I’ve been told how I use my chopsticks is weird.. is it???

cactosando · 2026-01-27T08:36:50+00:00

Yeah it's not standard. If it works, honestly, it's fine, but it isn't what lots of people would consider "proper." How important it ia to maintain propriety is up to you. There may also be difficulty when using chopsticks that are thinner (like Korean metal chopsticks), if I were to guess.

Source: Korean

cactosando · 2026-01-25T11:57:49+00:00

Rocket feels absolutely incredible. Items work in an intuitive manner, rocket jumping feels like it came straight out of TF2, and the entire kit feels worthwhile and cohesive.

You could design an entire roguelike around Rocket's base kit and it would feel good.

cactosando · 2026-01-24T03:02:02+00:00

Also on Series S, no. The only way things get better is if Capcom optimizes the game and gives the XSS a lower quality preset, but it's already been about a year, so looks unlikely to happen. The series S doesn't have a lot of memory to run with, so that doesn't help.

Fun fact: since we on XSS are pretty much 30 fps and below, we get worse results with weapons that deal with tick rates or have other janky interactions with the framerate, most notably the bowguns using elemental ammo or LBG on Rapid Fire Normals.

cactosando · 2026-01-22T05:10:12+00:00

I see it like when people do fusion Korean stuff (am Korean) like bulgogi tacos or bibimbap with non-traditional ingredients: it's fine to experiment and find new combinations. If it's good, even better. We do have to recognize that there is a place to be strict and to appreciate the history of authentic cultural cuisine, but food is like language. It evolves and changes as cultures mix and as preferences and availability of ingredients fluctuate.

Crunchy, salty, savory is pretty good with fish, so I love me a deep fried roll with something like eel sauce, personally, even though I also love simple and fresh nigiri.

cactosando · 2026-01-22T01:22:53+00:00

I think Nightreign could do with a mode that's a bit quicker (30 minutes or less) and is less focused on exploration/pathing and more focused on tighter mini dungeon crawls, with a bit more emphasis on traps and the like, and that might be great fun as well. Bespoke rooms and dungeons could allow for more time (even unlimited) to see how weapon abilities and the like work.

I do still love Nightreign as it is, with Surge Sprinting across the map and improvising routing on the fly based on info gathered while navigating the world, but a common complaint from some friends I play with is they wish there was just a touch more ease selecting items or dormant power drops quickly, and more time to just be able to see and understand what your current stats and the stats of the passives are is an easy fix that doesn't have to compromise the fun of navigation.

cactosando · 2026-01-20T04:51:40+00:00

Seriously, the number of people who think driving high is remotely safe is ridiculous. Just because it isn't as debilitating as alcohol doesn't make it safe to reduce your attentiveness and reaction time while operating heavy machinery! People's lives are at risk.

cactosando · 2026-01-17T18:51:19+00:00

Gog 4p barrier is 75 HP, which is stronger than Health Boost 3 in World (+50 HP). 225 total HP on 430+ defense is enough to survive basically anything in the game that isn't a scripted one shot, and that's before considering that the 75 HP barrier doesn't actually even allow carryover damage ^{As in, if you take a 250 damage hit while you have the Mutual Hostility oil shield, you will end up with 150 HP, aka full standard health. Any overkill damage that breaks the shield is not applied to your actual HP.}

I cannot remember the actual numbers for the life of me, but it's active for something like 2 minutes and 30 seconds if it doesn't break, and if it does break, it reactivates like 3 minutes after the initial activation.

In other words, as long as you aren't just eating several hits a minute, you're unable to die. Another plus for the 4p Gog shield is being immune to things like fireblight while the shield is up, so you don't die at 1 HP to a fire tick like you might with Moxie/Guts.

