Looking for a good IG build!

[queenramrod]

So I am currently HR 71 and MR 22 and I am looking for a decent IG build. I currently switch between a few

- Icesceptre
806 raw damage
Purple sharpness
5% affinity
240 Ice damage
No slots
No elderseal

- Datura Storm
744 raw damage
Purple sharpness
0% affinity
450 Poison damage
2 slots
No elderseal

- Catastophes Light
651 raw damage
Blue sharpness
150 Dragon damage
1 slot
High elderseal

- Deadline (use this one more now than CL)
744 Raw
White sharpness
25% Affinity
300 Dragon damage
No slots
High elderseal

I also use Folicath I Forz as a kinesect that currently does blast damage.

I also have Empress "styx' but I am honestly disappointed I put all the time into building that for it to fall so far behind other glaives I use. This is my first time playing this game as an IG main (i usually prefer switch axe) so I am not exactly sure what I should be looking for. Any help would be appreciated!

[Kucing Budeg]

infinite wisdom is a good one too. IG depends on your playstyle. If you like using it for its aerial attack use ele glaive to make it easier to mount monsters. If you use it for the combos on ground raw damage is better. Flight deco gives you extra aerial dmg by 30%. I use rath soul armor for its crit boost and the mind eye. IG is very versatile so experiment to find which style you like better. oh and the behemoth glaive and armor is decent too.

[lexilogo]

Yeah, MR Lunastra weapons aren't very good. Didn't get shafted quite as badly as Savage Jho weapons did, but they still suck.

Anyway, I am not an IG user, but from my understanding they're in roughly the same boat as Sword & Shield in regards to elemental damage- It's nice to have and you can make a decent enough elemental setup, but raw is ultimately still supreme.

With that said... What you've got is plenty right now and while there's probably a better technical option out there for you right now (eg. I think Nexus Gale Bolg, the Final Fantasy 14 event IG, would be marginally better than Deadline. 5% less Affinity for +15 Dragon damage, which is a good exchange. You definitely have room to easily upgrade your Kinsect, though, as you just need some slogbones, Meldspae Ore and Paolumu Thickfur to make it lvl2), you really should just get back to campaign progression.

MR22 means you're just behind completing Iceborne's base campaign, I believe. The final boss monster's IG will most likely be a step up for you, so consider getting that once you beat them. From there, the monsters you encounter in Special Assignments have their weapons powercreeped past the potential of base Iceborne weapons, until you eventually reach Fatalis equipment.

[mewlynx]

Iceceptor will be useful for the final story boss, just hold onto that. Armor wise, have something to mitigate sharpness loss, whether that be Narga armor or Kaiser. Have good affinity and crit boost, Glaive is easy to build for.

[Khazimhir]

i mean it all comes down to your own playstyle, but imo drachen armor with empress styx is the best "early game" build,

if you want somthing even more simple, just wear odogaron, or if you are zero aerial go with nergigante. but the rule of thumb is allot of crit, and i like elemental, since IG is a pretty fast weapon.

[FuyuNoSora]

I'd go Affinity, Attack + Elemental damage coupled with blast damage bug, I recommend the Glavenus Glaive for now, it has a nice raw damage, and a very good elemental damage, the only negative is, it seems a bit short.

[mewlynx]

Originally posted by FuyuNoSora:

I'd go Affinity, Attack + Elemental damage coupled with blast damage bug, I recommend the Glavenus Glaive for now, it has a nice raw damage, and a very good elemental damage, the only negative is, it seems a bit short.

It's no shorter than any other glaive. Might just be the model, but the hitbox should be identical.

[Luxordz]

I consider constitution a required skill, at least level 3 but with charm it's a free lv 4-5 when you can do guiding lands Airborne is also a single level that essentially gives you a free 30% dmg increase for the air twirls

[♋Phenex]

Here's a progression guide: https://imgur.com/a/nbejsLt
You can skip past the initial ones to where you are in the game. There are links to stronger builds as well for pre-fatalis.

