The Lance, more than any other weapon, exemplifies the Monster Hunter experience: So simple in theory, yet devilishly difficult to master. It’s a weapon that requires tremendous amounts of patience and, along with it’s partner the Gunlance, almost feels like the ‘connoisseurs’ weapon. The swift blademaster weapons might dip and dive, and the ranged weapons manage to keep their distance, but you’ll always find the Lance user at the nucleus of the fight, hopping in and out of monster weak spots, slowly chipping away at the monster as they master their craft.

The MHGU Lance specifically is very well represented. There’s a bumper crop of special moves and styles that ensure no two hunts feel the same. Of course, there’s a huge amount of Lances on offer too, but which ones should you make when you’re just starting out? Join us as we summarise our Top 3 Best Low Rank Lances in MHGU.

3. Paladin Lance

Our first Lance is a fairly basic choice, though it’s one you’ll have to wait a little while to get a hold of: The Paladin Lance. We chose this weapon because it’s such a balanced choice for the early game; it’s not too difficult to craft, it comes with some bonus points in defence, it has a good upgrade path and it has a really nice amount of green sharpness – something you’ll chip through super quick with this weapon type.

The only real negative here is that you’re missing some Elemental or Status types of damage, both of which are super good on the Lance, given that you’ll be hitting the monster a lot of times in quick succession. Still, we reckon that get’s a little balanced out by the extra points we’ve awarded it for Fashion Hunting – look at the thing, it’s like carrying a castle around on your arm!

Shopping List:

• Dragonite Ore: Grab these at the Volcano map. More info HERE.
• Lightcrystal: Wound a Gypceros’ head for a good chance at these.
• Earth Crystal: You’ll mine untold amounts of these in Low Rank.
• Carpenterbug: Grab these at bug spots throughout Low Rank.

2. Native Spear

An unusual Lance choice up next: The Native Spear. Avid Lance users will immediately understand why we’ve picked this one, though the reason itself is one that’s often a cause for disagreement in Monster Hunter: Poison damage.

Poison damage is somewhat unique in terms of status. Paralysis, for example, requires you to cause enough Paralysis damage to the monster in order to cause it to activate, this amount then resets and grows somewhat, making it harder to inflict it again by requiring you to do more Paralysis damage than you initially did. Critically, you cannot inflict Paralysis damage whilst the monster is paralysed.

This is where Poison differs: Whilst the amount of Poison you need to inflict also grows like the others, you do not experience a period of ‘down time. Whilst the monster is suffering from Poison damage, your hits still count and accumulate towards making making them poisoned again. This makes a Poison Lance very powerful, because your aim is to keep hitting the monster in quick succession. The Native Lance in particular has such a high amount of Poison status early on that you’ll almost be able to constantly keep the monster afflicted.

Bonus points for those two slots!

Shopping List:

• Kokoto Ticket: You’ll get these for completing Kokoto village requests.
• Unknown Skull: Grab these from bone gathering points throughout Low Rank.
• Jumbo Bone: You’ll find these hunting monsters 3-Star or higher. Bulldrome gave us a lot!
• Iodrome Head: Quite rare. Wound an Iodrome head for a chance at it.

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1. Sharq Byte

The Lance is, generally speaking, quite a serious weapon. We often complete a Lance hunt with a very serious look on our face and, were we actually there in the flesh, we suspect a small nod to our fellow hunters before we went on our way. Like a group of mechanical engineers finishing their latest project; no fanfare, they just did their job and did it well.

So why not introduce a bit more fun, albeit in the form of a Lance that is actually still quite functional. The Sharq Byte looks fantastic obviously, but it does so whilst still performing it’s duties: The raw damage isn’t bad, sharpness is plentiful and it has a few slots to make use of. The water elemental damage is nice, though not hugely useful throughout Low Rank. It even comes with a small dose of Affinity, which is always nice.

It might just be us, but we often think that Lance users are the kind of people that like to schedule their fun time on a strict calendar...

Shopping List:

• Sharqskin: Get these as a reward from the 3-Star Hub quest, ‘Lagiacrushed’.
• Lagiacrus Hide: You’ll also get these from the 3-Star Hub quest, ‘Lagiacrushed’.
• Cephalos Fin: Would the fin of a Cephadrome to guarantee one of these.
• Whetfish: Either fish these up, or get them from any fishing quest in Low Rank.

You can check out more Monster Hunter lists, tips and tricks HERE.