Mid-game HU difficulty?

[ReploidArmada]

Right now, my HUmar main is at level 60 - high enough to use a few nice things, like Silence Claw and Last Survivor, but not enough to go stomping through Very Hard difficulty or start grinding in Ultimate. So far, my experience with being a melee class is that being ranged is a lot easier, just because you don't physically have to be in range of the enemies hitting you. My defensive gear is okay. I have a 1s Protect Frame and a Secret Gear, and I've been trying to find replacements, but they haven't been forthcoming yet. Meanwhile, it seems like every enemy in Very Hard can kill me in three or four hits.

I have two main questions to ask: One, is this normal for HU players? Two, what can I do at my level to mitigate this?

 

[Boxbreak]

some tips I guess

play One Player Mode if you are soloing

fully raise your mag and use power material if you have them (stay within your build if you don't want to have to do a reset later)

for weapons you will want to use a weapon with a sacrificial special. 50h charge vulcan and lower hit diska of braveman are very cheap, plentiful, and much better than those two (Claws are... pretty bad idk anyone who use them except that one huney only claw lol). You can probably find either of them in a tradelist for meseta .

 

[Talisien]

You picked what I personally feel is the hardest of the Hunter types to play... Both HUcast and HUcaseal have traps to help them out, which is offset by having no Tech usage; and HUnewearl is notably better with Techs, but lacks HP and Defense. The HUmar isn't exactly bad at anything, it just doesn't excel at anything, either; the classic, "Jack of all trades, master of none" kind of class- still a totally viable choice, mind you; he just requires a little more skill to master. Far from the hardest class to learn, though.

TL;DR: That's rough, buddy, but we've all been there and it gets better eventually.


All that said, some actual advice for your problems...

A lot of high-level players really like to help us newbies... Just make an open room named "Newb Grind" on the main ship and block, watch how fast someone pops in to help you out!

If you ask around you can pretty easily find free non-rare armor with 4 slots; once you're playing up into ULT difficulty they spawn in the shops pretty regularly. More than a few people are willing to give you some random low rares to boost you along, too- stuff like God/Body that, while not particularly valuable in the trade markets, would be a definite boost to someone grinding away in Hard and VHard.

Peruse the drop charts for your section ID and find a place to do your solo level grinding that has a chance to drop something useful- especially trade fodder. Making your grind time double as item farming can be very useful not only in helping you get your desired gear (either from drops or trading) but it'll probably force you a little outside your comfort zone; the best drops rarely seem to be in your favorite areas to play, so you have to bring your skills for those enemies up, too.

Rummage around in the boxes you find in Mines until you find a couple spare baby Mags. You're liable to mess up building your first couple unless you're either meticulously following a guide or are just really lucky. Once you've got a few, though, and feel you've got raising them well in hand, feel free to build two or even three to switch between the same way you'd switch weapons. Building a POW-focused mag for maximum stab power and a different one with high DEX to use with guns is totally fine. You probably won't want a MIND mag, though; you can only learn Techs up to level 15, you should be able to reach the MST needed easily enough.

 

[ReploidArmada]

Thanks for the advice, Talisien! Regarding what you said:

I got to level 80 with the help of someone spamming VH TTF runs, so that's been a thing. I'm up to Ultimate level now - though I don't dare try to solo it. I did also pick up a 4-slot common frame from someone, so I have that now too. And, my original Mag was in fact FUBAR: Before I replaced it, its stats were like 15/41/4/0 or something similar. Not unhelpful while I was leveling, but I needed better. I did put together my own Mag feeding route for what I needed, but I got tired of sitting at my computer hitting buttons every 4 minutes. So, I bought a 5/145/50/0 Rati from someone on the Discord for 3 PDs, and I feel like I'm in better shape.

 

[CTB]

Its normal if you haven't played a Hunter in a long time.

The Rati is a good band-aid mag. If you fucked up your mat plan its whatever, you can reset it later. I would recommend you use a plan for maxing important stats only. You should just pop into the Guide forum for that, but you can make one on your own if you feel good enough.

While you can get 'gud' by not playing with it... who cares, go and buy a God/Battle or Heavenly/Battle. It'll give you a crutch in learning how to distance and time your attacks so you can hit and then move before a monster can. Speaking of animations, maybe team point your Silence Claw. Regarding Ranged weapons, they are generally easier to use. Read up on SNS if you aren't aware of it; its pretty much a life saver for Hus. Most mileage comes from Slicers but it can be used on others.

Another thing to keep in mind is, you're not a HUcaseal, so feel free to pinch God/Heavily Arms off people when possible. No point in trying to distance and time attacks when you miss...speaking of slots. Get a Smartlink.

Armor doesn't really matter much outside of the slots and secondary effects. More often than not, killing things before you can be put in a situation where you're hit is the ultimate goal, with not getting hit otherwise being the second. If you screw up or can't dodge, you probably want to be knocked down. Or facetank Resta if you just don't care

Shields is the same thing for HUmar. They can provide resistances alongside armor. And look cool. Then you can equip Red Ring and you don't look back. Red Ring is kind of a trek; so generally people go for something that gives ATP prior to that. Otherwise.....wouldn't worry about it. Pick up whatever off of the floor in Ruins. Just try to have four armor slots.

Finally, most enemies are going to kill you in 3-4 hits (usually less) if they aren't JELLLIN or you don't have Deband. Or both! Don't feel bad buying a pipe and abusing the grace period after a knockdown if you're getting grouped. If you're alone, you can just run out the door to reset the situation too.

Thats all I got because PSO2

edit: ok well if you're 80, don't feel scared to try solo mode battle training