Monster Hunter Rise: Guide To The Melding Pot & Melding…

How Talismans work as well as how they're acquired has always differed in Monster Hunter from game to game. In Monster Hunter: Rise, and by extension Sunbreak, Talisman Melding is the main method.

Now, when players first start out in Monster Hunter: Rise, a perfectly balanced Talisman isn't exactly needed. Really anything works all the way until High Rank, and at that point, players might want to start learning how Talisman Melding works (as well as the Transmog system). To make this process a bit easier, let's go through Talisman Melding as a whole.

What Talismans Are

Monster Hunter Rise - Talisman Explanation In Hunter's Notes

To put it bluntly, Talismans are just another piece of Equipment like the player's Armor and Weapons, but they don't provide anything like Attack or Defense. Instead, while equipped, Talismans will grant the players the Skill (or Skills) that are embedded within them. Not only that but as their Rarity increases, Talismans can only have up to 3 Decoration Slots of varying Slot Levels.

So, after players have sunk hundreds of hours into Rise and are at the 'true' endgame, their Talismans are more important not only due to the Skills within them, but because every extra Decoration Slot, regardless of rarity, can have a massive impact on a build, especially so with certain Skills for the Ranged Weapons.

How Talismans Are Made

Monster Hunter Rise - Selecting The Melding Pot Option At Kagero's Shop

To start things off, how are Talismans made in MH: Rise? Well, They're made in the Melding Pot, accessible at any Merchant in the game such as the Guild Store, Kagero in the Steelworks, or Oboro in Elgado. It's a rather easy process that fans are hoping returns in future Monster Hunter games. This Melding Pot has a variety of different methods of Melding, such as:

Name	Required Material Points	Kamura Point Cost	Description	Unlock Method
Reflecting Pool	10 Per Talisman	100	Choose from a list of Skills, then create a Talisman with a chance to have that Skill on it, with the Skill Obtention Chance being dependant on the Skill chosen.	Available when the Melding Pot feature is unlocked after reaching High Rank 3 Hub Progress or High Rank 5 Village Progress
Haze	40 Per Talisman	100	Almost the exact same as Reflecting Pool, but with a different list of more advanced Skill options.	Reach High Rank 6 Hub Progress
Moonbow	150 Per Talisman	100 for 1-2 or 200 for all 3	Same as both Reflecting Pool and Haze but with a different list of Skill options and can Meld a maximum of three Talisman in one Melding Process	Reach High Rank 7 Hub Progress
Wisp of Mystery	150 Per Talisman	100 per Talisman	Melds up to 5 Talismans at a time, depending on Materials used, but the Skills and Rarity of these Talismans are completely random and have a maximum Rarity of 7.	Defeat Narwa in High Rank 7
Rebirth	N/A	500	Salvages 20 player-selected Talismans to create 3 more Talismans of Rarity 7 or lower. Used primarily to get rid of unwanted Talisman.	Defeat Narwa in High Rank 7
Anima	200 Per Talisman	200 Per Talisman	Works the same as Wisp of Mystery, but only uses Master Rank Materials and can Meld Talisman up to a maximum of Rarity 10.	Reach Master Rank 6 In Elgado (Sunbreak Exclusive)
Reincarnation	N/A	200 Per Talisman	Works the same as Rebirth, but only uses Talismans of Rarity 8 or higher, has a higher cost, and can create Talisman up to a maximum of Rarity 10.	Reach Master Rank 6 In Elgado (Sunbreak Exclusive)
Aurora	300 Per Talisman	200 Per Talisman	Works similarly to Moonbow, but with a different list of Skills. Also allows players to choose 1 Skill to guarantee on the resulting Talismans. Only uses Master Rank Materials and generates up to Rarity 10 Talisman max.	Defeat Chaotic Gore Magala in Master Rank 6 Hub Quest "Falling into Chaos"

Each of these Melding Processes costs both Monster Materials and Kamura Points to use. Each Monster Material has a numerical 'Value' attached to it, and players need to throw in enough to reach the threshold seen in the Deliver/Required section on the far right.

After doing this and confirming, the Melding Process has started. Now, players will need to go and either complete or fail a Hunt for Melding to progress. After doing so, 1 out of the possible 10 Melding Processes will be complete, with another one being completed with each subsequent mission. The primary reason why the later Melding Processes are so useful, outside of creating higher-Rarity Talisman, is that they typically create more than one Talisman at a time. For example, since one Process of the Meld of Mystery can create 5 Talismans, that's 5 Talismans generated for every 1 Hunt completed.

Melding Processes Skill Obtention Rate

Monster Hunter Rise - Selecting A Skill With Moonbow Melding

Half of these Melding Processes allow players to choose what Skill to 'aim' for with the resulting Talisman. But, the only ones that guarantee that those Skills appear every time are the Reflecting Pool (depending on the Skill chosen) and Aurora Melding Processes.

