Read this Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Insect Glaive guide on the best loadout and armor build for this weapon. Includes recommended equipment, decorations, and skills.
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Iceborne: Recommended Builds
Top Recommended Builds
Recommended Skills
Related Article On Insect Glaive
How To Use | Best Builds |
Best Skills | Endgame Tier List |
Insect Glaive Iceborne Starter Build
Weapon | Augment Decoration |
---|---|
Chrome Trident I | Expert Jewel 1 Expert Jewel 1 |
Armor & Charm | Decoration |
Jagras Helm α + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Bone Helm α + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Kulu Headpiece α + | Attack Jewel 1 Attack Jewel 1 |
Beo Coil α + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Beo Greaves β + | Flight Jewel 2 |
Handicraft Charm III | |
Skill | |
Attack Boost Lv6 | Earplugs Lv4 |
Health Boost Lv3 | Weakness Exploit Lv3 |
Handicraft Lv3 | Speed Eating Lv2 |
Critical Eye Lv2 | Critical Boost Lv1 |
Airborne Lv1 | Pro Transporter Lv1 |
Reasons For Recommendation
- Easy to create from beginning of Iceborne
- Switch to Health Boost if focus on surviving
- Jumping attack should be main source of damage
Insect Glaive Iceborne Middle Phase Build
Weapon | Decoration |
---|---|
Kadachi Vipertail II | Expert Jewel 1 Expert Jewel 1 |
Armors | Decorations |
Legiana Helm β + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Protection Jewel 1 |
Nargacuga Mail α + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Damascus Vambraces α + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Nargacuga Faulds α + | Vitality Jewel 1 |
Nargacuga Greaves α + | Vitality Jewel 1 Grinder Jewel 1 |
Handicraft Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Evade Window Lv5 | Handicraft Lv5 |
Weakness Exploit Lv3 | Divine Blessing Lv3 |
Health Boost Lv3 | Critical Eye Lv2 |
Speed Sharpening Lv2 | Speed Crawler Lv1 |
Stamina Surge Lv1 | Peak Performance Lv1 |
True Razor Sharp/Spare Shot (Set Bonus) |
Dodge Attacks & Paralyze
Nargacuga loadout maximize the evasion with Evade Window, enabling you to dodge monster's attack easily. Even when you get hit, Health Boost and Divine Blessing will help you out. Kadachi Vipertail II has high paralysis damage which is very helpful both solo & multi play.
Insect Glaive Iceborne Late Phase Build
Weapon | Decoration |
---|---|
Infinite Wisdom | Expert Jewel 1 Expert Jewel 1 |
Armors | Decorations |
Fulgur Helm β + | Expert Jewel 4 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Kushala Cista β + | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Damascus Vambraces β + | Handicraft Jewel 3 Expert Jewel 1 |
Shara Ishvalda Coil α + | Enhancer Jewel 2 Enhancer Jewel 2 |
Garuga Greaves β + | Enhancer Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Razor Sharp Charm | - |
Skills | |
Critical Eye Lv7 | Handicraft Lv5 |
Power Prolonger Lv3 | Weakness Exploit Lv3 |
Critical Boost Lv3 | Health Boost Lv2 |
Recovery Up Lv1 | Razor Sharp/Spare Shot |
Purple Sharpness With Razor Sharp
This build compliments the short purple sharpness of Infinite Wisdom by Razor Sharp. It has high affinity of 90% and add critical damage with Critical Boost. Health Boost and Power Prolonger increase your chance of survival.
Insect Glaive Iceborne Endgame Build
Weapon | Decoration |
---|---|
Ruinous Catastrophe | Attack Jewel 1 |
Armors | Decorations |
Rex Roar Helm α + | Critical Jewel 2 |
Kirin Jacket α + | Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Rex Roar Braces α + | Flight Jewel 2 |
Nargacuga Faulds α + | Attack Jewel 1 |
Garuga Greaves β + | Expert Jewel 4 Tenderizer Jewel 2 Evasion Jewel 2 |
Exploiter Charm II | - |
Skills | |
Critical Eye Lv7 | Attack Lv7 |
Evade Window Lv3 | Weakness Exploit Lv3 |
Health Boost Lv3 | Critical Boost Lv3 |
Stamina Surge Lv1 | Divine Blessing Lv1 |
Aurborne Lv1 | Free Meal Lv1 |
Strong & Stable
Significantly high damage with 95% Affinity, Critical Boost Lv3, and Attack Lv7. Airborne raises your jumping attack by 30% as well. Health Boost and Evade Window allows you to fight safely.
Strongest Build For Insect Glaive
*Following information are Monster Hunter World's best loadout, not Iceborne.
Weapon | Augmentations |
---|---|
Tyrannis Glaive II | Attack Increase Affinity Increase |
Armor | Decorations |
Kaiser Crown γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Kulve Taroth's Ire β | Empty Slot 3 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Drachen Vambraces α | Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Kushala Cocoon γ | Vitality Jewel 1 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Nergigante Greaves γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Sharp Jewel 2 |
Handicraft Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Handicraft Lvl 5 | Attack Boost Lvl 4 |
Critical Eye Lvl 4 | Health Boost Lvl 3 |
Critical Boost Lvl 3 | Weakness Exploit Lvl 3 |
Stun Resistance Lvl 2 | Protective Polish |
Non-elemental Boost | - |
Over 900 Attack Power
This build will bring out one of the hardest hitters in the Insect Glaive weapon category. This build will deal over 900 damage due to the skills such as non-elemental boost. This also has a high Handicraft skill level meaning that it has a white sharpness gauge.
Maintain Sharpness With Protective Polish
The Protective Polish was also added to keep the Insect Glaive's sharpness from deteriorating over a certain time period. This way, it can maintain its white sharpness for longer.
Taroth Glaive Ice Build For Insect Glaive
Weapon | Augmentations |
---|---|
Taroth Glaive Ice ► How To Get This Weapon | Affinity Increase |
Armor | Decorations |
Kaiser Crown γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Empress Mail β | Frost Jewel 1 Frost Jewel 1 Frost Jewel 1 |
Kaiser Vambraces γ | Critical Jewel 2 |
Kulve Taroth's Malice β | Release Jewel 3 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Kaiser Greaves γ | Critical Jewel 2 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Handicraft Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Critical Eye Lvl 7 | Handicraft Lvl 4 |
Ice Attack Lvl 3 | Free Elem / Ammo Up Lvl 3 |
Health Boost Lvl 2 | Critical Boost Lvl 2 |
Weakness Exploit Lvl 2 | Peak Performance |
Master's Touch | - |
Fire Resistant Ice Build
Highly specialized equipment that is effective in dealing with Teostra due to its fire resistance capabilities. The elemental damage of this build can stack up to 490 total ice damage, and thanks to the Master's Touch, has a high sharpness.
High Affinity Build
Due to the Lvl 7 Critical Eye, this build shines the brightest when you crit on your attacks. Pairing this skill with Weakness Exploit will allow you to deal massive amounts of damage when aiming for monster weak spots.
High Damage Grunge Storm Build For Insect Glaive
Weapon | Augmentations |
---|---|
Grunge Storm | Affinity Increase Attack Increase |
Armor | Decorations |
Drachen Armet α | Critical Jewel 2 Expert Jewel |
Drachen Mail α | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Drachen Vambraces α | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Drachen Coil α | Mighty Jewel 2 |
Nergigante Greaves γ | Mighty Jewel 2 Mighty Jewel 2 |
Handicraft Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Critical Eye Lvl 7 | Attack Boost Lvl 4 |
Critical Boost Lvl 3 | Weakness Exploit Lvl 3 |
Handicraft Lvl 3 | Maximum Might Lvl 3 |
Health Boost Lvl 2 | Master's Touch |
Airborne | Elemental Airborne |
Built Around the Grunge Storm
The Grunge Storm is the star of this build as it boasts one of the highest attack powers of the Insect Glaives. Combining skills such as Weakness Exploit, and Critical Boost, you are sure to deal high damage especially when hitting weak spots!
Kjarr Glaive 'Paralysis' Build For Insect Glaive
Weapon | Augmentations |
---|---|
Kjarr Glaive 'Paralysis' ► How To Get This Weapon | Health Regen |
Armor | Decorations |
Kaiser Crown γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Drachen Mail α | Brace Jewel 2 |
Kaiser Vambraces γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Kaiser Coil γ | Attack Jewel 1 Attack Jewel 1 |
Nergigante Greaves γ | Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Evasion Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Critical Eye Lvl 7 | Attack Boost Lvl 5 |
Critical Boost Lvl 3 | Weakness Exploit Lvl 3 |
Latent Power Lvl 3 | Evade Window Lvl 3 |
Flinch Free Lvl 1 | Master's Touch |
Critical Status | Master's Touch |
Paralyze Opponents With High DPS
With the Kjarr Glaive 'Paralysis' equipped, you will be able to deal high amounts of damage while also having a high chance of paralyzing a monster! With the Critical Status skill equipped, the chances of applying a paralysis are very high!
Take Advantage Of Longer Battles
With the Latent Power skill, you will have increased affinity and decreased stamina consumption. Take advantage of this during long drawn out battles to mount the monster more often!
How To Trigger Latent Power Skill
* The skill will trigger if any of the two conditions are met.
- 5 minutes have passed since you have engaged a large monster
- Take a total of 180 damage
Balanced Build For Insect Glaive
Weapon | Decorations |
---|---|
Empress Cane 'Styx' | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Attack Jewel 1 |
Armor | Decorations |
Kaiser Crown γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Nergigante Mail γ | Mighty Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Drachen Vambraces α | Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Empress Coil γ | Enhancer Jewel 2 |
Nergigante Greaves γ | Enhancer Jewel 2 Enhancer Jewel 2 |
Evasion Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Attack Boost Lvl 5 | Evade Window Lvl 5 |
Critical Eye Lvl 4 | Health Boost Lvl 3 |
Critical Boost Lvl 3 | Weakness Exploit Lvl 3 |
Power Prolonger Lvl 2 | Maximum Might Lvl 2 |
Razor Sharp/Spare Shot | - |
DPS and Survival Emphasis
This build focuses on both firepower and survivability for your hunter. You will be able to deal tons of damage due to the Empress Cane 'Styx' weapon while also having high health and a bigger evade window!
Survival Focused Build For Insect Glaive
Weapon | Augmentation Decorations |
---|---|
Empress Cane 'Ruin' | Health Regen Tenderizer Jewel 2 |
Armor | Decorations |
Xeno'jiiva Headgear γ | Enhancer Jewel 2 Medicine Jewel 1 Medicine Jewel 1 |
Empress Mail β | Vitality Jewel 1 Vitality Jewel 1 Vitality Jewel 1 |
Xeno'jiiva Claws γ | Tenderizer Jewel 2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 Medicine Jewel 1 |
Empress Coil β | Critical Jewel 2 Critical Jewel 2 |
Xeno'jiiva Spurs γ | Flawless Jewel 2 Maintenance Jewel 1 Empty Slot 1 |
Handicraft Charm III | - |
Skills | |
Health Boost Lvl 3 | Recovery Up Lvl 3 |
Critical Eye Lvl 4 | Critical Boost Lvl 3 |
Weakness Exploit Lvl 3 | Power Prolonger Lvl 3 |
Handicraft Lvl 3 | Peak Performance Lvl 3 |
Tool Specialist Lvl 3 | Blight Resistance Lvl 2 |
Special Ammo Boost Lvl 1 | Hasten Recovery |
Razor Sharp/Spare Shot | Stamina Cap Up |
High Chance Of Surviving
The build utilizes several skills that will increase your survivability in tough fights. Skills such as health boost and Stamina Cap Up will let you take more hits, and move out of the way of incoming attacks!
Best Skills For Insect Glaive
Recommended Skills For Attacking
Skill | Recommendation / Overview |
---|---|
Weakness Exploit | |
Master's Touch | |
Razor Sharp/Spare Shot | |
Handicraft | |
Attack Boost | |
Critical Eye | |
Critical Boost | |
Maximum Might | |
Non-elemental Boost | |
Critical Element | |
Airborne |
Recommended Supporting Skills
Skill | Recommendation / Overview |
---|---|
Health Boost | |
Speed Sharpening | |
Protective Polish | |
Power Prolonger | |
Earplugs | |
Flinch-Free |
Monster Hunter World Insect Glaives are a unique weapon for those who want to be agile in combat and have a variety of Kinsect buffs at their disposal.
It is one of many Monster Hunter World weapon types available from the start of the game, and on this page we explain the very fundamentals of how it works, through to the best Insect Glaive build you can have at your disposal.
Elsewhere, our Monster Hunter World tips can help you decide when to farm, what to forage and what to do between hunts, and our Monster Hunter World walkthrough and guide can help with main quest and story progress.
What is the Insect Glaive and how do Kinsects work?
The Insect Glaive is one of the speedier weapons in Monster Hunter World, in comparison to weapon classes like the Charge Blade or Greatsword, you're going to be spending a lot more time in the air than on the ground.
The benefit of using the Insect Glaive is simple - the Glaive itself is actually an insect, which can inflict status buffs on you by harvesting monster extracts.
You can equip Kinsects by simply purchasing one over at the smithy and equipping it alongside the Insect Glaive in your room, at the Smithy or at any camp.
How to use the Insect Glaive in combat
The Insect Glaive possesses amazing evasive and speed capabilities, and to use them to its fullest potential, you're first going to want to get the Attack Extract from your Kinsect, after that you'll be able to maximise your damage output.
A huge advantage to using the Insect Glaive are its aerial maneuvers. You'll want to Vault with R2 and X on PS4 / RT and A on Xbox. You can follow this up with an attack with Circle (or B on Xbox) or a Midair Evade, followed up with an attack.
To string together a chain of air attacks and evades, you're going to need to land the hits and keep an eye on your Stamina bar to keep evading and stay in the air. This will trigger a Vaulting Dance, which will essentially reset your combo.
It's also a very useful way to help you mount a monster.
To use a Kinsect, you want to fire it at the Monster's face by aiming (holding the left trigger) followed by Triangle/Y. This will make the Kinsect glow red.
The red glow denotes the Kinsect possessing an attack buff. To apply this buff to yourself, you're going to want to recall the Kinsect back to you by holding the left trigger followed by the Circle / B button.
Once you've got the Kinsect back to you, you should see a glow underneath your Sharpness Bar.
This rationale can be applied to different parts of a monster which will give you different coloured buffs. You can find our key for this below - with the locations differing from monster to monster - and the order of which will also correspond to the numbers underneath your sharpness bar.
- Red - Attack Buff
- Orange - Defense Buff
- White - Speed Buff
- Green - Health Buff
Additionally, the Kinsect will leave Dust, which you can hit to trigger an effect type.
This can range from abnormal status effects all the way to leaving a healing cloud. This is triggered by hitting the monster with a Kinsect while gathering extracts, or marking targets.
How to manage Kinsects and change elements
Head over to the Smithy, and under 'Kinsect Management' you'll be able to select 'Nurture Kinsect' which will open up a brand-new tree, not too dissimilar to any other weapon's upgrade tree, for you to check out all the different Kinsect types.
Each Kinsect that you can nurture has several different ability strengths and Dust types that you want to look out for. Power, Speed, Heal and Dust Effect respectively.
The Power, Speed and Heal types all denote that particular Kinsect's potency when extracting it from a monster. These max out at Level 15. The different Dust Effect Types to look out for are as follows:
- Heal
- Stun
- Poison
- Paralysis
- Blast
For the best results when faced against monsters, you're going to want to be upgrading multiple Kinsects at once in order to be able to tailor yourself to any scenario.
How to change Kinsect elements
Now that you're able to upgrade and nurture your Kinsect to become more powerful, you can also imbue the Kinsect with Elemental Damage, the range of Elemental types is as follows.
- Fire
- Water
- Ice
- Electric
[Can we transcribe this into a list / table? Is it only these six Ladytarge elements, and how do they respectively upgrade?] Ladytarge is just the particular Kinsect I have equipped, with its own upgrade tree explained through the 'Nurture Kinsect' Section.
