I'm missing something about defense. What do I need to change?

[Beep]

I'm lvl 52, and I am trying to get into arch tempered fights so that I can access gamma armor sets. However, I have been one-shot multiple times by several of teostra's attacks (not including the nuke attack, I would expect that to be a one-shot like nergigante's dive-bomb). I look at my armor and see that it's 351.

Here is the issue: I've been looking on various forums and people are saying you can get armor levels of 450+ before buffs. I did the math, and 5 pieces of max upgraded gear (74-78 armor each assuming the pieces are rarity 6-8) gives a maximum of 370-390 armor. If I upgrade my armor, I will 386, since I am only using one rarity 6 armor and the rest are rarity 8.

I am currently using the defense charm and talon to pad that. It does not appear to factor into the defense number, but I assume that is normal. In addition, most builds I have seen use primarily attack/critical increasing skills with a few support/utility skills (handicraft, ect).

I do eat before each mission, in case that is a question.

also a glaive user, so I get some physical damage reduction, which explains why teostra's one-shot attacks are not

What am I missing here?

Edit: Changed a lot of the numbers because they were innacurate
Edit 2: When I said armor charm/ armor talon, I am referring to the ones that go in your inventory, not the charm equipment. I am using handicraft charm 3 for white sharpness on my grunge storm
Edit 3: So apparently the armor defense values are not as consistant across sets as I thought. Take the 390 value with a grain of salt, but I think the highest you can get is around there (without augmentations, had no idea that was a thing)

[Hamshank cat]

Augment your armor to further upgrade the defense

[Beep]

Originally posted by Gnarlycuga:

Augment your armor to further upgrade the defense

I can't. Level 11 is the highest I can go. I figured at Hunter Rank 52 I would have unlocked the defense upgrades I needed for arch tempered content. Am I mistaken? If so, what should I be doing instead?

[Suzaku]

Augmenting is unlocked by finding a weapon streamstone. These have a very low chance of dropping from T2 hunts (tempered hunts with a HR requirement of 30), or a low chance from T3 hunts (HR requirement 50, which are tempered elder dragons, or TEDs for short).

If you're confident in your abilities, you can try hunting T3 to get a stone to drop faster. I personally like Vaal Hazak since he's slow and easy to read, but whatever you're best at would be ideal. If you can't handle a TED, then stick to T2 hunts until you get one.

[Hamshank cat]

Originally posted by Beep:

Originally posted by Gnarlycuga:

Augment your armor to further upgrade the defense

I can't. Level 11 is the highest I can go. I figured at Hunter Rank 52 I would have unlocked the defense upgrades I needed for arch tempered content. Am I mistaken? If so, what should I be doing instead?

Whoops my bad. Generally those types of monsters do much more damage. You could increase elemental resistance with decos or a meal too for a specific monster. I assume your armor is rarity 6 based on the defense value. Equipping rarity 7 or 8 could help more

[Pemburu Raksasa]

augment your equipments, go for health boost lvl 3 for better defense, high fire resist, eat meal that grant Element resist L

[Beep]

Originally posted by Gnarlycuga:

Originally posted by Beep:

I can't. Level 11 is the highest I can go. I figured at Hunter Rank 52 I would have unlocked the defense upgrades I needed for arch tempered content. Am I mistaken? If so, what should I be doing instead?

Whoops my bad. Generally those types of monsters do much more damage. You could increase elemental resistance with decos or a meal too for a specific monster. I assume your armor is rarity 6 based on the defense value. Equipping rarity 7 or 8 could help more

I'm not sure it matters too much what the rarity is. I upgraded a ratholos chestplate to my current max (11 for me) and its defense stat is 74, while my xenogiiva spine is upgraded to my current max lvl of 4, and its defense is 78.

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Augmenting is unlocked by finding a weapon streamstone. These have a very low chance of dropping from T2 hunts (tempered hunts with a HR requirement of 30), or a low chance from T3 hunts (HR requirement 50, which are tempered elder dragons, or TEDs for short).

If you're confident in your abilities, you can try hunting T3 to get a stone to drop faster. I personally like Vaal Hazak since he's slow and easy to read, but whatever you're best at would be ideal. If you can't handle a TED, then stick to T2 hunts until you get one.

So I should be using defensive decorations? Most builds seem to be using offensive decorations.

[Quarie]

Don't feel that you need to go full attack/crit builds. That's more for speedkills/speedrunning.
If you are having problem surviving try to get health boost lvl 3, stun resistance lvl 3, divine blessing and so on.
Better to let the fight last longer than to fail it :)

[冬]

You should augment your armors and weapons.

Originally posted by Beep:

I am currently using the defense charm and talon to pad that. It does not appear to factor into the defense number, but I assume that is normal. In addition, most builds I have seen use primarily attack/critical increasing skills with a few support/utility skills (handicraft, ect).

I think defense charm is useless because AT Monsters can do one or two shots (three if lucky) even with 500+ armor defense. Go for health boost 3 and offensive skills instead.

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by Beep:

So I should be using defensive decorations? Most builds seem to be using offensive decorations.

That's because builds are made for pro gameplay in mind, i.e. you're skilled enough to never be hit. It's up to the player to decide if they want to modify that with more defensive skills.

[Beep]

Originally posted by Luna Gardner:

You should augment your armors and weapons.

Originally posted by Beep:

I am currently using the defense charm and talon to pad that. It does not appear to factor into the defense number, but I assume that is normal. In addition, most builds I have seen use primarily attack/critical increasing skills with a few support/utility skills (handicraft, ect).

I think defense charm is useless because AT Monsters can do one or two shots (three if lucky) even with 500+ armor defense. Go for health boost 3 and offensive skills instead.

to clarify, I am referring to armorcharm/armortalon(the ones that go in your inventory)

[Beep]

Originally posted by Quarie:

Don't feel that you need to go full attack/crit builds. That's more for speedkills/speedrunning.
If you are having problem surviving try to get health boost lvl 3, stun resistance lvl 3, divine blessing and so on.
Better to let the fight last longer than to fail it :)

I think I will do that. I haven't figured out how you avoid damage while still hitting the target. I can't seem to find a balance

[冬]

Originally posted by Beep:

to clarify, I am referring to armorcharm/armortalon(the ones that go in your inventory)

Ohh sorry, my mistake XD
But still, if you rely too much on defense in AT fights, you will get hurt. Augment your equipments and learn the fight.

[Ziiio]

I thought AT monster in Iceborn only?

[Corrodias]

Originally posted by Beep:

So I should be using defensive decorations? Most builds seem to be using offensive decorations.

Streamstones are not decorations; they're an entirely separate form of thing.

To complicate the matter, there are 2 types of streamstones that are both called streamstones. One type is used for augmenting weapons (warrior and hero streamstones), and the other is used for augmenting armor (streamstone shards, streamstones, and gleaming streamstones).

Both types are acquired in the same manner as decorations: as random rewards from tempered monster quests. (You can also meld some decorations, but you cannot meld streamstones; in fact, melding *consumes* armor streamstones; that's the other thing they're good for.)

Augmenting armor by expending a streamstone on it allows you to further upgrade it to somewhere around 90 defense, give or take a little depending on its rarity. The arch-tempered monster armor pieces cap out at about 92, I think.

If you're taking on arch-tempered monsters, you absolutely should have your armor augmented and fully upgraded, which will net you a total of 450-500 defense.

Taking some defensive skills, especially against the arch-tempered monsters, is totally acceptable. Your goal is to survive the hunt. As experienced as I am, I would still want at least Health Boost level 3 to fight most of the arch-tempered monsters. They just hit that hard.

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by Ziiio:

I thought AT monster in Iceborn only?

Nah, we've got plenty of AT monsters. In fact, all elders are AT at this point, including Zorah.