Every other Process that has players choose a Skill will also note how likely it is that the chosen Skill will actually be on the finished product. With that in mind, here are the general obtention percentages for each Melding Process:

Melding Name	Skill Obtention Percentage Range	Skill Options
Reflecting Pool	70-100 Percent	Constitution, Stamina Thief, Affinity Sliding, Horn Maestro, Recovery Up, Recovery Speed, Fire Resistance, Water Resistance, Ice Resistance, Thunder Resistance, Dragon Resistance, Poison Resistance, Paralysis Resistance, Sleep Resistance, Muck Resistance, Blast Resistance, Botanist, Geologist, Bombardier, Item Prolonger, Free Meal, Fortify, Carving Pro, Hunger Resistance, Leap of Faith, Diversion, Master Mounter, Wirebug Whisperer, Wall Runner.
Haze	30-50 Percent	Fire Attack, Water Attack, Ice Attack, Thunder Attack, Dragon Attack, Poison Attack, Constitution, Quick Sheath, Slugger, Stamina Thief, Affinity Sliding, Horn Maestro, Reload Speed, Recoil Down, Steadiness, Defense Boost, Divine Blessing, Recovery Up, Recovery Speed, Speed Eating, Windproof, Bubbly Dance, Windproof, Partbreaker, Speed Sharpening, Bombardier, Item Prolonger, Wide-Range, Free Meal, Fortify, Flinch Free, Hunger Resistance, Master Mounter, Wirebug Whisperer, Wall Runner, Counterstrike, Rapid Morph.
Moonbow	10-40 Percent	Critical Eye, Weakness Exploit, Fire Attack, Water Attack, Ice Attack, Thunder Attack, Dragon Attack, Poison Attack, Razor Sharp, Spare Shot, Bludgeoner, Punishing Draw, Quick Sheath, Slugger, Reload Speed, Defense Boost, Divine Blessing, Speed Eating, Earplugs, Tremor Resistance, Evade Window, Evade Extender, Stun Resistance, Speed Sharpening, Rapid Morph.
Wisp of Mystery	Completely Random	N/A
Rebirth	Completely Random	N/A
Anima	Completely Random	N/A
Reincarnation	Completely Random	N/A
Aurora	Player-Chosen Skill 100 Percent, Second Skill Is Completely Random	Attack Boost, Peak Performance, Resuscitate, Burst (previously Chain Crit), Latent Power, Critical Element, Handicraft, Spare Shot, Mind's Eye, Power Prolonger, Constituion, Guard, Offensive Guard, Punishing Draw, Slugger, Agitator, Resentment, Critical Eye, Weakness Exploit, Maximum Might, Master's Touch, Razor Sharp, Protective Polish, Focus, Marathon Runner, Stamina Surge, Guard Up, Critical Draw, Quick Sheathe, Artillery, Load Shells, Pierce Up, Ammo Up, Earplugs, Evade Extender, Mushroomancer, Wirebug Whisperer, Rapid Morph, Coalescence, Foray, Grinder (S), Critical Boost, Normal/Rapid Up, Spread Up, Rapid Fire Up, Evade Window, Partbreaker, Heroics, Counterstrike, Hellfire Cloak, Charge Master, Tune-Up, Bladescale Hone.

Which Melding Should You Be Using?

Monster Hunter Rise - Hovering Over Anima Melding Option In-Game

Now, this may all seem like an overwhelming amount of information, but it's actually not too complex. The generally accepted recommendation for Melding is as such:

In Low and High Rank, use Reflecting Pool, Haze, or Moonbow as needed. Alternatively, save all those Materials until after Wisp of Mystery is unlocked.
After Wisp of Mystery becomes available, players should only be using this or Rebirth to create new Talismans.
Then, after completing Sunbreak's story and unlocking Anima and Reincarnation Melding, players should primarily use these new Melding Processes instead of Wisp of Mystery or Rebirth.
Finally, after unlocking the Aurora Melding, that will be the primary Melding method, regardless of the player's build. Every now and then, Hunters will briefly use Anima or Reincarnation to merge all their unwanted Talismans into 'potentially useful' new ones.

The reasoning for this is simple, with every new Melding Process unlocked the upper limit of the Talisman this new Process can create increases. So, there's no reason to use the old methods once new ones are offered.

Other Sunbreak-Exclusive Mechanics

Monster Hunter Rise - Sunbreak Press Kit Image Showing A Party Of People Fighting Garangolm-1

Now, there are a variety of other Melding mechanics the Sunbreak expansion adds, such as MP Accelerant and new Melding Materials. Even at the time of writing this, Free Title Update 5 is promising more Melding Methods and available Skills.

MP Accelerant

This is essentially just a consumable item that players will have the option of using in the confirmation window for any Melding Process while they have at least one Accelerant.

If used, the Melding Process will be instantly completely, the Accelerant will be used, and players will be able to immediately see the results of said Process.

New Melding Material

Monster Hunter Rise - Hovering Over A Melding Pudding In Anima Melding Menu

In base Rise, players primarily farmed easy-to-beat High Rank monsters like Thunder Serpent Narwa for their Materials to use in Melding. Now, in Sunbreak, there are a lot more Materials to use as well as the new Melding-specific Materials such as:

Name	Value	Where to Obtain
Melding Nectar	50	Quest Reward from Quests in Master Rank 1 or 2.
Melding Honey	100	Quest Reward from Quests in Master Rank 3 and above.
Melding Pudding	200	Randomly found by Buddies with Backroom Deal permission with the Argosy.