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Monster Hunter Rise has finally launched on Nintendo Switch, and hunters eager to clear through their Gathering Hub quests are already jumping online and sharing the fun with online teams of four hunters beating down one angry dinosaur. If you log into MHR right now, finding a lobby of hunters should be easy.
That is, if you know how to do it. If you want to play with fellow hunters online, whether they’re strangers or your close Discord group, then we’ve got the information you need. We’re going to walk you through how to either join or set up a lobby, and play with who you choose. Just read below for everything you need to know to get started with multiplayer in MHR.
Updated April 20, 2023: We've updated this guide to make sure the details are accurate, up-to-date, and readable. With this information, it should be easy to get hunting with your friends!
Talk To The Courier To Set Up Or Join A Lobby
Near the main quest giver in Kamura Village you will find a small Palico called The Courier. This felyne will allow you to set up or join a lobby. If you want to join a random lobby you can just leave your matchmaking settings as open as possible, and you’ll be greeted with dozens of options.
You can also search for specific lobbies with passwords provided by your friends. Likewise, you can either set up your own open lobby, or you can set up a private lobby and provide access only to your pals.
Go To The Gathering Hub
The Gathering Hub is the epicenter of all multiplayer activities. All of the unique quests you find in the Gathering Hub has their own progression separate from the Village story quests. The Gathering Hub will be your main home when you get to the end game, so get used to it early.
Hub Quests are quite a bit harder than Village Quests. The difficulty will scale with the number of hunters in each individual quest (unlike previous games), but they're still harder.
The Gathering Hub contains everything you will need. A blacksmith, item box, buddy board, and much more. You can set up all of your gear ready for any high-level fight you might come up against, without ever leaving your friends.
Post Or Join A Quest
In the Gathering Hub you’ll find the Hub Quest giver. She’ll be offering quests available for your current Hub rank. You can prepare, and then once your friends have accepted, they can join you when you depart.
If you’re allowing someone else to pick the quest, you can just head over to the Quest Board, which is to the right of the quest giver. If one of the lobby members is already in a hunt, you can use the lobby board to join them mid-fight and lend a hand.
Coordinate With People
When in battle you should always coordinate with your comrades. You can open up chat options, which include pre-written messages and the ability to type your own messages for easy usage.
If you’re able to use Discord or another voice chat service with your group, that’s definitely much easier, but you can still join in and talk with other hunters online, even if you don’t have a headset.