Monster Hunter Rise: Talisman guide

Monster Hunter Rise is out for the Nintendo Switch. In just a few short weeks, it has quickly become one of the best games on the system, having sold millions of copies in just the first weekend alone.

The multiplayer monster hunting game is full of depth, with 14 weapons to experiment with, and an almost endless number of armor and weapon combinations. Adding fuel to the fire is the addition of Talismans — items that can offer skills to take your builds to the next level.

Talismans may seem like an afterthought, but they're extremely important to understand once you start diving deeper into the game's endgame. To help make sense of it all, we've put together a handy guide that explains how exactly Talismans work. Here's everything you need to know about Talismans in Monster Hunter Rise.

How to unlock Talismans

The first step to learning about Talismans is to unlock the Melding Pot. The Melding Pot is where you'll craft your Talismans. There's no easy way to get the option, you must either complete 5 Star Village Quest "Comeuppance" or the Hub Quest "Hellfire". Both require you to take down Magnamalo, a fierce beast that is anything but easy. However, if you're playing by yourself, you'll want to try the Village Quest as it's easier. If you're playing with friends, however, you might find that the Hub Quest is faster to complete.

No matter which quests you decide to take on, you'll unlock the Melding Pot upon your return to the village. To access the Melding Pot, talk to Kagero the Merchant in the village, or Maido the Merchant in the hub.

Melding Pot options and skills

With the Melding Pot unlocked, you can begin crafting Talismans. These are items that can be crafted to grant specific skills. You can craft a Talisman with up to two skills and three slots, which can be filled with Decorations that can activate further skills.

At the start, you'll have access to the Reflection Pool option, but you'll unlock more options as you progress further into the game. Here's how to unlock each option:

This is the first meld option you'll unlock in the game. The skills found here are mostly Elemental Resistance and Defense oriented. You'll unlock this by completing the "Comeuppance" Village Quest or the "Hellfire" Hub Quest.

The skills found in the Haze option are mostly based on elemental attacks and attack buffs. To unlock, reach Hunter Rank 6 in Hub Quests.

The skills found in the Moonbow option center around critical strikes and weakness exploits. To unlock. reach Hunter Rank 7 in Hub Quest.

True to its name, the Wisp of Mystery is just that — a mystery. The skills assigned to your Talisman using this option are random and sometimes include skills not found in the Haze, Moonbow, or Reflecting Pool options. To unlock this option, defeat the monster Narwa.

The Rebirth option is similar to the Wisp of Mystery, the difference, however, is instead of using monster materials to craft, you'll use other Talismans. This option will also become available after defeating Narwa.

How to craft a Talisman

To create a Talisman, you'll need to sacrifice materials to imbue your Talisman with a specific skill. Higher valued monster parts fill your point gauge faster but make sure to input only the exact value of points required. There is no point in exceeding the limit and any extra points will be wasted.

The skill you want is not always guaranteed. You'll be able to check your success rate on the left side of the screen while cycling through the skills. Success rate depends on the skill, and if it fails, The Talisman will not have the skill and instead come equipped with a weaker Level 1 skill. Also, the 2nd skill and number of Decoration slots are completely random. The chosen skill will only fill the first Skill Slot of the Talisman.

For a Talisman to be crafted, you'll need to finish a quest. Luckily, you don't need to succeed in your quest for it to count. You can line up a maximum of 10 Talismans at once.

To take get the most out of your Talisman, you'll need to fill its slots with Decorations. To craft Decorations, you'll need to reach Hunter Rank 4. Continue to progress to either the Hub or Village Quests to reach the required rank. This will unlock High Rank quests, which yield Jewels upon completion.

Craft the decoration you'd like and slot it into the corresponding slot. The slot available must match the Decoration's level. So, for example, you can't slot a Level 2 Decoration into a Level 1 slot.

Tips and tricks to maximize your time

The skill level, number of slots, and skills applied to the Talismans are still mostly luck-based, and there's no guaranteed way to get the skill you're looking for. However, there is a way to grind materials to give you more chances at the good stuff. Complete Rampage Quest yield materials that can yield the high number of points need to meld Talismans. The higher the ranking, the better the materials. Completing the Narwa hunt also gives you some good material that will yield a good amount of points.

You can complete easy, low-level quest to pass the time, but the fastest way to pass time while you wait for Talismans to be melded is to start an Arena Quest and fail immediately. Arena Quest 5, for example, ends the quest after you faint once. Replay that level and fail over and over again to expedite the melding process.

Take your gear to the next level

Making use of Talismans and Decorations will be the way to power up your gear and complete the harder, high-level hunts and hunt down every monster. We've just scratched the surface of Monster Hunter Rise, but it's already become one of our favorite multiplayer games on the Switch. Be sure to check out tips and trick guide if you're just getting started, and take a look our suggestions for the best weapons to use in Monster Hunter Rise.