filipovi / Ice-Stable

Ice Stable Release Channel

Iceborne Community Edition

Welcome to the download page for Iceborne Community Edition. Join us at https://discord.gg/xPDVbhZgFJ to follow the development of this mod!

Iceborne Community Edition is a holistic rework of MHW: Iceborne. We attempt to address multiple major gripes a significant section of the playerbase had with an otherwise great game. The goal of ICE is to preserve the spirit of the game's core design, but improve on its limitations and flaws to provide a more enjoyable experience that can still be recognized as Monster Hunter gameplay.

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Installation Guide

First Time Installation

Follow these steps if you've never installed ICE before:

1. Install Stracker's Loader and all it's prerequisites found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/1982/
2. On this Github page, click on the green "Code" button and then "Download ZIP".
3. Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a temporary location (Desktop, Downloads, etc).
4. Copy all the contents within the "ice-stable-main" (or "ice-experimental-main") folder directly to your root Monster Hunter World install folder (default path is ...\Steam\steamapps\common\Monster Hunter World\. You have the right folder if "MonsterHunterWorld.exe" exists in that folder).
5. When asked about file conflicts, overwrite any existing files.
6. (Optional) Install any mods you want to use with ICE in the ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\ folder. Install any plugins in ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\plugins\.
7. Launch game in Admin Mode (required only on first time installs).
8. Check save file management section when you are asked to create a new ICE save file when launching the game.

Updating Or Re-installing ICE

Follow these steps if you want to grab the latest version of ICE:

1. Click on the green "Code" button and then "Download ZIP".
2. Extract the contents of the ZIP directly to your root Monster Hunter World install folder (where MonsterHunterWorld.exe is located).
3. When asked about file conflicts, overwrite any existing files.

Turning ICE ON / OFF

ICE supports easy on/off in case you want to switch back and forth between mods.

• If you want to disable ICE: Rename the main ICE folder to anything else.
• If you want to re-enable ICE: Rename the main ICE folder back to "ICE"
• If you want to reinstall ICE just download from repo and unzip into MHW.exe folder

Uninstallation

If you want to uninstall ICE:

• (Easy Version) In the Monster Hunter World folder, delete the main ICE folder.
• (Full Version) In the Monster Hunter World folder, delete the main ICE folder, cryptbase.dll, loader.dll, ice_managed_code.dll. Then reinstall Stracker's Loader if you need it for other mods: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/1982/

Installing Other Mods with ICE

If you want to install mods alongside ICE, we strongly recommend hunters stick with cosmetic/visual mods only. Gameplay mods will likely cause conflicts and compatibility issues. If you do wish to try gameplay mods at your own risk, we ask you to be considerate of other hunters and play offline only, just like you would without ICE.

1. Install mods in the ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\ folder. This ntPC folder is used instead of nativePC, while ICE is enabled.
2. Similarly, plugins are installed in the ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\plugins\ folder. While ICE is enabled, mods and plugins are only loaded from the above folders. This allows you to manage your mods for ICE separately.

Migrating from old ICE

If you were trying ICE before we switched to GitHub downloads, follow these one-time steps to update your ICE install:

1. Delete your old nativePC folder meant for ICE (save any mods you still want though, if you don't have a copy elsewhere).
2. On this Github page, click on the green "Code" button and then "Download ZIP".
3. Extract the contents of the ZIP file to a temporary location (Desktop, Downloads, etc).
4. Copy all the contents within the "ice-stable-main" (or "ice-experimental-main") folder directly to your root Monster Hunter World install folder (default path is ...\Steam\steamapps\common\Monster Hunter World\. You have the right folder if "MonsterHunterWorld.exe" exists in that folder).
5. When asked about file conflicts, overwrite any existing files.
6. (Optional) Install any mods you want to use with ICE in the ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\ folder. Install any plugins in ...\Monster Hunter World\ICE\ntPC\plugins\.
7. Launch game in Admin Mode (required only on first time installs)
8. Check save file management section when you are asked to create a new save file when launching the game.

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Save File System

ICE manages your character data in a separate save file named "SAVEDATA_ICE". The game normally uses the file named "SAVEDATA1000". These are both located in the standard save folder found at: ...\Steam\userdata\<steamId>\582010\remote\

Because ICE incorporates changes that are not backwards compatible with the base game, it is necessary for us to separate your save data in this way. This system also allows hunters to quickly switch between ICE and vanilla freely without having to swap out save files. If enabled, ICE will automatically use the "SAVEDATA_ICE" save file. Otherwise, your game will continue to use the "SAVEDATA1000" save file as normal.

As always, it is recommended to make backups of your saves. It only takes one mistake to lose all your save data.

Creating Your ICE Save File

If you boot up the game with ICE enabled for the first time and it says no save data detected, but you want to use your existing character data, then just follow these steps:

1. Hit yes to create a new ICE save but DON'T select a language.
2. If you want to start a new save file, then continue with the setup process in-game and skip the rest of the steps. Otherwise, continue with step 3.
3. Close the game after the game creates the save file but before selecting a language.
4. Navigate to your save folder at ...\Steam\userdata\<steamid>\582010\remote\.
5. Delete the "SAVEDATA_ICE" file that's in that folder.
6. Make a copy of your "SAVEDATA1000" file and rename that copy to "SAVEDATA_ICE"
7. Start the game again.

