Insect Glaive Guide
Insect Glaive is a partnership between hunter and the Kinsect. Gather the extracts you need from the monster parts that hold them, keep red extract active for the glaive's stronger attacks, use grounded strings when you can hold a good position, and vault when an aerial route gives you better access to the target. When the monster will stay in reach, an opening may be worth spending triple extract on Rising Spiral Slash, then using a remaining wound to gather all three extracts again.
The weapon has no guard action. Its vault and midair movement can cross attacks that stay near the ground, but they do not make every incoming attack miss. Choose them for their path and timing, just as you would choose a roll.
Title Update 4. Complete weapon controls are in the in-game Hunter's Notes; the official manual covers general controls. Combat Mechanics explains why the same swing hits for different numbers. Every move is listed in Motion Values.
If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.
Extracts, Kinsect, Spiral
Send the Kinsect to a monster part, then recall it to receive the extract it collected. The aiming marker shows which color that part provides, and the color can differ between monsters. A charged Kinsect Harvest pierces through more than one part, so a clear line through the monster can collect several colors before you recall the insect.
Red extract unlocks stronger attacks and lets you charge certain moves. White increases movement speed and jump height. Orange resists knockback while the weapon is drawn. Red with white also raises attack, while white with orange raises defense. Collecting red, white, and orange activates triple extract, which alters some attacks, raises attack further, and reduces the effects of roars, wind pressure, and tremors. The three extracts then share one timer. extends the time that these powered states remain active.
Green extract restores health when the Kinsect returns. It does not occupy a red, white, or orange extract slot.
With red active, a charged Descending Slash can Offset an eligible monster attack with its first hit. Release the charge so that the first hit meets the incoming attack; holding the charge while the monster hits you does not trigger the Offset. In the air, the charged move becomes Descending Thrust, and the Kinsect attacks with you. You can hold the charge while you vault.
After a charged Descending attack, Rising Spiral Slash becomes available while triple extract is active. The attack spends the three extracts and leaves you airborne. Its joint Kinsect hits can collect some extracts from the parts they cross, but which colors return depends on those parts. Commit when the monster will remain in the attack's path and when you have a plan for gathering any missing colors afterward.
Focus Thrust: Leaping Strike sends the Kinsect through a wound as the hunter attacks it. Destroying that wound collects red, white, and orange, so a suitable wound can restore the extracts spent on Rising Spiral Slash. Wounds are shared in multiplayer, however, and another hunter may destroy the one you intended to use.
Kinsects differ in flight speed, stamina, damage type, and the dust they leave behind. Faster travel shortens the delay before a recalled extract reaches you; different dust types can heal or build blast, poison, or paralysis. Choose for the support you can activate consistently during the hunt.
Grounded pressure
With red active, grounded strings into Tornado Slash provide direct, repeatable pressure. Reposition during the finisher's recovery and begin the next string when the target remains in reach. Vaulting is useful when its route carries you to a part that grounded movement cannot reach in time, and aerial attacks can also contribute mounting damage, but every vault is a positioning choice rather than a required link between grounded finishers.
Stay grounded when the head or wound is already in front of you. Vault only when the grounded string cannot reach the part before the opening closes.
Fight loop
At the start of an engagement, aim at the extract markers and gather the colors that enable the route you want. A charged Kinsect Harvest can shorten this setup when its path crosses several useful parts. Once red is active, attack the part you can keep reaching and use Tornado Slash when the opening can hold the whole finisher.
When spacing changes, vault if the aerial path keeps you on the intended part; otherwise reposition on the ground. Use an Offset Descending Slash only when you can time its first hit against the monster's attack. Orange extract and triple extract can reduce interruptions, but they do not replace avoiding damage.
During a long opening, choose between keeping triple extract for continued pressure and spending it on Rising Spiral Slash. Before spending, check whether the monster will stay in the attack's path and whether a wound is available for Focus Thrust: Leaping Strike afterward. If no wound remains, the Spiral can still be worthwhile, but its cost includes the time needed to gather missing extracts again.
Skills
When hits start to hurt, upgrade the armor and add defensive skills before trading more room for damage. Getting Started explains meals and pouch preparation. Combat Mechanics explains wounds and the separate weapon and armor skill budgets.
