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

A few days prior to me starting writing this guide my beloved Salia died.[www.rosengarten-sterne.de]
I could not eat, I could not sleep, I could not think straight. I just kept tripping and falling over an over, hurting my knees, my shoulders, my head, and whatsover. Nothing mattered to me. Whether I got scammed, run into debt, losing my job or my health... I stopped caring. All I have left is that horrible memory where the veterinarian said cats will not close their eyes when being euthanised or given any form of anesthesia. She made her last breath, but her stare remained.

I had pondered making this guide for a while. Never seen it necessary as the content seems self-explainatory to me. Now I am doing this as some sort of therapy for myself. Sorry for my bad English. I dedicate these writings to my beloved Salia who was the best Buddy I could have ever wished for, for 13 years. Thank you so much, for wonderful 13 years together.

I am a cat person.
So you will find my recommendations and phrasing heavily biased.

While there are plenty of very interesting Buddy Skills, there are actually only two which you should be on the lookout for.

A skill which increases highly the chances for your Buddy to actually knock out a monster, creating for you an opportunity to deal a lot of damage when the monster is downed.

and

Which is not much, but still adding up to the numbers of attacks your Buddy can do during a battle.

Size and universal utility.

While a lot of skills seem strong and useful in general, they all add only a very little to the overall sum of possible combat output. In other words: a Buddy with lots of Attack buffs is still a Buddy with the low base Attack value to begin with, making you prefering skills which offers more utility in general. While skills like Artful Dodger or Medic's Touch sound awesome on paper, they do not add enough by the end of the day to make them that valuable when you consider the standard healing speed of your Buddy at no additional cost.

It makes sense to combine the two mentioned "prime skills" with (Ranged) Attack Up when available, but many others like Negate Poison are too specific and too costly slot-wise.

Once you reach the endgame of Monster Hunter Rise you might also notice things like Elemental Attack Up can become more interesting than actual Attack Up, especially when you make use of e.g. Blast Element.

Feel free to skip this if you do not own the Sunbreak expansion yet. However, the hints about the fact that you can change later on Palicoes Support Moves and Buddy Skills are still important to know for everyone.

The version 10.0.2.0 update of the game alongside the Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak expansion brought a few new skills for our Buddies. I have given them a good look and so far I do not see that this guide needs an update, as the recommendations, tips and advices so far are all valid.

There is only the "Support-Centric" skill which I would consider interesting for Healer Palicoes. But the recommended skills Knockout King and Status Attack Up have still priority as they have the greatest impact on how helpful your Buddies can be in combat.

Therefore I recommend to keep Knockout King and Status Attack Up as priority choice. But if you can get Support-Centric for a Healer Palico on top, consider it a nice bonus.



Some other new skills like Buddy Breather, Recovery Boost, or Buddy Friendship might sound nice, but do not really add significant combat abilities you would not want to miss.

Further in the expansion, you get the option to expand your Buddies' Skill Memory by providing them Eurekacorns at the Buddy Dojo. Those tasty treats can be acquired in similar fashion to how you get Lagniapples. As rewards and occassionally drops at the Cohoot Nest in Elgado.





Check on the Cohoot Nest in Elgado for Eurekacorns regularly, at least after every 5th hunt.

By fulfilling certain Side-quests within Sunbreak, you will get also the option to freely change the Support Moves of your Palicoes, which makes it easier than ever to get your ideal Buddy.





By fulfilling certain Side-quests within Sunbreak, you will get also the option to change the Skills of your Buddies, which makes it easier than ever to get your ideal Buddy. What you need to do so is at least having one Buddy who can use the Skill already. Then you can select an existing Skill of your target Buddy to be retrained into that other / new Skill of choice.



