The Official Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Topic

Looks like Brachy weapons will be pretty good. I hear they ignore defense. :V

So as someone who has limited partying experience, anyone care to explain/show a guide of the do and do nots of particular weapons? Or which ones parties appreciate a lot? I'm hoping this advice could carry over to P3rd too since the mechanics should be very similar.

I'm having a grand time with Hunting Horn, but I'm having trouble finding subs I'm fond of. ._.

Brachy weapons are OP, according to all references I could find. Basically, my understanding is that if you want the game to be easy and not fun, use them. Otherwise, use anything else. A friend who has played the game told me that even Blue Sharpness Brachy weapons are better than White/Purple sharpness weapons (I forget if Purple is back) that have significantly higher attack. Apparently it's "Kelbi Bow > Brachy Weapons > Everything Else in the Entire Game" Apparently the Kelbi Bow is OP as pomegranate because it has the same special effect, and doesn't require charging shots like every other bow, so you can just spam 1st charge and kill things extremely fast. Basically, it's if you don't want to have fun. I have no intention of touching Brachy weapons or the Kelbi Bow at all.

The hope between me and my friends is that Capcom will do something about it for our localization, however the chances are slim. I'm honestly upset that they didn't catch this, you'd think they'd be good with balancing by now after so many games and an MMO.

[spoiler=Dos and Don'ts]As for the Dos and Don'ts...I have some suggestions:
If you're not Hammer or HH, and you are with someone who has them, LEAVE THE HEAD ALONE. That's their job. You have no idea how many times people have pissed me off with Hammer because Hammer is easy to interrupt, but people with SNS and stuff spam the head because they think it's the best place to hit, which often isn't true for non Hammer/HH.
For specific weapons:

 SnS

Sword and Shield - Mind who you're near with full combos, several parts of them can toss people. The Shield Bash can too. One section of the full basic combo and the Shield Bashes can KO. Blunt/KO-able hits also increase the exhaustion on monsters, so it's wise to use them...but just pay attention to where you are in Multiplayer.

 DS

Dual Swords - DO NOT spam Demonization X+Y. It leaves you so open it's not even funny, and it's also been massively nerfed since P3rd. It doesn't do all that much damage, and it makes you so vulnerable it's not even funny. I honestly never use it at all.
Always have the demon bar charged and active. It's extremely helpful. Not only does it increase your damage but it gives you a great mobility boost with a special dodge. Mix Demonization mode and regular mode to keep it up. Once it's filled once, as long as it doesn't empty completely it will stay active, so Demonization wisely.
If you know the enemy is going to be down for a while, Demonization mode is amazingly good to use for long combos. The base combo, in my opinion, does more damage than X+Y spam. Never experimented, but just in experience I think it's better. I could be wrong.
In case you don't know, Demonization is when you press R and you start glowing and stuff.

 GS

Greatsword - Try not to use the uppercut slash in multiplayer. Being sent flying is not fun. Try to get as many full charges off as possible, as they do exceptionally high damage. You can chain the 360 slash with charge slashing, but of course be mindful of who is near you. If you can uppercut without hitting someone but a 360 will hit someone, use an uppercut if you're sure you won't toss them. A quick KD is better than sending them flying. Blocking reduces Sharpness, so only block when you need to. Dodging is your friend.

 LS

Longsword - I don't really use Longsword, but I do have one request from everyone who has ever dealt with a Longsword in multiplayer, BE MINDFUL OF WHO IS NEAR YOU. That new combo finisher added in Tri is the most annoying pomegranate ever for anyone who is not a Longsword also. I've been killed because LSers were constantly hitting me with their crap and I couldn't move at all. Longsword is the most annoying multiplayer weapon in the game, in my opinion.

 Hammer

Hammer - Be charging when you are moving around, if you have the Stamina. Be aware that the 2nd stage charge attack moves you forward a great deal, it's a good attack to use. 3rd Charge spin is...okay...but it has the same problem as X+Y Demonization on DS, it leaves you open forever. 3rd Charge Slam is powerful, but it can toss allies. I honestly use 2nd Charge A LOT, because it's a great attack to use even if you're a distance away.

In my opinion, if you use 3rd Charge Slam on the head, anyone who is near you on larger monsters like Rathalos and Rathian asked for the tossing. I've had SNSers, LSers, etc. all on top of the head and then get pissed off when I toss them...while the monster still has a tail. Go do what your weapon is supposed to while I KO it. There are exceptions to this of course, but if your "allies" are on top of the head at all times, it's too bad. Everyone has a role, and when you're Hammer, yours is KOing. You can only do that at the head. They should stay clear.

 HH

HH is amazing for buffs. If you're HH, your priority should be to keep them up. Some HHs can also heal, and do all kinds of other cool crap. You can work these into your combos, in fact that's one of the major revamps they did with HH because it used to be impossible to do that really. The new HH is amazing for fighting while buffing. If you can do that, you can do really well with HH. It's a superb weapon, but also has the largest learning curve in my opinion.

 Lance

DO NOT TURTLE. That pomegranate is worthless. Turtling stabs do the least damage, and also actually get you killed more often than not. When you can predict monster movement, make use of the counter, because it does great damage. The charge is decent, but it doesn't do all that much damage (regardless of what that guide that I believe was quoted on the first post now said). Charging should be used for reducing distance while not putting your weapon away. It's good for when the monster is tripped a decent distance away from you. To repeat, do not turtle. It's bad.

 GL

Like before, DO NOT TURTLE. Bad idea. Wyvern Fire is a great tool, but beware of who is near you because it has a large range and will toss people. You can tell if WF is ready because if is not, most GLs have a tab that pops out of the side. You can only slide-dodge three times at once with GL, so be aware of that. There's some Auto-Guard BS in P3rd that was fixed in 3U that made GL OP, so be aware that it doesn't exist anymore if you had used it in P3rd.

 SA

I don't use Switch Axe, so I have no comments.

 Bowguns

I do not use Bowguns, however I do know that status effect shots are awesome. A bowgun with no status effects, especially paralyze, is, in my opinion, worthless. Paralyze is awesome. That's my opinion though. I do know that Gunners have their Gunner inventory page back, so make use of it.

 Bow

Bow is my main weapon. I absolutely love bows, so I can go on all day about them. I actually wrote a guide on Bows for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, and in fact most of the information available in it is still effective and important. The only major change for bows between FU and P3rd is that Bows have a new attack, the barrage (rain shot? Whatever you want to call it).

Here's some tips I can give you in regards to making yourself and effective Bow user.
- Always be moving. You can move while charging, and that is the primary advantage of Bows. They are extremely mobile. When you are charging an arrow, Y allows you to dodge, so you can easily do it at any time. Unless you are out of Stamina there is no excuse for not charging an arrow. If you need to cancel a charge you can dodge at any time.
- Coatings are extremely helpful, especially Power and Para Coatings. I rarely use a Bow without both. With the gunner page back, you should always try to carry materials for more coatings that you can use.
- Close Range coatings work for melee attacks. Contrary to (probably once at this point) popular belief, Bows CAN cut tails. The melee attack does this. Close Range Coatings + Melee actually does it pretty quickly.
- Meleeing with coatings does not use a coating. You can try to keep one coating left and melee a status effect on if you're feeling lucky.
- Barrage attacks are BAD whenever there is anyone near it. They can disable your allies for a long time. Don't use them like they're the only attack Bows have because they are not.
- Barrage attacks can KO. I find the Bomb Barrage is the best. It can give multiple large KO hits if you hit the head directly.
- Wide Radius Barrage is WORTHLESS. Don't use it. It only pisses off allies and does terrible damage. The Demo Bow has Wide Radius Barrage.
- Third charge everything. First charge does no damage. You're wasting coatings, time, and energy into using first charge shots. Spamming them is not effective, don't do it. First Charge is like hitting an enemy with a red sharpness weapon. Second Charge is better, but the time it takes to go to third is in fact a better increase than spamming second. The exception is the Kelbi Bow, because apparently all charges do the same damage with it or something like that? I don't know, I don't intend to use it ever.
- Learn the default range for Barrage and the default angle for shots if you intend to use Bow a lot. You don't always need to aim if you learn these things.
- The range of the shot actually matters. You do more damage if your shot is in a sweet spot of range. You do less if the enemy is too close or too far away. The sweet spot is at the point in which the aim line begins to descend. If you hit enemies right there, at the top of the arch, you will do the most damage with bows.

Bows are actually far more advanced than people think, because they seem pretty simple. That's one of the reasons I like them. Easy to use, hard to master.

If you want any more information on any of them, except BG, SA, and LS, let me know, I'll be happy to help. Hope this helps you, too.[/spoiler]