Build priorities
Choose weapon skills that support the attacks you can land and the sharpness color you can maintain.
| Offensive (weapon) | Why |
|---|---|
| Extends powered states, so extracts expire less often during pressure. | |
| and | Raise affinity and Attack respectively; affinity above 100% has no effect. |
| Raises physical critical-hit damage, so it gains value after the build has reliable affinity. | |
| Maintain white or purple sharpness | Dropping to a lower sharpness color reduces the damage of glaive hits. |
Armor skills can reward a target or hunt state that you already maintain.
| Offensive (armor) | Why |
|---|---|
| Adds affinity on qualifying weak points, with additional affinity while that point is wounded. | |
| Raises Attack and affinity while the monster is enraged. | |
| Successive hits build temporary Attack and elemental Attack, which multi-hit glaive routes can activate. |
| Defensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Armor upgrades | Raise defense without requiring a skill slot. |
| Has a chance to reduce incoming damage. | |
| Lv 3 | Prevents stun, which otherwise leaves a weapon with no guard unable to respond. |
In multiplayer, add if attacks exchanged between hunters are still causing damage reactions. It has no benefit in a solo hunt.
These skills solve narrower constraints rather than defining every Insect Glaive set:
| Skill | Why | Budget |
|---|---|---|
| Reduces stamina spent on evades and certain other actions; use it when fixed stamina costs limit your movement. | Armor | |
| Restores stamina faster between stamina-consuming actions. | Armor | |
| Raises Attack only while health is full. | Armor | |
| Temporarily raises elemental attack and status buildup after you recover from a blight or abnormal status. | Armor | |
| Temporarily raises affinity and reduces stamina depletion after its condition is met. | Armor | |
| Raises part damage and the damage of a Focus Strike that destroys a wound. | Armor | |
| Raises Attack and Defense after a faint; it has no effect before the first faint. | Armor |
Keep a sharpness color
Choose a sharpness skill according to how the weapon's gauge and your affinity actually behave. depends on critical hits, while the other options do not.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Extends the sharpness gauge when it has room to grow. | |
| Gives critical hits a chance not to consume sharpness. | |
| Prevents sharpness loss for a fixed time after sharpening. | |
| Gives attacks a chance not to consume sharpness. | |
| Removes cycles from the sharpening action. |
Comfort
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Increases health restored by healing. | |
| Shortens item-consumption animations. | |
| Restores the red portion of the health bar faster. | |
| Adds Defense and, at higher levels, elemental resistance. | |
| Shortens or prevents elemental blights, depending on its level. | |
| Trades Defense for Attack until it saves you from one lethal hit, then raises Defense and elemental resistance. | |
| Shortens the recharge time of specialized tools. | |
| Reduces or prevents interruptions from monster roars, depending on its level. | |
| Extends evade invulnerability; it does not make all aerial movement invulnerable. | |
| Extends evasion distance, which can help or hurt your spacing. | |
| Gives consumed food and drink items a chance not to leave the pouch. |
Styles
| Style | Skills |
|---|---|
| Element or status | rewards successive hits; applies only after its recovery condition is met. |
| Frequent aerial movement | Add or only when stamina is constraining the route. affects jumping attacks, not every action performed after a vault. |
This hunt
These skills answer particular monsters, environments, or tactics rather than belonging on every set.
| Skill | When |
|---|---|
| Use when you want to create wounds more easily and trigger its additional non-elemental damage buildup. | |
| Use when wind pressure is interrupting actions and extract resistance is not enough. | |
| Use when ground tremors are interrupting attacks or landings. | |
| Use when the hunt regularly inflicts a blight that you are prepared to fight through. | |
| Improves the effectiveness of flash attacks and items against monsters where they matter. | |
| Raises explosive-item damage when barrel bombs are part of the plan. | |
| Makes the monster more likely to target you; take it only when your group wants that attention directed at you. | |
| Makes mounting easier and improves wound creation while mounted. | |
| Reduces movement impairment in water, oilsilt, and streams. |
A hunt can also make , , , , , or more useful than another general skill.
Skills that look better than they are
- raises jumping-attack damage, not every attack used during an aerial route.
- Do not vault for the entire hunt simply because the weapon can. Vault when its path creates access, spacing, or a mounting opportunity.
- Do not spend triple extract as soon as it activates if the monster is already moving out of the Spiral's path.
- Destroying a wound removes the wounded state. If is part of the build, compare the immediate Focus Strike and extract recovery with the affinity the wound would provide to later qualifying hits.
- can shorten compatible charge times, but it does not gather extracts for the Kinsect.
- requires full stamina for a period of time, so frequent stamina use can delay or remove its affinity.
- requires a slide; a vault does not activate it.
Settings
Focus Mode provides the aiming view for the Kinsect and Focus Thrust: Leaping Strike. If automatic sheathing closes that control state when you do not expect it, set automatic sheathe to Manual.
While aiming the Kinsect, keep the camera high enough that extract markers on elevated parts stay visible. A low camera that clips into the monster's body makes it harder to choose the color you meant to gather before you send the insect.