Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak — What are Anomaly Quests?

Warning: This article is meant for hunters who have already slain the final boss of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak (MR6: Proof of Courage). If you’re reading this and have no idea what a Quiro is or haven’t seen the triple Dragonator, please turn back now.

Or don’t. I'm a writer, not your parent/legal guardian.

Bring your best armour and weapons.

So, you’ve beaten the demon from hell Gaismagorm and have seen the credits. Congratulations, you’ve completed Sunbreak’s main story! However, a hunter’s work is never done. Remember the Quiro? Those life-absorbing parasites from Malzeno? Yeah, they need a new host.

And they’re checking almost every monster in the game to see if they’re suitable.

A new type of quest will be unlocked once you reach MR10: Anomaly Quests. The target of these quests have been afflicted with the Quiro, making them much more aggressive and stronger, in addition to being capable of inflicting Bloodblight; this lowers the effectiveness of healing items but allows you to regain health by attacking the monster. They’re also rendered unable to be captured, so you will have to slay them like an Elder Dragon. However, in exchange, afflicted monsters will drop special materials for new decorations and upgrades to weapons. You’ll unlock more Anomaly Quests as you reach higher MR levels, after you beat the Urgent Quest.

If you remember the Frenzy system from 4 Ultimate, it’s kinda like that except with Bloodblight.

However, there are some differences. During your fight, you may spot these glowing red spots on the monster’s body. These are Anomaly Cores. They appear when the monster is angered, and if you deal enough damage they’ll burst and deal additional damage to the monsters. Plus if you destroy enough of them, you’ll pacify the monster for a brief amount of time, allowing you to freely attack with little chance of retaliation. If you don’t destroy those cores fast enough though, the monster will use Anomaly Burst: a heavily damaging attack that will leave you stunned…which usually ends in a cart back to camp. The game does teach you all this, and all the tutorials are in the Hunter’s Info menu.

Anomaly Cores spawn on different spots, so keep mind of your positioning,

Anomaly monsters are true tests of skill and knowledge of your targets, so I really hope you've got your practice in all throughout Master Rank.

I do recommend playing multiplayer for these hunts. Gunners are especially valuable here as they can hit those Anomaly Cores very easily while staying out of range of the Anomaly Burst should they fail. Speaking of Anomaly Burst, get complete Stun Resistance. On the occasions that you fail to destroy the cores and can’t get out of the way, at least you aren’t guaranteed to faint and can wirefall out of danger.

However, there is an important question we need to ask: Is it worth it? Well… the short answer is yes. The new decorations crafted from afflicted materials are good, and those upgraded weapons will definitely help in future Anomaly Quests as well as the Urgent Quests to uncap your MR level. Be advised however, the only new drops are afflicted materials and there are no increased chances of getting rarer materials.

Use afflicted materials to upgrade your weapons and get new decorations.

Anomaly Quests are sure to fill in the time between the free title updates that will add new monsters like Lucent Nargacuga and Seething Bazelgeuse later this year. Be safe out there, hunters, and good luck. You’re gonna need it.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is out now on Nintendo Switch and Steam.