Is everything in Master Rank supposed to be so tanky?

[Sparky]

I'm a few hours into master rank, I have MR armour and weapons, I'm using appropriate weapons against the right monsters, but it feels like I need to use the clutch claw to do pretty much anything.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bad at the clutch claw, it just feels like it's more important than my weapon now because of the sheer girth of these monsters and their natural armour. Am I dumb or is everything just insanely tanky in MR?

Edit: I have seen the light. I have met god. I have become the main character. I'm a great sword user now. I was blind but now I can see true damage.

[PyroShark_]

It's one of the big complaints about the clutch claw is that MR was kind of balanced around it since you can slam the monster into a wall like 8 times at least if you keep on top of it every time Agitator wears off. It's not exactly a required mechanic but you are almost meant to use it. Frankly I never had a problem with it personally but I can understand why other people didn't like it.

[Fraktal]

Yes they indirectly force you to use claw.

Make sure you aren’t using a bad element weapon, or hitting bad hit zones too.

[Lochlann]

Like others said, they want you to use the claw. That being said, I got through the entire game just fine by only tenderising when the monster claggers

[Sparky]

Originally posted by Summer Soft:

Like others said, they want you to use the claw. That being said, I got through the entire game just fine by only tenderising when the monster claggers

It feels like huge amounts of DPS are being gate-kept by it though. I don't know how important this is, but I use the bow. I just made it past Barioth and now I do grey damage to most parts of most monsters without tenderizing parts twice to let me deal full damage. (I am using the right elements)

[Mr. September]

Originally posted by zxzc77:

It feels like huge amounts of DPS are being gate-kept by it though. I don't know how important this is, but I use the bow. I just made it past Barioth and now I do grey damage to most parts of most monsters without tenderizing parts twice to let me deal full damage. (I am using the right elements)

Long story short, it's practically required to use the Clutch Claw to open wounds. Yes, you are being gatekept out of much better damage due to lowered Affinity.

Light weapons require two claw attacks to open a wound, so not using Shaver Jewel to reduce that to one claw attack is basically shooting yourself in the leg (especially for ranged weapons). Combine that with (possibly) not knowing where to shoot and maybe bad matchup, and you got yourself some nice and grey damage. The right element or your raw damage doesn't mean anything if you aren't running a build with decent Affinity..

[Hammer Of Evil]

Originally posted by zxzc77:

I'm a few hours into master rank, I have MR armour and weapons, I'm using appropriate weapons against the right monsters, but it feels like I need to use the clutch claw to do pretty much anything.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bad at the clutch claw, it just feels like it's more important than my weapon now because of the sheer girth of these monsters and their natural armour. Am I dumb or is everything just insanely tanky in MR?

yes, all they did was pump up the monster stats and added extra attacks, or shorter time between attacks on each monster.

so your average HR monster (example: diablos) (solo) has around ~6500 hp.

in MR its ~20,000hp (solo)

your first few hunts coming out of HR should take 15+ mins and make you feel like a noob.

so even using the claw a lot you should be at the bottom of the totem pole again for MR dps, even though your starting MR sets will totally annihilate any HR monsters.

this is one of the main reasons for mixed reviews - all they did was add busywork to an already busy player, who now has to fight a monster that can sometimes stay enraged for 5+ mins at a time, and some monsters even have clutch claw counter attacks if you try to do it without the 'claw stagger' animation. (clagger)

and don't get me started on 'claw stagger' - i'll be doing the most beautiful counter attacking combo, and right at the last hit, the monster does a clagger and misses the majority of my damage.

trust me, you haven't even begun to feel frustrated yet.

[ominumi]

I don't use clutch claw to wound. I can still kill monsters in 10 to 15 minute range. If you're pushing 20 minute per quest you're doing something wrong.

[Kackstift]

MR Monster has more HP to make you get rid of worlds endgame weapons.
use IB weapons and sets to get more damage and use the claw, wall bang and tenderising will trible your damage.

[Tiom]

In base monster hunter:world there was no clutch claw and monster HP was set with the idea that you will not always be hitting a weakpoint until maybe something breaks or you are smacking its big weakpoint, which is commonly the monster's head. When Iceborne was introduced the hit zone values and HP balancing were done with the clutch claw in mind for master rank, but they never re-scaled HR monster HP. This results in fights feeling much longer when you get to master rank, especially if you do not weaken with the claw. As an example HR Anjanath has ~5500 health whereas a MR Anjanath has ~18000.

Opening a fight with a wallbang (assuming the monster doesn't roar before you get the input to flinch it in) is good for damage and also it gives you a good opening to weaken a part of the monster. Rocksteady mantle is good for opening monster fights because if they do immediately roar you can still get the wallbang. You can also use traps for this or just wait until the monster is doing a move that won't knock you off of the part you want to weaken. The last option involves quite a bit of trial and error.

At various points during monster fights you will see the monster stagger back and/or go immobile while breathing heavily and drooling alot. This is known as a "clagger". The term comes from the monster entering an extended staggered state that exists purposely to allow you to clutch claw onto a monster and weaken part of it.

[Roshambo]

MR early on feels like a slog due to your equipment being subpar. By the time you upgrade your gear MR feels about like HR whether you clutch claw or not even if you don't build for maximum DPS.

[D. Flame]

Yes, that's why people hated the clutchclaw/tenderizing. It changes the entire flow of the game and forces it to revolve around the claw instead.

[𝑅𝒾𝒾𝓃𝒶]

Yes. The devs and their infinite wisdom messed with HZV and WEX to force players to use the claw. And you are lucky, we had to deal with a claw that only lasted for 90 seconds, you get 180 seconds.

[Anoyun?]

i realy dont get it mr monster tanky. i dont thinks so. if i compare my hunt of low rank anjanath to banbaro both are road block it take's both 10 to 12 min. and with a proper build i can melt them both in mins on MR. yeah i dont think MR monsters are tanky. i used lance for anjanath coz his head and tail are so high up and i used fire LBG on banbaro.

[StanislavN]

Originally posted by ominumi:

I don't use clutch claw to wound. I can still kill monsters in 10 to 15 minute range. If you're pushing 20 minute per quest you're doing something wrong.

For newcomers ~30 min's fairly normal in MR. Plus, not everyone is going to min-max their builds when playing through game for the first time.

[ominumi]

Originally posted by StanislavN:

Originally posted by ominumi:

I don't use clutch claw to wound. I can still kill monsters in 10 to 15 minute range. If you're pushing 20 minute per quest you're doing something wrong.

For newcomers ~30 min's fairly normal in MR. Plus, not everyone is going to min-max their builds when playing through game for the first time.

Can't say. Most newcomer just use Defender gear. Then hit Master Rank and wonder why they're struggling. Oh wait...