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If you’re interested in seeing the divide in Monster Hunter’s community about comfort vs practicality, then look no further than the Insect Glaive. 

On the one hand, there are players that want nothing more than just DPS. This is the crowd that this article is going to be geared toward cause DPS helps end monster hunts faster and, theoretically, if you play perfectly, you shouldn’t need comfort skills. 

In this regard, Insect Glaive users that follow this belief will only use optimized ground combos because that’s where the Insect Glaive’s damage is at. 

However, in the other camp are the comfort-heavy hunters. These hunters run skills that just make the hunt less challenging or just more fun. Skills like Vitality or Stun Resistance will help hunters take hits and keep going with the hunt. However, the trade-off is a loss in damage. 

Insect Glaive users in this latter camp will usually put more effort into aerial attacks, which have less motion values and thus less damage. But at the same time, you get the benefit of being a murderous attack helicopter with an insect best friend. In multiplayer, there can be an argument for the increased mounts which can lead to more damage, but I personally believe a build geared toward straight damage will outpace most aerial builds.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top 5 best Insect Glaives.
Disclaimer: Images are courtesy of the r/MonsterHunterMeta album. Check them out if you want to see what the meta Insect Glaive builds are.

Before We Start

We can’t talk about the best Insect Glaives without first talking about how Insect Glaives get high damage. The meta for Insect Glaives is based around Master’s Touch. Since you’ll be smacking the monster with your bugstick fairly often, it makes more sense to run high affinity and Master’s Touch so you don’t lose sharpness while you do so. True Critical Element offers a small bump in damage, but it’s not worth it to lose Master’s Touch. After all, you can’t keep dealing damage if your weapon loses sharpness or if you have to sit and sharpen. 

However, the Insect Glaive usually favors Elemental sets because they have a small added elemental damage bonus over their raw damage cousins. This damage increase is on the minimal side, and unless you’re looking to min-max, raw damage is fine too.

Next, we can’t talk about the Insect Glaive without first talking about the best bugs. 

As far as this list is concerned, there are two bugs you should be using: Folicath Forz III and Valorwing III Medis.

On bugs, speed is the most important stat you should be concerned with. This will help them get more attacks in and also come back to you faster with essences to buff your damage. 

Foliacath III Forz is better if you want to max out your damage. Bring one with the element that will be effective against what you’re hunting, and then keep the monster slinger buff up for more damage. 

If that is a little bit too much to juggle, then go with Valorwing III Medis since it will give you stuns through blunt damage, and better heals than the Foliacath.

5) Blossomajesty

MHWI - Velkhana 4'19 Insect Glaive Solo (TA wiki rules + clutch claw) / イヴェルカーナ　操虫棍　ソロ

The Blossommajesty is made from the Rathalos family and it comes with a decent chunk of fire element to back up its raw. 

The Blossommajesty gets our #5 slot because of its decent fire element, decent base affinity, and wonderful raw damage, which makes it better than its competitors in this same field. The base affinity found here makes it a bit easier to build 100% affinity for Master’s Touch.

What's Great About the Blossomajesty

• You can build the early versions of this Insect Glaive immediately after hunting a Rathalos.
• As long as the monster you’re hunting is weak to fire, then this Insect Glaive should out damage the raw options.
• Comes with great base Affinity.

Blossomajesty Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Sharpness:
  • 60 hits of white sharpness
  • 50 hits of blue sharpness
• Raw Damage: 837(305.01 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 20%
• Element: 270 Fire
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 2

4) Wise Fylos

【MHWI】ラージャン 操虫棍 ソロ 5'44"95(調査クエスト)/Rajang Insect Glaive solo

The Wise Fylos is made from Velkhana parts and gets our #4 spot because it’s one of the best Ice element Insect Glaives you can build. 

This Insect Glaive has a level 4 slot, allowing for more build flexibility, and gets purple sharpness with any level of Handicraft. Each level of Handicraft adds an additional 10 hits. For this weapon, you can fiddle around with how much Handicraft you can run based on what you’re comfortable with. If you plan on hunting with people, I would recommend bringing an additional point or two of Handicraft since the monster will be changing targets while you’re hunting it, which means its weak spot will also be moving fairly often.

What's Great About the Wise Fylos

• Best Ice Insect Glaive. It has high raw, a bit of Ice element, and decent base sharpness.
• It can reach 20 hits of purple sharpness with just 2 points of Handicraft.
• It comes with a Level 4 slot for all your building needs.

