Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Guide: Insect Glaive Tips

The Insect Glaive is one of my favorite weapons in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Not only do you have a huge staff to attack with, but you also get an insect companion called a Kinsect. This makes the weapon unique because you use it to attack and get buffs. You also upgrade it and can evolve it into several different types of Kinsects, but more on that later.

Knowing how to use the Kinsect effectively and what the boosts give you are two important parts to learning the Insect Glaive. I’ll help with that, along with more tips, to get you started. Please visit my Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Guide Directory if you are looking for other guides.

This guide will go over using the Insect Glaive including:

• Basic Controls – Basics on how the weapon works.
• Kinsect Extracts – The 4 different extracts and what they mean.
• Kinsect Nectar and Evolution – How to upgrade your weapon and tips on feeding your Kinsect.
• Extra Tips – Tips to master using the Insect Glaive.

Basic Controls

• Pressing X while standing still does an upward strike. This will be used the most in combos.
• XXA or AXA are good combos to use.
• Pressing X and a direction will do a poke.
• Pressing Back + A after the poke, causes you to do a backflip attack.

The Insect Glaive also has the feature to jump in the air at any time.

• It is called the Vault and you press R + B to do it. You can also press back while doing it to flip backwards.
• You can attack while doing this and mount monsters from anywhere.

You can mark a monster for your Kinsect by holding R to aim, then releasing it to shoot. This marks a spot on their body for your Kinsect to get Extract from, more on that later.

• You also mark while in the air. This pushes you back and can even be used to evade.

You don’t need to mark though, the Kinsect will always fly straight, it helps to remind you of which body parts give which extract.

• R + X sends the Kinsect to get extract and R + A returns it to you to get the buff.

Kinsect Extracts

There are 4 kinds of Extracts the Kinsect can get to buff you. Small monsters only give one kind of buff, but large monsters give all 4, depending on where your Kinsect takes Extract from.

• White (Feet) – Increase to movement speed and jump height. Also used to increase the power of other Extracts.
• Red (Head) – Increase to attack and makes attacks hit more times.
• Orange (Body or Tail) – Knockback protection.
• Increases defense and gives Blight Resistance when combined with White.
• Green – Heals you.

Getting all 3 is the main goal. This gives all the combined White boosts, plus increases it even more.

Kinsect Nectar and Evolution

Nectar

Upgrading Insect Glaives is unique because you have to also feed your Kinsect before upgrading. There are 8 categories of Nectar:

• Power – Increases Kinsect’s damage when extracting.
• Stamina – Increases time Kinsect can fly before returning to you.
• Speed – Increases how fast it flies to extract.
• Fire – Makes Kinsect attacks have the fire element.
• Water – Water elemental attacks.
• Thunder – Thunder elemental attacks.
• Ice – Ice elemental attacks
• Dragon – Dragon elemental attacks.

You can feed Kinsects 5 nectar at a time and the Growth bar shows much Nectar you have until it is full. Once it is full, you can upgrade the weapon after getting the required materials. Feeding Nectar also decreases another stat, shown in red. 

Evolution

When you upgrade the weapon enough, you will get the evolution options. There are 4 different evolution types and they give passive buffs:

• Power – Increases Kinsect damage.
• Stamina – Increases Flight length.
• Speed – Increases Flight speed.
• Balanced – Increases all stats.

These buffs stack on top of the normal Extract buffs. The Balanced buff is not very much. The different types also change how your Kinsect looks.

Extra Tips

• Vaulting can be used to evade some attacks, but you can still be hit during the animation.
• Insect Glaives can be either Blunt or Slicing weapons, so pay attention to which you have.
• It is a good idea to have one of each.
• Pay close attention to your Kinsect Nectar. There are several different kinds.
• If you want a certain stat and element type, make sure you feed it Nectar that doesn’t decrease any of the desired types by too much.
• Grab Extracts from small monsters on your way to the large ones. This lets you start attacking quicker.

That wraps up my Insect Glaive Tips. Check my Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Guide Directory for more guides and tips!

If you have any questions or suggestions, let me know in the comments.