[noob needs tipps]The Longsword, Mounting and action delays

[Kon-Vara]

So I think I found what fighting style I like, in this game. While I do - like many others - heavy hitters, I am much more a fan of mobility. I read somewhere, that Dragon's Dogma fans will like the Insect Glaive and I do. The mobility is great. My first Anja-kill goes thanks to this weapon!

1) But I don't wanna settle on one definite weapon. So I tried other weapons that allow me to stay somewhat mobile like the Longsword. I also like it but it has a huge delay after a combo. I had big trouble dodging the Barroth's rush (which has a big tell) because I was stuck in an animation. What am I doing wrong? Am I cueing up the wrong combos? Can you suggest other weapons that promote fast/mobile combat?

2) What does mounting do? When I mash y, I always see the 1's floating up but that doesn't seem that great, when I can just go for a few combos on the ground for greater effect. I'm probably miscalculating or doing something wrong, I guess?

Thanks for all answers. :)

[Juliane_L]

if you get hit while stuck in an animation, it's because you overcommited your attacks. learn how long each oppenning is or you'll either miss out some damage or get caught in an attack.

[Suzaku]

First, do you have Iceborne? That offers some extra moves for every weapon, so knowing that might help people give suggestions.

I don't know much about the longsword, but for other weapons to suggest, the main mobile ones to me are Sword and Shield and Dual Swords. Both have quick combos that allow you to act more reactively, have fast sheathe times, and can use certain moves to stick close to a monster as it moves around. The Lance also gets an honorable mention since you can do certain moves to keep up with a monster's movement, or just hold your ground and let it come to you.

Mounting allows you to guarantee a stun on a monster. After mashing your attack for long enough, you hit it with a finisher that knocks it down to the ground. This gives you several seconds to pull off your heaviest hitting combos, maybe sharpen/heal up, or clutch claw and weaken body parts. This works best in a group setting because your party can prepare for the inevitable stun and dogpile on the monster the moment it gets knocked down, but it still has uses in single-player.

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

i would also recommend hammer if you like mobility + big hits, though it can be hard to get ahold of (like most weapons)


for longsword, you want to time your attacks right, so that when the monster is about to hit you, you have time to parry it instead. this is the main way you can avoid getting hit without messing up your dps much. im afraid i can't tell you the keybinds for it though, you should be able to find them in either the training area (click on city in map and fast travel to it, or talk to your housecat) or you hunters log / weapons controls (in the menu)
the only big combo the longsword has that locks you much is the spirit combo (the one where you spin at the end and sheathe). avoid using the combo at bad moments, or use the parry attack to increase your spirit bar thing instead
afaik the strongest basic attacks the longsword has are the ones where you strike downwards, and the one where you spin and move to the side slightly (you press both attack buttons to do it i think) is good for filling your spirit gauge fast. you can also use this attack to dodge aswell


for question 2: mounting, when you finish poking it with the toothpick, topples the monster for a moment so you can get some hits off on it. the monster might take some damage from slamming into walls or whatever too, but thats about all there is to it. up to you if you find it worth your time


if you decide to try out hammer, what you do with it is you spam the charge. you'll figure out the rest

i could go into more detail for both weapons here but you would probably find it more useful from simply practicing the weapons yourself, testing out different attack combos, which are the most efficient moves to make, etc, whether that be in the training area or on quests or whatever

[cruste]

mounting is just an option to get a free knock out with a little bit dmg
insect glaive is nice for mounts while you can do more dmg during the mounting phase

normally you would simply abort the mounting if you aim for max dps because it takes too long until you get the ko

in multiplayer you can speed up the ko through shooting crystal burst slinger ammo into the face of a mounted monster or do some impact dmg to the head

[lexilogo]

Getting hit while mid-animation is a normal part of the learning process. Usually the solution is better positioning or better combo planning.

For example, for Long Sword there's a lot of different combo paths you can take to reach Foresight Slash, Fade Slash (or for Iceborne Owners, Iai Spirit Slash) all of which can allow you to dodge monster attacks, or simply stopping a combo to roll out of the way.


The point of mounting is to get a free knockdown on the monster. THE biggest contributor for damage is "uptime" (the amount of time you're spending attacking the monster, instead of avoiding its attacks, healing, etc) so knockdowns are very valuable for damage, especially in multiplayer.

[~KeNnEtH~]

If you want to play longsword, stay calm and don't spam.

Newer longsword users tend to get into a state of rush/panic when they learn about the gauge system and just try to spam attacks until they get to red gauge just to do the Spirit Helmbreaker because longsword damage is not as good with no, white and orange gauge and they only know that Spirit Helmbreaker deals the most damage.

The thing is to remember that the gauges boost all attack damage so even if you just stay at red gauge and don't do Spirit Helmbreaker due to not having a window to do it, it is fine.

Getting hit occasionally in exchange for landing hits is fine and all, but getting hit too much or interrupted mid spirit combo is not good especially since it all doesn't matter if you don't land that last hit in the spirit combo (spirit round slash) to raise the gauge.

Don't sleep on the foresight slash, iai slash and the sliding move. Those will get you your gauges faster than anything.

