Monster Hunter Stories 2 allows the player to collect Monstie companions to help them in battle, exploration, and traversal. Following the trend of characters in RPGs having at least one special ability, Monsties in Monster Hunter Stories 2 also have special actions that they can perform. These are called riding actions and they can be immensely useful either in battle or exploration, depending on the context.
Players have to strategize and approach situations based on their Monstie companion (especially in the early stages) and the riding ability it has, as not all riding actions are useful in a particular situation. Here's a list of every riding action that's available in Monster Hunter Stories 2. Players can also have a look at a few Monsties that can perform the riding actions.
11 Dash
Dash is a useful traversal riding action that helps the (customizable) player character and Monstie travel short distances in a small amount of time. This riding action can be utilized during exploration, especially when the mission location lacks a nearby fast travel point.
The Dash riding action may not be particularly useful in battle though, as the damage inflicted is quite less. Players are better off using this to boost their traversal across the in-game world. Bulldrome, Tigrex, Gypceros, Lagombi, and Mizutsune are a few Monsties that can utilize the Dash riding ability.
10 Lava Dive
This riding action is accessible mostly in Terga, one of the final areas to be accessed in Monster Hunter Stories 2. Lava Dive works similarly to Swim, as it lets the player character and the Monstie traverse through areas of lava, to reach treasure chests or other areas.
There's not much battle potential in this riding action, and there's very little occasion for players to consider this as an important riding action in other parts of the game. Since this riding action is mostly restricted to the fiery land of Terga, there are only a handful of Monsties who can access this riding action. These are Uragaan, Gravios, Black Gravios, and Teostra.
9 Swim
Another traversal and exploration-based riding action, swim allows the player to wade through water bodies in Monster Hunter Stories 2. Some water bodies hide chests that contain treasure or form the bridge between the player and a certain Everden. This ability is quite useful in parts of the in-game map that has an abundance of water bodies, such as Hakolo Island.
Not a lot of Monsties in the game have the riding action of swimming available to them. Zamtrios, Royal Ludroth, Purple Ludroth, Lagiacrus, and Ivory Lagiacrus are the only Monsties with this riding action.
8 Breakers
Breakers are riding actions that can be broken down into two types: the Rock Breaker and Mega Breaker. Essentially, they work similarly. Monsties with these riding actions can break rocks into smaller pieces, thereby making it much easier for exploration and traversal. This riding ability is particularly important if the player is looking for Royal Monsters, especially if they are in Lamure. Finding Everdens also requires this riding action.
Monsties like Brachydios, Nergigante, Glavenus, and Sand Barioth have this riding ability.
7 Ground Dive
In various parts of the in-game world of Monster Hunter Stories 2, players will come across mounds of earth that may seem puzzling or inaccessible at first. These mounds can actually be dug through by Monsties with the Ground Dive riding action.
The mounds often lead to different parts of the map, Everdens, and even some valuable treasure chests. Actions such as these often lead the player to explore more of the map, making a fairly lengthy game even longer. Monoblos, Basarios, Barroth, Cephadrome, and Diablos are some of the Monstie companions that can perform this riding action.
6 Jump
Jump is a riding action that the player has access to from the very beginning of the game. Although it is a fairly basic move, it can be quite useful in areas such as monster dens. Expect players to use this riding action in unique ways and showcase their ingenuity, as this is quite a versatile move. Players can Jump to certain areas with a rock formation next to them. The rock formation tends to have footprints of monsters and Monsties on it.
Jump is a basic move. Expect many Monsties in the game to perform this riding action, including the likes of Stygian Zinogre, Kirin, and Palamute #136.
5 Search
The Search riding action is unique to different Monsties. Some Monsties search for monsters, others can search for treasure chests. A select few Monsties can search for particular items (such as eggs), based on what the players want to farm. Farming certain items can help the player level up their characters and their Monstie companions. If the player activates the Search riding action, the item that the Monstie can search for is shown in the game's map.
Since the Search riding action yields different results for various Monsties, there are a lot of Monsties in the game that can perform this action. These include (but are not limited to) Aptonoth, Kulu-Ya-Ku, and Great Jaggi.
4 Ivy Climb
There are ivy patches strewn all over the game world of Monster Hunter Stories 2. These are scalable and allow the player to move towards the higher ground when exploring. However, they cannot be accessed without a Monstie that has the Ivy Climb riding action.
Players can get a Monstie with the Ivy Climb riding action after they have reached the area of Loloska in the game. More often than not, Everdens, treasure chests, and other gatherable items are hidden at the other side of these ivy patches. This is another riding action that is particularly common with a lot of Monsties, and Monsties such as Tigrex, Congalala, Kecha Wacha, and Nerscylla can perform it.
3 Stealth
Considering the fact that the world of Monster Hunter Stories 2 is filled with tough monsters to fight, sometimes the smarter thing is to sneak away if the player is weaker than the opponent. The Stealth riding action of some Monsties enables players to avoid pesky or unwinnable battles - at least until they have leveled up enough to face the threat. It also makes it easier in terms of farming some items that are guarded by monsters.
Only a handful of Monsties can perform the Stealth riding action though, so it would be prudent for players to have Monsties such as Nargacuga, Silverwind Nargacuga, and Green Nargacuga in their parties.
2 Roar
The Roar riding action is useful early on in the game, both for exploration and battle. The Roar action stuns weaker enemies and paralyzes them for a short period of time. It isn't very efficient against the stronger monsters though.
Players can use this riding action sparingly to get out of tricky or troublesome situations such as when battling weaker enemies leads to small gains, or if they are short on time and need to get away from a situation. The Roar riding action can be utilized by a lot of Monsties, such as the Bloodbath Diablos, Teostra, Pukei-Pukei, and Monoblos.
1 Fly
This is the riding action that a lot of Monster Hunter Stories 2 fans were eagerly waiting for. The Fly riding action allows players to travel large parts of the map in the shortest amounts of time. Once this riding action is unlocked, a lot of other abilities that are traversal-based mechanics are no longer required in most parts of the game.
However, the caveats are that this riding action is unlocked in the penultimate stages of the game, and can only be used in certain areas of the in-game world. These are usually the main hub areas of each game location. Although Fly is a riding action that is unlocked near the end of the story, there are lots of Monsties that can perform this action. These include Paolumu, Basarios, Nargacuga, Khezu, and Barioth.