So how exactly does loot work?

[The88shrimp]

I'm new to MH:W and want to know exactly how loot works. At the moment I'm hunting Pukei-Pukeis because I need a tail for a piece of gear. In the field guide It says the tail is severable and that's what (obviously) drops the tail. I'm doing the quest to hunt the Pukei-Pukei over and over again but it does say that a tail isn't obtainable from quest rewards but it is obtainable from when you carve the monster at a 3* frequency.

Do I have to sever the tail to make it available from when I carve the monster or are these 2 separate loot systems e.g. when I sever / break a body part I automatically get the piece corresponding to that body part and when I carve the monster at the end that's a completely different loot system that's just RNG?

Also I'm using a hammer in which I can't sever things with but is it possible to still break the tail or nah?

Thanks.

[Suzaku]

Capture and carve rewards are actually the same. Capture gives more rewards, so it's the ideal way to finish a hunt.

Cutting a tail is just an extra carve. It does not guarantee a piece of tail material, odd as it may be. You can get tail loot from carving or capturing.

Blunt weapons can still damage a part, but cannot sever it. You can use a boomerang bought from the items shop in town to act as a cutting weapon, but you'd basically have to guess when you got the tail down to 1hp. Essentially, if you use a blunt weapon, you forfeit severing tails.

If you need materials, always try to run an investigation. They give extra rewards upon completion.

[Tresh]

Not sure about whether the Hammer can get the tail off as I've never used it, but I've heard it doesn't, so you won't be able to get the extra item carve from that.

When you sever the tail, it lays on the ground and you can carve once from it, which will likely get you the tail-material. If it says you can get it as a carve, you should be able to on top of that carve it from the body afterwards (or capture the monster for 4-5 rewards from the carve pool in your special rewards).

If you can't sever the tail at all, I'd recommend capture for more loot and therefore a higher chance of getting the loot. Investigations also increase your chance for rare loot.

Quest rewards and carve rewards are in fact different, but a capture does get you rewards from the carve pool.

[dyne2alex]

cutting tail is another roll for a rare gem or plate though :p
Although in previous games u had to cut tail for tail drops, in world, you can get tail from rewards without needing to cut it off. It's a nice extra but a lot less necessary now. Still fun to do, esp with monsters that need that tail for a lot of their threat

[Hunny]

you have to literally cut the tail and then carve it to get it, also keep in mind that just because you carve the tail it doesnt mean that a tail drop is guaranteed since you can also get shards from them
later in the game youll get special missions called investigations, implying you havent got them already, those are better for material farming
also, since you use hammer is gonna be really hard for you to cut the tail, since the hammer deals blunt damage, and cutting something with a blunt object is really hard, there are some ways to cut the tail as a hammer user, one of them is to weaken the tail first and then using a boomerang but i would just advice you to play with a party, most of the time you are gonna get the tail in that way

[Tresh]

Originally posted by Hunny:

you have to literally cut the tail and then carve it to get it

Yeah, this is just false. I've stopped counting how many times I got multiple tails in my special rewards from a capture.

[The88shrimp]

Thanks all, I'll run investigations that require capturing from now on when farming.

[AnemoneMeer]

As a complete breakdown, there's several pools for each monster.

There's the basic kill reward pools, one for kills one for captures. Both pools have the same items, but captures give more and can have different odds. Generally this pool contains everything.

Then we have the part break pools. These tend to have a majority drop rate of the broken item, with a small chance of both a common and a rare. Normally if you cut a tail, you get the tail, but you might get a scale or a plate/gem as well.

Then we have the shiny drop pool. This is either a common, a rare, or free research points (the second, green currency).

Finally, we have the quest completion reward pool, which pulls from most everything. Investigations include additional weighted pools tied to the investigation as well.

As such, you can target specific rewards by focusing down specific parts, doing investigations with specific rarity items (Commons are bronze favored, part breaks are silver favored, gems/plates/etc are gold flavored).

[Tresh]

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

Thanks all, I'll run investigations that require capturing from now on when farming.

In general, capturing when possible is worh it: You get more rewards and the hunt goes quicker, too, because you don't have to bring its health down to zero, but instead I think about 25-30% in low rank

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

Thanks all, I'll run investigations that require capturing from now on when farming.

You can capture during any hunt; the investigation doesn't need to be a capture-only hunt.

[Lars]

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

Thanks all, I'll run investigations that require capturing from now on when farming.

It can be "Hunt" and you can still catch it, as long as it doesn't say "Slay".

[The88shrimp]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

Thanks all, I'll run investigations that require capturing from now on when farming.

You can capture during any hunt; the investigation doesn't need to be a capture-only hunt.

Ah ok, gotcha

[hiyall]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Capture and carve rewards are actually the same. Capture gives more rewards, so it's the ideal way to finish a hunt.

Cutting a tail is just an extra carve. It does not guarantee a piece of tail material, odd as it may be. You can get tail loot from carving or capturing.

Blunt weapons can still damage a part, but cannot sever it. You can use a boomerang bought from the items shop in town to act as a cutting weapon, but you'd basically have to guess when you got the tail down to 1hp. Essentially, if you use a blunt weapon, you forfeit severing tails.

If you need materials, always try to run an investigation. They give extra rewards upon completion.

doesnt cutting off the tail increase the drop chance of the tail to 66%? thats what i have seen online

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by hiyall:

doesnt cutting off the tail increase the drop chance of the tail to 66%? thats what i have seen online

I've never heard of that, but I can't confirm or deny it.

[Holografix]

Hunting Horn can sever tails with the sharp end of the hilt. It's a poke move that deals *sharp* damage.

[V-Fib]

Originally posted by The88shrimp:

Originally posted by Suzaku:

You can capture during any hunt; the investigation doesn't need to be a capture-only hunt.

Ah ok, gotcha

The only monsters you can't capture are elder dragons; traps don't work against them, and their quests will always require that you slay them.