Hey guys! Ready to become an unstoppable force in Monster Hunter Rise with the Lance? This weapon is all about defense and precise counters, turning you into a veritable wall against even the fiercest monsters. In this guide, we'll dive deep into crafting the best Lance builds, maximizing your damage output, survivability, and overall effectiveness. Get ready to poke, block, and conquer!

Understanding the Lance

Before we jump into the builds, let's quickly go over what makes the Lance so unique. The Lance is a defensive powerhouse, allowing you to block almost any attack in the game. It's not just about tanking hits, though. With precise timing, you can counter monsters' attacks, turning their aggression against them. Here's a breakdown of its key features:

• Blocking: The Lance has the strongest shield in the game, capable of blocking almost any attack without staggering. This is your bread and butter for staying alive.
• Counter Thrust: Time your block perfectly, and you can immediately follow up with a powerful counterattack. This is crucial for dealing consistent damage.
• Charged Sweep: A wide-arcing attack that can hit multiple targets, perfect for dealing with smaller monsters or inflicting status effects.
• Dash Attack: Close the distance quickly and deliver a piercing strike. Great for maintaining offensive pressure.
• Anchor Rage: An excellent switch skill that boosts your attack power based on the strength of the incoming attack you guard. Master this, and your damage will skyrocket!
• Spiral Thrust: Another incredible switch skill allowing you to close the distance with a corkscrew-like thrust that deals multiple hits. It’s fantastic for both mobility and damage.

With these moves in mind, we can start building sets that capitalize on these strengths. We're aiming for a mix of damage, survivability, and utility to ensure you're ready for any hunt.

Key Skills for Lance Builds

To truly optimize your Lance build, you need to focus on specific skills that synergize well with the weapon's playstyle. Here are some of the most important ones:

• Guard: This skill reduces the stamina consumption and knockback when blocking. Essential for maintaining your defensive stance and countering effectively. Aim for Guard 5 for maximum benefit.
• Guard Up: Allows you to block previously unblockable attacks. This is invaluable against certain monsters with particularly nasty moves. Even one level can make a huge difference.
• Attack Boost: Increases your raw attack power. Straightforward and always effective for increasing damage output. Prioritize this if you're focusing on pure damage.
• Critical Eye: Increases your affinity (critical hit chance). Pairing this with Weakness Exploit can lead to massive damage boosts.
• Weakness Exploit: Grants increased affinity when hitting a monster's weak points. A staple for almost any melee build, especially when combined with Critical Eye.
• Critical Boost: Increases the damage multiplier for critical hits. Once you have a decent affinity, this skill will amplify your damage even further.
• Handicraft: Extends the weapon's sharpness. Higher sharpness levels increase your damage and prevent your weapon from bouncing off monsters. Important for maintaining damage uptime.
• Razor Sharp/Protective Polish: These skills help maintain your weapon's sharpness. Razor Sharp reduces sharpness loss, while Protective Polish prevents sharpness loss for a short time after sharpening.
• Stamina Surge: Speeds up stamina recovery. Useful for maintaining your guard and performing dash attacks more frequently.
• Evade Window: Increases the invulnerability window when dodging. While the Lance relies more on blocking, Evade Window can help you reposition or avoid attacks you can't block.

Build 1: The Iron Wall – A Defensive Powerhouse

This build focuses on maximizing your defenses, turning you into an impenetrable wall that can withstand almost any attack. It's perfect for players who prefer a more cautious and methodical playstyle. With this build, you'll be able to block everything, counter with precision, and whittle down monsters with consistent damage.

