Please buff Elemental Hitzones/general damage

[Strongii]

I've noticed hunting a LOT of Arkveld, I've noticed NO difference between my bows which had:

RAW 195, Aff 35%, Dragon elem 343 (poor rolls)

RAW 195, Aff 25% Elem 444

Armour skills: Dragon 3, Charge Master 3, Burst 5, WEX 5, all the stam things and no crit element so this is just the flat elemental damage increase. I'm talking crits cause that's maxed out raw damage so it's easiest to remove variation.

My damage on Arkveld has NOT changed. Each power shot before did 25 per arrow on a crit, and is doing the exact same with the bottom bow, despite 1/3 more elemental damage.

What I've noticed about the hitzones is I actually DO deal increased damage on a WOUND specifically. Power shots before did 50 on a crit per arrow and now do 52. 100 more element gave 10 damage on a power shot.

Either the hitzones are just THAT bad that we need wounds to even see a whole number increase, or the general scaling of elemental damage is so unbelievably low it might as well not exist. You've introduced loads of fun elemental skills and they're just dead rn.

I don't care if they're "working normally, the damage numbers are just low" the damage numbers should NEVER be this low when they've given us so many ways to build around it. It's just a trap by having intentionally awful skills and damage types

[76561198378545136]

yea i was very excited when i build high affinity maxed artian elemental dual blades and seeing those damage numbers really baffled me. theres something really wrong with elemental hitzones in wilds. its much more safe to go raw till expansion or title update

[Strongii]

Originally posted by Ushiromiya Battler:

yea i was very excited when i build high affinity maxed artian elemental dual blades and seeing those damage numbers really baffled me. theres something really wrong with elemental hitzones in wilds. its much more safe to go raw till expansion or title update

I'm honestly praying this isn't a sunbreak/iceborne fix. I get that's when they do this but they're really going for a live-service feel with log-in bonuses, and the way artian weapons resemble MiHoyo's gear systems they can't now leave balance patches for an entire expansion

[palacentes]

arkveld is weak to raw damage, thats why. Check the monster manual. It says that its softest part, the chains, are very resistant to elemental damage(X icon), makes sense since it absorbs them and all. Everything else is just 1 star w manbe one part that took more dragon damage, the head I think.

u can get better data by checking arkveld hitzone in google... huh i just did and its different from the manual. The wounds in chainblades take high element damage.n Most of the body is not nice for element, head and tail is the best. Or chainblade wounds

[Draescan]

After looking in the monster guide I've honestly noticed there's A LOT of monsters with 4 stars against raw damage types and elemental " weaknesses " are quite often shown as 2 or even 1 star. I think elemental damage in general is just kinda worse off in Wilds. Status + Raw damage seems to be the way to go.

[Strongii]

Originally posted by palacentes:

arkveld is weak to raw damage, thats why.

Literally everything is weak to raw damage, and as someone else has pointed out the vast majority of enemies have 2* weakness to a given element so even the game is telling us that elemental damage is just s.hitzones throughout

[StormhawkV]

Arkveld has atrocious elemental hitzone values. If you're specifically after Arkveld there's no point in having elemental damage no matter what weapon you use.

Shortly after release the entirety of World was like this, too. Back then bow players used the Diablos bow with NEB.

[The Debauchery]

Originally posted by Strongii:

I've noticed hunting a LOT of Arkveld, I've noticed NO difference between my bows which had:
...
Either the hitzones are just THAT bad that we need wounds to even see a whole number increase, or the general scaling of elemental damage is so unbelievably low it might as well not exist. You've introduced loads of fun elemental skills and they're just dead rn.

Not sure if you checked the hunter guide closely, but Arkveld's chains are weak to shot damage but take no elemental damage whatsoever. And since they're frequently being flung at the hunter, a LOT of shots are going to be going through the chains rather than hitting the main body directly.

If you want to deal elemental damage to Arkveld, avoid shooting the chains at all costs.
I mean it kinda makes sense. Elemental Damage is basically "energy" and his chains absorb it. It is kinda clever if you think about it that way.

[Strongii]

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

Arkveld has atrocious elemental hitzone values. If you're specifically after Arkveld there's no point in having elemental damage no matter what weapon you use.

Shortly after release the entirety of World was like this, too. Back then bow players used the Diablos bow with NEB.

Arkveld doesn't have much worse than any other 7/8*. They all have a range from 0 to at most 2* weakness to these, which gives negligible gains for any elemental damage we pick

The fact World and Rise both started like this and then buffed elemental damage in both of the expansions is just damning like they ♥♥♥♥ up the numbers every time in every game and still haven't learnt?

Having monsters that allows for raw to dominate is good but for some weapons there's so much stagnation in playstyle by just giving every endgame monsters terrible hitzones to limit how we play.

Like they nerfed SAED Charge Blade only to then blanket nerf the bonus of playing pizza cutter by making hitzones terrible?

[Maybe John Helldiver]

Player doesnt read/comprehend monster manual, complains about damage. Shocking.