I will update this guide in the future more, but for now have a preview of my Buddy of choice:

Type: Palico
Support Type: Healer (in Singleplayer Healer+Gatherer)
Support Moves: Healing Bubble, Power Drum, Shock Tripper
Secret Support Move: Felyne Powered Up
Buddy Skills: Status Attack Up, Knockout King, Negate Paralysis, Negate Sleep, Negate Poison, Omniresistance

About the Choice of the Secret Support Move
Felyne Powered Up is easy to use and allows the whole party to benefit from it. Of course, a Kittenator from the Lottery Box seems nice, but I prefer something more reliable while Ameowzing Mist is not and Felyne Fireworks can be tricky to handle when you are not used to it. Healing Clover Bat is the Secret Support Move I would recommend least. It is not even good for beginners. Overall the power up you can get from Felyne Powered Up makes all your Buddies Support Moves benefit from it, making it the better choice for being simple and great. But I still love the fireworks, despite I do miss with it some times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lXh9sRpqkLc

About the Choice of the Buddy Skills
Some of the new Buddy Skills which came with Sunbreak sound really good! But only on paper. Take for example Support-Centric: it is not bad, by all means. But my Palico is already doing their stuff reliable and often, especially with the extra Felvine. So why making it weaker for more which you probably not have a need for? In fact, when it becomes weaker - more squishy - it might end up doing less Support Moves overall.

Some other like Buddy Breather and Buddy Friendship are straightforward "Red Herrings" to me. Why you ask? "Buddy healing you outside of battle" / "You getting healed when the Buddy heals themselves":

First: When you are outside of battle you take potions. No need to wait for your Buddy to heal up. You should not wait for your Buddy or anyone else to heal you.

Second: When you get healed by your Buddy when it is healing themself, that means your Buddy is out of commission during that time. No one guarantees you need healing too when they heal themselves, and you rather want a Buddy you can rely on all the time.

That is why I go for Negate Paralysis, Negate Sleep, Negate Poison and Omniresistance as additional skills on top of the two main recommendations. I want them to be able to help me, should a status effect hit me which makes me unable to move out of the danger zone. In Singleplayer you are not using Flinch Free, which makes your Buddy a reliable last second safe. And thanks to the expanded Skill Memory, what used to be too costly became affordable! Alternatives would be Artful Dodger and Pro Parry, but it is unlikely that your Buddy gets actually targeted by monsters unless you lose enmity.

Auto-heal - what could go wrong with that?
Everything with the Healing Clover Bat Secret Support Move seems wrong to me.
First: you need to trigger it - unlike Healing Horn it can end up placed badly to move in time to benefit from it. A powered up Healing Horn is more preferable. Second: the auto-heal rate is questionable. You have Gourmet Fish and Immunizer already, and when you need heal right away, you do not wait for auto-heal - you drink a potion right away! In worst cases this skill may tempt players to use less potions, while it needs you to be engaged in combat to be charged. It might be a nice gimmick to mimic the new cover monster's signature, but it is just outright the least choice I would make among the new Secret Support Moves for Palicoes.
Not recommended.

There are some combos which are possible, but also seemingly inhuman to me. Remember Buddy Friendship? Now, combine it with Support-Centric and Medic's Touch and Palamute gadget/tools which make them get the monsters' attention while keeping them squishy...

We got a new star among all the Buddies!

With the endgame content, and additional content which came with Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Title Update 1, Assist Palicoes have become the new shooting stars among all Buddies!

Due to the fact that Afflicted Monsters are accounted as "normal monsters with Qurio affliction", they are naturally vulnerable to traps and silkbind Support Move from Assist Palicoes.

As a matter of course we go with Blunt weapons according to the fact that we want to make best of the Knockout King skill. Now, it might be counterintuitive and not easy for a beginner to choose a weaker Blunt weapon for their Buddy while the majority of the really strong weapons come as Severing type. As I have written before:

a Buddy with lots of Attack buffs is still a Buddy with the low base Attack value to begin with

Therefore, even if the damage output difference is 100%, it would be still only double of a very small value while we need the Blunt type to activate Knockout King.

A Severing weapon on the other hand can cut tails. That was it, in addition to the common monster resistances towards those two types of weapons. Kunai throws by (you or) your Buddies count as piercing and can cut tails too.

Naturally same goes for weapon elements, as we want weapons which apply status ailments rather than extra elemental damage.

Here are two examples of weapons which fit the description


You do not need to force yourself to follow this recommendation. You can always pick a Buddy with Elemental Attack Up instead if you feel more comfortable to have an easy to understand and to equip companion. This is just what I consider best choice based on my personal experience I am sharing with you.

