Lance
Low Rank

Lance is one of the best defensive weapons in the game. Don’t misunderstand and assume it’s weak. It has the ability to stick to monsters like glue and continually deal damage throughout the entirety of a fight.

The Lance Progression path is very easy and clean.

The short answer is:

Build the Kulu Lance to bridge you to the Tobi Kadachi Path, which will be adequate to take you to Nergigante and then you can pickup his Lance.

Now for the long answer:

The Iron Lance 1 you start with conveniently is part of our required paths. Upgrade it as soon as possible to an Iron Lance 2 by using 2 Iron Ore.

You’ll use this to take on the Great Jagras, followed by the Kulu Ya Ku.

Once you’ve beaten Kulu-Ya Ku, upgrade your Iron Lance 2, into a Kulu Lance 1 by using 1 Kulu Ya Ku Beak, 2 Kulu Ya Ku Hide, and 3 Kulu Ya Ku Scale.

Make sure to build this, you’ll be using it for awhile.

Continue your mandatory hunts, starting with Pukei-Pukei.

Optionally, you can build Pukei-Pukei’s lance here. It has less raw damage, and loses affinity for poison damage. The Kulu Lance 1 is better over all.

Once you unlock Wildespire wastes, hunt Barroth and Jyuratodus.

Continue with your mandatory story hunt of Tobi-Kadachi. Save the materials, you won’t be able to build the Thunder  Lance until you’ve gotten to the Coral Highlands.

Continue progressing and take out Anjanath.

Afterwards it’s Zorah Magdaros…. Setpeice… etc.

In the Coral Highlands, you’re forced into an expedition to explore.

You’ll want to mine to get Dragonite Ore. Mine 5 as soon as possible. Also try and get 3 Coral Crystal, you’ll need it later.

You have a choice to make here. You can continue using the Kulu Lance, or you can upgrade into the Thunder Lance.  Upgrading into the Thunder Lance will be a raw damage spike, but you’ll lose the affinity of the Kulu Lance.

Upgrade your Kulu Lance 1 into a Thunder Lance 1 by using 5 Dragonite Ore, 1 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode, 2 Tobi-Kadachi Claw, and 1 Electro Sac.

Continue progressing by taking out Paolumu.

Afterwards, hunt Radobaan. If you’re still using the Kulu Lance 1, upgrade it to a Kulu Lance 2 by using 3 Radobaan Scale, 2 Kulu Ya Ku Beak, 2 Kulu Ya Ku Plume and 3 Boulder Bone. Boulder Bone can be gathered from Bone PIles in Wildspire Wastes.

Then you’ll have to take on Legiana. Legiana is weakest to Thunder, so the Thunder Lance 1 is preferred but the damage on Kulu Lance 2 and Thunder lance 1 will be close.

After Legiana you’ll hopefully get 2 Monster Bone+. Use them to upgrade your Thunder Lance 1, into a Thunder Lance 2 by using 2 Monster Bone+, 2 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode, 2 Tobi-Kadachi Membrane, and 3 Coral Crystal. Coral Crystal is mined from mining nodes in the Coral Highlands.

If you’re using the Thunder Lance 2, this is your last upgrade for low rank. If you’re using the Kulu Lance 1 you’ll have one more upgrade.

Hunt Odogaron as part of the story progression. Use 2 Odogaron Claw, 2 Kulu Ya Ku Beak, 4 Kulu Ya Ku Plume and 3 Warped bones to upgrade your Kulu Lance 2 into a Kulu Lance 3. This has lower Raw than the Thunder Lance 2, which is why that’s the preferred path for low rank.

Continue progressing by taking out Rathalos, and Diablos in whatever order you like.

After beating the Zora Magdaros setpeice, and killing a deceptively strong Pukei-Pukei, you’ll gain access to High Rank quests. Congratulations, the baby gloves are coming off.

High Rank

Our immediate goal in High Rank is a weapon upgrade to compensate for the increased health of monsters, with a long term goal of bringing our sharpness to the next level.