[Draescan]

Originally posted by Strongii:

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

Arkveld has atrocious elemental hitzone values. If you're specifically after Arkveld there's no point in having elemental damage no matter what weapon you use.

Shortly after release the entirety of World was like this, too. Back then bow players used the Diablos bow with NEB.

Arkveld doesn't have much worse than any other 7/8*. They all have a range from 0 to at most 2* weakness to these, which gives negligible gains for any elemental damage we pick

The fact World and Rise both started like this and then buffed elemental damage in both of the expansions is just damning like they ♥♥♥♥ up the numbers every time in every game and still haven't learnt?

Having monsters that allows for raw to dominate is good but for some weapons there's so much stagnation in playstyle by just giving every endgame monsters terrible hitzones to limit how we play.

Like they nerfed SAED Charge Blade only to then blanket nerf the bonus of playing pizza cutter by making hitzones terrible?

I will say savage axe is still insanely strong with impact phial and paralysis or poison. I think this is probably one of the strongest iterations of poison in any monster hunter game I've played.

[Strongii]

Originally posted by John Backrooms:

Player doesnt read/comprehend monster manual, complains about damage. Shocking.

Every monster manual indicates terrible hitzones. Every monster has terrible hitzones for a specific playstyle. Good design?

[The Debauchery]

Hey now... the Kiranico page is kinda telling.
I was wondering what the stars actually correspond to... so I checked...
https://mhwilds.kiranico.com/data/monsters/arkveld

It seems the hunter guide we have is being extremely misleading in simply reporting the chains as not taking elemental damage.

The Chains take no elemental damage in their default state. Presumably unpowered.
But they take more elemental damage than anything else in their second state... presumably when they're all red and glowy, though it might be the other way around. And Wounds on the chains are actually elemental WEX zones. Plus apparently there are "weak points" on the chains that also take high elemental damage.
The chains are always Raw WEX-zones though... so... yeah.

Oh... and the Dragon Element really does do more damage but significantly only on wounds. All elements are equal on most unwounded hitzones.

So... advice seems to be: Attack the Head or the Chains. Maybe the Tail. Wings if you're desperate. NEVER attack the legs or torso since they're resistant to everything.

[Draescan]

Originally posted by The Debauchery:

Hey now... the Kiranico page is kinda telling.
I was wondering what the stars actually correspond to... so I checked...
https://mhwilds.kiranico.com/data/monsters/arkveld

It seems the hunter guide we have is being extremely misleading in simply reporting the chains as not taking elemental damage.

The Chains take no elemental damage in their default state. Presumably unpowered.
But they take more elemental damage than anything else in their second state... presumably when they're all red and glowy, though it might be the other way around. And Wounds on the chains are actually elemental WEX zones. Plus apparently there are "weak points" on the chains that also take high elemental damage.
The chains are always Raw WEX-zones though... so... yeah.

Oh... and the Dragon Element really does do more damage but significantly only on wounds. All elements are equal on most unwounded hitzones.

Just a theory but I think those elemental damage hitzones are only when he has attacked with them and the " weak point " appears on them right after. Lots of monsters have this mechanic now and some are easier to exploit than others.

[The Debauchery]

Originally posted by Strongii:

The fact World and Rise both started like this and then buffed elemental damage in both of the expansions is just damning like they ♥♥♥♥ up the numbers every time in every game and still haven't learnt?

Rise's hitzones in general were a mess. They moved them around for all sorts of old monsters. Nargacuga didn't even have any shot WEX hitzones at all in an enraged state, and only the root of his tail was in a subdued state (which is probably the toughest part of Narga to hit without piercing shots). Even his head wasn't a WEX zone, which has always been a reliable target in the past.
Meanwhile Kushala Daora's only WEX zone got moved from the head to the forelegs, which are a massive pain to target at the best of times.
Frankly it was like this across the board. We Gunners had to change all the bodyparts we were used to shooting at just because the Rise crew wanted to shake things up. It was atrocious. Can't even speak for the Elemental stuff since I basically just got used to using a Raw Pierce Bow for the entirety of Rise and well into Sunbreak.

Originally posted by Draescan:

Just a theory but I think those elemental damage hitzones are only when he has attacked with them and the " weak point " appears on them right after. Lots of monsters have this mechanic now and some are easier to exploit than others.

The "State_1" and "Weak Point" hitzones are listed separately but have exactly the same values. I'm not really sure what is going on there. But I know I'll only be attacking Arsefelt from the front from now on. Forget shooting his damned torso. So much for centre of mass.

[palacentes]

Originally posted by Strongii:

Originally posted by palacentes:

arkveld is weak to raw damage, thats why.

Literally everything is weak to raw damage, and as someone else has pointed out the vast majority of enemies have 2* weakness to a given element so even the game is telling us that elemental damage is just s.hitzones throughout

no, read the manual or research online. Monsters like chatacabra have more lightning hitzones. Apparently arkveld is one star in everything, but its dragon hitzone is like 5,( online data ) while the others are like 1 or 2, so manual says dragon is the best element, but they are pretty bad in general.