Wise Fylos Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Sharpness:
  • 50 hits of white sharpness
  • 50 hits of blue sharpness
• Raw Damage: 837(376.2 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 0%
• Element: 240 Ice
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 4

3) Metalmangler

【MHWI】ナルガクルガ 操虫棍 ソロ 3'10"35/Nargacuga Insect Glaive solo

The Rajang Insect Glaive gets our #3 spot because it’s the best thunder Insect Glaive right now. It has high raw and enough thunder element to be relevant against monsters that are especially weak to thunder. Its raw is also high enough to work as one of the better raw Insect Glaives as well, in case you wanted to bring a Glaive with you into the Guiding Lands. While Nergigante’s Insect Glaive will be better in that regard, the Metalmangler is still not a bad option if you don't mind some discomfort.

The biggest issue this Insect Glaive has is its low sharpness and negative affinity. However, you can fix both of these by running Handicraft for its sharpness and Agitator with an Affinity augment to offset the negative affinity. 

Agitator works well for Insect Glaive since, if you want to play optimally, you have to clutch claw onto the monster then claw attack 3 times before doing a dismount attack. This will create a weak spot for you, but it will also put the monster into rage mode. While that may sound bad, with Agitator, you get an attack and affinity boost so you can deal even more damage.

What's Great About the Metalmangler

• Best Thunder Insect Glaive thanks to high raw.
• While it has a few weaknesses, these problems can be patched up with Handicraft and Agitator.
• Even if you’re not fighting against something super weak to Thunder, the Metalmangler has enough raw damage to function as a raw weapon with a small upside of some thunder damage.

Metalmangler Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Sharpness:
  • 50 hits of blue sharpness
  • 50 hits of green sharpness
• Raw Damage: 961(375.38 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: -15%
• Element: 90 Thunder
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 4

2) Infinite Wisdom

MHWI - Gold Rathian 5'02 Insect Glaive Solo (TA wiki rules + clutch claw) / リオレイア希少種　操虫棍　ソロ

The Infinite Wisdom is made from the final boss, Shara Ishvalda, and damn does it pack a punch. While it does less damage than the Rajang Glaive, the Infinite Wisdom makes up for it with fast accessibility post-story, and more comfort than the Rajang Glaive can offer.

This weapon takes our 2nd place spot since it’s one of the best raw Insect Glaives and also one of the best dragon-elemented Insect Glaives. One of the best parts about this Glaive is how it doesn’t need Peak Performance to get great damage numbers and it can reach 20 hits of purple sharpness with Handicraft 4. 

Since it can be made immediately after the game’s story is over, The Infinite Wisdom is a great generalist Glaive you can build to grind through the Guiding Lands with. Its high raw, great sharpness, and ability to switch its element between raw and dragon allows you to tackle almost every match up in the game without feeling out of place.

What's Great About the Infinite Wisdom

• Great raw and great element. You can flip between the two based on the matchup.
• It can reach 20 hits of purple sharpness with 4 points of Handicraft. Not bad for how much damage you can squeeze out of this.
• Two level one slots can be very comfortable for adding in more damage or defensive skills.

Infinite Wisdom Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Sharpness:
  • 20 hits of white sharpness
  • 50 hits of blue sharpness
• Raw Damage: 868(389.4 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 0%
• Element: (390 Dragon)
• Slots: 
  • 2x Level 1

1. Royal March Banner

How to get Royal March Banner/ Guild Palace Insect Glaive? Stats + Showcase

I’m sure you’ve noticed, but our last two Insect Glaives ranked this high because they were able to double as both a wonderful raw build and a great elemental build. Our #1 Insect Glaive is no different. The Royal March Banner takes our top spot because of it’s high sharpness, high raw, and ability to act as either a water-elemented Insect Glaive or a raw Insect Glaive.

Unlike the Rajang Glaive, you don’t have to sacrifice sharpness and comfort for good damage. Thanks to its natural Affinity, it can also reach higher EFR than the Infinite Wisdom can. Also, unlike the Shara Glaive, the Royal March Banner can reach 20 hits of purple sharpness with just 2 points in Handicraft. 

What's Great About the Royal March Banner

• Just like the Infinite Wisdom, this weapon has great raw and great element. You can flip between the two based on the matchup.
• It can reach 20 hits of purple sharpness with 2 points of Handicraft, which is great for build flexibility.
• Solid base affinity.
• A level 3 slot can help make things a bit easier to build with.

Royal March Banner Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Sharpness:
  • 40 hits of white sharpness
  • 50 hits of blue sharpness
• Raw Damage: 837(390.31 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 15%
• Element: (450 Water)
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 3

What about Safi'Jiiva Weapons?

When this article was written, Safi'Jiiva hadn't been released on PC yet. 

If you want to build Insect Glaives after Safi'Jiiva's release, then you can still follow the same formula used for the weapons on this list. Build the elemental Glaives with a focus on their raw attack. You can also build the abnormal status elements (Blast for damage, Paralysis and Sleep for utility) and lose a little damage in single-player situations. In multiplayer, however, you're going to want to build an elemental Safi weapon and match elements since activating the abnormal status effects will be harder in multiplayer games. 

If you want to read more about this, visit this album for builds. 

Thanks for reading!

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