Longsword is somewhere between reactive and predictive so while it may not require as much prediction/ knowledge of monster attacks as predictive weapons like the super slow ones (eg. greatsword, hunting horn, etc), it is also not exactly fast and there are conditions to satisfy before pulling off a foresight slash (meter & attack before foresight slash usable) or iai attack (gauge, shift before iai slash or iai spirit slash).

If you plan to get something that is more reactive based dodging, go for Dual Blades.

[Zhou Yu]

Some little advice for mounting. Certain areas on the monster (generally the back) allow you to stab faster while mounted. Also instead of bracing yourself while monster is trying to shake you off you can instead hop to another part of the monster to continue stabbing. The only time this won’t work is on certain shake-off attacks like when a monster jumps. Although something to consider is that often times simply bracing yourself on a monster is more stamina efficient than switching positions.

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by cruste:

mounting is just an option to get a free knock out with a little bit dmg
insect glaive is nice for mounts while you can do more dmg during the mounting phase

normally you would simply abort the mounting if you aim for max dps because it takes too long until you get the ko

in multiplayer you can speed up the ko through shooting crystal burst slinger ammo into the face of a mounted monster or do some impact dmg to the head

Lance is GOD TIER for mounting

[Kon-Vara]

"First, do you have Iceborne? That offers some extra moves for every weapon, so knowing that might help people give suggestions."
Bought it a few days ago with the sale. Still getting accustomed to the clutch claw move.

"i would also recommend hammer if you like mobility + big hits, though it can be hard to get ahold of (like most weapons)"
Holy sh!t, what a great weapon! I actually managed to murder the Tobi-Kadachi before it had a chance to return to it's roost, something I haven't managed to do with anything but Great Jagras.

"if you get hit while stuck in an animation, it's because you overcommited your attacks. learn how long each oppenning is or you'll either miss out some damage or get caught in an attack."
Something that becomes more and more clear with the hammer.

"Getting hit while mid-animation is a normal part of the learning process. Usually the solution is better positioning or better combo planning."
"If you want to play longsword, stay calm and don't spam."
"Longsword is somewhere between reactive and predictive so while it may not require as much prediction/ knowledge of monster attacks [...] it is also not exactly fast"
I can't go into all of the details, but this is my main takeaway here. I tried the buster sword before that, but that's just too slow for me. I'll reread the rest, when I pick that sword up again.

Well, that leaves me with 3 weapon with distinct playstyles, that I like. Thanks for all the hints and clues.

Also, I know what I might try next:
"If you plan to get something that is more reactive based dodging, go for Dual Blades."

Happy hunting y'all.

EDIT: Oh yea, the mounting!
"mounting is just an option to get a free knock out with a little bit dmg"
"Also instead of bracing yourself while monster is trying to shake you off you can instead hop to another part of the monster to continue stabbing."
Tried this on an Anja-thingy first and it shook my stamina from 90% to 0. So I still need to figure that one out. :D
"THE biggest contributor for damage is "uptime"
"normally you would simply abort the mounting if you aim for max dps because it takes too long until you get the ko"
I guess I'll have to learn this one by doing.

[astranabeat]

What moves lock you in place? Ls is a weapon that you can roll or counter almost any time. Only 3 moves that lock you is a 4 hit spirit slash, spirit round slash and helm breaker. Spirit round slash and helm breaker can cancle with iai sheat ( you need iceborne for this)​ for the 4 hit slash. Just make sure it save to use it. Make habit to use fade slash and chain to spirit slash. This will skip some moves and let you use round slash faster.

Try to master forsigh slash. If you know you will get hit in next second. Use it. You can hold left or right to change slide diraction to avoid follow up attack.

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by Kon-Vara:

"Also instead of bracing yourself while monster is trying to shake you off you can instead hop to another part of the monster to continue stabbing."
Tried this on an Anja-thingy first and it shook my stamina from 90% to 0. So I still need to figure that one out. :D

brute wyverns like Anjanath Jho or Barroth are the only monsters this strategy dosen't work with, since their jump attack can destroy your stamina bar even if you hop to another part.

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by Juliane_L:

Originally posted by Kon-Vara:

"Also instead of bracing yourself while monster is trying to shake you off you can instead hop to another part of the monster to continue stabbing."
Tried this on an Anja-thingy first and it shook my stamina from 90% to 0. So I still need to figure that one out. :D

brute wyverns like Anjanath Jho or Barroth are the only monsters this strategy dosen't work with, since their jump attack can destroy your stamina bar even if you hop to another part.

Yep. Theres also the endgame monster, when they charge, hold on.
When they move around in one spot, move

[Andy_RK]

try to invest some skill points in evade window & bring dash juice if u wanna try dual blades, it helps a lot

[Popcorn]

Originally posted by Andy_RK:

try to invest some skill points in evade window & bring dash juice if u wanna try dual blades, it helps a lot

Which use mats from diablos and, iirc, barroth(?)

[Cerberus]

not sure if it's for you, but i feel that the bow is kinda mobile.. provided that you build it correctly as it requires quite alot of stam for you to be really agile, other than that, IG DB LS which were tried and suggested.. with the clutchclaw atk, i think the SA is also quite mobile, which you can try

mounting basically leaves the monster open to attacks when it's flailing around if it's more than single player, and in single player, basically you just pester the monster to the point it reaches it's exhaustion, afterwards it gives you the opportunity to do a final atk that will knock the monster down and gives you a large opening for you to do your thing