Monster Hunter Shrine

What is Monster Hunter?

Monster Hunter is a series of games where you fight... well, monsters! There are a handful of different quest styles (gathering, delivering), but hunting is the main draw. It's kind of a boss rush style game where you use parts from previous bosses for your gear, with grinding and inventory management! Though, Gen 5 (World, Rise) lessened the inventory management; the grinding for monster parts is still there though.

The series is all about gear progression. You don't get increased strength or stamina or what have you. Just upgrading your weapons and armor as you go through the game and unlock new monsters; along with your skills, of course. There are 14 weapon types, and thereby a lot of playstyles to choose from; ranging from the quick, short-ranged Dual Blades to the slow, strong Greatsword to the heavy, portable machine gun called the Heavy Bowgun. Not gonna get into all of them here, as that's a lot of ground to cover.
The series also lets you have layered armor and layered weapons, meaning that you can overlay the look of one piece of equipment onto another. Therefore, fashion is the true endgame /silly

Basic plot summary? Well, you play as a hunter. You hunt monsters. You do quests for the villagers. You defend the village, etc etc. Nothing really special. World actually has an overarching narrative to everything where you're investigating this new continent for the Hunter's Guild. MH4 has you dealing with a mysterious infection that makes monsters more aggressive. Rise has you fighting off the Rampage, an event where monsters storm the area enmass. The story isn't the main draw of the series; the stories aren't particularly gripping or anything, but they give you a reason to care about the world I think. To me anyway.

The games are also fairly disconnected from each other; they're happening in the same world, yes, but they're happening in different areas and (likely) different time periods. Characters aren't a focus either; many are (mostly) static, and the few that get character arcs are more servicable arcs than anything. Your player character is also a silent protagonist (except in Rise (during hunts) and Wilds right now) that you can imagine lore for (if you like doing that, which I definitely do)

Now, I'm not a lifelong fan of the series; I'm a Fiver, started with Rise in 2023. This shrine is primarily centered around Rise:Sunbreak which, as stated earlier, is my starter game.

Weapons

Main Weapons

Dabbling Weapons

...Huh?

Longsword. I mean this genuinely, I can't wrap my head around how it's used.
I'll admit I don't understand Chargeblade very well either (for those unaware, CB is the weapon people say is the most complicated), but I understand CB better than I do LS.

What I Like

• The ecology! Monster Hunter actually puts a lot of thought into how the monsters would work in universe. Zinogre's a really popular example of this; for those who don't know -- Zinogre's this big dog-looking monster that shoots out electricity. The in-universe explanation is that Zinogre has a symbiotic relationship with these insects called Fulgurbugs, and they manage the electricity for Zinogre. Some monsters straight up just have element sacs that let them produce that element (e.g. flame sac for fire), such as Aknosom.
• The monster designs! Can't explain this one, I just think the monsters look cool as hell.
• Special shoutouts to Rise:Sunbreak only because I think it's cool that the game's new monsters were based on folkloric monsters. Aknosom, for example, is based on the kasa-obake while Malzeno is based on vampires.
• Magnamalo's not based on a specific yokai though, being more generally based on samurai armor, hitodama, and tigers.
• The gameplay! How could I like a game series if I hated playing it LMAO. While the grinding can be unfun at times (curse you RNG drops! /lh), I still find the overall gameplay loop pretty fun. I just like the feel of the combat is all.

Misc.

Monster Classification

Yes, Monster Hunter has its own taxonomy system. While it isn't scientifically accurate due to... well... this game isn't made by biologists... I do appreciate the detail the team put into it. I'll go over a few categories of large monster (yes there's small monsters, like herbivores and lynians/cats/palicos) here; not all of them because some have so few monsters that there isn't a lot to say about them.

I will also say that the Monster Community has their own group names for some monsters; some will be mentioned here.

Bird Wyvern

Typically the first large monster class you'd fight in the games. They generally take up the early game roster, with a notable exception (Yian Garuga...). Typically either bird shaped or raptor shaped, though not always (Pukei-pukei). Yian-kut-ku, Kulu-ya-ku, Aknosom, and Great Izuchi are all Bird Wyverns.

Bird Wyverns are actually my favorite class in the series! For... very obvious reasons (--;) (I like birds!). Out of all of them, Aknosom and Malfestio are my favorites.

Brute Wyvern

T-Rex lookin' fuckers. Got monsters like Deviljho, Barroth, and Anjanath in here.

Call me basic but I really love Glavenus. It's cool as shit. I will also say I have a soft spot for Barroth... big mud-soaked train lizard. Gotta shoutout my man Anjanath too, who my friends and I meme to death with "Anjanath... Explode!"

