MH4U Excavation, Guild Quest & Relics

General Intro

Guild Quests are obtained from doing free hunts in the “Everwood.”
When you return from a free hunt: the “large” monsters you hunt, the amount of Caravan Points earned, as well as the shinnies you pick up, all affect what guild quests you receive and the monster(s) associated with that quest.

You receive a Guild Quest for every “large” monster you slay. Only five “large” monsters will appear during a single free hunt. If a monster is not killed or captured, it will eventually flee.

There are three levels of free hunt that can be unlocked during the single player: Low Rank, High Rank, & G Rank. Certain monsters are exclusive to High Rank & G Rank free hunts. For example, Diablos will only be obtainable from G rank free hunts.  See the "Guild Quest Levels" section for the possible monsters. Any monster that can appear in a lower rank free hunt may appear in a higher rank. The same also applies to guild quests generated after free hunts.

Number of Guild Quests

In order to post a Guild Quest you need to register it. You can have up to 10 Guild Quests registered and 50 unregistered. When you register a Guild Quest is is removed from the reserves(50) and placed in to the active(10). You can delete registered or unregistered quests. You can also share your registered quests with other players (if they have room in their reserves).

Guild Quest Levels

When you generate a guild quest it will start out at a certain level. The level is going to be based off what monster is in the quest, and which rank you got it from (Low, High, or G). When you receive a quest from someone it goes back to original level of the quest. 

The quest level affects the difficulty, monster parts, gatherable materials, & quest rewards. Certain materials, like specific armor spheres, are only obtainable as quest rewards at certain levels. This is important for end game armor spheres.

Lv1-30 Low Rank

Lv31-75 High Rank

_{Monster may now randomly turn infected(no elder dragons or Rajang);}

Lv76-85 High Rank, HR8+ Only

Monsters become stronger than their Guild Hall High Rank versions. They also have some new moves, some only when they are infected enraged. Furthermore the Quest now becomes unstable. At a certain time, an additional monster may appear in the quest zone; killing it will have no benefit to the quest. On the Quest page a “?” box will appear to the side of a single monster to signify that it is unstable. Rajang will now be a Gold Rajang. This is something carried over from MH4, where Rajang could not turn infected.

Lv86-125 G Rank

_{Rajang now ceases to be a Gold Rajang and goes back to being a regular one. If you had a High Rank Rajang guild quest and leveled it to 86 it will revert. However, Rajang can now become infected, and will never be a Gold Rajang again. (poor monkey)}

Lv126-140 G Crown Rank Only

Monsters are much stronger and gain some new moves or new moves in infected mode. Gore Magala now turns into the Shaggy/Goa hybrid (I just call this goa "Cancer").  

At lv136 monsters, if they are capable, will now turn apex. The monster will always be apex on the remaining quest levels and will never be infected. Whereas other monsters that are incapable of becoming apex, can still randomly turn infected.

Something to note is if a monster appears as an unstable monster, it will never turn apex. An example is a Deviljho (which can be apex in its own guild quest) appearing randomly on a level 140 Yian Kut-Ku. The Deviljho may turn infected; however it will not be apex.

Rate at which quests level

***The rate at which Guild Quests level is based on your Rank***

For G rank:

Low and High rank quests will increase by 5 levels every time it is completed, until Lv85.
_{If you have a Lv84 quest and complete it, it will go to Lv86 not Lv89.}

A G rank quest will increase  by 3 levels every time it is completed, until level Lv125.
_{If you have a Lv125 quest and complete it, it will go to Lv126 not 128.} 

G Crown Rank quests will increase by 1 from Lv126, to a maximum level of Lv140.

Above HR 1:

Low and High rank quests will increase by 3 levels every time it is completed, until Lv85.
_{If you have a Lv84 quest and complete it, it will go to Lv86 not Lv87.}

HR1:

Low Rank quests will increase by 1 until level 30.

Monster Allocation

 These are the Guild quests that you can generate from their respective ranking free hunt. Remember that High Rank will be able to generate quests from Low Rank. G Rank is the same, incorporating Low & High Rank. Low Rank will be restricted to those monsters only. The "large" monsters that you can hunt in the forest are not always monsters that can appear in guild quests. There are some overlaps like Yian Kut-Ku. But you will never fight a Teostra as a free hunt. There are tables dedicated to which free hunt monster yields which Guild Quest monster.

Monsters will always be restricted to a certain HR or G*. Even if you are able to generate the quest, you may not be able to post it.