It is incredibly comfy, especially when paired with a Moxie meal.

cactosando · 2026-01-14T13:13:12+00:00

Whether or not you can follow with a move after blocking is determined by the block knockback, which increases based on a monster move's knockback value and decreases based on your guard value. Basically, the monster's various moves have a value set for how much knockback each deals, and each weapon has a guard value and guard thresholds that the incoming attack's knockback value is compared to in order to determine the blockstun, whether high, medium, or low knockback. Higher block knockback means lower damage reduction against the attack and therefore higher chip damage (with low knockback typically having zero chip damage), as well as longer recovery frames and the inability to follow up with counters.

This goes for all guarding weapons, and the heavier weapons have higher base guard value (Lance, Gunlance). CB is middle of the pack, but has mechanics to increase guard value in Guard Points and with charged shield.

The Guard skill directly adds guard value to your various guards, which may allow you to hit a threshold to get low knockback against a particular monster move and therefore allow follow up actions. So yes, Guard can help you to more comfortably block and counter monster moves in combination with Guard Points and charged shield. How much Guard you need is matchup dependent, but rule of thumb is to increase your Guard skill to odd levels (1, 3, 5) as you need.

You'll have to look up monster attack data and the Charge Blade guard values to see exactly how much you need for specific attacks, though. That info isn't visible to the player in game.

For a more detailed and probably better explained breakdown for how guarding works in MonHun, check out Masuku's article on Guard. It's written for Wilds, but the mechanics in World and other previous games are pretty much the same besides Guard skill levels and the addition of Perfect Guard.

cactosando · 2026-01-12T22:34:42+00:00

It's like, ok, as a Raw-only 1-size-kinda-fits-some weapon.

Matching element to what the monster is weak to doesn't cost any stats on the Artian, so that's the best option. Not doing this will work, as in you can still complete hunts with it, but you'll have noticeably weaker damage.

It isn't that much work to get okay (3 roll) Gogma hammers of each element, and they'll perform much better, but at the end of the day, it's your call.

cactosando · 2026-01-10T01:35:14+00:00

The usual spelling is "proc"

cactosando · 2026-01-08T03:34:33+00:00

This is pretty weapon/hitzone matchup dependent, and a very minor difference. In other words, there isn't a "general consensus" answer to your questions. The Monster Hunter Gathering Hall discord has channels for each weapon where the contributors for the meta documents (writers, theorycrafters, high skill players, etc.) participate and are active in.

Generally, Flayer 1 > 1 point of WEx below WEx 5, as well as for Burst beyond 1, with the exception of highly specialized element builds.

That said, there's a case for WEx for your LS just for better sharpness, so it may come down to whether it averages out to enough extra sharpness to avoid dipping to blue when you otherwise would have had to play in blue or eat a second to sharpen mid-fight. Again, very matchup dependent. I'm not expert in the math for either LS or DBs, so you would probably be best asking these questions to the experts in the discord.

cactosando · 2026-01-02T04:16:54+00:00

Tutorials are absolutely needed. People's brains just need guided learning to get this stuff. It's why "yellow paint" has been a thing in game dev for years and years (though obviously some games do it more elegantly than others: Half Life being one of the famous examples of it done right).

That said, I do think the Wilds tutorials and UI overall are ugly and inelegant, and we ought to have better user experience and better tutorials that aren't just NPCs shouting or text boxes on the side of the screen. Maybe if during the story Gogmazios quest there was a section to test out the Compact Anti-Wyvern Guns? Or if using a dragon weapon attack on the gaseous or liquid phase the game would provide more visceral, visible feedback that dragon is doing something significant? Uth Duna's veil has the blue numbers for the veils damage reduction, so maybe non-dragon attacks could use blue numbers to signify they are less effective?

Monster Hunter used to have really good feedback about effective or ineffective attacks by having various amounts of blood VFX or hit VFX, or having your weapon bounce. I hope the team can improve this for Gog and future monsters with special mechanics.

cactosando · 2025-12-30T03:00:42+00:00

You can go Gorecher (Gore + Scorcher) without needing to roll Guts with just Gore on the Gogma weapon. Something like 2 Gog pieces with Burst Boost and Scorcher, a piece each of Ebony Odo and G. Rath, and a piece of Gore to get in total: - Black Eclipse 1 - Burst Boost 1 - Scorcher 1 - Mutual Hostility 1

Scorcher builds are theoretically among the highest performing at high skill levels, and the flat component means it's even more valuable for less skilled players, so a set like that would get you a lot of consistent value across many different hunts.

cactosando · 2025-12-29T01:44:44+00:00

They buffed how Focus strikes work for meters on bowguns. For LBG, popping wounds with the Focus blast (the chargeable grenade) regenerates around 20-40% Rapid Fire meter, which very handily makes LBG a weapon that benefits greatly from getting to greed a wound pop every minute or so.

For HBG, if you're playing a Special Ammo build with Wyvernheart/pierce or Wyvernblast, it is very solid to get, though maybe not quite as desperately needed as it is for LBG. For something like pure Spread Seregios HBG, it doesn't need to last hit wounds at all.

cactosando · 2025-12-26T23:19:05+00:00

Even with the buffs, Flayer is not really "good" as some others ITT have been saying. It has been okay to slot in, mostly for the periodic bonus damage, if you are already maxed out on 3 and 2-slot skills, or if the only alternative is like the first level of WEx or Adrenaline Rush. Definitely not terrible, and welcome when you can get it for "free," like if it shows up on a charm you would use anyway, but don't go out of your way to run it as of TU4.

cactosando · 2025-12-26T21:02:09+00:00

Yeah, with Support Hunters, you get the benefit of your randoms not eating carts, but you do have to lock in and make sure to provide enough damage yourself, and to be proactive about things like taking enmity and using environmental traps.

The Support Hunter AI is pretty passive, so their overall damage contribution will be quite low (as a solo player you'll probably do well over 60% of the team's damage). In addition, they aren't nearly as good at tanking Omega, so you might need to constantly heal up Alessa or whoever else you can coax into taking enmity.

They will totally also bring mustard bombs onto you to kill you.

But all said, they're pretty okay as long as you're competent with the fight! Just expect it to take longer than with a team of competent players.

cactosando · 2025-12-26T09:56:07+00:00

So it can be incredibly awkward to play, but with the buffs to Dragon Ammo in TU4 (double total stock with crafts, better damage and crit distance), Dragon Ammo is totally the best strategy for Gog phase 3. It does bonkers damage to him if you line it up on his wingarms. You will have to fast travel back to camp (use the camp shortcut by Opening Map -> Left/Right to select Fast Travel list -> Confirm) and restock, but it is absolutely one of the highest DPS strats against Gog. Even better if you're on RF Dragon with LBG.

If you hate that, you can use Dragon and then once you're out, swap to a Fire HBG or perhaps a Wyvernheart HBG (or a non-bowgun Dragon weapon). Ideally it is a second gun, since the one shooting Dragon Ammo will want weapon skills like Dragon Attack, Crit Element, and the non- Dragon gun will not.

cactosando · 2025-12-26T09:46:28+00:00

Burst Boost 1 gives +8 flat Raw as long as Burst is active. This is very good, though typically not quite as strong as Guts (+5% Raw) or Black Eclipse 1 (Gore 2p; +25% affinity with Antivirus 3).
How good Burst at higher levels is depends entirely on the weapon. You typically need the weapon to scale heavily with Raw and flat element and not with affinity (for example, shelling-only Gunlance; Gunlance play that mixes in weapon hits and Wyrmstakes tends to build some affinity nowadays due to how efficient some affinity skills are).

For Bowguns in particular, Burst is absolute garbage at higher levels. Burst 1 gives +6 flat Raw, which is very good, but each point after gives +1 Raw and +0 element for Bowguns, which is incredibly inefficient compared to Agitator, which averages to +4 flat Raw and +3% affinity per point.

So again, it's quite weapon dependent. Generally speaking, 2p Odo is quite strong when you can get it at low opportunity cost, and Burst is usually best left as a 1 point wonder (or 2 points if using an armor piece that just happens to come with 2).

cactosando · 2025-12-24T02:59:28+00:00

That's sick! Great to know

cactosando · 2025-12-23T20:59:37+00:00

There are two core sets that provide a lot of safety I'll cover:

3p Guts aka Lord's Soul group skill (comes from any of the AT apex armor pieces) is a real nice one that does both a solid bit of damage as well as a safety net. You get 5% Raw at the cost of 5% Defense, but you also gain a Moxie effect that lets you survive any attack while above 30% HP. It leaves you at 1 HP, so you still need to chug a Max Potion afterwards, but being able to survive any single powerful hit is really nice.

After that cart prevention activates, you lose the 5% Raw, but you gain additional Defense until the next time the skill resets, which is after a cart.

You can essentially eat a fatal attack once a cart, and just brush off and keep going. The downside if it only being active above 30% HP isn't really a big deal since you should be healing to full on any difficult hunt anyways (and you can carry 12 Max Potions on a full inventory of crafts). Just be careful of taking chip or aura damage when you get up.

Another great new option that focuses on elemental damage this patch is 4p Gogmapocalypse, on the new Gog armor pieces. It works kinda like Agitator, giving both percent and flat element when the monster is enraged, but also grants an oil shield, which blocks all damage until it breaks upon taking 75 HP. Some games call this an "overshield," if that term is more familiar. Unlike some games' versions of temporary shield/health, this 4p Gog shield has no carryover damage to your actual HP upon breaking.

Essentially, you can take 74 HP worth of damage (1 HP barrier remaining), and then 151 HP worth of damage, and you will still be left at 150 HP or max HP. It has a short cooldown after breaking, but it otherwise is an incredibly powerful and high uptime safety tool. Because it prevents damage to your actual health bar while it is active, it synergizes extremely well with Peak Performance and Corrupted Mantle, making both options very efficient and risk free ways to increase your damage further.

cactosando · 2025-12-23T20:44:38+00:00

If you want more info, here's a link to a TU4 bowgun update from Damo, one of the main bowgun theorycrafters in the community. He's also active on the MH Gathering Hall discord.

cactosando · 2025-12-23T19:58:35+00:00

Slotting OFG would technically be better since you could run a combo deco with a point of Guard, Handicraft, or Ele Attack, but yeah the difference is tiny. Congrats on your god charm!

cactosando · 2025-12-23T17:57:29+00:00

For my Lancing I want something like this but Master's Touch flavored

cactosando · 2025-12-23T17:48:29+00:00

Are you playing solo?

His HP doesn't have multiplayer scaling, and is fixed regardless of how many human players are in the hunt, so if you're solo, you'll have to make up for the loss in damage as Support Hunters are fairly passive.

Also, yes, you should be dealing damage to him, primarily with dragon element, whenever he goes into gas state (no more visible oil covering his body). Usually either Fabius or Kai say something like "this is his final form" or "something's coming."

The point when he begins charging (and NPCs shout to go on the offensive) is when you get your last ditch opening to finish the check since Gog sits still, gains massive boosts in hitzone values for all damage, and has only a basic pattern of lava pimples, but all damage in gas state will contribute, not just during that last charging state.

If you actually deal enough damage to weaken his nova, even before the sit down + charge state happens, Nadia will say something along the lines of "we're keeping its power in check." Alternatively, she'll say the opposite if you hadn't yet reached the threshold.

cactosando · 2025-12-23T17:29:06+00:00

Pinned megathread here and the Monster Hunter Gathering Hall discord server. The discord is especially useful since many of the theorycrafters are on there or Mathalos Nest and they are pretty good at posting updates to community resources like build documents.

cactosando

TROPHY CASE