A number of questions from a Monster Hunter familiar starting MHFU

So, I own MHFU on my Vita, been into it a time now. I'm to a point where my most recent kill was a Gypoceros, and my best weapon the Dark Scythe or Snow Venom Dual Blades. I'm decked out in Daimyo Hermitaur armour, upped as far as I can do so at HR1 really.
But I am curious of a few things.
First, which Long Sword and Dual Sword paths are recomended? I'm planning to make another LS down the Iron Katana line until I can make it into this thunder LS I've heard of. But otherwise, I'm unsure as to what I should be doing as not to be set too far back.
Secondly, a more general question, does anyone have some bow tips? I enjoy the weapon, and can use it decently I'd like to think, but as I'm also lost as to weapon lines and recomended coatings. Is it even a practical weapon offline, or should it be more reserved for multiplayer hunts as a backup weapon?
Lastly, this I'm not sure anyone can answer, but does will my PS Vita played MHFU(even though said game is a PSP game) work with PSP users via ad hoc? I'd like to think so, but was curious if it'd been attempted.
This is The White Lightning, starting MHFU.

Ok so....
As an LS and DS user i have to recommend :
-As you said the iron katana path, the devil's slicer and the true devil slicer can be obtained quite early (if you farm a little) and it can help you with most monsters... Rathalos , Rathian , Tigrex and many many more will easily drop dead to the devil slicer
-Also the Rathalos Longsword is pretty useful
-As for DS.... The Giaprey DS are pretty good and also after your first Lao-shan lung you will get some pretty good dragon DS... I believe than one of the best pair of dual sword is the Twin Nail one... It has very strong fire AND ice element... and quite good raw power aswell....
As for the bow thing... I like the weapon as a whole but yeah i think its better used for multiplayer.... Just a personal opinion though
Now about the ad-hoc...no idea xD

Thanks for the input, I'll take a look at the Devil's Slicer specifically, it intrigues me o3o

From what I've heard, yeah, you can use Ad-Hoc Party with PSP owners.
Definitely go for Devil Slicer path, it upgrades into THE best thunder LS in the game.

Bow's best off left alone until you can get some better bows than the ones early game, but that's just my opinion. Stuff like the White Fatalis bow tear elder dragons apart, Diablos/Black blos bows can be used as a replacement for pierce HBGs when fighting lao shan lung. Most people opt for LBG/HBG over bow anyways but it did get a pretty big buff in P3rd/Tri G. It's a good weapon but slow to start off with (like DS, you're not fully set up on those until late low rank).

For all purpose weapons at high rank, the nargacuga weapons beat all. In most cases, just the sharpness and affinity they have equate to more power than the monsters elemental weakness.

In the case of hammer and ls, the narga weapons are the best you can get before g-rank. They're high rank only though, so this is more of a future suggestion. Easiest way to make them is to upgrade from a normal tigrex weapon, as that removes the need for brainstems which are a bit of a pain to get.

Another question I've had, what Blademaster armor sets are recomended beyond Hermitaur? And for what reasons?

I liked the ceanataur armors. especially the high-rank S-version is very good. it gives you sharpness+1 and attack up small, put you can gem in two 5-slot skills (like speed sharpen and AuM or jus AuL,...). but the lowrank isn't bad eighter. I'm not sure bout other lowrank armors, I only used ceanataur...

I must be the only player of this game that gets armor based on appearance....

Appearance is why i got ceanataur armor in the first place. The fact that it's awesome for hunting is entirely secondary.

Anyways, i second tom's post. i was going to suggest cean armor as well but i had to leave so left it at just the weapons. Ceanataurs are insanely easy to take out with a hammer, so the armor is easy to make as well.

well i found this on gamefaqs were all da cool people go ;) idk how accurate it is but its a start i guess http://www.gamefaqs.com/psp/943356-monster-hunter-freedom-unite/faqs/57283

Thanks for all the help and tips, I'm rather enjoying hunting Ceanataurs, so the armor shouldn't be an issue. Though having trouble getting machalite in decent quantities, suggestions?

i use the farm for all my mining

volcano

basarios in volcano

basarios in valcano with a trip to the farm after each quest /yes/

The volcano in general yields a lot more than it did at first, so my Iron Katana Gospel should be done soon, to be transformed into the Eagle Cleaver.
Now decked out in full Ceanataur too, and enjoying it, the sharpness issues my Dark Scythe had are a thing of the past now.

that sharpness made me cry at the begining of the game...

Thus far my Eager Cleaver has been serving me very well. I killed my first Tigrex, the elder urgent.
I've not done much in the Guild though, just quests here and there in the 1-3 star range.
At this stage, I was wondering if any other armorsets were recomended? I'm using pretty upped Ceanataur, and while I love it, I get bored of the same set day after day. I was considering maybe Tigrex armor, is that a good idea?

idk but i use kirin, ceantaur s, and helper armour for blade. and kirin, a mix that gives EAU and speed fire,conga S, Ceantaur, and battle armour

I would suggest working on blango armor first, as that will help against shen gaoren in the future.

Tigrex armor doesn't have great skills honestly... autotracker and quick eating are useless in my opinion.

Tigrex Armour's usefulness really depends on the player using it. If you know which zones the monster moves to in the area, then autotracker is not really the best skill for you, although it does tell you the direction they're facing which is handy sometimes. Also if the monster your finding doesn't/rarely limps, the AT is handy for letting you know when he has moved to his sleeping area. Finally, it takes out the necessity of an inventory for paintballs if your unfamiliar with the monster's movement patterns.

Quick-Eating in my opinion is a decent skill. Its really useful if you want to remain in the battle longer or if you find you sometimes take on alot of damage since you can heal yourself quickly, and now have the option of consuming a steak in the middle of a fight; so you only really need to leave if the monster is raging and you need to sharpen.

Something else a lot of people really disregard about the Tiggy Armour is its Elemenatl Resists. Since it has a high resistance to fire, ice and water - most monsters who inflict these elemantal attacks should be no real problem damage-wise. Its only real weakness is to thunder (minor dragon weakness) and there are very few monsters which use these elements (Just don't equip it when fighting Khezu or Rajang ;) )

Forget to mention you can gem in earplugs which are handy for Los, Ian, Garuga and even Narga later on.

Finally, It looks badass... and it is badass as it came from the Tigrex! I also like the look of the Tigrex Cap better than the Helm; furthermore it gives it even better elemental resistances.

So don't underestimate any armour as they all have they're pros and cons.

Bahahahaha elemental resist :')

Deridor wrote:

I would suggest working on blango armor first, as that will help against shen gaoren in the future.

Tigrex armor doesn't have great skills honestly... autotracker and quick eating are useless in my opinion.

blango? but if u get ceantaur and the ceantaur HBG u doestroy shen alot easyer...

blackice wrote:

Deridor wrote:

I would suggest working on blango armor first, as that will help against shen gaoren in the future.

Tigrex armor doesn't have great skills honestly... autotracker and quick eating are useless in my opinion.

blango? but if u get ceantaur and the ceantaur HBG u doestroy shen alot easyer...

The quake resist is only useful for melee players. bg users shouldn;t be dumb enough to stand next to his feet :P

oh lol i dint even know what skills blango had xD