Yet Another Weapon Guide - Insect Glaive
Insect Glaive allows you to vault into the air whenever and wherever you wish! Utilize your Kinsect to collect Extracts in order to enhance your abilities! Attack with the power and speed of the infinite combo, and dance around the monster with your mobility!
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This guide is meant for new players of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (MHGU) or for players who haven’t played Blademaster in the old-school games, and wish to play as Insect Glaive. Note that this guide will not assume any prior knowledge, regardless of games played before in the Monster Hunter series.
This guide will contain a comprehensive guide on Insect Glaive controls, details on Kinsect types, commentary on IG styles and combinations, recommendations on progression IG, and a final note on matchups against most monsters in the game.
Two Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art), infinite combo enabled.
Without Red Extract:
With Red Extract:
Guild Style is the classical powerhouse of all of the IG styles featuring everything you need on IG without frills or gimmicks. You can execute the infinite combo as much as you want, so long as you have Red Extract. It also provides a fair amount of mobility by giving you purely vertical vaults and the ability to side roll quickly out of most attacks, letting you be aggressive.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
All combos listed will assume Red Extract.
Infinite Combo
(loop) Idle A, X, X, A, X, X (end loop).
(loop) Double Roundhouse -> Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse -> Upswings -> Double Down (end loop)
The basic bread-and-butter combo that any IG user should know. If the spinning confuses you, then just know that if you either perform two lunging attacks, or three round slashes, then you’ve gone too far in your combo.
Gapclosing Start
Forward A, X, X, A, X, X, A, repeat.
Draw Slam -> (loop) Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse -> Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse (end loop)
A slight variant of the above, but with a gapcloser to start off.
Optimal Setup
Idle X, X, A, A.
Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse -> Double Lunge
A basic DPS-focused combo, used on short-ish openings.
In ‘n Out
Forward X, X, Back A.
Long Swipes -> Double Down -> Super Backflip
A combo focused on safety through the backstep.
Downed Monster Finisher
Idle X, X, A, A, Side B.
Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse -> Double Lunge -> Side Roll
A good way to end off the infinite combo on a downed monster, just before they get up.
3 Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art), forces Kinsect controls to be based off of the A button. Loses the traditional Infinite Combo.
Striker Style is underwhelming as heck, since it loses the traditional infinite combo in exchange for a mediocre HA slot. Sure you can perform a ghetto version of the infinite combo, but it moves you forward a bunch and takes longer to execute compared to the traditional one.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Ghetto Infinite Combo:
(loop) X, X, X (end loop).
(loop) Upswings -> Double Down -> Triple Roundhouse (end loop)
A really, really slow ‘infinite combo’.
Ghetto Infinite Lunges:
(loop) Forward X, Forward X, Forward X (end loop).
(loop) Draw Slam -> Double Lunge -> Long Swipes (end loop)
An infinite combo that lets you lunge forward while doing so, if you ever wanted to do that.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the Aerial Hop to jump off of monsters and swarm them with continual aerial-based assault. Improves the power and flexibility of vaults.
Without Red Extract:
With Red Extract:
Aerial Style is an awkward style at times, though less redundant than you’d expect. The Lunging Vault grants you a unique way of moving around as IG, but is less useful than you’d expect since just walking around is faster. The Spin Assault is cool, but hard to aim properly and inconsistent. Overall just kinda weird.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Back Vault Assault
Idle X, Back + R + B, X.
Upswings -> Vault -> Aerial Spin Assault
The easiest way to get to a backwards vault and start spinning up.
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the Adept Dodge to roll through monster attacks and counter with a Kinsect-based attack.
Without Red Extract:
With Red Extract:
Adept Style is weird since it enforces these limitations on your Kinsect, rather than yourself. It also happens to make your Kinsect’s Stamina stat completely useless, so that’s nice. Not. In the end, Adept is more like IG with limitations that you could just avoid by playing Guild Style. You do have the safety of the Adept Dodge, but if you want safety, you could play Valor instead.
Something of note is that the Kinsect doesn’t home onto the same part you hit, and instead attacks in a horizontal line ahead of where you attacked. This can mean that you grab extracts that you may not have intended to.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Charge Valor State to improve your attacks with the help of the Kinsect.
In any state:
No Red Extract:
Red Extract:
Outside of Valor State:
While Valor State is active:
Valor Style IG is effectively like Guild IG but without certain useless attacks in exchange for a modicum of safety via the Valor Sheath. The kinsect accompanying your attacks is a simple boost, and even without Valor State up, you can perform the infinite combo. Valor Style otherwise doesn’t affect the Kinsect at all. Also of note is that the Kinsect’s damage can charge HAs even faster than you would normally, since it accompanies your attacks.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Charging Valor Aggression:
(loop) Y, X, A (end loop).
(loop) Valor Sheathe -> Valor Triple Roundhouse -> Double Roundhouse (end loop)
A simple combo to charge up Valor.
Charging Valor Evasion:
Y, A.
Valor Sheathe -> Valor Backflip
A faster but less charge-y combo for Valor.
Combined Extract Aggression:
While in Valor State: R + X, (loop) X, X, A, A, X, X, A (end loop).
Send Kinsect -> (loop) Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse (Recall Kinsect) -> Double Lunge (Send Kinsect) -> Upswings -> Double Down -> Double Roundhouse (Recall Kinsect) (end loop)
A slower infinite combo that can be used to both grab extracts and attack at the same time in Valor State.
3 Hunter Art slots (3 SP Arts). Charge the Alchemy Barrel to give you and your teammates useful items and increase your SP Level.
No Red Extract:
Red Extract:
Alchemy Style loses out on the infinite combo but otherwise doesn’t screw with the Kinsect controls or anything. It’s still quite underwhelming since it makes you use the slower attacks to build Alch Gauge, though.
Recommended Hunter Arts:
Alchemy Fast Charging:
X, X.
Upswings -> Triple Roundhouse
A fast but somewhat laggy way to quickly charge the Alchemy Gauge.
Alchemy Lunge ‘n Charge:
X, A.
Upswings -> Double Lunge
A fast combo that ends in a double lunge.
The style hierarchy goes Guild/Valor > Alchemy > Aerial/Adept/Striker. Guild and Valor both have the infinite combos, with Valor having the safety of the sheathe and Guild having the extra HA slot for Readiness, both being really solid. Alchemy is a better Striker, but that’s awkwardly tripping over the bar on the ground that Striker set. Congratulations! Adept and Striker are jank and bad. Aerial is there, and loses the art slot and is just a worse Guild. You can pretend that you go fast with the forward vault though. Just ignore the fact that you go slower than walking forward with White Extract.
After a brief wind-up, your hunter launches your Kinsect directly forward. If your Kinsect collides with a monster, it will collect Red, White, and Orange Extracts at the same time, then return.
Rank | To Charge | Duration |
I | 700 (1040 SP) | 30 seconds |
II | 900 (1280 SP) | 60 |
III | 1000 (1400 SP) | 90 |
Your hunter must wait for the Kinsect to return before launching it. This HA has 70% damage, based off of the Power stat of your Kinsect. Launches at the same speed, regardless of Speed Stat. Will consume all Stamina, regardless of maximum or current Stamina.
This art is really great, since it even refreshes the duration of Triple Up. It also refreshes the duration of itself, so you can chain together Extract Hunters to maintain Triple Up the entire hunt. This is only really doable if you have Extract Hunter III and with great aggression. You do have to watch out for a few things: First off, this art has a long windup time, long enough that you’ll likely get punished if you do it in front of a monster. You also have to aim well since launching the Kinsect follows the rules of sending the Kinsect as normal. Namely, you have to make sure that you’re level with the monster you’re trying to hit, or risk going over the monster, or worse, colliding with the terrain. If you can handle and manage this well, this art is easily the best and only one of the IG arts you should use.
