Capcom's massive Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak expansion has been out for a few weeks, giving fans the chance to take on a number of new monsters and stronger variants of returning monsters via Master Rank (MR) quests. Having a third, more challenging tier above Low and High Rank has been a staple of the Monster Hunter franchise, and it's exciting to have more opportunities to play with one's friends - or hunters online. MR also provides a new set of skills for building equipment sets.
One of the biggest selling points for Monster Hunter is that the mainline games have 14 distinct weapon types with radically different abilities and specializations, from sharp weapons like Great Sword that can cut tails with slow, powerful attacks, to blunt weapons like Hammer that stun monsters and break body parts. Each piece of armor crafted with monster parts confers different skills, and these can be mixed at will alongside talismans and decorations to create perfectly tailored equipment skills for any hunt.
This system is easier to understand than ever in Monster Hunter Rise, which should encourage players to go beyond building a full set of Rathalos armor should they desire. Luckily, the developer also includes "Layered Armor" to overlay one's Frankenstein amalgam of equipment. The same possibility should be afforded to weapons in one of Sunbreak's Free Title Updates.
Layered Armor Transmog in Monster Hunter Rise
Any title using interchangeable equipment with different stats and abilities tends to benefit from transmog so that players can be powerful and look how they want, which is why transmog features get added to games such as Outriders. However, even though prior Monster Hunter games like Generations Ultimate included transmogrification, Rise did not at launch.
A select few Layered Armor sets could be acquired when Rise released, but these were locked behind larger purchases - such as the "Kamurai" set in Rise's Deluxe Edition and the "Sinister Seal" set in the Magnamalo amiibo. Fans could not craft Layered Armor until version 2.0 in April 2021. This update also added monsters like Chameleos and unlocked the High Rank level cap beyond HR7, essentially lining up an "endgame" in which the most powerful armor sets were available and users could spend extra time collecting tickets to forge transmog pieces. As five equipment parts are set at a time, five individual Layered Armor pieces can also be created from the same or different sets, making for plenty of customization potential.
Why Sunbreak Should Expand Transmog to Weapons
When players jump into Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak, they'll find the ability to forge Layered Armor does not extend to MR gear. Master Rank Layered Armor is not available until players reach MR10 and encounter their first Afflicted monster. This takes time given it's after credits roll for the expansion's main narrative, but the results are worthwhile given players have updated designs and armor for Sunbreak's new crop of monsters, including the "Three Lords" Malzeno, Lunagaron, and Garangolm.
Though there are plenty of possibilities when designing one's armor around a weapon, it would also be good for Capcom to add the option of doing so in reverse. A player may want to use weapons that have high elemental damage or a specific set of decoration slots, even if sometimes-gimmicky weapon designs such as the Light Bowgun's Canyne tree don't appeal to them. Bragging rights could also play a huge part in this, as fans have gravitated toward new weapons like the Antique Machina set, and may want to show off their prowess by equipping late-game equipment.
Even single-player experiences like Horizon Forbidden West have added armor transmog, so Capcom can do more to make its Layered Armor stand out. Transmog systems in aforementioned titles like World of Warcraft have long allowed players to swap out their weapons, and Monster Hunter would benefit from this too. With Sunbreak getting multiple Free Title Updates in the near future, weapon transmog could be incorporated as with standard Layered Armor in version 2.0 last year.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is available now on PC and Switch.