Insect Glaive

Learn to wield the Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate! Discover its pros, cons, controls, and essential tips for mastering its Kinsect and buffs to dominate your hunts.

The Insect Glaive is a brand-new weapon in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and it's a fantastic choice if you love staying aggressive! It's basically a staff with blades on both ends, offering a great mix of fast attacks and solid power. The coolest part? You've got a little buddy called a Kinsect that you can send out to grab essences from monsters. These essences can seriously power you up, boosting your attack, speed, and even giving you extra ways to attack.

Pros:

• It hits hard without feeling slow or clunky.
• Its decent reach is great for chopping off those high-up tails.
• The Kinsect and its buffs can give you a massive power spike.
• You can do jump attacks anywhere with the pole vault, no ledges needed!

Cons:

• Without the red essence buff, its raw power can feel a bit lacking.
• Buffs only last about 20-30 seconds, so you'll be refreshing them a lot.
• Pole vaulting leaves you pretty exposed if you get hit.

Here's a quick rundown of the controls:

Attack	Controls
Thrust Attack	X, can be chained three times
Overhead Smash	A, can chain into X attacks
Backflip Smash	Move backwards and press A
Shoot pheromones	Press R while targeting a specific part of the monster
Send out a Kinsect	R+A
Summon the Kinsect back	After sending out the Kinsect, press R+A
Pole vault	R+B

Once you start grabbing essences, your basic X and A attacks get way smoother, and you can even pull off an infinite combo by just mashing them together. Your jump attacks also become way flashier and hit multiple times.

Usage Tips:

Seriously, get good with your Kinsect! While the Insect Glaive is already pretty strong, you'll unlock its true potential by snagging those monster essences. Here's what each part gives you:

• Head: Red essence – boosts attack.
• Feet and/or Tail: Orange essence – boosts defense.
• Body: White essence – boosts movement speed.
• Miscellaneous Parts: Green essence – heals you a bit.

If you grab the red essence along with either orange or white, your attack power gets a huge boost, and you'll swing faster with new infinite combos. But if you manage to get red, orange, AND white essences? Whoa! You'll get Earplugs, resistance to wind pressure, a massive attack buff, and even faster, more powerful combos. Just remember, these buffs don't stick around forever, so you'll need to keep refreshing them.

For basic combos, try XX then finish with A, or AXA. Also, be super careful with the pole vault. It looks awesome, but you have NO invincibility while you're in the air. Getting hit out of the air can actually make things worse, and if you don't have Earplugs, monster roars will knock you right out of your jump. Pole vaulting can be a great dodge, but you need to time it right, as evasion skills don't apply to it.

Recommended Skills:

Since the Insect Glaive is all about offense, skills like Evasion +1/+2 and Evade Distance Up are incredibly useful, almost essential. Another game-changer isn't from armor, but from upgrading your Kinsect: Buff Extend. This skill adds an extra 30 seconds to all your buffs, which is amazing. If you find yourself pole vaulting a lot, Earplugs will help you stay airborne during roars and make mounting easier. If mounting is a struggle, consider Mount Master.