If you’ve spent the last week as obsessed with Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin as I’ve been, you’ve no doubt unlocked the Rite of Kinship, a handy feature that allows you to take your monsters to the next level.
The Rite of Kinship allows you to grab individual genes from your fellow monsties, which can be anything from special attacks to passive skills that provide useful buffs like increased attack or HP.
Your monstie can have up to 9 different genes, and depending on which genes you give your Monstie, and how those genes are arranged, you can create some truly fierce buddies to help you get through the main campaign and beyond.
The Basics
To use the Rite of Channeling, you’ll need to first unlock it, which will be your primary quest once you arrive at the second town in the game.
Once you’re granted access, you can use this feature at any stable. In order to use the Rite of Channeling, you’ll need two monsties: The one you want to give a new gene to, and the one you’ll be taking a gene from.
Be aware that the monster you take the gene from will disappear during the Rite of Kinship – Be careful not to use any monsters you plan to keep!
Once you choose the gene you want to fuse onto your monstie, you’ll be able to choose the placement of the gene – You won’t be able to change this later, unless you replace the genes and move them around that way, so try to plan things out, especially if you’re working with rare genes.
Gene Bingo
One of the most important things to do when choosing where to place your genes is to match them with similar genes so you can get what’s referred to as a Bingo Bonus. For example, 3 red genes in a row will give you an extra 10% fire attack damage, in addition to the other benefits granted by each gene.
Genes can also have symbols that represent Power attacks, Technical attacks and Speed attacks. Lining those up will result in a similar bonus to those types of attacks.
Ok, great, but how do I change my monster’s color?
One of the more popular things you can do in Monster Hunter Stories is change the colors of your monstie based on their primary attack element.
By default, each monster will have an element (or the gray non-elemental “element”) that defines what types of attacks deal the most damage, and determine the element of their Kinship skill.
There are two ways of changing a monster’s primary element, thus changing its color. The first is what we mentioned above, Bingo Bonuses. The more of a particular element you can line up, the more that element will be powered up.
The second, which is arguably even more important, are genes which grant a particular element’s attack boost. These will be referred to in-game as “Fire+”, “Water+”, etc.
Unfortunately, the best versions of these genes, Large and Extra Large genes, won’t be found until late/post game. Specific monsters can hatch with these genes, and your odds can be improved by collecting eggs that shine when they come out of the nest (eggs Navirou refers to as “stinky”).
Once you get these genes, apply them to your monstie to give it a power boost! And be sure to stack multiples of the same gene on top of each other – You can add each gene 3 times to make it a more powerful version of itself.
That’s the Rite of Kinship in a nutshell – If you have any other questions about the game, feel free to ask them in the comments below!
