How important is "the meta"?

[epsilondelta]

I'm somewhat new to Monster Hunter (played previous titles very casually -- didn't even finish the main story) but I just beat the Iceborne storyline (amazing) and now I'm doing some of the endgame content.

I'm maining SnS and have just managed to kill Rajang solo. Currently trying to kill Raging Brach. and Furious Rajang. They're *hard*!

Anyway, my question is: How important is it that I follow "the meta"? It seems like all the builds I find online use master's touch 3-piece Teostra and stack affinity. Are these builds really so much better than doing a mix-set of rarity 12 gear and random decos? It just seems like a waste that the best armor you can use is from like an MR19 quest, and none of the cool looking armor sets that I'm finding now are "worth it".

[Mr Compassionate]

The meta is a weird thing. Most people try to emulate speedrunners even though they themselves are not speedrunners. For most people a self-made build of common sense is sufficient. If you plan to solo Alatreon or defeat stronger monsters in a timely manner you must use a meta build.

[Washing Machine]

Maximum meta mostly relies on being a glass cannon to do as much dmg as possible and play perfectly so you don't get hit ever.

You can clear much everything outside multiplayer-only siege events with just about any comfort build, including the top fights.

Master's Touch isn't required at all, it just means you save time not having to stop to sharpen mid-fight. Meta is just about doing maximum DPS, not about actually completing the quest.

[Verto]

meta is just about big numbers, but most of the time armor/weapons are best in slot for "max deeps", if you play SnS, you can tey using MR kulve weapons with safi armor, Safi set bonus gives you 40℅ affinity + more damage and elemental damage, trade-off is you take damage with every attack, but you recover more after couple hits. Kulve weapons have build in critical element/status which means they wilo do more dage when critting, for decos i recommend vitality 3, and later when you will unlock health augument, to covery up, rest is hoe you want to play.

[mewlynx]

Not that important, what skills you're running is more important. Master's Touch works well because you want to be affinity stacking anyway, but it's by no means mandatory, it just ensures your sharpness lasts as long as possible.

[Kak]

The most important thing is to make a set that works for you. Master's Touch or Agitator or any of those meta skills don't mean anything if you can't make it work.

The whole point of meta is to squeeze the most damage per second out of the most optimal gameplay. If you aren't playing at the most optimal level, it's not important.

For certain endgame threats like Alatreon or Safi'jiiva, there are definitely certain builds/skills that are more valuable, but for the most part you can run whatever you want and do just fine.

[Henrique87]

Is not relevant at all, dood.

[Tregrenos]

The metas importance can be gauged between three factors.

- Does it fit your general playstyle?

- Do you have any hangups about being seen as unoriginal in a game with so many options?

- Is the difference between 2 and 5 minutes worth caring about?

Nothing anybody tells you here will be a definitive answer as only you can decide that for yourself. In all honesty you can throw every meta set in the trash and grab a shielded shotgun if all that matters to you is broken levels of DPS.

[Preacher JLU]

Here is my Blast build, not sure if it is meta or not but I seem to do very well with it.

https://honeyhunterworld.com/mhwbi/?2045,293,274,280,277,281,81,:3;health:2;elem:1-;;;;-;;;;,0,0,363,14,0,158,325,96,339,19,68,14,30,0,298,30,0,285,158,90,5:10:16:37:30:37:30

[Seamus]

The best use for meta setups if you don't plan on speedrunning, is comparing them to look at common skills to see what skills are favored and why.

Take Agitator for example. Essentially a mandatory skill for most meta builds because you can get nearly 100% uptime on it by simply wall banging the monster when rage mode ends.

Weakness Exploit is similar. Large damage bonus if you're good about keeping tenderize up on the part you're aiming for.

Never feel pressured to use meta mixed sets if you don't want to.

Just, don't use trap skills like defense up when more effective, cheaper skills exist like health boost.

[LiMiT™]

Originally posted by Tregrenos:

The metas importance can be gauged between three factors.

- Does it fit your general playstyle?

- Do you have any hangups about being seen as unoriginal in a game with so many options?

- Is the difference between 2 and 5 minutes worth caring about?

Nothing anybody tells you here will be a definitive answer as only you can decide that for yourself. In all honesty you can throw every meta set in the trash and grab a shielded shotgun if all that matters to you is broken levels of DPS.

Sounds pretty definitive to me: Meta matters not.


You have 50 minutes for 85% of the hunts and since I highly doubt a judge is gonna go to your house the next time you're hunting a tempered bageljuice to see if you can manage to beat it in under 2 and a half minutes, meta really doesn't matter.

Please have some originality. Making a "Build" isn't even that hard, it's simple reading what the armor skills give you, combining the ones you like together and customizing them further with your decorations. It's not rocket science. If it would be any easier than that there would be people making you a build and then just giving you the saved equipment loadout.

[Fredericks of Cursewood]

I don't know how many different sets of armor that you run, but I typically have varying degrees of meta to comfy. For easy monsters that I just want to get in and kill it as quick as possible, then its going to be very offensive. Same goes for guiding lands with the addition of geologist and Fortitude.

Then for tougher hunts where you absolutely don't want to cart or I am just looking for a relaxed chill hunt, then I load up on defensive skills. Having skills like Evade Window and Divine Blessing allow you to be more aggressive and get hits in where you wouldn't try with a meta set. You can say somewhat the same for something like earlplugs. Monsters roaring are big opening to deal damage. If you are not talented enough to evade them, earplugs will bump up your damage output and may save you from carting too.

[Dex]

I agree with the above poster. As you increase in skill, you're likely to start moving towards a more meta playstyle because you no longer need those comfy defensive skills. If you know how to roll through monster roars, why would you take Earplugs 5? If all you need to survive Teostra is the fireproof mantle and no extra fire resistance, go for it.

The meta assumes that you don't need any defensive skills at all, so for most players, it's useless.

Myself, I'm actively trying to train myself to be a better player, so I'm currently using a mix. I have crit boost 3, crit eye as high as i can (currently 5), weakness exp 3 and the rest is comfy/defensive stats like fortitude, evade window (love it), vitality 3, sonorous 2, element resistance, etc.

As for armor, well, despite Capcom trying to make a really 'build your way/play your way' kind of game (and you can have success with anything!), some things just naturally rise to the top. The Teostra armor set is just silly good if you're running a crit build. There's no reason to not use it, time spent sharpening is also time the monster could kill you

That all said , you should play how and what you want.

[Balkoth]

You're going to have a better time just playing with what you're comfortable with then playing with someone else's build. Having fun is more important than max dps, especially in a PvE game.

[Washing Machine]

Although even if it's just about speedrunning and shaving off minutes, doing more damage still makes thing easier obviously since it means more stuns and claggers and knockdowns and so on. More time the monster spends flailing on the floor, the easier the game is going to be.

But if we talk purely meta, I assume we go full tryhard with Safi set with no vitality boosts and so on. I don't even think stuff like Teostra is that deep into the meta, since it's a really comfortable set skill to have, and ultimately slotting in 7crit eye and 3WE isn't hard at all.

Meta does feature the word "most" in it, so if you're going to meta, I assume it means you go all the way with maximum glass cannon tryhard. Teostra + Brachy is strong, but it still gives plenty of leeway to work around comfort.

[♋Phenex]

It does not matter but rather serves as a guideline about what sets would give you the most damage.

I would split meta in 2 groups as speedrunner meta and general meta. Speedrunners build for the absolute most damage possible while general use build for high damage and fit in some comfier skills like health boost where possible.

Most of the master's touch meta sets for example include health boost 3 since you can max out the necessary damage skills without sacrificing anything.