Do you really thought I would only recommend Palicoes to you because I am a cat person?
Well... I cannot blame you for that! But that is only part of the whole picture!


The full reason why I recommend Palicoes over Palamutes are the Palico Action Moves.

They are versatile, easy to understand and very reliable once you developed a feeling of them.
I can always tell when my Healing Palico starts to prepare their Healing Horn and other helpful moves.

Due to their widespread possibilities of action moves, Palicoes can assist a hunter in reliable ways you can count on.

By all means: NO!
It just makes them different. Aside from the action moves, a Palico can and will give verbal, understandable, hints when you are playing Singleplayer. A Palamute in the meanwhile will offer you easy and fast transportation with comforts, like being able to sharpen your weapon(s) or consume items while traversing.

But there is more to it!

What makes a Palico special with their moves, Palamutes' behaviour and combat utility change drastically depending on the Buddy Gadgets you equip them. By the end of the day Palamutes are far from being inferior to Palicoes. Both kind of Buddies used correctly can make an incredible strong team in Singleplayer and Multiplayer alike!

It just happens that I personally see more utility in having a Palico with me for Multiplayer, and double Palicoes for Singleplayer. Whether you like Palamutes or Palicoes more is up to you.



Go for a mixed team first and see yourself what suits your personal playstyle best. You cannot go wrong with the default setup of having a Palico and a Palamute accompanying you in Singleplayer. In Multiplayer it makes most sense to coordinate with your fellow hunters to maximise your hunting experience. Just make sure you tried both properly over time.

Once you got a proper feeling of how both types of Buddies work, you can pick according to your preference. Whether you prefer it to speed to the next area on the back of a Palamute, or having your Palico supporting you with healing and more, that is entirely up to you!

"Speed Runners" prefer Palamutes over Palicoes as companions, if they take any with them to begin with. Why you wonder? Well... on the one hand obviously because you can ride a Palamute. Allowing you a quicker start of the battle and area transition, while being able to consume items during your ride. On the other hand it is because of the power of the Palicoes. An unlucky timed Flash Bombay e.g. can make the monster run in an entire different direction, leading to a loss of time. A Palico knocking out the monster, making you miss your built up superior attack move can cause a loss in the relative damage output. "Speed Runners" are "Records Hunters". They strive for the best time in a specific scenario. And for that very reason they cannot risk a liability. Any kind of randomness, like a Palico distracting the monster and making you miss all the attacks you could have done when the monster just went after you, is undesired by "Speed Runners". In that regards Palamutes are superior when it is about being inconspicuous.


For funsies ~ a form of "Speed Running" which results in this kind of entertaining videos

The ability to swap support moves and retrain support skills do change the role of Palicoes with Sunbreak strongly. It is now possible to make a Palico a strong support for "Speed Runners". What matters is the combination of moves, skills and type of the Palico - done right it allows better results having a Palamute and Palico combo rather than two Palamutes. Although a lot of "Speed Runners" are fixated on a double Palamutes team with strong emphasis on their damage output.

This video shows endgame content which awaits you in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

For Team Palamutes I have chosen a setup which comes closest to what is currently preferred by "Speed Runners". Ideally I would have them to use Poison weapons as they are known for a very quick status alignment build up. Since that would not fit with the target monster, a Golden Rathian, I have them use Paralysis weapons instead.

For Team Palicoes I have taken my favourite Palicoes as they are, with the skills and Support Moves unchanged from how I have them along for normal hunts. No special adjustments, since I was curious too how they will fare in comparison. If the results would have turned out too different, I might have tried differents loadouts. But the comparison turned out a success with the expected results.

In the clip you can clearly see, that good support will not pale when compared to a > 100% higher damage output. By the end of the day the best fitting choice of Buddies is what fits your personal preferences best.

For beginners I recommend the usage of two specific gears, each to be used with a supporting scroll of your liking. Probably best when going at first with the diversion scroll, allowing your Palamute(s) to distract the monster to give you an easier time when you are new to the game. Later on you change accordingly, once it is easier when the monster should have only eyes for you.

The two gears in question are

A versatile gear which allows your Palamute to defend themself and you from attacks, when using the Follow tactic.


and

Among the many gears which you can currently pick for your Palamute, this one has the most significant effect, as it can hinder a monster to use certain attacks when your Palamute hold tight onto the monster with their fangs.

