Hunting Horn Best Builds and Progression (2024)

In this post, you will find Monster Hunter Rise best Hunting Horn builds. The guide includes all the progression and endgame gear. Moreover, we go through various options on what Talismans should be picked for each Hunting Horn build

This weapon can be quite challenging for a new person to enjoy. However, if you manage to learn it you can use songs to buff your fellow hunters and yourself.

General Skill recommendations

One of the main skills that you should be used is Horn Maestro. However, it may not be readily accessible in the early game. But you should keep in mind what it does as the game explanation is unclear.

Horn Maestro gives increased performance speed and increases horn shockwave attacks. Check this video for speed comparison:

Even though the difference may not be much you will still get increased damage just from one decoration slot.

So let's cover other skills that are recommended:

1. Horn Maestro - boosts performance speed and increases the damage for some attacks (shockwave moves)
2. Weakness Exploit - mandatory as for most builds that depend on monster Hitzones. Increases affinity (critical hits) for monster weak spots (usually 45 above hitzone values)
3. Attack Boost - increases the damage for all of your attacks
4. Critical Eye - increases affinity. This means that you deal critical hits more often
5. Critical Boost - boost the damage of your critical hit. Really effective when you have a high affinity
6. Handicraft - this skill is useful as it will increase sharpness. The result is that some of the weapons can get access to White sharpness or sustain it for much longer.
7. Slugger - especially beneficial for blunt weapons like Hunting Horn. However, I do not think that it is mandatory, but if an equipment piece has it no need to throw it away.
8. Speed Sharpening - this is a level 1 skill. It has the advantage that you can quickly sharpen your weapon during the hunt if you lose white or blue sharpness.

Now we can move to the builds

Low-Rank Builds

At this time in the game, there are not a lot of options. I suggest slowly learning using Hunting Horn. Get to know how the weapon works and how to buff and attack monsters at the same time.

Early Low Rank - Village Quests 1 - 3 stars

Weapon

I do not suggest getting anything besides Kamura Chorus III. It is the best hunting horn early in the game: Attack Up and Defense Up. Moreover, it gives a little bit of green sharpness

Another great thing that helps when learning the hunts is Health Recovery. It will work as Health regeneration but in an instant.

Armors

Kulu-Ya-Ku mail provides Horn Maestro early in the game. As mentioned this is a great skill to have. However, at this time in the game. Another good option is Baggi Mail which gives Attack Boost skill

Item	Skills
Izuchi Helm	Critical Eye Lv 1
Kulu-Ya-Ku Mail	Horn Maestro Lv 1
Alloy Vambraces	Critical Eye Lv 1
Izuchi Coil	Critical Eye Lv 1
Ingot Greaves	Attack Boost Lv 1 Critical Eye Lv 1

Hunter Greaves can be used until you get Ingot Greaves.

Mid to End of Low Rank - Village Quests 4 - 6 stars

This is the part of Monster Hunter Rise, where it opens up, you will encounter new monsters with widely different mechanics

Weapon

To get Sinister Strum I, you will need to beat Magnamalo a few times. However, this is worth it for these reasons that will give you:

• attack up and defense up from the same song
• a lot of green sharpness
• Blast status effect that results in additional damage (although not much)

Armors

You can switch Anjanath Vambraces to Rathalos Braces, as Slugger Lv 1 will not give you much benefit.

Important: meld Horn Maestro charm as soon as possible. It will carry you until you can get better talismans with Weakness Exploits or other offensive skills.

Once you have it you are ready to go with this build to High Rank

Item	Skills
Zinogre Helm	Latent Power Lv 1 Critical Eye Lv 1
Nargacuga Mail	Critical Eye Lv 1
Anjanath Vambraces	Slugger Lv 1 Attack Boost Lv 1
Anjanath Coil	Attack Boost Lv 2
Ingot Greaves	Attack Boost Lv 1 Critical Eye Lv 1
Talisman	Horn Maestro Lv 1

High Rank: 4 - 6

In the High Rank, monsters will become much harder for hunters. Moreover, you can expect hunts to take longer and be a bit more challenging.

The game will also open up greatly allowing to craft many more interesting items

Gale Hunting Horn Build

Weapon

You get a chance to obtain quite a versatile Hunting Horn: Gale Horn. You will get it from High Rank Izuchi. It will give Affinity Up song and blue sharpness.

Armors

With the Gale Horn equipped and items listed below, you will have 80% affinity when hitting monster weak spots (usually head).

However, this requires some practice to know where the monster's head will be after the attack. If you manage to pull this you will be rewarded with multiple hits to their weak points.

