If you are a veteran, you do not need this.


This guide is made for beginners who are about to start or just started their adventure in Monster Hunter Rise. You will find here some guiding words about the so called "Defender Gear", which has a reputation of being infamous within the Monster Hunter community, after it had been introduced first with Monster Hunter: World.



I am going to tell you a few words about its "history", how it got its reputation which seemingly ignite countless controversial discussions, and what might be best for you as a beginner. Based upon my personal experience and therefore naturally biased.

If this seems "too much" for you, no worries. You can go ahead and use the Defender Gear without anyone judging you. But it comes with a price. And that price which beginners unknowingly pay is what we veterans despise. It is not up to anyone to tell you whether to use it or not - this is more a matter of "I wish back then someone told me..." and that it seems essential to tell you about it more in advance.

Whether you decide to use the Defender Gear or not ~ what matters by the end of the day is you having fun playing. And I would be delighted if this guide can give some helping words for that matter.

I am going to spare you the details about the stats it had back then, as they do not matter in the latest installment of Monster Hunter and as a beginner you probably would not be able to tell what is considered overpowered back then and what not with stats right now.

The idea of the Defender Gear was simple and yet in retrospect naive.

Monster Hunter: World Iceborne got released!

Everyone who has not reached endgame yet, or start afresh shall get to the addon ASAP!

Everyone should be just playing Iceborne and no one shall feeling left behind!

that all, taking into consideration that playing through Monster Hunter: World until you reach endgame can be quite a long adventure.

The idea was good. Great even on paper!
Everyone should be able to enjoy the latest content together!
Reminds you somewhat of level jump potions in MMOs, does it not?


My situation was that I have played MH:W to the endgame content already. And I could just have started right away with addon Iceborne if I decided to continue playing on the Playstation 4. But instead I bought the game anew with the addon for PC. And of course there was little to gain for me to invest the same amount of time, or at least a usual amount of time - which is good minimum 30 hours? - AGAIN on PC just to get to the addon, where all achievements would become meaningless anyroads.

New area. New "maximum level". All "endgame gear" from the base game become "junk" once you reach the addon content. That makes overpowered gear to rush through the base game sound not that bad, if said overpowered gear is only overpowered for the base game and then becomes "junk" too, right?




Monster Hunter is basically a game which comes without difficulty slider. It could be as hard or as easy as you want, based on your skills and time you invest to gather equipment. Gearing up with Defender Gear did equal turning the game to "Easy Mode".

Of course players who played Monster Hunter: World before know about all the challenges and were able to rush through the game with smirks on their faces thanks to the overpowered gear. But that was the crux. We knew what the challenges looked like and did feel. New players without mentors only knew "Easy Mode".

The spirit of the game which usually is the main appeal of the franchise got entirely surpressed by having the new players wearing overpowered gear. The overpowered gear allowed you to progress much much much more faster through the base game, but you still had a time investment to make which was not little.

Breezing through the main game with the overpowered gear in "Easy Mode" took not only away what makes Monster Hunter attractive - challenges to overcome and personal growth - it also make one wonder "why I am playing this? its far too easy to be fun".


In retrospect a big lost opportunity. Not just for Capcom. But also for the community to get a significant growth for the player base. That was one of at least two "curses" which came as a price for the Defender Gear.

With "Easy Mode" on, and suddenly being turned off when the new players reached Iceborne, most of them seemingly hit a wall. A lot had never had enough incentive to learn some essential Monster Hunter skills. Why should they if instead of dodging they can take easily hits? Why should they learn important moves, unlock certain options or have an understanding of not so obvious and yet basics if they were all the time invincible?


How was that supposed to be fair what they experienced?

The real, very worrying issues came with multiplayer. Those who made it through all the challenges without the Defender Gear, those who played the game without ever touching "Easy Mode", are suddenly put into game with people who knew know respect for the challenges. And even worse: who knew not enough to be playing on the same level. What mayhaps sounds harsh at first was reflected of countless frustrated players who had to deal with "new players" who are lacking the basic skills when they have reached Iceborne, and putting even more countless quests into jeopardy.

