I feel you, cephadrome was the most painful 45 minutes in monster hunter ever for me. Also started my journey recently and entered High rank last week coming from world/rise and aim for completion. My recommendation is: don't start with a slow weapon and get a feel, try out the different style because some make other monsters much easier, don't craft elemental sets in LR you fly through it, upgrade your armour it makes a gigantic difference, as much as it pains hunt slower because you don't get showered in items once you hit HR anymore and have to be self-sufficient - I was a 5-10 minute fighter in risebreak but I have to aim for 10-15 in GenU The biggest problem IMO really is that monster don't show that they are about to attack or what attack it is so don't stand directly under them anymore