You have a couple of options with Lance once you hit high rank.

You’ll want to upgrade your Kulu Lance or Thunder Lance immediately by hunting Kulu Ya Ku and or Tobi Kadachi. Tobi Kadachi is preferred as it represents a larger power spike in this early stage, but it will have less sharpness than the Kulu Lance.

If you’re using Kulu Ya Ku weapons, hunt Kulu Ya Ku immediately.
Upgrade your Kulu Lance 3 into a Kulu Hasta 1 by using 3 Kulu Ya Ku Beak+, 4 Kulu Ya Ku Hide+ and 6 Kulu Ya Ku Scale+.

If you’re using Tobi-Kadachi weapons, hunt Tobi-Kadachi immediately:
Upgrade your Thunder Lance 2 into a Lightning Spire 1 by using 5 Carbalite Ore, 4 Tobi-Kadachi Scale+, 3 Tobi-Kadachi Pelt+ and 3 Vespoid Innerwing. Carbalite Ore can be mined from high rank mining nodes, and vespoid innerwings can be carved from vespoids. Use your slinger to avoid breaking them apart, rendering them uncarvable.

Unfortunately, these will have to tide you over until you’ve beaten the Pink Rathian. Damage output will be comparable, Kulu Hasta 1 gains a sliver of blue sharpness and positive affinity, where as the Lightning Spire 1 has higher base damage with thunder element and no affinity.

Make your choice, take down Pink Rathian, and gain access to the Elder’s Recess.

Once you reach the Elder’s Recess, you have 3 options for lances to prepare you for Nergigante. These will all be fairly close, with some minor nuances.

Gather Fucium Ore in the Elder’s Recess to upgrade your Lightning Spire 1 into a Lightning Spire 2 by using 5 Fucium Ore, 2 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode+, 4 Tobi-Kadachi Membrane and 3 Thunder Sac.

You actually have 2 upgrade options for the Kulu Lance.

You can continue with the Kulu Lance. You’ll have to hunt an Odogaron, and gather Brutal bones from Bone Piles in the Elder’s Recess. Upgrade your Kulu Hasta 1 into a Kulu Hasta 2 by using 2 Odogaron Claw+, 4 Kulu Ya Ku Beak+, 3 Kulu Ya Ku Plume+ and 3 Brutal Bones.

In the Elder’s Recess you can now hunt Dodogama. You can upgrade your Kulu Hasta 1 into a Gama Pilebunker 1 by using 4 Dodogama Talon, 6 Dodogama Scale+, and 4 Dodogama Hide+.

Your next mandatory hunt is going to be Nergigante. Any of these weapons will be viable, but Nergigante is weakest to thunder element so the Lightning Spire 2 is the preference. The other 2 options have superior blue sharpness, at the cost of lower base damage.

As is the custom, Nergigante’s Lance is incredible, build it by going through the Ore Path.

Build an Iron Lance 1, and upgrade it to an Iron Lance 2, then into an Iron Lance 3, into a Steel Lance 1, into a Steel Lance 2, into a Steel Lance 3, into a Chrome Lance 1.

Now, upgrade it into a Nergal Impaler by using 3 Nergigante Talon, 4 Nergigante Regrowth Plate, 2 Nergigante Tail and 2 Nergigante Carapace.

Congratulations, you now have a weapon that’s completely capable of getting you through the rest of the game, and one of the best Lances.

This will be adequate for taking out the remaining Elder Dragons.

After taking out Xeno’jiva, you can upgrade the Nergal Impaler one more time into Perdition’s Hand by using 2 Xeno’Jiva horns, 5 Nergigante Horn+, 5 Nergigante Talons, and 1 Nergigante Gem.

The Gems will make these difficult. If you go for one Lance, go for Perdition’s Hand because of it’s high raw, good blue sharpness, and reasonable dragon element. It will serve as a great general purpose weapon

You can also pick up the Odogaron Lance, and Arena Lance if you want a raw Lance.