Monster Hunter Rise Beginner's Guide

Monster Hunter Rise is perhaps the most accessible the series has ever been but even saying that is low praise. Despite its efforts to ease newcomers into the experience gently, it’s still a somewhat overwhelming experience if you’re not familiar with the franchise.

It takes a while, but things in Monster Hunter Rise slowly click into place, allowing you to get to the meat and bones of what makes it all so alluring. However, there will be stumbles on the way and elements of the game that go completely unnoticed.

To help draft you into the world and learn everything that it has to offer, we’ve curated this Monster Hunter Rise beginner’s guide to help ease the burden. If you’re looking for some tips and tricks, or are just generally overwhelmed by the game, read on to learn all the basics to set you on your way.

• For the beasts themselves, we also have a guide on all the monsters in Monster Hunter Rise.

Monster Hunter Rise Beginner’s Guide

Start By Completing All 1-Star Village Quests

Before you do anything else in the world of Monster Hunter Rise, it’s best to stick to the main path for a little while. It may be tempting to immediately jump in with friends or tackle some of the harder monsters out there, but trust us when we say that’s a recipe for disaster.

Instead, what you’re going to want to do is focus on following the Village Quests, which are the solo missions in Monster Hunter Rise. The first few introduce you to key mechanics of the game, including gathering resources and combat. Unlike the multiplayer quests, they do a better job of easing you into the experience.

Additionally, be sure to also check out the Training Quests. These offer you the ability to learn how to learn mechanics such as capturing monsters and even how to ride them. A perfect first step for beginners.

Use The Arena To Practice New Weapons

If you’re finding combat particularly hard to master, it may be worth venturing out to the arena to test out new weapons. From the main hub, take a right and cross the bridge to a new area. Here, you’ll find a boat that takes you to the arena where you can freely test out any weapon in your possession.

Not only do you get the opportunity to check out your arsenal without the threat of death, but Monster Hunter Rise will also teach you combos to help assist you in battles even further. You can even see the damage your attacks do on a convenient training dummy in the center of the area.

The arena is perfect for beginners who are learning the ropes and want to experiment with the complex weapon sets the game throws at you.

Don’t Forget The Whetstone

One gameplay element Monster Hunter Rise does a poor job of explaining to beginners is the use of the Whetstone. In a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it tutorial message, it’s revealed that the Whetstone - a permanent usable in your inventory - has the ability to keep your weapons sharpened.

If you look under your stats in the top-left corner of the screen, you may have spotted a bar with various colours that slowly depletes in combat. This showcases your weapon’s sharpness, and with it, the damage you’ll dish out when you’re fighting one of the many beats in the game.

Depending on the weapon you’ve crafted, it can have up to four colours that determine its sharpness. They are as follows:

Red > Orange > Yellow > Green

Green is the peak of its effectiveness, with red meaning it will pack the lowest punch possible. Try and keep your weapon as sharp as possible at all times - you can even do it while riding your mount.

Keep On Eating

Food is one of the most important factors in Monster Hunter Rise. Before every mission, you want to visit the canteen in the hub and ensure you’re nourished before the impending battle.

The reason for this is that these meals offer you a variety of potential abilities. You can order meals known as Bunny Dango, which have the chance to offer a unique perk for your next quest such as earning more money or speeding up your weapon sharpening.

Each perk has an activation chance when you consume it, so it’s not guaranteed, but you can use Dango Tickets to increase the possibility of it working. You earn these through natural progression and are easily enabled in the menu when creating your Bunny Dango.

Alongside this, it’s worthwhile keeping some cooked steaks on you during your adventures. This can be done by using your spit in missions or cooking them at the canteen before venturing out. As you play, your overall stamina gauge will decrease, and these offer an effective way of buffing it up again.

Focus On The Minimap And Unfog Each Biome

We can’t express how intuitive the minimap in the bottom-left corner of the screen is. Not only does it give you a lay of the land, but it also provides some key details during your hunts, marking it a perfect companion for beginners.

Sometimes, the monster icon on the map will flash blue when it’s able to be captured or close to death. Alternatively, you can use the minimap in gathering quests to quickly see where what you need is, distinguishable by green nodes on the map.

Every time you enter a new biome, we recommend exploring every corner to remove the fog off the minimap. With your mount, it should only take a few minutes, and it will make future excursions much, much easier.

