10 new things coming to Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

Monster Hunter Rise was a massive success for Capcom, and the game, within a couple of years, quickly became the second best-selling title in the franchise, right behind the mighty Monster Hunter World. It was obvious that Capcom would eventually announce an expansion to the game, which they did.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is the highly anticipated expansion to the base game of MH Rise. It takes notes from previous expansions in the series, notably the Iceborne expansion for Monster Hunter World.

The expansion will also introduce a new locale called Citadel, with new armor and weapons and, most importantly, several new monsters.

Apart from these additions, numerous miscellaneous changes affect gameplay in some way or another.

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These ten additions will make Monster Hunter Rise's Sunbreak expansion more fun to play

1) New monsters

Getting the most important thing out of the way first: Monster Hunter Rise already boasts a vast catalog of monsters for players to track and hunt and ultimately craft unique armor sets and weapons. With the newest expansion, Sunbreak, Capcom is adding even more new and returning favorites to the game.

The Three Lords are the biggest threat to the world of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. This includes Sunbreak's flagship monsters, Malzeno, Garangolm, and Lunagaron.

Along with these entirely new monsters, others are coming from the base game with new subspecies like Magma Almudron and Aurora Somnacanth.

A bunch of monsters is also returning from the past Monster Hunter Games. Iconic monsters like Gore Magala, Espinas, Seregios, and Astalos are all coming to Monster Hunter Rise with the Sunbreak expansion.

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2) New skillbinds

Monster Hunter Rise gives users all the flexibility regarding combat and how they want to tune their own playstyles. Skillbinds have a great new feature that allows Monster Hunter Rise gamers to use a unique set of skills for all 14 weapon types using the Wirebug.

Wirebugs already prove to be a very effective and essential tool for traversal in the vast and open biomes of Monster Hunter Rise, with the added benefit of having a weapon skill that can be executed using them makes them viable in combat as well.

The new set of Skillbinds that add new attacks and movesets to weapons have been added for all 14 weapon categories in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, giving players even more customization options.

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3) Morphed Wirebugs

The two new Morphed Wirebugs add interesting new shared and unique bonus perks (Image via Capcom)

Wirebugs are already a great addition to Monster Hunter Rise with their seamless integration in both combat and traversal. The two new Morphed Wirebugs give users of the new expansion even more wiggle room to personalize these small and super helpful critters, with new colored variations and distinctly unique and shared perks.

The two new Morphed Wirebugs added to the Sunbreak expansion are the Ruby Wirebug and the Gold Wirebug. Both share a common perk of making Wyvern riding easier, with a boosted Wirebug recovery gauge.

The Ruby Wirebug comes with the bonus effect of dealing more damage while doing mounted punishers. In contrast, the Gold Wirebug makes it highly likely to drop materials when damaging a Wyvern-type monster while riding the said Wyvern.

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4) Other useful and new endemic life in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

The endemic life of Monster Hunter games has always been one of the most valuable tools during the hunt. Occupying the same hunting space as the gigantic monsters, these usually come in handy for hunters as they can deal passive damage to the monsters while the hunter tries to slay one.

These tiny critters come in various shapes and sizes and are useful in different ways, like how the Wirebug is helpful in traversal and combat. Many others provide some form of passive bonus for hunters to use during a hunt.

Rise's base game already has plenty of these creatures, and with the Sunbreak expansion, Capcom has added a few more to the list.

Slicercrab

This endemic Hermit crab species can be found in the new Jungle locale of Monter Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. These creatures are often found inhabiting caves devoid of sunlight.

They are very territorial, though pretty small and devoid of good eyesight. These creatures are very aggressive when it comes to their territory.

The tiny but aggressive Slicercrabs are new endemic creatures added to Sunbreak (Image via Capcom)

With crystals that shoot out of these crustaceans' backs, these crabs attack anything big and try to invade their territory.

Spearsquid

Found in the waters surrounding the jungle, the Spearsquids can damage giant monsters by just swimming past them with their sharp and pointed bodies. Although these cephalopods are not known to be aggressive, luring a monster to these creatures can indeed be effective in turning the tides of a hunt in favor of the hunters in the newest expansion of Monster Hunter Rise.

