~ mazereon presents ~ _____ _ ___ /__ \ |__ ___ / __\ _____ ____ _ _ _ _ __ / /\/ '_ \ / _ \ /__\/// _ \ \ /\ / / _` | | | | '_ \ / / | | | | __/ / \/ \ (_) \ V V / (_| | |_| | | | | \/ |_| |_|\___| \_____/\___/ \_/\_/ \__, |\__,_|_| |_| |___/ ___ _ _ / __\___ _ __ ___ _ __ ___ _ __ __| (_)_ _ _ __ ___ / / / _ \| '_ ` _ \| '_ \ / _ \ '_ \ / _` | | | | | '_ ` _ \ / /__| (_) | | | | | | |_) | __/ | | | (_| | | |_| | | | | | | \____/\___/|_| |_| |_| .__/ \___|_| |_|\__,_|_|\__,_|_| |_| |_| |_| For Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G/Freedom Unite v 2.0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= Contents Introduction Change History Part 1: Bowgun Basics BSC I Basics AMO II Ammunition ELE III Elemental Shots UBG IV Upgrading your Bowgun HBS V Heavy Bowgun Specific Information SHB VI Suggested HBGs LBS VII Light Bowgun Specific Information RFR VIII Rapid Fire SLB IX Suggested LBGs ASC X Armour Skills & Combos CAS XI Combining armour skills GGT XII General gunning Tactics SUG XIII Suggested Armour sets for Elder, High Rank and G Rank Part 2: Strategies for Gunning Every Creature LYN I Lynians NEO II Neopetrons DRM III Dromes BWY IV Bird Wyverns WYV V Wyverns PSC VI Piscines CPC VII Carapeceons PRI VIII Primatus EDS IX Elder Dragons Part 3: The Monster Hunter Quest INT I Introduction LOS II Rathalos REX III Tigrex NGA IV Naruga Kuruga/Narcuga RAJ V Rajang BRA I Bragging Rights Credits and Contact Info ============================================================================= Introduction ============================================================================= Welcome, sais, may all your days be long upon the earth! What you've stumbled across here is my best attempt to distill hundreds and hundreds of hours of gunning experience in Monster Hunter, in order to assist people in getting into bowgunning. Bowguns (BGs) are often looked at with disdain and largely rejected by most players. And to be fair, in incarnations of Monster Hunter past, BGs have been somewhat underpowered. Recoil and ammo capabilities have put people off getting into gunning. But now in 2G/Unite with the re-working of the recoil system, BGs have gone from being a 'viable' class to a stand out one. Indeed, Heavy Bowguns (HBGs) can compete with the Hammer and Greatsword class in terms of quest completion speed. They take a lot of work to understand, however, and there are a lot of stigmas still attached to BGs which I've tried to address with this guide. Wherever possible, I've backed up my assertions with videos or pictures, too. This Compendium contains a *lot* of information. It can be used a gunning Bible, but for most people it's far more effective if you selectively search it. Hold Control and press F to open the Find box, and then enter terms to quickly find what information you seek. It's important to note I've designed this so MH players of all experience levels can get something out of it. It's designed for everyone from complete newbies to seasoned vets looking to get into gunning. Please note that the 2G and Unite translations of weapon names differ in places. If you see a weapon like Exuberance/Prosperity, then that means it's called Exuberance in 2G and Prosperity in Unite. The weapons only have different names, the stats are identical. I'm more than happy to take comments or questions not answered in this guide to mazereon at gmail dot com. But please, do check to make sure the questions aren't already answered first. Throughout the guide there are YouTube links. To view these, copy the link and paste it into your browser. - mazereon ============================================================================= Change History ============================================================================= v2.0 Fixed errors (thanks JohnnyBloodyRaven and Shadow Edge), added in links to RoTR and Minegarde. Also added some recommendations for which creatures LBG is perferable for (Thanks Cobslayerz0356). Added Vampirecosmonaut's variants of the Elemental Maniac set. v1.99: Minor fixes and clarifications. Now that Kira's removed her guide, shot damage guide references now point to VC/Dai's guide. v1.98: Added m45t3rz30's Absolute Bow set, added misc. videos and made a few random fixes. v1.97: Added Crimson Fatalis, Silver Los and Purple hermitaur videos. Added VC's shot range chart and Gypceros pellet gun suggestions (Ta SuperVolt and VC). Corrected several minor errors. v1.95: Added extra Gypceros tips (thanks Wida Hahn and Vash_TS) and GamersHell to the host list. Added more videos and notes on Dragon S. v1.92: Added Akantor, Tigrex, Devil Blos, Ucamulbas and Black Gravios videos v1.9: Added low and high rank weapon suggestions, fixed minor errors, added most jewels needed in custom sets, added this section. ============================================================================= Part 1: Bowgun Basics ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Basics BSC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsheathe is Tri, and there’s no unsheathe 'attack', though pressing R trigger, Cir and Tri together unsheathes and reloads your gun. Reloading is Tri while unsheathed. Selecting ammo is by holding L trigger, then selecting the desired ammo with Tri and X, then releasing L. You must re-load if you switch out of your chosen ammo and then back to it. Circle to fire. Your scope is R trigger once unsheathed, aimed with the analogue stick. R trigger again to unzoom. If you hold L trigger while pressing any direction key, you switch to a third person view that allows you to aim on the fly, but it’s not easily done. Good for scoping surroundings in a pinch. When you fire your BG, there are five ranges, from shortest (1) to longest (5). How far away you are from a creature impacts on how much damage you'll do. For Pierce and Pellet, ranges 2 and 3 do the most, 1 and 4 are next most and 5 (the longest distance away) is the lowest damage. To observe this, try sniping a prey at very long range - it takes around twice as may shots. Elemental shots however are range independant. For Normal, ranges 1 and 2 do the most, then 3 and 4, and finally long range shots at 5 do very little. Fire S fits in this category. Crag and Clust shots do fixed damage aside from the initial contact hit, and can be fired at any range with virtually the same effect. You'll soon find the sweet spot to shoot from to maximise your damage. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- II Ammunition AMO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- To be a range master, you must understand your weapon. And to understand a range weapon, you must understand what you’re firing. Normal 1 and 2 are simple shots: You fire them, and they hit and damage the hitzone they land on. Normal 1 is infinite ammo but does very little damage – if you end up with only this left on a quest, you should probably abandon if the monster you’re hunting isn’t almost dead. Normal 2 should be your standard shot, as it does good damage and is simply targeted and fired. Works well generally and on small, fast monsters or where pierce shots don’t work well. Normal 3 is slightly different. It hits, then damages the hitzone it lands on and shards fly off. These will either hit adjacent hitzones or fly off. If you land shards, it’ll do a lot of damage, but otherwise you’re better off using Normal 2. Takes a bit of practice to master, but you’ll learn where to hit to land most shards. Pierce 1, 2, 3: These all work the same. They hit one hitzone and travel through to the next one, then the next until they hit ~5 times or exit the wyvern. The higher level shots do more damage. These shots work best on long monsters like Gravios, Plesioth and Aka/Ucamulbas. If you’re fighting something small and fast like a Rajang, don’t use them. Has a recoil so beware. Pellet 1, 2, 3: These shots are different from the above in that they require little precision. You fire, and the shot splits up and hits at random, though has a degree of auto aim if you fire close enough to a creature. Works excellently for dromes and Kirin: fire, and a half second later shards will hit a few points. Also good for firing at a Diablos’ tail, for example. Crag: A simple shot: You fire, it hits and a split second later explodes. Does good damage and acts like a sonic bomb. It’s useful for fishing out Plessy/Cephadrome. Also, enough damage (more accurately, KO value) from this will KO a monster like a hammer (see VioletKIRA’s stickied guide) if you hit the head. It’s not much use in solo play, but it’s very good for ad hoc battles. Again, has recoil to watch out for. Good for smaller monsters. Clust: You fire, and when it hits it does minor damage. But then it fragments into several bomblets which explode. If all hit, it does severe damage, but will take practice to land. This works very well on bigger, slower creatures, but again on a monster like a Rajang or Blangonga it’s not great because the bomblets won’t stay on it if it moves. Another shot with recoil. NOTE ON CLUST SPAMMING There are a lot of players who remember Fatalis runs from MHF and MH, when spamming Clust 2 was quite effective. Now, with the higher damaging guns, Clust still has a place, but it's not at G rank or even High rank fights. As above, clust damage is fixed. It's great at low rank, OK at high rank and poor at G rank. You're actually much better off just firing Normal 2 in terms of damage and not getting caught out while recoil-locked. Note that there is no creature in the entire game (except Fatalis in the right circumstances) that gets killed faster with Clust than it does with other tactics. Here's a chart made by Vampirecosmonaut to demonstrate shot distances visually: http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/psp/file/943356/57743 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III Elemental Shots ELE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Fire S: Functions as a fire elemented Normal type 2. Ice S: Functions as a ice elemented Pierce style shot. Water S: Functions as a water elemented style Pierce shot. Thunder S: Functions as a thunder elemented style Pierce shot. Dragon S: [Captain Obvious] Functions as a dragon elemented pierce shot. BG gets great mileage from elemental shots since they don’t have recoil, meaning they can be spammed. Dragon S though is not recommended. You can only carry 23 shots with combines, and it's got a fixed damage value that ignores weapon's raw. Has poor damage potential even with skills, and horrible recoil. Can be used to break an Elder Dragon's horns, but few other uses. Please note the elemental shots function differently from other shot types. While they may be Pierce *style* (Apart from Fire S) they don't get a damage bonus from Pierce S Up (and Fire S doesn't from Normal S Up). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV Upgrading your BG UBG ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- So congratulations, you’ve decided to get into the mysterious and new world of bowgunning. Off you run to the creation store and plonk down your Lao Shan Ruby for that Emperor Lao Cannon. Now you’ve made it, what are those options you get?! Modding: The first one is simple, it upgrades the damage of your weapon. As soon as you can afford it, get all the way to Mod level 5. From here, you may only attach one of the two possible options, which are different for heavy and light bowguns. Power barrel: Gives a good boost to damage. When you have defensive skills on your armour, this is probably the attachment of choice. OR, a [HBG Only] Shield: An attachment to have if you have offensive armour skills and need some protection. While you aren’t attacking, you’ll auto block attacks, including screams. The residual damage you take is higher than other classes, but it's better than getting run over by a Diablos. [LBG Only] Silencer: This device noticeably lowers recoil. If you're using a Pellet, Pierce, Crag or Clust set primarily, this is a very handy attachment to have. For recoil-less shots, it's not worth using. And with both of those, you can equip a: Zoom Scope: When in zoom mode, you can zoom your gun in further. Not really that useful in most situations, since without the Target range down skill, your shots won’t reach as far as you can see. But hey, why not? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- V Heavy Bowgun Specific Information HBS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have had numerous discussions with experienced players about the role of the Heavy Bowgun and it strikes me as unusual that it is seen as a support class or a novelty. In my opinion, Heavy bowgun (HBG) is probably the most underrated class in 2G. Since it seemingly lacks the power of melee weapons or the mobility of bow, people tend to overlook it as a class. This guide is intended to open people to the potential of what is the fastest killing classes for some monsters, after it was buffed up from Freedom/ Portable 2 to 2G. Firstly, the downsides of HBG. As you’ve no doubt noticed, when unsheathed, it has limited mobility (comparable to a Gunlance). Limited ammo (ignoring the Normal 1 shot which does negligible damage) means if you aren’t accurate, you’re going to be stuck with bashing things with your bowgun, never a good look (HBG can melee attack with Tri + Circle, and the Felyne Blunt Force makes that damage rise. Before you ask, no, it isn’t worth using). And you’ll need to be stationary while firing, leaving you open. But the fact is, with practice and skill, these issues can be practically negated. The strengths of HBG are many, as it’s a class that can be played a number of ways. It’s got great elemental damage, great and underrated raw damage (did you know the Ucamulbas Cannon does 614 raw before Kitchen skills, Charms, talons and any other buffs?), and ammo limits aren’t really a problem when you learn weak points. You can equip a shield and use the Guard Inc skill to constantly tank all hits – and even without it, the shield auto-blocks if you aren’t firing. You can go all out offence and use a power barrel for even more damage, or use a long range scope and snipe monsters. