Monster Hunter WildsInsect Glaive Guide

The Insect Glaive is Monster Hunter’s “newest” weapon, debuting in Monster Hunter 4. Originally designed for more experienced players, this weapon prioritizes aerial mobility, burst attacks, and mounting opportunities.

Armed with a trusty bug companion called a Kinsect, players can extract essence from monsters for buffs (more on that below) to aid in combat and fell monsters with extreme grace and style.

If you wanna check out another highly mobile weapon, be sure to look at Dual Blades. For a quick overview on every weapon, check out our "Choose a Weapon" guide to find the best pick for you.

This article was written by @PeanutWizard.

Strengths

• Aerial Attacks and Mobility
• • The Insect Glaive moveset prioritizes speed and maneuverability above all else. The kit includes a feature not included in other weapons, the ability to launch yourself into the air at will and perform midair attacks and dodges.
  • Not only do these moves look super cool, but when chained together well they can do a ton of damage in succession.
  • Once Insect Glaive locks into its very fluid attack groove it can be devastating to monsters of all types. Additionally, most IG attacks are very quick and do not lock you into long animations in the face of oncoming attacks like some of the heavier weapons in the game. This can allow for easier positioning on the ground and in the air.
• Kinsect Buffs
• • Your Kinsect allows for long-range attacks on monsters that extract essence to grant you buffs. These can increase your speed, attack power, defenses, heal you in a pinch, and even grant skills like Earplugs.
• Mounting
• • Insect Glaive players’ ability to do damage in the air makes them one of the primary mount damage weapons, which is very useful in both solo and multiplayer hunting.

Weaknesses

• Lack of Overall Defense
• • The Insect Glaive’s aerial mobility is not without cost. Midair dodging can be very dangerous if used recklessly. Once you choose to vault, there are no guardrails. In fact, there is no guarding at all. IG’s primary method of not taking damage is to avoid it with speed and dodging, which is inherently more risky and skill-dependent.
• Kinsect Stuff Is Tricky
• • Getting all your extracts can be a major pain. Each monster has different placings for where on the body you are supposed to aim. The Kinsect can also be a bit slow and struggle to accurately hit more agile monsters. Buff timers are around a minute per buff. To maintain maximum uptime, you need to consistently keep track of what’s about to expire and re-extract as necessary.
• High APM Needed For Good Damage
• • A common insect glaive complaint is that the button inputs for doing decent damage are very taxing on players. The control scheme for IG, in comparison to most of the other weapons in the game, does have a high-skill floor. This has seen multiple iterations throughout the series, but generally, Capcom does want IG to feel complex with high amounts of skill expression to use the weapon effectively. This may turn off newer players or those seeking simpler gameplay experiences.

The IG has gone over numerous major design iterations throughout its history, but MH: Wilds seems to be giving its fans some much-desired QoL.

(On Dec 19th, 2024 Capcom announced changes were being made to the IG from the Beta client. These have not been implemented as of Beta 2).

Other Changes We Know Are Coming

• You can fire marks for your Kinsect while in the air.
• There is now an indicator to show what color of extract you are aiming for before you send out your Kinsect.
• There is a highly damaging move that will spend your Triple Up (All three extracts online) buff while sending you up into the air.
• There are new moves utilizing Focus Mode that target and consume monster wounds.

The Basics

L2 + △ : Send out Kinsect to extract. You can aim this attack while holding L2.

L2 + ◯: Recall Kinsect. Will receive or refresh buff if your Kinsect is extracted successfully.

Hold L2, Then Tap R2: Marks a spot on the monster for your Kinsect to attack and extract passively. Marks can eventually be expunged to cause status effect buildup or elemental damage depending on your Kinsect.

R2 + X: Vault yourself into the air to perform dodges or attacks.

△ (Ground): Your most standard attack, can be linked up to 3 times to perform a basic combo.

◯ (Ground): Your stronger attack which hits in a large sweeping range. Can be followed up with an Overhead Smash.

(GIF Here)

Aerial Moves

A critical thing to keep in mind once you’re in the air is your stamina bar. Dodging while you’re up there will drain the bar and you cannot regain stamina until you touch the ground. By default, you are allowed to evade once in the air or evade and attack before you are forced to return to the ground. This can be reset by successfully landing the last hit of a Jumping Advancing Slash.

◯ (Midair): Jumping Advancing Slash: Unleashes an aerial flurry. If this attack’s last hit connects you are lifted further up and your aerial combo resets, meaning you can attack or evade again.

△ (Midair): Jumping Slash: Does high mounting damage.

X (Midair): Midair Evade: Costs a portion of stamina. Can be reset after a successful Jumping Advancing Slash

R2 (Midair): Descending Thrust: You plunge into the ground with your Kinsect, piercing straight through the monster and leaving a Kinsect mark at the end.

How Kinsects Work

Using well-known MH: World numbers for buffs. The MH: Wilds effects and durations are unclear.

Extracts

To manage Insect Glaive effectively, one must understand extract buffs and what they grant to a hunter. Kinsects can extract 4 types of buffs, listed below:

RED: Increased attack power and adds a flurry attack to your move pool. Usually extracted from Kinsect hits to the monster’s head.

WHITE: Increased speed and jump height. Usually extracted from Kinsect hits to the monster's limbs ( i.e. wings, legs, arms, etc).

ORANGE: Increased armor and reduces knockback, flinching, and staggers. Usually extracted from Kinsect hits to the monster’s body.

GREEN: Grants a small heal. Usually extracted from Kinsect hits to the monster’s tail.

Additional Extract Bonuses

RED + WHITE = 20% Attack

WHITE + ORANGE = 6% Defense + Earplugs Level 1

RED + WHITE + ORANGE (aka Triple Up Buff) = 25% Attack + 8% Defense + Earplugs Level 1

All buffs last 60 seconds and you can refresh singular buffs. However, when all 3 are enabled you cannot refresh buffs and they will reset after 60 seconds have passed. It is very important to have all 3 extracts up simultaneously for your damage throughput. The weapon is severely neutered if you don’t have extracts active.

Depending on your Insect Glaive build, here are the sort of skills you'll often see IG players using.

From the official Monster Hunter channel: