Unlock the full potential of your Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter Generations! Learn how to feed and upgrade your Kinsect for powerful buffs and devastating attacks.
Alright, let's talk about the Insect Glaive in Monster Hunter Generations. Unlike most weapons, it's got a living partner: the Kinsect! Think of it as a bug buddy that grows and levels up alongside your Glaive. You gotta keep it fed and happy, and it's got its own upgrade path separate from your weapon. This means you can't just max out your Glaive and expect your bug to be top-tier automatically. You'll need to pay attention to its development too!
When you dive into the upgrade menus, you'll see you can upgrade both the Glaive and the Kinsect independently. This is super important because it gives you a lot of freedom. You could have a fully upgraded Insect Glaive but a level 1 Kinsect if you wanted – though I wouldn't recommend it! It lets you really plan out what kind of Kinsect you want to develop without feeling locked in too early.
So, how do you actually upgrade your Kinsect? You'll be feeding it different types of Jellies. There are three main stats you can influence: Speed, Weight, and Power. Feeding it Jellies will increase these stats. On top of that, you can use Ambrosias to customize its elemental damage and the type of essence it absorbs. Ambrosias are pretty flexible; you can swap them in and out whenever you like, and they don't affect your Kinsect's core progression.
If you want to get the stronger versions of Jellies, like Jelly+ and Jelly++, you'll need Larval Extract and Paralarval Extract. Paralarval Extract is only available in High Rank quests, so keep that in mind. You can often get Larval Extract from Neko (that's the cat guy!) when he's growing Jellies for you, and you can also gather both extracts from specific Jelly areas on the maps.
Let's break down what those stats actually do:
- Speed: This affects how fast your Kinsect flies. If you want to grab those precious essences quickly and keep your buffs up constantly, especially the triple essence buffs, maxing out Speed is key.
- Weight: This increases your Kinsect's stamina. If your Kinsect runs out of stamina, it'll get stuck in the air and won't move, so having enough weight is important to prevent that.
- Power: This directly increases the damage your Kinsect deals. While it's theoretically possible to kill a monster with just your Kinsect (people have done it as a joke!), Power is probably the least crucial stat since you'll be doing most of the damage with your Glaive.
Now, before we get into the nitty-gritty of feeding, it's good to know what kind of Kinsects you can end up with. Depending on how you feed your Kinsect, you'll be guiding it down different upgrade paths. Maxed-out Kinsects will have special innate skills and stat buffs (or losses) that are permanent. Here’s a look at the different types:
| Kinsect | Stat Changes | Innate Skills |
| Power 1 | +20% power / -10% weight, reduced stamina charge duration, reduced flying distance | Red Extract Up (L), Red Extract Sustain (S) |
| Power 2 | +20% power / -10% weight, reduced flying distance | Red Extract Up (S), Red Extract Sustain (L) |
| Weight 1 | +20% weight / -10% speed | Green Extract Up (S), Orange Extract Up (L), Orange Extract Earplugs Effect |
| Weight 2 | +20% weight / -10% speed, reduced flying distance | Green Extract Up (L), Orange Extract Up (S), Orange Extract Sustain |
| Speed 1 | +20% speed / -10% power, reduced charge time, increased flying distance | White Extract Up (L), Double Up |
| Speed 2 | +20% speed / -10% power, +20% elemental damage, increased flying distance | White Extract Up (S) |
| Balanced | +5% to all stats | Triple Up |
See? Lots of options! Now, let's get to the actual feeding. When you open the feeding menu, you'll see bars for Power, Weight, and Speed, showing your Kinsect's current stats. Feeding a regular Jelly increases a stat by +10. Jelly+ gives +50, and Jelly++ gives a massive +100, essentially maxing out a bar instantly. So, using regular Jellies isn't a waste; the higher-tier ones just speed things up.
Every time you max out a stat bar, the message 'To next level' will decrease by one. Once it hits zero, you can't feed Jellies anymore. You'll need to back out of the feeding menu and go to Upgrade Kinsect to level it up. Keep doing this, and those question marks will start turning into actual Kinsect types. For example, if you only feed Speed Jellies, you'll unlock the Windchopper. But if you want others like Alucanid or Rigiprayne, you'll need to feed them more Power and Weight Jellies.
Important Note: If you're aiming for a specific final Kinsect, like a Speed-focused one, you can ignore the grayed-out Kinsects for now and just keep upgrading. However, Balanced Kinsects are a bit trickier. They require a higher level and you need to feed Jellies in a balanced way to get them. And remember, you cannot undo Jelly choices like you can with Ambrosia. So, if you really want that Triple Up skill, plan your Jelly feeding very carefully!
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