Monster Hunter Wilds – Insect Glaive: Optimal Endgame Sets

Guide to Insect Glaive Endgame Sets

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These sets are supposed to give you a basic idea of the templates to follow once you’ve reached the endgame. They’re based on what’s generally practical for most hunts, and the descriptions will give ideas on how to adjust them based on different needs.

Rarity 8 Artian Weapons are the endgame ideal weapons to aim for in pretty much every case, however rely on you going through gacha rolls to acquire upgrades for them. For now, sets will ignore them and focus solely on craftable picks, however keep in mind their potential, especially for those who wish to have things like Paralysis or Blast.

Raw Artian Weapons are looking for 15-20% affinity, and maximum raw afterwards. Blast or Paralysis are the ideal choices for status on top of it, but there isn’t any major cost for having any element/status.

Note: This guide uses Builder: MH Wilds Hub for build cards. It is being progressively updated throughout the days.

Kinsect

Currently in Wilds we lack fully detailed information about every single Kinsect and their bonuses/stats, however there are still general picks that have risen to common use. IG always uses Blunt kinsects now in Wilds, since there is seemingly no noticeable stat detriment, and you are easily able to get a KO on monsters via kinsect combo.

We also have Kinsect Levels on glaives again similar to Rise, so using any earlier rarity kinsect isn’t horrible.

• Arkmaiden/Foebeetle/Gullshad
  • These kinsects have “Kinsect Boost: Harvest Extract” which allows them to gather up to 3 extracts during any charged shot or during Rising Spiral Slash. This can significantly aid when gathering extracts, which is something Wilds IG needs to be doing quite a lot thanks to the aforementioned attack.
  • Arkmaiden has “Fast Charge,” Foebeetle/Gullshad have “Weak Point Focus,” with Foebeetle having higher power and Gullshad having higher speed.

• Carnage Beetle
  • Carnage Beetle is likely the highest damage output option in the game, and it has “Kinsect Combo: Element” on top which supposedly should help with kinsect combo damage that IG uses frequently, however at this time we don’t know the details of it.
  • Since it no longer has “Kinsect Boost: Harvest Extract” it won’t be able to grab all 3 extracts in 1 charge shot, or during Rising Spiral.

Raw

The difference between raw and element will likely favor raw for the most part, but it remains to be fully compared in detail.

Standard Raw:

Airborne is shown on the set because it applies to Descending Slash and Rising Spiral Slash, but is not currently part of the calculations. 

Fulgur Anjanath 2p bonus gives you an extra small stamina bar which can be used freely without draining your main stamina bar, and thus keeping Maximum Might active for incredibly high uptime. 

Counterstrike skill is used because it will activate should you take damage while offset countering a large attack, and is a significant raw boost with little investment. It will also activate as normal should you take a strong hit.

Alternate Weapons:

Guardian Rathalos’ weapon is shown due to having the most amount of effective sharpness thanks to Master’s Touch, however many weapons are nearly identical. It will be dependent on matchups with Element/Status for which one is ideal if you are still ignoring Artian.

Some such weapons include:

• Queen’s Regalia (Rathian)
  • The Rathian weapon is almost entirely identical, but with 70 base units (~140 hits total) of sharpness instead of Master’s Touch, and Poison over Fire. It’s a potential option for Arkveld since it punishes you for using element and has extremely low element hitzones.

• Halilintar Clairglaive (Rey Dau)
  • It has lower affinity, but higher raw which nets within 2 EFR on this current set. Also has 90 base units (~180 total) of sharpness, and free Focus 2. 

• Leumundsgift (Gore Magala)
  • It has 20% affinity to actually cap out at 100% affinity on the set, and also has 80 base units of sharpness, but unfortunately lower raw means it is ultimately still close to these other picks. It should be noted that Critical Element as a skill is currently bugged and does not provide anywhere near as much element multiplication on crits as it should.

• Immaculate Blizzard (Blangonga)
  • With significantly lower affinity and sharpness, the massive raw lets it still come out nearly identical to the high affinity picks in EFR even at 70% affinity. Additionally due to Corrupted Mantle providing up to 30% affinity on repeated hits, this can theoretically be one of the strongest non-Artian raw options for the 2 minute uptime of the Mantle as it will improve massively with more affinity, but it’s probably not very practical. Also comes with Focus 3.

Set Adjustments:

Some other options to consider for the set are:

• Adrenaline Rush 1:
  • ADR is a front-loaded skill that provides 10 raw after evading an attack. Swapping 1 level of Weakness Exploit for it can work wonders if you are already using Corrupted Mantle to make up for affinity, or just can keep the skill active often

• Earplugs 1:
  • IG’s Triple Up provides the effects of 1 level of this skill, so by slotting an extra level over Counterstrike you can obtain complete immunity to most monster roars. Useful if you have low Counterstrike uptime with fewer offsets and not getting hit as much.

Gore 4p Raw:

4p Gore is very similar to 2p Gore, but it now gives you +10/+15 attack during frenzy/after frenzy is cured. Despite being generally more inefficient armor, the +15 raw from the set bonus does actually end up making it worthwhile to use as an option. This attack bonus isn’t reflected in the builder currently. 

