Complete is such a weird word to use with MH games… let’s just say that I have successfully slain every monster the game currently has to offer. You never complete a MH game.

I’ve had a few posts on this game, and I won’t rehash all of it. Different from World, there are 2 different modes here – Village quests (which are all low rank – 1 to 3 star), and Hub quests (which are high – 4 to 7 star – and low rank). Each has normal quests, as well as rampages. As with other MH, you have to complete a set amount of quests in order to move to the next difficulty mode. That added difficulty adds more monster types, which unlock more weapons and armor options.

Again consistent with MH games, those unlocks are dramatically stronger than early gear, so there’s minimal gain to grind gear at low levels. A 100dmg weapon at 3* would become a 200dmg weapon at 7*. Armor goes from 30 defense per piece, up to 76. While on paper it’s about 2x as much, in reality it’s more like 4x because this also unlocks decorations and talismans that provide major bonuses (like +10% attack, or +30% crit chance). The incentive is almost entirely around progression through the quests, until you get to the last boss.à

I also won’t spoil the two new monsters that appear at the end of 6* and 7*. The former becomes part of the ‘regular’ rotation of monsters once defeated. The latter is more like Xeno from MH:W, but available at all times. I will say that’s a weird battle, as for every melee weapon, a good 90% of the damage in this fight comes from installations (dragonator, ballista, canon, machine gun). Ranged attackers have a massive advantage here in terms of continual damage output… but there is so much moving AE damage you’re going to way to Wirebug around and use the installations instead. The sheer amount of HP on this boss means you’re looking at 15m battles.

The gear/weapons from the final boss, like Xeno, are ok but you’re probably better off with other gear sets. Instead, you’re going to want to use these material to gamble for talismans.

(Sidenote for those taking on harder * quests. Take the time for Spiritbugs. +70hp/stamina, +13atk, and +30def is a LOT.)

What’s Next for Me

I’m currently running longsword, as the offensive and defensive options are just ridiculous. Bow is currently broken in terms of raw damage (the scaling is extremely high), so I’d expect some tuning on that front. I’ve got the sword I want, now it’s about gear, decorations, and a decent Weakness Exploit talisman. For the gear, it’s probably a half dozen kills per piece, maybe less with good RNG. Except for Anjanath pants… those require a Gem that has a 1-3% drop chance.

There’s that, and the 20 odd quests I need to complete. That’ll unlock some more Switch skills, and some food buffs. Quite a few are crazy hard, like taking out 3x level 7* monsters… those will have to wait a bit.

Even if I was to stop right now, I’ve got a solid 30 hours in here played. It’s a quality entry in the series, no doubt.

What’s Next for the Game

There’s apparently an April update due, with Chameleos, more Apex monsters for Rampage, the return of Hunter Ranks (HR), and apparently other monsters too. Should be interesting to see what that brings…