Frontier guide · Gear and items · 9 of 18
Transcend
Transcend is a timed buff you charge up during quests and switch on like an item. This page covers its settings, every buff and level, how to earn upgrade points, and the Elemental Burst finisher.
What Transcend is
Transcend is a customisable, time-based buff that strengthens your hunter. It unlocks at HR3. Like the Wystone in Monster Hunter 4U, it appears as an item among your consumables. Unlike the Wystone, the Transcend state starts with little charge, and it has to power up over time during a quest.
You open the Transcend settings from the normal start menu. Choose Status, then Secret Ceremony Status. Menu names may differ slightly in our client. The settings window controls everything about the Transcend state: you can switch the mode on and off, and upgrade the buffs it gives.
Offensive buffs
There are six offensive buffs, called Attribute Pulse, one for each of Fire, Water, Ice, Thunder, Dragon and Raw. Each has 10 levels. An Attribute Pulse raises the damage of its element (or raw damage) by a set percentage.
| Buff | Levels | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Attribute Pulse (Fire) | 10 | Increases Fire element damage by a set percentage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Water) | 10 | Increases Water element damage by a set percentage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Ice) | 10 | Increases Ice element damage by a set percentage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Thunder) | 10 | Increases Thunder element damage by a set percentage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Dragon) | 10 | Increases Dragon element damage by a set percentage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Raw) | 10 | Increases raw damage by a set percentage. |
All six use the same table. Melee weapons get the element and raw columns. Ranged weapons get one multiplier for everything. The points are what you need to spend to reach that level (see Upgrading).
| Level | Melee (element / raw) | Ranged (all) | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 110% / 101% | 101% | - |
| 1 | 115% / 102% | 102% | 1500 |
| 2 | 120% / 103% | 103% | 2500 |
| 3 | 125% / 104% | 104% | 4000 |
| 4 | 130% / 105% | 105% | 5500 |
| 5 | 150% / 106% | 106% | 8000 |
| 6 | 155% / 107% | 107% | 9500 |
| 7 | 160% / 108% | 108% | 11000 |
| 8 | 175% / 109% | 109% | 12500 |
| 9 | 180% / 110% | 110% | 14000 |
| 10 | 200% / 113% | 113% | 15500 |
Defensive buffs
| Buff | Levels | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Enduring Cloak | 10 | Increases defense and elemental resistances. |
| Concentration | 10 | Starts the Transcend state precharged to a set percentage. |
| Courage | 10 | Increases how long the Transcend state lasts. |
| Stronghold | 1 | Gives Super Armor, which stops knockback. |
| Strider | 1 | Gives Movement Speed Up. |
| Recovery | 5 | Heals a set amount of health to all nearby players and NPCs. |
Enduring Cloak
| Level | Effect | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Defense +50, Elemental Resistance +10 | - |
| 1 | Defense +100, Elemental Resistance +20 | 1500 |
| 2 | Defense +150, Elemental Resistance +30 | 2500 |
| 3 | Defense +200, Elemental Resistance +40 | 4000 |
| 4 | Defense +250, Elemental Resistance +50 | 5500 |
| 5 | Defense +400, Elemental Resistance +60 | 8000 |
| 6 | Defense +450, Elemental Resistance +65 | 9500 |
| 7 | Defense +500, Elemental Resistance +70 | 11000 |
| 8 | Defense +550, Elemental Resistance +85 | 12500 |
| 9 | Defense +600, Elemental Resistance +90 | 14000 |
| 10 | Defense +800, Elemental Resistance +100 | 15500 |
Concentration
| Level | Effect | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | The Transcend charging gauge starts at 0%. | - |
| 1 | The gauge starts at 4%. | 1500 |
| 2 | The gauge starts at 6%. | 2500 |
| 3 | The gauge starts at 8%. | 4000 |
| 4 | The gauge starts at 10%. | 5500 |
| 5 | The gauge starts at 13%. | 8000 |
| 6 | The gauge starts at 15%. | 9500 |
| 7 | The gauge starts at 17%. | 11000 |
| 8 | The gauge starts at 19%. | 12500 |
| 9 | The gauge starts at 21%. | 14000 |
| 10 | The gauge starts at 25%. | 15500 |
Courage
| Level | Effect | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | The Transcend state lasts 60 seconds. | 1500 |
| 1 | It lasts 65 seconds. | 1500 |
| 2 | It lasts 70 seconds. | 2500 |
| 3 | It lasts 75 seconds. | 4000 |
| 4 | It lasts 80 seconds. | 5500 |
| 5 | It lasts 90 seconds. | 8000 |
| 6 | It lasts 95 seconds. | 9500 |
| 7 | It lasts 100 seconds. | 11000 |
| 8 | It lasts 105 seconds. | 12500 |
| 9 | It lasts 110 seconds. | 14000 |
| 10 | It lasts 120 seconds. | 15500 |
Stronghold and Strider
| Buff | Level | Effect | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stronghold | 1 | Grants Super Armor. | 10000 |
| Strider | 1 | Grants Movement Speed Up. | 10000 |
Recovery
| Level | Effect | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | - | - |
| 1 | Heals a tiny amount of health to all nearby players and NPCs. | 2000 |
| 2 | Heals a small amount. | 3500 |
| 3 | Heals a medium amount. | 5000 |
| 4 | Heals a large amount. | 6500 |
| 5 | Heals a massive amount. | 8000 |
Upgrading
You earn points to upgrade the buffs in two ways:
- Use Ancient Hunting Books.