Performs a brief casting animation, after which a swarm of insects will slowly revolve around you, dealing damage to anything that it collides with. Gains boosts based on the extracts active.
Rank | To Charge | Hit Rate | Duration |
I | 1000 (1400 SP) | Slow | 90 seconds |
II | 1080 (1496 SP) | Medium | 90 |
III | 1250 (1700 SP) | Fast | 60 |
Extract | Effect |
Red | Increases damage per hit from 5 fixed damage to 6 fixed damage. |
White | Roughly doubles the speed at which the swarm hits. |
Orange | Increases stagger damage by 20%. |
Per hit, damage dealt is 5 Fixed damage, unless you have Red Extract, as listed above. Deals more hits the closer you are to the monster.
Swarm’s DPS has recently been discovered to be incredibly poor, at 5 fixed damage per hit. This makes it practically worthless unless you’re spamming Bug Blow in conjunction with Swarm.
Swings upwards two times before vaulting high into the air, then slams down, dealing a hefty amount of mounting damage. If Swarm is active, consumes its duration to deal extra damage.
Rank | To Charge | Total Damage |
I | 580 (896 SP) | 10 + 10 + 80 = 100% / 3 hits |
II | 670 (1004 SP) | 10 + 10 + 105 = 125% / 3 hits |
III | 750 (1100 SP) | 10 + 10 + 120 = 140% / 3 hits |
Swarm Rank | Extra Damage |
I (Blue) | 90% |
II (Yellow) | 120% |
III (Red) | 150% |
Height traveled increases with rank. Swarm buffs from Extracts aren’t taken into account when using Bug Blow. Swarm’s duration is completely consumed when this art is finished executing.
This is the only attack HA for IG, and it’s surprisingly okay. It goes off quickly and has a great MV, and can also hit flying monsters. The issue is that it doesn’t have a great range other than vertical and that you can still get smacked out of the sky when you use it. It’s an okay combo finisher, but it doesn’t really have justifications beyond that to use it normally. If you do insist on using this, you may want to consider using Swarm as well to potentially double the damage.
Your hunter summons insects to amplify your Kinsect’s abilities, letting it do spin attacks every 2nd Send rather than every 3rd Send, and if the Kinsect connects with a monster while it’s spinning then your Kinsect will also perform a combo move, hitting additional times.
Rank | To Charge | Duration |
I | 1080 (1496 SP) | 120 seconds |
II | 1170 (1604 SP) | 150 |
III | 1250 (1700 SP) | 180 |
Kinsect Power is increased by 10% for the duration of the art. Combo attack deals 20% * 3 = 60% damage, based off of its Power stat.
Yet another self-buff HA for IG, and this is fairly underwhelming. The only good thing about this HA is the duration, but everything else about it stinks. Your Kinsect may be able to attack more furiously than normal, but this doesn’t really apply to most styles, since most people tend to use the Kinsects for Extracts and not so much attacking. The one style where this is useful is Valor, since you automatically send and recall the Kinsect with attacks, so if you want to run this HA there that would be fine.
The Insect Glaive itself is only one part of a greater whole, the other half being your Kinsect. It’s just as important as the standard Insect Glaive to upgrade and maintain since you’ll be collecting Extracts with it the entire hunt. This section will talk about the Kinsects as a whole as well as the specific Kinsects and what skills they have.
As a whole, Kinsects are separated into two major categories: Cut and Blunt. Cut-type Kinsects deal damage based on the Cutting hitzone of the monster, and can also sever tails. Blunt Kinsects deal KO damage and Exhaust damage, letting them KO monsters if you connect Kinsects with the head of the monster. When you use Kinsect Swap to exchange Kinsects on your IGs, note that you can only exchange Cut-Type Kinsects with other Cut-Type Kinsects, and Blunt-Type Kinsects with other Blunt-type Kinsects.
Now, we’ll go over the Kinsect Stats, and what they mean.
