How has Iceborne convinced/forced you into the meta?

[YORGOS_PB]

I've always been a filthy hipster when it comes to metas and everything related, yet because of some old friends coming back to try Iceborne I've felt like it was time to carry the team. 

Unless I'm a healer I can't ensure, to a point, the survival of my friends, so I've been thinking about those Bowgun Meta Builds and made one of each. 

 

Yesterday we failed 3 times in a row Kulve's DPS Check, which was really frustrating to me because while this is a game, yes, and it's meant for entertainment and fun to a lot of people, like me, given the time it takes to clear (or fail) quests it really REALLY feels like a waste of time, specially because of my friends attitude, "oh boy!, ha!, and it's gone!", and like YEAH, IT'S GONE, AGAIN, BECAUSE YOU WON'T USE SOMETHING OTHER THAN THOSE DUAL BLADES AND YOU DON'T EVEN USE THEM PROPERLY, the other guys I seriously don't know what happened, maybe they're just not effective with their weapons at all. 

 

That said I'm going ballz deep into some meta builds to make sure I'm covering the damage of at least 1 of my friends, or simply giving them some extra free damage by sluggering, or whatever. 

 

I've always been into GS and SnS but MHW really got me into Bow, I enjoy most of the weapons but those are really my go-to. 

 

Also, I'm well aware that the most effective way to farm for about everything is with Bowguns. 

[Drarryshipper]

I main bow and longsword and nothing else, really. So I'm not really the healer but rather the damage dealer. I mostly play with randoms instead of my friends because at least they try creating good builds or fight the monster even if we win or fail the quest. My friends on the other hand just dont care tbh. They're fans of the franchise, unlike me who joined the franchise with world, so I thought cool they should know what they are doing. BUT they refuse to use the meta, create shit builds or mixed sets which makes playing with them really frustrating since we almost never win any quests. And they dont understand me when I say that they suck and I hate playing with them. I know, everyone can play the game how they want too, but it's just a pain tbh. So yeah I understand your frustration.

[Tsar_Boy]

I never made a meta build, just some comfy builds that gives me some good damage and good health/defense, but I don't remember timing out on quests, maybe my teamates were good enough to carry me through, try it with randoms, a lot of people are obsessed with MR Kulve rn

[YORGOS_PB]

Comfy is my way to go, I'm always mixing Divine Blessing 5 with everything. Got a variation of those and I love them

[LetThemEatCakeDX]

It hasn't. I've tried different weapons ever since Freedom on PSP starting with SnS, dabbling in everything, but there's always been one constant. I ALWAYS go back to either Lance or more frequently Gunlance. Since I knew World was going to be more substantial of an investment(or at least require way more grinding compared to what I was used to because the plat exists) I consciously made the decision to main Gunlance exclusively. And I don't regret it, not one bit.

 

It's in a great spot in Iceborne too. With charged shell styles only requiring four skills to max out DPS(Artillery, Capacity Up, Stonethrower, Focus), the rest can be devoted to comfort. My current build has complete nonsense when it comes to survivability: Health Boost, Evasion, Evade Distance, Guard 5, Divine Blessing, Recovery Up, Flinch Free, Tremor Resist, Heat Guard, you name it. I'm even running heckin' Aquatic/Polar Mobility. And it feels GREAT. I barely even use items anymore outside of Whetstone, Rocksteady Mantle, and the occasional Nulberry because the monster's always tripped or flinching and Health Augment + charged shells just tops you off in 95% of situations.

 

And... it's Gunlance. It just LOOKS awesome. The swaggy reload animations, Wyvern Fire, hobbling around with your grenade launcher, taking attacks to the face and firing back, the true immovable fortress. You see Nergigante doing a big windup, everyone dodging out of the way and sometimes... you just want to assert dominance. Step to me and you get blasted. Bleeding? No problem, more explosions = more healing. Michael Bay, eat your heart out. It's empowering ?