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI Suggested HBGs SHB ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HR1 - 3: LOW RANK At this stage in the game, HBG isn't yet a specialised class, so weapon suggestions are limited. Basically, look for the gun that best suits a given creature and that's easily made. For the most part, any weapon that fires Normal 2 and has high raw works - so the Kut Ku/Garuga guns are fine. The only guns you SHOULDN'T use are the Diablos/Monoblos ones, since they suck. Very low shot types and clip sizes = fail. Quickcaster: Fires all elements, and low rank Kirin are pretty easy to kill. A useful weapon for your armoury. Made from Kirin materiels. Daora's Delphinidae: An awesome looking with low recoil for Pierce shooting. One of the few guns for this rank that fires Ice S. Requires Daora parts. Teostra's Artillery: a useable Fire based weapon with decent damage. Requries Tesotra mats, Lao Shan Cannon: Hard to go wrong with. Fires all the shots you'd want and has great damage. Devastating when paired with Death Stench armour. Needs - wait for it - Lao shan materials. Bastionmage: A great Pellet option for Low rank, with 6 shot clips of Pellet 1-3. Lacking power, but Pellet S Up helps that. Made with Gypceros mats. HR4 - 6: HIGH RANK Hidden Sniper: 6 shots of Pierce munitions and Very fast reload makes this the Pierce weapon of choice at High rank. If you don't need elemental shots, this gun is the way to go. Made from naruga mats. Tankmage+: A solid Pellet option for this rank, before you can get other pellet guns. OK to use, but should be ditched for better options as soon as you can. Made from Gypceros parts. QuickCaster+: A limited weapon, but good for Elemental Speed Firing since it uses all elemental shots. Made from High rank Kirin. Grande Daora: A good pierce weapon and one of the few High rank guns with Ice S. Looks absolutely badass, too, and is made from High rank Daora mats. Vor Cannon: Similar to Destiny's Hand (below). Good shot options and reload makes it a worthwhile Pierce and all purpose gun. Made from Fatalis. Destiny's Hand: A versatile weapon. Good with pierce shots and also good elemental options. Fast reload makes it much more viable than the Lao guns for general use without Auto reload. Made from Crimson Fatalis. Emperor Lao Shan Cannon: Your best bet for an all-round high rank gun. Great damage and shot capability means a very versatile weapon, though without Load Up or Auto reload/Speed Fire the very slow reload is an issue. Supreme Lao Shan Cannon: As above. Slightly less damage, but a weapon slot for gemming. Both Lao guns are made from... Lao Shan parts. HR7 - 9: G RANK Shadow Cannon [Dark Wind]: A fantastic Pierce gun. No Element support, but massive (6 round) clips of all 3 Pierce shots, combined with amazing reload speed. The raw seems low, but don't forget that 40% affinity is essentially +10% damage over time. With Silver Sol Z it's a very formidable weapon. Requires: G rank Naruga parts. Destiny's Fist: While farming G rank Crimson Fatalis isn't fun, this gun is. It's a great Pierce gun, with similar clip/reload to the Naruga gun above, but it's got three elemental shot types too. Expensive, however. Requires: Crimson Fatalis G rank parts. Vor Cannon: A solid Normal/Pierce/element gun. It's stats are nothing to be sneezed at and killing Black Fatalis isn't that hard. A worthy substitute to either of the above weapons. Requires: Black Fatalis G rank parts. Dragonwood Cannon: The hands-down best Pellet gun in the game. Great damage, two slots, high Pellet clips and low recoil. It's worth farming Yama to make this, as it'll let you farm Diablos and Kirin very quickly once you have it. Requires: Yamatsukami materials. Tzar Lao Shan Cannon: Of course, no HBG weapon list is complete without this. Shocking reload speed is outweighed by Speed Fire and the damage and recoil is supreme. After factoring in Affinity, it's the highest damaging HBG. Getting a Lao Divine plate is a chore but once you have this gun it'll seem worth it. Requires: G rank Lao Shan parts Ucamulbas Cannon: The best Ice capable HBG and a scary weapon. Great Pierce ability and huge raw. Even factoring in affinity (it's -40%) you still only lose 10% damage over time, making this a great choice for your Uca Divine plate. Requires: Uca materials ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII Light Bowgun Specific Information LBS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- LBGs have drawbacks, as anyone who’s tried to use them will know. If you try and use them as a surrogate HBG, you will quickly notice that their damage output is about 25% lower, typically, meaning accuracy and wise ammo use is required. But after a lot of play, I have come to realise that there is a strong correlation: As HH is to Hammer, so LBG is to HBG. Hammers are an amazing weapon [/shameless plug]. They consistently win speed competitions, and have a lot going in their favour. But when you come to use them in multi, you find they aren’t quite as charmed. Hammer users hog the head, meaning everyone else has to find another spot to hit. Their attacks often knock other players around, and players who spam superpounds are almost as reviled as those who use the Great sword’s infinite combo over and over again. Hunting Horn, on the other hand, always loses speed runs. It’s a melee weapon, but it’s slower than Bow in killing speed. Solo, having to re-buff constantly, even with Flute Expert, drives people crazy and means you spend a lot of your fights de-zoning to buff again. But in multi, a good HH player can drastically raise teams’ survival chances. Health buffs whenever you feel like it, attack and defence boosts, giving constant wind press or Mega juices out free on whims… and hell, you can even attack if you get the chance! HBG is a bit like that in multi. If you’re always aiming at the weak point, melee players keep getting by your shots, so you have to aim at places where you’ll do much less damage. And don’t even get melee players started on how annoying Pellet spammers are… And clust is all well and good, but when you keep getting blown up when you’re about to land your level 3 GS charge because a bomblet bounced onto you, your vision becomes clouded by a red mist of rage… LBG’s big strength is multiplayer. Solo, it’s easy to avoid getting hit, but keeping up your damage is a mission. Speed runs show LBG is typically 25% slower than HBG. But multi is where it excels, and that’s the main point of this section. In a multi run, with a silencer attached to lower recoil, you’ve got a lot of options: You can KO a monster: Crag shots hitting the head build up KO value. So if that Teostra is running back and forth, a few well placed Crags can stop it in its tracks, allowing your melee team mates to wail on it with impunity. Rajang Fullisade, for example, with Rapid Fire Crag level 1, does this nicely. You can paralyze something: A few Para S Level 2 and Level 1s, with combines, can keep a monster locked in place for sometimes a whole fight. The key here is communication: keep track of how many shots the first and second paralysis take, so you can alert team-mates when it’s going to be ready. There’s no point paralyzing it if your heavy hitting team is in another zone healing/sharpening or has just been Kitty carted. You can send creatures to sleep: As above, a few Sleep S level 2 shots sends almost every creature – including Akantor, Ucamulbas and all the Fatalises – into a ~30 second long nap. That gives you lots of options, since the first attack on a sleeping monster does 3x (300%) damage. So a GS user with Unsheathe Crit can nail a weak point for frightening amounts of damage, and you’ll have cut the fight time in half. You can poison a monster: For something without much health that is often impossible to hit, poison can ensure your DoT keeps ticking away. If that Blos keeps burrowing, or Daora won’t land, at least you can have them sicker than when you ate chicken you’d left on the kitchen bench for three days. Everyone forgot Tranqs? No probs! You can Tranq S a trapped monster (hit the head, otherwise there’s no effect) and no more fussing about with throwing tranq bombs. Every time you inflict status elements or KO, the next time you incur it takes more value. So if it takes 1 shot to paralyse something, the next time you go to paralyze it, it might take two or three shots. So bring both level 1 and 2 status shots (if your gun fires them) on your missions. Don’t forget your Recover shots, too. These heal anything they hit (including monsters), but it’s better to heal that Fatalis a little bit to keep your team mates from dying than everyone losing the mission. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII Rapid Fire RFR ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- As above, RF lets you raise your damage (since firing one shot actually fires 2-5 shots which add up to more damage than just one) with a given shot, but it decreases your damage over time. Sound like an oxymoron? Here’s how it works. You Rapid Fire a Thunder S shot. It fires three times, each doing 60% of the damage of a normal Thunder S. So, you do 3 x 60% = 180% damage. But in that same time, you could have fired two normal (non Rapid Fired) Thunder S shots. That’s 2 x 100% = 200% damage. And obviously, 200% > 180%. So if you’re worried about running out of ammo, look for a gun that RF’s the shot your target is weakest too. If you want to do a quest as fast as possible, don’t use a RF gun. For the actual numbers involved for different shots, as well as the numbers for different status shots, please see the Shot damage guide by Dai and Vampirecosmonaut. Rapid Fire is a great tool, but it’s important to be aware of its draw backs. Firstly, it doesn’t work with Speed Fire. Secondly, you get frozen in place for the duration of the firing, unless you get hit. So if a vespoid bumps you after you fire one of the five shots, the other four don’t activate, so you do very little damage. Also, for the guns that RF a shot with recoil, the recoil can be pretty extreme, so be very careful when you set out to use it. For perspective, I do the Monster Hunter quest with Magus Lamp (no RF) faster than with Martial Ancestor (RF of every element). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX Suggested LBGs SLB ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HR1 - 3: LOW RANK As with HBGs at this point, your options are limited and you'll mainly want a good reload and Normal 2 clip, since elemental options tend to be limited at this point. Otherwise, look for any gun that Rapid Fires the elemental shot your target is weakest too. Remember not to use a Rapid fire shot of any bullet type that has recoil unless you have no other options. Azure Sakura: Rapid Fire of Normal 2 packs a decent punch, and it's got good damage to boot. With Fast reload, it's a great low rank option. Made from Pink and Azure Los/Ian parts. Raven Do: Decent Fire S clip and good damage, with a sizeable Normal 2/3 clip, too. Made from Garuga. Blessed Lamp: Possibly the best all-round low rank LBG. Great element, normal and general clip options. 3 slots to boot. Is the low rank Chameleos gun. Red Lobster Gun: Specifically for Gravios is this water S rapid fire gun. Sounds really annoying though. If I'm not mistaken, this is a 2G only gun as the tickets are dummied out of Unite. There is also a 'Lobster Gun' which works just as well. Made from Plesioth parts. Sandfall: Available at 4* Village, this Plesioth based gun packs a serious wallop with a five shot RF of Normal 2. In conjunction with Conga armour for Normal Up, it's a tasty set. Beware the dangers of such a long RF though (Thanks tiasongames). HR4 - 6: HIGH RANK Cursed Lamp: Should be your go-to High rank LBG. Great shot options, fast loading and 3 slots, with some of the best LBG raw you'll see. Truly worth farming Chameleos for. Again, this is the Chameleos gun. Hidden Glare: An excellent Pierce weapon, with high clips and good damage. Very fast reload means it's a LBG Pierce dream. Naruga based. Rajang Barrage: Good element options, decent loading and good damage. Great for Normal spamming, too. Guess what parts you need to make it? Fire Wraith: A deceptively powerful, but expensive, weapon. Five RF'd shots of Fire S mean that Khezu, Naruga or Chameleos are going to be feeling the pain. Be careful of how long those five shots take to fire, and you'll have a great weapon. Rathalos and training school based weapon. Profusion: Much like Rajang Barrage - great shot options, great element support. Still, the damage and affinity mean there are other choices that surpass it. Silver Los parts required. Supreme Azure Sakura: RF of Normal 2 and decent damage, with element options. A very worthwhile weapon. As with the low rank version, its' a Pink and Azure gun. Chronos Grenade: A great weapon to have around. Fire S RF, but a three shot version. At times that can be more useful than Flame Wraith's five shot version. Needs Black Gravios parts. HR7 - 9: G RANK Kirin Trigun: If Status infliction is LBG’s forte, then this weapon exemplifies that, firing all of them as well as all elemental shots bar Dragon S. Rapid fire of Clust 1, which is a novelty. Requires: G rank Kirin parts. True Azure Sakura: A solid end-game weapon with RF of normal 2. That's important because everything is weak to raw, and Normal 2 is your strongest raw shot in almost all cases (Thanks Sgara). Requires: G rank Pink and Azure Ian/Los parts. Magus Lamp: The only gun series to fire all elemental shots. Dragon S remains a novelty, but if everyone else has raw weapons and you want to break a Teo’s horns it’s handy. Requires: G rank Chameleos materials. Flame Wraith: A very expensive gun to make, but RF of Fire S (5 shots!) and Pierce 1 makes for a tasty gun. For Naruga, Cham, Khezu, Blangonga, etc it’s a great choice. Requires: Silver Los parts (and two Los D plates and three rubies). Martial Ancestor: The pinnacle of the LBG rapid fire genre. Rapid fire of all elements apart from Dragon and Pierce 1 – though with a price tag that includes two Ucamulbas Divine Plates and five Elder Dragon Jewels (!) it’s strictly a collectors weapon apart from the fact it's the only good gun with Water S RF. So, if you're planning on killing a lot of Black Gravios or Volganos, consider making it. Requires: White Fatalis parts (and 5 EDJ's and 2 Uca DPlates. Srsly). Rajang Fullisade: Good damage and capability makes this a highly recommended gun for many situations. Rarely outdone. Requires: G Rajang stuff. Lava Storm: Great elemental shots available and Pierce 3 RF. Not overly awesome but relatively easy to make and handy. Requires: Volganos and Red Ceanataur parts. Desert Tail: Rapid Fire Normal 3, good damage. On par with the Rajang Fullisade. Requires: Brown/Sand Blangonga materials. Shadow Rifle 'Gazer': Deceptively high damage and great Pierce ability, though very limited elemental/status support. Requires: Naruga G rank parts. Exuberance: A very powerful gun, with great damage and reload speed, and Pierce 2 RF. Works great on Akantor! Requires: G rank Gold and Silver Ian/Los parts. Ucamulbas LBG: The best gun for Normal 2/3 firing with Speed Fire. Damage that puts most HBGs to shame as well as Ice S RF. Requires: Any guesses? Anyone? Yup, Ucamulbas/Ukanlos parts. