How does Part Breaker work?

[M]

Just for example we say a particular monster tail requires 4 TCS from a 100 damage GS to cut.
Would a 200 damage GS cut that tail in 2 TCSs?

OR would it still require 4 TCSs from a GS regardless of damage.

Then how does the 30% from Partbreaker3 factor into this?

[あらあら、うふふ！]

Parts have separate HP bars you do not see, independent of the monster's total HP. For example, your bowgun does 100 damage to the beast, but the tail receives 0 because it is not a cutting weapon.

If you put partbreaker, your GS will still do 100 damage to the monster, but the tail will receive 130 instead. When the tail reaches 0 HP, you cut it.

[enigma]

Got nothing to add, just wanna say the above user explained it perfectly.

[Operatix]

Nothing to add.

[Aoitenshi]

Just to add that Partbreaker also increases the "Wound Destruction" damage in Wilds.

[wano.]

Nothing to add except you're all beautiful.

[M]

Thanks for answering. :)

[NekoShade]

My understanding of part breaker was:
Bônus damage while the part is not broken.
I knew parts have separate HP from the monsters life pool, however, it's possible and very likely, that the monster will perish before breaking every single breakable part.
With that in mind, I believe part breaker, amp up the damage you do to parts, but at the same time, you hack away the monster HP at the same rate.
In the end, effectively, during a combat, you can't choose perfectly, where to hit, and where not to hit, thus, giving you around to 30% bônus damage at the start of the fight, and decaying as less parts are intact for breaking.
Edit: addendum, 10% more damage per level, at max 30% at level 3.

[Inanegrain62]

usually, it's good against nu udra/xu wu if you want to turn it into an amputee before it dies from being hit too much.

without it, it'll die before a single limb is cut

first reply sums it up, that's exactly how partbreaker works.

[RoséGod]

One more question to add here;

In past games Partbreaker also apparently increased the part damage in terms of flinching and tripping monsters. I remember in Sunbreak I started running it since it was still useful even after breaking all parts, but I haven't been able to deduce is that effect still exists in Wilds

[NekoShade]

Originally posted by RoséGod:

One more question to add here;

In past games Partbreaker also apparently increased the part damage in terms of flinching and tripping monsters. I remember in Sunbreak I started running it since it was still useful even after breaking all parts, but I haven't been able to deduce is that effect still exists in Wilds

Yes and no, monsters always flinched at parts being broken in older titles, but since wilds have a full mechanic about breaking parts, opening wounds, and breaking wounds, they seem to have toned down how much the monsters flitch.
Still working, but in a lesser scale, or else we would have a monster stopping every ten seconds.

[あらあら、うふふ！]

All right. Since some intermediate-level players are joining the fray, unlike the OP, I will write a more well-versed reply for them and explain how the system works.

Monsters have their inherent HP pool, which you must completely forget. You only need to remember that the more damage you see with your hits (the number that pops up on your screen after each attack), the more damage you do to a part, because the ratio tends to be 1:1 unless it is a multi-hit attack. The main offenders affected by this are DBs and Bows.

Monsters have empty HP bars all over their bodies, called Part Durability, which is tied to the parts their skeletons are divided into, and those bars are thresholds. These, in turn, are affected by a modifier called Part Breakability, and this last one is a flinch defence modifier. The harder the monster, the more damage you need to dish out. Both (Part Durability and Part Breakability) are decided by variables you cannot control, such as what quest you are doing or the monster's difficulty.

Things are not as easy as I said: "You reach 0 HP; the part breaks." That is a dumbed-down explanation for Dummies 101. In reality, it is the other way around. Parts yield and thus break when a certain number of flinch thresholds have been reached. You do not have to steal HP from a bar; you must fill it until you attain a specific number. Flinching is a status. It works in the same way as stun, sleep, paralysis... That is why monsters flinch or trip when you break their parts, because the part that comes off is a reward for inflicting a flinch.

You can test that with Guardian Ebony Odogaron. Their tails need two flinches. The first flinch pseudo breaks the tail and softens it, and you do more damage to that part and the monster from that point onward. After that, the threshold is reset, and you must fill the bar again. The part will be chopped off this second time, but the remaining piece of tail attached to Odogaron will stay softened.

Increasing your damage overall is better than slapping Partbreaker (unless you are Gunlancing) on your equipment if you want to sever tails or break parts. In other words, at the end game, slotting Critical Boost Lv.5 is much better than Partbreaker Lv.3 because you gain a better multiplier (40% vs 30%) that also affects the HP of the monster. You can kill the monster faster, and not to mention that the 40% remains active even after breaking the part, unlike with Partbreaker.

If you can slot both of them, that would be better, but if you have to choose, you now know which one is superior.

However, there is more. Hitzones also affect breaking parts, so the lower the value of the hitzone, the more of a hassle it is to obliterate it. Gunlance tends to be the queen breaking parts unless it is a tail (you need severing damage) since the shells ignore those values.

Originally posted by RoséGod:

One more question to add here;

In past games Partbreaker also apparently increased the part damage in terms of flinching and tripping monsters. I remember in Sunbreak I started running it since it was still useful even after breaking all parts, but I haven't been able to deduce is that effect still exists in Wilds

To my knowledge, this never happened in Rise or any older instalment. Happy to be corrected if you have a source, but never heard of that. When you break a part, Partbreaker is immediately switched off. Let us take Guardian Fulgur Anjanath, a Brute Wyvern, as our following example. Like most Brute Wyverns, their legs are breakable and are the part you need to attack to make them stumble (fall).

