Hey guys! Sorry I’ve been gone – between family things and finally graduating from University, I’ve been a little busy. However, I’m back and ready to push out more content again!

And wow! How convenient I see the notice for Monster Hunter Collab coming to NA! I never expected this to happen but with the announcement of Monster Hunter World, I guess it only makes sense.

Anyways, I will be splitting my review of the Monster Hunter Collab into 2 parts. This will be a look into all the REM cards individually and then part 2 will be about their effects on the metagame, as well as the ratings for the Hunters. Hope you enjoy!

Oh. And you may see some very inflated inheritance ratings… just accept that inheriting stats is a very real thing!

7* : The Cream of the Crop

Massacre Diablos

Lead Rating: 10/10 Sub Rating: 8/10 Inherit Rating: 8/10

Introducing the best lead in the game, far more broken than anything else we’ve seen for a while. Yes, I’m sorry Kushi you’re now second place. To understand how amazing Diablos is, just look at his awakenings, his stats (the highest total in the game) and then his leaderskill. To veterans his strengths should be obvious but I will explain regardless in case anyone is unsure.

Firstly, if you inherit him, you’re pretty much doing it for his crazy stats alone, though a gravity active doesn’t hurt. It just takes forever to come up.

Anyways, Diablos has time extends for the enlarged board, has guard break in conjunction with two different attributes, is unbindable and has 7-combo in conjunction with his insane attack stat. His leaderskill has a solid multiplier while providing a natural shield. Meanwhile, the 7×6 board gives easy access to his 8-combo requirement on his leaderskill and creates all sorts of flexibility boons in the face of new mechanics (such as Valten’s dungeon creating 2 bombs on 6×5).

The strongest aspect of Diablos might be that he can be paired with virtually any lead in the game. He fits exceptionally well with Anubis for example, who was already strong before Diablos’s existence. Leads such as Sakuya, Mizutsune Hunter, Bastet and many others benefit greatly from the enlarged board as well as the natural shield. Even Kushinadahime can pair with Diablos despite him not being a healer, his naturally high stats offset a lot of weakness it turns out. The best roll of the collab but not the only thing to look out for.

Amatsumagatsuchi

Lead Rating: 8/10 Sub Rating: 10/10 Inherit Rating: 10/10

Likely the best WATER sub in the game, Amatsu has the highest HP in the game and second highest weighted stats for it. Being a WATER/HEART maker that removes lock, having Follow-Up Attack (FUA), double 7-combo to offset low attack and being unbindable… it should be pretty clear why I say he’s the best. He can even be a cleric! He pretty much has everything going for him and if you’re a WATER lover, Amatsu is definitely the one to look out for.

As a lead, Amatsu is a little weaker due to how orb hungry he is. Fire power is good and 2x RCV is definitely a boon too. Maybe he’s got a future with a certain WATER Goddess that invokes rain in the future.

As an inherit, he has an amazing active skill and stats… though why you don’t just put him on the team is beyond me.

6*: Sometimes good, sometimes amazing!

Barufaruku

Leader Rating: 7/10 Sub Rating: 7/10 Inherit: 9/10

The star of Monster Hunter XX is still lacking an official English name sadly so I’m curious how they’ll name him. In any case, He’s an all-around solid card with some clear weaknesses as to why he’s not rated higher.

His leaderskill is neat and he is very high powered but as he stands, he is difficult to play and doesn’t have Nargacuga’s RCV multiplier to make failing the combo less punishing. Not to mention, it’s a lot more likely to have 6 combos on board than 5 colours. He is powerful but i don’t believe it is his time. Maybe he’ll find a good pairing in the future.

His active is an all-purpose 5-colour board change with a 1000 damage laser. That’s a fine skill but nothing amazing. In a world of guard break to save an active or having to use a skill anyways, there actually isn’t much demand for a Kali clone that doesn’t make hearts. Most of the time, you’d prefer to use Famiel, Lumiel or even Yang Gufei to have a more focused board. Of course, his active has to work with his leaderskill but I mean as an inherit or a sub. His greatest advantage over these other options though his is 1100 weighted stats, giving him a purpose still. Stats are a big deal!

