Monster Hunter Rise 2.0: everything you need to know about the update

Monster Hunter Rise 2.0

Last week Capcom finally released the first update of Monster Hunter Rise and, as you may recall from our coverage of Monster Hunter World and Iceborne, we like to dig into these updates and tell you about them in detail. This time it took us longer than usual because it was a really rich update, which introduced various monsters, features and innovations in the Nintendo Switch title that deserved our attention. So here we are to summarize the contents of this excellent patch, which promises very well for the future: Capcom has in fact announced that the next update will arrive at the end of May, that is in the space of a month, along with new monsters and the true ending of the campaign, which remains. pending after the clash with the Narwa of Thunder. In the meantime, here's what awaits you when you update Monster Hunter Rise to version 2.0.

The new monsters

The first thing you'll discover, once you start the game after the update, is that the your Hunter Rank has been unlocked and if you had reached the previous maximum limit (7) now you can, indeed, have to go up to 20 to unlock the new content. In the village of Kamura and in the Hunting Base you will find a lot of NPCs who want to talk to you and tell you all the news, from the missioner to the guild leader, passing of course through the blacksmiths and the postman, but for now let's focus on the monsters. The 7-star missions have increased and you will immediately notice that there is an intruder: the Bazelgeuse. Capcom did not even mention it in the Digital Event that preceded the release of the update, limiting itself to talking about the new Apex monsters and the elder dragons contained in the package. First appearing in Monster Hunter World, the Bazelgeuse is a flying wyvern that you must hunt in the Death from Above mission.

Monster Hunter Rise: the Chameleos. In a sense, the Bazelgeuse will be your test bed for the new 7-star hunts. It is relatively annoying, but it beats like a blacksmith and you will quickly realize that the monsters in the new hunts are significantly more damaging than the ones you have faced so far. The other seven-star missions include three Challenges of the master Utsushi, in which you will have to face different pairs of monsters, and the first Apex hunts: Capcom has in fact listened to the feedback of the players who would have preferred to face the Apex monsters in normal missions rather than in mode Fury. If you have read our review, then you will know how we think: the Fury mode is a lot of fun, if played in company and with a minimum of organization, but alone it ends up becoming a long and tiring procedure, especially if you aim only for the rewards. which exclusively offer Apex bosses at the end of the game.

Monster Hunter Rise: the Rathalos Apex. Still being a good idea, and an interesting variation on the theme of the usual hunt, Capcom has compromised: in practice, this update implements two new Apex monsters (Rathalos and Diablos) to be faced in Fury mode, while those already in the game from release (Arzuros, Mizutsune and Rathian) can be hunted normally. We assume that the next update will clear the regular hunts for the Rathalos Apex and Diablos Apex, adding the already leaked Zinogre Apex to the Fury mode and maybe some other surprises. Either way, you'll have enough new and tough hunts to reach Hunter Rank 20 and unlock the first, new, urgent mission: Ancient Illusion. In this mission you will have to hunt down an elder dragon that dates back to Monster Hunter 2 but that we haven't seen for some time, and that is the Chameleos. For newcomers to Monster Hunter, it is worth explaining that elder dragons are generally stronger than normal monsters that cannot be trapped or captured: you will necessarily have to kill them, and for this reason you will be rewarded with an extra kick.

Monster Hunter Rise: Chameleos again. The Chameleos has been revised and corrected for this edition of Monster Hunter, but for the most part it has remained the cute slimy it once was: obviously it looks like a chameleon, and as such it can become invisible. It can attack with its long prehensile tongue, stealing the Spiribirds you collected earlier, and produce puffs or cluster bombs that poison the hunters. You can break the horn on its muzzle, nullifying its ability to disappear, and cut off its big tail to get an extra kick. Once this elder dragon is defeated, the Hunter Rank will unlock and you will be able to reach level 30. The new missions and the Fury mode will help you climb even more levels per game, and in no time you will find yourself with a new mission urgent to complete: Storm. of ice. This time you will have to deal with Kushala Daora, another old acquaintance who also hung around in Monster Hunter World. In this case we are talking about a real flying dragon capable of controlling the wind, generating devastating whirlwinds and cyclones, as well as a barrier that protects it from non-piercing ranged attacks.

Monster Hunter Rise: the Kushala Daora. The Kushala Daora can become a pretty mangy opponent, but Capcom has redesigned most of its moves to make it a little less harassing than in the past. In the old Monster Hunter, in fact, it could happen that he managed to trap the hunters among his cyclones, denying any escape route. The introduction of the Wire Bug and increased range of movement help to circumvent his attacks, but the Kushala Daora is still a monster to be reckoned with, especially if you have low resistance to ice. With him out of the way, you'll need to reach GC 40 to unlock this update's last urgent mission: The Emperor of Flame. The Teostra has remained the hard nut to crack that veterans remember, and Capcom has also given it a few new attacks that you can dodge with timely use of the Thread Bug. His famous Supernova explosion seemed a bit more immediate than Monster Hunter World, and this means that you have to be careful of the amount of flames he manages to accumulate around his body. Break his horns and hit him in the head to weaken him.