- Take weapons of the matching element onto quests: Fire, Water, Ice, Thunder, Dragon, Raw and hybrid elements.
You get Ancient Hunting Books just by taking part in the cycling events (Conquests, Tower, Festival and Caravan). Different events give different books, and each book gives a different number of points. The books are given for reaching milestones in those events. For example, you might get 3 books for clearing 20 floors in the Tower. For these events, see Regular Events, including the Hunter Festival and the Caravan.
| Book | Upgrades | Events | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient Hunting Ceremony Book (Red) | Offensive abilities | All | 500 |
| Ancient Hunting Ceremony Book (Blue) | Offensive abilities | Sky Corridor, Hunter Festival | 1000 |
| Ancient Hunting Ceremony Book (Dark) | Offensive abilities | Hunter Festival | 3000 |
| Ancient Hunting Technique Book (Red) | Defensive abilities | All | 500 |
| Ancient Hunting Technique Book (Blue) | Defensive abilities | Sky Corridor, Hunter Festival | 1000 |
Using Transcend in a quest
When you enter a quest with Transcend on, you get a new item icon. It shows a hunter, and starts out light grey. As time passes, the grey area drains downwards. When it is ready, the icon is replaced by a yellow hunter on a flashing white background. That flashing always shows behind all your items, even if you have something other than the Transcend option selected.
Using the "item" puts you in the Transcend state. A special animation plays and your character gets an aura. While the aura lasts, you get the effects of every ability you have turned on, and your weapon attacks use new hit animations depending on the element you use.
After you land enough hits, a sound plays and the icon changes to a carving knife. This means you can use an Elemental Burst. Your character rushes forward with the knife, and when it hits the enemy, it sets off the burst that fits the element of your weapon and the monster you hit. A weapon with a combination element picks an effect based on which element hurt the monster most, or picks one at random. If the monster is immune to the element you dealt, the burst becomes Raw.
Elemental Bursts
You can use an Elemental Burst on a monster after it has taken enough hits during Transcend. The item icon becomes a knife, and the burst depends on the element of the weapon you are holding.
| Element | Elemental Burst effect |
|---|---|
| Attribute Pulse (Fire) | Deals fire damage. Flame bursts can make most monsters stagger. |
| Attribute Pulse (Water) | Deals low water damage and softens monster hitzones. It lasts a very long time. |
| Attribute Pulse (Ice) | Freezes a monster solid, so it cannot move for a while. Tails cannot be cut during this state, and some monsters may resist freezing even when they take ice damage. |
| Attribute Pulse (Thunder) | Deals thunder damage and paralyses monsters. It does not work on monsters that cannot be paralysed. |
| Attribute Pulse (Dragon) | Deals dragon and stun damage, and can KO monsters. |
| Attribute Pulse (Raw) | Deals large amounts of raw damage and causes a Flash Bomb effect. |
The burst is forced to Raw if the monster takes no damage from the element you used. Hybrid elements such as Light have an order of preference for the element chosen. For example, Shantien weapons deal 30% Fire, 100% Water and 70% Thunder, but always pick Fire as the burst type if fire damage has been dealt.
Status effects only happen if the monster can normally be afflicted by them, and if you use the burst during frames in which the monster can be staggered. For example, an Ice burst during an uninterruptible attack animation will not freeze the monster. A Thunder burst on a monster that cannot be paralysed will not paralyse it.
Written from the Monster Hunter Frontier guide by Fist (as saved in January 2022). That guide describes Capcom's old official servers; we reworded it, laid it out for Hunsterverse and added the "On Hunsterverse" notes (all of them: Hunsterverse vs the old servers). The pictures are from the original guide.