During Capcom's Monster Hunter Rise live event today, it was revealed that a new feature is being added to the game: Wyvern Riding. Players will now be able to ride and control monsters and perform various actions while mounted.
The new technique was first shown off in the event when the player hopped onto the back of a Tigrex using the new wirebugs introduced in Monster Hunter Rise. One would be forgiven then for thinking that the name of the technique was literal and only wyvern-type monsters could be ridden, however, that was later shown not to be the case as Azruros and Great Izuchi were shown being ridden.
After the initial announcement, Capcom published another video further detailing the new mechanic. In this video they explained several things, starting with how to mount a monster in the first place. The monster must be put into a certain down state that is caused by jumping attacks via wirebug, silkbind moves, damage from other monsters, or specific kinds of endemic life. This would seem to indicate that standard aerial attacks such as those performed by the insect glaive, do not contribute to the damage need to down a monster for riding.
Once the monster is mounted, players have several options at their fingertips. Holding down R and moving the left analog stick will simply move the monster, while X and A serve as light and strong attacks respectively. Pressing B will evade, but evading to dodge an attack will use up a wirebug. Should the evade be perfectly timed however, the on-screen gauge will fill slightly.
This gauge, simply referred to as the wyvern riding gauge in the video can be filled by attacking other monsters while mounted and the aforementioned perfect evades. Once the gauge is full, players may execute a move called a mounted punisher. This is effectively a super move that, like the standard light and heavy attacks, varies depending on the monster that is being ridden. The mounted punisher, along with the silkbind attacks are effectively taking the place of the hunting arts from Monster Hunter Generations.
Reminiscent of the clutch claw flinch shot attack in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, players may also press the Y button when riding a monster to send them forward, and like in Iceborne, should they collide with something, be it a wall or other monster, they will be knocked down and dismounted. Notable this time around however, is the fact that if the player is able to time evades in tandem with their collisions, they can stay mounted and keep launching the monster into obstacles for damage. This does have a limit though as each evade during this process will cost a wirebug.
Finally, there is a timer right next to the wyvern riding gauge that indicates how long the player is able to stay mounted on the monster. Should the player damage other monsters while mounted, they will gain some of that time back, but being hit will cost them a significant chunk of the timer.
Monster Hunter Rise launches March 26 for the Nintendo Switch.
