Healing with the HH

I've been playing around with the hunting horn, including a few that have healing options. Since Gigginox is apparently a poison factory now, I figured I'd use the horn that has antidote to fight him, and I noticed something that seemed off. The healing listed in the song list was either "Health Recovery (S)" or "Health Recovery (S) + Antidote", but when I played them, almost every time the buff I'd get was "Health Recovery (XS)", which did almost nothing. Having done some research I found out that in P3rd, there was a 66% chance that any healing would be lowered by one level, and 50% chance if you have the Flute Master skill.

Does anyone know the exact numbers for 3U and if the Maestro skill improves it at all? Based on my test runs I'd say there's only about a 20% chance it'll be the actual healing even with the Maestro skill, but I've been tricked by the RNG before.

I am new - but it seems that you have to play 1 song and play the exact same song a 2nd time while the 1st song is in effect and the 2nd effect of the song will kick in.... aka antidote if that is indeed the 2nd effect.

I am a SA user so... just a stab in the dark.

MHAEL wrote:

I am new - but it seems that you have to play 1 song and play the exact same song a 2nd time while the 1st song is in effect and the 2nd effect of the song will kick in.... aka antidote if that is indeed the 2nd effect.

I am a SA user so... just a stab in the dark.

That's to get secondary effects like a slightly higher bonus, or extended duration. The heal and antidote both activate when you play it. I'm talking about the healing dropping down a level. IE: you play the song for "Health Recovery (M)" and it activates "Health Recovery (S)". From what I've seen, it only seems to do the full heal about 20-25% of the time.

Been playing the HH since MH2. Mostly it is time based. If you do successive Healing, it has a reduced chance to do a higher effect. If you do it sparingly, it almost always does the full effect.

I may be off, but from my playing, there is about an 80%+ chance to get the full healing effect (with maestro) when done a few minutes apart. If you are just spamming the song, it is about a 20% chance that it will trigger the full healing effect. And this is cummulative as well. Meaning, if you have more than one HH user, the moment you are hit with a song heal, you are already running diminishing returns on your own healing songs.

IMO, you shouldn't rely on the HH to be the end all skill nullifier in the group. Learning how to dodge, specially moves that are very telegraphed like the Giggi poison, is your best bet for being a better hunter. Now for those occasions that there is a unavoidable poisoning, then the HH can and will be a life-saving addition.

Treat the HH as a splint to help in the group's shortcomings, not a bulletproof vest. Or use it as a method to increase the groups overall effectiveness, because it certainly is not a bazooka. The HH is effective for:

1) Exhausting a monster
2) KO a Monster
3) Damage
4) Breaking Monster Parts
5) Preventing status ailments
6) Removing the small hits from the wreckless big hitters
7) Increasing the groups' damage/defence, increase total health

You can focus on only a few of these things at a time, since not all horns are designed alike. The Brachy horn, for example, is made to be mostly all out attack on your part. While it's songs can do things like: Increase elemental damage, prevent mud/snow, tremors, increase dragon resists, sonic bombs and the like, most people do not have problems with these ailments. The great bagpipe, however, gives Attack, Defence, Max Health increase and negates all wind; when your group is fighting any monster, this HH should constantly play it's tune whenever they go down. Its attack is not among the highest, but it more than makes up for it in the group's overall output.

Bah... I talk too much. Hope some of this helped.

Well that clears things up a bit, though even with rare uses the chance for a full heal seems lower than 80% from what I've seen.

That also makes some of the horns fairly pointless in terms of the song options. (Fortunately the one that springs to mind I can't stand the sound of anyway)

My primary use of the horn is as a hammer that has a high enough reach to KO some of the taller monsters, and hits often enough that status effects are useful. If I can eliminate something from my bags that's a bonus. If I can eliminate something I always carry, like potions, it's a big bonus.

Also me learning to dodge won't stop the guy I met five minutes ago from costing me money. Healing him just before Duraboros lands on him might.