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[nenjin]

Any Deviljho tips?

I've successfully hunted him a few times, but right now my only avenue for hunting him is finding him via Expeditions (or as an intruder on another hunt) and I don't quite have enough damage etc... to guarantee that I can capture him before he leaves the map. I have several crafting needs he's a part of, and apparently getting investigations is random so I can't really rely on those yet for longer hunt durations. If I had 30 minutes I'd be doing it no sweat, but the ~15 to 20 minute expedition timer they have is often just too short.

So other than just playing better and tighter, any tips folks have learned that make him a bit easier to put damage on? The son of a bitch rarely stands still, and even his knockdowns and roll overs and what not seem shorter than most other monsters. Going back to fight Bazelgeuse was like night and day, I kicked the shit out of him in like 7 minutes, where as I struggle to get Deviljho down to capture status within 15 minutes.

[Dostoevsky]

What weapon are you using?

Granted, it's been a while since I've last played (PC user, waiting for the expansion), but back when I played it a fair bit I pretty much had to rely on lance, gunlance, or heavy bowgun (with dedicated shielding and good ammo options) when fighting the great pickle. They're just so aggressive, so much, that being able the tanking/counter ability of those weapon options allowed me to squeeze in more hits.

Overall, though, it is a lot easier to get it as a specific target (either through the RNG quests or the rotating quests) and then getting a party. Of course, in that case you'll have to expect a certain amount of triple-carting failures.

[Ozyton]

It has been a long while since I last played but you should be able to just use the optional quest to fight him. Granted, investigations with gold/silver rewards will give you better stuff but that requires actually getting the investigation to begin with. When you're doing an optional quest it's a 50 minute time limit instead of the expedition timer, but you fail after 3 carts.

In case you still haven't unlocked the optional quest somehow here's a copy paste I just found:

[*]Go on an expedition with ??? monster Icon. Get Track or at least see DevilJho for once.
[*]Head back to base and talk to 3 researchers with blue exclamation mark on the right side of the quest board.
[*]That should unlock the special investigation quest for you.
[*]Finish the special investigation quest head back, talk to the same group of 3 researchers.
[*]You then unlock dragonproof mantle and finally Jho's Optional Quest. Today's Special: Hunter Flambe.

[nenjin]

Oh derr. That's right you can replay all the quests. I'm pretty sure I have his optional quest. Thanks.

Also apparently the actual answer in fact git gud. I don't hardly ever use my counter but it's literally the answer to most of my problems.

[forsaken1111]

recently picked this up when it went on 50%, so far it's been a blast killing things and making pants out of them

[Ozyton]

There are still things I need to do in this game, but I've been pretty burned out and none of my friends feel like playing, so I'll probably pick it up once Iceborne comes out on PC

[nenjin]

I need to beat the 4 big Eldar Dragons but I've been spending inordinate amounts of time farming up all my weapons to max and making armor sets I don't use. In truth I'm just nervous to try them solo, but I will prevail!

[Jopax]

So I've been trying to get into this over the past week or so, don't have much playtime in yet but I've done the first couple of quests and some side stuff. The tracking and gathering stuff is fun, the combat I'm still not quite down with. I can get the basics of it and how it should work but the controls (k+m) are kinda too clunky and not entirely intuitive when it comes to aiming. I've fiddled with the settings a bit but it seems kinda weird to be able to lock on specific parts of the body and then your attack direction still being dependant entirely on your keyboard directional inputs which are just not precise enough for that.  So you end up with a lot of flailing about and whiffed hits because of it. It might just be my choice of the gunlance not being the best but I like the idea of the weapon and it seems to be the middle ground in terms of complexity between the ranged weapons which seem to be puzzles in their own right and the more straightforward melee stuff.

Any tips regarding coming to grips with the control scheme? Wait for a controller? Fiddle with the settings? Or is it just a matter of unlearning my DS habits and adapting to this stuff (which might be easier said than done since I'm still playing a bit of DS3 on the side these days)

[Nighthawk]

So I've been trying to get into this over the past week or so, don't have much playtime in yet but I've done the first couple of quests and some side stuff. The tracking and gathering stuff is fun, the combat I'm still not quite down with. I can get the basics of it and how it should work but the controls (k+m) are kinda too clunky and not entirely intuitive when it comes to aiming. I've fiddled with the settings a bit but it seems kinda weird to be able to lock on specific parts of the body and then your attack direction still being dependant entirely on your keyboard directional inputs which are just not precise enough for that.  So you end up with a lot of flailing about and whiffed hits because of it. It might just be my choice of the gunlance not being the best but I like the idea of the weapon and it seems to be the middle ground in terms of complexity between the ranged weapons which seem to be puzzles in their own right and the more straightforward melee stuff.

