Look on youtube for some guides on using the Sword and Shield if you haven't already. There are sometimes attacks that aren't listed in the guide or in the training area UI, so you may be missing out on some higher damaging attacks. In general with Sword and Shield though you are going to need to either match elemental weapons with specific monster weaknesses or use a status weapon like paralysis or sleep to be able to use bombs. Sleep bombing is a very popular playstyle. The weapon is also balanced around being able to use items and the slinger without sheathing, so try to find ways to use that to your advantage. SxS may do lower damage overall, but with a good bag of tricks you should have more free time attacking the monster than many other weapons.

The official guidebooks have been released in Japan, so we are going to see a lot of data coming out in the next few days and weeks that people have been anxious to see. Here is a video with the drop rates for the various gems and certain rare materials. If you follow the link to the actual youtube page there are time stamps and you can jump to whichever monster you are looking for.





edit to add: If you watch that video for a specific item, make sure you prepare the proper rituals before hand to cloak yourself from the Desire Sensor.

I removed my item from the wishlist, made sure to pet Poogie between each battle, and yet still no luck in getting Xeno horns.

I think I just need to solo it so I can focus on breaking the head.

Monster HP is doubled when you're in multiplayer, and that likewise doubles the HP thresholds for part breaks, so soloing is always a good idea IMO when looking for horns and fangs. Something I found out yesterday, you can start a quest and rush the part break, then choose "Return from Quest" and you will end the quest and go back to town. Any parts you have broken will give you the corresponding rewards even though you didnt finish the quest. I'm having to farm Black Diablos for Spiral Horns right now and she is my absolute least favorite monster by a country mile. Ran in with a hammer last night and broke both horns in about 2 minutes, then returned and had 1 spiral horn as a reward. Never finishing that quest ever again.

Ugh. I need a Rathian Ruby. That's it for my Princess Bow III. I have been farming for 3 days now. Is the daily/meld technique the only way I can get this?

Based on the drop rates, your best bet is doing any Pink Rathian investigation with at least one gold and silver reward. Break the head (3% chance for reward) and cut the tail if you can (2% carve). Investigation rewards have a 7% (silver) and 14% (gold) for the ruby. Still probably going to require some farming, but hopefully that should speed it up if you arent already doing those things.

Red Five said:

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Based on the drop rates, your best bet is doing any Pink Rathian investigation with at least one gold and silver reward. Break the head (3% chance for reward) and cut the tail if you can (2% carve). Investigation rewards have a 7% (silver) and 14% (gold) for the ruby. Still probably going to require some farming, but hopefully that should speed it up if you arent already doing those things.

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Thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Completely new to the series, but I'm enjoying it. Been alternating between dual blades and bow, only played solo so far. Quick noob question: in multiplayer does everyone get to carve the monster once it's dead? I didn't know if it was poor ettiquette to carve one from someone else's quest. I'm on xbox, gamertag Friendly Freddy. I'm only at level 3 so I doubt I'll be much fun for y'all to hunt with.

So tell me about armor spheres. I think I've been wasting them on low level armor. I assume I'd be better saving them up to use on higher level sets?

Just wanted to thank everyone for the help on this thread, it's really increased my enjoyment of this game. Going to take on my first Anjanth tonight (first quest I mean, he's carted me a few times when I was on expeditions) - was thinking of trying the barrel bomb thing. (and wearing the best fire armor I have and using a water weapon.) So I beat on him until he lays down to rest, put 2 mega barrel bombs on his head, then a small barrel bomb to set it all off and run like hell? Or do I need to shoot them to detonate?

Sq1dvm said:

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Just wanted to thank everyone for the help on this thread, it's really increased my enjoyment of this game. Going to take on my first Anjanth tonight (first quest I mean, he's carted me a few times when I was on expeditions) - was thinking of trying the barrel bomb thing. (and wearing the best fire armor I have and using a water weapon.) So I beat on him until he lays down to rest, put 2 mega barrel bombs on his head, then a small barrel bomb to set it all off and run like hell? Or do I need to shoot them to detonate?

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That's correct. In fact you'll want to do that twice during the Nergigante fight. Definitely shoot from afar. It won't hurt you that bad if you don't, but the space is handy for tactical reasons. If you have a charge shot then do it.

There are a couple things to look out for when sleep bombing. The most important thing is that when a monster is sleeping, the first hit, and only the first hit, gives double damage. So you want to make sure that the large or mega bomb is what hits it. Using a small barrel bomb to detonate the larger bombs is convenient and a widely used practice but you have to make sure that you place the small bomb far enough away that the explosion hits the large bombs but doesn't hit the monster. It might be easier to detonate them with a rock or redpit from your slinger. Just make sure that you are only hitting the bomb, slinger aiming will auto-lock onto a monster if you aren't careful. Also, dont use piercing pods or a bow shot that will travel through the bomb as it may contact the monster before the explosion does and waste your double damage bonus.

To immediately contradict myself, if you are using the bow, I would try and detonate them with a charged dragon piercer shot. The dragon piercer does a ton of damage on its own so getting a shot that you can easily line up to go the full length through the Anjanath's body would be worth the ~80 damage or so you might lose if the bomb doesn't go off before the arrow hits the Anjanath.

Thanks, double charged dragon piercer down the long axis is what I'll do.

Good luck! Remember to take your time, they give you 50 minutes for a reason. Anjanath is designed to be a wall for player progression and he will punish you if you are too aggressive.