The great weakness I mentioned is his lack of awakening skills. With only five in total and two being unbindable, he just feels lacking in usefulness. Especially because Reincarnated gods are everywhere and they only have a 100~ weighted stat differential.

Glavenus

Leader Rating: 7/10 Sub Rating: 10/10 Inherit Rating: 9/10

I’ve seen Glavenus do amazing as a lead in JP. I don’t think it’s possible in NA – his partner in 月島花 exists in the form of Voltron… who lost the Attacker typing for Machine, rendering this a non-existent combo. Without that HP multiplier, he is still an acceptable lead pairing with himself but you really wouldn’t be playing it over Acala or in fire, Dantalion. You can actually pair Glavenus with Dantalion for some survivability in the form of a shield but the shield is difficult to achieve regularly, meaning it’s not a great substitute for the HP multiplier.

As a sub, with 3 Time Extend and FUA, he’s amazing. His skill is great too even though it strangely doesn’t make hearts for him to trigger FUA off of. His stats are great, boasting high HP and attack to help with his lack of HP multiplier. Look out for this one, he may seem unassuming but he’s definitely a treasure to be rolled.

Kirin

Leader Rating: 9/10 Sub Rating: 8/10 Inherit Rating: 9/10

Did you miss out on Meridionalis? Have no fear, MH Collab has got you covered! Have a slightly re-packaged one!

Playing Kirin as a leader is slightly different from playing Meri. While you can play them both as swipe farming teams, that’s not what I’m talking about. I mean team composition. Meri has so many Row Enhances that your team can carry mostly utility awakenings while Kirin doesn’t have that luxury but instead is unbindable and has more weighted stats (albeit Meri has more HP, which is very relevant). I’ve seen Kirin + 4 Xiu Min wreck everything… though that’s a little bit extreme of a team. Ilms, Ilmina, and other high HP LIGHT subs would suffice. Due to having less subs than Meri, I’d say Meri is better but not by too wide a margin.

As a sub and inherit, Kirin is okay. He lacks awakenings too but his skill is very good at least. Sometimes being unbindable is relevant, sometimes it isn’t – it’s about what your team needs. I’d probably stick to inheriting him to transfer his great stats and skill to someone with better awakenings.

Rathalos

Leader Rating: 3/10 Sub Rating: 9/10 Inherit Rating: 9/10

The most iconic monster of Monster Hunter is here! The King of the Sky is here to incinerate everything in his path.

As a sub is where Rathalos shines. He has high HP and one of the highest ATK stats in the game. He has few awakenings but they’re good ones – 7-combo is very valuable. His active skill is a simple but a strong one, as creating orbs and enhancing them in one skill is quite good.

As a lead… he needs way too many orbs to get his multipliers. He only gets 5x from matching 5 FIRE orbs, while the other multiplier requires 3 sets of FIRE. If only he had a flat multiplier somewhere, he might be half decent. Oh well.

Rathalos is a simple card in design, quite fitting of his role as the icon of Monster Hunter. He’s definitely good, just nothing flashy or completely broken.

Mizutsune

Leader Rating: 2/10 Sub Rating: 9/10 Inherit: 5/10

Bubbly Fox Dragon (wyvern) is my favourite monster of all time. In PAD, I consider Mizutsune one of the weakest and one of the strongest monsters at the same time. Of course, I will explain that right away.

Firstly, Mizutsune has a weak leaderskill, there’s no discussing it. It’s a skill more fitting of PAD 2 years ago. However, it’s a simple one and beginners who roll him shouldn’t be shy to use him as a leader for a little while.