The Defender Gear helped me in Monster Hunter: World to reach the Iceborne expansion in no time. I got Monster Hunter: World + Iceborne for the PC again with the prospect that two friends would play with me together.


But I ended up alone.

One considered the base game so boring, she dropped playing with us halfway.

The other got overwhelmed when the Defender Game became obsolete once we reached the point where the gear you earn becomes better than the overpowered "support gear". They could not get their head around the system of armour skills which was never needed with the Defender Gear being sufficient to breeze through the base game.

I did not see it coming with them having an as easy time as me, assuming they would enjoy the game the same way I did. But of course that was a thought full of nonsense, as I have played the game before. They never tasted Monster Hunter: World how it was meant to be played before it was too late.

That kind of story and what I have mentioned above in the history lead to the current state of the Monster Hunter community's ~hostile stance~ towards the Defender Gear. Cursing of how it ruined what was supposed the grand debut of a niche game in the west becoming a popular franchise.


In best case they will tell you that everyone who took their time to read the hint about the Defender Gear were warned properly. While that fact about the proper warning is questionable, it is still so much better than the version in which people insist you do not use the Defender Gear by all means and would even put penalties on players who still do so. The rift was created strong, after all.



It is hard to say that the community did not expect that Capcom would repeat the mistake in a faulty attempt to make the game "more approachable by a broader audience" for the upcoming addon / expansion.

Like when a long standing MMO offers you to use a "jump potion" to skip content so as a new player you can start alongside veterans with a high level and former endgame gear. It is just not how this kind of game works, which is beloved by its community for the kind of personal growth the game offers.

An earlier attempt by Capcom to offer something similar and yet weaker was already enough for an offended community to start spite, despite it was not reasoned at that time.


But Capcom seems to insist to repeat its former mistake which gave born to these words of mine, with the intention that if Capcom fails to explain to you what it means to use that "support gear", you shall at least have some guiding words of a veteran to make a proper decision.


Hoping that a beginner who is unlikely to scan the forums with all the spiteful comments and controversial discussions about the topic might stumble by accident about this very guide.

Before we continue a few explainations for you to help you understand what some statements and arguments actually mean, when certain terms and values are used.

they stand for Low Rank, High Rank, Master Rank, G-Rank

HR can also mean Hunter Rank

The Hunter Rank itself means little to nothing in regards of the abilities of a hunter. After certain milestones in the game it merely reflects how much a player has spent playing the game. In multiplayer one hunter with a high hunter rank can still be bad, while a skilled player who do not care much about raising their rank can keep their lower hunter rank for reasons.

In fact, in older installment it was not uncommon for skilled hunter to "disguise" themselves with a low hunter rank, so they would still get proper matchmakings, while a high hunter rank (500+) often "left them lonely".

The final relevant milestone for Monster Hunter Rise would be Hunter Rank 20, which indicates you finished the core game. Everything above only reflects the time spent with the game.

Which leads us to MR/GR

"Master Rank" and "G-Rank" can be considered as synonyms. With Monster Hunter: World it changed from G-Rank to "Master Rank" due to possible misunderstandings due culture. As in: if a weak monster was classified A, then G means the strongest. But it sounds weird, when you think of school grading e.g. in which for U.S.A. pupils A means the best while F the worst. For the sake of international understanding what was once known as G-Rank challenges became Master Rank.

The principle for Master Rank is the same as for Hunter Rank. Up to a certain milestone it reflects a player's progress before it turns to a reflection of their playtime. It just differs with MR reflecting that the challenges the hunter has dealt with is more worth than whatever has happened before with their HR.

As you can probably tell, it is not a very good system from a good point of view. But it prevents players from being shunned for getting categorised into something like "upper league, middle league, low end league". A high HR or MR says nothing about a hunter's actual skill.

Low Rank and High Rank stands for categories of how a quest difficulty is scored. With low rank naturally being what beginners start with, and high rank something you access later on.

