Insect Glaive Guide
Insect Glaive is a partnership between hunter and the Kinsect. Active extracts and the parts within reach determine whether an opening calls for a grounded attack string, a vault, or a safe Descending Thrust. Monster parts supply buffs, red extract unlocks the glaive's stronger moves, and aerial mobility creates new attack lines.
Grounded attacks are the repeatable route while extracts are active because you can keep aiming each string at the same weak part. Tornado Slash finishes that route, while Descending Thrust converts a useful aerial position into a return attack and, with the kinsect recalled, a piercing kinsect pass.
Iceborne, final balance. Complete weapon controls are in the in-game Hunter's Notes; the official manual covers general controls. Combat Mechanics explains why the same swing hits for different numbers. Every move is in Motion Values.
If this weapon is new to you, try it in the Training Area first. Use the in-game Hunter's Notes to practice its basic attacks; this guide explains how to connect them into a hunt.
Extracts and Kinsect
Send the Kinsect to a monster part, then recall it to collect the extract. The extract remains on the insect until it returns. Red changes the hunter's attack moves, white increases movement speed, and orange grants knockback resistance. Red plus white applies a 1.10x physical damage multiplier, and having all three applies a 1.15x multiplier. While all three extracts are active, each level of also adds one level of , , and .
Green extract heals you and does not take an extract slot. Watch the extract icons and gather needed colors during downtime; once all three combat extracts are active, their shared timer must expire before you can replace that set. extends red, white, and orange extract duration.
The Kinsect has its own element and deals either sever or blunt damage. The hunter's Attack, affinity, and elemental skills do not raise kinsect damage, so choose the kinsect's element separately for the monster you are hunting. A slower, stronger Kinsect can hit the monster more times during Descending Thrust when its path remains inside a long body, while a fast Kinsect shortens the trip to a distant part and back when gathering extracts.
Kinsect Charge feeds slinger ammo to the Kinsect. Monster-dropped ammo grants Strength, which raises kinsect damage and extends individual extract durations by 50%. Field ammo such as stones and redpits grants Spirit, which doubles the kinsect's maximum stamina and stamina recovery and extends all extract durations by 50%, including the triple-extract set. A glaive with the Spirit & Strength bonus grants both effects from either ammo category. Charge before gathering so the new extracts receive the duration increase; extends the extracts, not the charge itself.
Tornado Slash
With red extract active, use a grounded multi-hit string and finish with Tornado Slash when the opening is long enough for both hits. Keep the string on a wounded part when you are relying on . Vault when its height or direction solves a positioning problem or supports a mounting attempt. When a safe descent line runs through the monster, use Descending Thrust and continue into Tornado Slash; otherwise, use the aerial evade to choose a safe landing.
Aerial movement spends hunter stamina and moves each hit across the monster, whereas the grounded string can repeatedly target one part. reduces fixed stamina costs and speeds stamina recovery; neither changes kinsect stamina. applies only to eligible jumping attacks. On Descending Thrust, it affects the first glaive hit, not the landing hits or the kinsect pass.
Descending Thrust
Descending Thrust is your damaging return from the air. Use it when the monster will remain under the descent long enough for the glaive to land and for you to continue the grounded string. A knockdown can justify vaulting for it; a short opening cannot.
Recall the Kinsect before you attack. When it is on the hunter's arm, it flies through the monster during Descending Thrust, and a slower insect spends more time inside a long monster and can register more hits. Aim the descent so the kinsect's path crosses the body. If the Kinsect is already deployed, the piercing pass does not happen.
After Descending Thrust lands, use Tornado Slash if red extract is active. The descent closes the distance but does not end the combo. If the monster remains open to attack, return to the grounded multi-hit route before the next Tornado Slash.
Fight loop
At the start of a hunt, use Kinsect Charge and learn which parts provide red, white, and orange. Secure red before committing to a glaive string; add white for movement and the 1.10x red-plus-white physical multiplier, then collect orange when you want the 1.15x triple-extract multiplier and its fixed shared timer. When the monster is not enraged and its head can safely reach a wall, a Flinch Shot creates a knockdown. Wound the part you plan to attack: as a light weapon, Insect Glaive normally needs two clutch weapon attacks, or one with .
