Sunbreak | How to Avoid Attacks | I-Frames and Dodge Guide

This is an article about avoiding attacks in Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise). If you want to know how to dodge, take advantage of i-frames, and use Emergency Evades, then read on!

How Dodging Works

To Evade and Reposition

Dodging is an essential game mechanic wherein you perform moves intended to evade a monster attack and avoid damage. Knowing when to evade an attack is essential to surviving hunts.

It would be best to explain how dodging works by explaining how monster attacks work first.

List of All Armor Sills

How You Get Hit by Attacks

Knowing what a monster attack looks like is intuitive; it is often telegraphed, and any attack that connects with the hunter applies damage and knock back (or in other cases, abnormal status.)

Physical Attacks are often telegraphed by solid monster parts (claws strikes, tail swipes, bites, body slams) hitting the hunter. Ranged or Elemental Attacks are cued by the presence of projectiles and explosive attacks.

Every Attack Has a Hitbox

In the technical sense, every attack has a hitbox. A hitbox can be imagined as an invisible shape programmed for detecting a collision in and around of an attack.

Any time a hunter is caught within one by either touching the edge of the 'box' or being inside it (like within the range of an explosion), the hunter either takes damage, is knocked back, or receives a status effect.

Monster Attacks Have Frames

For demonstration purposes, the attack here is marked with a yellow/red box and the hunter with a green one. The yellow box signifies the inactive frames of a hitbox and the red signifying the active frames.

The period of time in a monster's attack animation is typically referred to as a frame (like in a timeframe). We can imagine an attack to be composed of two kinds: active and inactive frames.

Active frames are frames when the hitbox is set to register a hit. These are typically the frames already in the middle of an attack (like in the middle of a swipe).

Inactive frames refer to the monster doing an attack animation without the hitbox being active yet. These are usually the attack startups and the attack recovery animations of a monster; the rearing a Rathalos's head before a fire breath or a Rajang catching its breath after a laser attack.

Positioning and Invulnerability

Match Evasion with Hitboxes

It is important to know when a monster will have an active hitbox during an attack if you want to dodge through it without taking damage.

Either you can dodge away from an active hitbox or dodge into one with invulnerability frames (or I-frame). Of the two, the latter is the trickiest to master and becomes much easier when you have dodge skills.

Dodging via Positioning

This is typically done when dodging away from an attack. We can consider this as the more defensive-oriented way of evasion. You do not have to worry about timing your hunter's invulnerability frames.

You only have to worry about dodging away from the area where an attack is going to hit. This means staying away from a monster's active hitbox.

This is recommended if dealing with chain attacks or monster attack combos which you cannot completely i-frame.

Dodging via Invulnerability

Dodging in this way will make you appear as 'phasing' through a monster's attack unscathed.

This is the kind of dodge that you will want to use as an offensive option. Dodging towards a monster (i-framing) requires perfectly timing a dodge's invulnerability frames with an attack's active hitbox.

When done successfully, your hunter will ignore any damage and damage reactions for the duration of the dodge.

You will need to make sure that you can make it until an attack reaches its inactive frames. Otherwise, even if you are able to i-frame an attack, if the hitbox is still active, you will get hit. For example, dodging rolling through an ongoing laser attack.

Ways to Use I-Frames

What is an I-Frame?

An i-frame, also known as an invulnerability frame, is a frame where the hunter is rendered invincible to any damage or knock back during an evasive action.

For example, this is triggered at the start of a basic dodge roll. Without extra skills, the window for i-framing attacks are very strict.

Skills like Evade Window increase the number of i-frames for your evasions. This makes it easier for you to dodge through an attack comfortably (and can even help you through attacks that have large hitboxes).

Time Dodges with Monster Attacks

Button
Switch	Any direction +
Xbox	Any direction +
PlayStation	Any direction +
PC	Any direction +

Take advantage of i-frames to effectively evade monster attacks. You can start practicing with the normal dodge roll.

The only way to perfect this is to memorize the timing of monster attack patterns. This takes practice. Do not be discouraged if you cannot execute this move from the start!

I-Framing Works When Some Weapons are Sheathed

Since some weapons have a different behavior in dodging (eg. dash evade rather than roll evade), it is recommended to use i-frames for some weapons when they are sheathed.

Unless you have the Evade Window skill, you are going to have a hard time evading some monster attacks.

Use Silkbinds and Switch Skill I-Frames

Study the Silkbinds of your weapon since some of them incorporate Wirebug dodges. Wirebug dodges by default are observed to have more i-frames than your regular dodge roll.

They will, however, cost Wirebugs. You may want to consider having Wirebug Whisperer, Wind Mantle, and Frenzied Bloodlust skills when taking advantage of them.

Switch Skills that give you i-frames like Water Strike from the Hammer are also valuable evasion alternatives. Consider looking into the Long Sword if you prefer a style of counters and parries with i-frames.

How to Unlock Switch Skills

Lying on the Ground Has I-Frames

Staying knocked down after a monster attack hits you has i-frames which you can use to your advantage. This is useful if you are dealing with monster attack combos where you can get punished when using Wirefall Recovery.

However, look out for the pinned animation when you are knocked down (these you cannot recover from right away.) Being pinned happens as a result of monster grabs, throws, or from being hit by really strong monster attacks.

Follow-up monster attacks when you are pinned down will hit you even if you are lying down!

Standard Dodge Roll I-Frame Tips

I-frames exist at the start of rolls. Roll towards the monster attack! Know and learn the monster's move patterns.

I-Frames at the Start of Rolls

I-frames exist from pressing the dodge button until the hunter's head touches the ground. This is an effective way to time your Frame Dodge against a monster attack.

Roll Towards the Monster Attack

It is suggested that you roll towards a monster to better time your i-frames properly. Not only will you be able to evade the attack when it is successful, but you can also have enough space to make precise attacks.

This is a very risky move as i-frames are very short. Decide properly if you can i-frame a monster or just evade away since some attacks (area of effect ones) may cover a space large enough to still catch you at the end of your dodge.

Study a Monster's Move Patterns

Along with the two tips above, you have to know and learn monster move patterns. This effectively gives you the knowledge to know if the attack can be i-framed or not!

All Monsters List

How to Emergency Evade

What is Emergency Evade?

Button
Switch	Dash +
Xbox	Dash +
PlayStation	Dash +
PC	Dash +

The Emergency Evade, also known as the Superman Dive, is a special type of evasion that has a plenty of invulnerability frames. This allows you to evade some devastating moves like Magnamalo, Mizutsune's Water Breath attack, or area-wide special moves like Crimson Glow Valstrax's ambush.

Plan this type of evasion carefully as it has a long recovery time before you can do anything else. Use it best for attacks that are difficult to dodge.

To execute an emergency evade, make sure that you are dashing away from the monster. While dashing away, press the corresponding dodge button and your roll will be converted into a dive.

Use Leap of Faith for Diving in Any Direction

If you have the Leap of Faith skill, you will be able to execute an emergency evade when dashing towards the monster.

This is useful if you want to make an aggressive use of the move's invulnerability frames. Otherwise, a regular dodge roll is better suited for moving around a monster quickly.

Leap of Faith Skill Effect

Lengthy Invulnerability Time

The invulnerability time for the emergency evade is from the time you press the dodge button until your hunter stands up! This makes it extremely effective against unavoidable and deadly monster attacks.

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