Insect Glaive Overview

Insect Glaive (操虫棍 Sōchūkon: also known as "Insect Taming Staff", "Insect Operating Rod", "Neopteron Handler", and "Insect Rod") is a new weapon introduced in Monster Hunter 4. This double-ended rod is capable of quick, fluid attacks similar to the Long Sword.  It also allows the hunter to jump at any time in a pole vaulting fashion. The rod is also capable of summoning a Kinsect to attack monsters. The hunter can either freely send out the Kinsect on a direct flight, or first shoot out a pheromone bullet at the target that works as a "lock on." This allows the insect to home in. When the Kinsect successfully hits an enemy, it will drain out an "essence" which varies in color and attribute, depending on which part of the monster it hits. This will then power up the hunter when the Kinsect is called back. The Kinsect is always found clinging on the right arm of the hunter when it's not in flight. 

- Weapon Traits :

The Insect Glaive's attacking style is based on the art of Bōjutsu, where the wielder employs various long-ranged techniques like thrusting, sweeping, and spinning. The techniques are not limited to just attacking, however, as the rod can also be used to perform tricky maneuvers like pole vaulting to gain a high-ground advantage, or for evasive purposes. The Insect Glaive has many uses and suits both front-line players and support players. Other interesting facts about the weapon include:

• The player can enter "aiming" mode and shoot the "pheromone" bullet to mark specific body parts of the monsters. This will allow the Kinsect to home in on the marked spot to easily get a desired essence.
• The pole vaulting is primarily used to do a "leap-attack" that is usually only possible by jumping off ledges. This is very useful, since an Insect Glaive user will be able to stagger monsters with the pole vault virtually anywhere. Also allowing for more chances to mount the monster. The vaulting leap-attack is also very useful for chasing a monster that's about to flee by flying upwards.
• Apart from using it for attacking, the pole vault is also very useful for evasive purposes. One can vault out of the way of long-ranged projectiles like Gravios's sweeping beam, over incoming monsters like a charging Rathalos, or area of effect moves like Khezu's electrical discharge.
• In addition to offensive and defensive uses, the pole vaulting can also be used to assist hunters in traveling more quickly, such as vaulting onto elevated platforms that would otherwise require the hunter to first sheathe their weapon and then climb up.
• The rod is a very mobile weapon, allowing the users to constantly change their positions via the leaping attacks. This leaping comes with possible shortcomings. It might put the users in a disadvantaged position whilst moving carelessly. It also has a rather long stance-recovery animation that initiates automatically after every attack. It is advisable to roll after finishing an attack to avoid this animation.
• The Insect Glaive's unsheathe attack can be immediately chained into other attacks.
• The rod is considered to be as fast as the Dual Blades, while staying fluid and having a longer reach like the Long Swords.
• The Insect Glaive can deal both "Slash" and "Impact" damage. The top part of the rod deals the "Slash" damage, while the end tip (bottom of the rod) deals "Impact" damage that also "marks" monsters with pheromone. The Kinsect's flying attack can do "Slash" type damage or "Impact" type damage depending on the insect.

- Kinsect

The Kinsect is the default insect (in Monster Hunters' case, Neopteron special subspecies) which is available with each Insect Glaive. Each of them have a distinct physiology, unique stats, and are even enhanceable by evolving them into better forms.

Kinsect Stats

Each Kinsect has its own stats, very similar to any kind of monster. These stats are enhanced during the upgraded process. The stats are:

• Power = Increases the damage of the Kinsect.
• Stamina = Determines the number of times the Kinsect can be commanded to attack in one session.
• Speed = Increases the speed at which the Kinsect moves.
• Fire = Increases the Kinsect's fire elemental damage.
• Water = Increases the Kinsect's water elemental damage.
• Thunder = Increases the Kinsect's thunder elemental damage.
• Ice = Increases the Kinsect's ice elemental damage.
• Dragon = Increases the Kinsect's dragon elemental damage. 

Enhancing

Like enhancing the weapon itself, the Kinsects' statistics can be enhanced to allow them to evolve (in Monster Hunter terms). Their upgrading process requires Nectars, which enhance's the Kinsect's stats. Once enough nectar is fed, they can be leveled up, and eventually evolve into a different type of insect, such as the speed-type, stamina type, power-type, and hybrid type. However, the enhancing process itself is extremely far more complex compared to other weapons, as the Kinsect needs to be upgraded multiple times before the Glaive itself can be upgraded.

- Essences

When a Kinsect is used to attack (drains essence) from a monster, the body part which it hits determines what type of essence it 'steals' to power up the hunter upon its return. There are 4 essences, which are:

• White = Increase the hunter's speed for 90 seconds. Generally acquired from the monster's legs and wings.
• Red = Increase the hunter's attack and alters some attack animations (e.g. some attacks hit multiple times in a single input) for 60 seconds. Generally acquired from the monster's head.
• Orange = Increase the hunter's defense and knockback resistance to weak attacks for 45 seconds. Generally acquired from the monster's body.
• Green = Recover a small amount of health. Generally acquired from the monster's tail.

However, sometimes the essence given varies between monsters. For example, while the tail normally provides green essence, a Fatalis tail might instead yield an orange essence instead. To use the Insect Glaive to its fullest potential, it is very important to learn the essence locations on each monster.

There are 3 essence slots, one for each color excluding the green one (since it gets used straight away), which the hunter can mix together to get certain buffs. This is similar to mixing the musical notes with the Hunting Horns. These buff mixes include:

• Red + White = Attack Up (Small) + Red and White bonuses for 60 seconds.
• White + Orange = Defense Up (Small) + Earplugs (resistance to some monster roars) + White and Orange bonuses for 60 seconds.
• Red + White + Orange = Attack Up (Large) + Defense Up (Large) + Earplugs + Red, White, and Orange bonuses for 60 seconds.

- Pros and Cons

Advantages

• Has great speed and power.
• Can attack fluidly like a Long Sword and as fast as the Dual Blades.
• Has a jump move that can be used for a mounting attack or evasive actions.
• Can receive various buffs in speed, attack, and defense and even earplugs.
• Long range attacks via Kinsect.
• The leaping attack, with the Insect Glave, makes it very easy to mount a monster.

Disadvantages

• The leaps made by the Insect Glaive do not grant invulnerability like a 'true evasion' does, so certain attacks of large monsters like Akantor and Ukanlos can strike the wielder mid-air.
• The lack of shield makes the wielder of the Insect Glaive reliant on evasion, placing the wielder in danger of attacks too close, fast, or wide to be dodged.
• Though the leap attack itself ignores stagger threshold, every leap attack does not yield a guaranteed stagger from the monster every time.
• Each mounted attack considerably increases the monster's resistance to any further mounted attacks. Therefore, the sole, rapid use of leap attacks to force the monster to a 'mounting/stagger headlock' within a long time span has a significantly weaker damage output than unleashing combo attacks without mounted attacks within the same time span.
• Obtaining different essences from monsters and maintaining the effects can be quite the chore; especially when the wielder is facing agile or multiple monsters.
• The buffs may be similar to the Hunting Horn, but are shorter in duration and are personal only.
• Extremely complex upgrading process, requiring a large amount of materials and zenny to upgrade an Insect Glaive to its fullest potential, thereby making it the least cost-effective weapon.

- Tutorial for Beginner Hunter (by GaijinHunter) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTqOFUMKaAE