After defeating a monster for the first time in Monster Hunter Rise, players are likely to head to the forge to see what new armor and weapons they can make from the parts they just collected. While this is a key aspect of the Monster Hunter series, there are also many unique items and pieces of gear that are not directly based on a specific monster. Shell-studded armor is one such gear set in Monster Hunter Rise.
The key item when making the shell studded armor set is the dreamshell item. To get this, players will want to go talk to Rondine at the Buddy Plaza and then select "Order Items." Here, players can select a buddy to send off to trade/collect certain items. Buddies will sometimes come back with other items in addition to the requested type of item. What type of bonus item is received depends on what the original item being asked for is.
RELATED: Monster Hunter Rise Has Already Shipped 4 Million Copies
If players request mushrooms or bug related items (such as spider webs, honey, or flash bugs), then there are three types of bonus items that the buddy can come back with: dreamshells, blossom crickets, and butterfly beetles. Therefore, to get dreamshells, players simply need to send their buddy of to collect one of these types of materials and basically just kill time doing other quests.
Players can get the Shell-Studded armor in low rank and will need the follow materials to make the entire set:
- 5 Dreamshells
- 2 Tetranadon Hides
- 2 Sharp Claws
- 2 Aqua Sacs
- 3 Icium
- 2 Gajau Skins
- 2 Great Izuchi Hides
- 2 Spongy Hides
- 1 Gajau Whisker
The dreamshells can be found using the method described above. Tetranadon hides, as expected can be gained from hunting low rank Tetranadon. Sharp claws are the low rank version of piercing claws and can be obtained from Jagras, Ludroth, Uroktor, Rachnoid, and Izuchi. Aqua sacs can be obtained from low rank Tetranadon and Royal Ludroth.
Icium is an ore that can be found in the Frost Islands. Gajau skins and whiskers, as their name suggest, are carved from Gajau, the fish swimming around in areas such as, again, the Frost Islands. Great Izuchi hides are also pretty self explanatory and players likely have some already since Great Izuchi is an urgent quest. Finally, spongy hides are obtained from Royal Ludroth.
Once all the materials have been gathered and the armor has been forged, it will have these skills with the following descriptors from the game:
- Water Resistance Level 1: Water Resistance +6
- Reload Speed Level 1: Bowgun Speed +1. Improves bow handling.
- Recoil Down Level 1: Recoil -1 when firing bowgun ammo
- Aim Booster Level 1: Slightly shortens the distance before ammo and bows reach maximum power.
- Spread Up Level 1: Slightly increases the power of Spread Ammo, Shrapnel Ammo, and Spread-type arrows.
As can be seen from the skills, the Shell-Studded armor is very bowgun and bow friendly and the same holds true for the High Rank version.
In order to craft the high rank version of the Shell-Studded armor, players will need the following in total:
- 5 Dreamshells
- 2 Somnacanth Talons+
- 6 Gajau Whiskers+
- 5 Monster Hardbones
- 3 Somnacanth Scales+
- 5 Pearl Hides
- 1 Novacrystal
- 3 Tetranadon Hide+
- 2 Mizutsune Fins+
- 2 Great Izuchi Hides+
- 2 Gracium
The 5 dreamshells are exactly the same as the low rank version, so the same method applies. Somnacanth Talons+ are from high rank Somnacanth. Gajau Whiskers+ are from high rank Gajau. Monster hardbones are quest rewards and drops from high rank Somnacanth. Pearl hides are from high rank Khezu. Novacrystals are rare drops from the uncommon ore nodes in each of the maps. Tetranadon hides+ are from high rank Tetrandon, Mizutsune fins+ are from high rank Mizutsune, and Great Izuchi hides+ are from high rank Great Izuchi. Gracium is also a high rank ore, but is a little more common than novacrystal. Both gracium and novacrystals can also be awarded for completing some subquests.
Once the high rank armor is crafted it has these skills, again, with the game's descriptors of the skills:
- Aim Booster Level 3: Greatly shortens the distance before ammo and arrows reach maximum power.
- Normal/Rapid Up Level 2: Increase the power of Normal Ammo and Rapid-type arrows.
- Pierce Up Level 2: Increases the power of Piercing Ammo and Piercing-type arrows.
- Spread Up Level 2: Increased the power of Spread Ammo, Shrapnel Ammo, and Spread-type arrows.
The full high rank armor also has 8 level one decoration slots, 1 level 2 decoration slot, and 1 level 3 decoration slot.
Monster Hunter Rise is now available for the Nintendo Switch. A PC release is slated for 2022.