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- X Armour Skills & Combos ASC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just like how blademasters tend to have favourite skills for their weapons (Sharpness +1, anyone?), there are several skills that greatly increase BG’s potential. Evade +2: This is a staple skill that you should learn to use. You can use the split second of invulnerability to roll through roars and most attacks, allowing you to remain in the thick of battle and play very aggressively. Evade Inc: This is a good skill to boost mobility. It’s simple: you roll further. Allows for aggressive play. Taunt/Sneak: Both of these can be good. Taunt means that in ad hoc games, monsters target you 25% more often, and Sneak means that you targeted 25% less often (they mean nothing solo). If you know you’ll get targeted more often, it means you can equip defensive skills or a shield so you can take some heat while your friends can more safely wail on the monster. Conversely, you can hide out and pump out damage with Sneak and not worry about playing defensively. Neither are *really* worth gemming in, but if they’re on an armour you want, they can be used well. Note that because of their often constant attacks, gunners tend to get a lot more aggro in multiplayer. Speed Fire: With this, you don’t have to reload until you change ammo. Though there is a recoil associated with it, Normal 2/3 and elemental shots don’t suffer from it. It’s not on many armours, but when used properly it massively ramps up your damage over time (DoT). One of the best gunner skills available. Peirce/Pellet/Normal S Up: These all boost the damage of their associated shot. They have enough of a bonus to make them worthwhile, but are best suited to use on specific monsters. For example, an armour with Peirce Up is great for long monsters but not much use versus Kirin. Reloading Speed+ : Much like it suggests, increases your reloading speed. A good skill, but a poor cousin to Speed Fire IMO unless you're using a very slow loading HBG or Pierce/Pellet shots. Reckless Abandon +1/2/3: A simple damage skill. RA +1 increases your DoT by 2.5%, +2 by 5% and +3 by 7.5%. Elemental Attack Up: Increases the damage of your elemental shots. This can be a great skill for fighting element weak monsters, but for creatures that have low elemental weaknesses (like Kirin) it’s not helpful. Guard Inc: With the shield equipped, your HBG will auto-block if you aren’t attacking. Guard Inc works the same as it does for Blademasters, it allows you to blows previously unblockable attacks, like Gravios' beam or gasses. Helpful if you're fighting something like a Grav that can scream and freeze you in place, then launch an unblockable attack before you can evade. Load Up: Means your ammo limits per clip are increased. You get this skill from many armours but also from wearing the Barrage Piercing, which you get free from completing all normal trainings. I can’t recommend training school highly enough – go complete it now if you haven’t already. Called Capacity in Unite. Adrenaline +2: When you get very experienced, this is a great skill. When at less than 40% health, your damage increases by 30%, the single biggest boost of any skill except Felyne Heroics. Since Heroics no longer stacks with Adrenaline +2, I would suggest this one instead since Heroics only activates when you’re under 10 health, making it very dangerous. Being under 40% health isn’t fun but at least if a Cephalos gets niggly, it won’t one-shot you. Being an experienced range player means you need never get hit, so being on reduced life isn’t an issue. Defensive Manoeuvres: With HBG, you’ll need to roll a lot since you don’t move all that fast. This skill decreases the stamina used when rolling, which you’ll find very handy. Less handy on LBG since you have better movement speed. Recoil reduce: the Pierce and explosive shots have a big recoil, and different guns have different recoil rates. You should always be careful about when you shoot, but this skill can help you get more hits in. Survival: in G rank, your gunner armour will have poor defence, and creatures in rage mode can kill in you one hit. Survival means that with 65 or more HP, no one hit in the game will kill you, it’ll leave you with 1 HP instead. From there, take one mega potion and one regular one, and you’re back to 65 HP. Earplugs: Not as essential as for blademasters, but a great skill to have. You shouldn't often be within scream range or be able to evade through it if you are, but everyone makes mistakes. The difference is that for gunners in G rank they can be fatal :) Bullet Limit: This cheap (5 slot) skill is much more useful than you think. Most creatures have a weakness to a specific shot level or type, and this skill lets you maximise that weakness. For a lot of elemental shots, it's a great skill. There are many other skills that can aid your BG playing immensely, but the above are the ones I get the most mileage out of. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- XI Combining Skills & Sets CAS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are some skills that are great by themselves and better in conjunction (Evade +2 and Evade Inc) and there are others useless when mixed (Reloading Speed + and Speed Fire). Here are some sets I use: Naruga X with Blango Z helm, gemmed for Speed Fire, Evade +2, Evade Inc and Trap Master: possibly the most broken gunner set out there. Great defensive skills in Evade and a huge damage boost with Speed Fire. Looked down on by some because of the great skills, but if blademasters can have Sharpness +1, HGE and RA+2 sets, why can’t we have this? Kirin X Blademaster helm, Naruga X body, Shinobi Heaven arms, Kirin X waist, Butterfly/Obituary X legs, gemmed for Evade +2, Speed Fire, Elemental Attack Up: Utterly awesome. This is one of the best sets in the game for gunners, and it makes very short work of most creatures once you get the hang of Evading. Shinobi Heaven, gemmed for Evade +2, Elemental Attack Up and any other skill: A Fantastic, versatile HR6 set. IMO the best full gunner set in the game. Blango Z, gemmed for Speed Fire, Normal S Up, Faint Problem Halved, and either Evade +2 or Evade Inc: a fantastic set for Normal spamming. Put a +4 Evade Inc jewel in the helm and gem in Evade Inc, or simple use five dodge jewels as required for Evade +2. Dragon Z, gemmed for Evade +2, Survival, Load Up, Bullet Limit and Adrenaline +2: The best advanced gunner set out there. Load Up is always good, and the Survival/Adrenaline combination match up is versatile: You can play defensively and use Survival as normal, or let yourself get hit so Adrenaline activates. Then, with Evade +2 you can avoid almost all attacks with some practice. While this set is notoriously hard to make (farming G rank Crimson Fatalis, anyone?), the skills make up for it. Diablos Z, gemmed for Loading Speed +2, Earplugs and RA+3: A great all-round set. Clearly, these are all G rank armour sets to aim for. In the early/mid game, the Obituary sets stand out as excellent with their Evade skills and free slots. The Final Invitation (Dual Rajang) can simply be done with the Daora HBG and Obituary armour gemmed for Evade +2 – how many other weapon classes can easily do dual Rajang with only Village Elder equips? It's also easily done with Death Stench and the Lao Cannon. Other sets to aim for depend on your play style. For newer HBGers, I would suggest Guard skills combined with the Shield attachment, till you get more used to the playing style – the Hermitaur sets are good here. I’m an aggressive player, so I tend to go for the power barrel. Death Stench S is one of the few High rank sets with Speed Fire, so it comes highly recommended. Full recommendations are set out below. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- XII General Gunning Tactics GGT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- For each monster, you’ll need careful preparation and thought before heading off into a quest. Rocking up with whatever gun and armour can be the difference between a five minute quest and multiple failures. Once you’ve decided what monster to hunt, there are a few simple steps to make sure your quests are fast and fun. Basically, for anything you fight, you want to have enough ammo of the right type to finish the fight without having to resort to using inneffective shots. Sometimes, this means having a primary and a secondary ammo type. Firstly, is what you’re fighting elementally weak or not? Every creature has a weakness to an element, but if the creature in question is slightly weak to an element, then finding a gun that fires that element should be a secondary priority. But if you’re fighting something like a Khezu, Naruga, Blangonga or Chameleos, then bring your Fire S by all means. If it has two big weaknesses, then an elemental gun should be your first priority. Secondly, are you fighting a long monster, fast monster or one with a big weak spot? For long monsters, look for guns that fire Pierce 3 and/or 2. For fast ones, Scatter 3 and Normal 2, and for ones with an obvious weak point (like Rathalos’s head or Rajang’s horns), then take Normal 2 and 3. Once you start brawling and you’ve painted your creature and had all your buffs, start by emptying your elemental shots, then moving through your normal shots from best to worst. If you’ve planned correctly, it should be dead long before you run out of ammo. I often take combines for more NormalS lvl2 (see your combo book) since each combine gives you 2-4 Normal 2, and it should be your staple damage shot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- XIII Suggested Armour sets for Elder, High Rank and G Rank SUG ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Low Rank - Hr 1 - 3, Village Elder At this point in the game, it's about getting used to the skills and understanding the mechanics of gunning rather than doing speed runs. There are also few armours with more than one skill you'd make a set for, but there are some good options. *Conga or Hunter's armour: Handy with Normal S Up ability. *Geneprey: Pellet S up and Paralyze reduce; works great on Blos missions. *Ceanataur: Pierce S Up goodness. *Battle armour: Loading Speed, Attack Up, Precision - a nice armour for newer gunners with some handy skills. *Rath Soul: Earplug, RA+ and Attack Up. A decent mix of safety (earplug) and damage boosting. *Kut Ku D: One of the better Low rank choices, since a decent clip of Element shots can do a lot of damage fast when boosted. Elemental Attack Up, RA+ and Attack Up. *Death Stench: The first Speed Fire/Auto reload set you'll come across. A great skill when used properly, but be careful you don't come to rely on it too heavily. Devastating with the Lao Shan Cannon. High Rank, HR 4 - 6, Felyne Elder Here's where creatures start hitting harder and suddenly mistakes are more costly. But as such, you've got access to a range of excellent gear. It'll take you a while to farm some of it, but a good gunner set invested in now can last you well into G rank. *Elemental shots: Kut Ku U. Elemental Up, RA+1 and 11 slots: Great for elemental based LBGs, and the added damage is a great touch (thanks Bernardo Jr. Cinco). *Pellet: Use Naruga S with the Conga U braces. Gemmed, it gets you Pellet S Up, Evade Inc and Defensive Tactics +1. It's a great Anti-Kirin and Blos set. *Shinobi Heaven: IMO, the best full gunner set in the game. Gemmed, it can get you the same skills as the 'Elemental shot maniac set' below. Requires Fatalis webbings to make, but it's worth farming him for. *Death Stench S: An upgraded version of Death Stench armour. Auto reload/ Speed Fire is the main selling point. It's got enough slots for Evade +1 which is strongly recommended to have gemmed in. *Kaiser S: Unlike other specialised sets, this will give you RA+3 which will work with all shot types, raw and element. Certainly worth using in a pinch. *Dark Akantor: Earplug, RA+2 and Load Up: A nerfed but still very usable set. Dragon element weak, but certainly a good choice nonetheless. *Shinobi Sky: A great LBG set, with Evade + and Special Attack Up, and enough slots for Reloading+ or Recoil-. *Fatalis S: Normal Up and Speed fire in an... 'interesting' looking package. Has some skills you'll need to gem out, but for situations where evasion isn't a priority, it's very powerful. G Rank, HR 7 - 9 *The Classic Naruga/Blango Set Blango Z cap, Naruga X arms, body, waist, legs. Gets you Speed Fire/Auto reload, Evade Inc, Evade +2. Very safe, but lacks damage boosting. With a one slot gun, you can have Trap Master. *Elemental shot maniac set - Evade +2, Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire: Kirin Horn X (the blademaster helm) (2 x +1 Speed Fire) Naruga X Vest (+3 Evade) Shinobi Heaven Gloves (+4 Speed Fire) Kirin Waist X (+3 Evade jewel) Butterfly/Obituary X (+4 Speed Fire) *Elemental Shot Maniac LBG set - same as above, but with Bullet Limit: Magus Lamp (2 x +1 Speed Fire, 1 x Evade) Blango X (+3 Evade) Blango X (+3 Evade) Shinobi Heaven (+4 Speed Fire) Blango X (+3 Evade) Butterfly/Obituary X (+4 Speed Fire). Truly, truly awesome. Can complete the Monster Hunter quest in 20 mins. *The Martial Ancestor Set (Evade +1, Load Up, Elemental Attack Up, Bullet Limit) Martial Ancestor Barrage Piercing Naruga X (2 x +2 Shot mix) Shinobi Heaven (+4 Element) Kirin X (+3 Evade) Butterly/Obituary X (3 x +2 shot mix) And alternative Martial Ancestor/Absolute Bow set is m45t3rz30's: Absolute Bow Blango X (2 Ammo Box) Blango X (1 Dodge) Shinobi Heaven (1 magazine jewel) Blango X (1 dodge) Butterly/Obituary X (1 magazine jewel) Gives the same skills. Good for if you lack Barrage. For Normal shots: *Blango Z gemmed for Evade Inc or Evade +2 – Speed Fire, Normal S Up, KO chance down, Evade+2 Or Evade Inc For Pierce shots: *Ceanataur Z gemmed for Evade +2/Inc: Pierce S Up, Loading +2, (and chosen Evade skill). *Silver Sol Z, Barrage Piercing: Load Up, Bullet limit, Pierce Up, AuMedium: 5 Los Divine plates is a pain, but this set looks great and is intensely powerful. *Dragon X also works well with Pierce Up, Evade Inc and Divine Status Protection. For Pellet: *Dragonwood Cannon (or other two slot gun) (2 x +1 Pellet) Barrage Piercing Conga Z body (+1 Evade, +1 evade inc) Naruga X arms (2 x +1 Pellet) Naruga X waist (2 x +1 Pellet) Naruga X legs (+1 evade inc) Gives Pellet S Up, Evade Inc, Evade +1, Load Up. *Dragon Z: Evade +2, Load Up, Bullet Limit/Vulture's Eye (the help capture skill) and Rage: Farming Crimson Fatalis isn't fun, but this set's unique combination of skills is amazing. Truly an end-game set. Vampirecosmonaut's Elemental Expolit sets I recently created the "Elemental Maniac" set from Mazereon's FAQ to answer a speed run challenge that he issued me. After using the set for the first time, I was impressed. It is incredibly, ridiculously overpowered. Because of this, I have been corrupted to the dark side. >..