Monster Hunter Rise, the Rarest item in the Game

Having casually played my way through to endgame content in Rise I thought it was way past time for me to start a focused attempt at crafting proper endgame sets. With Sunbreak releasing in a few months, what better time to polish up a variety of sets to tackle Master Rank quests with.

I’ve written in the past about my disappointment with there being no Apex armor sets. Even though these monster do drop endgame items, Deviant/Apex sets are always the trophy pieces of the online world. Proof that you’ve not only downed the most difficult challenges, but downed them repeatedly, to craft complete sets with weapon and decorations. With months on end of steady event quest additions, plenty of challenge here, imo, I’ve been crafting set after set with relative ease, and enjoying the endgame as it is currently. I find it interesting though, that even after crafting the Valstrax set, grinding Apex Rath and Zinogre for decoration mats, the Purple Magna Orb from Magnamalo is still the rarest item in the game. Ok so I don’t know for sure that this actually the case, but I do know that after hundreds of hours in Rise and so so many encounters with Magna, only 3 of those orbs have dropped.

On my way to the end of this version of the game, I was after the complete Magna armor set, working in many encounters to get the orb to drop so that I could craft the Sinister Gauntlets S. By the time 3.0 released, I was ready to “complete” the game and did so, grinding out several sets, Valstrax included, but never got the orb to drop, and Monster Hunter got put on the back burner so I could play through other games while I waited on the next Monster Hunter content to come our way. Back into the game and fine tuning things, I found that I needed the Purple Magna Orb for Handicraft Jewels, and after researching sets, found that I wanted to complete a Longsword set for the Phantom Mirage and might need three of these jewels.

About to craft my 3rd Handicraft Jewel 3, so stoked to see that 3rd Purple Magna Orb drop.

I am happy to announce, that I have finally completed the set, Handicraft Lv 3, Weapon Sharpness +30. The rest of the set is in the pic below. I’ve completed sets for Charge Blade and Switch Axe, Dual Blades is next, then the Tigrex Hammer. I was able to put together an Insect Glaive set without focusing on it with pieces I acquired putting other sets together. Looks like I’ll be spending the rest of my time in 3.0 mastering the counter timing for LS and waiting for those epic talisman drops.

This is where I’m at with the set. All Valstrax armor. White sharpness on the Phantom Mirage. I’m happy with it, but I’m still waiting for that perfect talisman.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, June 30!

The online event has come and gone and now we know everything there is to know about Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, the newest DLC for the franchise. My first concern for any Monster Hunter game is, is there going to be a G rank or G rank equivalent? Monster Hunter 4U was the first title I sank a considerable amount of time into and playing it mostly solo, G rank was always the goal, how far was I going to make it. G rank always seemed like this unknowable future that I would never see the entirety of. I would watch speed runners and similar “professionals” and think I would never have the knowledge or skills to see the final challenges of the game. That was before my first 1000 hours and I feel different about the game now, but the mystique of G rank has never left me. For the record, I soloed my way to G3, shattered the bottom screen of my first 3DS and was unable to transfer my save data to a new system, so I had to start over. I’m still working on it. Maybe it goes without saying but I was disappointed to find that the US version of Monster Hunter X (Generations) wasn’t going to have G rank, so I skipped the 3DS version of that game until it was released on Nintendo Switch. I played Generations Ultimate until Monster Hunter Rise released, as I felt similarly about Monster Hunter World. As cool as Monster Hunter World was and is, I didn’t see it as a full game. Not the experience I wanted. I dabbled, but never played. Rise was going to be the next Monster Hunter I sank time into, and now I’m ecstatic to see that there will be “G rank” content in the form of Master Rank quests.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, new monster, flagship of the DLC, Malzeno.

I’ve mentioned before about the letdown from the fact that Apex monsters in MHRise don’t have their own armor. Maybe the letdown was that there is nothing beyond them. That the armor and weapons we can make in the game are it, and they are the final challenge. Only to be defeated, only for the purpose of defeating them. I’ve added to that thought, that just because they don’t have their own armor doesn’t mean they don’t have value in the game, we can craft decorations for end game sets that provide huge dps bonuses, and those sets will serve us well as we enter into Master Rank quests. I have to say though, the rarest item in the game also serves its purpose in an essential decoration, the Purple Magna Orb from Magnamalo, but what point does it serve that we still have to grind on Magma even after the Apex monsters are out?

I digress.

Sunbreak is coming, new monsters are coming, Astalos is coming back, and maybe now Monster Hunter Rise will feel like the full game we need in a Monster Hunter title. I am unabashedly nostalgic for the old ways, the clunky plucking of herbs and the forever animation of drinking a potion while Basarios winds up forever away in the distance and still has time to faceroll me before I can get out of the way. But Monster Hunter Rise is fun and beautiful, maybe Sunbreak will add the challenge we are all looking for.