Here are some examples how it looks like ingame, reflected by quests





In Monster Hunter the actual challenges follow a star score system. But there is indeed more to it.

A monster can appear early and easy in Low Rank. And then appearing again in High Rank and above, but with increased stats and abilities. As a rule of thumb it is easy to understand if you think of a "low rank monster" has the meaning of "a monster in its weakest form". It does not mean per default that low rank is easy. It just means you will outgrow it as a beginner soon enough.

Village Quests are the quests which are considered "Story Mode"-Quests. They are all significantly easier with much weaker monsters, in comparison to what you get on the Gathering Hub, and are meant to be that way so you play the story first on your own, and learning the game's basics by doing so, BEFORE joining multiplayer on Gathering Hub quests.

For veterans it feels somewhat slowing down the game's start, without the Village Quests being absolutely necessary. But in general the Village Quests I considered great, as they offer the best and most approachable "New Player Experience" ever seen throughout the Monster Hunter franchise.


The progress for Village Quests and Gathering Hub Quests are separated


It still makes me laugh when thinking about my first hunt with Monster Hunter Rise. As a veteran huntress I jumped straight into Gathering Hub quests to get a feeling for the gameplay before I would go for the story. It was such a big mistake!

I have spent on my very first hunt almost 48 minutes, with only 2 minutes left before the hunt is considered a failure. It was a brutal and fun experience!

Even when I tried it multiplayer with a friend, we did not manage it together below 45 minutes, despite it was the very first and therefore easiest quest in the list.
(with additional players the health pools of monsters increase, but it is still supposed to be easier)



What is normal for a new player is usually 25-35 minutes for any kind of monster hunting quest. Veterans can reduce that time incredibly, but you really do not have to rush the game. As long as you are within 25-35 minutes for a hunt, your skills are good to enjoy the game how it is meant to be enjoyed.

That it took me on my first hunt so long, despite I am a veteran huntress, simply speaks for the fact that the default starting gear is not made for you to enjoy multiplayer quests right away. The game is concepted that you give the story quests priority so you start with the necessary basics. But do not worry! It does not take long at all until you get the necessary resources for equipment to play the more difficult challenges in an enjoyable way. Veterans probably only need 30-60 minutes or so before they can jump to multiplayer with a sufficient viable gear set (depending on their skills).

However, I do recommend beginners to do Village Quests first for the best "New Player Experience" possible, unless they have live guidance from a veteran hunter as their mentor, who accompanies their journey through the game.

The image shows a comparison of a buffed and an unbuffed hunter with the same equipment

I am plain and direct - straightforward - with you:


I tried to figure it ever out, but failed so many unknown variables and rounding errors that I gave up on some point.

Armour Defense Stats I once thought was somewhat universal. As in

100 Defense blocks 100 Damage

But no matter what I tried, reality ingame did never add up. I have some vague suspicion how it could work. Like

Monster does 120 damage, which is a combination of 40 unblockable damage, 30 elemental damage and 50 raw damage. With the defense of 100 a hunter would still get 70 damage since it would only block the blockable damage. But that is just a suspicion.

Even worse to understand and get a grasp on are the attack values for weapons. I started to see them as "power scores" rather than anything like DPS or something which can be related.

So a defensive weapon like Lance + Shield can have the same "power score" like a Great Sword, with both naturally not meeting the same DPS. As DPS is nonsense to begin when it comes to a co-operative multiplayer game.

Think of role play games parties e.g. which are classically made of



Warrior (with shield = Tank)
Thief / Archer (Damage Dealer / Support)
White Mage (Healer)
Black Mage (Damage Dealer)

If you would sort them per DPS it would look somewhat like this

Black Mage - uses spells and deals hilarious strong accumulated damage with area of effects
Thief / Archer - can deal only one target
Warrior - uses block most of the time
White Mage - "utterly irrelevant" in terms of damage output as a healer and "pseudo-non-combatant"

But with any party: take one of them out, and it will affect the DPS of everyone. A Mage cannot cast spells without someone protecting them, a Tank cannot stand and hold a line without a healer and the overall party would be overwhelmed with no one doing damage. With one doing a lot but taking long, even what seems like a "lesser damage dealer" is essential ~ Thieves and Archers can at least attack fast and are less vulnerable to interruptions than a casting Mage.