> So here's my point. The "Elemental Manic" set from Mazereon's FAQ is absolutely hideous on male characters, IMHO. >..> I've been working on putting together a set that has the same bonuses, but looks better on a male character. Each set assumes you are using the Ultimate Lao Cannon. but for some all you need is a HBG or LBG with 1 slot. 2 sets require a 1 slot weapon and 2 do not. Here's what I've come up with: VC's Elemental Exploit Set 1 - VCEE1 UltimateLan-ShaoCan - 1 Evade Jewel Narga Cap X - Element Jewel + Obituary Pectus X - 2 Cont. Fire Jewels Shinobi Kote (Heaven) - 1 Barrage Jewel Obituary Cocusa X - 1 Element Jewel + Obituary Femur X - 1 Barrage Jewel Skills: Evade +2 Auto-Reload Element Attack Up Screenshot: http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab300/vampirecosmonaut/MH/VCEE1.jpg VC's Elemental Exploit Set 2 - VCEE2 UltimateLan-ShaoCan - No Jewel Needed Narga Cap X - Element Jewel + Narga Vest X - 2 Element Jewels Shinobi Kote (Heaven) - 1 Barrage Jewel Shinobi Belt (Heaven) - 2 Cont. Fire Jewels Obituary Femur X - 1 Barrage Jewel Skills: Evade +2 Auto-Reload Element Attack Up Screenshot: http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab300/vampirecosmonaut/MH/VCEE2.jpg VC's Elemental Exploit Set 3 - VCEE3 UltimateLan-ShaoCan - 1 Evade Jewel Shinobi Mask (Heaven) - 2 Element Jewels Obituary Pectus X - 2 Cont. Fire Jewels Shinobi Kote (Heaven) - 1 Barrage Jewel Obituary Cocusa X - 1 Element Jewel + Obituary Femur X - 1 Barrage Jewel Skills: Evade +2 Auto-Reload Element Attack Up Cold Increase (Lo) Screenshot: http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab300/vampirecosmonaut/MH/VCEE3.jpg VC's Elemental Exploit Set 4 - VCEE4 UltimateLan-ShaoCan - No Jewel Needed Shinobi Mask (Heaven) - 2 Element Jewels Narga Vest X - 2 Element Jewels Shinobi Kote (Heaven) - 1 Barrage Jewel Shinobi Belt (Heaven) - 2 Cont. Fire Jewels Obituary Femur X - 1 Barrage Jewel Skills: Evade +2 Auto-Reload Element Attack Up Screenshot: http://i873.photobucket.com/albums/ab300/vampirecosmonaut/MH/VCEE4.jpg I know many of the sets are incredibly similar, but I felt I should post the 4 I came up with for completeness. My favorite of the 4 is the VCEE1, I like the way it looks. >..> You ultimately lose some defense when compared to Mazereon's set because you are not using a melee helmet. Although, if you are gunning with Evade +2, you really shouldn't worry about defense too much I think. ============================================================================= Part 2: Strategies for Gunning Every Creature ============================================================================= Firstly, please note furthermore that there is no ‘right’ way to gun any creature. There is only successful or not. These tips represent my dedicated gunning character’s 900+ hours of experience, and are the way I find fastest to gun every creature. Other strategies are just as valid, though perhaps not as fast. Each brief strategy has a few parts. Recommended Ammunition: The shot types to use, in order, to kill everything. Using the recommended ammo, you should always be able to kill your target if you use weapons/armour appropriate to the level you’re attempting (ie, G rank gear on G rank creatures). Always take combines for the shots you’re using, especially for your element shots. Armour Skills: These come in two flavours, Recommended and Required. No armour skill is ever truly required, but these will make the fight either much faster or much easier. Recommended skills are good to have, but can be done without. It’s important to note that additional damage skills like Reckless Abandon+ or Attack Up are always beneficial, though Attack Up is largely useless at G rank. Difficulty to gun: Every quest can be soloed at every rank with every weapon. Still, there are some creatures that are not easy to gun. If a creature is listed as High difficulty to gun, seriously consider using a melee weapon. Like how most people hate to use non-guarding melee weapons on Plesioth, sometimes it’s just not worth the aggravation if you can avoid it. Where a creature really is made simpler by additional mobility, I've noted that and suggested Light bowguns. It'll usually mean a slightly longer quest, but will often reduce frustration. From here, it’s a bit of an epic wall of text, so Ctrl+F is your friend. Just hit those two buttons, and enter the name of the monster you’re after and you’ll be taken straight to the part you want. Where multiple monsters have the same strategies, they are listed together. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Lynians LYN ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- King Shakalaka Recommended Ammunition: Pellet 3 Required Skills: Evade Inc Recommended Skills: Pellet S Up, Load Up Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Firstly, it might look like a joke, but the King Shakalaka hits hard. Treat it like a serious boss fight otherwise you’ll rage it and then get killed. Basically, evade away from it to get into better Pellet effective range and then let loose a few shots before rolling again. There will be times when you’ll need to wait for an opportunity, since its charges home on you. Watch out for the overhead spin into super smash attack, and watch out for the fire spazz attack where it starts spitting fire balls everywhere. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- II Neopterons NEO ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Queen Vespoid Recommended Ammunition: Pellet s 3 Required Skills: Pellet S Up Recommended Skills: Load Up, Evade Inc Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: This is a simple fight, since the Queen doesn’t have many moves. While a Fire S and Normal 2 approach can also work, Pellet works great here since it requires minimal aiming and it clears out the vespoid minions too. Dealing with the Queen is easy enough; she’ll hover around before attacks giving you a decent window to unleash Pellet on her. Her charge attack is annoying since it’s got a deceptive hitbox, so beware of it. Also, when it starts the disgusting spray attack, roll out straight away. The damage isn’t the worst part, if you get hit by it, all the minions will start going nuts over you. It's simple, just keep rolling and then fire 2-4 Pellet shots before rolling. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III Dromes DRM ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Giadrome, Velocidrome, Genedrome, Iodrome, Bulldrome Recommended Ammunition: EITHER Normal 2 or Pellet 3 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Normal Up or Pellet Up, Evade Inc Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: There are two routes to gunning dromes. If you have access to Pellet gear, use it. Just roll away to effective Pellet range and blast away, while being careful of jumps. It’s that simple. Otherwise, grab a good Normal 2 gun and some damage up skills. Roll away once, and practice your non-scope aiming. Stay close, but one roll to the left or right so you don’t get bitten, and just blast away. Nothing fancy to it. Each drome has its own elemental weakness, but since elemental shots are generally Pierce type, it’s not a good choice to use on a small drome creature. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV Bird Wyverns BWY ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yian Kut Ku, Blue Yian Kut Ku ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Normal 2, Ice S Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Evade+, Speed Fire, Normal S Up Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: A great way to get into gunning bigger monsters. Kut ku’s weakpoint is its head and it’s very weak to shot damage there. Keep dodging one way (left or right) and then quickly pointing yourself at it, then scoping to fine aim, and let off two or three shots. You’ll flinch the head often, so count the number of shots your gun takes to flinch it so you know when it’s about to flinch, so you can position yourself for free shots as it flinches. You should be careful of its charges though; while it’s not as big as Rathalos you’ll get hurt if it starts to wall combo you. When it fireballs is another great to time attack the head, just roll left (your left) and fire off a few shots. It is weak to Ice primarily (and Water and Thunder as strong secondarys) so you can practice firing Ice through the head/neck to tail which will hurt it fast. A sonic bomb will force it into Rage mode, but it’ll do the animation twice so you can blast away at it. Yian Garuga, One Eared Garuga (‘Devil Garuga’) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Water S, Normal 2 Required Skills: Evade+ Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Evade Inc, Speed Fire, Earplug, Defensive Manoeuvres, Bullet Limit Difficulty to gun: Moderate/Hard What to do: Garuga is a more frustrating wyvern to gun than Kut Ku since it’s got more love of the insta-charge and it likes to get right in your face fast, so having a comfortable distance isn’t easy. You’ll be rolling a lot, and opportunities for head shots (Normal weakpoint) are infrequent. Water S is the suggested shot here, through the face to tail or back from any angle (which is the Water weak point). Garuga has a lot of attacks that are hell for gunners, like the insta-run, insta-run to insta-tail flip, and fireballs that have a big area of effect (aoe). To fight it, roll around until it’s attacking another direction, then shoot. Be ready to roll before it’s turning to face you, since it does have some dubious hitboxes. When it gets to low health, it’ll Rage every hit, so beware. This may be a fight you have to repeat a few times to see the attack patterns, since Garuga is very unpredictable. Side on shots at the head with Normal 2 when it’s fireballing or Water S through the tail to head after it’s charged past you and getting up are good ways to keep up damage. Don’t get frustrated if you get KO’d a lot, and always stay away from corners since it loves to wall-rape unsuspecting players. Gypceros, Purple Gypceros ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S, Normal 2 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Evade Inc, Speed Fire Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Lay down lots of Fire S on the head (Fire weak point) and it’ll be flinch city. You’ll also break the head crystal fast, making flashes a non-issue. If you’re using Normal 2, aim for the Tail, so roll around to get behind it and blast. Standing in front of it, slightly to the left or right (so you can roll out easier) is quite possible – if you stand just outside of its poison glob range, then you’ll be able to blast the face and still have time to roll out when it starts to charge. Be careful with Purple since it’s a bit faster and hits pretty hard - and actually takes less damage than normal in Rage mode. Gypceros has a lot of medium range, stationary attacks, so standing just outside range and blasting is quite effective. Another option to use if you're not able to consistently hit the head is to use Pellet 3. If you blast away at Gypceros you'll soon notice that the pellets seem to be attracted to the horn, so you'll quickly break the head crystal. From there you can easily circle around it and blast without being worried about flashes (thanks Wida Hahn and Vash_TS for that one!). Hypnoc (Hypnocatrice) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Normal 2 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Normal S Up, Evade +/Evade Inc, Speed Fire Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: Hypnoc is unique among bird wyverns since it’s not very element weak. Its element weak point is Fire on the stomach (25) compared to raw on the head at 60. So, focus on Normal 2 on the head. Hypnoc is much like Kut Ku in terms of its movements, apart from using Sleep shots instead of Fire (and they have a bigger range) and its triple hop attack which is something to watch out for. If it starts doing the hop attack, roll left and roll as much as you can to get behind it - once you’re behind it, you’re OK. The back or stomach are the places to aim for if the head is away from you. If it’s doing the hop and hops more than three times, it’ll always taunt afterwards. Otherwise, treat it like a slightly faster Kut Ku and you should be OK. