It can be easy to run through Monster Hunter just taking the highest defense armor and highest damage weapon, but at a certain point, the gameplay loop will entice you to start min-maxing. That's when skills and decorations come into play, building yourself towards an ever more perfect loadout that decimates just how you like.
Monster Hunter Rise already had a massive selection to choose from, and Sunbreak only added more. Some of them are simple, new ways of capitalizing on existing gameplay, with plenty focusing on the new ones, like Switch Skill swap. Some are even downright unique mechanics focused around individual monsters.
8 Redirection
Though the wirebug is one of the most distinct new features added to Rise, switch skills are also a dramatic improvement to player customization. Sunbreak made a great improvement to this with the Switch Skill Swap, basically letting you have two playstyles in one.
Plenty of skills are built around this, and Redirection is one of the simplest but maybe with the most general utility. At its lowest level, it will reduce the damage taken if you perform a Switch Skill Swap as you're about to be hit. At its highest level, it nullifies damage and automatically dodges backwards, refilling your wirebug gauge as you do so.
7 Mail Of Hellfire
Being the flagship monster of the base game, Magnamalo was already an incredible threat, every appearance striking dread in your heart. They came with their own unique mechanic in the Hellfire Blight, a more dangerous version of Blast that could be dropped as an explosive.
Scorned Magnamalo's armor adds the Mail Of Hellfire skill, which plays with the risk-reward of Hellfire in a fun way. While using the Red Scroll, your physical defense is dramatically dropped, while your attack increases tremendously. With the Blue Scroll, the same applies but for elemental attack and defense.
6 Blood Rite
Where Rise focused on a much more Japanese-inspired setting, Sunbreak sails the oceans to find a much more European-esque setting. Vampires may appear in a great many tales across the world, Malzeno very much takes from the traditional rendition of a dark-cloaked figure associated with bats and blood.
Malzeno's armor skill of Bloodrite functions much like the Bloodblight mechanic it has, or even like the Rally system from Bloodborne. With the skill, attacking any broken part of a monster will restore your health, with each level sucking more for you. Why wait for Bloodblight when you can suck the blood yourself?
5 Coalescence
Blights have been a longstanding feature of Monster Hunter, a way for both you and monsters to deal unique elemental effects. These are separate from status effects like poison and stun, with the primary difference being, well, they're not elemental in how they're caused and don't require hunting helpers to afflict monsters with.
Blights and staus effects are essential to Coalescence, another skill that has a risk-reward play. It works fairly simply, boosting your attack, elemental damage, and status effect build-up more and more with each level. It's the risk of needing to be affected first that makes it a bit more daring.
4 Bladescale Hone
A returning monster in Sunbreak, Seregios is a deadly flying wyvern. Rather than the likes of Rathalos and relying on heavy hits and fire breath, Seregios is more about drop-kicking you, dashing around, and tossing sharp scales your way all in an instant.
Its unique armor skill is Bladescale Hone, an ability very close to its theming. With the skill, getting a perfect dodge with your weapon drawn will give you a variety of bonuses depending on the weapon, giving it lots of versatility. It may recover your sharpness gauge, refill bowgun ammo, or give a boost to close-range bow coatings. At its highest level, it's even guaranteed to activate.
3 Furious
Rajang always finds a way to make an appearance in Monster Hunter. Where many monsters can end up being dragons and dragon-adjacent, it's almost refreshing to have just a big, angry monkey. With Sunbreak, an even more furious Rajang was added, aptly named Furious Rajang.
With such a furious monster with a furious name, it also has a Furious ability. It functions somewhat like Mail of Hellfire, giving each scroll unique effects. The Red Scroll gathers fury, eventually boosting your defenses. While filled with fury, you can switch to the Blue Scroll, giving you infinite stamina for a short while. It definitely requires a specific set-up, but it's some dramatic effects.
2 Bloodlust
Originally introduced in Monster Hunter 4, Gore Magala and its Elder Dragon form of Shagaru Magala carry with them the Frenzy virus, a unique effect that slowly builds and reduces your ability to heal while also reducing your defenses, though also gives you the chance to gain an affinity boost if you recover from it before it completes.
Bloodlust, a skill found on both monsters' armor sets, changes this. With it, you're afflicted with Frenzy as soon as you enter combat. Now it boosts your defense, stamina, and plenty more, and still gets you an affinity boost if you recover before it runs its course. Otherwise, you'll still be hit with the virus' worst.
1 Dereliction
Central to the plot of Sunbreak are the Qurio, symbiotic little creatures that bond with a greater monster that feeds them and bolsters the monster. By the end, you learn that the Qurio are actually derived from Gaismagorm, the Elder Dragon beneath the Citadel used to fuel them.
Dereliction comes from Gaismagorm's own armor set, and centers around the Qurio. With it, Qurio attach to you in combat, up to three, and continually drain your health but either give you increased attack with the blue scroll, or increased elemental damage and status build-up with the red scroll. The trick is that performing a Switch Skill Swap restores your health but resets the Qurio around you.