Monster Hunter Rise: the Glacier Arch. Once Teostra is defeated, your Hunter Rank will be fully unlocked and you can reach level 999 by continuing to hunt, mission after mission. In this sense, you will have to try the two new Apex monsters of the update, which appear in the 7-star Fury missions. In these new hordes you could also deal with some monsters that previously did not hang out in the same parts, such as the Magnamalo - which we advise you to reject quickly to get an excellent bonus to the rewards - and the Bazelgeuse. The two bosses are definitely stronger than their normal counterparts, in particular the Rathalos who has the bad habit of firing real cannon shots from above, tearing platforms and barriers to shreds. Save any tricks up your sleeve to get rid of these monsters quickly, or they'll break through the village's defenses and you'll have to start the mission over.

Weapons, armor and so on

Monster Hunter Rise: the insect glaive Magic Mace. As we said above, when you enter the village after the 2.0 update you will have to have a good chat with the various NPCs to learn and unlock the new features. The most interesting thing is that you will be able to further improve the level of defense of the armor, perhaps by spending the new Heavy Armor Spheres: you will need it because the monsters in the new missions will be able to be much more annoying and harmful than before, and in some cases they could even take away all or nearly all of your health with one blow. Mind you, the game for veterans continues to be objectively easier than the old chapters, but to new players we can only say: welcome to Monster Hunter. Now we begin to think. In that sense, also take a look at the new Foils that are unlocked by completing the new missions, and remember that the materials you will recover from the newly added monsters will unlock new jewels to be made, including the highly anticipated Weakness, Craftsman and Touch of the master. br>
Monster Hunter Rise: the Theocraterizing hammer. The introduction of these jewels and the weapons and armor that are made thanks to the new monsters - in particular, the Teostra - has caused a decline in the meta, so far focused mainly on Nargacuga weapons due to their very high affinity. The new jewels effectively loosen the controversial grip on talismans, granting a greater variety of builds and workarounds. While the best players in the world are puzzling over decimals, new meta weapons gradually emerge that favor elemental damage or raw damage, thanks also to the Devastator ability, introduced for the first time in Monster Hunter Rise, although the white thread weapon still remains the most effective modifier. The light crossbow still dominates, however, when configured to repeatedly stun the monster over the course of the hunt, opening a window of potential damage to all players in the game. However, a precise location remains to be found for the Fury weapons, to which a new rank is now added with materials obtained from Rathalos and Diablos Apex.

Monster Hunter Rise: the Tetranadon in the first Event mission. In short, the Monster Hunter Rise meta remains extremely fluid and players are indulging in the search for alternative builds and strategies. From this point of view, the softer difficulty curve of the Nintendo Switch title represents an interesting dispute, because in all respects it invites you to experiment with new configurations without indirectly forcing players to look for the most effective solutions ever. More disappointing, however, are the 5/5 bonuses of the armor of the elder dragons, which on paper seem interesting - they cancel each other out in a kind of trinity - but which are actually quite useless: monsters are not all that difficult to induce players, even novices, to craft their sets for this reason alone. The weapons, on the other hand, are very interesting, although it seemed useless to add two Scoppio series (Bazelgeuse and Teostra) in a single update, already considering the quality of the Scoppio weapons in the Magnamalo series. Finally, for lovers of the sword and shield, we note the addition of a scheme that is unlocked by completing a task for the Master Utsushi: the Ninja Sword in question, with its 100% affinity, is truly captivating.

Monster Hunter Rise: Capture a High Rank Magnamalo to unlock the Ninja Sword. In short, you will spend a lot of time at the blacksmith, if only because the update introduced much anticipated Armor Styles for both players and companions Felyne and Canyne much earlier than expected. The 7-star missions will reward you with Good Clothes, a currency that you can spend on the Armor Styles you like best. This feature, introduced for the first time in Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, allows you to "cover" the equipment actually worn with the appearance of another; By doing so, players who prefer a certain look instead of what they are forced to wear to employ a certain build, can indulge themselves with the beautiful armor designed by the artists of Capcom. In Monster Hunter World, Armor Styles arrived towards the end of the game's life cycle, and we honestly thought it would be the same this time around: their introduction, however, encourages players to keep hunting even just to show off a new look. . It goes without saying that we really enjoyed this addition.

Towards the next update

Monster Hunter Rise: the main new features of Update 2.0. The Monster Hunter Rise 2.0 update is a very rich package of additional content and features that include, among other things, the Event missions: just talk to Senri the postman to download them, after which you can play both offline and online. The first of them, a 6-star mission titled Far from Eyes and Mind, sees us hunt down a stronger-than-usual Tetranadon to get our hands on a new reward: a special ninja gesture. It's a bit cheap for now, but we are confident that Capcom will continue its historical support that already on Nintendo 3DS included multiple fixed-term or open-ended Event missions that rewarded with bonuses, poses, bizarre pieces of equipment or simply GC points in abundance. . The next update, scheduled for May, is still shrouded in mystery: we know that there will be the new campaign finale and therefore a new final boss, but also several more monsters that could be the aforementioned Zinogre Apex and the highly anticipated Crimson Valstrax. After that, the Monster Hunter Rise road map becomes more nebulous, but one thing is for sure: the Capcom title was hugely successful and it would make perfect sense to keep updating it periodically until the inevitable expansion.

Monster Hunter Rise: The Road Map of Updates. Have you noticed any errors?