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- V Wyverns WYV ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rathian, Pink Rathian, Gold Rathian ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, Normal 2 Required Skills: Evade+ at G rank Recommended Skills: Evade+, Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire, Earplug (HGE for Gold) Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: Firstly, all Rathian species share a weakness to Thunder. Pink and green take a more little more damage from Dragon, but it’s a very unwieldy shot to use. In 2G, Rathian picked up the ability to do a poison flip after a fireball, which means it’s a little trickier to melee, and Gold Rathian is weakest to raw on the wings – but neither of those are issues gunners need to deal with. Rathian will fire ball often, giving you either great opportunities to Thunder S through the body or Normal 2 blast. For green and Pink, the Head is the normal weak point, and for Gold it’s the foot/tail(though focus on the feet since a flinch will knock it over, giving you free hits). As long as you’re standing straight left or right from its head, you’ve got access to either the head or feet as needed. Rathians have a fair amount of health, but they give you frequent opportunities to attack. As long as you watch your distance and recognise the pre-charge animation, this should be a simple fight. Gold Rathian, Silver Rathalos in the arena: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMoe1tWI64o&feature=email Rathalos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Ice S and EITHER Water S or Normal 2 Required Skills: Earplug, Evade+ Recommended Skills: Evade Inc, Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire, KO Negate Difficulty to gun: Moderate/High What to do: If you’ve got a gun that fires Ice and Water, use it now. Otherwise, Ice and Normal 2 is your best bet. Water S and Normal 2 (the most common combination of shots in G rank guns) is an OK substitute though. Rathalos is easy to melee, but it’s hard to gun properly since it doesn’t stay still much and it loves to roar and charge you, which at High and G rank is a OHKO without good armour. You should treat this fight carefully, and be careful not to get greedy with your hits. This will be a longer fight than you’re used to, so be advised. As with melee, get under its shadow when it flies up, or at long range, sheathe and be ready to safety dive if it tries the Air claw. You should aim to expend your element shots down the body, through the head. You can either do this while it’s fireballing (since it only fires once, straight ahead), or while it’s landing (but be very careful of the resulting charge it’ll often do). Otherwise, after it’s charged past you, get in some shots while it’s standing up. It’ll rage quickly, so either have Earplug or get used to timing Evade roars. After you’re out of element shots, start using Normal 2 on the head. Be prepared to sheathe and run after ‘Los a lot. Azure Rathalos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Normal 2, Ice S Required Skills: Evade + Recommended Skills: Earplug, Speed Fire, Normal S Up, Vulture’s Eye Difficulty to gun: High What to do: I’ve listed this as a ‘hard’ fight for one main reason: Extreme frustration. Azure Los has no big weaknesses to element (weakest to Dragon, but not very, and Ice, but even less) or raw (foot is the weakpoint), and it flies. Lots. It seems like it’s constantly in the air or running back and forth across the zone. It rages fast, and hits hard, and takes no extra damage in Rage mode like most creatures. So, your major damage opportunity is blasting the feet as it comes down after flying. You can shoot it in the head as a secondary, too. Basically, try and keep your cool if you’re gunning this. But honestly, you’re better off using melee. This would be a good candidate for LBG, since it's going to be flying back and forth across the map, and packing up your gun every few seconds is going to get really old. Silver Rathalos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, Water S, Normal 2 Required Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Evade+ Recommended Skills: Evade Inc, Speed Fire, HGE Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: Silver Los is the easiest of the Rathalos species to gun. It’s weak to element, and it’s equally weak to Thunder and Water. For Raw, like Gold Ian, hit the feet. As with red Los, the optimum shot is element down the head or wing-wing. Once you’re out of element shots, aim for the feet to knock it over. Although its rage mode attack and defence modifiers are the lowest of the ‘Los’s, it’ll still kill you at G rank with a charge if you’re not on full health. With Evade +2, you can get through all attacks and roars, so it’s highly recommended. So, either shoot it when it’s fireballing, landing or standing up after you dodge a charge. It’s crucial you can identify the fast turn so you can see it’s going to charge you and evade around it. From there, it’s just a case of being careful and not getting greedy. As with Azure, this is another case where extra mobility actually means more options for damage, so consider taking a LBG along. Khezu, Red Khezu ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S (Substitute Water S on Red Khezu), Normal 2 Required Skills: Elemental Attack Up Recommended Skills: HGE, Speed Fire, Evade Inc, Paralyze Negate Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: This is another simple fight. Khezu is very weak to Fire, and it’s weakest to it (and raw) on the head. Be careful though, as it’s easy to confuse the head and neck hitzones. If you can’t hit the head, the feet are a good substitute since you can trip easily enough. Khezu gives you a lot of opportunities to attack, such as the thunder balls (don’t be in the way of it, and from either side of the head, blast away), the jump (dodge left or right and then hit the feet when it lands facing away from you), the elastic neck (once you’re out of range, just shoot right at it) and especially, the ground shock (it’s standing still, so blast it). You’ve got to be mindful of the fact it can combo you if it gets a hit in, and roars are an issue if you get caught in a bad spot. Once you’ve been fighting for a while and done enough damage, it’ll suddenly stand still. That’s your chance to put a trap right under it and get an easy capture. Don’t forget your hot drinks. Red Khezu is the same, except you must be mindful that your main shot (Water S) is a pierce shot rather than a normal shot type. Basarios ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Water S, Normal 2 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Earplug, Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Good practice for its big brother, Gravios. You’re aiming to use Water shots until the chest plate cracks off, at which point the damage you do with Raw almost triples and Water almost doubles. Really a very simple fight, since Bas usually runs back and forth while you dodge to the side then blast with impunity. Try and be 2-3 rolls away from it most times so you’re a good distance for Water S Piercing. If you’re doing a multiple Basarios quest, after you break the chest plates, switch to Normal 2 for hitting the cracked chest. Gravios, Black Gravios ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Water S and EITHER Normal 2 or Pierce 3 Required Skills: Elemental Attack Up Recommended Skills: HGE, Speed Fire, Evade+2, Evade Inc, Bullet Limit Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: This is so easy you’ll wonder why you ever bothered to melee Grav. The tactic is the same for both Gravs, though will butcher Black Grav faster since it’s more Water weak: dodge the fire beam or charge, and then fire your Water shots down the body. Always stay to your right (it’s left), as High rank and above Gravs will employ a deadly sweeping beam which is lethal if you’re at medium range. Evade is a great skill to have, since Grav roars can be rolled with Evade+1, and the sweeping beam can be rolled with only Evade Inc. As with Basarios, once you break the chest plates off, the damage you do shoots up. For Black Grav, raw goes from 20 to 75 and Water S goes from 40 to a massive 90. If you put yourself just outside tailwhip range, then you avoid all the attacks apart from the beam, which you don’t need to even roll away from if you’re on the correct position on your right. High rank dual Black Gravios is easily done in under 5 mins with these tactics (!). At G rank, you’ll want to switch to Normal 2 (or Normal 3) as soon as you crack the chest plates off so you can use your remaining Water shots for the second Grav. White Grav is the same, except for taking a little less Water damage and charging more. Though, the same tactics work well on it. Ever wanted to see Dual Black Gravios at G rank done in under 8 minutes? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np4veE4euNA :) HR6 Black Gravios, with HR6 Gear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouH6SCaeIAw Monoblos, White Monoblos, Diablos, Black Diablos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Pellet 3 Required Skills: Evade Inc/Evade+, Pellet S Up Recommended Skills: Loading Speed+, Load Up, Bullet Limit Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: I’ve listed this as an easy/moderate fight, which is true once you get the tactics down. Check out the below video and the advanced tips. Basically though, you’re going to be firing Scatter 3 on the tail the whole fight and completely destroying all varieties of Blos. Once you get the hang of evading the charges and digs, this is a no-brainer. Using these tactics, I’ve killed the G rank downloaded Devil Blos in 14 mins, and done the High rank one in 5:51. Monoblos is the same, though dies faster because the tail is even weaker to shot damage. Without Evade Inc or +2, LBG's mobility is strongly recommended at High rank and above. Devil Diablos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YxXoazMFzw Dual Black Diablos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElLIiYfC88w Devil Blos done Naked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8eppn1BCrc The G Rank Devil Diablos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8YXn1n2tFk Dual Monoblos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx1PViGnFe4&feature=email Tigrex ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, Normal 2 Required Skills: Evade Inc/Evade+ Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire, Survival, Bullet Limit Difficulty to gun: High What to do: Firstly, check Part 3 for a video and detailed tips. Basically, this is probably the hardest monster to gun. Tigrex is fast, has a lot of health, huge range and huge damage, and the weak point (the head for raw and thunder) is very difficult to hit without getting run over. The back legs are as weak as the head to Raw, so they’ll usually be your target. This is a frustrating fight to range, so be warned. An alternative strategy is to use a Pierce set – you’ll often be at good Pierce range, and you can knock it over reasonably fast for free shots. This is absolutely a case where LBG is preferable since you need to stay close to it to bait it into not charging across the map. Dual Tigrex, done naked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EqYlt1hV8E&feature=email Naruga Kuruga (Narcuga) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S, Thunder S Required Skills: Evade+ Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Bullet Limit, Speed Fire Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: Again, check the video below and detailed tips. This is a fun, Evade heavy fight that really demonstrates the superiority of HBG. The video guide says it all, and bear in mind that the Dual Naruga G rank quest has been done in under 5 mins with HBG. It’s a great place to learn both Evade and non-armour skill evades, which is crucial to your growth as a gunner. Dual Naruga: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYQlsd2VgQQ Dual Naruga under 5 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dq9DtAID7tw&feature=email Naruga done without armour: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plm_Mg1RkGE Akantor ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, and EITHER Normal 2, Normal 3 or Pierce 3, Pierce 2 Required Skills: None, but Evade Inc is very useful Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Normal S Up and Speed Fire, OR Pierce S Up, Loading Speed+ Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: Firstly, Akantor is weak to Dragon, but with the extreme bullet restrictions and recoil, it’s not a good idea. It’s then weakest to Thunder on the face and tail equally, and raw on the head and tail equally. So with either of the following, use your Thunder shots first either through the face (risky) or get behind it (like after it surfaces from a dig) and spam them through the tail. If you’re taking the Pierce option, you should be aiming down the face when it’s turning to you and then rolling out. You don’t need Evade Inc to get away, but it does help a lot. If it’s doing the soundwave breath, get well out of the way and fire through the back leg to tail. Otherwise, try and get behind it and fire through the tail up the body. You should aim to get a flinch or a rage in this position, since you can then have a 20 second window of straight damage. If you’re taking the Normal route, then you should be rolling around to hit the tail as much as you can. As above, getting behind it and getting a flinch is great. If you’re side on to it and closer to the head, by all means shoot it there. But rolling around and going for the tail is simple, and it’s one of the few cases where Normal 3 works well, since it ricochets along the tail from the right position for a lot of damage. Without Evade Inc to get around the charges, LBG's mobility will help. However, it'll add on a bit of time and you risk running out of Pierce ammo. Akantor with High rank gear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Fx-oogaU5w Akantor done naked: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE8I2ZEB56I&feature=email Ucamulbas / Ukanlos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S, Thunder S, Normal 2/3, Pierce 3/2 Required Skills: Evade Inc, Elemental Attack Up/Normal Attack Up Recommended Skills: Survival, Speed Fire, any damage skills Difficulty to gun: Moderate/High What to do: The tactics for this fight are a bit different from Akantor, though it moves in much the same way and has most of the same moves. The major difference is in weak point: It’s the back leg for both raw and Fire (main weakness). Thunder S works well through the face, expectedly. For any attack it does, try and stay on the left side (it’s right), since that will avoid almost all attacks and gets away from the tail smash. Whenever you can, wail on the back legs. If you trip it, try and roll to the head (which takes almost as much damage as the back legs. When you’re blasting away on the left hand side, there are a few things you should watch out for, mainly the ice blast. Sometimes shards can land randomly along there, so watch for the shadow. Uca has a lot of health and isn’t very weak to shot damage, so this will be a long solo fight so take lots of supplies. Ukanlos/Ucamulbas with LBG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTZI0bqQFy0&feature=email ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VI Piscines PSC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cephadrome ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder, Ice/ Normal 2 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Evade Inc, Elemental Attack Up Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Bring. Sonic. Bombs. They take all the frustration out of the fight. Cephadrome is extremely weak to shot damage on the beck and back (fin), so blast away with Normal 2 there. If you can’t be bothered aiming, just spam Ice or Thunder S down the body. Other than that, it’s all common sense: Make sure you aren’t about to get smacked before you attack. It doesn’t even land swim often, and walks on the spot like a big dumb target. Plesioth, Green Plesioth ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, Fire S, Normal 2/3 Required Skills: Elemental Attack Up Recommended Skills: Speed Fire, Evade Inc Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Much like Cephadrome, gunning Plesioths is dead simple. You get it out of the water with Crag S or a sonic bomb, and then you maintain safe distance (here, you should be just on the range of the new water attack where it rears up on its hind legs and sprays in a semi-circle) while firing. For the straight