Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak — 5 Things To Do Before The Expansion Hits

You probably have some quests that you haven’t completed yet from all the way back from when you were simply an HR1 hunter. If you want to revisit the basics, go back and complete those quests. There are also plenty of Event Quests available that create strange scenarios (like putting monsters in different environments) or reward you with special layered armour and stickers.

And although you don’t need to complete the story to access Sunbreak–that is, completing the quest “The Allmother”—I highly recommend just getting that off your list along with “The Crimson Glow.” Currently, Crimson Glow Valstrax is not only the hardest monster available, its equipment is the best you can get. If you can beat them solo or with friends, you’re ready for Master Rank.

If you’re going to get your backside kicked, you may as well look stylish while at it. Every armour currently in the game has a layered armour variant. It doesn’t affect stats, it just makes you look cool. However, if you’re dedicated enough, you might want to wear the real pieces and see how well you’ll do against Elder Dragons. After all, fashion hunting predates the layered armour system.

Your Guild Card is essentially a record of everything you’ve done, tracking everything from how many times you brought a certain weapon type to a quest, to the biggest and smallest monsters you’ve hunted. There are also a bunch of awards to unlock and show your mastery of the game, such as the Wreath of Honor (awarded for completing 100 optional quests) and the Five-in-One Plaque (awarded for hunting 5 monsters in a single Expedition Tour).

With a new difficulty mode, all the armour and weapons you’ve worked towards and crafted are all going to be rendered obsolete once you get far enough into Sunbreak, so why not use this opportunity to learn a new weapon? Variety is the spice of life after all. Not everyone will be able to fight with all 14 weapons effectively, given their vastly different playstyles, but having at least two or three weapons you’re good at will make things a whole lot more fun!

Although there are plenty of hunters who participate in the arena, it’s not exactly required to even glance at Master Utsushi to beat the game. However, Arena Quests often drop you into interesting scenarios and task you with hunting a monster with mandatory sub-optimal gear. They’re much harder than standard quests, even in Low Rank, and getting good times is even harder.