Power
The damage your Kinsects will deal when they connect with the monster. Functions much like the raw of your weapon. More Power means that the Kinsect will deal more damage.
Speed
The rate at which your Kinsect will fly, even when they’re out of Stamina. Higher Speed will mean faster flight.
Weight
An increased amount of Weight on a Kinsect means that it will deal more stagger damage.
Stamina
The amount of time for which your Kinsect can fly, as represented by the blue bar under your Extract Bar. Higher Stamina means a greater amount of time that the Kinsect can remain out for. Stamina scales with Level, regardless of the Jellies used.
To level up your Kinsect, you must feed it Jelly, which you can find in the field and trade for. Higher quality Jelly, made from combining Larval Extract or Paralarval Extract with Jelly, increases the amount of stats gained per jelly, speeding up this process. Upgrading your Kinsect requires two things: The appropriate Level, of which your Kinsect must equal or exceed, and you must meet the stat requirement of the target Kinsect, which is shown in the stats of the target Kinsect.
This next part is important. People often get confused about upgrading your Kinsects, so read this next section c a r e f u l l y.
As you feed your Kinsect Jelly, you’ll see that a gauge in the middle of the screen increases. Fill that gauge one time, and your Kinsect will accumulate a point in that stat. Once 3 Points are obtained in any stat, you can Level Up your Kinsect like your Insect Glaive. You cannot feed your Kinsect if you’ve gotten 3 points already, so you must Level Up your Kinsect if you’ve not done so.
Here’s, briefly, the way that Kinsect stats scale with the points they accumulate:
Ambrosias determine the Element that your Kinsect takes on. More points in a specific element directly correlate with the amount of elemental damage dealt. Like Jellies, you can upgrade them to grant more Element per feeding. When the Kinsect has multiple elements, then only the two highest will apply. Ties are broken by the following priority list: Fire > Water > Thunder > Ice > Dragon. No Elemental affinity is required to upgrade Kinsects or to level them. Having an elemental affinity will also change the coloration of your Kinsect.
Since Kinsects have different names for Cut and Blunt type Kinsects, both names will be listed, Cut-type first. Note that some skills on Kinsects are locked until you level up your Kinsect to level 9.
Also check the imgur album for more visually memorable infographics: https://imgur.com/a/G7CTF8Y
Culldrone / Mauldrone
The Upgrade Grid will show both the Base Stat Requirement and the number of points required in that stat in parentheses. The Stats required is shown accurately in the Upgrade Menu, not when viewing the Kinsect via your Equipment Menu -- that will show your Kinsect stats after any Kinsect Skills.
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Alucanid / Foebeetle | 3 | 62 (3 Points) | 60 (1) | 50 (1) |
Rigiprayne / Ladytarge | 3 | 50 (1) | 60 (1) | 70 (3) |
Windchopper / Gullshad | 3 | 50 (1) | 70 (3) | 50 (1) |
Elscarad / Arginesse | 6 | 80 (6) | 100 (6) | 100 (6) |
Alucanid / Foebeetle (Power)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Monarch Alucanid / Carnage Beetle | 6 | 106 (10 Points) | 60 (1) | 50 (1) |
Empresswing / Bonnetfille | 6 | 62 (3) | 80 (4) | 90 (5) |
Exalted Alucanid / Gleambeetle | 9 | 118 (12) | 120 (8) | 80 (4) |
Rigiprayne / Ladytarge (Weight)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Cancadaman / Ladypavise | 6 | 50 (1 Point) | 60 (1) | 140 (10) |
Fiddlebrix / Arkmaiden | 6 | 68 (4) | 90 (5) | 70 (3) |
Bilbobrix / Ladytower | 9 | 92 (8) | 80 (4) | 160 (12) |
Windchopper / Gullshad (Speed)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Grancathar / Bullshroud | 6 | 50 (1 Point) | 140 (10) | 50 (1) |
Pseudocath / Whispervesp | 6 | 74 (5) | 70 (3) | 80 (4) |
