Monster Hunter Rise: Best Weapons For Beginners

Monster Hunter Rise has fourteen different weapons for hunters to use, but some of them are easier for new players to get to grips with than others. The Monster Hunter series has a lot of systems that the player needs to keep track of, which is why it’s helpful to have an established player run newbies through the basics, as the demos and tutorials haven’t always been clear.

The hunters in Monster Hunter Rise don’t gain levels. Instead, their abilities and stats are tied to their weapons and armor. As such, the player needs to prepare their loadout carefully, so that it best matches their weapon and playstyle. Monster Hunter is not a forgiving series, and monsters will quickly annihilate any unprepared players.

The creatures in the Monster Hunter series can be far more agile than the hunters, and they hit like a truck. The monsters also love to poison and stunlock players with each hit. As such, new players should stick to easier weapons when they start, in order to avoid becoming frustrated with the battle system. This is why we’ve created this guide that ranks the weapons in Monster Hunter Rise in terms of their skill level, which offers recommendations for the weapons new players should use.

Beginner Weapons in Monster Hunter Rise

There are three weapon types in Monster Hunter Rise that are best suited for new players: Great Sword, Hammer, and Sword & Shield. They are simple to use and will give players a chance to come to grips with all of the different systems at play.

The Great Sword and Hammer are slow weapons that are all about charging up for powerful attacks. The Great Sword can sever limbs and block attacks, while the Hammer can stun foes and perform a spin attack. These weapons will teach the player the importance of proper movement and placement in battle. The characters in Monster Hunter Rise aren’t Dante from Devil May Cry: they can’t zip around the battlefield and instantly cancel out of moves. These weapons might be slow, but they will teach the player a lot about the pace of the battles in Monster Hunter.

The other great weapon for new players is the Sword & Shield. It might not be a damage-dealing machine, but it can block hits and let players use items without sheathing, making it an extremely safe class for new players to use while they learn the ropes.

Intermediate Weapons in Monster Hunter Rise

Once the player has come to grips with the basic weapons, they should consider graduating to more advanced arms. The Lance is close to being a beginner weapon, but its small hitbox and focus on countering makes it slightly too complex. The Gunlance is more complicated, as it has ranged options and more special abilities, but it’s a lot slower to use and it cannot perform counters. The Gunlance definitely more exciting to use, but the player has to manage more systems to use it effectively.

The Switch Axe and the Charge Blade are very similar weapons, in that they have two modes that they alternate between in battles. These are a great stepping point from the beginner weapons, as they are complex enough to keep the player engaged, without distracting them from what’s going on with the monster. They also have cool anime-style weapon transformations, which are really awesome to use.

The Dual Blades are super high-risk to use, as they are a full offensive class that relies on evasion and dancing around to avoid damage. They also require a lot of maintenance, as they burn through sharpness with their attacks. The Dual Blades are more about player skill in regards to movement on the battlefield than managing the weapons.

The Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun can turn Monster Hunter Rise into third-person shooters. They have lots of damage potential and can stay safe by lingering on the edge of the battlefield. The player still needs to keep track of damage-dealing Ammo, and they are vulnerable when enemies get close. If the player really wants to go into Monster Hunter Rise with a ranged weapon, then Light Bowgun is the easier option, as their mobility makes it easier for them to stay out of harm’s way.

Expert Weapons in Monster Hunter Rise

By comparison to the other ranged weapons, the Bow can be a nightmare to keep track of. Even the Switch’s controller can barely keep up with all of the Bow’s commands and items. Bow users have to manage Coatings, which can inflict status effects, along with several special attacks that drastically increase their effectiveness. The Bow’s greatest asset is its speed, but this also requires a degree of accuracy on the part of the player, as most monsters in Monster Hunter bounce around like fleas.

The Hunting Horn is an incredibly useful weapon, as it allows the player to cast buffs on the entire party. These buffs require the player to use moves in a specific order so that they perform magical stat-boosting songs. Keeping track of the different songs is a task unto itself, which doesn’t take into account the different special moves possessed by the Hunting Horn in Monster Hunter Rise. The Hunting Horn is a great weapon for advanced players, but it requires a lot of work to master.

The Insect Glaive is one of the most visually exciting weapons in the game, as it allows the player to leap across the battlefield and perform aerial attacks on the enemy. The complications arise when the Kinsect mechanic is introduced, as the player needs to manage a flying insect that drains energy from monsters and turns them into buffs. These buffs are necessary for making the Insect Glaive a great weapon, and the Kinsect requires constant maintenance on the part of the player. The Insect Glaive is definitely worth mastering, as it’s one of the most unique weapons in the game, and it’s satisfying to jump out of a monster’s grasp.

Monster Hunter Rise will be released for Nintendo Switch on March 26, 2021.

About The Author

Scott Baird
(2515 Articles Published)

Scott has been writing for Screen Rant since 2016 and regularly contributes to The Gamer. He has previously written articles and video scripts for websites like Cracked, Dorkly, Topless Robot, and TopTenz.
A graduate of Edge Hill University in the UK, Scott started out as a film student before moving into journalism. It turned out that wasting a childhood playing video games, reading comic books, and watching movies could be used for finding employment, regardless of what any career advisor might tell you. Scott specializes in gaming and has loved the medium since the early ‘90s when his first console was a ZX Spectrum that used to take 40 minutes to load a game from a tape cassette player to a black and white TV set. Scott now writes game reviews for Screen Rant and The Gamer, as well as news reports, opinion pieces, and game guides. He can be contacted on LinkedIn.

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