Topic: Monster Hunter Rise

Yea good hunts! Wish I could have played longer but, you know. I'm so close to MR 100 I can taste it.

@Ralizah
Try watching some SwitchAxe tutorials.

The best skills you want are Rapid Morph, Focus and Power Prolonger. Then get into a rhythm using ZR for a Sword draw attack, then A for a double swing Sword attack, then ZR for a Morph Slash into Axe mode, then repeat with ZR for a Morph Slash Sword attack, A for double Slash, ZR Morph Axe Attack, etc.

It's basically alternating between Sword and Axe using ZR, but with an extra A attack once in Sword mode. You get extra damage on Morph attacks. This builds up Axe meter while also getting in higher damage Sword attacks.

Of course, you first want to build up your meter in Axe mode. If you do a wild swing 3 or more times and press X, it combos into an overhead Slash that provides a buff which boosts your gage fill rate.

Use invincible gambit silkbind liberally. Through roars, to close gaps, etc.

@JaxonH I watched Gaijin Hunter's tutorials when deciding what weapon to pick up next.

Knowing the properties of the weapon and actually learning how to make effective use of them in battle are two different things.

But yeah, I've found invincible gambit is the only silkbind attack I'm consistently using.

@Ralizah
Invincible gambit is my go to. And the other yanks you a distance and adds gage meter to keep you in Sword mode. So I monitor my meter and, if I'm in Sword mode and my meter is running low, I'll use ZL+A to replenish my meter. Also helps you get out of dodge when needed. I also keep the compressed elemental discharge on this red scroll.

Then on blue scroll I swap to the full elemental discharge, and the silkbind where you go straight up and attack downward at a 45 degree angle, and if a monster is down where I can pull off an SAED, I swap scrolls to blue, pull off a full, proper discharge where you latch onto their body, then after the explosion where it throws you off them, while still in the air I use the silkbind where you attack downward 45 degrees, which skips the long landing animation and gets even more attacks in.

Learning when to swap back and forth between red and blue took a bit of playing but I eventually found the right rhythm.

Lobby open. 5477

My new layered armor set with new weapon

@Ulysses
I don't think they'll add charm augmenting. Since charms are already one aspect of endgame, melding for the best charm.

Now the second aspect of endgame is making the perfect layered armor sets for fashion.

And the third aspect of endgame is crafting the perfect mix set with the most desired skills.

The first aspect is still solid and continues to provide incentive to hunt, as you can always find a better charm.

The second aspect is still solid since there's multiple sets people like to wear, and each set costs 10-15 tickets which means 4-7 hrs per set. And there's a TON of layered sets.

But the third aspect is kinda one and done. Once you make your perfect mixed set, it's a wrap. You're never gonna use anything different. But this Qurios Crafting adds an element of longevity by incentivising you to enhance your ideal set with more stats and skills.

It's a brilliant addition.

Wanted to play MH yesterday and today but I got deathly ill last night out of nowhere. Throwing up multiple times, sinus pressure in the head so bad you feel like you wanna die, even looking at light causing sharp pains.

Feel way better now but still not good enough to game.

I just realized July is almost over. Title Update 1 should be releasing within the next 3-4 weeks, I imagine. That's great timing. I definitely won't have reached MR100 by then, so there won't be any gap between launch day content and title update content like there was for the base game.

I thought I would make it to MR100 this weekend, but I failed. Got pretty close, but the grind is absurd. I swear at this point I need to do like four Anomaly or Six MR quests, if not more, to level up once. And sure I am getting a lot of these down to pretty good times now, but assuming I am playing at my absolute best, that is like what, almost two hours to rank up once? I consider like a six to eight hour a marathon session I do only a couple of times a month and that would net me four ranks.

This end game sucked in Rise, and with Rise I had even more choice of things to do, the fact you are given so few quests and are expected to slam at them for dozens upon dozens upon dozens of hours in Sunbreak is just so tedious.

I did manage to extend the fun by learning the Lance, and I did try to make all of the purple Lances, but the mantle drop rates are absurdly low and are required for basically every purple lance and while I am still enjoying that Lance skill curve and feedback loop, I am deffo ready now to just be done so I can take a break until the next title update.

Like it is funny, because Sunbreak was sold as a "massive" expansion, but it is full of artificial filler and bloat and unnecessary progression blockers, the amount of meaningful content is really thin and it seems to only get thinner the longer you go. This was a major issue, and complaint from people from base Rise, so it's weird they didn't really do anything at all to address this problem.

August update quests require mininum rank of MR 10.

I hit MR 100 the other day finally, mostly just during the process of trying to complete all the uncompleted quests (still nowhere close to done) and hunting with friends.

decided to go back to playing Waifu Hunter as I love the new dual voice line in English, plus I got this ridiculous new sailor armour set so it just all goes together so well.

I also finally made it to MR100! Sadly, my friends are a little behind me still, so I am waiting for them to catch up.