As a sub, Mizutsune is weird. On a team like Meridionalis, Mizutsune is probably the worst thing you could ask for – a useless skill and stats distributed the wrong way. But on Julie… oh man. Mizutsune has a natural 1000 RCV, the only WATER card to do so, but that isn’t unique to him. Mizutsune however has Co-op Boost, meaning in Co-op and with +297, Mizutsune hits 1945.5 RCV before any inherits. That’s crazy high, being the second highest only to Apolluo, who really isn’t a sub but an inherit. Not to mention his decent 3598 HP and 2032 ATK that also get the 1.5x.

So I’ve established Mizutsune is good for certain teams at this point. Now we look at his skill, “All Attribute cards RCVx3 for 6 turns, Increase skyfall chance of Hearts.” Mizutsune’s skill is capable of making certain teams that struggle through dungeons due to low RCV into teams that heal easily during these 6 turns. Mizutsune himself brings 5836 RCV in Co-op with his active up!

So there you have it. Whether you use him for his skill or as an amazing inheritance base due to his RCV, trust me there are definitely teams that would love to have him. (I’m looking at you, Blue Sonia!) Besides, who wouldn’t want a dragon(wyvern) that can make a bubble bath out of nowhere.

5*: Even ‘Trash’ Rolls are Good!!

Astalos

Leader Rating: 4/10 Sub Rating: 10/10 Inherit Rating: 10/10

After his buff from YamaP’s stream, Astalos is a real gem. He’s easily as good if not better than the 6*, and that’s saying a lot.

His stats are great, being almost a copy of Rathalos with a little less attack for being a 5*. With his attack stats and triple TPA, he can do some real damage. Especially when you inherit another hypered copy of himself onto him like I do (he has 6040 HP and 3353 ATK if you’re curious!). On top of great stats and decent awakenings, he also has a truly amazing skill. Delays are a bit hard to come by in NA – they’re usually in collabs. There are many 1-turn delays in the collabs NA has gotten but not that many longer delays. Off the top of my head, I can only think of Okuninushi, Sun Quan and Batman. That’s one of the big reasons why I’m super excited to see this collab for NA – Rathian and Astalos make for easy access to some decent delays and at low rarity too!

As a lead, Astalos is also orb hungry. He’s only 1 point over Rathalos because there might be a reason to use him for that 50% damage reduction to LIGHT and DARK but I really doubt it.

Nargacuga

Leader Rating: 8/10 (9.5/10 Coop) Sub Rating: 8.5/10 Inherit Rating: 8/10

Narga is a very cool cat… I mean panther-wyvern that makes for a delightfully powerful lead in the right hands… and atrocious in the wrong hands. This makes him absolutely great for fun streams and highlight reels.

As a sub, he’s fine. As said with all the cards in this collab, his stats are good with great HP and ATK. His awakenings are decent after YamaP’s buff, adding a bit of utility to an otherwise mediocre set of 3 awakenings. Blind resist has gotten a lot better since the Blind Orbs mechanic has been introduced, not to mention the synergy with Azazel’s damage boost. Guard Break is very nice, likely being one of the main reasons to his him as a sub instead of being just an inherit, because he’s a pretty great inherit for his orb generating skill. You could even make a Narga-system, maybe for Yomi=Dra or something.

As a lead, he’s great. On paper, he has the easiest 225x I’ve ever seen until you realize how short 4s really is. It’s like you’re perpetually in Wadatsumi Descended and we all know how awful that dungeon is. However, unlike Barufaruku, a RCV multiplier as big as Narga’s makes stalling (whether accidental or on purpose) a breeze. You only need to watch out for big hits, which is why I suggest playing Narga in Co-op. Not just because it’s hilarious to watch each other fail at comboing over…and over… and over again.

Tigrex

Leader Rating: 7.5/10 Sub Rating: 10/10 Inherit Rating: 9.5/10

Wow, that’s a 5*? He’s better than some of the 6*! Besides facilitating the jammer meta (new Denebola is really good!), he has a crazy HP total and a really strong skill even with the jammers included. I mean, the ‘downside’ of including jammers made it a 7-turn tri-colour board change!