Any tips regarding coming to grips with the control scheme? Wait for a controller? Fiddle with the settings? Or is it just a matter of unlearning my DS habits and adapting to this stuff (which might be easier said than done since I'm still playing a bit of DS3 on the side these days)

Mouse and keyboard aren't something I would ever recommend for a game series that has historically been designed with a controller in mind, but MHW's controls are pretty usable with mouse and keyboard. The biggest limitation of the keyboard is the lack of full 360 degree movement, and thus precise melee aiming, but you can get around that.

First, if you're using the permanent Zelda-esque lock-on camera that constantly keeps the monster in the center of your screen, don't. Change the settings to only move the camera to the monster when you press a key or just... don't lock on. Like you guessed, this game is not Dark Souls and lock-on is not really meant to be used all the time. With that out of the way, just keep your target body part in the center of the screen, right in front of your hunter when you're attacking. This will guarantee that an attack performed while holding forward (W) will connect as long as your spacing is right.

The concept is pretty much the same for people who use controllers, too; keep the monster on the screen with your own camera controls so you have the freedom to decide what to stare at. It might seem counter intuitive, like you said, to have a lock-on system and then not really use it, but one of the key elements of Monster Hunter is positioning and surgical precision with melee weapons, so it's something you'll just have to get used to doing yourself.

[Ozyton]

Pretty much what Nighthawk said, but there is one option that you should definitely enable... but I forget the name of it. I'm pretty sure when the game first launched the mouse controls felt like it was poorly imitating an analog stick, or it had ridiculous amounts of mouse acceleration, but whatever the case is there's an option now to have the mouse behave like in any third person shooter as you would expect. Unfortunately I'm too lazy to open the game up to see what the name of the option is, but with some fiddling you should find it.

The concept is pretty much the same for people who use controllers, too; keep the monster on the screen with your own camera controls so you have the freedom to decide what to stare at. It might seem counter intuitive, like you said, to have a lock-on system and then not really use it, but one of the key elements of Monster Hunter is positioning and surgical precision with melee weapons, so it's something you'll just have to get used to doing yourself.

I'm kinda weird in that I don't use lock-on, and don't always keep the monster centered. There are even times where I've timed a counter/dodge based on audio cues because I let the monster jump off outside of my view and my thumbs were busy. I just can't get used to tapping L1 to snap the view to the monster. This also means the camera tends to wind up in awkward positions but I don't think it's ever negatively impacted my play. I always play with 'orientation 2' controls so no matter which way my camera is facing my dodge and certain special attack controls are relatively to my hunter (I.E. lance's super hop is always back + dodge no matter where the camera is facing). Then again I've been playing with those orientation controls since MH3U so I've gotten quite used to them by now and would probably be terrible playing any other way.

[forsaken1111]

Yeah I recently got into this too and the controls felt clunky at first. I did a few small changes to make them more usable, like binding defend (I use a charge blade) to shift and making sprint Q, a few other minor tweaks. It's worked out really well. Stick with it and it will start to feel better imo.

[nenjin]

Echoing other's sentiments. I don't use lock-on ever. It actually interferes with me moving and dodging the way I feel I need to. After Dark Souls it's weird to orient yourself that way but it works. In Dark Souls the monster is the center of all movement and you're relative to it. For me MHW is the opposite. You are always the center of the movement and everything moves around you. I'll often not even have my camera actually pointed at the monster. If I'm facing forward and the monster's leg is directly in front of me and the rest to the right, I'll keep my camera pointed forwards basically not looking at 90% of the monster. It's more important for me to know which direction is truly forward at that moment, because it's relevant both to where my attacks will go and which direction I will dodge. I often dodge in expectation of where the monster is going to move or swing than actual knowledge of it and seeing it with my own eyes.

Aiming will probably always feel awkward to some degree. Even now I can constantly miss with my charged attack (Long Sword.) In the higher ranks recently what I've found is that single, deliberate strikes often pay off better than trying to wail on something with a bunch of hits. The monsters move so much, even during their attacks when they're rooted to the same spot, and counter attack with such regularity (especially when enraged), that I've been having better luck doing 1 or 2 hits, then using a dodge attack to reposition for the inevitable change in the monster's position or their counter attack. Often a monster will turn and decide to hit you and will stay focused on that spot even if you GTFO of there before the attack comes. So not staying rooted to the same position, either with combos or with being locked on constantly turning you to the face them, helps you stay out of the way of a lot of attacks. Like, in Dark Souls it feels like the dodging is designed around you moving with the enemy via lock on so their attack and your dodge are in synch. In MHW, that kind of mentality seems to keep you in their line of attack more often than it gets you out of it.

