There are plenty of ways to help power up your Monsties in Monster Hunter Stories, and outside of grinding outright for EXP, using the Rite of Channeling can help increase strong Monsties' stats — at the expense of a few other Monsties in your stable that you don't really plan on using.
The Rite of Channeling sacrifices one Monstie to pass on a gene of your choice, provided your stronger Monstie can be powered up in such a way. Using gems is a quick way to add extra powers to your Monsties' genetics if no other Monsties have good genes.
How To Use The Rite Of Channeling
How To Unlock The Rite Of Channeling
The first major area you'll visit outside of Pondry Hills after well and truly completing the tutorial missions there, the Darj Snowfields, is where you'll need to go to unlock the Rite of Channeling in Monster Hunter Stories. You'll be sent here as part of the main story after defeating the blighted Nargacuga in Whistill Forest, making it an unskippable part of the game.
Chief Omna directs you to the Snowfields in search of a "handsome young man" who knows everything there is to know about the Rite of Channeling, but you'll be sidetracked by Avinia and her Barioth, as well as a man who introduces himself as the Riddlemaster. After returning and finishing the quest to hatch a Lagombi, the Riddlemaster reveals that he's The Channeler you've been searching for, and teaches you to use the Rite of Channeling.
How Does The Rite Of Channeling Work?
To learn about the Rite of Channeling, The Channeler will give you a Yian Kut-Ku to use as fodder in the Rite to power up the Lagombi you just hatched for the battle ahead with the Khezu in Wintertide Tunnel. He explains that you'll be able to select genes from one Monstie to pass onto another Monstie.
First, choose which Monstie will receive the power boost. When you do, you'll see a three-by-three grid for both monsters. The one under "Inherit" is the one receiving the boost, and the one chosen for Channeling will disappear from your stable after the Rite is completed. Choose wisely when sacrificing rarer monsters!
Each Monstie will have a few circles on their grid that can be filled in, and you'll notice that some already are. Every monster in your Monsterpedia has a monster-specific gene at the very least, which offers a skill or boost of some kind. Once the Rite is complete, your Inheriting Monstie will have the power of the gene you've chosen added to their list of skills.
There are various types of skills in the genes you'll pass on through the Rite of Channeling in Monster Hunter Stories:
- Monster genes are specific to that specific kind of monster (though they're shared between rarer versions of the same monsters).
- Skill genes that break down into two further categories:
- Active genes pass on moves to use in battle that deal damage to enemy monsters.
- Passive genes are instead working in the background to offer resistances or buffs of some kind.
All of this breaks down into two categories. A gene being passed down will have a physical type of either Power, Speed, Technical, or No-Type, as well as the potential for an elemental type slot as well. Be sure to check both stats before deciding on a move to pass on, aided by the breakdown of what each gene does below the bingo boards.
The caveat is that you can only add genes in spots the Inheriting Monstie has a genetic slot for. For example, if the Monstie you've chosen to Channel has a cool gene in the top-left corner, but the Monstie you want to give it to has a slot there that can't accept new genes, you simply won't be able to add that gene from the Monstie you've chosen. You can find it on another Monstie, but you need to pick genes from slots your Inheriting Monstie has vacant.
Later, you'll unlock Stimulants that can be used to unlock new spots in a Monstie's genes , allowing you to add even more genes to their genealogy than before.
You can also use the Rite of Channeling to overwrite genes you no longer want that Monstie to have. Simply choose a Channeling Monstie with a gene in the slot of the gene you'd like to replace and opt to overwrite the gene on your Inheriting Monstie. The Rite will erase the trait you don't want and replace it with the one you chose.
The goal of the trial you'll do with the Channeler is to give the Yian Kut-Ku gene to Lagombi to enable to to use Fireball, a move it can't learn on its own. It's your first show that splicing together strong genes for your Monsties is a powerful way to give them abilities, strengths, or resistances they wouldn't have naturally.
From here, you can choose to continue splicing your Monsties with the Rite of Passage anytime you'd like by visiting any stable to perform more Rites after finishing the tutorial with them.
Make Bingos To Increase Your Monsties' Power Further
You'll notice that the rightmost column on the Rite of Channeling screen is full of potential elemental or attack-based bingo combinations. This correlates to your Monsties' genes, making the Rite of Channeling act almost like tic-tac-toe with genetics.
By lining up three genes in a row, you'll create some kind of bingo bonus. This varies depending on the type of bingo — you can make elemental, power, or "anything" bingos that ask just for the genes to be in line — with more power added the more similar genes you splice into the genealogy.
Fill Vacant Slots With New Powers With Ritual Items
If you truly don't have a monster in your stables that can fill a vacant slot on an otherwise mega-powerful Monstie, consider using gemstones to plug in place of genes withing the Rite of Channeling menu. It's a great way to fill vacant spots in the boards of powerful Monsties you're planning to bring into battle. To do this, select Use Ritual Itemsat the stable, and you'll be brought to a screen with all your available Monsties, offering a more in-depth look at the Monstie you're choosing to inherit this new artificial gene.
As you may have noticed as you've been slaying monsters and completing the assorted subquests throughout the game, you'll have a small collection of Beads that show up after you've selected a Monstie to inherit a new power. From here, you'll be able to see every Bead you have and what they do.
Like genes, Beads offer new passive skills that you'd otherwise not be able to use for whatever reason — you can't hatch a Monstie that has it or your Inheriting Monstie doesn't have a vacant slot there. They've also got two slots, one of a physical damage type if possible and one for an elemental resistance or boost.
It's wise to check through your Beads fairly often — you never know what you may have picked up along the way that can smoothly be used to power up some of the biggest, baddest Monsties on your team.
