Magnet Spike

To unlock

1. Talk to the

   Location
   Smithy .

2. Visit the

   Location
   Rasta Bar and speak with the NPC equipped with a Magnet Spike, Graham.

3. Talk to the Apprentice Cat found at the entrance of

   Location
   Mezeporta .

4. Go back and talk to Graham, then talk to the combiner in the town square.

5. Speak with Graham again, then the combiner in the town square.

6. Talk to the G Rank quest receptionist, giving you a quest to hunt G Rank

   Monster
   Gougarf .

7. Talk to Graham again then the combiner found by the store.

8. Hunt the

   Monster
   Rebidiora at the top of the quest list.

9. Talk to Graham, then

   Location
   Smithy , then Graham again, then the
   Location
   Road quest receptionist.

10. Post the GHC

    Monster
    Rukodiora quest and hunt it.

11. Talk to Graham and then the

    Location
    Smithy .

12. After all that you’ve unlocked magnet spike! 🎉 You should get a material to make the

    Weapon
    Protospike α Magnet Spike.

The Magnet Spike's magnetism grants it high versatility and a high skill ceiling. While most actions are shared between both forms, some offer unique options. Attacking with this weapon gradually magnetizes it, entering a "Magnetic Boost" state that increases attack power. Landing attacks also magnetizes monsters; once fully magnetized, the "Magnetic Bind" attack can be used. This binds the monster in a strong magnetic field, with the hunter sustaining the field by repeatedly pressing select buttons. Holding it long enough allows for a powerful finishing attack.

Magnet Spikes feature two modes: Cutting and Impact. You can switch between these modes at any time, even while unsheathed. Each mode has its own attack style:

• Cutting Mode: Fast attacks and evasions similar to

  Weapon
  Dual Swords .

• Impact Mode: Slower, heavy-hitting single attacks with quick swipes and a fast charge.

At any time in either mode, you can toggle aiming mode, which allows you to shoot a Magnetic Marker on a monster or attract toward or repel away from an already placed marker.

Whether you attract or repel depends on your distance from the monster. If you are too close, you can only repel (Blue). If you are too far, no action is possible (White). Being at the proper distance allows you to attract (Red). Attraction will chase the monster as long as you follow a linear path toward it and can be canceled into an evade or a powerful falling attack.

Both modes charge as you use them. When their icon turns red, you can magnetize the weapon, which buffs all attacks by 1.1x, similar to a power phial, and adds additional hits to select attacks for 80 seconds.

After the magnetism mode expires, you will be locked out of gaining progress towards it for a short period. Both modes charge independently and can be left at the red charge level indefinitely, to be activated whenever you wish.

Each mode has a gauge used for actions such as evasion, attracting and repelling from a monster, and initiating the Magnetic Pin attack (covered below). This gauge recharges over time and while attacking a monster.

The gauge also indicates if you can use the Attract and Repel functions, which launch you into the air to chase the magnetic marker on a monster. Every action that consumes gauge will use a single bar.

The magnetic pin is similar to a standard status effect. If you hit the monster with enough attacks, it will get a moving magnetism effect on its body, indicating it is ready to be pinned.

Pinning can be done from either Magnetic Double Slash or Double Swipe. This causes you to leap into the air and slam down your Magnet Spike, pinning the monster and initiating a Quick Time Event that keeps the monster in place until you either perform the pin or fail the Quick Time Event.

The Quick Time Event will indicate what you have to mash directionally and button-wise. Mashing well enough will cause the monster icon's face to turn red, allowing you to perform a Pin Finisher. This move has a very high motion value, causes the monster to fall over, and extends the time the monster is trapped due to the finisher's lengthy animation.

The finisher is notable because it targets the spot where you have attached the magnetic marker. This allows you to select the best hitzone or the most desirable parts to break on a monster. For tails, this deals cutting damage but can only reduce a tail to 1HP, allowing any single cutting damage hit to sever it immediately.

The flowchart below is based on the official manual. When hovering over a move, you can see the available moves from it.

For more information on motion values, see the Damage Calculator.

Increases Pin finisher multiplier by 1.25x (from 600 motion value to 750 motion value). x1.1 Cutting damage to the tail in cutting mode. x1.3 Stun value in impact mode.

• The pin attack applies damage to the spot where you've placed a marker on a monster, allowing for quicker part breaks.

• The reliability of pinning depends on the current area host. If you are not the host, there is a chance it can fail. NPCs are tied to their host player in this context.

• Pay attention to whether you are running unsheathed, as this can limit your attack options.

• Falling attacks via magnetic attraction have generous motion values and invincibility frames (i-frames).

• Basic cutting attacks have a large window between each, allowing for roll cancellations or delayed attacks.

• The cutting mode's guard motion acts as a guard point attack. It can chain into the Finishing Slash, a magnetic dodge for more intangibility, or another guard attack.

• The impact mode's guard has fixed knockback. The rebounding attack is similar to Magnetic Assault but doesn’t chain into any meter attacks. It can be roll canceled and has i-frames.

• There is an official second control bindings menu for the weapon, but only the approach cancel is bound by default for PSP controls in that menu.

• The

  Weapon
  Magnet Spike lacks an elemental multiplier for
  Armor Skill
  Charge Attack Up . The skill only significantly boosts the impact charged strike.

• Due to the ample amount of innate i-frames, it can be practical to forgo a source of

  Armor Skill
  Evasion+2 entirely.

• There are no Magnet Spike-specific sigils outside of Unlimited (UL) sigils. The

  Sigil Skill
  Stun sigil can be relevant for Impact Mode centric runs.

• The Magnetic Pin Finisher attack presents the highest motion value in the game, at 600 without Active Feature and 750 with Active Feature.

• This weapon type is generally seen in

  Location
  Hunter's Road teams. It is common for teams to use multiple Magnet Spikes.