Did not go well, I did get him beat down enough to do the barrel trick, but it wasn't enough. Learned a lot, I won't try him close quarters again, but I'm done for the night. Gonna go beat up on some Barroths to make me feel better about myself.

Ahh too bad. I failed that quest twice before completing it. He was a tough SOB.

What armor are you using? I know you said you were planning to use armor with fire resistance, but it may be worth sacrificing that for some better offensive capabilities and then eating at the canteen for a defense or elemental resist boost.

I risked running a 1 faint only Nerg investigation last night because it had a gold and 2 silver rewards and it paid off with a Nerg gem so I was able to fully upgrade my Nerg great sword. I've got him down pretty good now, I used Perdition's Root, the final Vaal Hazak hammer. Armor is Dragonking Eyepatch, Dober Mail A, Damascus Vambraces B, Nergigante Coil B, Death Stench Heel B, Attack Charm 3. Skills are Attack 7, Weakness Exploit 2, Handicraft 3 and various quality of life skills that I had gems for, like speed sharpening. Handicraft 3 gives pretty good white sharpness on Perdition's Root which is a significant damage boost. I think if I had Handicraft 5 the Diablos hammer would actually be better but at level 3 it's still in blue sharpness. My best time so far has been just over 7 minutes.

Bone armor (still only HR 4), but I made a bunch of armor last night. Switching to something more offense oriented makes sense, avoiding the side to side fire attack ain't bad and the head on fire attack carted me with one hit even with the bone armor. I also started playing around with the hammer on lower level monsters. I kinda like it. Thinking I may farm jyrutdos until I get an aqua sac to make it a water hammer.

Sq1dvm said:

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Thanks, double charged dragon piercer down the long axis is what I'll do.

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If you build the Affinity\Crit bow build, that Dragon Piercer will do 125 per arrow per breakable part. So that + the Mega Barrell Bomb explosion will do you good and it's fun to look at. =)

UPDATE:

Bow build:

I'm not sure if there is an armor available before Anjanath that will keep you from getting one shot by the fire breath. I'd keep the bone helm and chest as there's not much else better for those slots, but if you want to stick with the bow you might take a look at the Jyura legs and arms. Legs will give Focus 1 which decreases charging time and arms will give water attack 1 which will be useful if you are using the water bow.

That said, if you want to switch to hammer then I say go for it. Using a different weapon for different monsters is IMO a core part of the monster hunter experience. Find what works for you for a given situation. If you do switch to hammer, I'd recommend the Kestodon arms because they give 30% affinity during and for a short time after sliding, and the hammer sliding attack is not only super effective but also the most fun attack in the whole game.

And remember...

On fire? --> Jump 3 times to put out
Poisoned? --> Crouch until poison wears off or take antitidote potion
Effluvium? --> armor build for Effluvium?

Just got the game recently. Killed the Rathalos just now. I am maining bow so far. Looking for people to play with.

PSN: Stridulent

AGSPORTSFAN07 said:

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And remember...


Effluvium? --> armor build for Effluvium?

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Nulberries

For Vaal's effluvium nulberries, but for your standard rotten vale effluvium using any mantle will prevent you from taking damage, as they all cover your face.

Got real close to beating Anjanath with the hammer, had broken 3 parts, he was lumping and he laid down to sleep and I bombed him, then got lit up in his little bouncy nest area in the tree. Can I lure him out of there? Should I just try to capture him when he's asleep?

Capturing is a great option. Just put a trap down on him while he's sleeping and it will wake him up in the trap. 2 tranq bombs and you're done. Can't believe I didn't suggest that before when you said you'd gotten him sleeping. Elder dragons like nergigante can't be captured, but for everything else there isn't really any reason not to in most situations.

Capturing worked like a champ. Don't know why I have such a hard time with him in the nest, but capturing was easy.

Sweet. That area is super cramped and Anjanath is so big it can be difficult to evade him in there. I've been grinding HR Anja investigations because I need a gem to make the chest piece for a crit draw bow build. I'm up to 35 Fang+ and 10 Plates, still 0 gems.

Red Five said:

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Sweet. That area is super cramped and Anjanath is so big it can be difficult to evade him in there. I've been grinding HR Anja investigations because I need a gem to make the chest piece for a crit draw bow build. I'm up to 35 Fang+ and 10 Plates, still 0 gems.

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Are you SoSing into those Invesitgations? I've found that to be the best way to get gems. Finding tempered and Silver\Gold is easier to get when someone else posts.

No, I've just been running through the ones I had already acquired solo. I think I'm out of my silver/gold investigations for Anja now, though. so i may give the SOS a try. i may also give the HZD event (PS4) a try since event quests tend to have extra rewards.

I actually got that gem on like my second attempt of the HZD event. Of course I didn't need it anymore after having farmed it the previous day on like 20 hunts.

Took about 6 more hunts but I finally got the gem. Made a build with crit draw 3, attack 4, weakness exploit 2, pierce up, and special ammo boost. Could improve the set with better decorations like some more attack gems or quick sheath.

Used it with the black Diablos bow with a non element boost gem to complete the hr 29 double tempered Bazel quest. I don't know how you can manage that one with a melee weapon. Even with fully upgraded armor I've had one of his bombs one shot me. The bow didn't make it trivial, but it definitely made it manageable. Took my time with it and pretty much had smooth sailing just dragon piercing them over and over. Took I think around 35 dragon piercer shots total to kill them both.

Anyone hunting tonight? Got my Kadachi Bow, 4-set Anja farmed, and ready to do other things now. Add me on PS4: Stridulent.