[nenjin]

So what skills do people find they always come back to?

For me most of my choices are defense-based. I feel a lot cozier with all this ass coverage rather than going for offense.

Divine Blessing was the first skill I just started habitually going with. I've basically worn Legiana head and chest since they were available and got really used just taking a shitload less damage than I expected to at random. There are many times it has been the difference between finishing the fight and carting for me.

Stun Resistance has cut down the number of times I cart probably in half. In the later game you just can't get away with standing there for 5 to 6 seconds, there's so many attacks that will deal 60%+ of your health that if you're already damaged you're screwed. Like Kirin. And I just got my third Steadfast decoration so it's good bye to stunning entirely for me.

Evade Window. Even though it has many levels I saw a guide online that said only two are necessary. Almost starts to feel just a little bit like Dark Souls with the iframes and lets you do silly stuff around the monster's feet easier.

Quick Sheathe. I only just started using this but now I can't live without it. Long Sword has an ok-ish sheathe timing by default, but it still sucks and that delay on being able to start sprinting can really fuck you over. Now I feel like I can be much more reactive to the situation, repositioning is less agonizing than before, and the overall just flow of character movement feels better.

Flinch Free. I dunno how much it's helping at level 1, but I swear I now take a lot of little damage while fighting that I don't even notice anymore because it doesn't interrupt me. That was one of the most frustrating parts about learning to play MHW was the constant interruption from various kinds of damage. Hard enough to learn to fight and combo already without literally the monster brushing past you interrupting your attacks. Between Quick Sheathe and Flinch Free I can do so much more damage consistently in combat now.

I played most of the game using Poison/Paralysis all the time, but I've kinda drifted away from that since. It seems like it takes a lot of specialization to make those elements worth it. Sure it's nice to paralyze an enemy once or twice a fight, but doesn't seem worth tying up gear and decoration slot choices when there's so much other interesting stuff to use. In the specific case where a monster is super weak to it, it's worth making a build around it. But for average everyday monster huntin', not so much.

[Ozyton]

Evade Window. Even though it has many levels I saw a guide online that said only two are necessary. Almost starts to feel just a little bit like Dark Souls with the iframes and lets you do silly stuff around the monster's feet easier.

Source? I used to run evade up (now evasion window) and evade distance on my Volvidon switchaxe back in MH4U but ever since they changed the moveset in MHW I can't really get into it. I heard that the I-frames they put on SA's dodges are smaller than a normal dodge which sounds like an unnecessary nerf to me. I tried throwing Evade window 5 in a SA and even then I don't feel like I could dodge attacks as well as I used to in 4U. (EDIT: I somewhat consider evade window an offensive skill simply because it increases your uptime actually dealing damage instead of healing etc.)

As for currently? I usually just ran the meta lance sets, nothing fancy, but I absolutely must have Guard on a lance. Guard 3 is good enough most of the time, but 5 feels a lot better. I sometimes use Guard Up because I have a 2 slot gem for it but there aren't a lot of monsters with laser beam attacks in this game so it's very situational. (Being able to sit in ATKT's lava bath is nice though, if a bit risky)

I haven't put a build together for it yet but some of the new moves for sword and shield look pretty sexy (I'm a fan of attacks based on timing) so I was thinking of putting together a build with the Gobbler skill on it. I once saw a decent build someone had made but I was dumb and did not write it down, but basically he had a bunch of nice skills and then had room for one or two more gems so he put something like Grinder on, but I think gobbler would have been much nicer to speed up your buffs and healing. Naturally, Wide Range is a necessity for a support sword and shield, but I sometimes put some on my other builds when I'm not sure what else to throw on.


In terms of element/status, poison is nice since it's free DPS which you don't need to hit the monster to do. Paralasys is nice if you're playing with a group of people since it increases their DPS at the cost of your own, very nice if you have someone with a greatsword. Same thing for sleep, people used to run sleep greatswords in the older games. The meta for MHW however is just raw damage, which is has apparently been remedied in Iceborne. The great thing about raw damage being strong is that it simply works against most monsters and you don't need specific builds for it. However that is also the downside, you end up using one build for everything and don't end up using the ~14 pages of loadouts you are provided. Incidentally there are 14 weapons in the game... it'll be nice to have a full page of lance elemental loadouts once more.

[nenjin]

Coulda been Arekkz Gaming channel on Youtube, it was a while ago. Other comments on Reddit say that EW 5 is about double the iframes of zero, so I'm guessing the coefficient works out that 2 gets you the most bang for your buck.