Like any good action RPG, Monster Hunter Rise is a game designed with endless playstyles and customizations in mind. Whether one is keener on flashy melee strikes, or prefers a more calculated and tactical approach, this game has something for everyone, which might be the most important thing to remember with Monster Hunter Rise. There is no wrong way to play the game, only ways to play that best suit certain situations.
It is important to understand a weapon's fundamental playstyle to determine its best build. Traditionally, certain weapons and upgrades focused on either damage or support utility, but the Hunting Horn offers the best of both worlds. Offering a self and team buffing mechanic through its musical component, the Hunting Horn also has the ability to dish out some major damage. With the right base weapon, armor, and Switch Skills equipped it's no wonder why this weapon has become one of the game's hottest draws upon release.
Best Hunting Horn for Low Rank
Players in the early game should set their sites on the Kamura Chorus III, which is easily upgradeable at 2 rarity, requiring only 1 iron ore, 2 Kestadon Shells, 3 Malachite Ores, and 5 Neopteran Materials from the base form of the Kamura Chorus. The three corresponding melody buffs are Attack Up, Defense Up, and Healthy Recovery (S), which although seem basic, are vital for taking down monsters and completing quests at lower levels.
It's always okay to branch out and try different horns as new materials become accessible, but players would be perfectly fine sticking to the Kamura tree until the midgame. This weapon offers enough well-roundedness for players to get used to general Hunting Horn mechanics, like choosing between a more attack or music-buff-centric approach.
Best Hunting Horn for High Rank
Not enough data has been gathered on the super late-game elements of the game because it's still so new, but plenty is known up to about 6* quests. After being able to slay the Magnamalo, players then gain access to the Sinister Strum line of horns. Like the Kamura Chorus line, the Sinister Strum offers that desirable balance of raw stats and powerful melody buffs.
The Sinister Strum line has arguably the best melody set in the game: Attack+Defense Up, Health Regeneration, and Sonic Barrier (nullifies crowd control[CC] effects against one hit per use!) with the highest level, the Shadestrum, having the best stats. Considering that it is easy to spam songs while in combat compared to previous iterations of this weapon, giving yourself and/or your team so many Sonic Barriers a fight effectively makes stuns and knockback from monsters a non-issue.
Best Armor for Low Rank
- Izuchi Helm - Critical Eye
- Kula-Ya-Ku Mail - Horn Maestro
- Kula-Ya-Ku Braces - Slugger
- Khezu Coil - Focus + Slugger
- Ingot Greaves - Attack Boost + Critical Eye
Again, choosing the best armor sets is a daunting task, because there is so much room to be flexible with playstyle in the game. In the low ranks though, it is probably best to focus on two core attributes of Hunting Horn gameplay: performance speed, and crowd control. It is imperative to build around Horn Maestro maximizing musical impact with enhanced performance speed. After Horn Maestro, some skills that synergize well are Slugger for stuns, Critical Eye for crit, and Attack Boost for more base damage. Since Hunting Horn is a blunt weapon, monsters are more susceptible to getting KO'd the more hits they take to the head. Between that and the stuns from Slugger, monsters will be incapacitated often enough to dish out free damage from the horn's slow-moving attack animations.
Best Armor for High Rank
- Zinogre Helm - Critical Eye + Latent Power
- Zinogre Mail - Critical Eye + Latent Power
- Nargacuga Braces - Evade Extender + Evade Window
- Nargacuga Coil - Evade Extender
- Volvidon Greaves - Evade Extender
At higher ranks, monsters will be hitting for massive chunks of damage, making the traditional face-up approach less viable. Survivability is a much more crucial factor in the mid-late game due to the premium on time efficiency when farming for materials from tough opponents. Knowing this, the best strategy in high ranks might just be to emphasize evasiveness over damage and critical attacks. It's still advisable to include Horn Maestro in the mix via Talisman slot, but in later stages skills like Evade Extender and Evade Window will phase out Slugger and Attack Boost. Get used to canceling your weapon animations, because avoiding fainting should be the number one priority at this stage.
Best Hunting Horn Switch Skills
- Regular Attack 1: Melodic Slap - Damage + CC
- Regular Attack 2: Melody Mode: Performance - Generates melodies during combat
- Silkbind: Earthshaker - Massive burst damage
With the best weapons and armor sets in mind, the switch skills will bring it all together. Melodic Slap does less damage than Overhead Smash, but has a stun component that synergizes well with the horn's innate CC effects, making it the optimal choice, especially with Horn Maestro builds mentioned above. The second skill should be Melody Mode: Performance and the Silkbind should be Earthshaker. The other two options in each skill slot offer great benefits of their own, but they skew too heavily into a support-centric playstyle. It is more advantageous to have a build that can blend elements attack and support, and Performance Mode does just that. Admittedly, this mode might make the Hunting Horn much stronger than its MH World counterpart, but for now, it is the strongest option of the Hunting Horn switch skills.