With so many weapons to choose from when it comes to Monster Hunter Rise, you're a bit spoiled for choice. Some weapons favor hyper-offensive playstyles, weapons that let you zip around in the air, and even weapons that let you shoot your foes from afar.

The Lance is none of those weapons. The Lance is the most defensively-oriented weapon on the entire roster. It's the perfect tool for anyone who truly believes that slow and steady wins the race and anyone who prefers to keep their stack of Mega-Potions healthy.

Updated March 17, 2024, by Sean Murray: Being the noble knight is the job of the Lance in Monster Hunter Rise. And to get your bearings with this slow but long-range weapon, you should take a look at this guide. We've also updated this guide with improved formatting for mobile, given it a few more breakout tips, and also more links to other helpful Monster Hunter Rise topics.

The Lance

At first glance, the Lance is a heavy, slow weapon that doesn't do much other than poke enemies. You have two flavors of poke:

• X/Y will thrust the Lance forwards.
• A/B will thrust the Lance upwards.
• Hit both buttons at the same time and you'll perform a wide sweep. This attack can be charged up for extra damage.

These attacks can be chained together up to three times and each step of this combo can be made up of either thrust.

The upwards poke has more range than you might imagine - use it to target the heads and tails of the larger or upwardly mobile monsters.

Guarding

Holding ZR/RT will let you guard. While guarding, you won't take any damage from most oncoming attacks, but your stamina will take a big hit when you do get struck, and you might get knocked around the battlefield by strong attacks.

The Guard skill will reduce the impact of incoming attacks, letting you block them more easily with your shield. At higher levels, Guard will also reduce the stamina damage you take when attacked. Guard is a very useful skill to have for Lance users as it helps them counter more attacks than normal.

The Guard Up skill will allow you to block normally unblockable attacks. You'll still take damage, but the damage will be reduced - the damage reduction is higher at higher levels of Guard Up.

It is possible to attack while guarding with the Lance, something not possible with other guard-enabled weapons such as the Greatsword.

• By pressing X/Y while holding the guard button, you'll perform a jab forwards.
• If you have the analog stick pushed and press X/Y, you'll perform a quick dash forwards - a Guard Dash. This is great for closing a gap and can be chained into two different attacks.
  • Following the Guard Dash with another X/Y attack will perform a quick, close-range shield bash.
  • Following the Guard Dash with an A/B attack will perform a Leaping Thrust attack, useful for closing gaps even further while dealing decent damage.

Counter Thrust And Power Guard

It's possible to charge up a powerful move while guarding. Hit A/B while guarding and you'll start charging up a Counter Thrust, which is a pretty high-damage upwards thrust. If an enemy strikes you during this charging period, you'll block the attack and instantly follow up with a counterattack. If you're not attacked, you'll perform the Counter Thrust attack as normal once fully charged.

If, while charging up a Counter Thrust, you hit the B/A button, you'll enter Power Guard. In this mode, your stamina will drain constantly, but any blocks you successfully pull off will deal less stamina damage than usual. This ability is most useful when you have a ton of stamina spare to keep the Power Guard up for longer, and it's a stance that can be chained into two more attacks:

• Hitting X/Y while in Power Guard will let you perform a Leaping Thrust from a stationary position.
• Hitting A/B while in Power Guard will fire off the Counter Thrust instantly.

Lance - Skills And Abilities

Silkbind Abilities

Twin Vine (ZL/LT + X/Y): You'll perform a close-range swipe which will attach a tether to the monster you have targeted. This tether remains until you get too far away from the monster, which will inevitably happen if it flies away or flees on the ground. While the tether is still active, you can hit ZL/LT + B/A to immediately be sprung towards the monster. This is a great way to close gaps for the more mobile monsters the game can throw at you and also to perform aerial attacks if your aim is to mount.

Anchor Rage (ZL/LT + A/B): You will defend for a second while tied to the ground with wirebug tethers. If you are hit by an attack during this ability, which only lasts a quick moment, you will immediately counter with a powerful thrust and be given a nice attack buff that also makes your Lance glow for a short while.

Spiral Thrust (ZL/LT + A/B): This attack consists of two successive, long-range horizontal leaps controlled by the analog stick. Both launches are considered attacks and the second launch can be followed up by a very powerful thrusting attack by hitting A/B. The very start of this ability is considered a guard - if you manage to guard an enemy's attack, you'll gain an attack buff that makes your Lance glow.

If you are knocked out of position by a powerful attack that has a lot of knockback, you will not be able to follow up with the leaping attacks.

Switch Skills

Gap Closer (ZR/RT + X/Y + A/B)

• Dash Attack: With this attack, you'll hold the Lance in front of you and start running forwards. It drains stamina consistently and can be interrupted with a cancel (B/A) or a pretty powerful attack (X/Y). Very useful for closing medium-sized gaps but reckless with mobile enemies.
• Shield Charge: In this attack, you'll be charging forwards with the shield instead of the Lance itself. It drains stamina more quickly but can be followed up with either a blunt-damage Shield Bash (X/Y) or a standard Leaping Thrust (A/B).

You'll have to stop holding the ZR/RT button to follow up these dashes with attacks. The move will carry on indefinitely or until you run out of stamina - or until you're attacked, of course.

Blocking (ZR/RT)

• Guard: Your standard guard stance. Redirects damage to stamina instead.
• Insta-Block: A standard parrying move. If you successfully parry an attack, you can follow it up with a very powerful Cross Slash (X/Y). If you keep the ZR/RT button held, you'll transition into your regular Guard stance. The parry part of the move is punishable if you get your timings wrong, but this is the most powerful choice.

Lance - Tips And Tricks

Learn When To Stand Your Ground

The Lance is the most defensive weapon in the entire game - the sheer amount of attacks you can block entirely with one is staggering. The tradeoff for this is that your mobility is pretty abysmal, probably the worst in the entire game. You'll be a defensive, slow tank - like a turtle. This may seem like an obvious tip, but turtling up is an easy habit to form.

It is tempting to get bogged down in this playstyle, moving inch by inch towards your foes, keeping your guard up at all possible times to avoid damage - try not to fall into this trap. Sheathe your weapon if you need to get somewhere a Guard Dash/Leaping Thrust combo won't reach. You'll save time and have an easier time dodging in the meantime.

Alternatively, if you want to play more aggressively, make liberal use of the Twin Vine Silkbind ability!

Get Your Timing Down

As defensive and slow-paced as the Lance seems, there are a few moves that really require you to pay attention to enemy movements and learn their attack patterns. You'll want to wait until the very last second before an attack connects with you before triggering a Power Guard or performing the Anchor Rage Silkbind ability. The former will drain your stamina very quickly, and the latter has an extremely short window of opportunity that you don't want to waste.

Powerful Attacks: Wide Sweep And Counter Thrust

This charged attack (X/Y + A/B) is one of your most powerful tools. A fully-charged Wide Sweep is pretty quick to pull off and does a lot of damage, so using this as your main damage method is a good idea if you're facing a monster who doesn't need to be struck with higher jabs to hit a weak spot or cut a tail.

Another one of your most powerful attacks is the Counter Thrust, but this comes out very slowly and might be interrupted by a counter High Thrust if you get struck during the charge-up. If damage is all you're after, you can speed up the charging time by getting into the Counter Thrust charge (ZR/RT + A/B), immediately triggering Power Guard (ZR/RT + B/A), and then immediately hitting A/B to bring the powerful upwards thrust out.