Taking that into consideration the system of "power scores" in Monster Hunter is not so bad, since all you need to know is how would fare that certain weapon in comparison to other weapons of the same type and level with the other types.

Armour Skills are a tad easier, more straightforward to understand.

For each successful hunt you get rewarded with crafting materials out of the monster.

Hunting a water based monster e.g. rewards you with hides, scales, and alike of that water based monster which you can have it crafted into an armour which has water resistance.



Materials from a fire area monster gives you normally an amour with more fire resistance and alike.

Using materials from a very aggressive monster, can give you an armour which gives a bonus on your attack power.

Simple enough, right?

It becomes especially interesting for late game when you start mixing set items from various monsters to make a custom set which supports your very own playstyle.

It would be somewhat along the line ~

using the helmet made of parts of a sturdy monster to gives and extra bonus on defense, while also having the chest piece made of a monster which is very fast to gives you increase agility. Add water resistant boots for better movement through mud and water resistance, etc.

and by the end of the day you come out with mixed sets which supports your favourited playstyle or even many more sets for many different occassions - a special set for when you go specifically hunting fire monsters, a special set for when you use a specific weapon and so much more!


Example of a mixed set

If you like to have a more indepth insight beyond the vague basic idea I am giving you here, check out this video which you might like as a beginner:

Now that you have a vaguely basic idea of how stats and skills can look like in Monster Hunter Rise, let us have a closer look of what we actually get with the "Defender Gear" / Support Armour in Monster Hunter Rise and how they fare in comparison.

With the release of the Sunbreak expansion for the game, the Defender gear in Monster Hunter Rise get a significant strong upgrade. We are about to close in to what I mention later on in the guide as "ad absurdum in Monster Hunter: World".

I will not update this guide with the new stats, as you can see them for yourselves from the official introduction video provided by Capcom.


The new stats will also not have an effect to the already existing explainations and recommendations I have provided throughout the guide. This information snippet I have added for the sole purpose of letting you know, that there is already more and there might be even more in the future in that regards.

The Defender Weapon comes per default with a power score of 110. But there is more than just the power score which affects the weapon's value.

Sharpness for the ability to deal proper damage on certain monster part - a dull sword or less sharp weapon might be deflected where a weapon with high sharpness might just hit through. In addition to that the sharpness also affects the damage value directly. It works like a multiplier.

Yellow = 1x

Green = 1,05x => +5%

White = 1,32x => +32%

Orange = 0,75x => -25%

These just as an example for an easy understanding why the Green default sharpness of the Defender Weapon is already an important plus. Especially at the beginning of the game. Later on weapon sharpness becomes even more important, when it comes to breaking monster parts for extra loot or disabling certain monster abilities.

Elemental power score, which does not matter here since the Defender Weapon comes without.

Affinity which also does not matter here - a synonym for "Critical Chance" which deals either 25% more damage with a positive Affinity or 25% less with negative Affinity.

Defense Bonus which gets added to the overall armour bonus - here +30 Defense bonus, which equals as if you wear an additional protective gear, when you wear it with the Black Belt armour.

And last but not least: Decoration Slots - which also does not matter here since the Defender Weapon comes without.

Here for a direct comparison the standard default weapon values.



Or, more impressive, seeing damage values in comparison with the same attack




The Tier 1 Defender Weapon can only be compared somewhat fairly with a default weapon of Tier 4 or 5, while the upgraded version already gets close to Tier 8 in comparison.


You can tell how it easily throws off the balance when the upgraded version at Tier 5, which you unlock early on, can already be considered pre-endgame when taking only the base game into consideration. There would be little to no need to explore what other weapons have to offer.

the Defender Weapon provides you with a power score and damage output which makes all Village Quests and Low Rank Gathering Hub Quests as easy as possible, and probably beyond that with the combination of the other Defender Gear / Support Armor.