Starburst Bugs

The Stardust Bugs are an interesting little addition to the game's hunting lands, acting as explosive traps for monsters (Image via Capcom)

These Beetle-like creatures exist in star-shaped clusters. When reacting to external stimuli, like a monster hitting their group, their color changes, and the dust covering their shell detonates, causing damage to the beast. The Beetles themselves remain safe due to their hard shells and simply flee.

Marionette Spiders

The Marionette Spiders are just like the base game's Puppet Spiders but can be used to steer a monster in any desired direction. If aimed towards a hard surface, they can be used to potentially damage the monster and topple them.

Thornytoad

These tiny amphibians can be collected at the Resinmires of the Citadel's Forest. Their tongues are tipped with suckers that are not only used for hunting but also for sticking to wood, Mansory, and other creatures.

When thrown towards or attacked by a monster, the Thornytoad swells and emits a concentrated gastric acid that makes even the largest of the beasts recoil.

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5) Improved wall running

In the new expansion, Sunbreak, Traversal has seen a substantial improvement from the base game. It was mandatory to perform a Wiredash before initiating a wall run, but that is no longer required in Sunbreak.

Wall running can easily be initiated by simply dashing, jumping, or performing a midair evading towards a wall.

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6) New Swap Evade ability

The new Swap Evade ability adds an entirely new combat moveset for gamers to experiment with. It can only be performed after using a Switch Skill Swap.

It lets players quickly move in any direction while dodging monster attacks and maintaining distance. This new ability looks great, too, though performing it might take a few hours of practice.

Once mastered, users will be able to use Swap Evade to dodge attacks with style.

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7) Two new Switch Skill Swap scrolls

Hot swapping skills is made easier and more intuitive than ever before in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak with the addition of two new Switch Skill Swap scrolls. This ability allows players to switch between the two available scrolls, the Red Switch Skill Swap scroll and the Blue Switch Skill Swap scrolls.

They can swap between these scrolls on the fly, allowing users to switch between two separate skill loadouts almost instantly, giving them more combat options than ever before while on a hunt.

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8) Two new Locales in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

With the Sunbreak expansion of Monster Hunter Rise, players will be introduced to two entirely new regions of the map, the Citadel and the Jungle. According to Capcom, the former is centered around the forlorn ruins of an old castle.

The Citadel region will feature a vast array of environments for users to explore, track, and hunt monsters, from huge forest-covered areas to breathtaking icescapes.

On the other hand, the jungle locale will feature a warm climate with abundant rainfall, making it a paradise for plant life and monsters inhabiting the region. It will have lush tree-laden greenery, expansive subterranean caverns, and relaxing waterside areas for gamers to venture out.

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9) New characters and follower collab quests

The cast of characters in the base game of Monster Hunter Rise is some of the most interesting NPCs ever seen in a Monster Hunter game. These charming characters could also act as AI-controlled hunters for certain quests (basically the Rampage quests) that aid players during a hunt in a very limited capacity.

With Sunbreak, however, Capcom has found a way to allow users to have these fun characters tag along with them on even more quests via the follower collab quests system. These missions are exclusively single-player-only, with characters appearing from the new hunter's outpost, Elgado, and from the Kimura Village in the base game.

These followers act similarly to the player's animal companions as they can heal gamers, lay traps for monsters, and sometimes even ride some monsters. Individuals can earn exclusive rewards upon completing these quests with the characters.

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10) Master Rank in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, by bringing in the Master Rank with the expansion.

Master Rank unlocks after completing the base game of Monster Hunter Rise and allows users to battle against familiar and new monsters. The beasts returning from the base game will exhibit new movesets and combos while in Master Rank battles.

It will be fascinating to see how new monsters like Malzeno, as well as returning beasts like Gore Magala, will be balanced in the Master Rank for high-ranking players.

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These are some notable changes and new additions coming to Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. There are possibly even more changes that have been made to the game via Sunbreak that will only be witnessed once the expansion releases on June 30 for Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows.

Note: The article represents the author's views only.