Item	Skills
Izuchi Helm S	Critical Eye Lv 1
Izuchi Mail S	Critical Eye Lv 2 Recovery Speed Lv 1
Alloy Vambraces S	Critical Eye Lv 2 Water Attack Lv 1
Skalda Elytra S / Spio Elytra S	Weakness Exploit Lv 2
Ingot Greaves S	Attack Boost Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 2
Talisman	Horn Maestro Lv 1

High Rank: 6 - 7

This is the part of Monster Hunter Rise where you will encounter challenging monsters. However, you are able to get a new Hunting Horn

Hidden Harmonic Horn Build

Weapon

I suggest getting Hidden Harmonic I as soon as possible from Nargacuga. After that, you will get a story encounter for Rakna-Kadaki. It will give you materials for Hidden Harmonic II.

Armors

At High Rank 7, you will get access to a new melding pot. Start melding for Weakness Exploit. If you get it, switch it with Horn Maestro.

You can also get Horn Maestro from Smith and craft it as a decoration. Then you can switch Talisman to Critical Eye, Attack Boost, or Weakness Exploit. It all depends on your luck as these are fairly hard to get but worth it.

With Weakness Exploit and Critical Boost, you will do extremely large damage. This should definitely carry you to the endgame of Monster Hunter Rise.

Item	Skills
Utsushi Mask (H) S	Razor Sharp Lv 2 Spare Shot Lv 2 Wirebug Whisperer Lv 1
Zinogre Mail S	Latent Power Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 1
Anjanath Vambraces S	Slugger Lv 2 Attack Boost Lv 2
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Golden Hakama	Critical Boost Lv 2 Latent Power Lv 1
Talisman	One of the below: Weakness Exploit Lv 1 (Best) Attack Boost Lv 1 Critical Eye Lv 1

This hunting horn build results in 90 affinity. Guaranteeing that almost all attacks to the monster weak spots will be critical hits

High Rank: 7 - 40 (Patch 2.0)

This part of the game is all about the monsters that were introduced on the 2.0 patch. I think this is where the grind start and you accumulate your knowledge on monsters and get much better gear.

Rampage Horn Build

This build utilizes Rampage Agitato and concentrates on maximizing your offensive capabilities and songs.

Weapon

You will want Sharpness Type I. Together with Handicraft, you will now have White sharpness accessible to you.

You will have to invest in Rampage skills, but this will pay off greatly.

You will want to use Affinity Song from your weapon. This will maximize your critical rate.

Armors

Unfortunately as the Handicraft Jewel 3 needs some Elder Dragon materials, it should be put off. Moreover, it requires decoration slot 3.

Due to this, you will use Sinister Gauntlets S. By this time you should also have a Weakness Exploit Talisman. As most of the builds depend on it

All of this results in having White Sharpness and 70 affinity.

Item	Skills
Zinogre Helm S	Latent Power Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 1
Zinogre Mail S	Latent Power Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 1
Sinister Gauntlets S	Hellfire Cloak Lv 1 Handicraft Lv 2
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Hunter's Greaves S	Attack Boost Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 2

Talismans and decorations

Talisman + slots	Decorations	Notes
Any skill not listed	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 1 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	In case you get a talisman with random skills and it has two Lv2 decoration slots.
Weakness Exploit Lv 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Having Lv2 decoration opens up space for Critical Boost
Weakness Exploit Lv 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Budget option when you do not have Lv2 decoration slot

I recommend having Speed Sharpening for level 1 decorations. There is a big advantage:

Your weapons do not have a lot of blue/white sharpness. So through the hunt, you will lose damage quite fast. Due to this Speed Sharpening will allow you to get back to White Sharpness with one cycle.

High Rank: HR 40 - 99

You could call this the endgame, where you farm the Elder Dragons and try to get the best gear available.

Rampage Horn Build

This Hunting Horn build relies on the Rampage Horn. At this part of the game, this is the best that you can get.

Weapons

Get the best hunting horn in this tier Rampage Agitato V. With the upgrades it will have Attack Up and Affinity Up, on the same song.

Armors

Kaiser Crown makes this build shine with improvements to critical damage and critical rate.

Item	Skills
Kaiser Crown	Critical Eye Lv 3 Critical Boost Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Sinister Gauntlets S	Hellfire Cloak Lv 1 Handicraft Lv 2
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Ingot Greaves S	Attack Boost Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 2

Talismans and Decorations

For multiplayer equip Brace Jewel 1

Talisman + slots	Decorations	Notes
Wirebug Whisperer 2	Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Attack Jewel 2 x2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	This option lets you spam Earthshaker often, increasing overall DPS.
Any Skill	Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Attack Jewel 2 x2 Wirebug Jewel 2 x2 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Allows using Earthshaker quite often. You can switch one Wirebug Jewel 2 for Attack Jewel 2.
Weakness Exploit 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Further, boost your attack for larger soundwave damage with additional Attack Jewel 2
Weakness Exploit 1	Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2 Attack Jewel 2 x2 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	The most accessible option. If you want more sharpness switch Attack Jewel 2 for Handicraft Jewel 3 in the Vaik Mail S slot

Tigrex Horn Build

Alternative to Rampage Agitato V. Overall it has a more powerful raw attack. However, you lose affinity song to boost your group members' DPS.

