Lockdown 2020: A Monster Hunter is Iceborne

Why isn't this on youtube? Just curious.

And that girls name? Danina Ryckert

@cyberspacecat: So thanks to this series I started playing the game and I'm not sure how upgrading those skills associated with armor works. Such as Guard increase and there are several levels - is this tied to upgrading equipment using the Spheres? How do you actively get more spheres?

@humanity said:

Good question, I was confused about that when I first got into it too.

Basically all upgrading your armour with armor spheres does is increase that piece of armour's base defence. To upgrade your skills you'll need to have decorations or other armour pieces that also have those skills on it, stacking them to increase their levels.

Some skills will only need 1pt to activate an effect (like "free meal" or "resuscitate") and some can increase everywhere between 2 to 8 times, exponentially heightening the effects (for example "earplugs" lvl 1 will decrease the effect of weak roars, while lvl 5 will nullify roar effects completely).

I find that when you get to HR and then MR you'll be able to play around with skill levels by slotting in decorations like Diablo gems, and typically there'll be a set with more bonuses but less slots and a set with less bonuses and more slots, for more customisation. It might be better to focus on the bonus set first since it'll probly take some time to accrue up decorations.

Hope this helped!

@cyberspacecat: Thanks it’s partly clear now! I assume this all unlocks eventually as I’m actually still playing the “story” if that’s what you call it in this game. I’ve read somewhere that first order of business is to mainline the story bits and THEN focus on crafting armor and so forth. I’m not very far in as I think I spend equal amounts of time looking up 30+ min YouTube videos as I actually do playing the game. I’ve just completed the first story encounter with the big lava dragon where you shoot it with spikes and destroy lava spouts on its body. Should I be just racing through all these story bits before farming anything?

Jan, your head is perfect! Don't let anybody tell you oterwise.

@humanity: Yeah, more and more stuff will unlock as you complete assigned quests and increase your hunter rank. You wouldn't have run into things like decorations just yet.

I suggest just mainlining it and upgrading your gear along the way, take on optional quests with the speech bubbles to unlock everything from more ingredients to more specialised tools, and just keep building up stock of various herbs, ore and bugs you find exploring.
Also don't forget to register bounties at the resource center to get extra rewards for doing what you would do anyway, like scavenging or hunting certain types of monsters.

I'd say only farm if you're looking to make something specific or if you're feeling overwhelmed and you need to reconsider your gear.

Good hunting, have fun :)

@janman So excited to see you getting into Monster Hunter next. Seeing this made me finally buy it on PC after 600 hours on PS4. The load times are so much faster and it is so gorgeous on PC!

Is this series dead? I was looking forward to watching it.

People think Gunlance is slow.... it's not. Build it right, and Long type shelling can reach further than a true lance, rushing stab is always an option to close a gap (forward + triangle), and rushing stab can be chained into an immediate shell (hit circle just as the stab begins). In extreme cases like Barioth jumping all over the damned place, yeah, use patience. Also, break wing-armed wyverns' wings first. It messes with their abilities to zip about and turn on a dime.

Finally, Gunlance may not look as impressive with the possibility of huge damage numbers, but it is incredibly powerful, thanks to shelling: it's fixed damage when you shoot, no matter the monster or its armor. Your cannon punches through everything. And combined with Wyrmstake blast, you can deal damage and break parts horrifyingly fast.

Gunlance user for 7 years. Use all 14 weapons.

@freakinoutanames said:

Said he might go back to it sometime come this winter, so I'm eagerly anticipating more!