Damage Mitigation, curiosity, and some Hunter advice wanted

[Mephs]

I'm playing a Hunter now (semi-new to PSU/PSO games, I played a Force for a little bit in PSO), I usually duo places with my gf's force, but I was wondering, as I have been playing the class a lil now and observed some properties.

In RELICS he now takes very little damage, under 20s from most of the monsters (except the big hulking things) and doesn't even get knockback from it anymore, because of this I can pretty much just button mash through a run with the occasional heal.

I haven't been able to afford much as far as armor goes, as I'd been spending most of my money on weapons to get a feel for the various options.

How effective is DFP in mitigating damage? Do I want to throw down some on it? In a way I can hold monster's attention while my gf's Force nukes away at them...but it seems like I can't get the same mitigation on all monsters my level. Again, On RELICs I can reach the point where I take less than 20 damage and take no knockback, letting me charge in and spam mash attacks with a Sword.

But we tried the Dragon run, and the monsters in that, and the level 10 zone before it, were doing 30+ hits and knocking back.

The questions I have here are:

Why would lower level monsters hit me harder than higher levels, and well, they seem to hit me the same as after I got better armor (bought a 6000m armor piece with the most DFP possible).

Now, it is light element, I don't know if that affects anything, but I can't be sure cause not all the monsters in RELIC are light element.

I want to be able to be sort of a tank but be able to attack as freely as possible on most monster mobs. What kind of weapon would you all suggest, and what kind of armor would mitigate best?

I'm also kind of confused about the slot system. I have a piece of armor that says it is HEAD SLOT, and another piece that is BODY/ARM, now wouldn't that mean I could equip both? I'm confused by this. It does not let me equip both.

I'm not entirely sure how DFP works in this game yet, or how armor is beneficial to a Hunter. But it seems like they are the "tanking" class.

[Maskim]

You can only equip one set of armor. Those slots you are referring to, are slots the armor has available to it to install upgrade units. If you choose the head slot, you can pick a unit that raises mst or something similar. As a hunter, I'd choose the Body/Arm slot armor, because with that you can equipa defensive unit for even more def from your armor, and an atp unit on the arm, upping your damage output.
As to why the lvl 10 forest mobs are hitting you for more than the relics mobs...I got no clue. In my experiences, I get hit for more from the higher lvl mobs. Def is good for mitigating damage, the higher the def, the less damage you take on a connecting attack. Eva is good too, although as a Cast I'm sort of lacking it, because eva is what causes you to block attacks, taking no damage. I've always leaned more heavily on def than eva though, because I figure evading an attack is good, but chances are the majority of attacks will hit, so better to lower the damage and knockback.

[Mephs]

Ohhhh, yeah I see now. I was wondering what those extra armor shops were too...thanks! Now to figure out why I still get hit like a truck by lv 10 mobs but not from lv 15s...

[Sorenia]

Well when you say "knocked back" do you mean flinching? If a mob does over a certain amount of damage he can make you flinch. If you are litterally being knocked down that is the result of a move and is more likely to happen in the dragon mission because Koltovs are more likely to do that move than the little pig things in relics.

It's also possible they are just hitting you harder because they swing slower or some such.

[Mephs]

Flinch, yeah, the one that delays your attack, but not knockdowns, I know what does that, and I can just evade those moves usually.

Now as for weapons, I need a weapon that's perfect for having time to evade as well as get some damage in while I'm in a mob. I've played with practically everything but a spear and knives so far I think, I like Sword so far, but Tornado Break doesn't seem to offer much in the ways of mob control like the Rising Crush series PAs do (stun). I don't like twin sabers or saber/gun just because it doesn't seem to be very effective all-around. I can't hit more than one or the occasional two in a mob with twin sab or sab/gun combo...

Fist I've kinda started to like for it's speed in and out. I got one as a free drop and I might consider buying the higher grade one and grinding it a bit, or making some ele fists or something. It's terrible range but the speed lets me hit those annoying jumpers in RELICs easier and I can just plow through them with the PA and get out before they get a hit in (even if they do though, I don't even flinch on damage), plus it might just be me, but I feel like I block more with the fists on o_O.

Sword and Fist are usually my main two weapons I swap between, Sword for larger monsters with multiple hit spots, or mobs of little creatures, and fists to take out single targets that are annoyingly fast and harder to evade with a slow weapon like Sword.

I'm not sure though, if I'm taking full advantage of the weapon selection Hunters get.

Edit: I also use twin sabers or saber/gun just for the PA to stun in a bad situation, or to stop monsters from hitting my Force.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Mephs on 2006-11-04 14:18 ]</font>

[etlitch]

Single dagger. It's PA at low levels can be used to evade attacks (go left or right when doing it) and works as mob control at higher levels.