water beam, just roll left or right and then fire until it attacks again. If it land swims, wait until it’s just about to start wriggling towards you, and then Evade through the attack, away from the body through the wings on a 45* angle. G rank Plesioth, dead in 4 minutes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTOIoV9zgGE Volganos (Lavasioth) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Water S, Normal 3/2 Required Skills: Evade+, Elemental Attack Up Recommended Skills: Normal S Up, Evade Inc, Survival, Speed Fire Difficulty to gun: Moderate/High What to do: Firstly, don’t treat this like a lava Plesioth (despite the MHFU name... *shudder*), since the similarities are mainly cosmetic. Firing down the head (neck/back are the Water and Normal weakpoints is a great way to die fast, since it actually tracks you as it loads up for a fireball. It usually keeps re-aiming at you until it fires, and then the shot splits into four smaller parts. Also, with the very fast land swim that covers massive ground very quickly, you’re going to be in trouble standing in front of it. The best thing to do is try and get behind it and fire Water S through the lower belly out the head, or from side on, go through the top of the leg through the back and fins. It’s crucial that you stay close enough to see the land swims coming so you can evade away from them – roll once 45* towards it when it jumps to the ground, and you should be able to roll again as it starts wriggling (I’ve got a video on YouTube which you can see the timing in). So the strategy is to evade first, and then position yourself so you can start firing as it gets up, allowing 2-4 shots before it’s turned back to you. If you get close, it’ll start doing belly smashes with a big aoe, which if you can evade through, is a great chance to attack. Volganos is a difficult creature to gun, so take your time with it. Here's a HBG video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6oipmjhlo ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VII Carapeceons CPC ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Daimyo Hermitaur, Purple (Plum) Daimyo Hermitaur ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S (Ice S for Purple/Plum), Normal 2 OR Pierce 3 Required Skills: Evade+ Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Bullet Limit, Speed Fire or Pierce Up, Defensive Manoeuvres Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: Gunning a Daimyo is alternatively fun and frustrating, depending on how it chooses to act. For most fights, a compliant Daimyo is simple: Roll past it, between the legs and the body, while it moves towards you, and then turn and fire through it. Lather, rinse, repeat. Ideally, you should fire through one of its back legs, aiming to get the diagonally opposite forward leg (ie, back right to front left). This will ensure you get the head (weak point for element and raw) and also trigger leg staggers, knocking it over while you wail on it. When you’re out of your element shots, start firing Normal 2 at the legs – it does fair damage and when you knock it down, you can fire at the face. The tricky part comes if the Daimyo burrows a lot or uses the a lot; if it starts doing this, make sure you’re rolling away as fast as you can. When it is recovering from a jump or surfaces, it’s a good chance for damage, but you must be careful to not get caught by the attacks. Purple Hermitaur in 2:35: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LawNrJpfl3w&feature=email Shogun Ceanataur, Red (Terra) Shogun Ceanataur ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S, Normal 2 Required Skills: Evade+ Recommended Skills: Evade Inc, Speed Fire, Elemental Attack Up, Bullet Limit Difficulty to gun: Moderate/High What to do: Shoguns are tricky creatures to manage, but with Evade +2 and some evasion skills, they become far simpler. Red Shogun does have a unique weakness to Water on its shell (as it’s a Black Gravios skull) but it won’t take much damage from that element anywhere else, making Thunder S a better choice for both Shoguns. Much like with Daimyos, you should almost never be attacking a Shogun head on, since the flurry of fast attacks will quickly have you back at camp. You should always roll under the legs, turn and fire a few shots. If you stay very close, you can stay under Shogun’s effective range easily. Try and get your element shots through one leg into the body, and once you’re down to Normal 2, start rolling past it and just shooting the legs since they take almost as much raw shot damage as the face. Once you get the trip, continue hitting the legs unless you can get to the face in one roll; otherwise it’s not worth the time. Shoguns give a very clear sign they are ready to be captured (purple bubbles coming from the mouth instead of the white ones as in rage mode) and it’s a good idea to save time and get the capture as soon as you can. The Great Decisive Battle, 7:55: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rpk0j8luaGQ (Great Decisive Battle is Red/Terra and regular Shogun Ceanataur). Shen Gaoren ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Pierce 3,2, Thunder S, Fire S, Normal 3, 2 Required Skills: Pierce S Up Recommended Skills: Adrenaline +2, Loading Speed+, Normal S Up Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: This is a very easy fight, and even solo the G rank Gaoren can be killed in ~16 mins, including the time it takes to meander into firing range. Heroics or Adrenaline +2 is highly recommended since you don’t need to evade any attacks and this creature is about maximising damage over time. Basically, spam Pierce shots down it as fast as you can. When it stands up tall, roll almost under it and start firing Normal 3 as fast as you can at the same spot, to flinch it. Fort Integrity won’t be an issue, but it never hurts to keep the damage up. When it starts lowering back down, switch back to Pierce. When you’re out of Pierce and element, start using your Normal shots. But with Adrenaline or Heroics, it should be long dead by this point. Guide to easily killing Shen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9cNN6cXvvE ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- VIII Primatus PRI ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congalala, Green/Emerald Congalala ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S (pink Congalala only), Normal 2 OR Pellet 3 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Speed Fire, Elemental Attack Up (pink only), Normal S Up or Pellet S Up, Evade Inc Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: There are two ways to gun a Congalala: Either Pellet spam at it, or for a slightly faster kill, focus on Normal S on the head (again, after Fire S on the pink one). Evade around it until you’re looking at it side on, and then blast away. It’s a good idea to fine scope in order to make sure you’re getting the head hitzone and not the front arms. Green Congalala likes to use the dung and gas attacks more often, so stay to its side and not the front quarters (the dung attack has a big radius) or the back half (the new super gas is pretty painful). Congalala have a lot of health, so you’ll need to get into a good rhythm. The main thing to watch out for is not getting caught in front of it by a charge, since that can set you up for a combo. You can take the simpler route and evade around it and Pellet spam, but that will break the tail held item fast which encourages it to use more dung attacks. Blangonga, Brown Blangonga ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S and Normal 2 on Blangonga, Ice S and Normal 2 on Brown Required Skills: Evade+ (Brown Blangonga) Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Evade Inc, Speed Fire, Observer Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate (Blangonga) and Moderate/Hard (Brown) What to do: Both of these primates require an element to break their fangs, and once the fangs are broken, their roars don’t require earplug and Blangonga can’t summon Blangos any more. So, first order of business is to use the element shots on the head. Blangonga’s weakness is easier to apply, since Fire S works as a Normal S. It doesn’t have any attacks you need Evade for, since rolling out will get you out of range. When it does the big long range punch, roll out and roll closer to it. When it turns to face you, let off a shot just before it’s centered its aim on you, and roll. By the time the shot gets there, it should hit directly in the face. Otherwise, Ice beams and boulder attacks are a great time to attack, provided you aren’t about to get hit. Brown Blangonga is a trickier, since it loves doing use the 5 boulder attack that hits in about 90* around it. With Evade+, if you’re close enough, then when it digs down to grab the boulders, be ready to roll, and Evade immediately as it pulls them up from underground. Roll towards the shoulder closest to you, and you should always get through it. As often as you can, hit it in the face with Ice S to break the fangs ASAP; once they’re gone, it’s probably better to switch to Normal 2. It loves to jump around, so having Evade Inc is a boon to get closer to it instead of sheathing. Capturing it when you can is a very good idea. You should be familiar with Blangonga’s movements by the time you get to fight this one, but beware that it hits really hard. Dual Blangonga, done in 3:23: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfhMvFKb4s4&feature=email Rajang, SSJ2 Rajang ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Normal 2 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Evade +2, Normal S Up, Speed Fire, Survival, Adrenaline +2 Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: If you know how to Evade, then this is an easy fight. Perhaps not as boneheadedly simple as with bow, but it’s a bit faster. You should always be looking at it from the left side (so on it’s right) and always evade to your left. That way, none of its attacks can hit you. From here, it’s simple. Evade past or around its attack, and then spin around and fine scope. You should be able to hit its forearms with a few shots before it turns, get a hit on the horns and then roll out before it can retaliate. You should be out of quake range, roar range (it jumps back into Rage mode) and so never get caught if you’re careful. The major thing to watch out for it your hitzones; make sure you’re getting the face/horns and not the neck. It might help to aim for the very tip of the nose so you can see where the shot lands on the horns to get you used to it. I’ve got a video on YouTube that might help you – Elder Dual Rajang done in 8 minutes with LOW rank gear. Dual Rajang, Low rank gear: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeR3EHItQiA Dual Rajang G rank: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxHeleU2iY8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IX Elder Dragons EDS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Kirin ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Pellet 3 Required Skills: Pellet S Up, Evade Inc Recommended Skills: Evade+, Load Up, Loading Speed + Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: Check out the video guide below. This is a really simple fight if you’re careful. Evade away from it, and while it summons thunder, blast away. Fine scope aiming isn’t required since Pellet shots home in on Kirin’s horn. Stay close enough so when it charges you, one evade puts you out of the way and lets you turn around and hit its retreating form. The guide is pretty self-explanatory, so check it out. Dual Kirin done without sleep bombing or seperation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBfPj9SO7-I Kushala Daora, Rusted Kushala Daora ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Thunder S (Water S on Rusted Kushala), Normal 2 OR Pierce 3 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire OR Pierce Up, Normal Up, Evade Inc OR Evade+ Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: This is a tricky fight since the weakpoint for raw is the tail, and if you’re standing in front of it to get element shots down the body, you risk getting tackled or frozen blasted. Once you get the horn off, the fight becomes much easier since the wind shield won’t exist any more and you don’t need to worry about shot ricochets. The fast, but risky, way to get rid of the horn is to have an Evade set and stand facing it from a slight angle and spamming element shots down the body. You should be able to flinch it reasonably often to keep yourself safe, but if you miss an evade then you’ll be in a world of hurt. Alternatively you can treat it like a bullfight: let it run past you and Normal S hit the tail. That’s effective but difficult, since it’s a small, moving target. Maybe the simplest and most efficient strategy is to keep it poisoned, then stand side on to the head and fire Normal shots at it. Then, once the horn is broken you have the option of going for the element shots down the tail (after it runs past you) or down the face when you have the chance. Chameleos ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S, Normal 2, Normal 3 Required Skills: Elemental Attack Up, Speed Fire Recommended Skills: Evade Inc, Normal S Up Difficulty to gun: Easy What to do: This is by far the easiest Elder Dragon to gun. The main issue that gunners have with getting consistent head shots – charges – isn’t an issue here, since Cham has a forgiving hitbox and charges slowly. So, stand two or three rolls away (assuming no Evade Inc) and then lay into the face with Fire S. When it’s about to attack, always assume it’s about to charge. When it starts attacking, it leaves huge openings. When it puke blasts or uses the mist attack, (assuming you’re out of the way) then you can spam away. When it’s doing the tail wind generator, either get to the side or roll away from tongue range and then start blasting. You should never be close enough for the poison jump to be an issue. You’ll find it’s quickly pissed off with Fire S on the head, and its rage entry animation gives you even more chances to attack. It’s easy enough too to count head shots between staggers, so you can get into position for more ownage. Once you learn to watch out for the charge, you’re home and hosed. It’s not as fast or brutal as using Corpse Rippers, but they are just unfair on Cham anyway. Lunastra ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Ice S, Normal 2 OR Pierce 3 Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Evade + OR Evade Inc, Speed Fire, Normal S Up, Elemental Attack Up Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: The first of the two Manticores is far more forgiving than