Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is a followup to a 3DS monster-collecting RPG. While you still battle and kill monsters en masse, now you also catch them like Pokemon. Was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin worth it? Let’s see if this game will drop enough parts to let us craft a good JRPG out of it.
Full disclaimer: I’m not a Monster Hunter expert. I’ve played Rise briefly, but that’s it.
Table of Contents
Background
You, the mute protagonist, are a young monster rider, following in the footsteps of your grandfather, Red. Red was pretty much the tops, and you spend most of the game in his shadow trying to follow his footsteps. This is a turn-based monster collecting JRPG. You still collect monster parts for armor and weapons, but now you also collect monsters straight from the source by snatching eggs from their nests.
Basics
There are three types of monsters: Power, Technical, and Speed. It’s a triangle: Power beats Technical, which beats Speed, which beats Power.
When an enemy monster is attacking, you’ll see the intended target. Make sure that you and your monstie use the correct attack type to not only beat it in a head to head, but also to get the huge damage boost from a double attack. Enemy monsters generally use a single type of attack but will change attack types as they become enraged or change modes.
You want two of each monstie type. Your monstie will inevitably decide to use a different type of move than what you want. Swap it out to win the head to head! On a monstie’s first turn out, it’ll always use the move type it corresponds to: power types use a power move, etc.
If an enemy monster hasn’t declared an attack, it’s probably charging a special move. You can thwart that by using a kinship attack, though later monsters will get multiple attacks per turn.
You can also use special moves, depending on your weapon. The “mana cost” for using these moves is your kinship gauge. This means that you may have to make some choices as to whether you want to fill the gauge faster for a big kinship attack or go for more damage with a big weapon skill.
It’s also easy to get Monsties that can inflict poison or burn status effects. Many of the monsters you’re going to run into have thousands of health, so that extra couple hundred damage a turn can add up.
Don’t sleep on electric monsters. It seems like about a third of the monsters are weak to that element, so you can get a lot of mileage out of that Zinogre, Red Khezu, or Tobi Kadachi.
If your HP gets reduced to zero, you lose a heart. Lose all three hearts and you return to town. You don’t lose any money. Later, you end up with a ton of items that can restore hearts. Don’t be afraid to use them if you take an unlucky crit!
What Monsties should I use in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin?
You have a lot of freedom to build the team you want (with the exception of Ratha), so don’t be afraid to use Monsties you like.
Here’s what I used for nearly all of the story, as well as where I picked them up:
- Pukei Pukei (first region)
- Anjanath (first region)
- Tigrex (second region)
- Rathian (second region)
- Ratha (story relevant, you’re stuck with it)
- Zamtrios (third region)
Later on, I traded my Rathian for a Zinogre. Don’t be afraid to mix it up and add new monsties to your party! Lower level monsties get bonus experience (up to 500%), so they’ll reach the same level as the rest of your party quickly.
Can I change my Monstie color in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin?
Yes and no. In the first game, you could change your Monstie’s color and element. This game still has that feature, but it doesn’t really work. You can change their color at low levels, but as soon as their native element attack rises, it’ll override the changes and you’ll be back to the normal Monstie.
Capcom has made it clear that it was an unintended feature and they’ve already patched it out. Hopefully they’ll implement a way to change Monstie colors in a later patch.
This, along with the 5×5 bingo, is something that apparently didn’t make it all the way through to the finished game.
What Genes should I use in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin?
The game is still new enough that a proper meta hasn’t quite solidified yet regarding genes, so I’ll be discussing general use PVE options. There are also some unreleased monsties that will probably be top-tier, and we obviously don’t know what genes they’ll come with.
This is important because there aren’t any restrictions on genes, per se. You can build a monstie as you like.
I recommend capitalizing on a monstie’s innate typing for the most part, but there’s a bit more nuance with endgame builds.
For example: Pukei Pukei is a non elemental technical type. There’s no shortage of genes of that type combination, so it’s easy to fill its board and max out the bingos. Other monsties don’t have as many gene options, so focus on their element – water, fire, etc.
Realistically, the monsties that you use in the story campaign are eventually going to get benched for the endgame powerhouses. Don’t worry too much about optimizing them.
What about XL Genes?
The game will tell you that genes come in different sizes, all the way up to XL. While these genes do have a greater effect, you also aren’t going to see them until much later in the game.
For reference, the first XL genes I found were on Black Diablos in the desert region.
Is there a difference between normal, gold, and rainbow eggs?
Short answer: No.
Long answer: You can unlock gene slots if necessary and swap any genes you want. Monstie moves aren’t exclusive to any one monstie, so you can build your critters any way you like.
I really like the flexibility afforded here, because frankly, some monstie eggs are a pain in the ass to get.
Read Was Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin Worth It? Part 2 at the link below.
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