Hunting Horn Help

It's me again. I've looked at some stuff, and hunting horn looks like a pretty cool weapon type. I'd like to learn it, but I don't know where to start.

I need all the help I can get. This includes, but is not limited to, good horns, techniques, armor sets, and monsters to practice on.

Thanks!

Start with full Bone S (if you're on high rank) or Qurupeco X (G rank). Gem in the second one Horn Maestro and you're ready to go. You can also try to build more advanced set with parts from Vangis X and Peco X with following skills: Wide Range+2, Speed Eating+2, Sharpness+1, Horn Maestro. Keep in mind it requires good talisman.

With Wide Range+2 you can pass Seeds (might, armor seed, nulberry), Potions and Antidotes. Having Item Use Up is also nice if you can fit it somewhere.

Best offensive HH in the game are Brachydios HH, Barroth HH (requires awaken, sharpness+1 and weakness exploit), Abyssal HH, Stygian Zin HH.

If you want to play more like a support for your team you can try Nibelsnarf HH (Health Recovery (L)), Turban Shell. Eternal Music Box from Ancienshard is also fun to play and have some great songs (Hearing Protection (L), Health & Affinity boosts).

I like to separate HH set to offensive one and supportive one. On former I entirely drop Horn Maestro and focus on offensive skills such as Challenger+2, Sharpness+1, AuL, CE+3, Weakness Exploit etc. On supportive ones Horn Maestro is a must, than I go for Item Use Up to extend durability of buffs from Seeds, than of course Wide Range+2, Speed Eating etc.

It has been ages since I logged in, but I am constantly reading everyone's posts and wanted to chime in on this one. Little history before I begin: For MH3U the HH has been my first weapon, and the one I became most proficient at, soloing every monster with it. So hopefully I don't make a fool of my self in my suggestions.

If you are starting out the hunting horn, and have no prior experience with it, then the first thing you have to know, is that it is a very mobile weapon, unless you are in song mode. So, of prime importance, is to not be tempted to play a song mid battle, until you are comfortable in your timings, both of yourself, and the monster you are fighting.

Basic battling: Before you engage any monster, make sure you have the run speed up buff (2 white or 2 purple), and follow it up with the double song (Pressing R while the first song is playing to do the song again), This will give you "minds eye" on your attacks.. that is, attacks will not bounce off. Most of your moves will already have Mind's eye, but this will ensure that the rest that do not, will not bounce.

Your main damage move, is also the one you will be most hated on if you do it in a group: Directional pad forward, and X + A. This will do a Smash attack, with a mind's eye effect... meaning, it will never bounce off. This is great, because the best thing to pair with it, is a quick evade (direction you want to go in plus B). This prevents you from having to wait until the attack animation finishes, and positions you to again do the same move.

If you are in a group, try your hardest to never do the smash, since this will knock all your other party members away.

Always go for the head of monsters, since the HH has a good KO ratio, which is why the Bone armor is a great starting point. If you are not using a new character, then try making the Diablos Armor, and give it Horn Maestro.

Another great thing about the HH, is its ability to tire out monsters quickly. This is even more apparent if you use the Stamina thief ability (that comes from the Diablos U armors). A tired monster, is a monster that can easily be defeated.

Warning: wide attack problems: Yep, you might think that having a wide attack is great, but it has disadvantages. Example, hold a beach ball, and from far away, try to throw it to someone on the other side of a door. More often than not, unless you are extremely accurate, you will hit the sides of the door. What this means, is that when you try to hit certain body parts, you might completely miss and instead get another part that you really don't want. Case in point, a Qurupeco. it has 2 flints (one on each wing), directly in front of its chest... while trying to hit his chest, you are almost guaranteed to hit his flints instead, which take VERY little damage. If you constantly try to attack that route, the fights will be very extended, and you will get the false impression that the HH is weak. Instead, while fighting it, go for its sides, the tail, and the legs, avoiding his front completely. You will notice that while those spots take less damage than the chest, you are actually getting many full hits, and he will tire and fall down much more often, at which point you can go for the head for a KO.

