70 hours in and I still don't know any combos

[Red Purger]

I've been playing for about 70 hours now and I still don't know how to do combos with my weapons. I use the longsword and I basically just left click 3 times or sometimes I left click once then right click then left click. When my meter is full I just spam R to get the full combo off. Then I roll away whenever there's danger.
My friend watched me stream my fight with Teostra and was like "why aren't you parrying" and I was like "I don't know how to do that". He was also trying to get me to do the thing where you stab and then jump into the air and slash downwards, and I was like "I'm gonna be honest with you man, I don't know how to do that I just spam buttons until it happens".

I come here because Teostra was the first enemy I really struggled with in this game, and I'm wondering if combos are really that important, or if I can just keep doing what I'm doing. I had to cart once to beat Teostra and it really made me angry because before that I've beaten every boss without carting, so it felt more like a defeat than a victory. Now I'm wondering if I should take the time to learn combos and how to parry.

[D. Flame]

1.)
https://youtu.be/e86lHq-03H4?si=m6pUvOD65IVlErr9

2.)
https://youtu.be/u6zs2JMsIS4?si=pfVRaC-Fhsfcl_Tl

[Red Purger]

yeah he also sent me those videos I just haven't watched them yet

[D. Flame]

Originally posted by Red Purger:

yeah he also sent me those videos I just haven't watched them yet

Then go watch them. K, bai.

[ᔑᓭ∴ᔑリ⊣]

that is what the training room is for bud
if you dont want to look at tutorials, first go into your menu and hunter's notes and check what the weapon tutorial in there has to say. then go into the training room and ♥♥♥♥ around for an hour or two. theres a menu showing keys and combos in there but they dont describe every possible thing you can do

you should also experiment mixing and matching the attack buttons, if you press both the normal and alt attack button at the same time its a whole other attack too, an extremely useful one
that is how you do the parry and jumping into the sky attack, you press R + one of the other buttons at the same time, forgot which button is which but you'll figure it out very quickly

the goal of LS is to keep the spirit gauge at high level because it buffs your sword a lot, and parrying is the easiest way to get it up, successful parry instantly levels it up and it takes like 2 seconds to do, you can even do it on the monster's roar
you can also use normal attacks in between the special R ones to make the combo longer and keep the spirit gauge full until you get the final hit off

you won't be able to keep killing monsters easily if you dont learn the full capabilities of your weapon, your hunt times will just get longer and longer as monsters get stronger and you'll get frustrated because you aren't doing as much damage as you should be, and later on you might even start timing out on quests entirely

[hotmatrixx]

Originally posted by Red Purger:

I've been playing for about 70 hours now and I still don't know how to do combos with my weapons. I use the longsword and I basically just left click 3 times or sometimes I left click once then right click then left click. When my meter is full I just spam R to get the full combo off. Then I roll away whenever there's danger.
My friend watched me stream my fight with Teostra and was like "why aren't you parrying" and I was like "I don't know how to do that". He was also trying to get me to do the thing where you stab and then jump into the air and slash downwards, and I was like "I'm gonna be honest with you man, I don't know how to do that I just spam buttons until it happens".

I come here because Teostra was the first enemy I really struggled with in this game, and I'm wondering if combos are really that important, or if I can just keep doing what I'm doing. I had to cart once to beat Teostra and it really made me angry because before that I've beaten every boss without carting, so it felt more like a defeat than a victory. Now I'm wondering if I should take the time to learn combos and how to parry.

OK, I'm going to take an educated guess and say taht you started with the "Defender" gear the game almost forces upon you, right? I know because you're at Teostra by spam clicking before you asked this question.

so here we go;

1. combos are massively important on most weapons. the core loop of the gameplay is poke/dodge, find / make a window and punish the monster with a big, flashy combo that feels awesome to pull off. Combos let you chain damage loops, and not using them means that you're missing out on DPS in the moments when you should be dishing it - stuns, flinches, KO's, etc.

2. Defender gear. What a stuff up that is.
Defender gear is designed for people who have played the game already, who want to rush a new character into Iceborne. AKA Defender gear is levelled for the 'end game content' for the base game. BUT when you create a new character, the game throws it at you without this info; so you 'think' that you've defeated all these monsters and they're pretty easy and... at some point you hit a wall; sounds like Mr FireLion might have been yours.

From this point on, you're going to have a harder and harder time; and that's intentional from the game PoV. Enemies will be tougher, faster, with more punishing attacks, faster combos, more AoE', more challenge. You'll have to start making custom armour sets to complement your weapon, element, playstyle, along with adding Decorations, charms, mantles, etc to counter specific monsters - more or less; effectively having a 'build' for each monster you fight from this point out - or at least a build for each elemental type, or a build for fast monsters, a build for flying ones; etc - however you wish to split it up.