The first time you meet him, your Partbreaker is active. Break his legs, reap the materials and cause the monster to trip by breaking the legs. What do we have now? A Guardian Fulgur Anjanath with his legs broken. From this point onwards, Partbreaker is inactive. Your damage returns to 1:1, but the Part Durability threshold remains even with broken legs. If you fill the threshold again, you will not break his legs or get materials again, but you will cause Anjanath to trip. This can be repeated infinitely.

[NekoShade]

Originally posted by あらあら、うふふ！:

All right. [...]

That's a very detailed and accurate explanation, thank you.
My shallow explanation was solely based on observation, and older titles knowledge, but you seem to have a deeper game mechanic grasp.

[PurpuluDragon]

Originally posted by あらあら、うふふ！:

You can test that with Guardian Ebony Odogaron. Their tails need two flinches. The first flinch pseudo breaks the tail and softens it, and you do more damage to that part and the monster from that point onward. After that, the threshold is reset, and you must fill the bar again. The part will be chopped off this second time, but the remaining piece of tail attached to Odogaron will stay softened.

Increasing your damage overall is better than slapping Partbreaker (unless you are Gunlancing) on your equipment if you want to sever tails or break parts. In other words, at the end game, slotting Critical Boost Lv.5 is much better than Partbreaker Lv.3 because you gain a better multiplier (40% vs 30%) that also affects the HP of the monster. You can kill the monster faster, and not to mention that the 40% remains active even after breaking the part, unlike with Partbreaker.

I need to correct this.
Critical boost does not boost your damage by 40%. First, with some weapons, affinity is the meta, so you need a high affinity to make critical, but it's very likely the case already.
Critical boost change the 25% bonus damage to 40% (once max out, +3% per level)
BUT natively you deal 25% more damage anyway. So it's definitively not as good as the 30% of part breaker that are ON TOP of that.

For some math, going from 125% damage to 140% is equivalent to dealing between 11 and 12% more damage, cause you deal 125% of damage with critics even without the critical boost.
While part breaker will deal 30% on top of that (which means your critics, will 162% roughly calculated, the real number must look like 16x,x) but it will deal that on parts only, not to the total monster (so it's true that 100 affinity + critical boost will kill the monster faster, but 100 affinity + part breaker, will break part faster).

Also critical boost only work on critics (so you need high affinity) while part breaker will always give you the bonus.

So if your goal is to break part, part breaker > critical boost. Still right that having both is better.

For maths enjoyer : with crit boost (140%) and part breaker, you deal 140 + 30 + 40x0,3 = 182% break damage, which is almost twice the basic damage. (30 is 100x0,3).

Now if the part breaker bonus damage and the critical bonus damage are calculated separatly and then added then the number are :
CB5 : 140%, CB0+PB3 = 155% (130% on non critics), CB5+PB3 : 170% and 130 on non critics (which does not invalidate any of what i said).

If the part breaker damage are calculated first, and the critics then on top of it, then the number change a bit but still roughly the same result (that is PB3 > CB5 for breaking part).

TLDR: Critics are natively a 25% so CritBoost 5 doesn't give a 40% damage bonus cause it's relative to the 25% native bonus.

[あらあら、うふふ！]

When explaining things to people, especially mechanics, you do not have to assume they follow the META or take for granted that they already do something, even if it is common sense for you.

Firstly, my explanation is for someone naked, without armour, ready to build a set and put this to practice. Secondly, you are playing only spreadsheets and ignoring several other factors.

The most efficient method — Affinity at 100% and Partbreaker Lv.3 without Critical Boost — decoration slot-wise, only works if you go for tails, because the Part Durability completely disappears once they are destroyed. But for Brute Wyverns with their legs, or Elder Dragons with their heads, the Part Durability remains, and you can continue toppling them, and after the part is broken, Partbreaker is rendered useless. Time is also something to factor in. The faster you do a monster, the quicker you can go to the next.

Affinity 100% + Partbreaker Lv.3 is only better vs Affinity 100% + Critical Boost Lv.5 in spreadsheets, but not in actual combat.

[Aoitenshi]

Originally posted by あらあら、うふふ！:

When explaining things to people, especially mechanics, you do not have to assume they follow the META or take for granted that they already do something, even if it is common sense for you.

Firstly, my explanation is for someone naked, without armour, ready to build a set and put this to practice. Secondly, you are playing spreadsheets and ignoring the actual mechanics.

The most efficient method — Affinity at 100% and Partbreaker Lv.3 without Critical Boost — only works if you go for tails because the Part Durability completely disappears once they are destroyed. But for Brute Wyverns with their legs, or Elder Dragons with their heads, the Part Durability remains, and you can continue toppling them, but after the part is broken, Partbreaker is rendered useless. Time is also something to factor in. The faster you do a monster, the quicker you can go to the next.

Affinity 100% + Partbreaker Lv.3 vs Affinity 100% + Critical Boost Lv.5 is only better in spreadsheets, but not in actual combat.

You totally missed Purpulu's post by a mile. He was pointing out your flawed comparison between Critical Boost and Partbreaker:

you gain a better multiplier (40% vs 30%)

This statement is false. Do you have anything to say about that?