Powering up the Kinsect

Learn how to level up your Kinsect in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate! Understand Nectar feeding, stat boosts, and how Kinsect evolution impacts your Insect Glaive.

So, you've noticed the Insect Glaive is a bit different, right? No branching upgrade trees here – just straight paths. And get this, you can't even upgrade the glaive itself directly! First, you've gotta level up your Kinsect. Weird, I know!

Don't sweat it, though. This guide's gonna break it all down for you. Your Kinsect needs to be leveled up alongside your weapon, and its evolution paths are totally separate from the Insect Glaive's. Every Kinsect, whether it's a Blunt type (for impact damage) or a Cutting type (for raw damage), has its own specific upgrade path. This means if you have two Insect Glaives that use the same kind of Kinsect, their Kinsect upgrade paths will be identical!

But here's the catch: your Kinsect is a living creature, and it won't evolve unless you feed it precious Nectars. Make sure you're giving it the best stuff, because your Kinsect can only absorb so much before it's full and ready to evolve. You can actually mess up an Insect Glaive's potential permanently if you're not careful!

Nectars boost your Kinsect's stats in Power, Stamina, and Speed. To get the most out of it, you'll want to use Nectars that give two points to a stat. Keep in mind that feeding a Nectar that boosts one stat might lower another, so pay attention to the order you feed them. Once the Nectar bar is completely full, your Kinsect is ready to evolve. After your Kinsect evolves a certain number of times, your Insect Glaive will also get an upgrade. We'll cover that in the next section.