Monster Hunter World – Insect Glaive Build Guide

The Insect Glaive is one of the most unique weapons in Monster Hunter World. This build will give you a solid foundation for making use of the weapon at all levels of play.

Do keep in mind that the more you play Monster Hunter World, the easier it will be to emulate this build more closely.

Best Insect Glaive Skills in Monster Hunter World

Skills make up the majority of a build in Monster Hunter World, so we'll be talking about this first. As a weapon, Insect Glaive is largely self-sufficient and does not need any skills to function at a decent level. However, some will sizably improve your performance and ease of use for the weapon.

• Power Prolonger - Power Prolonger dramatically boosts the duration of any buffs you obtain via the use of the weapon. This goes for all weapons and is a big boost for the Insect Glaive, especially because it requires the use of self-buffs to function properly. I recommend at least level 2 of this skill, as even level 2 will make your life with the Insect Glaive easier to manage.
• Protective Polish - Protective Polish makes it so that attacks following a recent Whetstone sharpening do not incur a loss of Sharpness. This is massive for the Insect Glaive since the weapon's high attack speed drains Sharpness very quickly.
• Evade Extender - Attacks with the Insect Glaive require a more-than-usual commitment for a weapon as fast as it is. Besides being careful about when to extend a combo, you can improve your odds of avoiding attacks by using Evade Extender to boost your evasion distance when you roll. Level 1 of this skill is my recommendation, but having more levels in it is never a bad thing..
• Attack Boost - Generally speaking, Attack Boost is one of the only ways to increase your base damage with any weapon in Monster Hunter World, making it a great skill to always pick up. However, only pick up Attack Boost if you can get it to level 4 or higher, as without the percentage boost, it is generally not enough of an increase to matter.
• Critical Eye - While Critical Eye doesn't directly boost your damage, it does allow you to land critical attacks far more often, which is an indirect increase in your damage. As such, any level of Critical Eye you can get is worth it, with higher levels being better. However, be careful overstacking on this skill, because you never want your Affinity percentage to exceed 100%. It is just wasted stats at that point.
• Airborne - Airborne boosts the potency of attacks made while airborne. This does affect Insect Glaive aerial combos, so it is always nice to have, especially because it only requires one level to get the full effect.

Related: Monster Hunter World Weapon Tier List

Best Insect Glaive Equipment in Monster Hunter World

The biggest weakness of the Insect Glaive is how degrading it is on your Sharpness. As such, I can recommend two general sets of armor to you that will help dampen this issue.

• Teostra Set - The Teostra Set offers the set-unique Master's Touch skill which makes it so your critical hits do not drain any Sharpness when landing. Master's Touch only requires three pieces of the Teostra Set to be activated.
• Odogaron Set - The Odogaron Set offers the Protective Polish skill as its set bonus. Like with the Teostra Set, this set bonus only requires three pieces of the Odogaron Set to be activated.

Beyond armor, I highly recommend you run the Temporal Mantle and Rocksteady Mantle for your two secondary item choices. The Temporal Mantle works well as a temporary buffer for mistakes you might make. The Rocksteady Mantle allows you to ignore attacks (though you still take damage), allowing you to brute force through enemy attacks even while you're airborne. Alternatively, you can run a Health Booster for extra sustain. I recommend replacing the Rocksteady Mantle for it if you decide to.

Best Insect Glaive Stats in Monster Hunter World

Generally, when using the Insect Glaive, you want to make sure you can keep your Sharpness stat as high as possible as often as possible. As mentioned before, Sharpness is drained very quickly when using this weapon due to its rapid attacks. Skills like Protective Polish and Handicraft help with this.

Stamina is also a significant detriment for the Insect Glaive if you're planning to utilize its aerial capabilities. While grounded, it's not a Stamina hog, but every aerial attack you use will drain a chunk of it, making it imperative that you maintain it well. Use foods to increase you're Stamina to its maximum value before every hunt, and use Dash Juice to greatly reduce Stamina consumption.

All weapons in Monster Hunter World want to make use of the Affinity stat as well, as it is just a free boost to your overall damage.

For damage stats, while not required, Elemental Attacks tend to function well with the Insect Glaive due to its high attack speed. While you can certainly go for a more generalistic approach by focusing on Raw Damage with Blast, I recommend making Insect Glaives for each element and just using the one the monster you're facing is weakest to.

For Kinsects, prioritize Speed over all other stats, as the more important factor with the Insect Glaive is how quickly you can siphon your three buffs and maintain them. A fast Kinsect makes it easier to siphon specific parts, especially against after monsters, where it may be harder to hit them.

Best Insect Glaive Decorations in Monster Hunter World

Decorations serve as an additional way to customize your skill build. They should be used to fill in the gaps for Skills you want to equip but cannot find the perfect armor piece for.

For the Insect Glaive, Evade Extender/Window, Airborne, Protective Polish, Stamina Surge, Constitution, and Power Prolonger decorations, allow for significant flexibility when you're choosing which armor pieces to use. You can also use Weakness Exploit, Critical Eye, Attack Boost, Latent Power, and Agitator decorations for general damage increases.

How to play the Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter World

At the start of any fight, your goal with the Insect Glaive is to obtain your three Kinsect Buffs as quickly as possible before dealing grounded damage to the monster.

• Red - Your damage buff. It comes from using your Kinsect to siphon from a monster's main natural weapon (Mouth/Claws, in most cases). This is the most important buff.
• White - Your mobility buff. It comes from using the Kinsect to siphon from a monster's natural mobility features (Wings/Feet/Legs, in most cases). This is the second most important buff.
• Orange - Your defense buff. It comes from using the Kinsect to siphon from a monster's core defensive features (tail, torso). This is the least important buff.

Related: How to get a Powercharm in Monster Hunter World

By combining the Red and White buffs (done by just having both), your grounded and aerial combos will change and become viable for damage. This is why these two buffs are the most important. The Orange buff provides a sizable increase in defense but is otherwise unimportant for dealing damage. However, by having all three buffs, you gain several benefits (such as free immunity to monster roars) that make getting all three worthwhile. You can, however, sustain off just the Red and White Buffs.

Eventually, the buffs will run out once enough time has passed, meaning you need to re-obtain the buffs again to gain their benefits. Power Prolonger extends the amount of time you have these buffs, effectively reducing how often you need to obtain them in the middle of a fight.

Despite the Insect Glaive having great aerial capabilities, the weapon tends to perform best while grounded, as its combos are more damaging there. This isn't to say you shouldn't use the weapon's aerial combos. They are just more situational due to their high Stamina cost and reduced overall control.

The Insect Glaive is a highly versatile weapon, and it is very rewarding so long as you can get the hang of constantly managing your three buffs. It has been my main weapon since its introduction to the series, and will remain as such going forward.

For more quality guides and useful information relating to Monster Hunter World, check out How to play Monster Hunter World single player offline right here on Pro Game Guides.