As a sub, Tigrex’s strong awakenings, incredibly high HP and strong active skill makes him an all-around strong sub. To me, he’s an easy 10/10, though others can argue jammers are the worst thing ever and therefore he shouldn’t be that high. That’s fine I understand that perspective, it’s a personal playstyle thing.

As a lead, Tigrex is just a weaker Acala. Dragon-only isn’t a huge restriction but a restriction nonetheless. Acala is very strong so if you don’t have Acala but still want to play like her, feel free to try it with Tigrex.

As an inherit, Tigrex gets really interesting. He has a lot of HP to be inherited away (more than 600 after 297) and provides a short full-board change… but do you want that board change? Some people don’t want the jammers but want the HP resulting in leaving him unskilled but hypered otherwise. As for me? I inherited him on Valkyrie Femme (putting her over 4000 HP!) for my WOOD-based Kushinada team. The ‘tri’-colour board change is very welcome to me, it helps generate a suitable number of orbs for comboing with Kushinadahime.

Rathian

Leader Rating: 2/10 Sub Rating: 10/10 Inherit Rating: 10/10

Another card I consider a blessing being minimum rarity. With Astalos, she is an easy-access 2-turn delay with an upside of poison. Sometimes we carry lasers into Arena for Predra and sometimes we hope for Guard Break. Well, poison still has a place in this game guys! Being a dual-purpose utility is insane, making Rathian’s skill one of the highlights of this REM. I have her inherited on many things, including Valkyrie Rose and Rathian herself.

With two Skill Boosts and two Time Extends, in conjunction with her high MH stats, she makes for a great sub on many teams.

As a lead… don’t bother. I tried it (I don’t know what came over me) but I didn’t realize how bad it really was. Crosses plus 3+ WOOD combos? Whatever, we know these guys weren’t made to be leads anyways.

A great inherit as I mentioned, due to all reasons mentioned above.

Gammoth

Leader Rating: 7/10 Sub Rating: 8/10 Inherit Rating: 10/10

Gammoth is a strange one, with a very flexible active skill, surprisingly decent leaderskill that doesn’t go too great with her three rows. She’s big, she’s got the HP, alright let’s take a look at the giant mammoth.

As a sub, Gammoth is a solid catch-all. She makes a little bit of WATER, WOOD, and DARK. Need a brief pause? Have a 1-turn delay too! And yet, making 3 different colours of orbs means she has 3 Row Enhances? It’s not a bad thing, just a little bit strange. I feel like Gammoth is a very good sub, but not great at anything and therefore I can’t give her a higher rating.

As a lead, Gammoth is surprisingly good, sporting a 2x HP and 9x ATK mutiplier. Having to match all three of WATER, WOOD, and DARK might be a little tough but I think there might be a thing going with a team of 4 Reincarnated Karins. It’s like the same leaderskill as Reincarnated Ame no Uzume but with an active skill that helps with activation over Bind Clearing. There’s potential here but nothing too amazing.

I feel like Gammoth is best suited as an Inheritance on a Julie team. Or maybe a poverty D.Athena team. Like I said, Gammoth does a little bit of everything and that’s nice but the real strength would be that 7k HP waiting to be inherited onto some WATER subs. Maybe even a WATER-based Kushi team?

Conclusion

Hey guys, that about wraps up the first part of my review on the Monster Hunter Collab. I hope it was useful, informative or somewhat entertaining to read. I’m very sorry if grammar is off or there’s spelling mistakes – it’s 3AM when I’m writing this. I just really wanted to share an opinion on MH as soon as the announcement came out! I will probably proofread when I wake up.

As always, feel free to comment, ask questions and give suggestions. Thanks a ton for reading and the support.

Signing off, Evening.