• Weapon: Rampage Lance S - Customize it with Attack Boost, Affinity Boost, and Sharpness Type 1 for optimal performance. Consider status augmentations like Poison or Paralysis to add extra utility.
• Head: Kaiser Crown - Provides Critical Eye 2 and a valuable decoration slot. This piece gives a nice affinity boost right off the bat.
• Chest: Vaik Mail S - Comes with Critical Eye 2 and a decoration slot. More affinity is always welcome, especially for maximizing critical hit potential.
• Arms: Barroth Vambraces S - Essential for Guard 2. The guard skill is crucial for reducing stamina consumption and knockback when blocking.
• Waist: Anjanath Coil S - Offers Attack Boost 2 and a decoration slot. More raw attack power will help increase your overall damage output.
• Legs: Ingots Greaves S - Provides Guard Up 2. This allows you to block previously unblockable attacks, greatly enhancing your survivability.
• Charm: A charm with Guard 2 or better is ideal. If you can get a charm with Guard 3, even better!

Decorations:

• 3x Attack Jewel 2: Maximize Attack Boost to level 4 for a significant damage increase.
• 3x Expert Jewel 2: Maximize Critical Eye to level 7 for a substantial affinity boost.
• 1x Ironwall Jewel 2: Maximize Guard to level 5, ensuring minimal stamina loss when blocking.
• 1x Shield Jewel 2: To get Guard Up to level 3, enabling you to block almost any attack.
• Fill the remaining slots with utility decorations like Razor Sharp, Speed Sharpening, or Evade Window, depending on your preference.

Skills Summary:

• Attack Boost 4
• Critical Eye 7
• Guard 5
• Guard Up 3
• Razor Sharp (or other utility skills)

Playstyle: With this build, your primary focus is on blocking and countering. Use the Lance's superior blocking ability to absorb attacks, then retaliate with Counter Thrust. The high levels of Guard and Guard Up will allow you to block almost anything, while Attack Boost and Critical Eye ensure your counterattacks hit hard. This build is incredibly safe and reliable, making it perfect for tackling challenging monsters.

Build 2: The Furious Piercer – An Offensive Juggernaut

If you prefer a more aggressive playstyle, this build is for you. It focuses on maximizing your damage output while still maintaining decent survivability. With this build, you'll be able to unleash a barrage of powerful attacks, overwhelming monsters with sheer offensive power. Anchor Rage will be your best friend with this build.

• Weapon: Tigrex Lance - Boasts high raw attack and decent sharpness. The negative affinity can be mitigated with skills.
• Head: Diablos Helm S - Provides Attack Boost 2, adding to your raw damage output.
• Chest: Rathalos Mail S - Comes with Weakness Exploit 2, a crucial skill for targeting monster weak points.
• Arms: Kaiser Vambraces - Offers Critical Eye 2 and a decoration slot, increasing your affinity.
• Waist: Anjanath Coil S - Provides Attack Boost 2 and a decoration slot, further boosting your attack power.
• Legs: Skalda Elytra S/Spio Elytra S - Comes with Critical Boost 1 and a decoration slot. This increases the damage of your critical hits.
• Charm: A charm with Weakness Exploit 2 or better is ideal.

Decorations:

• 4x Attack Jewel 2: Maximize Attack Boost to level 4 for a significant damage increase.
• 2x Tenderizer Jewel 2: Maximize Weakness Exploit to level 3, granting a massive affinity boost when hitting weak points.
• 3x Expert Jewel 2: Increase Critical Eye to a comfortable level, compensating for the Tigrex Lance's negative affinity.
• 2x Critical Jewel 2: Maximize Critical Boost to level 3, amplifying your critical hit damage.
• Fill the remaining slots with utility decorations like Handicraft, Razor Sharp, or Protective Polish, depending on your preference.

Skills Summary:

• Attack Boost 4
• Weakness Exploit 3
• Critical Eye (Adjust to compensate for negative affinity)
• Critical Boost 3
• Handicraft/Razor Sharp/Protective Polish (depending on your preference)

Playstyle: This build is all about aggression. Use the Lance's dash attack and Spiral Thrust to close the distance and maintain offensive pressure. Target monster weak points to maximize the effectiveness of Weakness Exploit and Critical Boost. Use Anchor Rage often to turn incoming attacks into significant damage buffs. While this build isn't as tanky as the Iron Wall build, the high damage output will allow you to end hunts quickly.