Teostra, but she’s still not a lot of fun. In 2G/Unite, Lunastra telegraphs her moves much more than previously. Before she charges, she’ll rear her head for approximately a second, giving you time to get the hell out of the way. Lunastra is weak to Ice (weakest on head and tail) but frustratingly, her raw weak point is the tail, which takes twice as much damage as the head (next weakest point). So, it’s a little like Kushala in that you should treat it like a bullfight. Stay reasonably close to her, so if you she starts to charge, you can roll out quickly – and make sure you never roll across her front, even when it looks like she’s using the curved charge. Turn and let off a few shots at the tail, then roll towards her on a 45* angle so by the time she turns, you should be ready to roll out if she charges. Be careful to roll out straight away if she’s doing the close flame explosion ring, and obviously get close if she’s using the long rage one. When she’s using the flamethrower, roll towards the tail and let loose some Normal 2, or if you’re taking the Pierce route, get behind her and fire through the tail to the face. Otherwise, attack when you get the opportunity, but remember that positioning is crucial here. Luna is deceptive in that it looks like there are opportunities to attack which are in fact traps. She’ll let you get a few hits in order to steam-roller over you. Treat this fight with caution. Teostra ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Water S, Normal 2 OR Pierce 3 Required Skills: Evade Inc OR Evade+ Recommended Skills: Speed Fire, Elemental Attack Up, Normal S Up OR Pierce S Up Difficulty to gun: High What to do: This, even more so than Tigrex, is a hard fight for gunners. It’s not recommended for anything less than an experienced gunslinger. Teostra is very similar to Lunastra (though it swaps Ice for Water as the element weakness) except it hits harder and doesn’t telegraph charges. It’s got a huge hitbox and insta-charges and doesn’t tend to stay still long. The tail again takes twice the raw damage the face does, so it’s the priority. Basically, check out the Luna section and note the following differences: *(As said) No telegraphing the charge *More damage *Long range fire explosion ring can sometimes do a homing explosion under your feet; don’t ever scope when it’s using the long range ring. If you see the puff of dust under you, roll immediately. Without Adrenaline +2 or Heroics, you’re going to struggle to kill this creature fast enough, and of course they’re not recommended on Teo. Be very warned before attempting Teo with BG. The extra mobility of LBG will work well here, but the damage you sacrifice will be an issue. It doesn't telegraph its charges or attacks like Lunastra does, so if you do insist on gunning it, try LBG if you're getting really owned. Lao Shan Lung, Azure Lao Shan Lung ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Pierce 3, 2, Fire S, Normal 3, 2 Required Skills: Adrenaline +2, Pierce Up Recommended Skills: Loading Speed +, Load Up, any damage skills Difficulty to gun: Easy/Moderate What to do: This is slightly more difficult than Shen Gaoren, but not much. Basically, Lao is a walking target, so the issue is whether you can maintain a high enough damage per second (DPS) to kill it. Firstly, the weak point for range is on the back, between the two ridges of spines, where you carve from. Either shoot through the top of the shoulder down the back with Pierce, or hit it side on from a ledge. If you’re really stuck, the belly (where it droops down) takes decent range damage, too. Fire S on the weakpoint and Thunder S down the body work well enough too if you’re using a gun with a large elemental clip. If you’re using Adrenaline or Heroics, this is a simple, though boring as hell, quest. And least gunning, you can break the shoulders and horn easily for good chances at a Ruby or Divine Plate. Yamatsukami ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Ice S, Pierce 3,2 Required Skills: Evade Inc/Evade+ Recommended Skills: Pierce S Up, Loading Speed +, Survival Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: With some experience of its movement patterns and Evade skills, this is a simple fight. Yama takes a LOT of raw shot damage (90) in its mouth, so as long as you have Pierce or Ice shots, fire them there, so they start at the mouth and travel along the body. What's problematic though is often the mouth shots will travel through the tentacles which absorb damage. So, if the mouth is not wide open or easily shot, attack the Eyes. Yama is very predictable, it’ll always turn to you, wait for a second, then attack. If it does the tentacle flail, just roll out. If it’s doing the copter attack, just sheathe and duck or safety dive (though not too early). If it smashes down on the ledge with four tentacles, fire straight into the mouth. If it hits the ledge with only two tentacles, beware as that’s the precursor for the vortex OKHO. It’ll only do it 50% of the time it hits with two tentacles though. If it starts doing the vacuum, you’ve got lots of options. Either throw 2-3 tranq bombs at it (it’ll drop down and give you a shiny), sheathe and run along the ledge until it stops sucking, or sheathe and jump (you must be sprinting) off the ledge. When you’re out of Pierce shots, start using Normal 2 or 3 on the eyes usually and the mouth when you can. Fatalis ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Norma l 2, 3, Fire S Required Skills: None Recommended Skills: Speed Fire, Adrenaline +2, Normal S Up, any damage skills Difficulty to gun: Moderate What to do: For most of the fight, this is quite simple. Let it turn to face you, and whenever you can, scope aim up at the head and blast with Normal 2. Just beware of Snap’n’drags and belly flops, and practice hitting the face even as it wriggles away from you. It’s quickly a very simple fight, which is why Adrenaline is recommended, since you’ll only get hit if you make a mistake. You’ll be just out of roar range for the most part, too. When it flies up, get out of fireball range and recognise the patterns of the single and triple fire ball, and when it comes in to land, get close to shoot the head as it comes down. It’s hovering but not trying to get you, stay just outside this much smaller fireball range and blast the head. If it’s chasing you, get close to it to make it stop and then immediately roll out. As soon as you get close enough, it’ll stop chasing you. That’s basically it. It doesn’t have an armour mode, so it’ll just be three or four rounds of monotony. If you’re going for the wings, it takes the most damage from Fire S. Yes, even more than Dragon. It’s the fastest way to break the wings, apart from Heroics and Normal S Up. Crimson Fatalis, White Fatalis ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Ammunition: Fire S, Normal 2, Clust 2 Required Skills: Survival Recommended Skills: Loading Speed+, damage skills, Gunnery King (for White Fatalis), Load Up, Bomber Difficulty to gun: Moderate/High What to do: As with black Fatalis, Crimson and White take the most element damage on the wings from Fire S. So with Survival, you can roll to the left or right when it summons and then get a few wing shots in. Look for the thunder/meteor patterns too, there are three. It’s the close range one you need to watch out for if you’re next to it and going for the wings. Once the wings are taken care of (or if you don’t care about getting wing rewards), then start using your Normal 2 on Crimson and White Fatalis’s face. Be careful you’re not hitting too far back on the head as the face and head are different hitzones. You should be firing from just outside belly flop range, so if it did flop down you’d be next to its head. There’s a cone in front of in which meteors/thunder never land, so use it well. It’ll spend a lot of time summoning, so get used to scoping and firing off shots while being prepared for it to flop down or screech and try and claw you. Rage mode is tricky, but probably better dealt with range than melee. This is where your Clust 2 shots should be used, as the explosive damage ignores armour mode. In armour mode, both Crimson and White take equal shot damage on all hitzones, so if you’re not packing bombs or Clust shots, you’re not going to be doing much damage at all. You might as well just spam at the crotch or legs/tail rather than aiming for the face. Crimson’s armour mode activates every time it rages, so switch in your Clusts then. Switch back to Normal 2 when it’s not pissy. With the 53 Clust 2 you can take, plus your 12 LBB+, you should have enough to deal with most of the 25 minute round rages. You’re going to have to be accurate though. With White’s armour mode, it’s between 50% and 20% of it’s HP – and that’s a lot of health. Once it’s in armour mode, I usually do three or four rounds of Suicide Clusting: Get in, expend all your clusts, and then let yourself get killed. All damage you do carries over, regardless of whether you fail the mission (though if you abandon it resets). Clust and bomb away, then for the final round switch back to Normal shooting. Crimson Fatalis video guide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UXOYYBwFbAU&feature=email ============================================================================= Part 3: The Monster Hunter Quest ============================================================================= ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- I Introduction INT ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Aside from power, the Heavy Bowgun (HBG) has one huge strength: Versatility. Most people find the Marathon quests (several different monsters in a row, and instead of normal carves you get Mega potions) difficult since you can only take one weapon class to the quest, but often the different monsters are suited to different classes. For example, the Hunter’s Pride marathon, at HR9. It’s a Khezu, then a Shogun Ceanataur, then a Plesioth, then a Diablos. Shogun and Khezu are vulnerable to hammer, but Diablos and Plesioth aren’t as easy. Or you could try Longsword, since Diablos and Shogun can be taken down easily, but without Evade skills the Plessy is annoying and you won’t quite have the range to quickly kill Khezu. And then you can only take raw weapons, since they don’t have a common elemental weakness. So what do you do? Simple – you take a HBG. You Fire S the Khezu, you Thunder S the Shogun, you Pierce the Plessy and you Scatter S the Diablos. That way, you maximise the weakness of every creature you fight. And even better, no traps or flashes are required! That’s where this topic comes in. The Monster Hunter quest is the last Felyne Elder quest, and it’s the hardest offline quest you’ll face. Even experienced players have trouble on it, and completing it is a big accomplishment. You’ll face (in this order): Rathalos, Tigrex, Naruga and Rajang. This topic is designed to help you defeat the quest by playing intelligently and artfully, and not having to resort to hammer, traps and flashes. So if you’re learning to gun, struggling to complete this quest or just out to do it honourably, you’ve come to the right place! Firstly, knowledge. ------------------- Have a detailed read through the below sections on each creature you'll face, and watch the YouTube videos associated with each creature. Still, there is no substiture for experience. Go, fight the creatures yourself. Once you can kill each one without flashes, you're ready to start the quest. Secondly, equipment. -------------------- There are dozens of ways to gun this quest. The one below is only one way, but I think it is one of the best, especially for Intermediate level gunners. This equipment I’m suggesting is not easy to make, but it’s worth it. You should bring: Tzar Lao Shan Cannon Blango Z Cap (+4 Speed Fire jewel) Naruga X Torso Naruga X braces Naruga X waist Naruga X Legs With gems, you will have Evade +2, Evade Inc and Speed fire. With a one slot weapon, you can also have Trap Master, though you won’t need it for this quest. Thirdly, items. ----------------- Bring: Book of combos 1-4 Farcaster Powercharm Powertalon Armourtalon Armourcharm 2 Max potions 2 Megajuice 10 Welldone or Gourmet steaks 10 Mega Potions 10 Potions 99 Normal S lvl 2 99 Normal S lvl 3 60 Pierce 3 or Pellet 3 99 Needleberry 99 Huskberry 60 Fire S 60 Thunder S 10 Flashbugs 20 Fire Herbs And then any item of your choosing, except traps or flashes. You won’t need them. Once you have this prepared, you’re almost ready. Eat with your cats for Health +40 and Attack Up (Meat and Vegetable). You can bring your cat or leave it at home, it’s personal preference. They can be helpful for distracting monsters while you heal or get shots in, but they can also get in the way. And some players find the fact they take away the monster’s focus a downside – it means you don’t get the headshots in as easily. Now, make you sure you save it after you’ve completed preparations since it will likely take a few attempts. The Quest Itself ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The quest is obviously set in the Large Arena. There are gathering points on your left and right as you enter (at the wooden gates, you can gather supply flash bombs, supply large barrel bombs and supply shock traps) and at the plant, along the left hand wall (mega potions) and finally at the far right corner (whetstones, rations). There is a ledge, but you’ll quickly find it’s of limited use since it’s short and the monsters react differently to you when you’re on it. Once you’re in the arena, you cannot go back to base unless you farcaster or are killed. Generally, avoid the corners since if you get trapped, it can be very easy to be comboed to death by an angry monster. As you are learning this quest, you’ll probably get killed. If you do, keep going. It doesn’t matter if you fail this quest, since you can just reset it since you’ve saved. Even if you know you can’t complete it, I would encourage you to keep going since you’ll still get experience which means you’ll do better next time. As for time pressure, try and forget about it. Using this method, I usually have at *least* 15 minutes left after the Rajang is dead. You wouldn’t put on the Flight of the Bumblebees on while playing chess, so don’t stress yourself out on this one with the time. Try and only check it when each monster is killed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- II Rathalos: Initiation LOS ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Most of you will be very familiar with Rathalos, and you’ll probably be comfortable killing it fast as a melee’r. Killing it range is very different, unfortunately. It’s