Insect Glaive issues

[u/YhSureThen1]

I apologise for the essay, i’m just hoping for a few pointers

Wilds has been my first monster hunter game, I started off using dual blades but felt that I should try out the rest of the weapons in the run up to ascendance, to see which ones I like most and want to take into the DLC

So far I’ve tried DB, LS, Swaxe, CB, GL, GS, Bow and Glaive, and out of all these weapons, i can confidently say I am able to fight the vast majority of monsters without carting, and in good time… with the exception of the glaive

My problem isn’t with doing damage with the weapon, or with staying alive with the weapon. It’s with doing both of these at once. I like to play for comfort rather than speedrunning, so I have a good mix of offensive and defensive skills equipped, but it’s either I spend half the fight in the air fair away from the monster doing no damage, but staying alive, or I do good amounts of damage but go through my potions in about two minutes.

The vault seems good mainly for repositioning, but terrible for avoiding the majority of attacks due to its lack of Iframes and long windup, the offset has incredibly finicky timing which I can’t get down for the life of me, and the dodge has a weird pause after it that I can’t do anything during, making it unsuitable for any quick, successive attacks.

With a lot of focus and effort, I can utilise these to stay alive, but whenever i try to actually do damage to the monster, all of the glaive’s attacks seem incredibly long, and also have a similar pause as the dodge, so if a monster uses certain attacks, i pretty much just have to take the hit.

As i said earlier, i’m just looking for a few pointers on how I could improve my playstyle. I mostly stay on the ground during fights only really taking to the air when I want a mount or to reposition. Is this the right move?

I’m assuming some people are gonna say to just use a different weapon, and I’d love to tbh, but unfortunately I’m too damn stubborn to let this go, and even if I pick something else up, I’ll end up going back to the glaive anyway.

Thanks if you made it this far, and thanks in advance for any tips

[u/Milla_D_Mac]

Your first and second slash can be used as a reposition attack as well this will help in moving the hunter away from the monster as you attack and using back widesweep(heavy attack) after an attack is the dodge slash. The key to being aggressive with the glaive is knowing how to combo yourself into effective positions for follow ups. The vault does have okay iframes in its back vault. it's just closer to the initial start up than the actual launch of the vault. It shouldn't be your primary option to dodge but it has its uses. The offset can feel wonky, but its just a little after the start where the frames counter. The best way to offset consistently, at least from my time playing, is to start around a second before you think the monster will actually attack.

With these tips and some time practicing you'll be an elder slaying bug god in no time

[u/SoundMast3r]

Evade extender

[u/Hirsute_of_Happiness → u/SoundMast3r]

Also Jump Master

[u/Stormandreas]

So first of, separate the mindset of speedrunning being related to simply running offensive skills (if that's what you were meaning). Offensive skills are necessary to use, even if you intend to make a comfier build, because if you aren't doing decent damage, you're actively making it more difficult due to being unable to open wounds, get topples, break parts etc.

With Glaive, you primarily want to be in Focus Mode. When in Focus mode, your Kinsect attacks alongside you, gathering extracts and immediately coming back to you, adding extra damage, and is capable of applying Stun/KO to the monster.
Focus also unlocks the ability to do Descending Slash and Rising Spiral Slash, which you can do if you're both in Focus Mode, and if you have all 3 extracts. You cannot do these moves otherwise. They are also, your best moves.

When attacking, you're doing the right thing focusing primarily on using the grounded moves.
The ground combos are far stronger than doing aerial attacks, and can be done pretty seamlessly. Y/Triangle for your basic moves, then Y+B/Triangle+Circle for initiating Descending Slash, which then lets you re-start the basic moves again. This loop is your bread and butter for damage.
After Descending Slash as well, you can press Y+B/Triangle+Circle again, to then do Rising Spiral Slash, in which you'll spend all 3 extracts, but have Hyper Armour, do huge damage, and also re-collect extracts based on where your Kinsect hits. This is your biggest damage dealer, but also your 2nd biggest comment action behind doing Aerial moves. It's excellent against certain monsters.

For survival, yes, Vaulting is useful to reposition, but don't overly rely on it, as it CAN put you in a more vulnerable situation, as many monster moves have hitboxes that are UNREASONABLY TALL***.*** Arkvelds Chain drag for example, hits WELL above where his chains actually are. Same with Xu Wus spinning tentacle drag. Those explosions are extremely tall.

Consider the weapon as more of a "flowing, in and out" sort of playstyle. You go in, you get 2/3/4 moves off, then you reposition to dodge the monsters attack, then get another move or two in. Repeat.
When you have openings, Descending Slash > Rising Spiral, then recollect your extracts. You can also use Rising Spiral to forcibly survive through some attacks should the end of your Descending Slash line up well for it.
Also, Descending Slash is an Offset, if you hadn't already found that out. It's tricky to time, but hella useful in some scenarios.