Switch Skills are now making their debut in Monster Hunter Rise, and these unique skills combine your weapon with your new wirebug utility to create a brand new variety of moves for you to use with every single weapon type. You thought the Insect Glaive was cool before, well now the kind of variability it introduces can be accessed with every single weapon type and Switch Skills.

Switch Skills are, as I said, available for every single weapon type, and there’s more than one to sink your teeth into with each. The Switch Skill you use should be down to how you play, and how flashy you want to look while attacking, but the game doesn’t outright make it clear how to use these Switch Skills, nor does it make it obvious how to change them around once you want to experiment with something different.

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In this guide we’re going to quickly teach you how you can change your Switch Skills before heading out on a big quest, and what you’ll need to do in order to use them in a fight against a big monster. Switch Skills vary in their usefulness and the number of times you can use them in a battle, but once you’ve married your Switch Skill to your gameplay style, you will never look back. Read on for everything you need to know about this unique mechanic in MHR.

Changing Your Switch Skills

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Luckily changing your Switch Skill is as simple as changing any other piece of your gear - even easier if you know where to look. You just need to head to your Item Box - not the Supply Box within missions - and select the Change Switch Skill option. It really is as simple as that.

Within that menu you’ll see your Switch Skill, and you’ll also see the options that you can change it to. For example, the Long Sword has the Soaring Kick and Sakura Slash Switch Skills. You can only equip one at a time, unfortunately, so you should ensure it matches your gameplay style.

You’ll get a short description of the Switch Skill, followed by a breakdown of how to use it and what it costs on the Wirebug Gauge. The latter point is important to note, as you can only carry three Wirebugs at a time for most of the game, and therefore using a Switch Skill that costs two Wirebugs will mean you have less mobility for an extended period of time, in addition to being unable to use your Switch Skill repeatedly.

Using Your Switch Skills

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Your Switch Skills can be easily activated in the heat of battle by holding the ZL trigger, and then pressing X. All of the Switch Skills have different effects, so some of them may result in you sheathing your weapon after use, like the Sakura Slash, while others, like the Soaring Kick, is best used when followed up immediately with another move, and you can do so by pressing X while airborne.

Switch Skills are different for every single weapon type, so make sure to double-check your Switch Skills and how is best to use them before going into battle with a new weapon type in Monster Hunter Rise.

Unlocking New Switch Skills

You can also unlock new Switch Skills for each weapon type, and these are unlocked by forging more weapons. After forging around eight weapons of a certain type, the blacksmith, Hamon, will gift you with a brand new type of Switch Skill for that weapon type, which just might be better than what you already had equipped.

Next: Monster Hunter Rise Complete Guide And Walkthrough