[Veritas]

Originally posted by Luxordz:

I consider constitution a required skill, at least level 3 but with charm it's a free lv 4-5 when you can do guiding lands Airborne is also a single level that essentially gives you a free 30% dmg increase for the air twirls

Or you could realize that losing a bunch of sharpness and dealing only 40% of your raw and 50% of your element/status on aerial moves on top of the low attack rate for juggling and high stamina cost is pretty terrible and stick to using the very solid ground moves, the downwards thrust (which has none of these issues and does great damage + marks) and situationally the aerial clutch (but in a group hunt, the IG player should not be the one using flinch shots and their weapon attack to soften the monster, because it has one of the worst clutch attacks and being grappled forcibly recalls the kinsect).

[queenramrod]

Originally posted by Luxordz:

I consider constitution a required skill, at least level 3 but with charm it's a free lv 4-5 when you can do guiding lands Airborne is also a single level that essentially gives you a free 30% dmg increase for the air twirls

Is it worth it to boost elemental damage? I usually set at least one decoration to do it plus a charm. Should I focus on boosting simply raw damage?

[mewlynx]

Originally posted by queenramrod:

Originally posted by Luxordz:

I consider constitution a required skill, at least level 3 but with charm it's a free lv 4-5 when you can do guiding lands Airborne is also a single level that essentially gives you a free 30% dmg increase for the air twirls

Is it worth it to boost elemental damage? I usually set at least one decoration to do it plus a charm. Should I focus on boosting simply raw damage?

If you want to be "meta" then yes, Glaive works best with raw damage. That doesn't mean that elemental glaive isn't bad, and prior to the Fatalis patch, elemental glaives saw use in some match ups. Glaive doesn't massively benefit from element is the thing, and you can safely just use a raw glaive the entire game and not be at any meaningful disadvantage.

That being said, when I was working through IB, story, I used a Velk+Teo armor mix and did elemental stuff and it was perfectly fine. Of course I eventually moved onto meta-slaving but my point is that as long as your build is semi-competent, it should more than good enough for most content. Just use whatever you find most fun.

[queenramrod]

Originally posted by maelynx:

Originally posted by queenramrod:

Is it worth it to boost elemental damage? I usually set at least one decoration to do it plus a charm. Should I focus on boosting simply raw damage?

If you want to be "meta" then yes, Glaive works best with raw damage. That doesn't mean that elemental glaive isn't bad, and prior to the Fatalis patch, elemental glaives saw use in some match ups. Glaive doesn't massively benefit from element is the thing, and you can safely just use a raw glaive the entire game and not be at any meaningful disadvantage.

That being said, when I was working through IB, story, I used a Velk+Teo armor mix and did elemental stuff and it was perfectly fine. Of course I eventually moved onto meta-slaving but my point is that as long as your build is semi-competent, it should more than good enough for most content. Just use whatever you find most fun.

Okay awesome! Yeah I am not playing for anything serious, just trying to find out how to be better at the game and to actually learn more about it. To be honest I really like my poison IG, even though I know many people dont find poison to be that useful. Thanks for your help!

[Dannicus]

I used Safi's Drakspear and I killed Fatalis with it but the most important thing for IG is power prolonger I played so long without it and feel now so stupid because it makes the hunt much more enjoyable to stay powerd up for a longer duration also learn the kinsect drill technique it makes tons of dmg.

[mewlynx]

Originally posted by Dannicus:

I used Safi's Drakspear and I killed Fatalis with it but the most important thing for IG is power prolonger I played so long without it and feel now so stupid because it makes the hunt much more enjoyable to stay powerd up for a longer duration also learn the kinsect drill technique it makes tons of dmg.

Power prolonger can be mostly considered a QoL skill, it's not vital but makes using glaives without spirit&strength boost less painful if you triple buff often.

[Dannicus]

Originally posted by maelynx:

Originally posted by Dannicus:

I used Safi's Drakspear and I killed Fatalis with it but the most important thing for IG is power prolonger I played so long without it and feel now so stupid because it makes the hunt much more enjoyable to stay powerd up for a longer duration also learn the kinsect drill technique it makes tons of dmg.

Power prolonger can be mostly considered a QoL skill, it's not vital but makes using glaives without spirit&strength boost less painful if you triple buff often.

In my opinion you do more dmg with this skill because instead of huting for the 3 buffs you attack it full on. I'm playing on console and with some monsters it's really hard to hit the head with 30 fps and controller so this saves me a lot of time during a hunt but for example if you get the buffs always fast you don't need it as much.