Low Rank Free Hunt 

Monster	Rank Restriction
Velocidrome	Hr1, Hr4, G1*
Yian Kut-Ku	Hr1, Hr4, G1*
Basarios	Hr2, Hr5, G2*
Yian Garuga	Hr2, Hr6, G2*
Kirin	Hr3, Hr6, G3*

High Rank Free Hunt 

Monster	Rank Restriction
Blue Yian Kut-Ku	Hr4, G1*
Ruby Basarios	Hr5, G2*
Tigrex	Hr5, G2*
Brute Tigrex	Hr6, G2*
Zinogre	Hr5, G2*
Stygian Zinogre	Hr6, G2*
Brachydios	Hr6, G2*
Gore Magala	Hr6, G2*
Oroshi Kirin	Hr7, G3*
Rajang	Hr7, G3*
Shagaru Magala	Hr7, G3*
Kushala Daora	Hr7, G3*
Teostra	Hr7, G3*

G Rank Free Hunt

Monster	Rank Restriction
Plum Daimyo Hermitaur	G1*
Diablos	G2*
Black Diablos	G2*
Seregios	G2*
Deviljho	G3*
Chameleos	G3*

Certain monsters will never have another spawning monster during the quest. Also they will never appear as a spawning monster.

They are: Gore Magala, Rajang, Oroshi Kirin, Shagaru Magala, Teostra, Kushala Daora, & Chameleos.

Kirin will never show up as an additional spawn, but other monsters can appear during a Kirin quest.

Dual Monster Quests

Some guild quests will have two monsters as opposed to one. For this game, no more than two monsters can present during a quest.

Say you have a pleasant dual Yian Garuga quest. Both Garugas will be present at the start, only after you kill one of them, will there be a possibility of another monster spawning.

The monster on the left, of a dual monster Guild Quest, will determine what relic equipment will drop.

This may change for MH4U but it’s something I need to be very honest about:

If a monster is capable of being in a dual quest; a dual monster quests will always yield better quest rewards compared to a single monster quest.

 A Yian Kut-ku + Basarios quest will yield more rewards than a solo quest of each. Furthermore, the health of each monster will be significantly lower because there are two monsters present at the start.

The reason why this is important is when you get to high difficulty monsters. A single Lv140 Deviljho quest isn’t a walk in the park, especially since it turns apex at 136. However, A Lv140 Deviljho + Yian Kut-ku quest will yield better rewards than the solo Deviljho. Furthermore, the quest will be easier because both monsters (mainly the hungry Deviljho) will have significantly less health.

Out of all the 2,000+ guild quests I’ve done, it has always been this way with the RNG. So if you’re looking to get specific gear or even a decent relic weapon, aim for a dual monster quest with the skin you’re looking for.  A dual Deviljho quest will yield slightly more rewards than a Deviljho + Yian Kut-ku. However a Dual Deviljho quest will yield much better rewards than a dual Yian Kut-ku. This is involved with the “risk” level of the monster.

Now certain monster can never be in a dual quest. These monsters will generally yield very good rewards, much better than any solo monster that can be paired up.

The monsters that will always be solo are: Gore Magala, Shagaru Magala, Kushala Daora, Teostra, and Chameleos.

All of these monsters are high “risk” monsters (elder dragons and what not) so they are going to yield much better rewards than even a dual quest of low “risk” monsters( Kut-ku’s Basrarios, Velocidrome etc.) However, a dual Rajang quest or dual Deviljho quest will yield somewhat better rewards than the elder dragons. There isn’t that large of a difference compared to my previous examples.

Relic Equipment

You obtain relic equipment from mining during free hunts, guild quests, and in guild quest rewards. All the stats on them will be randomized depending on the rarity. In order to use the equipment, you must use resource points and materials to “polish” the gear. Weapon skins are exclusive to certain monsters, while armor skins are dependent on the monster as well as its armor table.

When you generate a guild quest you will have a monster(s), a weapon “pair”, and an armor table. While the monster(s) is going to be based off what you hunted, the weapon and armor table will be random.

Weapon BiasGuild Quests will only drops weapons that are in their weapon bias. A GS/LS will never drop Hammers or Bows, only Great Swords and Long Swords.

Great Sword/Long Sword

Sword & Shield/Dual Swords

Hammer/Hunting Horn

Lance/Gun Lance

Axes*/Insect Glaives

Bowguns/Bow

_{*In MH4G the charge blade is called "charge axe"; which is why switch axe and charge axe(blade) are "Axes". I will change this when I know how Capcom decided to name it.}

The armor tables will be one of three series, have one of the five armor sections (either Helmets, Torsos, Gloves, Waits, or Legs), and contain a letter. If you have a quest that drops Helmets, it will only drop Helmets, never any other piece.

