Monster Hunter Rise’s New Switch Skill Swap Could Make More Weapon Types Viable

gamerant.com:

With about a month remaining until the launch of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, fans have a good idea for what to expect from the «massive expansion» to Capcom's latest action-RPG. Trailers have shown new monsters that will appear alongside Rise's Master Rank quests, from the unique Three Lords terrorizing Elgado Outpost to returning favorites like Seregios. Some of the base game's monsters will also get variants, including the Blood Orange Bishaten, Aurora Somnacanth, and Magma Almudron.

The Monster Hunter Digital Event streamed earlier this month also went into detail about features and mechanical tweaks. For example, new single-player Follower Quests will let fans team up with popular NPCs, and wall running will be accessible without the grappling hook-esque Wirebug. Yet the biggest mechanical change is the expansion of Silkbind Attacks and Switch Skills, as well as a Switch Skill Swap feature that could vastly improve the viability of every weapon type.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak's Seregios Explained

Some previous Monster Hunter games have provided players the opportunity to customize their abilities beyond forging different weapons. Monster Hunter Generations notably introduced four Hunting Styles that changed up techniques like evading, as well as Hunting Arts with generic or weapon-specific moves to activate mid-hunt. Switch Skills in Monster Hunter Rise are an evolution of this idea that affect the intrinsic style for each of its 14 weapon types.

As players make their way through the game, they can unlock a Switch Skill for three «sets» on each weapon. Some of these alternate skills change basic aspects of the weapon, for example with Hunting Horn's «Switch 1» choice between Overhead Smash and Melodic Slap. Using