From this point you're going to have to start doing a bit of theory crafting and trying things out. adding earplugs for Screaming Legiana who screams a lot, with flashpods to knock it out of it's ice-dash - or getting rid of that to put in extra lightning resistance to deal with a Kirin and removing Evade Distance because it causes you to roll Into Kirin's ulti- just random examples and whatever. Adding Evade back in or Arial, so that you can deal with Velkhana. All that cool stuff, switching it out, or switching it up.

Combos aren't that bad;
watch a 10 minute video, go "oh i didnt even know i could do that".

• At this point you'll go "wow that's cool I want to learn", watcht he video again, then go practice in the training room, and apply it to your hunts; OR
  
• "I don't wanna - I just want to spam click to win". That's fine too, but if that's you, you're not going to get through all the game's content, so just be comfortable with that - unless you put some ultra-mega-one-hit-kill cheats on or 'unlimited healing items' or something. I'm not judging your telling you how to play; just what's up and what's ahead.

here's a video; you can only move forward from there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e73zWlua_Fs

[DaBa]

I'm not sure what you want us to tell you, there are plenty of resources available online that can teach you all of that. Or you can just go to the training area and make an effort to figure out the "combos" by yourself, it's not rocket science. The game even gives you a convenient cheat sheet that tells you exactly what follow ups are available to you at any given moment (in the top right corner).

As to whether combos are important, that is a really weird question. It's like asking if it's important to know how to play a fighting game character if you can just button mash. Why would in NOT be important to play your weapon properly?

[Smaugi]

The only times combos don't matter is if you are using defender gear to pretty much skip the base game , with normal progression they speed up the hunts alot.

[FuyuNoSora]

What you are doing is, playing in total casual mode. It's okay to play like that in the very beginning, but I can't recommend it for the MH series at the point you are already at.

What I mean with that is, that you are missing out on bigger strategies, that could reduce your time. MH is a time sink and an energy sucker. This is the type of game where it's recommended not to play in total casual mode.

You will need to turn into a "hardcore" player, meaning you not only react with your instincts. You need to learn the combos and the mechanics of the game - write down what is important to not forget it and improve. This way you won't be a casual anymore, but also won't need to depend on speedruns and other stuff that my spoil the game for you and break your personal experience.

[Mini]

That’s just Longsword for ya. I would either use a simpler weapon or watch a lot of guides and drill your buttons in the training area.

[Hammer Of Evil]

Originally posted by Red Purger:

I've been playing for about 70 hours now and I still don't know how to do combos with my weapons.

this can be problematic lol. its very important to know your moves. you dont want to go the whole game without knowing your weapon could have saved you a ton of grief the entire time with one simple move.

this is especially the case before going into iceborne, since button mashing will be heavily punished. you're starting to see why with the toaster fight.

however if you got to this fight without using defender weapon and its the first time you got bodied, that is incredible.

if you used the defender weapon. well...haha...you're going to have a little trouble in iceborne.

[Red Purger]

No I don't use defender gear, and never have. My friend warned me before I even bought hte game that it was basically cheat gear and would make the game too easy.
I use the Rathian tree blades that deal poison damage, and the Kadachi tree, though I originally started out trying a bunch of different weapons. As for armor I wear whatever gives good stats and abilities for the situation.

I guess I will have to learn the combos because I just tried to defeat the air dragon guy, and he bodied me as well.

[Red Purger]

Originally posted by Four King Hooks:

OK, I'm going to take an educated guess and say taht you started with the "Defender" gear the game almost forces upon you, right?

Nope, never used it.

[hotmatrixx]

Originally posted by Red Purger:

Originally posted by Four King Hooks:

OK, I'm going to take an educated guess and say that you started with the "Defender" gear the game almost forces upon you, right?

Nope, never used it.

well thats good, and i've explained why but by your earlier comment looks like you have a good friend;

everything that I said still holds true tho.
putting the time in now is an investment of your enjoyment of the game. mastering your weapon it's it's own pleasure all of itself.

[DaBa]

Well, good luck unlearning all your muscle memory and all the bad habits you've picked up. You're going to have an uphill battle ahead of you. A good lesson for the future I suppose, when you decide to pick up another weapon I highly recommend figuring out how it's supposed to be played first so you can start working towards learning that from the very beginning.

[Black Captain]

Originally posted by Red Purger:

yeah he also sent me those videos I just haven't watched them yet

You are the reason Capcom made defender weapons.