the regular Lance instead, because I liked the movement options and counters better; fighting Diablos with the Lance in Worldborne is one of my absolute favourite things in MH.)

You are exactly right, to my knowledge it's always been like that with shelling in every game but there is stuff that affects it, I forget what they were called but there are Decos to increase the amount of damage and max shells you have at once can do. Honestly I'm not one of those people who can sub 5 minute kill every monster so I shouldn't really care that much especially with how fun it is now from Gen Ulti onwards (I beat demo Valstrax by abusing the fact that Valour style GL reload was a parry that went straight into the slam into the full artillery explosion)

I was a Lance main too, they basically seem to have perfected what they want the Lance to be in Monster Hunter 3 which is why it does a really solid job at what it does by now. It's a great matchup for certain options such as Diablos like you say in which Lance users can siply sit right on top of a Diablos path as it digs underground and simply counter their re-entrance from the ground, now that Daimyo Hermitaur is back and does the same attack I can see it being useful for that again. After a few games of this I did want to see if I could play a different weapon though, but hey, I am happy to even be able to use more than one weapon at least..too bad that doesn't include Charge Blade.