Want to know how Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak Anomaly Investigations work? In this new mode, you face off against increasingly powerful versions of monsters infected with Qurios, a life-sapping parasite that fled after Gaismagorm’s demise. While you could just fight the base forms in Anomaly Quests, Investigations introduces a levelling system where higher levels raise their attack power and give you better quality Sunbreak afflicted materials as a reward for slaying them. If you are familiar with the Guided Lands in Monster Hunter World, then you should be no stranger to the grind required to locate some rarer monsters.
So if you want to access the five-star Anomaly Quests and face off against the additional afflicted monster variants in the free title update, you will need to spend some time plucking away at lower-level beasts first. Thankfully, you don’t have to worry about Sunbreak Anomaly Investigations hiding encounters against the new monsters in this update, such as Lucent Nargacuga.
How to increase your Anomaly Investigations level
When you first access the Anomaly Investigations menu, you have a handful of level one monsters available to hunt. Every hunt you complete in this mode will increase your Anomaly Investigations progress, so every time you level up, you get access to higher-level versions of a pool of monsters. Once you improve your Anomaly Investigations level above 50, you’ll start to get hunts where you need to take out multiple targets, though only one of them will be an afflicted monster. The second monster can be one of the ultra-tough Apex variants, so head back to camp to swap out your gear if you need to.
You can unlock new Anomaly Investigation hunts around your current level against different monsters by doing one of these three things:
- Pick up any items with red sparkling Qurio lights floating over them. You need a few of these to get a new investigation. Only one hunter can pick this up before it disappears.
- Break several of the target monster’s parts.
- Slay the target monster. Doing this once unlocks a full new investigation.
How to raise your Anomaly Investigations level quickly
There are two ways to increase your level quickly, in turn accessing the better rewards earlier. The first is to use the Quest Board to accept join requests. If you select Anomaly Investigations from this menu, you can set your search settings based on the type of hunt you want:
- Minimum level
- Maximum level
- Monster target (either a specific monster or any monster)
- Party Size (either four players max or two players max)
The second way is to prioritise hunting for the monster shown in research requests. These targets require slaying an afflicted target for an experience multiplier, helping you level up faster. As a bonus, slaying the target monster will also give you progress towards the request completion reward. For every ten research requests you finish, you will get 50 Investigation Coins that you can trade with Bahari the Scientist at the Elgado hub for valuable crafting items.
Before setting off, you must ensure the monster you hunt meets the minimum requirements for it to count. Each research request expires after three quests, no matter if you meet the conditions set.
Anomaly Investigations monster unlocks
New monsters become available when you reach these Anomaly Investigations level milestones:
Level 1
- Great Izuchi
- Great Baggi
- Kulu-Ya-Ku
- Great Wroggi
- Azuros
- Lagombi
Level 11
- Aknosom
- Royal Ludroth
- Barroth
- Daimyo Hermitaur
- Khezu
- Tetranadon
- Basarios
Level 21
- Blood Orange Bishaten
- Pukei-Pukei
- Basarios
- Somnacanth
- Rathian
- Tobi-Kadachi
- Anjanath
- Shogun Ceanataur
Level 31
- Aurora Somnacanth
- Barioth
- Magnamalo
- Goss Harag
- Garangolm
- Almudron
Level 51
- Mizutsune
- Rathalos
- Magma Almudron
- Zinogre
- Lunagaron
- Astalos
- Seregios
- Diablos
Anomaly Investigations afflicted materials list
Your main prizes for beating these more challenging monsters are better versions of afflicted materials. These items are primarily used to unlock new branches in Qurious Crafting, a feature made available after your first Anomaly Investigation hunt. Talk to Minayle the Blacksmith to find out what items you need to unlock new Anomaly slots, or the boosts you can apply to the weapon.
The standard afflicted materials will also appear in your quest rewards from the start, but you will only start to see the higher quality items from level 31 onwards. However, you can only find Amber Essence by hunting monsters in this mode. Here is a list of where you can find all of the Anomaly Investigations afflicted materials:
Amber Essence
Any monster in Anomaly Investigations mode (not in Anomaly Quests)
Amber Essence+
Any monster over Anomaly Investigation level 40
Prime Amber Essence
Any monster over Anomaly Investigation level 50
Afflicted Bone+
- Arzuros (Lv31+)
- Volvidon (Lv31+)
- Lagombi (Lv31+)
Afflicted Hide+
- Great Izuchi (Lv31+)
- Great Baggi (Lv31+)
- Great Wroggi (Lv31+)
- Kulu-Ya-Ku (Lv31+)
Afflicted Dragon Blood
- Tetranadon (Lv31+)
- Daimyo Hermitaur (Lv31+)
- Bishaten (Lv31+)
- Khezu (Lv31+)
Afflicted Monster Hardbone
- Aknosom (Lv31+)
- Royal Ludroth (Lv31+)
- Barroth (Lv31+)
- Basarios (Lv31+)
- Afflicted Scale+
- Tobi-Kadachi (Lv31+)
- Rathian (Lv31+)
- Anjanath (Lv31+)
- Pukei-Pukei (Lv31+)
Afflicted Carapace
- Blood Orange Bishaten (Lv31+)
- Somnacanth (Lv31+)
- Jyuratodus (Lv31+)
- Shogun Ceantaur (Lv31+)
Afflicted Claw+
- Aurora Somnacanth (Lv31+)
- Goss Harag (Lv31+)
- Rakna-Kadaki (Lv31+)
- Almudron (Lv31+)
Afflicted Fang+
- Garangolm (Lv31+)
- Magnamalo (Lv31+)
- Nargacuga (Lv31+)
- Barioth (Lv31+)
Afflicted Dire Bone
- Rathalos (Lv51+)
- Astalos (Lv51+)
- Mizutsune (Lv51+)
- Magma Almudron (Lv51+)
- Lunagaron (Lv51+)
Afflicted Dire Horn
- Seregios (Lv51+)
- Diablos (Lv51+)
- Zinogre (Lv51+)
There’s a lot to get your head around when starting out with Anomaly Investigations, so this guide should help you out. To assist you in beating these suped-up variants of the entire Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak monster roster, you should see what the best weapons in the game are by consulting our Sunbreak weapon tier list. We also have both Dual Blades and Longsword builds available just in case you need some crafting ideas.