Build 3: The Status Inflictor – A Support Specialist

This build focuses on inflicting status effects like poison, paralysis, or sleep on monsters, providing valuable support to your team. It's perfect for multiplayer hunts where coordinated status application can lead to significant advantages. By consistently applying status effects, you'll create openings for your teammates to deal massive damage.

• Weapon: Jyuratodus Lance - Naturally inflicts poison and has decent sharpness.
• Head: Baika Helm S - Provides Paralysis Attack 2, boosting your paralysis buildup. This can be swapped for other status-boosting helms depending on your chosen status.
• Chest: Rathian Mail S - Offers Poison Attack 2, enhancing your poison buildup. Again, swap this out if focusing on a different status.
• Arms: Ludroth Vambraces S - Comes with Wide-Range 2, allowing you to share healing items with your team.
• Waist: Pukei-Pukei Coil S - Provides Poison Attack 1 and a decoration slot. Another boost to poison application.
• Legs: Ingot Greaves S - Provides Guard Up 2, essential for blocking those nasty attacks.
• Charm: A charm with Wide-Range or a relevant status attack skill is ideal.

Decorations:

• 3x Venom Jewel 1: Maximize Poison Attack to level 3, ensuring you inflict poison frequently.
• Status Attack Jewels: If focusing on paralysis or sleep, use decorations to maximize those skills.
• 2x Friendship Jewel 1: Maximize Wide-Range to level 5, allowing you to efficiently support your team with healing items.
• 1x Shield Jewel 2: Get Guard Up to level 3 to block almost any attack.
• Fill the remaining slots with utility decorations like Speed Sharpening, Free Meal, or Item Prolonger, depending on your preference.

Skills Summary:

• Poison Attack 3 (or other relevant status attack skill)
• Wide-Range 5
• Guard Up 3
• Speed Sharpening/Free Meal/Item Prolonger (depending on your preference)

Playstyle: With this build, your primary focus is on inflicting status effects and supporting your team. Use the Jyuratodus Lance to apply poison consistently, creating damage-over-time opportunities. Use the Wide-Range skill to share healing items with your teammates, keeping them healthy and in the fight. Coordinate with your team to capitalize on status effects, creating openings for massive damage. This build is all about teamwork and support.

General Tips for Lance Users

No matter which build you choose, here are some general tips to help you become a master Lance user:

• Master the Counter Thrust: This is your bread and butter for dealing damage. Practice the timing to consistently counter monster attacks.
• Use Anchor Rage Wisely: Time your Anchor Rage to absorb powerful attacks, maximizing the attack boost. Don't just use it randomly; wait for a big hit.
• Utilize Spiral Thrust for Mobility: The Spiral Thrust switch skill is excellent for closing the distance and dealing damage. Use it to stay mobile and maintain offensive pressure.
• Don't Be Afraid to Block: The Lance has the best shield in the game. Don't hesitate to block attacks, especially those you can't dodge.
• Learn Monster Attack Patterns: Knowing when to block, counter, or dodge is crucial for success. Study monster attack patterns and adapt your strategy accordingly.
• Maintain Your Sharpness: Sharpness affects your damage output. Use whetstones frequently to keep your weapon sharp.
• Experiment with Switch Skills: Find the switch skills that best suit your playstyle. Experiment with different combinations to find what works for you.

Conclusion

The Lance is a versatile and powerful weapon in Monster Hunter Rise, capable of both dealing massive damage and providing unparalleled defense. Whether you prefer a defensive, offensive, or support playstyle, there's a Lance build that's perfect for you. By mastering the Lance's unique mechanics and utilizing the right skills and equipment, you'll become an unstoppable force on the hunt. So grab your Lance, hone your skills, and get ready to conquer the world of Monster Hunter Rise! Happy hunting, guys! Remember to keep experimenting and adapting your builds to suit your playstyle and the challenges you face.