Change Your Camera Settings

While the initial camera setting in Monster Hunter Rise is perfectly fine, you can dive deep into the settings and change it to something much easier to use. It’s perfect for beginners or even series veterans who want an easier time.

By going to Options, Camera, and then scrolling down to Camera Style, you can change the setting from Target Camera to Focus Camera.

While this may not seem like a big deal, it performs a much better job at locking onto the monsters you’re hunting in missions. You won’t be able to use it to target the smaller enemies attacking you, it will keep locked on to the main monsters when you’re within their proximity.

It’s a great tool for highlighting specific body parts and focusing your attacks on a particular area. This can be useful if you’re trying to accurately attack a vulnerable point and bring down your contract as fast as possible.

Play Solo Before Going Online

Going online with friends to take down monsters may seem like an easier option, but it can actually be a detriment - especially for beginners who are new to everything Monster Hunter Rise has to offer.

When playing with other players, fights can quickly become confusing. The screen can easily turn into a wave of noise as DPS numbers and swords fly about the place. It can be overwhelming if you’re not familiar with the mechanics, and even worse if those joining you are new to the game too.

It also makes monsters much harder to take down, as their health is buffed to accommodate the extra players joining the fight. Until you feel comfortable taking down the big monsters in the game, it’s worth sticking to the Village Quests until you’re absolutely ready.

Always Work On Upgrading Your Gear

After every mission, make sure you’re visiting the smithy for any potential upgrades or new weapons you can forge. As you progress through Monster Hunter Rise and take down new beasties, the range of forgeable items grows, meaning you should periodically check-in.

Even if you find there are new greater weapons or armour to forge, many often forget you can upgrade what you already own. With Armor Cores - which are found through natural progression of the game - you can enhance your already equipped accessories.

It’s also worth noting that the Guild Cross Hunter armour set was added to Monster Hunter Rise as part of free downloadable content and is incredibly useful for beginners in the game’s opening hours.

You can redeem this by speaking to the courier cat in the main hub area. Talk to them, click Add-Ons, and then be sure to redeem all of the content available. It can be easy to overlook actually redeeming what’s in your inbox, so don’t miss this vital step.

Check A Monster’s Weakness

In your first few hunts, it may be easy enough to get through by just bashing away at monsters with your weapon, but things will quickly ramp up in difficulty.

On the surface, Monster Hunter Rise seems fairly straightforward in how it wants you to approach enemies, but peel away that layer and you’ll find it’s an incredibly complex experience. Within a few hunts, beginners will discover certain monsters have various weaknesses and strengths which you need to work against.

By going into your menu and selecting Hunter’s Notes, you’ll be able to get a breakdown of each monster. This will detail not only what they’re weak against, but also the damage certain weapon types will make against each part.

You can also identify the parts that drop off it and the percentage rate of that happening. This is incredibly important if you’re looking to upgrade or forge new gear that needs particular body parts in order to create what you need.

As you fight the monster more and more times, you’ll learn new things about it. Even after initially checking out its stats and affinities, it’s always worth coming back to your log and seeing if anything is changed. If you’re hitting a brick wall with a particular foe, this will be your all-in-one resource.

Remember To Upgrade Your Companions

You may have gotten into the rhythm or ensured your own character is ready for fights, but that dedication can often be to the detriment of your buddies. Both your Palico and Palamute can be upgraded, and unless you know where to go, it’s another system that can easily be missed.

Next to the smithy in the main hub is a Palico which also offers new armour and upgrades for both of your companions. While it’s not as in-depth as your own character’s upgrade path, it does offer a variety of options to ensure you’re getting the most out of them both.

As with your own character, getting certain monster parts and scales will be needed to ensure they’re both at peak performance. You’ll also need to drop some cash on the new gear, so be sure you’re always stocked up.

When fighting monsters, it can be easy to forget the companions you have in tow, but we promise if you keep them looked after, they’ll help you out in the long run.

With these tips, you should grasp a basic understanding of all things Monster Hunter Rise and be well on your way to effectively taking out many beasts. As things progress, it slowly grows more complicated, but these foundations should ensure beginners are always prepared for the fight ahead.

• To learn more about your equipment, be sure to check out our weapons guide for Monster Hunter Rise.