Grouping: The HH player has to remember that he is NOT there mainly for damage... instead, his contribution comes mainly from keeping his team-members buffed. With this in mind, Go in with a HH with the Blue/Red Notes, which will allow you to give your party members Attack up, Defence up, and Wind resistance; or Blue/Green, which will allow you to spot heal your party members, or negate stamina depletion, which is HUGE if you have players with shields, dual swords, hammers or bows. You should always go in for the head when you have openings, and think ahead about your next song well before the current one is over. If the terrain allows for it, make sure you go to an area not quickly reachable by the monster to start your recital, and never stay there long. Remember, A song to your party members, is a taunt to the monsters.

What is a good goal to have weapon wise? It is an unfortunate case, that most weapons are best when they are from the Brachydios... and this doesn't seem to be the exception. The Timbral Demolisher (G Ranked Brachydios required), is a good end game weapon that is available way before the best buffing weapon is (The Nether Symphony from Abysal Lagiacruz). It will give you complete hearing protection, some small heals, and Affinity (critical strikes. 15% additional for first song, 20% for second for a total of 35% affinity boost, which is a little less than a 9% boost in overall damage). All this topped off with the slime element, which is effective on every monster. For straight damage, the Stygian Tristitia, is king, and it annihilates the deviljho due to its high dragon element. If grouping, you should select your HH based on the songs, more than the elements or damage. And Raw will always beat elemental damage when picking a HH for solo.

Armor wise, I would attempt to go for Diablos U. You get Knockout King, Stamina Thief, and earplugs, and could easily get Horn Maestro, High-Grade Earplugs (Not needed if using the Timbral Demolisher), and/or some other really good ability, like part-breaker, or Sharp+1.

Hints:

1. Most songs can be extended in 60-180 second increments, up to it's cap (45-280 seconds, depending on song). The Song for extended music duration does NOT stack with horn maestro.

2. There is no need to put your hunting horn away. With the movement song, you should easily be able to avoid most attack by just walking out of its way.

3. If you are having problems with a particular monster, choose your HH based on its songs, and not its overall power. Fighting a Giginox? Get a horn with earplugs. Fighting a Barroth type? Get a horn with snow/mud negation. Fighting something with poison? Have an antidote horn handy. You will notice, that the horns that have the prevention songs, are usually the horns that what you are fighting are weak against anyways.

4. Hunting Horn has a wide area of attack, which makes it excellent at clearing out pesky little monsters that can bother you during the hunt. Use the first 30 seconds to clear out intruders from the area where the main monster is... trust me, a little bee sting can be the difference between a cart and a victory.

Feel free to post any questions... I am sure there are tons more things I couldn't remember for this post.

I wouldn't suggest using Diablos U for HH, unless you're stuck on HR or soloing the entire game. Generally Diablos Z is superior to U version, having Weakness Exploit, Stamina Thief and Knockout King and better slot availability. Earplugs without special investment is redundant as most monsters requires RS/HGE and most dmging HH have HGE song avilable.

Aside from that, from my expiericnce it's hard to notice Stamina Thief and Knockout King usefulness. Monsters from multi-monsters and adv quests have such low HP, that they're dying sometimes faster than you can KO them even once. Not to mention getting exhaust is next to impossible... If the team is good enough you have hard time getting one KO. If they have low/high rank equipment or lack skills, you can get max 2 KO per quest. It's hard to notice the difference with having and not having this skill. Adding the fact that you can simply eat for slugger. I have many hammer sets with and without Stamina Thief, and unfortunately it's usefulness is next to zero thx to monster low lifespan. Knockout King is more usefull as it allows you to get first KO faster, but i highly doubt you can get more than 3 KO's in one quest without help of other hammer/HH user.

All of this apply of course to multiplayer experience. In Single those two should give better results.