Monster Hunter Rise guide: How to use the Wirebug

The Wirebug is the best new feature in Monster Hunter Rise — a new movement tool that lets you fly around the map to collect items or surprise monsters from the skies. And while it’s relatively simple to understand, it’s imperative that you learn how to control this bug as early as possible. Once you know what you’re doing with the Wirebug, Rise becomes much easier for new players and much more fun for veterans.

In this Monster Hunter Rise guide, we’ll teach you how to use the Wirebug and its various moves.

Table of contents

• The Wirebug charge system
• Wirebug dashing
• Silkbind attacks
• Great Wirebugs and gaining extra charges

Wirebug tips and tricks

• Use the dangle to avoid charging monsters
• You can climb anything with only two Wirebugs
• Air-dodge to travel extra far
• Wirebug recover into an attack

The Wirebug charge system

The Wirebug uses charge-based system, meaning that you can deplete and regenerate your ability to use it. You always have two Wirebugs, but you can pick up additional ones for a brief period (more on that below). Different moves cause the Wirebugs to go on cooldown for different periods of time. When a Wirebug charge is on cooldown, you can’t use it.

Wirebug dashing

Image: Capcom via Polygon

Traversing with the Wirebug is a ton of fun in Monster Hunter Rise, but it can be pretty tough to remember what buttons to press for the first few hours. In the official video below, Capcom gives some good advice on how to think about your Wirebug controls, and we’re going to reiterate that here.

With your weapons sheathed, you can use Wirebugs to dash forward, vertically, or recover after a hit. All of these non-attack Wirebug moves only take a single Wirebug charge, and the Wirebugs recharge quickly.

For 11 of the 14 weapons, ZL is your Wirebug button. You’ll hold this whenever you want to dash or attack with your Wirebug. If you’re using a ranged weapon like the light bowgun, R will be your Wirebug button. (We default to ZL for the rest of the guide, but substitute R if you’re a ranged player.)

Hold down your ZL and X to pull yourself into the air.

Hold down your ZL and A to pull yourself forward without leaving the ground.

You can also hold ZL, target with your reticle, and press ZR to launch yourself in a specific direction.

While in the air, you can press A to just dangle in mid-air, B to do a flip and change directions, X to dash forward in the air, and A to dash back to the ground. If you want to keep going up, aim up and manually launch yourself upward again.

The Monster Hunter Rise tutorial video above helps differentiate the buttons in an easy-to-remember way: ZL and X gets you in the air and keeps you there. ZL and A keeps you on the ground or pulls you back to the ground.

There’s one other key Wirebug dash, especially for new players. If you get hit by a monster, you’ll likely go flying or get knocked to the ground, and it can sometimes take a long time to recover. But if you tap ZL and B, your Hunter will recover and dash in the direction you’re holding. It does consume a Wirebug charge, but it will get you away from the monster quickly. Use this chance to heal.

Remember all this, and you’ll master the Wirebug dash in no time.

Silkbind attacks

Image: Capcom via Polygon

Each weapon has three different Silkbind attacks — you’ll start with two and unlock the third via the Switch Skill system, which the game introduces you to a few hours in. Silkbind attacks consume one or two Wirebugs, depending on the attack, and either protect you or deal massive damage. Most importantly, Silkbind attacks deal mounting damage to monsters, eventually letting you Wyvern Ride them.

With your weapon drawn, use ZL and X or ZL and A to execute your Silkbind attacks. These attacks are different for each weapon, so you’ll need to memorize what each button combo does as you play.

Proper position is the most important thing when using a Silkbind attack. If you miss with a Silkbind attack — or if the monster roars or hits you out of your attack — you’ll lose the Wirebugs and your shot at the move. Wirebugs normally recharge much slower when you’re using Silkbind moves.

Great Wirebugs and gaining extra charges

Image: Capcom via Polygon

Aside from your usual Wirebugs, there are a few other ways to get around the map.

As you progress through Monster Hunter Rise, you’ll get Great Wirebugs to install in the maps. These permanent upgrades act as massive slingshots. Walk up to them, hit A, and they’ll launch you over a cliff or wall and into a new area. It’s not as handy as it might sound, but it’s worth placing them when you can.

You can only drop Great Wirebugs in specific areas: Jewel Lilies. The game will always tell you when a patch is nearby, so keep an eye out while you’re riding around and put down these semi-useful shortcuts.

While you’re on your travels, you’ll also find stray Wirebugs just floating in different areas. Grab these bugs to temporarily increase your Wirebug count to three (you can’t hold more than three at once). This Wirebug only sticks with you for a few minutes, but it acts like a normal Wirebug while you have it. You can dash, Silkbind attack, whatever. The icon for the third Wirebug starts flashing when it’s getting ready to return to the wild.

Grabbing a third Wirebug is a great way to protect yourself while your monster is enraged (when they start attacking and moving very quickly) because it gives you another dash to save yourself even if you use a Silkbind attack.

Wirebug tips and tricks

Image: Capcom via Polygon

After you use the Wirebug for a few hours, you’ll learn some really neat tricks for dealing with a variety of problems. But we can help speed that process along a little bit. Here are some bonus Wirebug tips that we picked up on in our time with Rise.

Use the dangle to avoid charging monsters

Tapping A midair causes you to hang in the sky indefinitely. Your Wirebugs won’t recharge while you’re like this, and you won’t be able to use items. So what is it good for? Dodging.

Several monsters like Lagombi and Barioth love to charge in Monster Hunter Rise. Usually, these monsters have giant tells before they start charging, but they charge so quickly that it’s hard to get out of the way. If you dodge up and just dangle, they’ll tucker themselves out while you’re safely in the sky.

You can climb anything with only two Wirebugs

The coolest new thing in Monster Hunter Rise is the ability to look at a mountain and know that you can climb it. You don’t need three Wirebugs and a full stamina gauge to climb a giant structure. You just need a little finesse.

1. Point yourself at the mountain and launch yourself up and toward it twice.
2. Hold the R button to sprint and, when you hit the mountain, you’ll start running up the wall.
3. This drains your stamina very quickly. When you run out of stamina, you’ll kick off the wall and do a backflip. You should have at least one Wirebug back by now.
4. Hit B midair to the left or right to buy yourself some time, and then start dashing up again.

You can repeat this process forever, and you should regain your stamina and your Wirebugs at just the perfect rate to keep climbing.

Air dodge to travel extra far

Image: Capcom via Polygon

Every time you dash into the air with the Wirebug, you can hit the B button to do an air dodge. This is useful for dodging, obviously, but also for moving farther. To cover the most ground and stay in the air the longest, you can dash, dodge, dash, dodge, and then hit the ground. This not only keeps you aerial, but it helps you reposition when a monster moves to a dangerous or advantageous spot.

Wirebug recover into an attack

Using ZL and B to recover from a hit and run away helps make Monster Hunter Rise a much friendlier experience for new players. But it also allows for an advanced — but dangerous — counterattack.

If you find yourself flying through the sky thanks to a monster’s swipe, take a peek at your health before you dodge away. If you need to heal, dodge yourself behind a rock or tree to put an obstacle between you and your monster. But if you could take another hit or two without carting back to camp, consider dodging toward your monster and re-engaging with a friendly bash to the head.

This is extremely effective, especially with weapons that have powerful aerial moves like the hammer. Don't get too greedy, though. We’ve overcommitted and lost hunts by doing this exact thing. But once you have a bit of confidence, consider bolstering your offense instead of running away.