Depending on your tastes, solo monster hunting will either form the entirety, or at the very least some of your basis for playing a Monster Hunter game. Generations Ultimate does function a little differently to others, since it essentially allows you to access the entirety of the Hub from the get go, however you will miss out on a great deal of content by skipping the solo section, known as Village quests. Plus, sometimes it just feels good to get out there and hunt things on your own, learning at your own rate and generally having a good time. If this sounds good to you, then you’ll probably want to know which of the 14 weapons on offer best suit a lone hunter, so we’ve arranged the 4 that we believe are ideal when functioning alone.
3. Hammer
Avid readers of our content will recognise that this isn’t the first time that the Hammer has appeared in one of our ‘Solo’ articles. In fact, we recommended it as such for Monster Hunter World, where we found it a pleasure to use. It’s much the same story here, though it is positioned slightly lower down here, owing to the power of a few others in the list. Obviously, judging these here in Generations Ultimate is made a little more difficult by the inclusion of Hunting Styles and Arts, but we did find that regardless of this, the Hammer manages to retain its favourable solo power.
One of the main reasons behind this, outside of it’s rather obvious benefit of always having the head of a monster looking at you rather than team members, is that the Arts for the Hammer are actually quite powerful, especially for the relatively inexperienced. Spinning Meteor and Impact Press are excellent choices, and the weapon itself is helped tremendously by the Absolute Evasion and Absolute Readiness Arts, which can quickly get you out of harm’s way after going for risky head shots. Some of the style choices can limit your move set, so it’s worth being a little careful in this regard, but even the basic Guild Style will perform very well when hunting alone.
Solo Highlights
- The Absolute Evasion and Absolute Readiness Arts, which both charge very quickly, are a godsend for the Hammer, especially the solo player, since it often requires getting into dangerous positions for headshots.
- Adept Style, when combined with Absolute Evasion or Readiness, can make the Hammer very, very safe, and the Adept Dodge can be followed up with some fantastic charged skills.
- Striker Style Hammer offers a slightly quicker charge time, and most of the Hunter Arts for this weapon are useful, making it one of our favourite style and weapon combinations in MHGU, despite others not favouring the quicker charge.
- As noted, as a solo hunter the target will always turn to face you, meaning the head is often available for attacking whenever you need it. In a multiplayer environment, this can be much more difficult to accomplish, albeit with a more punishing end for the monster once a KO is achieved.
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2. Dual Blades
There is one particular reason why the Dual Blades have made their way onto a solo list in MHGU, and it’s that hunting styles exist here. In any other Monster Hunter title, this particular weapon is still very effective, but tends to benefit more from a multiplayer environment, which allows it to focus on a weak spot whilst attention is placed elsewhere. Here however, the styles make a massive difference to it; Valor essentially removes Demon mode, Aerial will deal significant damage on both the up and down arcs and Striker removes any weapon gauge completely! These choices make a difference no matter the weapon in question, but the Dual Blades can feel completely transformed.
The real star of the show however, and indeed the root of it’s solo play power, is Adept Style. Unlike other weapons, the Dual Blades’ Adept dodge will actually deal damage to your target, encouraging you to dodge through the attack rather than away. Further still, it’s subsequent dash moves feature invulnerability, something rarely found in a Monster Hunter title outside of an Emergency Dive. Thus, when playing alone you’ll get all of the attacks focusing on you, leading to increased dodges and by extension, increased damage. It’s a fantastic combination, but we’ll hasten to add that it’s as close as these games ever come to an ‘easy’ mode.
Solo Highlights
- Adept Style Dual Blades are a solo player’s dream, since the dodge deals damage and subsequent attacks have invulnerability periods. As such, you’ll want the target to focus on you as much as possible.
- Striker Style, which removes the gauge, makes your Demon mode more powerful. This means a solo style of play, with an assist from Dash Juices, can allow you to run (dash) rings around your opponent whilst in a constantly powered up state.
- The Dual Blades are already nimble, and the addition of Absolute Evasion and Readiness mean that safety and sharpness can be augmented, leaving more time for slashing your target to bits.
- Aerial Style is excellent for solo play, since it offers good damage due to the DB hitting both on the way up and down, and being in the air offers relative safety.
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1. Long Sword
Realistically, our trio today features two different types of recommendations; weapons through which it makes sense to play solo, like the Hammer, and those that feature novel and powerful Style interactions, like the Dual Blades and our next choice, the Long Sword. Things are a little different for our final choice however, because where the other two have options or play styles that make them powerful, one particular Style makes the Long Sword completely and absolutely broken. No, we’re not kidding, it really is that good.
Valor is the Style that we’re referencing here, and it’s worth noting that at first glance this functions similarly to any other weapon; you chip away at an opponent, build up your Valor gauge to full, and then use it to deal increased damage with a larger arsenal of abilities that have been unlocked. Nothing too unusual there, right? Well, upon unlocking Valor mode, your first Spirit Slash attack, activated by simple pressing R, gains quite a wide guard point, meaning you take no damage whilst completing an attack. Should you successfully land this guard point, you can skip the second portion of the Spirit combo and go straight to Spirit Slash 3, and the mode even features a fourth that deals massive damage!
What results from all of this is that you can use the Valor sheath to evade almost anything whilst building up the gauge, then use a single R button whilst in Valor mode to completely ignore any incoming attack that could be guarded, before dealing massive damage. With practice this becomes far too powerful, and ranks up there with Adept DB and Valor HBG as one of the most broken weapon and style combinations going. Why solo? Well, you’re not going to guard point much if the target is running off hitting others now are you?
Solo Highlights
- Valor Style, with the Long Sword, is absolutely broken, at least in the context of a Monster Hunter title. Using both the sheath and then the R button guard point in Valor mode can prevent you from taking almost any damage at all.
- If anything, riding solo and having the target focus on you and you alone will increase the damage you do, thanks to the insane counters.
- With practice, you’ll start to urge the target to come and attack you, which is much more achievable in a solo environment.
- Other styles lend themselves to a Multiplayer environment, like Adept Style, which allows for powerful counters, during which it’s better for a target to have switched focus.
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Categories: Monster Hunter, Top 5