Foliacath / Fleetflammer | 9 | 68 (4) | 160 (12) | 120 (8) |
Monarch Alucanid / Carnage Beetle (Pure Power)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Exalted Alucanid / Gleambeetle | 9 | 118 (12 Points) | 120 (8) | 80 (4) |
Empresswing / Bonnetfille (Power / Balanced)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Exalted Alucanid / Gleambeetle | 9 | 118 (12 Points) | 120 (8) | 80 (4) |
Cancadaman / Ladypavise (Pure Weight)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Bilbobrix / Ladytower | 9 | 92 (8 Points) | 80 (4) | 160 (12) |
Fiddlebrix / Arkmaiden (Weight / Balanced)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Bilbobrix / Ladytower | 9 | 92 (8 Points) | 80 (4) | 160 (12) |
Grancathar / Bullshroud (Pure Speed)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Foliacath / Fleetflammer | 9 | 68 (4 Points) | 160 (12) | 120 (8) |
Pseudocath / Whispervesp (Speed / Balanced)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Upgrades to:
Name | Level | Power | Speed | Weight |
Foliacath / Fleetflammer | 9 | 68 (4 Points) | 160 (12) | 120 (8) |
Elscarad / Arginesse (Pure Balanced)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Does not upgrade into other Kinsects.
Exalted Alucanid / Gleambeetle (Power + Speed)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Bilbobrix / Ladytower (Power + Weight)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Foliacath / Fleetflammer (Weight + Speed)
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
These Kinsects are available only on DLC IGs and cannot be upgraded to different types of Kinsects. You cannot swap these Kinsects to other IGs either, nor can they be leveled.
Rukh of Light (Aladdin’s Wand)
Power: 86, Speed: 110, Weight: 150
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Barret Hawk (Conviction Glaive J)
Power: 80, Speed: 150, Weight: 120
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Tora (Spear of the Beast)
Power: 113, Speed: 120, Weight: 100, Water: 20
Kinsect Skills:
Extract Skills:
Insect Glaives usually want to match their target monster’s elemental weakness, since it hits at a higher rate than most other weapons. This also makes Status quite decent to use on them as well. Of course you also want to keep an eye on the Sharpness gauges -- more of certain Sharpness will generally be more effective than a sliver of a higher Sharpness because of the high hit rate.
Low Rank (Hub 1-3*, Village 1-6*)
Petrified Rod hits the middle of the road in terms of raw and Sharpness, even getting a large amount of Green when you get it up to level 4. Furthermore, it upgrades into Obsidian which is also solid in High Rank.
Great Maccao’s IG is possibly the earliest you can get Green Sharpness, which is very important for that early in the game. It also comes up a few times later on with solid Sharpness and raw Attack levels.
The Level 5 version of this comes up with its huge Green Sharpness level and solid 140 raw. This is a really granular recommendation, so you might be okay with the Fader Rod instead, but if you care about that extra 10 raw, there ya go.
Khezu’s IG comes up here as well as a few times later on in prog as a solid recommendation versus Astalos, its direct competitor. Solid raw Attack and higher Thunder than Astalos at the cost of no Affinity and slightly worse Sharpness patterns - the latter problem is fixed with snagging Weakness Exploit and Critical Eye.
Fated Four, like in most other weapon types, are all pretty solid throughout Low Rank, and Glavenus in particular is good for High Rank, since you can upgrade it early on into HR.
High Rank (Hub 4-8*, Village 7-10*)
Lotsa green, relatively easy to upgrade, gains Blue Sharpness early on, this is a solid IG. You’ll drop it later on in HR for better IGs, but it’s great for the beginning part of HR.
All solid throughout the entirety of High Rank due to good stats for their rank and how well their upgrade materials are spread throughout the ranks.
Khezu always comes up slightly earlier since you gain access to High Rank Khezu earlier than High Rank Astalos. Still has all-around good traits, the only weakness being its lower Sharpness and no Affinity which is all solved by the Rath Mix you should have around this point.
Hellblade strikes once more as the provider of all of the top-tier Blademaster weapons in Gen. Doubly so for the Ashen Teuza, as its Blast can easily be leveraged by IG’s hit rate.
Useful for late High Rank hunts that will take a long time, such as Hypers and whatnot due to its constant damage, rather than Blast that will steadily drop off the longer the hunt takes. If the monster in question is weak to Water, consider taking this.
G-Rank (Hub G1*-G4)
Packs a very great 270 raw and natural White Sharpness, which will definitely surpass any other IG which you can make or have at the start of G-Rank. You won’t upgrade this much, since other options are upgraded to G-Rank standards after this, but this is a great way to keep up damage in G1 and G2.
Not that useful early on due to Affinity scaling worse than raw at that point, more useful here because of how well Affinity scales into G-Rank. In G2, this lets you get 250 raw, 40% Affinity, natural White, and two slots, which is amazing. Furthermore, you can upgrade this fully before the end of G-Rank to use this against the final boss.
This is your Anti-Lao option, mostly because of the Dragon damage and high Sharpness, meaning minimal downtime for your DPS race. Yes, it’s got lower raw Attack, but the Dragon more than compensates, as well as the unique mechanics of the fight (namely, no Weakness Exploit for you!). Remember to get the Tremor Res Kinsect, Foliacath (Tier 3, Weight + Speed).
Fated Four IGs make a resurgence in G3 with the G-Rank Fated Four (except for Gammoth. Sorry!). All-around solid stats, with Astalos even getting a bit of Purple.
Told ya Great Macc would be back. This is only really useful in G4 (before endgame), but its high Attack of 330, ease of upgrades, and a chunka White Sharpness makes this a solid all-around choice.
Khezu’s IG can be fully upgraded before you fight the final boss, and is probably the best Thunder IG even before then. Of course, you’ll have to fight Hyper Khezu and not everyone wants to do that.
Main Recommendations:
Having a great raw of 330, a great Blast 55, 15% Affinity and triple slots, this is a great all-rounder IG. This IG does require both S+2 and RS though, so build Jho Ceana as soon as you can.
The Fatalis Overlord is one of the best Thunder IGs you can get your hands on, since it shares the same stats as the Absolute Ruiner Glaive, but exchanges the Blast, Affinity and slots for a better Sharpness rating and a great Thunder 45. Like Absolute Ruiner Glaive, you will need S+2 and RS though.
The Elderfrost IG shares the same qualities as the other Elderfrost weapons -- massive raw, decent Ice, a wee bit of natural Affinity and Defense, and a bad Sharpness rating that can be fixed with S+2 and RS. Seeing a pattern? This is pretty great to use practically anywhere.
Mizu’s IG shares the top spot as the best Water IG with Soulseer’s IG -- more on that later. Good raw, good water, has a lot of Purple with S+2 (and workable with S+1 too), this is just a solid IG.
Soulseer’s IG loses 5 Water, a little bit of Sharpness, and a slot for 10% more Affinity and Deviant Boost. If you can deal with the slight Sharpness loss, you can get faster charge on Extract Hunter, which is a pretty good deal all things considered.
This IG has got Nargacuga-like stats and a great amount of Purple and Fire. You could probably just run S+1 and RS and you’d be fine the entire fight.
Good raw, high Dragon makes this Dragon IG stand out from the rest of the pack, which either lack the raw or lack the Dragon necessary to make the difference. Needs S+2 and RS.
Off-Meta Recommendations - Don’t Use Unless You Really Want To!
The IG with the highest raw without suffering the diminishing returns of higher Poison values. Has a bit less Purple at S+2 than the Veil Caster or Shadow Walker but you’ll manage.
This is the para IG you want to use solo, since it packs higher raw and Sharpness compared to the Stratosphere Glaive. It only gives up 3 Para compared to Stratosphere as well.
High Sharpness, more para, and only gives up 10 raw, as well as having 3 slots makes this IG the Para IG of choice for multiplayer shenanigans. Quite effective, as you can start a status chain with just this and a Hammer.
The low Sharpness of the other option, the Plesioth Harpoon, makes it so that this one edges the other one out. Still disgusting, though, but at least you don’t have to run S+2, RS, and Readiness all at once, right?
The Kinsects generally recommended by most people are all based off of Speed, since Speed is the most important stat of Kinsects. High Speed means faster extract collecting, and easier to do so from a distance.
Early-game Kinsects are basically just Speed-focused, since you can’t screw over your Kinsect development as easily in this game, and the meta ones all upgrade from the Speed Kinsect anyhow. I won’t go over the exact method to upgrade your Kinsects, since there are plenty of guides out there to do it properly, and you can also figure out how to upgrade it down the right path yourself.
Pure Speed-focus gets you the best Affinity-related Kinsect in the game. Getting White means an instant 30% Affinity boost, which with Weakness Exploit and Critical Eye +2 means that you’re capped out on Affinity even with 0 natural Affinity! The Mind’s Eye effect is also nice for some monsters too.
The only Tier 3 Kinsect that’s in the meta, this Speed + Weight Kinsect provides Tremor Res when you have Orange, which is great for certain fights like Rajang, Lao, and other Tremor-y monsters. It also has the classic 30% boost to Affinity when you get White, and you even get Recovery Speed +1 with White and Orange, too.
The Tier 2 Speed/Balance Kinsect provides buffs to your elemental offense, which is great if you’re taking on stuff like Chameleos who’s more resistant to your raw damage than your elemental damage. It does halve the normal Affinity buff, but this is a relatively small thing when you’re going for more Elemental boosts.
The Pure Balanced Kinsect not only provides buffs to your team when you collect Extracts, but most importantly it provides the much-valued Triple Up+, which increases the duration of your Triple Up. This includes Extract Hunter, so you can more easily chain those together. Use this Kinsect if you’re gonna cap out on Affinity if you use the other Affinity-boosting Kinsects.
IG is more or less like the other Blademasters weapons in terms of skill sets, which means that it doesn’t really deviate from the typically recommended stuff.
Low Rank (Hub 1-3*, Village 1-6*)
It’s the classic recommendation for the beginning of the game. Bulldrome Cap, Jaggi Mail, Bulldrome Vambraces, Jaggi Faulds, and Bulldrome Greaves with a few Attack Jwls grants Attack Up (L) within the first few hours of the game, which is the best you can do that early.
Ceanataur’s set can be built if you feel like BuJaBu isn’t quite doing it for you, or if you don’t like the looks of BuJaBu. Grants Razor Sharp and Critical Eye, which is less weaker than AuL, but is a close alternative.
Attack Up and Weakness Exploit combined make for a force to be reckoned with and can easily take you through High Rank, or at least the initial parts of it.
A set that uses Rathalos Cap/Rathalos Mail/Ceanataur Braces/Rathalos Faulds/Bnahabra Boots to get Weakness Exploit, Razor Sharp, and Attack Up (S). This set is better though slightly annoying to get due to the use of Bnahabra Boots. If you can assemble it though, the minor loss in attack is compensated for by the addition of Razor Sharp, and extends the usefulness of the set. You will also lose some Defense in comparison to full Rathalos though, so it’s your call which one you use.
High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-8*)
It’s a High Rank version of BuJaBuJaBu, what did you expect? Still grants you AuL but with a higher amount of Defense if you want to improve on regular ol’ Rathalos a bit, in the cost of damage.
Pretty much the same thing as normal Ceanataur but in High Rank. The HR version grants you more points in Expert which translates to more Critical Eye, which means more Affinity.
Much in the same vein as Rathalos armor is, this is just more damage with Weakness Exploit and Attack Up. Not much to say besides that.
Basically just the same as the LR version but with High Rank parts. Use this if you’re comfortable with sacrificing defense for additional Razor Sharp functionality.
Silver Rathalos armor that gives you Critical Boost instead of Attack Up. Unlike the Rathalos Mixset, I don’t believe that you can mix this with the same parts and get the same skills.
The legendary Hayasol mixed set from Gen. If you’re dedicated enough to clear most of LR Village’s quests then you’ll unlock the Hayabusa Feather after a particularly tough Village Quest. Getting this headpiece means that you can also get this set, which basically was the singular armor set used in Gen lategame. This set can even carry you through HR Break. If you happen to have the Hayabusa Feather, then go ahead and make this set.
G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)
This set’s skillset is good enough to get you through to HR Break, or that’s what I’ve heard. I wouldn’t recommend it because armors in G-Rank start to get more lucrative defense offerings and skill offerings, but if you’re good enough you could legitimately get through G-Rank with just Hayasol on your back.
Ceanataur X is just more of the same when it comes to Ceanataur armors -- Critical Eye and Razor Sharp. Gem in Weakness Exploit and you’re golden for the rest of G-Rank, it’s just that easy.
Rathalos once again is the next big stepping stone in terms of armors. Can be skipped due to the presence of Ceana X, but can help patch up defense if you feel like you’re running thin.
The frequent Jho Ceana set recommended (Esurient XR/Ceanataur XR alternating) is a general Blademaster set, and works incredibly well for end-game IG play, since you can get all the skills which IG needs from it.
For maximum effectiveness, you’ll generally want to tailor your set to the appropriate weapon, and sometimes even the specific monster you’re gonna be tackling. In general, the priorities for Blademasters goes Sharpness-related skills (Sharpness +1 or 2, Razor Sharp), then weapon-specific core skills, then skills that boost Attack as appropriate. Take a look at the following section to get a good idea of what you’ll want.
Quintessential for the majority of IGs in the meta. Most meta IGs gain Purple Sharpness when they have Sharpness +2, and quite a bit of it too, with the exception of the Elderfrost IG, which needs it anyway to avoid the underwhelming block of Green that it has.
You’ll need Razor Sharp to offset the Sharpness consumption that the IG has. Without this, you won’t exactly be dipping into Blue left and right, but this combined with Readiness pretty much makes it so that you will rarely drop even into White Sharpness through the hunt.
50% Affinity when hitting weakspots is 50% Affinity. Being IG, you should be able to hit weakspots that the other elemental weapons, DBs and SnS, shouldn’t as much. You can even mount monsters if you wish to make their weakspots easier to access.
When the weapon can net you 30% free Affinity and let you cap out on Affinity with just Weakness Exploit and Critical Eye +2 alone, you need Critical Boost. Doing so will literally boost your damage by 15%.
You don’t need too much Affinity on IG, since you have natural 30% most of the time, but at the least you can strive to get +2 since that’ll cap you out. If you can only get +1, no biggie since 90% is “good enough” for most situations.
Attack and Affinity booster. Most monsters in G-Rank will enrage frequently making this quite useful, though you won’t find the room for it unless you have extremely bad charms. Furthermore, you’ll need Sharpness +2, making it even harder to get on normal IG sets.
IG fairs about as well as it did in 4U, since the nerfs were mostly around the mounting mechanic itself rather than IG. IG did receive some MV nerfs though, which made it more average in terms of kill speed. Styles don’t do much for IG though, which is disappointing, and the IG HAs aren’t anything special either. Thank goodness Capcom decided to change up the Kinsect system though, or we would all need a PhD in Mathematics to suss out why his Kinsect isn’t the same as my Kinsect. The matchups for IG are mostly favorable thanks to IG’s mobility and the ability for the Kinsect to grant you specific buffs based on your Extracts. IG is a solid weapon in this game, even considering the nerfs to mount spamming.
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