Leviathan

Typically long, serpentine (though not always!) monsters that either are aquatic or live by water; though they're not limited to the water. They're quite speedy too! Lagiacrus, Mizutsune, and Gobul are some Leviathans.

Fanged Beast

Woah! Non-Wyverns! Anyway, yeah, these guys are mammals. Arzuros, Lagombi, Gammoth, and Goss Harag are in this class.

Arzuros managed to worm its way into my heart because I decided it's the favorite of one of my hunter OCs LMAO. Also really like Gammoth, but I haven't fought it yet.

Fanged Wyvern

Similar to synapsids, these guys are mammal-like wyverns. Encompasses monsters like Zinogre, Odogaron, Tobi-Kadachi, and Magnamalo. Most of the Fanged Wyverns, aside from Zingore, were added in Gen 5! Zinogre's was introduced in Gen 3 (in Portable 3rd, specifically).

I also really like Odogaron and Lunagaron. I like Odo's whoe schtick as a scavenger in the Rotten Vale (an area which has a really cool pairing btw!) and Luna's concept of "werewolf wolf. wolf that changes into a slightly different wolf during Circunstances" is very fun as well. Shoutout to Magnamalo as well; love calling that thing Marshmallow.

Flying Wyvern

The most common class of Wyvern. Does it have wings? That's a Flying Wyvern. I can't even be funny, there's a lot of them; Rathalos (the series Pikachu), Nargacuga, Diablos, and Tigrex are all Flying Wyverns. Out of what I listed, Rathalos is the only one where flight factors into the fight.

Have to say my favorite from here is Astalos. That monster's design is really good; its insect wings are very striking. Surprisingly, I actually do have fun fighting it despite being a Greatsword (it's a speedy little bitch).

I will also say my least favorite is Tigrex. Fuck off and stop chasing me fucker.

Elder Dragon

The wastebin category of unprecedented destruction! They're very strong, and are the end-game bosses of the games. The Elder Trio (Chameleos, Kushala Daora, Teostra) show up a lot in the series as part of the endgame. New Elders show up as "final" story bosses a lot of the time (e.g. Ibushi and Narwa).

My favorite? Obviously Wind Serpent Ibushi. He's right there as my favorite monster LMAO. I literally fight him for fun. I will say I like Xeno'jiiva's design, but its fight soured me on it a bit.

Again, these aren't the only classes in the series; there's stuff like Piscine Wyverns (fish), Temnocerans (spiders), and Neopterons (bugs), but the listed classes encompasses a majority of monsters (and a lot of the popular ones lmao).

I like how there isn't an even distribution to the monster species -- it makes things feel more realistic; though, I do wish that the less loved classes get time to shine again (more Snake Wyverns when).

Favorites

Favorite Monster

Wind Serpent Ibushi

My favorite loser <3 My silly dragon.

I just think this guy's funny as hell. Literally cockblocking this dragon because he and his wife (Thunder Serpent Narwa) would fuck up the ecosystem so bad if they fucked.

His design is really good, I think! He's so weird looking, very striking to me when I first saw him (first Elder Dragon I saw and all).
His theme too! Breath of Ire is really good. Highly recommend listening to it (it's in the music player over there!). The twin questgivers (one of whom is below) are heavily associated with Ibushi and Narwa, and they sing their respective themes! Here's some good videos talking about their themes btw.

He's based on Fujin, the Japanese god of wind. His armor set also shows that inspiration (even though I don't think the armor's That good design wise lmao)

Favorite Character

Minoto

Again, though characters aren't a focus in the series, I wanted to dedicate a section of this shrine to my dearly beloved girl, Minoto! The "Hub Maiden" of the game, A.K.A the multiplayer questgiver. In the game, she's found in the Hub, working away at quest paperwork.

She's titled "Protecting Moon" in comparison to her sister's "Healing Sun." Described as serene by the game's website, she's the calmer one of the pair, and quite diligent to boot. She is, however, also a fucking loser. She is like a cat to me, does not like going outside and does not like socializing very much.

I should say though, this girl has extreme self-esteem issues. She puts Hinoa on an incredibly high pedestal that it's honestly a bit sad? It's not all that touched upon (aside from jokingly) because characters aren't the focus, but it's something that caught my attention while playing through Rise. I will admit that how it's handled makes me uncomfy at times... similar vibes to Yuri from Spy x Family oddly enough.

She canonically draws and her art looks like this. It's really funny. I adore her so much.

Fan Stuff

My Hunters

I do have my own hunter OCs! Only one has an actual page (on Toyhou.se only for now) at the moment, so I'll link her profile here.

Poorly Drawn Monster Hunter

Some friends and I run a Tumblr blog that's just drawing the monsters poorly! You can find it here.

I drew my favorite shitpost of Ibushi and Narwa for this blog.

Photo Gallery