Monster Hunter Rise best Insect Glaive build, how Kinsects work explained

What is the Insect Glaive and how do Kinsects work in Monster Hunter Rise?

The Insect Glaive is one of the speedier weapons in Monster Hunter Rise, in comparison to weapon classes like the Charge Blade or Greatsword. It was originally introduced as a weapon that was easy for getting hunters airborne for mounting monsters.

However, as the introduction of wirebugs has made aerial combat possible for other weapon types, while mounting has also been replaced by wyvern riding, the Insect Glaive has lost some of its significance in Monster Hunter Rise. Nonetheless, it remains a great agile weapon that's still the quickest way to get you in the air.

The benefit of using the Insect Glaive is simple - the Glaive itself is actually an insect, which can inflict status buffs on you by harvesting monster extracts.

You can equip Kinsects by simply purchasing one over at the smithy and equipping it alongside the Insect Glaive at the Smithy or at any item box found in the village or at any camp.

Learn how to start Sunbreak - the first expansion - and from there, how to unlock Master Rank, use Switch Skill swap, and progress onward with our Monster Hunter Sunbreak walkthrough. There's also a monsters list, as well as individual pages on beating Garangolm, Lunagaron and Shogun Ceanataur. For the base game, we have a number of Monster Hunter Rise tips and lists of ore locations, bone locations, weapon types, how to use Insect Glaives and Kinsects, details of how to join friends in multiplayer, how to capture monsters and learn about wirebugs and great wirebugs.

How to use the Insect Glaive in combat in Monster Hunter Rise

The Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter Rise possesses amazing evasive and speed capabilities. To use them to their fullest potential, you're first going to want to get the Attack Extract from your Kinsect, which will allow you to use your Switch Skills that maximise your damage output.

A huge advantage to using the Insect Glaive are its aerial manoeuvres. You can Vault by pressing ZR and B. You can follow this up with an aerial attack with X or B for a Midair Evade, followed up with an attack.

You can also use A to perform a Jumping Advance Slash, which actually has you bounce off the monster with a Vaulting Dance to keep you up in the air, so you can continue chaining aerial combos as long as you have enough stamina.

To use a Kinsect, you want to fire it at the monster's face by aiming (holding ZR) followed by R. This will make the Kinsect glow red.

The red glow denotes the Kinsect possessing an attack buff. To apply this buff to yourself, you're going to want to recall the Kinsect back to you by holding ZR followed by A.

Once you've got the Kinsect back to you, you should see a glow next to your Sharpness Bar.

This rationale can be applied to different parts of a monster which will give you different coloured buffs. You can find our key for this below - with the locations differing from monster to monster - and the order of which will also correspond to the numbers next to our sharpness bar.

• Red - Attack Buff
• White - Speed Buff
• Orange - Defense Buff

Additionally, some Kinsects will leave Dust, which you can hit to trigger an effect type.

This will depend on the Kinsect you have, which has dust leaving a range of effects, from healing to poison and paralysis. This is triggered by hitting the monster with a Kinsect while gathering extracts, or marking targets.

Buying Kinsects and Ramping up Insect Glaives in Monster Hunter Rise explained

When you start Monster Hunter Rise, you'll have two Kinsects available in your inventory - the Culldrone or the Mauldrone. You can, however, buy more powerful Kinsects from the Smithy and more Kinsects unlock as you progress in the story.

Kinsects have been considerably streamlined in Monster Hunter Rise compared to previous instalments, so instead of nurturing them, you simply buy whichever you want. They do still level up, but this will happen based on the type of Insect Glaive you have. Currently, this goes up as high as Level 8. Naturally, the rarer and more powerful a glaive is, the higher level your Kinsect stands to be, although this is not always the case.

Elements meanwhile are based on the Insect Glaive you have equipped. However, once you have unlocked Rampage quests, you can also access 'Ramp-Up Weapons' and set Rampage Skills to further upgrade your glaive. For some glaives, these skills include changing the glaive's element or even increasing your Kinsect level.

Kinsects are split into two attack types: severing and blunt damage, much like other weapon types. There are also three Kinsect types: Speed, Assist and Dust.

Speed types automatically charge up when mounted on your hunter's arm and the insect glaive glows blue to indicate the Kinsect is fully charged, which increases its attack power. Assist types utilise the three types of extract and attacks along with your hunter when mounted on your hunter's arm. Dust types meanwhile automatically attack marked targets, leaving behind clouds of dust that detonate when struck.

For each Kinsect, you'll also want to look at their Power, Speed and Heal effects. These all denote that particular Kinsect's potency when extracting it from a monster. These max out at Level 15. Different Dust Effects are as follows:

• Heal
• Stun
• Poison
• Paralysis
• Blast

Ideally, you'll want to buy multiple Kinsects so that you're able to change and tailor yourself to any scenario. Remember that you can always return to camp and change the Kinsect even during a hunt.

Learn how to start Sunbreak - the first expansion - and from there, how to unlock Master Rank, use Switch Skill swap, and progress onward with our Monster Hunter Sunbreak walkthrough. There's also a monsters list, as well as individual pages on beating Garangolm, Lunagaron and Shogun Ceanataur. For the base game, we have a number of Monster Hunter Rise tips and lists of ore locations, bone locations, weapon types, how to use Insect Glaives and Kinsects, details of how to join friends in multiplayer, how to capture monsters and learn about wirebugs and great wirebugs.

Monster Hunter Rise best Insect Glaive build

While there is no one true Insect Glaive Build in Monster Hunter Rise, we've honed in on a great Insect Glaive build that both dishes out devastating damage while offering a high level for your Kinsect. This is just at launch, as post-launch updates will no doubt provide even more options.

Our best Insect Glaive recommendation

There's a few options we could go for. The ice-based Abominable Glaive provides the highest single raw damage for an Insect Glaive in the game, although the Kinsect Level is only 5. The thunder-based Despot's Twinbolt meanwhile offers very high raw damage while leveling your Kinsects up to Level 8.

However, taking the best of both world's is Evening Calm, which with raw attack at 190 has the highest Affinity at 40% that also levels up your Kinsects to Level 7. It also has max sharpness taking the gauge to white.

Evening Calm is forged from the Nargacuga Tree, which is an offshoot from the starting Kamura Tree, and is the final upgrade. To forge Evening Calm, you need the following:

• Rakna-Kadachi Sharpclaw x2
• Narga Medulla x 1
• You also need 15 points worth of high-rank Nargacuga materials
4
• 2,000z

Don't forget you'll also need to forge and upgrade the other weapons that lead up to this glaive.

Our best Kinsect recommendation

Deciding on which Kinsect to use is considerably easier since you no longer have to nurture and can just buy them from the Smithy. The strength of your Kinsect will naturally depend on the weapon you have equipped and what level they can upgrade your Kinsect to.

Based on raw power however, we'd recommend the Monarch Alucanid, which is a severing assist Kinsect type, a Dual Color Attack bonus.

This costs 4,500z from the Smithy.

For more help on Monster Hunter Rise, check out our weapon types list, wirebug guide, Jewel lilies locations and how to use Traps and Tranq Bombs to catch monsters.