There are currently two special Buddies which I recommend you to hire at Iori's. While their looks and names might be fixed, they are exceptions among the exceptions. Make sure to check them out when you are looking for a Palamute!


The recommendations I have made before Sunbreak are still good. However, with the ability to change your Buddies' skills as you desire, making them learn any skill you want, the special Buddies might be no longer a superior choice as they once had been. That is due to the fact that you cannot retrain special Buddies.

For Palamutes I recommend to pick a tactic which is to your liking. Though the Basic aka default setting is just fine for every player in most scenarios.

Similar goes for Palicoes, though I prefer having them going for Small Targets First.
Whether it is a Bullfango or Bnahabra - a small monster can cause your ruin during an intense fight. That is why I prefer having them taken out first as fast possible when they are nearby. And while you may miss out at the start on the extra stati damage and K.O. chance, the Palicoes will still use their support moves in your favour.

I have started writing on this guide on 22nd of March. As you can tell by the actual release date I was not able to finish the guide sooner. Nor does it look like I have imagined originally. On the one hand the time for mourning turned out very badly for my alreadly sickly body. On the other hand I started thinking that some ideas I had before, something like explaining every single skill in detail makes no sense. You can read and you sure have no troubles with self-explaining stuff like what Camouflage means and how it works when the description says it prevents your Palico from being targeted by the monster and alike.

For now I am sharing with you this helpful graphic, by GeckoTH, which I could not do any better.



As what follows is basically a summarised recommendation based on my personal experience. Even without going into detail for every single skill, I am convinced that you can make good use of these information. I also always recommend to take guides like these as orientation. By no means the recommendations I give are taken to be as "absolute" nor "perfect" solution to your personal needs. Though, if it turns out to be that good for you, I would be delighted.

I am going to recommend to you three out of five support types of Palicoes. Healers, Assistants and Gatherers. While I would love to say "every type of Palico is great and viable in some way", there are clear differences in utility when it comes to their movesets. Basically it is there Level 1 and Level 20 fixed support move which determines what type of Palico it is. So we are less evaluating the Palicoes, but their support moves.

I shall explain to you my thoughts with taking four specific Palico moves as examples.

Four skills which look great on first glance, but...

Starting with the "ultimate move" of a fighter Palico - I am outright sad to give any Palico such a low rating. But we have to go back to

a Buddy with lots of Attack buffs is still a Buddy with the low base Attack value to begin with

Therefore, even if the damage output difference is 100%, it would be still only double of a very small value

Considering that the moves have very limited time frames as well, with a buff applying only to your Buddy themself, this support move is a bummer. Triggered with bad timing like when a monster is about to leave the area makes this buff questionable at best. Sorry Fighter type Palicoes...

This move on the other hand is casted by Palicoes reliably once you reach a certain health value treshold. The big pluses here are the long time the Healing Bubbles are available to use, the good amount of health they restore and the fact that they can be used by your fellow hunters in a party! Since you can pop them with your weapon during a battle, Healing Bubbles are a great alternative to potions in the right moment.

Basically a free Shock Trap laid down by your Palico to enjoy. Whether to capture or to create yourself an opportunity to attack or recover. But it is not a perfect move. Downsides are on the one hand that you cannot decide where your Palico will set up the trap, and on the other hand the fact that Elder Dragons cannot be trapped to begin with. Some regular monsters are immune too during an enraged condition. Once a monster moves out of an area without the trap being triggered, it feels like a wasted move.

On paper it sounds good. Not bad. Decent damage, chance to K.O. a monster or at least contributing in breaking their hard parts. But the attack can miss. And it can miss a lot, especially with fast endgame monsters...

Now, some players might swear on the utility value of a Fighter Palico with their Rousing Roar support move. +30% Affinity for 150 seconds is a nice damage bonus of a total 7,5%. But in comparison to the utility value of the other Palicoes and their support moves it just pales in comparison. They are however a big boon in Multiplayer, and having one among four support Palicoes is a solid strategy for enhancing your overall damage output in a hunting party.