This hunting horn build also comes with a bit more white sharpness, meaning you will have to sharpen less

Weapons

Tigrex Horn only provides a song for Attack Up so it can be used as an alternative. We take Attack Boost II to maximize the raw damage for soundwaves.

Armors

The main change is that we take Kaiser Vambraces for the bonus to critical damage and affinity.

Item	Skills
Kaiser Crown	Critical Eye Lv 3 Critical Boost Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Kaiser Vambraces	Critical Eye Lv 1 Critical Boost Lv 1 Teostra Blessing Lv1
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Hunter's Greaves S	Attack Boost Lv 2 Stun Resistance Lv 1

Talismans and Decorations

For multiplayer equip Brace Jewel 1

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Wirebug Whisperer 2	Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Attack Jewel 2 x2 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	For maximum Earthshaker usage.
Attack Boost 1	Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Attack Jewel 2 x2 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Attack Boost Talisman alternative
Any skill	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	We maximize Weakness Exploit in case we get two slots without any other skills
Weakness Exploit 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	We can use the additional slot to increase Wirebug Whisperer to allow for more Earthshakers
Weakness Exploit 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Budget choice if you did not manage to get any better talismans with a level 2 slot.

Endgame: High Rank 100+ (patch 3.0)

Once you manage to kill Valstrax a new build will open up for you. However, it can be hard to farm all the required materials, so it may take a while

Dragonheart Build

With the introduction of Crimson Valstrax, you can now use a single armor set, to simplify your builds. The only thing that changes will be your Talisman and decorations.

The build concentrates on pure raw damage making it effective for Earthshaker and other Hunting Horn moves.

Weapons

There are two main weapons that I recommend for this Hunting Horn Build. First is Tigrex Horn, which has lower affinity but gives white sharpness

The second option is Rampage Agitato S. This is probably the best horn that is available.

Armors

Item	Skills
Valstrax Helm	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 1
Valstrax Mail	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resuscitate Lv 2
Valstrax Braces	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 2
Valstrax Coil	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resuscitate Lv 1 Resentment Lv 2
Valstrax Greaves	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resentment Lv 1

Talismans and Decorations

In this section, I will cover some build variations. They depend on what kind of talisman variation you have

For multiplayer equip Brace Jewel 1

Talisman + slots	Decorations	Notes
Wirebug Whisperer Lv3	Attack Jewel 2 x6 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	I think this is the best option, which gives Attack Boost Level 6. however, it is quite lucrative
Wirebug Whisperer Lv2	Attack Jewel 2 x5 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	An easier version to obtain for the constant usage of Earthshaker.
Attack Boost Lv1	Attack Jewel 2 x4 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Wirebug Jewel 2 x3 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	In case you land this lucrative talisman. You can also use one with Attack Boost Lv2 and one Level 2 decoration slot
Any skill	Attack Jewel 2 x5 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Wirebug Jewel 2 x2 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Probably the most accessible option

You should not need Elemental resistances, due to Dragonheart skill giving 50 to all of them.

Non-Dragonheart build (good for group runs)

This build will deal less damage. However, you will not need to maintain your 80% HP for the Dragonheart bonuses.

As with all the builds, it greatly depends on what Jewels you have.

Weapons

Armors

Item	Skills
Kaiser Crown	Critical Eye Lv 3 Critical Boost Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Valstrax Braces	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 2
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Ingot Greaves S	Attack Boost Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 2

Talismans and Decorations

For multiplayer equip Brace Jewel 1

Talisman + slots	Decorations	Notes
Attack Boost 2	Wirebug Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Attack Jewel 2 x1 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	This is what I would go for if you manage to get this lucrative talisman. It opens up space for Critical Jewel 2
Wirebug Whisperer 2	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Tenderizer Jewel 2 x1 Wirebug Jewel 2 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	Obtainable and the most useful talisman to have. Allows to easily spam Earthshakers and also have space for other talismans
Weakness Exploit 1	Attack Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Wirebug Jewel 2 x2 Sonorous Jewel 1 x1	The trusty talisman that you should already have. However, we only manage to have Wirebug Whisperer level 2

Conclusion

I hope these builds will help Hunting Horn players to enjoy this peculiar weapon in Monster Hunter Rise. Although it requires some learning it should be deeply enjoyable as you learn to use correct songs and get better decorations to make more powerful variations.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or find an error.

Cheers! And good luck with Talisman RNG in your Monster Hunter Rise adventure