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Monster Hunter Rise will be released in just two weeks for Nintendo Switch — on March 26 to be precise. And Monster Hunter March Digital Event has showcased new tidbits about the game for all the Hunters hungry for more hunts out there. From Monster Hunter Rise’s new Silkbind Attacks Skill Switching, more information about the Rampage system, to a roadmap of upcoming contents. But before we get to the meat of the discussion, let’s watch the new “Kamura’s Hope” trailer below.
How the Skill Switch System Works
With the addition of Wirebug, all 14 weapons have extra combo attacks by holding the ZL and attack buttons with weapons unsheathed. This new feature in Monster Hunter Rise is called Silkbind Attacks. The Monster Hunter Digital Event stream showcased four different switchable skills from two weapons, Great Sword and Gunlance. If you have played Monster Hunter Generations before, the skills might look familiar to you.
Great Sword:
- Hunting Edge: An aerial attack, uses a Wirebug to fly you up for a hefty Roundslash. If the attack connects, you’ll bounce upward and can tie it into the next Charged Slash attack. Medium gauge recovery.
- Adamant Charged Slash: Wirebug technique where you dash forward and deliver a Strong Charged Slash. Allows you to withstand knockdown attacks. Fast gauge recovery speed.
Gunlance:
- Charged Shelling: A shelling attack that unleashes a fortified shot. Hold A and release it once your character glows red.
- Blast Dash: Travel long-distance by utilizing shelling recoil. It’s also possible to fire another Blast Dash while flying.
Monster Hunter series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto said that as we progressed in the game, we’ll able to unlock more “regular and Silkbind Attacks.” He also added that the full version of Monster Hunter Rise will have additional Silkbind Attacks that aren’t shown in the demo. Datamined information from the demo revealed that we’ll get two switchable skills for each weapon. Hopefully what Ryozo means is there will be much more skills hidden in the full game.
Rampage Tower Defense Detailed
Rampage quest is another main gimmick of Monster Hunter Rise. In this type of quest, you and your friends are tasked with defending the Kamura Village by taking on hordes of monsters, preventing them from breaking through the village defenses. Just like a tower defense game, you’ll be given prep time to deploy Hunting Installations (cannons, ballistae, and Dragonators) all over the area and everyone from the village will also lend you a hand.
Several of those Hunting Installations can be manned by NPCs that will auto-attack nearby monsters. Named NPCs such as Hinoa and Minoto can be “deployed” to deal more damage and providing distractions. They have their own health limit too so you have to keep both eyes open for both enemy attacks and faltering defenses. And in the middle of a Rampage, there will be a brief moment called Counter Signal. As its name stands, this is the perfect time to tip the balance to your favor since when it activates your attacks will increase dramatically.
There are two powerful types of monsters that lead the Rampage: Apexes and Major Threats. While you can try to fend off all invading monsters, you can also defeat the Apex to end the battle. The villagers believe that Magnamolo is the one that causing this phenomenon. But if you’ve played any Monster Hunter game before, you’d know that the flagship monsters are almost certainly a red-herring. This means another mysterious creature is still causing chaos behind the scene…
New Monsters
Talking about a mysterious monster, furthermore, the trailer teased an appearance of a creepy-looking flying Leviathan. This could be a teaser for the Village Quest’s final Elder Dragon boss. The Monster Hunter March Digital Event also showcased three returning monsters:
- Zinogre, now with a turf war against Mizutsune.
- Nargacuga.
- And Chameleon-like Elder Dragon, Chameleos. Who will be coming later in “late April” as a free title update together with several new monsters and High Rank cap unlock.
Additional Online Features
- Story-focused, single-player Village Quest and multiplayer Hub Quest have been divided again unlike in World.
- This time, quest difficulty is adjusted to: one player, two players, three players, and four players. It will adapt on the fly as players join or leave.
- Instant online play SOS Signal comes back in the form of the Join Request feature.
- Hunter Connect tag: allows you to set optional tags to match with other players.
- When creating a Hunter Connect, you can add optional tags (the Connect Name), activity time, and a shoutout. You can make your own Hunter Connect or be invited to join one by another player.
- You can also create a Lobby that can only be found by players using the same Hunter Connect, by specifying the Hunter Connect you’re currently using when creating the Lobby.
- Likes system: give Like to each other after a hunt!
- If two players send each other a Like, they will become Mutual Likes. This allows you to find and join the Lobby the other player is in.
That’s all for now. Capcom will be showing off more new Monster Hunter Rise Silkbind Attacks gameplay as well as a Q&A session with director Yasunori Ichinose in today’s stream. So don’t forget to download the second demo and head over to our Monster Hunter March Digital Event schedules and stream links!