While all Palico moves do sound good, they all have different usage and utility.
Therefore what we want is a Palico which fits your needs, has great skills with a strong buff/benefit and is fitting the job.

Healers are great allrounders since they do help you best in dire situations. Assist Palicoes might seem not that strong, but their limited utility shine brighter than every other when you bring them along for Rampage. Second to the Healers are the Gatherers, which not only bring along a chance for extra monster items, even the very rare ones, but they have also come with Endemic Life Barrage - a Level 1 move which is considered one of the strongest anti-monster move.

While Healer Palicoes are quite reliable in their usage of moves, I recommend to you to use the Felvine whenever possible.

You actually do not need to have the actual Felvine item to make use of that action (the actual item is just decoy). Just trigger it when its ready at the start of a battle, and it will encourage your Palicoes to use their special moves more likely for a period of time. Once used it will recharge automatically.

The change which come with Sunbreak which has the biggest impact on the Buddy system is in fact that you can swap out Buddy Support Moves and retrain Buddy Skills. With that new feature there is no longer a need to keep a fixed recommendation. It is easier than even to adjust any Buddy you have to the need of a very specific hunt.

Hunting Chameleos or Pukei-Pukei which are notorious poison spitters?
Go with Negate Poison.

Going after the game's endgame bosses which are giants?
Go with Ameowzing Mist instead of Felyne Powered-up.

Even the best Buddy weapons are getting upgrades for Sunbreak.

I have added to this guide's sections some general Palicoes recommendations. However, none of those recommendations are fixed. I encourage you strongly to look at how you are going to play, and to adjust your Buddies accordingly.

That applies also for Multiplayer. Having a mixed party of Palicoes can enhance your hunting experience in a party more than you might expect. Even while I have not recommended the Fighter type Palicoes before, within a party of four hunters, having one Fighter Palico tagging along to boost Affinity, while two others are sufficient to provide plenty of support and heal - that setup can boost your damage output significantly.

Here are some examples of how a great team of Buddies can look like in Multiplayer


or


or


Felyne Powered-up is especially strong with a good team, as that Secret Support Move does reset the cooldown for all other Support Moves and Secret Support Moves of every other Buddy.

When looking for an Assist Palico we want these support moves combinations

or


The choice of support moves are with having in mind that we want to use the Palicoes mainly for Rampage. Having the extra stopping power of Shock Purr-ison, Poison Purr-ison and Felyne Silkbind is a strong help for that game mode.

Shock Tripper is an acceptable alternative for Shock Purr-ison, making your Buddy viable for normal hunts as well. I prefer Shock Tripper over Flash Bombay due the possibility that the latter can turn out less useful against certain monsters, while Thunderblight is a reliable status condition which helps you knocking down almost any monster. Also there is the simple fact that it is easier to carry Flash Bombs and use them with your own timing, but not Thunder Beetles or anything else which could apply Thunderblight. If you are a cautious player like me who also likes even more flexibility, you can exchange Go, Fight, Win with Healing Bubble.


A Shock Purr-ison and a Poison Purr-ison placed by my Palicoes right in front of the Dragonator - a deadly trap for incoming monsters.

When looking for a Gathering Palico we want these support moves combinations

or


Healing Bubble is superior among the moves in the Level 5 pool. While Go, Fight, Win might look desirable by those who rely on stamina a lot, the utility which comes with Healing Bubble is simply much greater. Only in Rampage where the personal danger level is quite low and you move a lot between Hunting Installations, I would go with Go, Fight, Win due to the wide range area of effect.

Anti-Monster Mine might seem like a strange choice at first, considering the explainations from before. But when you are able to master the usage of that move with your Palico, you can be surprised by the opportunities it creates for you. Since it staggers most monsters reliably it allows you a breather in battles.


I went to capture the monster for an increased chance (3%) for a gem. My Palico had me covered already (1%) and so I got one extra!

When looking for a Healer Palico we want these support moves combinations

or

As I have mentioned before: make sure to coordinate and communicate properly when playing multiplayer. There are players who use armour-builds which rely on being relatively low on health. Traditionally known as "Heroics", there is nowadays a more "mainstream" armour set which is used by many (more or less properly).


Players who use such builds might consider Healer Palicoes as... interfering with their "lone wolf" mindsets. Get it? "Lone Wolf". Those players mainly prefer Palamutes.

