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#Post#: 99--------------------------------------------------
Guide to Aquatic Combat
DIR By: Kortekai
Date: November 12, 2014, 7:21 pm
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[center]"Alright you landlubbers, it's time to take the plunge
and face your fears. When I dive, even plesioth leaps onto the
beach to get away from me, so take what I say to heart and you
should--at least do better!" . . . the Elder
Berserker[/center]
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General Tips & Advice
The first thing anyone should do before engaging a challenging
underwater opponent is to know your weapon. Many weapons work
differently underwater. For instance, the longsword can't
perform to overhand swings in a row, so if you're trying to use
your land-based combos, chances are you'll find yourself
confusedly picking up your weapon as your opponent lands a solid
blow on you. The greatsword performs even broader, circular
strikes, so there are more opportunities for proper positioning.
Know your weapon well, and you'll be off to a great start.
Secondly, don't be Khan from Star Trek II. You have entered a
very three-dimensional realm of combat, and you can use that to
your advantage. All wyverns have straight-on lunge attacks that
simply cannot hit you if you are attacking from above or beneath
them. Use that to your advantage. Don't feel like you have to
fight them on their level, like you do on land. Chances are,
with the slower dodging underwater, you won't be able to
successfully avoid their attacks as well if you don't take
advantage of new angles available to you.
From someone who never, ever used the lock-on function of this
game (because, let's face it, I felt like I didn't need it after
years of not having it), using the lock-on function to L1 and
look straight at the wyvern is incredibly useful when
underwater. When your weapon attacks in the last direction you
were moving, last-second targeting and nudging forward can
ensure a hit that may not have even struck your opponent had you
guided yourself in using the directional pad or joystick. If
you're struggling with water combat, be sure you're using all of
the tools you have.
Sea Legs is worthless, but Swimming or Felyne Swimming is not.
These skills reduce the stamina drain of hammer and lance
charges, and also how quickly the stamina bar drains while dual
swords have their special active. While not the best skills for
most occasions, underwater combat is very stamina-intensive.
Nobody wants to not be "sprinting" while moving underwater.
You're asking to get side-swiped by calmly floating from
side-to-side in most cases, and being able to get the most out
of your stamina is a great advantage.
Remember that, in all of Monster Hunter, you learn to survive
first, and kill second. That's no different underwater. Until
you get the hang of your underwater combos and a better feel for
the angles and dodging times against various monsters, play it
safe. Go in, hit a few times, prepare to dodge and defend
yourself. Take it slowly, and soon you'll be able to get
increasingly more aggressive.
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Ludroth
While ludroth is fairly straight-forward underwater, remember
that he is exceptionally vulnerable to staying above him and
striking downward. Only his spiraling attack might hit you, and
you only have to worry about avoiding his head and the front of
his mane. There is a safe spot in the middle of his coil that
you can aim for, even if he's trying to wrap around you, and it
becomes a very liberating attack once you get your positioning
down. If you're fighting beneath him, you don't have to worry
about him coiling up almost at all, but you may have a slightly
more difficult time avoiding his tail when he whips it around.
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Gobul
With the gobul's spikes and variety of vertical attacks,
including backing up and aiming slightly up or down with his
open-mouthed charge attack, staying above the gobul isn't always
a good idea. Staying below, if you can, and to the sides of his
front legs is best. It keeps you away from his tailsweep, and,
if you position just right, you can dodge out of his rolling
attacks before they crush you. You have the easiest time
smashing gobul's lantern underwater, because you are free to
position yourself however you want to get at it. Again, take
advantage of the 3D environment. You can also use odd angles
like this to attack his tail from above or below, without
risking it smacking and paralyzing you. It only ever sweeps from
left to right, remember, and only when he's resting on the sand
or dirt at the bottom.
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Plesioth
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Lagiacrus
With lagiacrus's double-sideswipes, AOEs, and high mobility,
it's not an easy fight underwater. However, there are a couple
of very important tricks that will help you take down this
underwater giant.
Lagiacrus's sideswipes are very much like agnaktor's, and when
underwater, blocking them is definitely the best option. They're
difficult to avoid and hurt terribly, especially if he's enraged
and covered in electricity. However, not all weapons give you
the option to block, and blocking with a greatsword doesn't cut
it sometimes when he does two of them in a row. You just don't
have enough stamina most of the time. The best way to leave
yourself room to dodge is definitely to attack lagiacrus from
above, right between the spines on his back. If he goes to AOE,
and you're not mid-attack, you normally have enough time to
double-dodge away from him and not be affected, and his
large-scale AOE gives plenty of time to run away. If you see him
arch up and start to sideswipe, dodge over him and through the
attack so that the first one pushes him in the opposite way
you're dodging. If you can, aim upwards and away from him. If
you do, and you continue to dodge away, there's very little
chance lagiacrus can turn around and hit you with the second
sideswipe.
While this should be an obvious statement, it is even more
important when fighting lagiacrus underwater: do not fight him
near the walls of the arena if you can help it. His mobility and
quick attacks can quickly combo you against walls, so if you see
the engagement leading towards the boundaries of a zone, back
out and wait for him to come at you. Playing aggressive will
often end with you leaving yourself open to attacks, and he's
not a brute wyvern. There's not a lot of health to whittle down
if you've got a decent weapon that he's weak to.
If you do find yourself right in front of lagiacrus, and he's
trying to claw at you, etc., dodge towards him and try to hit
that center ring like you're fighting ludruth. There's that same
opening of safety in the middle of his coil, and if you're in
that safe spot, you can time it just right to continue dodging
through him if he goes for a sideswipe. If he's enraged and
covered in lightning, it's more difficult to dodge through him
like this, but it's still possible (especially with Evade and
Evade Distance).
The last thing I can think of to really help out, is to remember
that if you're caught--you know you're going to get stuck in his
AOE or that you cannot possibly avoid being hit by an attack
he's charging up for--keep hitting him. He's not a very durable
wyvern, and there have been many times I've saved myself from a
powerful attack by stuttering him and knocking him off his game.
At that point, I sheathe my weapon and quickly back off for
better positioning. If you're near his face when this sort of
thing is happening (and you should be going for his neck and
face most of the fight, unless you're cutting his tail), you've
got a pretty good chance at dealing just enough damage.
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Ceadeus
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(This guide is a work in progress that will be continually
updated as I finish it. Once it is complete, I will remove this
message.)
#Post#: 100--------------------------------------------------
Re: Guide to Aquatic Combat
DIR By: VonRichter
Date: November 12, 2014, 8:13 pm
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I find that Lancing works supremely well underwater. The only
weapon I would not suggest for UW fights is Sword and Shield.
Too pokey, not enough damage.
#Post#: 101--------------------------------------------------
Re: Guide to Aquatic Combat
DIR By: Kortekai
Date: November 13, 2014, 10:38 am
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Sword and Shield is a particular form of combat on ground, too.
You have to maintain a very aggressive pace to deal damage
quickly, which can leave you open to attacks often, and it's
definitely not for everybody. I only know a few people who main
SnS, personally, but it's just as viable underwater as it is on
land.
Lances, gunlances and hammers are very easy underwater, because
they don't change very much. Greatswords, duals and longswords
change a little bit, and the SnS is quite different, but
serviceable. Definitely for people wanting a challenge, or for
people who prefer the SnS over everything else.
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