This version will end up outputting more than the previous standard raw set if you are lacking in Counterstrike uptime, and also comes with a few extra skills like Evade Window and Coalescence along with a free size 1 slot.

Maximum Might is still usable on IG without the 2p Fulgur Anjanath set bonus, however it does become slightly more limiting on gameplay with potentially more downtime if aerial mobility is necessary or frequent rolling happens.

Alternate Weapons:

As before, Guardian Rathalos’ weapon is shown due to having the most amount of effective sharpness thanks to Master’s Touch, however many weapons are nearly identical. It will be dependent on matchups with Element/Status for which one is ideal if you are still ignoring Artian.

Some such weapons include:

• Queen’s Regalia (Rathian)
  • It’s still almost entirely identical, but with 70 base units (~140 hits total) of sharpness instead of Master’s Touch, and Poison over Fire. Same thing goes for the Arkveld matchup too.

• Halilintar Clairglaive (Rey Dau)
  • It’s still another option that reaches similar values as expected. More sharpness, has Focus 2, and does Thunder instead of Fire. Will be better with Corrupted Mantle or other additional affinity sources.

• Leumundsgift (Gore Magala)
  • It has slightly higher affinity, slightly lower raw; it’s still going to be nearly identical to those other picks, except now with Dragon element. Higher affinity can help round out the set that already isn’t capping it fully.

Set Adjustments:

Some other options to consider for the set are:

• Earplugs 1 / EW 1:
  • IG’s Triple Up provides the effects of 1 level of this skill, so by slotting an extra level over Counterstrike you can obtain complete immunity to most monster roars. This is particularly more relevant for the Gore 4p set here compared to previous, as you only have 1 level of Counterstrike in the first place. Evade Window also exists.

• Blangonga Chest / Counterstrike 3 Talisman:
  • By using this version of 4p Gore instead, you gain access to CS3 at the cost of dropping to Agitator 4 in order to keep Burst 1. This version massively relies on the Corrupted Mantle for affinity.

• Gore Alpha:
  • Some may question using Gore Alpha pieces in order to hit the 3 piece group skill for Master Mounter. This skill isn’t relevant for IG as aerial attacks are still fairly weak. Even when IG does need to go for a mount, it can get one fast enough without this skill thanks to Wilds’ buffs to mount output. 
  • Regardless, should you wish to use a version of this with Master Mounter, you only have to effectively drop the Counterstrike size 2 slot. Use Fulgur Anjanath-B helmet, and Gore-B coil with the rest being Gore-A for this version.
    

Burst / Wex Raw:

The more common raw set with Burst 5 and Wex 5, avoiding Agitator. It’s shown here as a comparison, but this is noticeably weaker than the previous alternatives from a purely raw perspective, although the value from high levels of Burst comes from the element on top of the raw.

The EFR comparison should have +3 raw from Odogaron 2p Burst Boost, but even still it lacks in damage to the other sets. This is primarily due to missing out on Counterstrike, although Wex is also inefficient compared to Agitator in Wilds. Uptime concerns can exist for each one you rely on for affinity.

The same notes from the previous sets about Airborne and Maximum Might exist for this one.

Alternate Weapons:

Just like the previous sets, Guardian Rathalos’ weapon is shown due to having the most amount of effective sharpness thanks to Master’s Touch, however many weapons are nearly identical. It will be dependent on matchups with Element/Status for which one is ideal.

Some such weapons include:

• Queen’s Regalia (Rathian)
  • Yep, it’s still almost entirely identical, but with 70 base units (~140 hits total) of sharpness instead of Master’s Touch, and Poison over Fire. Arkveld is a horrible element matchup.

• Halilintar Clairglaive (Rey Dau)
  • The lower affinity can possibly be counteracted more by Weakness Exploit’s additional wound affinity bonus, but wounds get destroyed very quickly so it is not that consistent.

Set Adjustments:

This set has a bit less space to work with in the current iteration:

• Agitator:
  • It is reasonable to trade a lot of the Weakness Exploit levels for Agitator levels in order to gain a lot more output while Agitator is active, though in order to fit Agitator 5 you also have to drop 1 level of Burst. This version of the set can reach up to 431 EFR.

• Adrenaline Rush 1:
  • If slotting ADR on this set, it has to come out of Burst levels rather than Weakness Exploit

Gore / Arkveld Raw:

This is the generic 1st impression set that many people gravitated towards on Wilds release, and is shown here mostly for comparison’s sake. This set is definitely a lot weaker than the other two options, as it relies fully on both Weakness Exploit and Agitator for affinity rather than being able to fit Maximum Might 3 (or Counterstrike for that matter.)

If you did happen to care about the abundance of size 1 slots on the set (or perhaps the pitifully weak Hasten Recovery healing bonus) then this would still be an option, but most size 1 decorations aren’t that relevant. 

It’s also possible to use G.Arkveld alpha gloves to get 1 point of Blight Resistance over 2 of the size 1 slots.

Element

Element sets are likely going to be the strongest option for most matchups, but that is primarily due to most element weapons being strong raw picks themselves while also being similar to each other. It will be compared in detail eventually.