When I started playing the game I used to favour Shock Purr-ison over Flash Bombay and Shock Tripper - in that very order even. I loved the opportunities my Palicoes created by trapping the monsters, so I could heal up or lash out extra heavy damage.

At some point I saw more usage in Flash Bombay since Elder Dragons cannot be trapped.

So what changed that I recommend to you Shock Tripper these days?

Experience.
Shock Tripper, or rather, the Thunderblight status condition which is applied on monsters cannot be as easily replicated like the other two mentioned above. You can carry items to craft traps on the fly and up to 15 Flash Bombs (5 + 10 crafts on the fly). But Thunder Beetles are not that easily to acquire, and toppling a monster works almost always while the other two can fail more easily.

With that written, you can exchange Shock Tripper in my recommendations any time with the other two, whatever you prefer. Shock Tripper might not even be the universal better move in comparison. Think about it: Thunderblight makes it easier to knock down a monster. But what if your weapon of choice is not fit to begin with? Dual Blades users e.g. might enjoy more a companion who uses Flash Bombay instead. That leads us to my next recommendation:


Simple, is it not? That way you do not have to fixate on one moveset and wait forever for that certain combo to appear. And maybe, just like me, you are also good with a slightly different combination which I do not consider the best - but still is very good. Like the one seen in the screenshot above.

It might take some time, but I personally consider it worth it: bringing a Palico of every type to their maximum level unlocks two special weapons for your Palicoes and Palamutes which are considerably strong.

Do you wonder why the special unlockables are that strong?
It has something to do with the Sleep status.

Within the Steam community there is a Phantom Controversy going on in regards of sleeping monsters. Most players seem no longer to bother to make good use of what was once considered the best status effect you could apply to a monster. The Sleep status unquestioned the most beloved once makes also the Gathering Palicoes incredibly strong, as their Endemic Life Barrage has a chance to apply Sleep as well, alongside heavy damage via Blast, Paralysis and Poison.

The Phantom Controversy is rooted in the annoyance caused by beginners and misconception due to "Speed Runners". Sleep is still great, as it gives you a moment of respite which you can use to recover. In addition to that it allows hunters to deal double damage with their very first attack on a sleeping monster, resulting in ridiculous high damage numbers when done correctly.


The basis of the Phantom Controversy, which makes it unreal and therefore a "phantom" - as in: not really existing if you think about it thoroughly - is made of two major issues as mentioned before which look like this:

a) While it is easy to recognise when a monster falls asleep, it is even easier in the heat of battle to miss out on that, especially for beginners. Spoiling the chance for dealing high damage leads to the thinking: "if it never works with random players, let us just skip this gimmick instead of being annoyed and angry every time".

b) "Speed Runners" or those who see themselves are such but are not really "Speed Runners" (they are just... let us say "overconfident") see the act of taking a "break" during a battle as a waste of time. As the preparation for significant damage on a sleeping monster takes usually a moment or two in which they can achieve a similar or higher damage value when continuing attacking.

The combination of those two reasons made dealing with the Sleep status in Monster Hunter Rise undesirable. But it does not made the Sleep status any weaker.

I personally rejoice every time a monster falls asleep. It helps me getting a breather and the tradition of "sleepbombing" a monster is deep rooted in my personal Monster Hunter experience. Thankfully I can enjoy good company who understands the tactic well, and who also like me prefer a fun hunt over a forcefully stressed fast hunt.

We have disgressed a little by discussing a combat tactic here, but for the sake of understanding what makes the weapons and Gathering Palicoes so strong I think you should know about this.

Check my guide Advanced Tips and Tricks for Beginners for more "combat tricks"
https://gtm.steamproxy.vip/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2717340432

Thanks for bearing with me so far.
I am not sure if the guide turned out something you were looking for or expected.
If you were able to take one valuable piece of information from it, it would make me happy.

While Monster Hunter Rise Buddies are not real, as they are virtual, I see them essential to make the game feel less loney. I remember from old installments and old games in general, when AI companions were not "a thing" yet. I do not want to miss having my Buddies along with my hunts. Without them... it feels like something important is missing...

I wish you and your Buddies: