Monster Hunter Rise: Beginner Tips & Tricks

Monster Hunter Rise just got released for the Switch a few days back, and if you’re new to the series, we’ve got a few beginner tips to get you started. This entry introduces a few new gameplay elements that even series veterans will need a bit of time to get used to as well, so let’s get started.

Learn How to Get Around Faster

The wirebugs and Palamutes are the biggest addition to Monster Hunter Rise, and they’re a serious game-changer in that they allow you to move around levels much faster than ever before.

The Palamute is great in battle, yes, but you can also ride your doggo buddy to get around quickly.

You also start with two wirebug charges with cooldown timers, but it’s possible to snag temporary wirebugs in a level as well so you can use them more often.

Wirebugs can be used to get on to higher ground or let you zip from one point to another pretty snappily. This is handy both in and out of combat, so don’t forget to use them.

Get Used to Wyvern Riding

Speaking of wirebugs, mounting is back in Monster Hunter Rise, but not in the way you were expecting. It’s called wyvern riding now, and by attacking a monster with wirebug-related moves, you can weaken it enough to climb on its back and start riding it.

Wirebug attacks are called silkbind moves, and you can hold ZL and press X or A to use them. Once you’ve landed enough silkbind moves, you can start wyvern riding a monster.

While on a monster, you can use it to attack other monsters and weaken them, or just launch them into walls to deal extra damage. This is usually enough to stun them for a bit so you can keep wailing away at them with your weapon.

Read the Hunter’s Notes

Learning more about your prey is half the battle. Whenever you encounter an enemy, they’ll get logged in the Hunter’s Notes section of the menu.

The info you get here is quite preliminary, but it usually gives you an idea of what their elemental affinities are, so you can at least prepare the proper gear before fighting them for real.

Once you’ve hunted them successfully, the Hunter’s Notes entry becomes more detailed, with more tabs listing drop rates of the various parts and materials you can get from them.

This also gives you an idea of whether it’s better to capture or slay a monster when looking for a specific drop.

Don’t Neglect Your Buddy Gear

Along with the Palamutes, Palicos also make a return in Monster Hunter Rise. While it’s easy to get tunnel vision when trying to farm materials for better equipment on your own character, don’t neglect your Buddies.

They can be extremely helpful in battle as well if you equip them with proper gear. The weird thing about Monster Hunter Rise is that it never explicitly tells you that you can craft gear for your Buddies, but you most definitely can do that by visiting the Buddy smithy, who’s located right next to the regular smithy in the Steelworks section of Kamura Village.

Buddy gear doesn’t cost too much to make, and the resources don’t overlap with the ones you need to craft gear for your armor, so try to keep your Buddies kitted out as often as possible.

Always Make Full Use of Your Buddies

While we’re on the subject of Buddies, I’d be remiss to mention that you can do all sorts of things with them as well. If you head to the Buddy Plaza, you can hire even more Palicos and Palamutes, and send them out on expeditions to bring back even more items.

For instance, you can send a Palico out on an expedition with the Meowcenaries to bring back items, or send a Buddy out with the Argosy to get rare materials. Aside from that, you can also put a Buddy in the Training Dojo to level them up for your next hunt.

There’s always something to do with your Buddies, so use them as much as possible in between quests.

And those are all the beginner tips we have for players who are just jumping into Monster Hunter Rise. Be sure to check our guide wiki for more tips and information on the game.