Low and High Rank Armor Models

Original Series
Monster	A	B	C	D	E	F
Velocidrome	Ingot	Ingot	Ingot	Ingot	Ingot	Ingot
Yian Kut-Ku, Blue Yian Kut-Ku, Basarios	Rathian	Rathian	Rathian	Rathian	Rathian	Rathian
Ruby Basarios, Zinogre	Rathalos	Rathalos Khezu U	Rathalos Kirin	Khezu U Kirin	Khezu U	Kirin
Kirin, Gore Magala, Tigrex	Rath Heart	Rath Heart Ceanataur	Rath Heart Zinogre U	Ceanataur Zinogre U	Ceanataur	Zinogre U
Stygian Zinogre, Brute Tigrex, Brachydios	Rath Soul	Rath Soul Gore	Rath Soul Kushala	Gore Kushala	Gore	Kushala
Yian Garuga, Shagaru Magala, Rajang	Silver Sol	Silver Sol Kirin U	Silver Sol Akantor	Kirin U Akantor	Kirin U	Akantor
Oroshi Kirin, Kushala Daora, Teostra	Escadora	Escadora	Escadora	Escadora	Escadora	Escadora
Freedom Series
Monster	A	B	C	D	E	F
Velocidrome	Gypceros	Gypceros	Gypceros	Gypceros	Gypceros	Gypceros
Yian Kut-Ku, Blue Yian Kut-Ku, Basarios	Hermitaur	Hermitaur	Hermitaur	Hermitaur	Hermitaur	Hermitaur
Ruby Basarios, Zinogre	Gypceros U	Gypceros U Khezu U	Gypceros U Kirin	Khezu U Kirin	Khezu U	Kirin
Kirin, Gore Magala, Tigrex	Gloaming/Adamance	Gloaming/Adamance Ceanataur	Gloaming/Adamance Zinogre U	Ceanataur Zinogre U	Ceanataur	Zinogre U
Stygian Zinogre, Brute Tigrex, Brachydios	Auroros/Borealis	Auroros/Borealis Gore	Auroros/Borealis Kushala	Gore Kushala	Gore	Kushala
Yian Garuga, Shagaru Magala, Rajang	Esurient	Esurient Kirin U	Esurient Akantor	Kirin U Akantor	Kirin U	Akantor
Oroshi Kirin, Kushala Daora, Teostra	Dragon X	Dragon X	Dragon X	Dragon X	Dragon X	Dragon X
Tri Series
Monster	A	B	C	D	E	F
Velocidrome	Khezu	Khezu	Khezu	Khezu	Khezu	Khezu
Yian Kut-Ku, Blue Yian Kut-Ku, Basarios	Lagiacrus	Lagiacrus	Lagiacrus	Lagiacrus	Lagiacrus	Lagiacrus
Ruby Basarios, Zinogre	Tigrex	Tigrex Khezu U	Tigrex Kirin	Khezu U Kirin	Khezu U	Kirin
Kirin, Gore Magala, Tigrex	Artian	Artian Ceanataur	Artian Zinogre U	Ceanataur Zinogre U	Ceanataur	Zinogre U
Stygian Zinogre, Brute Tigrex, Brachydios	Tigrex U	Tigrex U Gore	Tigrex U Kushala	Gore Kushala	Gore	Kushala
Yian Garuga, Shagaru Magala, Rajang	Arc/Storge	Arc/Storge Kirin U	Arc/Storge Akantor	Kirin U Akantor	Kirin U	Akantor
Oroshi Kirin, Kushala Daora, Teostra	Rebellion	Rebellion	Rebellion	Rebellion	Rebellion	Rebellion

RewardsWhich weapons that are generated will be completely random. Using a Great Sword on a Gs/Ls quest wont yield more Great Swords.

Quests tend to drop armor based on what you are using. So if your going as a blademaster, you will mostly see blasemaster armor, same applies to gunner. Now you can still get armor for a gunner while questing as a blademaster. However, percent wise you will mainly be getting blademaster gear.

I've done about 2000+ guild quests, in MH4 & MH4G, all as a bow (because that's all I use). I have mostly received gunner gear. Every now and then I will get some blademaster armor but nine times out of ten I will get gunner armor.

Polishing

Relic equipment is randomized from "unpolished" weapon and armor pieces.

