How do you be a good hunter?

[Zipzo]

Hi.

I just started playing hunter and I'm like level 24, but still don't really fully understand what the best way to run around killing things is, I'm used to being a Force or Techer and some experience on Ranger so the melee range thing feels like a handicap.

So far I use a sword with Sonic Arrow and Over End, Sonic Arrow for big groups and being mobile at the same time, Over End for...Over End-ing. I have a Partisan for Trick Rave but Slide End seems to be good too. I have claws but have mostly ignored them, but I hope to get used to them since I wanna use the Falclaws I have eventually for s&g.

What's the best PA's and stuff for each hunter weapon and their role in combat? I basically suck. I don't even know when it's better to guard as opposed to dodge since I've never had block before. I don't see why I would block when I can just dodge and keep moving. I don't know though.

Anyways...thanks for the pointers.

[Zorafim]

Solo bosses. You'll be a master in no time.

[Zipzo]

Solo bosses. You'll be a master in no time.

I can see this as training my survivability but not so much my efficiency in clearing mobs. Thank you for the tip though.

[Zorafim]

Clearing mobs? That's easy. Get a strong AoE PA, run up to mobs, and spam it. Should be Sonic Arrow for sword, Speed Rain for spear, and... Ask someone who uses them for wired lance.

[MetalDude]

If you picked up Just Guard, it has a much larger window for successfully pulling it off. You get a good full second or two of invincibility meaning the remainder of the attack will fly right through you. Evading will sometimes do this but some attacks can still connect if you're still in the hitbox afterward. Banshees/Banthers are particularly irritating about this.

With Wired Lances, I like Other Spin and Other Cyclone. They're pretty easy to choose from based on whether there's a cluster in front of you or around you. Heavenly Fall is a powerful single-target WL PA. Cerberus Dance is great too.

[Sayara]

I often find myself fighting mobs more solo expereinces and if the AOEs of hits manage to hit them. then... hey thats cool.

I like the Wirelance for means of destroying mobs, Another Spin, Cereberus dance are really cool for clearing out mobs.

However im not following the "proper" HU build as i focused more so on the defense than the offensive. (i main/secondary FO)

[gravityvx]

Blocking is pointless outside of boss fights, as I'm sure you're already aware of, just guarding a few bosses leaves you at a large advantage and makes them far easier. A few I would practice just guarding on are Quartz, Dragon Ex, & the Banther Bros. For clearing mobs step attacking into a JA > PA(Sonic Arrow, Nova Strike or overend but I personally keep over end on a seperate PA bar from the rest) and continue that and of course dodge whenever a mob is about to attack, depending on what PA you're using...everything should be dead fairly fast, assuming you're talking about just you yourself attacking with no one else around.

[Chik'Tikka]

Over End and Sonic Arrow for sword, Speed Rain for Spear, Cerberus Dance for wired lances+^_^+ get the gear for each wep in the tree to help with dmg and range, took me awhile to adjust to HU when i decided to sub it+^_^+

[Rayden]

Rising Edge - Good in rare situations (De Malmoth, Zeshrayda) if you have a full gear. With a full gear, you can deal very high damage while gaining a lot of vertical height, so it's good on things with high breakable parts or weak points.

Over End - Good for dealing insanely massive damage, but it takes a long time to execute and leaves you open. This is the main boss killer PA, but it's great on most everything. It has a huge AoE (especially with a full gear), so it can be great for clearing out regular mobs. Oh, and it protects you from flinch and knockdown. Just remember that Over End is all about the last hit - if things are dying before you're getting that last hit in, then you should be using something else.

Sonic Arrow - An okay PA. It deals reasonable damage, and is quick without leaving you open. If you're too vulnerable with Over End, this is an okay replacement. I mainly use it just to build sword gear though, as it usually does that much faster than anything else.

Other Spin - The main wired lance PA. So easy to use, an amazing AoE PA with good damage. The good thing about Other Spin is that it has a vacuum effect which pulls enemies together into one location, similar to Zondeel. This is the best PA to use for killing groups of trash mobs, in my opinion.