Even with other weapons being better with specific boni at certain moments, the Defender Weapon will outclass any other weapon of the same Tier for a long time. Most likely earliest at High Rank quests you will feel the need to look for an alternative.

The cheap crafting costs makes the whole thing almost looking absurd.
But it is not as bad as it was with Monster Hunter: World.

Now that you have a rough idea of how overpowered the Defender Weapons are in Monster Hunter Rise, have a hint how absurd it was with Monster Hunter: World ~



Incredible starting sharpness, incredible high damage by power score, and an all out absurd Blast Element power score damage which alone is almost as high as the default weapon's starting value...

The Black Belt armour set comes per default with 30 Defense per piece, adding up to a total of 150 (upgradeable by 6 additional Defense per piece, up to a total of 180 maximum when all worn together).


In comparison the default Kamura garb and starting gear has just 1 Defense per piece, summing up to a total of 5. While it can be upgraded to a maximum of 67 per piece in endgame, it is inferior by all means, taking into consideration that the highest tier of armour you normally can get in in Low Rank starts at 30.


The video at the beginning of this guide is showing within very few seconds how big of an impact it makes.

That as a result of an identical attack with the default armour and the Black Belt armour in comparison.

for the default armour and the highest tier armour you normally get in all of Low Rank.


The Black Belt set in full has in comparison



What makes that combination so immense good is the impossible setup for early game. It is either best attack values OR best defense values, but rarely ever both. And impossible early game. Attack Boost 4 might look best, by providing new players +5% and +7 Attack, which is immense at that level - but the combination with Earplugs 3 makes it superior, as it gives protection to a very common monster move one has normally to dodge or to endure.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxwCVb4P-myhDEhukqq-WvATLxxBDRHUaj
Steam is not supporting YouTube Clips yet ~ so just the link: you can see on the left how the attacking hunter has to stop to cover their ears which entirely interrupts their action and make them vulnerable for attacks during that moment (important for multi-monster (arena) quests)

I have to praise the developers for them adding Flinch Free as a standard to the starter gear, as it is a highly recommended skill to have, especially for beginners. It prevents from your attacks being interrupted by fellow hunters in multiplayer, which is a very common issue.

the Black Belt armour provides you with a gear which makes all Village Quests and Low Rank Gathering Hub Quests as easy as possible, and probably beyond that with the combination of the other Defender Gear / Support Armor.

That is taking into consideration that your first steps in High Rank starts with the best equipment you can get in Low Rank. But this gear is definitely much more superior to tthat.

Now that you have a rough idea of how overpowered the Black Belt armour set looks like in Monster Hunter Rise, have a hint how absurd it was with Monster Hunter: World ~

This item troubles me the least (and last) at all, among all the Support Gear.

It has something to do with what Talismans are, how you acquire them and what make them strong or weak. This additional content item only gives a little extra on allowing you deplete Stamina slower (-10%), which is used when running and dodging or blocking, and a bigger extra whenever you need to replenish your health with a potion, making the health potions you use basically stronger. With both being relatively insignificant in early game I do not see much worth in the item to begin with.




In very simple terms:

You contribute reward items you get from hunts into the "melding pot". You get guaranteed an equipment item (Talisman), but what effects that item gets is entirely random. You have a certain chance that the Talisman you get has the desired skills, but that affects the chances on quality and so on, making the whole process a "pray for the best randomly generated Talisman" matter.


As a reminder: decoration slots are slots in which you put later on "gems which give skills". The more and bigger they are on an item, the more valuable that item becomes since it allows you freedom of choice what skills you want to add.



Vaik Mail S as example, is a weak armour in endgame. It has no skill and in comparison to what you can get later on quite low stats and therefore also a lower maximum upgrade value. But it is still a viable item due to its very generous decoration slots. Some even consider it as the best possible chest piece, solemnly because of the awesome decoration slot combo which allows you to add one decoration of each level - from the most expensive to the cheapest.