Rarity	Name	Polished Rarity	Quest Rank
5	Battered	1, 2, or 3	Low & High
6	Seasoned	4, 5, or 6	High & G
7	Venerable	5, 6, or 7	High, G, & G Crown
8	Champion's	7, 8, or 9	G & G Crown
9	Beshackled	8, 9, or 10	G Crown

The stats of relic gear are completely separate from their skins. The only thing that affects the stats of the gear is the rarity from which it is polished from. (i.e. Was it polished from a Battered weapon, or a Beshackled weapon?)

For melee weapons the rarity affects the raw of the weapon, the sharpness, the amount of any status/element, and any potential relic skills/open sockets. However, the raw, sharpness,  status/element, and skills/sockets are generated separate from each other. Having great raw doesn’t mean you cannot have an element or good sharpness. They are all independent. Dual Blades can only have either one Element or one Status. They will never have a combination of each or two different elements.

For ranged weapons the rarity affects the raw, shot pattern/Bullet configuration, potential status/element (bows only), and any relic skills/open sockets. Just like with melee weapons all these things are independent of each other.

Relic weapons (except HBG and LBG) may or may not have a status/element.  The amount is randomized, whether or not awaking will be needed will also be random to a certain extent.

(e.g. You can have the "Rimeblade" long sword skin that has blast status or even fire element. It can also glow red)

Relic weapons will have a different “coloration” and they may glow. Relic armor may also glow however; the glow style here is the same across all armors. Whereas weapons will glow whatever color they are.

Upgrading Relic Equipment

After a piece of relic equipment is polished you will be able to upgrade it. In order to upgrade the weapon or armor pieces, you will need Caravan Points_{(Resource Points)} and armor spheres. The armor spheres and points necessary to increase a level will be based off the rarity of the equipment. A lower rarity will require early game armor spheres and a low amount of Caravan Points. Where as higher rarity equipment will require end game armor spheres and a large amount of Caravan Points. All relic gear starts out at Level 1.

Weapons

Weapons can be upgraded three times to Lv4. Each level will require three armor spheres of a certain type, and Caravan Points. The type of armor sphere and the amount of Caravan Points required, will increase with every level. Upgrading a weapon can increase its Raw, Defense, Affinity, or a  combination of the three.

The initial raw of  a weapon will place it on a specific "Raw Table".  All weapon types have their own "Raw Tables" These tables dictates how the stats of a weapon will upgrade. These tables are linked to the rarity of the relic piece it was randomized from (i.e. Battered, Seasoned, Venerable, Champion's, or Beshackled). This means you will not find a Rare 2 Great Sword with 1728 raw & -25% Affinity on it. That potential "Raw Table" will be linked to Champion's & Venerable stuff (G Rank). However, you can have a Rare 9 weapon with the same stats (same "Raw Table") as a Rare 10 weapon. Both these weapons will upgrade in the same way because they are on the same "Raw Table".

What has been the case in MH4G is that the range of randomization for a Rare 10, is smaller than that of a Rare 8. Or rather, Rare 10 weapons tend to randomize to better stats than that of a Rare 8. Even though they all might have come from a Beshackled piece of gear.  Keep in mind that the "Raw Tables" are separate from the "Sharpness Tables/Shot Tables", the Status/Elements, the skins, and any relic skills/open sockets. They are all independently randomized, only the potential is affected by rarity of the item it was polished from (Battered, Seasoned, Champion's, etc.).

Armor

Relic armor can be leveled up multiple times increasing its defense. Each level will require one armor sphere of a certain type, and Caravan Points. The amount of of Caravan Points and the type of armor sphere necessary, will depend on the rarity of the armor. The amount of defense that increases with each level will depend on the type of armor, blademaster or gunner. Similar to how weapons have "Raw Tables", armors have a defense table. The initial defense of the armor dictates its final defense, regardless of rarity. For an example of how this looks, I have the gunner armor defenses detailedhere.

The resistances on the armor are randomized to certain extent. There are actual patterns in the resistance values (even more tables), but what actually shows up on your armor will be random. Gunner armor will have better resistances than blademaster armor. Higher rarity armor will have better resistances than lower rarity armor.

Relic Skills & Permanently Gemmed Equipment,

These relic skills are not exclusive to relic armor only. Rather, the potential amount of the skills are exclusive to Relic armor. Relic gear will only have one skill on it. The amount of that skill will depend on whether it is a weapon or piece of armor, and the rarity. Relic equipment with a skill in it cannot have the gems removed, they are permanently installed. It should be noted that there is craftable armor with the these skills, and that have open armor slots. It is just that the relic equipment will have higher points to these skills than the crafatable armor.