OK, Switch Axe is pretty fun. I might not be getting optimal damage, since I don't stay in sword mode very long, but I'm really getting a feel for the power this weapon brings. And while I only use one of the silkbind skills with it, Invincible Gambit is literally the best one I've used to date.

Made it to MR 100, fought the final monster and also beat the final quest after you beat that monster, earning me this crown. I might keep grinding out the purple weapons, but for now I guess I am technically "done" until the first title update.

Been in a black hole for half a week now.

Got back from my out of state trip Saturday and immediately got super sick, like, more than I've ever been in my life I can recall. I was comatose for 72 hrs, haven't eaten anything in days... finally started getting strength back today.

Which means I probably won't be actually playing again for another week or so. Makes me realized how far behind I really am. Thankfully, that MR10 requirement means I can continue chipping away at progressing to MR100 while checking off all the Quests and playing new title update content.

Especially with Xenoblade 3 dropping too. I can't even keep up with 1 game in tip top shape. How to keep up with 2 games in this condition...

@JaxonH You're not "behind" anything. There's no race. Play Sunbreak at your own speed and just focus on getting better.

I assume you have someone around who can help care for you in your condition?

@Ralizah
Oh ya, mom is all over it. "I got you some sushi, here's a box of dad's old medicines, you're going to the doctor tomorrow, not gonna keep sleeping your life away in there not getting better". Like... thanks 👍 Could do with less of the guilt tripping next time though 😉

I know I of all ppl say not to rush, I just hate missing out hunting with everyone, which is a rare opportunity that only comes around every other year or so.

That Lucent footage is looking sooo dang good! As someone who fought Lucent in MH3U where he debuted, I gotta say, they're doing him serious justice.

@Ralizah
BTW, don't even worry about optimal damage. Just play into the flow for whatever feels good. You'll work your way toward higher damage efficiency with time and practice. I spent 600 hrs with the weapon in base Rise. It basically comes down to Rapid Morph, Power Prolonger, Focus. At least Rapid Morph though.

I also stuck with Invincible Gambit basically the first 200 hrs, until I learned how important gage upkeep was in Sword mode, so while ZL+X was good for Gambit, ZL+A would refill my gage while I'm in Sword mode and would ensure I keep cruching heavy damage without hitting that reloading animation. You'll see it's value more as you use Sword mode more, which you should use as much as possible that you're comfortable with (hence why a truly flexible back and forth combo allows you to flow into Sword or Axe as needed in a moments notice). The blue scroll can be set to other silkbinds that combo off an SAED. You'll realize that too, with practice. Do enough of those things and eventually you realize there's a massive animation cost when landing after being thrown off after the explosion. Switching to blue scroll first, where you can skip that long animation by executing another silkbind immediately after and downward diving into the target, it completely bypasses that lengthy animation. So it's kind of a one trick pony I guess, but it's a really nice one. And since you can freely swap at any time, no reason not to use it on a downed monster.

But that will all come as you get more comfortable and decide to try out different things and experiment their usefulness in various scenarios.

That new Switch counter though... so satisfying.

@JaxonH Mothers and guilt trips go hand-in-hand. It sounds like you're being well-cared for, though, which is good.

Eh, I imagine several of us will be actively hunting for months, at least. I'm basically doing a hunt or two a day, since I'm in that period where the game is just grinding and ticking off checkboxes. Gives me time to get used to the Switch Axe.

I'm actually a lot more comfortable using it in axe mode atm, so I've been activating the elemental finisher move almost right away after going into sword mode. I'll likely push for more sword mode time once I get bored doing that, but even with my probably sub-optimal playstyle atm, I'm still tearing through monsters in a way that wasn't possible with my other main weapons.

I re-decced for SA, and I'm pretty happy with the build so far. Maxed out Defense Boost, Stamina Thief, Partbreaker, Speed Sharpening, and Rapid Morph.

+2 on:
Attack Boost
Protective Polish
Constitution
Slugger
Evade Window
Evade Extender
Sleep Resistance
Stun Resistance

And then a whole load of different skills I'm +1 on.

@Ralizah
I think that's pretty common. Watching HeyJay's journey into Monster Hunter and learning Switch Axe, I noticed over the weeks of his journals he'd say he would try to use Sword mode more, but it wasn't until after he finished Rise and went back to replay it again on PC, that he really found that groove he was looking for. I think it's just understanding monster behaviors and predicting movements. If you're confident in what they're going to do next you won't hesitate to go into Sword mode. But if you're less certain, you'll be more inclined toward axe mode since it doesn't hamper your movement, and if you're less certain about what the monster is doing next or where they're moving next, movement is not something you'd readily want handicapped.

As your knowledge and understanding of the monster grows, your skill will respond accordingly. And it'll just naturally happen where you won't have to think about using Sword Mode. It'll just be the default mode, unless you don't have gage. In which case, Axe mode becomes the necessarily fuel pitstop before Sword Mode.