With the Veteran's Talisman having no slot at all, it has little to no value throughout the game.

Plus you would not mind much what Talisman you use at the beginning, as looking for a good Talisman is an endgame kind of matter, when you go for desired equipment sets. By then you will have long earned better gear than the "Defender Gear".

Remember the video from before?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64ehIDItlNM
If you have not checked it, no worries.

Basically the Guild Cross armour set can be considered "Defender Gear" / Support Armor too, for it has a high base defense value to begin with.


Yet the impact is so small, it never got that much attention from the community unlike the "Defender Gear" which comes with 3.9.0.0.

That has something to do with the fact that the "overpowerement" which is significantly visible and can be felt is mostly coming from the weapon. With how little time players spend with Low Rank and Village Quests, the armour itself was never that important in relation to how fast it became obsolete.

And the skills the Guild Cross armour set offers are nothing to sneeze at as much as nothing to be in awe with. It has definitely more than the early default armour sets you can get, but nothing which screams of being a kind of "must-have".

From my point of view that was Capcom first attempt to bring back "Defender Gear" to Monster Hunter Rise after the disaster with Monster Hunter: World. I am not entirely sure what the developers took from the results of "dipping their toe into the water", but that does not matter anymore. As now you have it: "Defender Gear" is once more a matter of interest in anticipation for the upcoming major addon.


Hm?
There was a Legacy Talisman too?
With such insignificant skills values that I apparently ignored it entirely.
Did I use it for melding...?

Now that you have been fully informed about what "Defender Gear" means to Monster Hunter players, it is time for the conclusion. Or rather "Recommendation".

If you are a veteran and you know how Monster Hunter works, and probably you just want to jump straight into multiplayer with the Defender Gear - go ahead! You would most likely breeze through the "Story Mode"-Quests anyroads, with or without the Defender Gear. It does not really matter. But...

If you are a veteran and you know how Monster Hunter works -






The only scenario where they could use the gear "safely" is when they are accompanying a veteran who teach them the ropes directly, immediately and live in multiplayer.

But then too, there would have been no need to check on this guide to begin with.

So why should you not use it? After all the developers gave it to you so you have an easy start!

Well, I might be strongly biased by my personal experience.

And there are voices in the community which sound like this:

The Defender Gear is only good for Low Rank. With High Rank still a challenge to any new player, it should not cause the same strong bad impact which it had with Monster Hunter: World.

That is not wrong. And the community is right that with that there is little reason to be as upset as with what happened with Monster Hunter: World, that without Iceborne, the "Defender Gear" made the entire base game meaningless.


Without the challenges right from start it would be still a very similar situation as what we have seen with Monster Hunter: World. New players will perceive the game as easy and boring and as a result not getting hooked. In best case scenario they would only question the "weird jump in difficulty" once they have gone through the Village Quests and Low Rank Hub Quests.

Either way, using the gear right from the start means not experiencing a big portion of the game how it is meant to be experienced. Roughly 20% mayhaps - content-wise. But experiencing the story with a little more thrill is probably a feeling which might be worth more than just 20%?



Taking mentioned reasoning, that the "Defender Gear" is only good for a limited time, which is not even that long - what is the big deal of not using it? It might take overall a few more hours without the gear. Few more hours which pass fast when you enjoy the game. Time in which you get a good idea of how the game works.


Just know about the fact, that you might lose on precious experience which you cannot restart - as for a beginner its only once you have the chance to have a fulfilling time as a beginner. And only once to experience "the personal growth" feeling from the game.

I wish someone told me back then, in Monster Hunter: World, about the effects of the "Defender Gear".

While I understand that my final recommendation is heavily biased, I still hope this guide gave you some for you valuable insight about how it might affect your gaming experience.

The final decision is yours anyroads. And regardless of your choice, what only matters is you having fun enjoying the game. And if you enjoy the game more with the "Defender Gear" on, then you are more lucky than most players.

I wish you a great time with Monster Hunter Rise and