1643

How do new moves for weapons work? Is it just different button combos, or are there like… I can’t remember the term, but the stances? styles? you could take in MHGU?

1644

No new weapon arts/styles/stances. Each weapon gets something associated with the clutch claw and additional moves and/or weapon mechanic. Some weapons get more love than others. It seems to be both a balancing thing and a way to keep things fresh.

Iceborne did add things to the training area, but I haven’t messed with it enough to know what’s changed.

1645

I really enjoy the changes to GS. It’s subtle, but being able to get to shoulder tackle cancelling/true charge from a side slash is incredibly useful. Side slash is a great tool for making small adjustments to posiotioning when right in the monster junk wailing away. Not needing to go into an overhead slash saves precious moments and helps get off more true chages. It really gives a lot more conversion oportunites for GS users.

I guess you can get to shoulder tackle cancelling from slinger shots too, but I haven’t really found an application for that yet.

In summation, it’s a great time to like to smack the snot out of Dinos with a big ole sword!

1646

I’ve played about 4-5 hours of this and just finished the first quest in the 2nd area (Wildspire Wastes) by killing a Barroth. Even though I’m enjoying the battles, I’m not sure if I’m approaching this or doing it in the right way. I’ve got a couple of questions.

  1. The basic flow of combat for a new enemy is to hit it in different areas to see where it is vulnerable and then go for that, right? Sometimes it is somewhat obvious, like if it has a big armored head but its belly looks unprotected. Dodge to avoid its attacks and strike when it is occupied going after my pet thing. Notice the animations to avoid charges, tail attacks and the like.

  2. It seems like my basic attack (pressing Y), seems to always do the most damage vs the enemies I have fought so far. Every once in a while I’ll try a different swing, but it always seems to do less damage so I go back to Y.

  3. When fighting an enemy for the first time should I be able to figure out if it has elemental weaknesses, or do I need to wait until I turn in enough research to update the monster codex? I had no idea the Barroth was weak to water when covered in mud (I didn’t even notice it was) and weak to fire otherwise - so I just used the basic attacks. How do I even do elemental damage?

  4. I tend to just want to get back into fighting so I don’t spend much time in town. Not much of a fan of the writing / voice acting / story. I did get a message stating I had research to turn in so I did that this time. I think I could have done that a while ago. I did go upgrade my weapon a couple battles ago. Are there things I should do in town each time between missions?

I guess I’m doing OK because I progressing, but not sure if I get the overall picture. Thanks!

1647

You can use the slinger to go straight from an overhead slash into true charge, while also changing direction. You can get to true charge very quickly now.

1648

Yup was just about to post this. Overhead slash, slinger burst to the face, monster hopefully flinches, TCS.

And I agree Merry, the side slash is actually useful now! Overhead slash, ooops the monster moved, side slash to gain ground, slinger burst to reposition, and them whamo, TCS.

These kind of subtle changes are so artfully done. It doesn’t change the fundamentals of the weapon, just tweaks it enough to make everything feel so much better.

The damage buff to TCS is also so, so good.

1649

First off, welcome to the obtuse and poorly documented world of Monster Hunter!

Yes, the gist of combat is to figure out the weak points and hit those weak points. There is more to combat (like breaking monster parts, severing tails, status effects, mounting, tripping, knockouts, elemental weaknesses, using the environment, traps) but it always comes back to whacking away at weak spots.

This all depends on the weapon you’re using. Each weapon has a variety of attacks, combos, etc. Which weapon are you using? I can give you the basics, but the training room can also help you out with this. The best resource is of course youtube. I would recommend Arekkz or Gaijinhunter’s youtube channels. They have great weapon tutorials.

The more “research” you do on any given monster the more information you unlock about the monster. Research involves gathering tracks, fighting the monster, and breaking monster parts. Look to the hunter’s notes often to learn about weaknesses/mechanics.

