Importance Score: 20 / 100 🔵
For players who appreciate unconventional weaponry in gaming, Monster Hunter Wilds presents intriguing choices. While the transforming Charge Blade boasts undeniable style, the Insect Glaive offers a truly unique combat experience. This weapon, central to Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay, demands strategic resource management and a deep understanding of monster behaviors. Mastering the Insect Glaive is a rewarding pursuit for those seeking distinctive combat styles and efficient monster hunting techniques.
How the Insect Glaive Operates
A defining characteristic of the Insect Glaive weapon is its reliance on Kinsects. Equipping this weapon means deploying an insect companion to assault adversaries and extract vital essences from monsters. Attacks generate Effect Powder, which both the hunter and allies in multiplayer can detonate to inflict status ailments or restore health points. Essence extraction provides various combat enhancements, contingent on the type of essence acquired.
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However, beyond the Focus Thrust: Leaping Strike technique—which gathers all primary essences when targeting a wound—commanding the Kinsect to strike specific monster body parts is crucial for obtaining different essences. This element introduces complexity, but accumulating multiple essences amplifies buffs, significantly boosting player combat effectiveness.
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This functionality segues into the Insect Glaive’s other key attribute: exceptional mobility. This weapon excels for hunters who favor aerial combat and agile maneuvers. It is arguably unparalleled for mounting monsters repeatedly. Maintaining essence buffs is paramount to fully capitalize on the Insect Glaive’s capabilities and dynamic move set.
Kinsect Essence Enhancements
Hunters can gather four distinct Extracts, or essence colors, from monsters: Red, White, Orange, and Green. Green essence uniquely restores health, while the other three grant specific combat augmentations. Combining essences yields compounded benefits, enhancing individual effects. Below is a breakdown of primary essence effects and their combinations:
- Red: Enables charged attacks using Circle/B.
- White: Boosts movement speed and jump height.
- Orange: Imparts the Flinch Free effect.
- Red + White: Augments Attack power.
- White + Orange: Enhances Defense.
- Red + White + Orange: Amplifies certain attacks, further elevates attack power, and mitigates wind pressure, tremors, and roars.
Upgrading Kinsects
Similar to other armaments, hunters can forge Insect Glaive weapons using gathered resources and monster components. Uniquely, Kinsects also offer upgrade paths.
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Within Gemma’s Smithy Menu, the “Manage Kinsects” option is available. Initially, only two starter Kinsects are purchasable during the early stages of the Monster Hunter Wilds campaign. Progressing through Chapter Two unlocks the “Raise Kinsects” feature, enabling players to nurture them into advanced forms using Nurturing Materials. Capturing a Yian Kut-Ku in Chapter Four unlocks the final tier of Kinsects. Each starting Kinsect possesses a unique upgrade tree, providing a total selection of 20 distinct Kinsects.
It’s advisable not to overemphasize Kinsect levels upon acquisition. A Kinsect’s power scales in accordance with the Insect Glaive’s power. Continuously upgrading glaives will result in corresponding enhancements for the Kinsect companion.
The Monster Hunter Wilds Insect Glaive, while demanding in execution, offers substantial rewards. Prioritizing the collection of diverse extract essences maximizes its potential, granting hunters a versatile and supportive combat skillset.
Monster Hunter Wilds is forthcoming on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.