During a knockdown, stay grounded for a direct multi-hit string, or recall the kinsect before vaulting into Descending Thrust when the monster's length gives the kinsect a useful path. After landing, use Tornado Slash while red remains active. Gather expiring extracts during a lull rather than spending the knockdown chasing a color.
Outside an opening, stop the string early enough to roll or use a vault and aerial evade to leave the attack line. Insect Glaive has no guard action. Orange extract adds knockback resistance, and each level of adds one level of , , and while the triple extract set is active.
Skills
Build for the attacks you can keep on a chosen part, then add survival or stamina support for the failures you actually see. Getting Started explains meals, the progression path, and how to use Armor Sphere. Combat Mechanics explains Defense, the 20-resistance threshold, and . That skill tests the physical hitzone for the attack you land, so aim glaive attacks at a part with a sever hitzone of 45 or higher and wound it for the additional affinity.
Core
Start with affinity, critical damage, and enough sharpness support for the grounded string. The conditional rows apply only when your weapon or hunt meets their stated condition.
| Offensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 1 | A light weapon normally needs two clutch weapon attacks to wound a part. This skill reduces the requirement to one attack and is available from Shaver Charm or Shaver Jewel 3. |
| Red, white, and orange extracts last longer, reducing how often you leave an opening to gather them again. | |
| Lv 1 | 1.05x on a glaive with no active element. Skip it on an elemental glaive. |
| Lv 3 | Adds 30% affinity on a physical hitzone of 45 or higher and another 20% when that part is wounded. |
| and | Raise affinity toward 100%, then raise the damage of the critical hits that affinity produces. Affinity above 100% has no effect. |
| Adds Attack and affinity only while the monster is enraged. Flinch shots and clutch turns contribute to that state; Lv 7 requires . | |
| Keep white or purple sharpness | Grounded hits consume sharpness, and dropping to a lower sharpness color reduces their damage. Choose one of the options in Keep a color. |
| Defensive | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 3 | Raises the health cap to 200 with the meal. |
| Armor Sphere | Raises Defense at the smithy. Spend them on armor you expect to keep when hits start to hurt. |
| 20 matching resistance | Reaching 20 resistance to an element prevents its blight. Use , , , , , or as needed. |
| A chance to reduce the damage you take. Lv 5 needs . | |
| Lv 3 | Prevents stun, which otherwise leaves the hunter unable to evade the next attack. This weapon cannot guard that attack. |
In a group, Lv 1 prevents the basic knockback that often comes from teammates. It does not prevent your attacks from interrupting them. In solo hunts, take higher levels only when you want their triple-extract interaction.
Often added, not required:
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Lv 3 | With red, white, and orange, each level adds one level of , , and while the triple lasts. It is not Lv 5 by itself. |
| Lv 4+ | Extra attack in remaining slots. Lv 4 also adds 5% affinity. |
| Reduces the hunter's stamina cost for vaults and clutching. It does not restore kinsect stamina. | |
| Restores the hunter's stamina faster. It does not restore kinsect stamina. | |
| Adds Attack only at full health, so chip damage disables it until you heal. | |
| Extra attack while recoverable (red) health is on the bar. Pair with or . | |
| Raises Attack, element, and status buildup after you recover from a blight or abnormal status. | |
| Adds affinity and reduces stamina depletion only after its time-or-damage trigger activates. | |
| Kinsect Charge consumes one round, so a larger covered stack gives more charges; the ammo type, not the remaining count, determines one charge's effect and duration. Extra rounds do not increase Flinch Shot damage or wall-collision damage. | |
| Breaks tails and horns faster. It does not raise damage to health. | |
| Grants extra attack and Defense after each faint, up to two times. It is a recovery benefit, not a reason to plan a faint. |
Keep a color
Choose one method for maintaining a useful sharpness color.
| Skill | What it does |
|---|---|
| Adds sharpness when the gauge is not already full. | |
| No sharpness loss on criticals. | |
| No sharpness loss for a fixed time after you sharpen. | |
| Fewer sharpness ticks on average. | |
| The stronger set-bonus version. | |
| Removes cycles from the whetstone animation, reducing the time in which an interruption would restart sharpening. |
Comfort
Choose comfort skills for a specific interruption, resource cost, or damage pattern. Keep them when they preserve more attack time than another offensive skill would create.
| Skill | Why |
|---|---|
| Potions and other heals restore more. | |
| Shortens the time needed to drink an item. Sheathe the weapon and move to safety before drinking. | |
| The red (recoverable) part of the health bar returns faster. | |
| More Defense on top of Armor Sphere. | |
| Lv 3 prevents elemental blights; lower levels shorten their duration. Use it when matching resistance cannot reach 20. | |
| Survives one otherwise fatal hit when health is above its activation threshold. The next hit can still faint you. | |
| Reduces mantle cooldowns. Temporal and Rocksteady make clutch attacks safer while they are available. | |
| Prevents a roar from interrupting the grounded route when you cannot maintain triple extract, but requires a large skill investment. | |
| Longer invulnerability on rolls and the midair evade; the vault itself is movement, not invulnerability. | |
| Longer rolls and midair evades. Extra distance can carry the next Tornado Slash off the part. | |
| Clutch and sprint drain less stamina. | |
| Sometimes does not consume the item. |
Styles
Treat glaive and kinsect element as separate choices: hunter elemental skills affect the glaive, not the kinsect.
| Style | Skills |
|---|---|
| Element | Match each element to the target and use or only when the glaive's affinity can activate it. Against Alatreon, elemental glaive and kinsect damage both contribute to the elemental topple; the critical-element skills are options, not requirements. |
| Aerial | applies to the first hit of Descending Thrust, not every vault or the kinsect hits. Gather red extract before attacking. |
This hunt
Add one of these skills only when the target can trigger its effect or your hunt plan uses the action it supports.
| Skill | When |
|---|---|
| Prevents roars of the covered strength from interrupting an attack. Count the temporary levels from only while triple extract is active. | |
| Use against a target whose strongest wind pressure exceeds the levels supplied by . | |
| Prevents tremors of the covered strength from delaying your next attack or evade. Triple extract adds levels through . | |
| Greatly improves evasion invulnerability and reduces stamina depletion while a blight or status is active. It does not add Attack. | |
| Lv 3 prevents Defense Down; lower levels shorten its duration. Use it only when the target can inflict the ailment. | |
| or | While a mantle is active, grants protection from roars, wind pressure, tremors, and small knockbacks. Only the True version reaches the highest levels. |
| Makes a Dung Pod more likely to send a monster away. | |
| Increases Flash Pod range. The wider flash helps ground a flying monster for an opening. | |
| Raises barrel-bomb damage when your group plans a sleep-bomb opening. | |
| Stronger elderseal on a dragon-element Insect Glaive. | |
| Draws more monster attention from your attacks. Use it only as part of a group plan for who should hold the target's attention. | |
| Makes it easier to mount and finish a mount when you are using vault attacks to create that opening. | |
| Nullifies environmental effluvia damage and reduces acid damage in the Rotten Vale. | |
| Increases health restored by environmental interactables such as Sporepuffs. |
Skills that look better than they are
- Jumping Advancing Slash moves its hits across the monster and spends stamina. Use it for that movement or for mounting buildup, then use Descending Thrust when you have a safe line back through the target.
- reduces the hunter's stamina costs, not the Kinsect's stamina costs.
- Green extract heals you but does not act as a fourth extract color.
- does not apply to every vault or increase kinsect damage during Descending Thrust.
- does not give the glaive a guard action.
- Lv 1-4 needs the stamina gauge to remain full before its affinity activates. Vaults and aerial evades spend stamina, so confirm the skill is active before counting its affinity toward 100%.
- requires a slide, and a vault does not count as one.
Settings
Set Automatic Sheathe to Manual if automatic sheathing interrupts how you aim, send, and recall the Kinsect. Aim at the monster part that provides the color you need.
While aiming the Kinsect, keep the camera high enough that extract markers on elevated parts stay visible. A low camera that clips into the body makes it harder to choose the color you meant before you send the insect.