Holding Current - The other main wired lance PA. Deals insane damage if you mash the button to generate more hits (especially if you grab a weak point), and it holds your target in place. This PA slaughters most anything, including Dark Falz Elder, Gwanahda, or anything really. It's great to use on annoying mobs like El Ahdas or Ga Wondas. The one downside is that the PA lasts a long time (even if you kill the mob instantly), and you can't move during the attack and can't cancel it.

Speed Rain - Good AoE, reasonable damage. Hits high if you position yourself well, so it can be good for hitting certain weak points.

Zenith Throw - Probably not the best for DPS, but it's fun to use on annoyer enemies like El Ahdas.

Trick Rave - Good for hitting very high weak points. You can hit Vol Dragon's top horn with this move. You can also use it to gain vertical height for a shortcut in the Amduscia time attack.

Slide End - When charged, deals very high damage in a wide AoE. It's a good horizontal AoE.

Assault Buster - When charged, deals very high damage in a lunging forward AoE.

Bandersnatch - An okay PA. Reasonable damage.


All of the above is my own opinions / experiences, of course.

There are always different weapons or PAs you can use in the same situations. Some might be slightly better or worse, but it's mainly a matter of preference. You should try different things out and see what you like best. If we're only talking about Hunter weapons, I tend to use Other Spin on trash mobs, Holding Current on annoyer mobs and certain bosses, and Over End on other bosses.

[ShinMaruku]

To clear mobs you a good area clearing PA you can use a few attacks then you unload your PA if you scaled to be where you should be they will die after 1-3 pa reps.
Also be mindful of enemy attacks. ALso have asword and wired lance. And you can go ham.

[Reia]

Just in case, I want to tell you there's another class past LV30 on Hunter (and 2 client orders) called Fighter. You should also try that class out to see if you like it!

[Zyrusticae]

For what it's worth, assault buster and slide end are virtually unmatched when it comes to clearing crowds of enemies. Even moreso with the level 11+ versions, which have outright insane damage and AoE (especially with partisan gear).

[Zipzo]

Over End and Sonic Arrow for sword, Speed Rain for Spear, Cerberus Dance for wired lances+^_^+ get the gear for each wep in the tree to help with dmg and range, took me awhile to adjust to HU when i decided to sub it+^_^+

Big thank you to Chik'Tikka here.

I didn't even have Cerberus Dance learned, and at this point I think I had all but given up on trying to make WL effective but this PA is pretty dang fun to use. Thank you very much for this tip :)

[Walkure]

Cerberus Dance is one of the few WL PA's that builds up gear; normally only melee attacks do so. Using your gears built up with normal attacks and Cerberus Dance make Other Spin and Other Cyclone clear up mobs even better.

[~Aya~]

Get Assbuster 11+. It like nearly doubles in power and is very OP.

[Acel]

Amazed people arent really reading and not answering the question at all.

Since you are used to using Force.
Then all you need is this: Zondeel (charged or uncharged)
It helps you gather mobs effectively and immediately so you can finish them off much quickly.

Unless being a Force or Techer sub is out of the question, then rely on the WL PAs that suck enemies in.

[Walkure]

Get Assbuster 11+. It like nearly doubles in power and is very OP.Farm all the banther for that, I've only ran into rare snow banther once and he dropped a level 9.

Thanks, Obanther.

[Zipzo]

Amazed people arent really reading and not answering the question at all.

Since you are used to using Force.
Then all you need is this: Zondeel (charged or uncharged)
It helps you gather mobs effectively and immediately so you can finish them off much quickly.

Unless being a Force or Techer sub is out of the question, then rely on the WL PAs that suck enemies in.

Oh I'm playing as a Hu/Te.

I was hoping to use WL effectively because I have an 11* one waiting and I think it would be fun. It's one of the only reasons I'm leveling the class at all.

Yeah I use Zondeel quite frequently, it's very helpful.

I was able to equip a Coat Edge very early thanks to my level capped Techer Sub, it's a very powerful sword so I'm having a lot of fun with Over End and Sonic Arrow as well.

[Suz]

This may be shameless self promotion here, but I live stream every day with hunter/fighter gameplay and commentary. You could always pop in chat and ask any questions or just watch as I play mu melee classes.

http://www.twitch.tv/suzaku0089 <- is the link if you'd like to try it out. Good luck out there!