I wouldn’t worry much about this now, just go for the biggest attack value weapon you can make. Briefly, elemental damage is additional flat damage you get when using an elemental weapon type that a monster is weak to. You can see the type of elemental damage a weapon does in the weapon description.

At first, in town you just want to gobble up any missions you can find, make weapons/armor, eat meals, get bounties, and restock your item pouch from your box. Eventually other options open up, but don’t worry about those for now.

1650

Thanks Scott. I’m using the long sword. I’m ok using mostly one attack if that’s what works for the long sword. I was trying to pick a weapon that was pretty basic.

1651

Part of the awesome design of MH (and a lot of the fun!) comes from mastering weapon mechanics.

For example, attacking with the long sword fills up a meter, allowing you to use the R2 attack (a much more powerful attack). Connect with the final attack in the R2 combo, and your meter levels up, making your R2 even stronger.

The meter also powers the long sword’s amazing Spirit Helm Breaker attack: you launch yourself into the air like an anime samurai, and land with a hugely damaging overhead slice.

There are other badass moves as well (including the foresight slash, that if timed right, allows you ignore an incoming attack, and if landed, insta levels your meter).

Think of each weapon like a class in an RPG or a fighter in a fighting game. Each weapon is a whole new game to master.

1652

Maybe I need to spend more time in the training area to play around with combos more.

Will certain attacks do more damage to particular enemies, such as the basic Y attacks does more damage vs one, but the R2 does more vs another? Or does R2 always do more damage?

1653

So the short answer is the stronger attack will always be stronger versus every monster. So, if R2 does more damage, it will always do more damage, regardless of monster.

1654

I’d really recommend watching a tutorial video over playing around in the training area. It’ll give a much better idea of how you’re supposed to play it:

So yeah, the Long Sword might look like the basic option, but it’s actually delightfully complicated.

1655

OK, I didn’t understand the concept of leveling up the spirit meter.

I don’t think I can keep track of everything said in the video, but at least now I know to try and use the basic combo with the spirit meter combo to try and get my meter to red to boost damage output.

1656

FYI, weapon damage stat numbers are kinda fake. Elemental damage is only 10% of what is shown. Generally it’s more valuable on fast weapons that land many hits. Raw damage also has some curious multipliers. Read the full weapon mechanics if you want to max out some property of a build.

1657

I got my first mission that I had trouble with, hunting a Tobi Kadachi. Between his stunning and some of his hits did quite a bit of damage. I crafted some armor that was resistant to thunder and used the lock on to keep better track of him and beat him on try 2 or 3. He moved around pretty fast too.

1658

There are far easier to use weapons in MHW than the Longsword. I find it somewhat hard to use, and I’m the guy who mains a Switch Axe.

Anyway, the easiest weapons to use are probably Sword&Shield, Dual Daggers, and, for more defensive-oriented players, the Lance. I’d advise experimenting with those at first and then moving to something more complex when it’s time.

And watching tutorial videos for the weapons is very instructive. Not every mechanic is obvious, and the instructions on the training area, while technically mostly “complete”, lack the context necessary to help a player grasp exactly how each weapon works, or how to really make them shine.

1659

Yeah, of the “introductory” monsters Toki-Kadachi is the trickiest one.

Anyway, the first real test is yet to come. Though I’m sure you’ll pass with flying colors. After a good few tries. ;)

1660

Next monster is a big one - the Anjanath. So far, I’ve really only been crafting healing potions and some weapon and armor upgrades. I saw in the crafting menu there is tons of stuff, but none of it mentioned in game (or I missed it). Should I be crafting things like traps, or is it too early for that stuff?

1661

Ah, that’s the first real test I mentioned. Should be fun. ;)

Don’t worry much with traps yet. You can leave that for later. You should make sure you have plenty of potions though, and that you have your weapons and armor at least a bit upgraded.

1662

I think the game will introduce you to that when you have to do your first capture mission