Depending on how far you are in the game, you might not be able to unlock some of these damage types just yet, these are locked behind Hunter Ranks and new maps, much like the standard Weapon Upgrade Tree.
Our recommendation for the best Insect Glaive build in Monster Hunter World
While there is no one true Insect Glaive Build, we've honed in on a great Insect Glaive build designed to keep you fast on your feet, while also dishing out devastating damage through exploiting some innate armour skills.
Our best Insect Glaive recommendation
The Insect Glaive you want to shoot for is named Catastrophe's Light, with the highest single raw damaging Insect Glaive in the game, and comes with a high Elderseal stat.
Catastrophe's Light is forged from the Ore Tree, forking off into the Nergigante Tree and is the final upgrade. To forge Catastrophe's Light, you need the following:
- Xeno'Jiva Horn x2
- Nergigante Horn x5
- Nergigante Talon x5
- Nergigante Gem x1
Our best Kinsect recommendation
We're now going to want to pair an ideal Kinsect with it. We'd recommend getting the Pseudocath III, which is derived from the Culldrone III, into the Windchopper I-III, and finally into Pseudocath I-III, which builds up potent Blast Damage from its Dust, as well as having some incredible speed boosts.
It's final form, the Pseudocath III can be forged using the following:
- Elder Dragon Bone x2
- Monster Hardbone x3
- Firecell Stone x1
Now, we're going to want to forge some armour to go with it. Remember how we mentioned that we wanted to exploit some armour skills? Well. We're going to want to farm a lot of High-Rank Odogaron.
Iceborne has arrived! Here's how to start Monster Hunter World Iceborne and beat the first monster, Beotodus. Once you get settled into the world, learn about Layered Armour in Monster Hunter World and the various side-quests available - including Surveyor Set missions, Boaboa quests and finding Pearlspring Macaque locations. And, when you're ready to take it on, Shara Ishvalda. If you're crafting, then learning where to find rare materials such as Purecrystal and Monster Slogbone is useful. Been away from Monster Hunter for a while and need a refresher? Our pages on weapon changes and types, how to join friends and Squads in multiplayer plus how to capture monsters and mount monsters can help.
Our best Insect Glaive armour recommendation
You'll want to kick off by crafting Odogaron Mail Beta, with Vambraces, Coil and Greaves all in Alpha. The idea is that the Beta mail has a free gem slot, which (if you're lucky) will boost your attack even further.
The rationale behind this is to activate a skill named Critical Eye, which increases your weapon Affinity, which is essentially going to increase the chances of you dishing out at attack which goes beyond your weapon's standard attack range.
With the Odogaron set all equipped, we will move onto the piece de resistance of this armour set, the Dragonking Eyepatch Alpha. This Eyepatch will also activate a Level 2 skill, named Weakness Exploit. This gives you an extra 30% affinity when attacking a monster's weak spot.
Combined with the +15% Affinity gained from Critical Eye, as well as an additional 30% from Weakness Exploit, we can actually drive this build even further, should the RNG Gods Smile upon you with rare Decorations.
There are two free LV1 Decoration Slots in this build, one from the Odogaron Mail Alpha, and another from the Dragonking Eyepatch.
If we decorate the Odogaron Mail with an additional Critical Eye skill, as well as insert a Weakness Exploit gem into the Dragonking Eyepatch, then Critical Eye LV5 nets you 20% Affinity Boost, along with Weakness Exploit going up to LV3, which gives us a 50% Affinity boost on weak points.
However, there's still one more slot we can use. Remember all those Odogarons you've farmed? Well, with the spare parts from the creation of the armour, you'll be able to create an additional Critical Eye Charm from the Smithy.
Upgrade this to LV2 and you'll have Critical Eye LV7. Paired with a maxed out LV3 Weakness Exploit, you're looking at a base Affinity boost of 30% at all times, with an additional 50% on monster weak points.
Paired with Catastrophe's Light, which dishes out 651 base damage, you're looking at around 1171 damage when hitting monster weak points. With the additional speed and power of the Kinsect. Well. Let's just say that the Elder Dragons should probably be running away from you.