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".

[DoT]

whatever works for you to kill a monster is meta

[Grottowalker]

its good to understand where your damage is coming from and what skills are better for getting damage

but Comfy is important for everday hunts.

^ what level of comfy and how it keeps you alive in your hunts is just as important as your damage skills. not to mention keeping you a happy hunter.

like having earplugs on Greatsword, as it opens up so many chances to get some free charge attacks off.

personally i have been running pretty non meta sets. keeping it really comfy with Evade Extender and Evasion maxed out. when i have these 2 skills maxed out on my build i can usually just drop Healthboost cause it makes it so easy to not get hit. roll through roars, tremor, roll into and past attacks.

[kampfer91]

Meta is the most damage per minute optimal set up , it is good but do not take it as gospel and goes toxic on other because someone not use meta .

When you don't care much about meta , you can come up with large variety of practical and meme builds .

[tag545]

you dont need to copy the meta and most players shouldnt considering what ive seen playing with randoms, but it always helps to know what you are doing when you are making your build so you dont waste slots or just use a bad version of a weapon (especially now with weapon transmog getting rid of the cosmetic aspect to it). having a decent build vs the i must have attack 7 on everything guy can be pretty noticeable so getting the basics down can get you some pretty good results and meta builds provide a nice point of reference to see what you are looking for when it comes to your weapon.

the effects of dps in mhw is slightly different from the usual damage sponge enemies you tend to see in mmos because although they are tanky the monster's do flinch, trip, get tired, and so on, in response to being damaged. this creates a positive feedback loop where the more damage you do the more the monster stays still to let you do more damage. this lets even small changes to your dps to change fights from " F U kushala" to oh kushala only flew around for about 1 min total in a hunt since it kept getting knocked over repeatedly from taking just enough damage to its head right when it got back up.

[JanWar]

Not really important, but if you run defensive build and your kill time become 25-30 min then it's more likely you'll get bored faster. For me the fun in MH is create as much build as possible for all weapon and experimenting with new armor.
Right now I use brach helm and body, alatreon hand, and MR kulve waist and legs for my Swagaxe build. It got agitator 7, peak performance 3, crit eye 7, power prolonger 3, health boost 3, evade extender 2, attack 5, wex 3, crit boost 3.
Very comfy and hit very hard.

[Emerald Lance]

For my part, in a game where numbers play a key role, I always enjoy squeezing out that little bit extra for myself. Making a tightly considered build and using it to defeat big monsters is extremely satisfying for me, almost like solving a puzzle. I didn't exactly go out and look up the meta, but I settled for myself on affinity stacking and master's touch. And that discovery and subsequent execution feels good.

As for whether or not you (or any other player) should be following the meta, well, that's up to you. If you get a similar level of enjoyment as I do out of min-maxing your setup, then go for it. But don't let anybody tell you that you're a bad player for choosing not to do so. The whole point of a game like this is self expression through the game mechanics; the meta is there for those who want to push their numbers to the best they can be, and can safely be ignored by anybody who doesn't feel the same way.

In the end, the only thing that matters is that you can finish hunts without carting. How you choose to do that is up to you.

[Dokainin]

whether or not "meta" is important depends entirely on you and how you want to play. Completing the hunt and having fun doing it is what is most important, whether it took you 10 minutes or 30 minutes. Where "Meta" actually becomes important is when you want to farm something like ode to destruction or the zinogre deco event, because using the "Most effective tactic available" makes the process less obnoxious when it goes faster.

Part of why Masters touch is so good overall is that the armor pieces you will generally use to get it are also really good in terms of efficiency and comfort. So you can get what is one of the best set bonuses in the game while having enough slots and useful skills baked into the armor that you have the flexibility to include the skills you want otherwise.

Alot of the more interesting set bonuses that could yield more varied builds and playstyles are still relegated to low and mid tier armor sets with terrible skills and terrible slots. So you really need a plan for how you build in order to use them effectively and they are decidedly less comfy than what you can do with a "meta" build.

Also for most weapons never needing to sharpen yields greater overall damage output over the course of a hunt than not having it, even if you can get higher numbers without it. Which makes Masters touch an incredibly comfy set bonus while also generally outperforming more strict builds in terms of performance.

[cklambo]

Meta is as important as u want it to be

[~KeNnEtH~]

The meta is attack-focused since MH is a game where technically it is possible for anyone to clear without defense.

However, this is not gonna be possible for the majority of us so unless you have the skills to match, honestly, I think what works for the speed runners are not necessarily going to work for you.

I rather use my own armor set than the meta since it is what works for me and have the skills I like (Divine Blessing and Free Meal).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2186352394
Sure, it is not gonna do as great damage but honestly speaking, I am not trying to create records either so that few minutes extra isn't gonna affect me.

If however, you plan to speed run then yeah, meta is extremely important.

[Nicovahkiin]

Not important at all, been playing the series for 15 years, and always did my own comfy sets

[JPM岩]

Meta is essentially taking the game's core value and reward system, and basically taking it to the max. The game at it's core is designed around doing as much damage as possible, with numerous in combat "events" being rewards for constant damage (stuns, staggers, KOs, trips, etc). At a technical level, maximizing your damage is the most optimal way to play because you can easily cut hunt times in half, as well as give you tons more openings.
However, I like to take pure DPS sets, and take out skills I dont personally like, and slot in my own to better suit my weapon.

[Das Big Hippo]

Unless you are doing very late game content, like Alatreon, the meta is not very important.

[Lucathegreat]

Don't care much. As long as they die, that's fine.

[CourtesyFlush09]

For casual players, not at all.

For dedicated/hardcore players, quite.

[Waffles]

Meta only really matters against our current endgame monster.