Weapon class choice Monster Hunter Generations Guide

Last update: 06 September 2016

This step will familiarize you with the so-called "character class creation", which is accomplished by means of choosing weapons. As I've said, the character is de facto classless, and the role and combat style is determined by the equipment used (armor, weapon and decorations). Most generally, at the beginning you choose between ranged and melee weapons.

The decision of whether you want to slash or shoot will significantly impact the gameplay, since both styles require different armors. You can't equip an expensive armor, fit for Blademaster and use Gunner weapons. Such combination is not allowed by the game. But it's not like you have to make such decision at the very beginning and stick to it the whole game. Both the armor and the few items that can be bought and crafted at the beginning are universal (marked as Blade/Gunner). Additionally, in a chest in your home you will find one weapon of each of the types of weapons available in the game. It's the perfect time to try out everything, and I strongly suggest you do that.

In Monster Hunter Generations there are 14 weapon classes - most of them are short-distance; the rest are ranged weapons and hybrids. The choice may seem limited first (especially for Gunners), but there actually aren't many games that can boast so diverse weapon classes.

For a beginning, I recommend all new players get acquainted with the descriptions and tutorials for each weapon, or at least the chosen few that they find most interesting. In Monster Hunter Generations there are no bad choices in this respect, there are only paths easier to master, and those more challenging. The weapons in Monster Hunter Generations can be very inventive in terms of mechanics - from a simple katana to truly

steampunk "transformers". The players who don't have time, patience nor the inclination to try out and learn all the complicated weapons should first get a sword and a shield, if they fight in close combat, or a bow for ranged warriors. They are less refined but very effective, and they won't deplete your pouch.

When choosing between ranged and melee weapons, you should consider one important factor of the gameplay. Armors for Gunners (even those that are a direct counterpart of Blademaster) provide half physical damage reduction less. This doesn't concern the Elements resistance - it's the same for both Blademaster and Gunner. Such state of affairs forces the player to actually keep their distance if they're a Gunner, contrary to other games in which the archer can often be seen shooting to a warrior who's striking him in the meantime.

One other thing worth paying attention to when choosing the weapon is the choice of additional weapon. You can actually take only one weapon for a hunt, but no weapon is versatile enough as to allow you get some very desired effects - for example when you need to extract specific materials from a monster but you're playing solo. So, for example if you're using sword and shield, a good idea is to choose longsword as the additional weapon because it has a longer range, which makes it easier to reach those parts of body which are higher. Another good idea is to use carry a sledgehammer, even in spite of using cutting weapons. Some body parts of monsters can be destroyed only with blunt weapons. This obviously works the other way around as well - those of you using hammers will have a hard time cutting a beast's tail off, so it's good to carry a different type of weapon with you.