one of the few monsters that takes longer to gun. When you enter the arena, it’ll see you and roar. This you can roll through (start rolling a split second before the roar ‘hits’) or just shoot it once. If you do, it’ll cancel the roar but be ready to roll since it’ll probably insta-charge you. From here, it’s time to begin the quest. The fastest way to kill it is Water S through the body and Normal 2 on the head (Ice S is faster, but the Tzar Lao can’t fire it). Normal 3 won’t be as effective on the head (the shards fly off) but if you Normal 3 the legs or wings you can get the shards to land. You can also Pierce 3 through the head to tail or wings to wings, but it’s not a good idea with the speed fire set (since your recoil is maxed). So, you simply keep the pressure on. Keep firing at the head when you can, and aim for the tail-body joint or the back otherwise. You’ll find it rages fast. You’ll need to practice rolling through the scream, since even with some armour levelling, you’ll get killed in one hit from the roar. That’s why you’re using Evade inc & +2, though – it lets you get through the scream and the charge. When it’s raged, go for the head shots but make sure you aren’t going to get charged first. Don’t stay right next to it (It seems to love insta-charges, annoyingly) but not too far away either since your shot damage will drop. If it flies off for a world tour (where it just flies around for a minute before doing its dive attack at you) then it’s a good chance to heal up or combine. Just make sure you’re ready in time to superman dive the dive-bomb. You can Evade through it, but why risk it? Whenever it flies up, get under it if you’re close enough (which you should be) or otherwise, sheath and be ready to dive. When it’s on the way down, get in a few head-shots, since monsters can actually take damage and be knocked out the sky while in the air. Otherwise, it’s a straightforward fight. Aim at the head, evade well out of charge hitboxes, and always heal up to full health if you get hit. You can carve and gather mega potions, so don’t be afraid to use them. This fight might actually be the longest one of the four, so if you take up to 15 minutes, that’s OK. 8-12 mins is what you should aim for though. Once you’ve slain it, healed up and combined, load your Thunder S and mentally prepare yourself for the only real difficult part of the fight. You’ve got about a minute, so gather at the gathering points too, and if you can, put down 2 LBB+ where the Tigrex's head will be. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- III Tigrex: Frustration REX ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Firstly, if you aren’t familiar with gunning Tigrex, have a read of the text above in Part 2 (Ctrl + F and type in 'Tigrex') or YouTube for Legend3594’s video. When Tigrex enters, it’ll face the entrance to the arena, like the Rathalos. It won’t notice you if you aren’t in front of it – it’s a good time to chug down a Mega juice. You can either plant your bombs now if you haven’t done so, or simply start shooting. Tigrex’s weakness is Thunder, and if you’re right behind it, and you start firing through the back legs, it’ll do its looking around animation for a few seconds. Blast away with impunity until it turns around. Roll to your right (the opposite of Rajang) since on its right side, you can avoid all of its attacks with a little practice. Stay close too, since at range it’ll home in on you with its charges. From the right side, you can either roll away or fire when it does the boulder attack. You can also see well in advance and roll out of the biting attack – it actually curves towards you, so don’t try and fire since you’ll get bitten in all likelihood. If you’re even familiar in passing with Tigrex, you’ll be very aware of its main attack: the Death Train (if you listen, you’ll hear it’s feet hitting the ground and making a ‘chug’ sound when it charges). Here’s how to get your hits in and avoid the Tigrex Express. To start with, you should be on its right side. When it begins a charge, it will raise its left (your right) arm, and you can roll under and through it. You’ll now be behind it with it rapidly retreating away from you – roll after it. It can change direction up to twice, so wait until it’s stopped. Then fire through the back legs to the head with your thunder shots (or wing to wing) or aim for the back legs with your Normal 2. It will turn around, and you need to start rolling right before it’s fully turned around. If you don’t, you risk getting charged as you recover from your shot. A rage charge won’t kill you, but it will hurt a lot and leave you wide open. It will rage pretty fast, especially if you get some good damage in at the very start. When it does so, always stay medium-close on the right and evade first, damage second. After this part of the fight, it gets easier and quicker so it’s OK if you play it safe here. Once you’re out of Thunder S, combine for more (farcaster to camp for a breather if you need to) and after than switch to normal shots. This isn’t easy, and gunning Tigrex will take some learning. But it’s worth it. Now, you’ve gathered by this point. You’ll probably have some supply flashes. If you’ve gotten Tigrex to the point where every hit rages it, you’ll find it’s a frustrating point since damaging it when it’s running around crazily takes a while. I don’t think there’s any shame in using supply flashes to cut down the time required. Not using them would be better, but if you’re struggling, use them. They’ll give you around 30 seconds of head-shot access, which should be enough to finish the fight. This fight should take 10-15 minutes for the less experienced or moderate gunners. If you have less than 20 minutes left when you kill it, you’ll be pressured, but it can be done. Having 30 minutes left is more ideal though. As with the ‘Los, once you’ve killed the Tigrex, heal and combine for more Normal 2 and then load your Fire S. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- IV Naruga: Understanding NGA ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Again, your first step should be checking out the linked YouTube videos. Naruga seems intimidating, but you’re on the downhill slope with the quest now. This will be the shortest fight, too, and almost the easiest. As with the Rex, it will land facing the entrance, so you can get some Fire S spamming in. Your first target will be the head, but any time you can’t hit it, the tail should be your next target. Be aware the head and neck are different hitzones, and easily confused. The thing you must learn is the timing to evade through the tail whip and jump-slice. It’s really easy once you know how (like most of MH…) but until you get it, you’ll be taking a lot of unneeded damage. Start your roll and roll into the tail-whip a split second before it hits you and you’ll get through it and be able to either fire at the head as it turns or get out for a better chance at a head-shot. Try and get the middle part of your roll through the time when the tail would contact you. In rage mode, it loves to jump around you and jump-slice a split second later. When it jumps around you, it’ll pause for a half-second before flying at you. You should hit 'X' to roll at the same time it starts its jump, and you’ll get through the slice. Naruga’s attacks tend to be fast with small hitboxes, meaning evading through them is usually easy. When it does its tail smash (rears up, jumps 180* and smashes the ground with its tail) roll out, to your right, and NEVER try and roll through it. It's not easily done and it really hurts. After you’ve observed the video and got to grips with the timing, it’s an easy and satisfying fight. Fire S the head and tail (combine for more) and start on your Normal 2 or 3. You’ll soon find yourself carving off the freshly slain beast. Heal, combine and load your Normal 2 (make sure you’re packing 99 at this point) and get ready for the grand finale. You should have about 20 minutes left, but it’s possible with only 10 (though not ideal). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- V Rajang: Ascendancy RAJ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is the easiest part of the fight. Really – with Evade Distance Inc and Speed fire, you always roll left and fire Normal 2 (Normal 3 if you have to) at the head as it turns, before rolling again. If you’ve ever bowed Rajang, you’ll know the rhythm. People complain that ranging Rajang is cheap – these are the same people who use a hammer on Rathalos (which =/= Rocket Science)- so feel free to ignore them. The reason this is simple is that as long as you’re not too far away (and with some experience, even if you are) rolling left will get out of the way. If you’re caught in a corner by accident, then you can roll through all attacks with your Evade +2. The real trick here is getting head shots as it turns. You can just complete the fight by blasting the front legs as it runs past you, though you might not have time or remaining ammo. But if you time it right, as you evade past every attack, turn and scope at the head and you can get shots on the head. Let loose your shot just before it finishes the turn – that way, you can evade out and the shot will actually land on the horns in time. Always avoid as much as you can getting cornered. If it attacks past you and you can see that you can’t get past left, then don’t try and get in damage, immediately roll right twice past it. Then, wait to get back in your rolling left rhythm. If you keep this up steadily, you’ll complete this quest. Just don’t get greedy with hits and don’t panic if you see the 10 minute warning. If you tense up, you’re more likely to make mistakes and get yourself killed. And if you’re not confidant on head shots unless it’s beaming, then don’t risk it. Voila – Monster Hunter quest completed! Now go sell your auto-tracker piercing (well, don't, but it is pretty useless by this point of the game) and have a few drinks at the tavern to celebrate. But remember – friends don’t let friends hunt drunk. There you have it – with some practice on these monsters individually, you can complete this quest honourably and properly. No more reliance on flash-spamming and not a trap in sight. ============================================================================= I Bragging Rights BRA ============================================================================= This is what I mean when I say no armour skill is truly required - the pics below are from me completing the Monster Hunter quest naked, with no flashes, no traps and no cat. http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq15/mazereon/frmbuf000-1.jpg http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq15/mazereon/frmbuf001-3.jpg http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq15/mazereon/frmbuf002-1.jpg http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq15/mazereon/frmbuf003-1.jpg http://i429.photobucket.com/albums/qq15/mazereon/frmbuf004-1.jpg Video available here: Part 1 - Rathalos and Tigrex: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBtUJXPhae0 Part 2 - Naruga and Rajang: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k87fIWovOQs Why, you ask? Why the hell not, I say! I know I got owned by Naruga, I don't know why. I have other vids of me gunning it naked, this was just a bad fight. A couple more videos... Monster Hunter, done with HR6 gear only (LBG): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KJzCqYomlk And Monster Hunter, done in 20 minutes with LBG: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tejQCcs0WQQ&feature=email Banquet of the Warrior Gods,33:23: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9220Dk4kVIs&feature=email "There once was a hunter named maze. He thought bullets were better than blades. He went on many runs, With many bowguns. Used heroics and came out unscathed." Thanks to iPlayGamesGood :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================================= Credits, Contact & Copyright Info ============================================================================= This guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances without permission, and without permission it should not be on any site except: *GameFAQs *Minegarde *Encylopedia Gigantica *Neoseeker *GamersHell If you want to quote from this guide, just ask me. As long as you note the source I'm pretty happy to let people use it. It goes without saying that using this guide without my express permission is a violation of Copyright law, including but not limited to the Brussels Convention. I am happy to take questions by email, too. My email address is in the introduction section as well, but it's mazereon@gmail.com. Lastly, credit where it’s due. This guide wouldn’t be anywhere near as accurate without VioletKIRA’s excellent Bowgun Damage guide. Thanks Kira! It's available on GameFAQS in the Unite FAQs section... funnily enough. It's since been removed, so now the Shot damage FAQ by VC and Dai should be read in its place. And in turn, all the exact shot information I have used from Kira that regards Freedom 1 creatures is originally taken from Vampirecosmonaut and DaiIchiBan's Bowgun Damage FAQ for Monster Hunter Freedom, available in the Monster Hunter Freedom board's FAQs tab on GameFAQs. Also, the commitment VC and Dai showed to creating the initial MHF Bowgun Damage formula no doubt helped all subsequent Bowgun damage mechanic topics. Legend3594 deserves major respect for making videos for me back in the Dark Ages when I didn't have CFW. Thanks again friend, I really appreciate it. Legend's Kirin Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JevOdraR18w&fmt=18 Legend's Diablos video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w776B85JyiA Legend's Naruga video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhw4CsQcTBE&fmt=18 To my brothers Vash_TS and Knives; you guys have made me the hunter I am today. Mad love to you both. All my friends on Minegarde from the bowgun guides and general 2G topics – you guys have helped me examine my tactics and be more critical about my playing, which is always great :) Thanks to SuperVolt & VC for the Gypceros Pellet gun suggestions. You, the reader, for bothering to get this far. And of course, all my past and present guild mates in MHI. You guys all rock! A special shout-out to DevilTrigger, Saha, Mukyo, Schpeltiger, ffha, Minority, Jmo1link, Bothamliam, TenSa ZanGetsu, Alex Portnoy, Mr5oonz, Century, Ninja_Haan (for actually backing up his talk), theLetterFox, and (insert your name here if I've forgotten to put you in!). All trademarks are © Capcom. All analysis © mazereon, 2008 -2009.