5 essential tips for successful hunts in Monster Hunter Rise and Sunbreak

There are a thousand little details to being successful in Monster Hunter Rise, many of which will carry over into the massive Sunbreak expansion. Some essential skills and knowledge apply across all the Monster Hunter games and when Sunbreak releases.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is bound to up the difficulty with the power of the gear you equip, so for some of the later fights, especially the Elder Dragons, the tips discussed in this guide will be essential for consistent first-time encounters.

Tip #1: Invest in buffs

Whether you’ve got dozens or hundreds of hours in Rise or are coming to the game for the first time on Sunbreak release, investing in buffs to your damage and defense will pay dividends in the late game. The following items make hunts faster, more consistent, and more survivable:

• (Mega) Demondrug – Significant damage increase lost only on faint
• (Mega) Armorskin – Significant defense increase lost only on faint
• Demon Powder – Three-minute damage boost for you and your teammates
• Armor Powder – Three-minute defense boost for you and your teammates
• Might Seed – Three-minute personal damage boost
• Adamant Seed – Three-minute personal defense boost

The effect for these items all stack, so using all of them provides a significant increase to your damage output and overall survivability. You’ll want to use the Argosy and occasionally farm for the materials you need, especially Godbugs, Honey, and Pale Extract.

Tip #2: Don’t be afraid to fail your first time hunting any monster

Monsters you encounter early in Monster Hunter Rise are pretty forgiving. Their roars don’t cause knockback and stun; their attacks might send you flying, but even those don’t do as much damage. The attacks themselves often have long animations and plenty of easy-to-see tells. Without fail, however, you will run up against a wall, such as a monster that deals much more damage, whose attacks are much faster and harder to predict.

Do not be afraid to fail against the wall or any monster fight in the game. It’s frustrating to cart back to camp one, two, or 12 times, but that’s a part of the learning process. Barioth or Anjanath, for instance, are difficult by design, so carting to them might seem more understandable. But even Great Wroggi or Izuchi can surprise you with a long combo string, leaving you stunned and vulnerable.

Tip #3: Collect Spiritbirds throughout the map

You probably won’t need much pre-fight preparation if you’re in High or Master Rank and taking on a Low-Rank quest. If you’re encountering a monster for the first time, take a few of your 50 allotted minutes to scour the map and gather the various Spiritbirds. The buffs they provide stack on top of those you apply with potions, powders, or seeds:

• Green Spiritbird: +5 Health
• Yellow Spiritbird: +10 Stamina
• Deep Red Spiritbird: +2 Attack
• Orange Spiritbird: +5 Defense

Each Spiritbird buff you receive raises the associated stat until it reaches a maximum value. For instance, you cannot overflow your Health and Stamina bars past their rightmost limit. Attack and Defense Spiritbird buffs take longer to fill the progress bar, but you can’t overflow those. There are more than enough Spiritbirds on each map, so maxing out everything on top of Demondrugs, etc., makes you something of a tank. Spiritbird buffs also don’t reset if you cart back to camp, which is handy.

Tip #4: Use everything you have until you know what to do

Until you understand a monster’s fight well enough to defeat them without taking much damage, you are well within your rights to use every trick and strategy in your arsenal to take them down. Use other monsters on the map to attack your target, use traps, status effects, and your favorite weapon exclusively — the monsters aren’t going to get after you for it, and you’ll have easier access to their materials and, therefore, their gear.

Tip #5: Use the right element against each monster

Every monster has an elemental weakness: Barroth and Diablos, for instance, are weak to Ice, and Nargacuga is vulnerable to Thunder. Other monsters are weak to other things and resistant to others. Once you fight a monster a few times, you’ll learn what it’s vulnerable to, and your best bet against fighting them is to focus your damage on the proper element type.