[iridesence]

i used speed rain on my spear didnt see use for any other pa at the time.

my wired lance combo was: cerberus dance-> other spin -> Holding current

for the longsword i had: stun coincido -> rising edge -> twister fall

all three worked fine for me...

havent played hunter in a long time though. busy leveling everything else.

[Z-0]

I just spam Assault Buster (Slide End sometimes) on everything.

Deadly Archer on bosses once I got Fighter, Sonic Arrow/Over End before that.

Not much more to melee classes than that. There are niche uses to some things, such as Holding Current on Wired Lances, but they're not really on my palette all the time like other things.

[Preposterous Rhino]

Hi.

I just started playing hunter and I'm like level 24, but still don't really fully understand what the best way to run around killing things is, I'm used to being a Force or Techer and some experience on Ranger so the melee range thing feels like a handicap.

So far I use a sword with Sonic Arrow and Over End, Sonic Arrow for big groups and being mobile at the same time, Over End for...Over End-ing. I have a Partisan for Trick Rave but Slide End seems to be good too. I have claws but have mostly ignored them, but I hope to get used to them since I wanna use the Falclaws I have eventually for s&g.

What's the best PA's and stuff for each hunter weapon and their role in combat? I basically suck. I don't even know when it's better to guard as opposed to dodge since I've never had block before. I don't see why I would block when I can just dodge and keep moving. I don't know though.

Anyways...thanks for the pointers.

Getting the sword gear is immensely helpful. Once you can get that, your dps will shoot up as a hunter (assuming you use a sword). I am not too experienced in this game though (level 28 I think). I use sonic arrow and rising edge primarily. I change my first pa to experiment with stuff. Anyway, the sword gear lets you charge up attacks extremely quickly, and rising edge will deal a massive amount of damage if charged up all the way.

[NoiseHERO]

Party: Always get the badguys first.

Solo: Don't die.

Also like other's said if you're gonna use hunter specifically, don't ignore that ass buster 11. You'll never want to look at your slow-ass sword ever again.

Oh and abuse the fuck out of double step. It'll be your half your mode of travel AND double your evasion.

[KatsujinkenKik]

Why hasn't anyone said, "Just get a gunslash and addition bullet"?

[Z-0]

Because it's not really the most efficient thing you can do.

On a melee class, Assault Buster / Slide End can one shot a lot of things Additional Bullet can't, and Additional Bullet isn't great on everything. It's especially bad in Lilipa, for example.

[Arrow]

Cerberus Dance is one of the few WL PA's that builds up gear; normally only melee attacks do so. Using your gears built up with normal attacks and Cerberus Dance make Other Spin and Other Cyclone clear up mobs even better.

Other Cyclone?
There's a cyclone version of Other Spin?
*scurries off to find this PA*

Oh and personal noob fav. combo with WLs with my limited number of PAs is
Other Spin > 1 Melee > Grapple Charge > 1 Melee > Heavenly Fall (Otherspin + Heavenly Fall + Grapple Charge set in that order)
feels like a ruthless combo in the sheer splash dmg dealt...
Though that's just me being lvl 25 "I no longer want to be a hunter and want to get Fighter NOW because the hunter's bread'n butter is guard and I absolutely am horrible at that..."

[cheapgunner]

Party: Always get the badguys first.

Solo: Don't die.

Also like other's said if you're gonna use hunter specifically, don't ignore that ass buster 11. You'll never want to look at your slow-ass sword ever again.

Oh and abuse the fuck out of double step. It'll be your half your mode of travel AND double your evasion.

Wut is this? >.<

[Dinosaur]

Wut is this? >.<

Step > Jump > Step. A prominent movement method during combat.

The best advice I could give as a melee character in this game is to be aware of everything happening around you. Paying attention to the radar and the location of yourself, other players, and enemies is key.

[Alisha]

i would like sword if it had a zan equivalent for gear building and the gear drained as slow as wand gear.

[ShinMaruku]

i would like sword if it had a zan equivalent for gear building and the gear drained as slow as wand gear.

That's subclass potential right there.

[Coatl]

Learn how to pick up loot.