NG+ UH advice

[XtReMz98]

Howdy mates!

Just fresh off my 100% of both FW and BS on my Hard NG run. I got (at least I think) everything in terms of weapons, outfits, coils, data entries, etc., and I also have all the required materials to max NG+'s unique legendaries weapons. Basically, I saw the game to what a completionist like myself would consider a full 100% playthrough.

I'm simply missing the NG+/UH achievements to wrap things up. I know I will need 125 tokens to get all weapons/dyes/paints, so I will need to do side content to get it done.

1) Should I rush the main story (FW) to its completion in one swoop? I know I will at least rush to the base to unlock flying mount, but then unsure if it's best to tackle side quests or rush the main story.
2) Do you recommend a full 100% (under the statistics tab) on that difficulty or is it only a bragging rights thing? I dread some arena challenges time limits and the Yoda-Jedi like fight of The Enduring on UH, for my sanity...

Cheers!

TL;DR: For someone fully prepared inventory wise for NG+ UH, is it best to simply get the achievements, rushing the story and as few extra content as possible or not?

[Hebalon]

This is completely up to you. Some side content at the beginning is very easy on UH NG+, other parts are still very challenging. Especially the Melee Pits and the Arena are - well - ultra hard.
The time limit is in most cases not the main problem in the Arena - surviving is. "Apex Predators" is on another level, imho. But at the end, it feels great when the Thunderjaw finally dies. The Enduring itself is not that hard (there is a very simple tactic to beat her), but the other 3 fights ... a high frustration tolerance is recommended. ;-)

Imho there is no bragging in a single-player game. If you enjoy the game as much as I do, I would recommend to try to get 100% again on NG+. If you just want to get the missing achievements, just rush through the main story.

And after that: Try a 100% run on UH NG. ;-)

Also, if you do enjoy the game: Try to complete some challenges you have set yourself. For example: In an Arena Guide about "Wildfire" I read that you should try to rope down 2 or 3 machines together and kill them with a set of traps. So I thought: Can I one-shot the whole pack? With the toy bow?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8i2jMVrqo0

[The Illusion]

As with the first game, rushing the main story is a very bad idea. Alot of quests change as you do the main story line and might even simply vanish. On UH, you need ALOT of resources to do much of anything. If you havnt done NG+ yet, then you dont have the new weapons. And those things are far better than anything else, yet take massive amounts of resources to run. Before you even think of starting NG+ UH, ensure you have 1000+ volatile sludge. And 1000+ of all other resources. You will use those up within the first 25% of the game, once you have the new weapons at least (each elite arrow takes 1 sludge...).

I see you have only played on hard. UH is a very different animal. You need to use the right elements 100% of the time and dodging will not be a valid strategy thanks to the knockdown bug (which Aloy lies on the ground waiting to get stomped...), which I call a bug thanks to the game showing it to be a bug (audio plays as if Aloy has already gotten up, and you can entirely avoid the knockdown at times). So you need weapons that can deal all kinds of elements. You will also want a decent glue weapon. On UH its not that effective, but will save you when you are against alot of apex machines, which will happen alot. They spawn at night mostly.

If you already have a flying mount, you will keep it and have access to it immediately, though cant remember if that is before or after the embassy quest. Otherwise its quite late into the game before you can unlock that ability (though again, you keep the mount you had, so GET ONE BEFORE MAKING THE NG+ DATA).

So strategies:
Generally, you will want to knock everything off a machine with tear blast arrows first. This will make it far easier to kill that machine. At least knock its weapons off, if possible. Oh and knock its faceplate off, if it has one. Weakpoints are required in UH. Faceplace armor will hide the easiest one if that machine has such armor (monkies).
Then you can do one of these things:
- Use drills to blow it up
- Use plasma to build up a damage explosion
- Use bombs to blow it up
Basically, use explosives once you have its armor taken off. Use purge water to remove their resistances.

[Hebalon]

Originally posted by The Illusion:

Before you even think of starting NG+ UH, ensure you have 1000+ volatile sludge. And 1000+ of all other resources. You will use those up within the first 25% of the game, once you have the new weapons at least (each elite arrow takes 1 sludge...).