The relic skills, and their amount, that show up on relic gear is random and independent from all other stats. The main thing that affects the skills, and their amount, is the rarity of the items they were polished from (Battered, Seasoned, Venerable, etc...). Some relic skills are exclusive to gear randomized at G Rank (i.e. Champion's & Beshackled). These are skills are essentially G Rank skills and will only be found on G Rank craftable armor (hence the restriction).

Certain skills are restricted to blademaster or gunner equipment (e.g. Honed Blade/Silver Bullet). Other skills are restricted to armor themselves and will not appear on weapons. Certain skill amounts are exclusive to weapons only. (e.g. relic weapons can have a max of +5 to Edge Master, where relic  armors can only have a max of +4).

Armor & Weapon Skins

There are tables dedicated to which monster will yield which weapon or armor skin. That is another very large post in and of itself. However, there are several things that you need to know about the skins and the changes that occurred from MH4 to MH4G. 

Relic weapons will have a different coloration attached to it's model, and may, or may not, glow in that color.

Relic armor may, or may not, glow and has more variation. In MH4 all the relic armor had two styles. A style that mimicked either the Low Rank/High Rank craftable version, and a new alternative version. Some of these alternative versions were exclusive the the relic gear, while others had craftable counterparts. The names of these armors started with an Ex.

For example Oroshi Kirin had a craftable "Ex Kirin U" armor that was from an event quest ( in addition to it's own High Rank "Kirin U" armor. Relic armor from Guild Quests that had the Kirin U skin could either look like the regular High Rank Kirin U, or the craftable EX Kirin U armor. So in this case both the regular version and alternative versions we obtainable though different means.  

Regular Kirin armor worked differently. Yes there are both Kirin & Kirin U armors as relic skins. Relic armor from the Kirin skin would either look like the HR/LR "Kirin" armor (they are the same looks wise), or be an alternative style that you couldn't get from crafting. Now this alternative Kirin style mimics the "Ex Kirin U" in looks, just the coloration was different. So the only way to get that alternative Kirin armor was by doing Guild Quests

In addition to the the new armors they brought in with MH4G, they also added in a third armor style to certain armor skins. For example the Kirin & Kirin U sets received a third style. Some armors have only two styles attached to it, while others can have three. If the armor has a newer third style, it tends to be exclusive to G Rank level of quests. In a sense its an alternative "G Rank" version.

So out of the 46 some armor stets available to relic armor, some have two skins possibilities, while others have three skin possibilities. Factor in that armors can glow, and you have a large variety of armor possibilities. In short "Fashion Hunter is Hard."

In MH4 there was only Low Rank & High Rank. All of the Guild Quest monsters had specific weapon skins associated with them, and specific armor skins based off their series and letter.  In MH4G then introduced several new weapon skins, new armor skins exclusive to G rank, and allowed for Charge Blades & Insect Glaives to be relic.

Because of this, a majority of the monsters had their tables shifted. An example of this would be the Frost Edge skin. In MH4 Zinogre & Ruby Basarios had the Frost Edge skin associated with their quests. In MH4G Brachydios & Brute Tigrex have the Frost Edge skin.  Zinogre & Ruby Basarios now have the Poison Battle Axe skin. 

Now where this shift is prevalent is in the armor tables. What tends to happen is the quest rewards from High Rank Guild Quests will mimic the table that the monster was on in MH4. So all of the Seasoned and some Venerable armor pieces will randomize to one table. Then when a quest is G Rank, the Champion's & Beshackled armor pieces will randomize to the newer tables. 

An example of this is Shagaru Magala. In MH4 shaggy quests with an F letter for their armor series gave the Kirin U armor skin. In MH4G G Rank shaggy quests now drops completely different armor skins. So If you are leveling a High Rank shaggy guild quest, you will see Kirin U armor until it is G Rank.  At which point you will be getting the skins on the newer G Rank table.  Some monsters didn't change what they dropped, but most did.  

One of the reasons for this shift was probably because they added in new armor skins that are only found in G Rank Quests, but applied them to monsters that were in MH4. An example of this is Amatsu's armor, which can be from Kushala Daora. Kushy was in MH4 but Amatsu's armor was not. 

So if your planning on leveling certain quests, because of what armor it drops, you need keep in mind that there are two separate tables. You can still get Seasoned & Venerable armor pieces even on a G Rank level guild quest. The Champion's & Beshackled pieces will randomize to one table, while the Seasoned & Venerable will randomize to another.

Credits toGelid of capcom-unity.com