Couple Newbie Combat Questions

[HydeLyde]

Couple questions about combat mechanics from a new player.

 

1.) So as a hunter it seems like I almost NEVER want to use my 3rd attack in a combo. So far all the weapons have huge openings in their 3rd move that get me hit. Should I just always be doing 2 attack combos?

2.) How exactly are cast traps triggered? I've been trying to use them, but enemies often just walk right through them without triggering them. They often explode well after everything has walked beyond their range.

[Noopy]

Hello!

1) As a hunter, you WANT to do your 3rd attack, because it's the most precise. You often need to start your combo when the monster will be stun or won't be able to directly attack you after, it's much more easier with teammates!

2) The trap has a timer, it explode after, OR you can hit the trap and explode it. The most effective way to do so is by using a Twin Blaze, generates Gifoie, and launch your trap which will explode immediately.

[Fyrewolf5]

3 hours ago, HydeLyde said:

Couple questions about combat mechanics from a new player.

 

1.) So as a hunter it seems like I almost NEVER want to use my 3rd attack in a combo. So far all the weapons have huge openings in their 3rd move that get me hit. Should I just always be doing 2 attack combos?

2.) How exactly are cast traps triggered? I've been trying to use them, but enemies often just walk right through them without triggering them. They often explode well after everything has walked beyond their range.

So with combat, there are a number of ways to do things with and without 3rd attack. A 2hit combo is often useful for sure (2nd attack has faster recovery too), but you can do 3hit by using Combo Delay; you have a decent amount of time between an attack to delay the next one, you have from whenever you start an attack motion up until your char actually starts bringing their weapon back to idle position to input the next attack. By doing a N-delay-Heavy-delay-Heavy, you keep the monster perpetually flinching and unable to retaliate. If you just attack as fast as possible, you often hit the monster while it's still flinching (which does not stun it) and it will recover from first flinch to hit you before you get 3rd attack off. Another good tactic is to bait monster attacks and circle them to attack from the flanks or back, leaving you safe to do 3hit combos as fast as you can; monsters also have terrible pathing so you can often get an entire group stuck close to you but facing away and unable to attack you. Dodging attacks takes only a millimeter of movement, so knowing the range and timing they swing at will be helpful. Understanding combo delay and dodging will help you go a long way to better combat as a hunter.

Traps are proximity timer based, being i think 11 seconds on normal and 4 seconds on ultimate. Generally you don't want to use the timer though, so detonating them early is done in a few ways. Most often it's just done with a 'trapshoot' which is equipping some kind of gun (preferably handgun type), and simply setting trap and shooting immediately (note: your char will always end up facing south after trapshooting). You can also use Twin Blaze special gifoie to set up ahead of time if you know the spawn, in which case the trap detonates the instant you set it and you can already start an attack combo with main weapon instead of being in handgun recovery. It's a little faster afterwards, but takes more time to set up. It's also possible to chain traps, as a detonating trap will also set off all other traps in range, though this isn't used nearly as often. The game definitely wants you to carry ranged weapons with you even as a hunter (e.g. required recoboxes on the walls in seabed), so having a handgun even just for trapshooting is well worth it.

[HydeLyde]

Ok that makes much more sense. I assumed the combos just came out at a set time. Also, 2 and 3 get progressively more accurate right?

[Lemon]

49 minutes ago, HydeLyde said:

Also, 2 and 3 get progressively more accurate right?

Yes

[Fyrewolf5]

Yes, the 2nd and 3rd attacks in a combo get an accuracy boost. You generally want to lead combos with a normal and follow up with heavy or special afterwards. This is partly because of accuracy, but also can because ranged weapons can have a hard time hitting enemies if you don't due to manual evasion; bullets are only active at the point they are targeted at, and they must strike the center of the monster's hitbox at that point, or else it automatically misses. It's referred to as 'manual evasion', since the bullet literally missed the monster and never even got to do an player accuracy(ATA) vs monster evasion power(EVP) check at all. The subtle part is that if a monster is towards the player, it can pass through the bullet before the active hit check happens, and since heavy and special attacks have an extra charge-up time before firing it can give monster extra time to dodge the bullet, so leading with normal will more likely hit them and make them flinch.
There are some more advanced tactics that lead with heavy or special attacks followed quickly by a lesser attack; the accuracy boost updates immediately not just for attack you are doing, but any projectiles still in flight and even melee attacks in progress, so a quick special>normal will update the first bullet to have the accuracy of a 2nd normal instead of a 1st special. It won't work well on fast moving target, but can be useful at higher difficulties on some mobs. But this isn't something you'll have to worry about for a good while into ultimate, just get used to basic mechanics and lead with normal for the most part.