Those Elite Arrows are extremely powerful, but you don't "need" them that much. I have played NG+ on UH several times, and at the end I had always more volatile sludge (and other ressources) than at the beginning. If you want to kill as many machines as fast as possible - yes, that will consume a lot of ressources. But otherwise, "regular" ammo (like Advanced Precision Arrows) will be enough in most cases.

I also played UH from scratch, completing 100% in game progress. That's also possible (not bragging, it's not that extraordinary, imho). So, going in NG+ well prepared makes it a lot easier, but I think there is no reason for scaremongering.

And with a quick look at the OPs profile: I would guess that we have an experienced player here, not some noob. ;-)

Originally posted by The Illusion:

You will also want a decent glue weapon. On UH its not that effective, but will save you when you are against alot of apex machines, which will happen alot.

I think I have never used adhesive ammo, or at least not very often. Ropecaster, Shock ammo and Knockdown mechanics (e.g. drill spikes) are way better for crowd control, imho.

And for cold resistances, there is always the "instant brittle" coils. It's a lot of fun to instantly freeze Apex Slaughterspines. ;-)

[StormhawkV]

There's nothing you get from rushing the main story except unlocking more side quests as you keep the rewards from your first playthrough. The Arena and Melee challenges are stupid but absolutely doable even on UH. I fail to see the reason for doing them again though.

[Hebalon]

Originally posted by StormhawkV:

I fail to see the reason for doing them again though.

One reason to do at least a few Arena challenges again are the Elite Coils you can get there as a reward. Especially the one with instant brittle chance.

[XtReMz98]

Thanks for all the answers guys! I did watch lots of Arktix's content over the last few weeks I played HFW, so I did get to experiment with many of his ideas. He did recommend stocking on resources before tackling UHNG+ and I thought it was mostly true because the build I was using at the time used mostly hunter bows for both component tear and elemental build-ups and a sharpshot bow for the DPS aspect; all of these use volatile sludge and my stockpile for that particular material were dropping low. I did farm roughly over a 1000 of them (he recommended 900).

His build also relied on boltcaster (burst technique) + tie down, which is fairly effective, but I still think boltcasters are really annoying (sometimes they are empty despite you reloading them). So in Burning Shores, I switch that build for his low-health one, focusing on warrior bows. I don't need volatile sludge as much now, being more balanced across the ammunition types. Arktix enjoys knockdown javelins, which works well on single target bigger targets like thunderjaws, but are horrible in the DLC where you fight 10 monsters at once. Ropecasters are therefore still my favorite CC technique (tie everyone down, then brittle one target hitting an armor plate, then warrior bow spread shot). That last technique worked on hard, I'll see how effective it remains on UH.

I really don't like glue (sludge), it doesn't slow down rotation rate of enemies. Meanwhile, using slides to draw my ropecaster faster works really well. I'm also trying to get used to the Ancestor's Return gauntlet. Seems like it's very effective on UH (both shock and corrosive).

As for your suggestions for arena and the like, I guess I could go for a balanced approach: get the flying mount, then 1:3 ratio main/side quests until game completion, prioritising coils duplicates rewards.

Wish me luck! Thank you all!

[Hebalon]

Originally posted by XtReMz98:

I'm also trying to get used to the Ancestor's Return gauntlet. Seems like it's very effective on UH (both shock and corrosive).

Yes, this is a very good idea! I also neglected them at first, until the "Rematch" challenge in the Arena, where you have close to no chance to beat it without the Shredder Gauntlet on UH.

This weapon class is not that easy to use at the beginning, but It's really worth it to practice catching the discs. The first two hits with a disc don't deal that much damage, but the 3rd and 4th are really strong. Also, the final explosion deals tear damage, so it helps getting a lot more ressources, because you can dissect the machines using shredder gauntlets without actually aiming for the weak spots.

You can practice it with Bristlebacks, Plowhorns, Spikesnout, Widemaws, Rollerbacks and other large, but rather slow machines.

[StormhawkV]

I kept all the best elemental bows that can fire basic elemental arrows. The Sun Scourge is great because it gives you most of the elements on one bow but using it permanently is very expensive and while elemental resistances are quite high on UH there's no need to use it every single time you want to apply an element.