Alright, so we’ve seen a ton of people finding that the Rampage in Monster Hunter Rise is confusing, chaotic, and a general mess. I’ve experienced way too many people getting the chain cannon on the first line or even activating Elder Fuugen for regular enemies. So let me help all of you understand how to play the Rampage a lot better and what you should use where.

Overview

First, let’s understand what it is. The Rampage isn’t a slaying quest. Except maybe for the final boss. Every other monster just needs to take enough damage for them to decide that going on is a bad idea and go home. So to keep your battlefield under control, you have to be able to take down enemies quickly.

Doing so also levels up your stronghold, when it does, you gain access to more turrets, or the available ones get stronger. This way you can keep up with the damage you need to deal out as the horde of monsters grow in number. There are also side-objectives you can achieve to get bonus points for your stronghold and raise your grade at the end.

So to play the rampage well, let’s understand what your tools are and what your game plan should look like while using them.

Standard Installations

The first ones would be the ballistae and the bamboo mines. The mines explode when they are stepped on then reload over time, not much else to explain there. But a lot of people seem to sleep on the ballistae because they don’t seem to do much damage, but when you level them up enough they can do double or even triple the damage! But that’s not the best part, the crag shot is a very reliable way of stunning or flinching almost any monster, and is pretty much the counter weapon for the green types that try to snipe hunters at a distance. This can be positioned anywhere, but it’s doing its job well enough even at the corner areas of the map.

Next weapon is the cannon. I know a lot of us like using the cannon specially with how strong it was from World, and it’s still strong, but it doesn’t handle everything. It’s great for hitting a lot of monsters in a small areas, but it has a shorter range so you’ll want to keep it near choke points on the map. One thing players don’t seem to realize is that the special shots of the cannon are actually chargeable, and you can shoot normal shots while charging. Just that you can’t shoot several types of ammo at the same time, so keep that in mind. It’s a great tool for giving thunderblight on a bunch of enemies so put it where it can do just that. This also levels up as the stronghold gets to a certain point.

After that is the Chain Cannon, it looks like it can deal a lot of damage but it kinda depends on who and where you’re hitting. It can really only hit one target at a time, too. But it does have a way of quickly taking out that one monster knocking on your gate. You can make use of the silkbind shot as it drags the target you hit right in front of your gun, letting you use the scatter shot most effectively given the range. This kind of installation is best placed near the gate quickly stopping blue types, but it’s actually a fair counter to green types as well.

By the way, auto-defenders are okay to place pretty much anywhere, just remember they fire at maybe a third of the speed that you can. So don’t depend on them doing a lot of heavy lifting. Except maybe Wyvernfire Artillery, which you have to point in the direction you want it to shoot, then pick the type of shot you want it to fire. It also needs time to reload its shots. I personally prefer using the shot versus the beam since I normally put these guys in the back row. But they can work for frontline as well.

So we’re through everything we can use regularly, let’s go over the ones that are a bit more explosive.

Special Installations

First of all, Dragonators exist, their ranges are quite limited, but are handy since they’re mostly positioned in front of barriers, where monsters tend to clump up. Nothing complicated, press A to hold the Dragonator’s switch, then A again to activate it. It’ll hit anything that’s there, and it’s really meant for helping you clear waves, so don’t hesitate to use it. Pairs great with dragonbait.

The new bad boy introduced in the Rampage is the Split Wyvern Shot. This is actually a ballistic artillery cannon that you’ll have to aim before firing. It can reach far, but its range isn’t infinite. After firing the shot, there’ll be a second or so of delay before the enormous explosion expels enemies entirely. Well, except maybe for boss monsters. But this is a super handy weapon to have for clearing enemies that are making the fight difficult.

To speed up the cooldown of the Dragonator, Split Wyvern Shot, and pretty much anything else, you can run over to the Power Kiln and shovel what I think is coal in there. It’s a good idea to do this between rounds, but I’ve also seen other players use this even during battle.

Limited Installations

Finally let’s go over the limited ones. These can only be used once per quest, so be mindful of when to actually use them. The people of Kamura aren’t going to stand idly by and let you fight alone, they can hop in during select parts of each Rampage. Why they can’t be available the entire time? I’m not sure, I guess they’re on a tight schedule, but moving on.

Each of them generally launch a powerful attack, but have a different special effect.

Iori, the guy who scouts buddies, will also boost the strength of your palicoes and palamutes. Then he’ll send some buddies of his own to help out in the fight. He’s perfectly fine being set on the ground, particularly, the front lines.

Yomogi, strengthens the firepower of your installations. She mans one herself and fires at monsters within her range non-stop, it’s good to put her on top of walls where she has a good view of many areas of the stage, and most importantly, the gates.

Hinoa and Minoto will attack several times with a considerably long range. Since their attacks can also hit several monsers at the same time, so it’s best to make use of them around choke points where enemies tend to cluster around.

Master Utsushi will attack monsters around him and might make weaker ones mountable. He’s good at keeping a crowded situation under control, making him ideal to be on the ground.

Finally, Fuugen just launches a powerful blow, but it appears to have limited range. Placing him at the gate seems to be the best and most fitting position for this old man.

Don’t be too worried about saving them for the last possible moment, as they seem to be only available on the round they appear. If you think you need an extra hand, don’t hesitate.

Finally, the order of importance in taking out enemies should generally be int his order. Green, ranged attackers first, followed by red, melee attackers, and lastly blue, siege types monsters.

There you go, you are generally armed with the knowledge that you’ll mostly be needing in handling a Rampage without getting too confused. It’ll still take some getting used to but it’s fun once you get the hang of it. Good luck with your melds, hunters.

 

PS: If you want to get a higher grade (which I think results in getting more defender tickets), accomplish as many side objectives as possible, and avoid getting carted.