Updating Your ICE Save File

If you've continued to play on your vanilla save and want to overwrite your ICE save progress, then follow these steps:

1. Remove "SAVEDATA_ICE" if it exists (or throw it into another folder for safe keeping).
2. Make a new copy of "SAVEDATA1000".
3. Rename that copy to "SAVEDATA_ICE".

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Known Issues

Language Support

ICE currently only officially supports English language for text. You can use any voice language you prefer though.

Incorrect Text / Descriptions

Much of the text found in ICE has not yet been updated to reflect changes made to the game. Our primary focus is on testing gameplay changes first, in an effort to avoid losing time and effort to keep descriptions up-to-date as we try different changes. Once we're further in development, we'll put more effort into covering changes we've made, and also updating descriptions from the game that are inaccurate or ambigious.

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Change Log

General Changes

──────────【 Multiplayer / Matchmaking 】──────────

While ICE is installed and enabled, hunters will only be matched with other ICE hunters. This is true when using matchmaking to find sessions or when creating/joining SOS. This is done for compatibility reasons and also out of courtesy to non-ICE hunters, so that non-ICE lobbies are not negatively impacted by any changes or differences in gameplay. Unlike other gameplay altering mods, hunters can freely play online with ICE.

──────────【 Monster 】──────────

The dominance of the Clutch Claw has been drastically reduced to bring back the original combat pacing from base World. The goal is for softening to be a competitive option, but not a requirement.

• Softening effect on monster HZV has been reduced to HZV+5 (down from 0.75*HZV + 25).
• Monster "Clagger" behavior has been removed. Instead monsters will flinch, trip, and topple like they used to, before Iceborne.

Since Capcom reduced Monster hitzone values to accommodate the powerful effects of softening, Monster hitzone values have been rebalanced in ICE to compensate for the Clutch Claw nerfs above. Details can be found here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nzN2zYD1VbeEuKGlrYPRDZPHjfyy0y-SawwSEaTZ8OQ/edit?usp=sharing

AT Velkhana's unique HZV mechanic has also been slightly modified to account for these changes:

• Shot HZV Multipliers increased to 1.1/1.0/0.9 (up from 1.0/0.8/0.6) These multipliers ensure that the head hitzone still counts towards WEX zones for gunners under the following conditions:
• Any time during aura Lv1
• Any time during aura Lv2
• Tenderized or broken head during aura Lv3 These values follow the assumed original developer intent, as they are below tenderized values in the vanilla tenderization formula and below melee multipliers values.

──────────【 Player 】──────────

• Attack cap increased to 3.0x (up from 2.0x). This reverts a nerf from IB.
• Element cap increased to 3.0x/+30 (up from 1.6x/+15).
• Status cap increased to 3.0x (up from 1.6x)
• Clutch Claw weapon attacks:
  • All weapons can now soften with a single use, as if they are heavy weapons.
  • Most weapons can now generate slinger ammo, as if they are light weapons.
  • Clutch Claw Boost skill (Shaver Decoration) no longer has any effect for now.

──────────【 Progression 】──────────

【 Master Rank 】

Master Rank experience gain has been doubled between MR25 and MR100 to help reduce the long grind that is required to unlock augments and play with other players in their Guiding Lands. While this grind may have served a purpose early on in Iceborne, the existence of DLC content that can be accessed immediately at low MR makes this grind awkward and out of place.

【 Guiding Lands 】

The Guiding Lands total zone experience cap mechanic has been disabled. Normally, a hunter would have to complete around 7100+ hunts in Lv7 GL zones in order to level all their zones to 7. While this did add a long term goal and encouraged multiplayer sessions for sharing GL zones, we find this unnecessary as:

1. The requirement was far too extreme for the vast majority of players to ever make a real dent in, let alone fully complete.
2. The Iceborne multiplayer community is naturally diminishing over time.

【 Guaranteed Decorations 】

Certain Decorations are now guaranteed to drop at least once during game progression. These were added for decorations that are particularly game changing and considered mandatory for certain weapons or playstyles. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/879277879987408977/880205529086066748/unknown.png

【 Decoration Drop Rates 】

Decoration drop rates have been completely reworked and drastically improved.

• Decorations are classified by their value, which is based on the strength and usability of skills provided.
• Higher value decorations will drop from higher rarity Feystones.
• Full details can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/2162

【 Dracolites 】

Dracolites have been added to Guiding Lands drop tables, providing hunters the option to continue upgrading their Safi'Jiiva weapons outside of the siege should either the siege not be available, or because they want some more variety in their hunts.

【 Guiding Lands Materials 】

• Guiding Lands Material mining and gathering rates have been strongly boosted.
• Full details can be found here: https://www.nexusmods.com/monsterhunterworld/mods/2164

──────────【 Skills 】──────────

While a more comprehensive rework and rebalancing of skills is planned for ICE in the future, some skills have been tweaked in the mean time with the an emphasis on increasing the variety of competitive options for hunters. This is mainly accomplished by:

1. Changing skills to have a more meaningful impact on gameplay.
2. Increasing the value of skills at lower levels.

Weapon-specific interactions with certain skills will be covered in that weapon's section instead of here.

【 General Changes 】

• Weakness Exploit:
  • Affinity bonus changed to 15/30/50%. Softening requirement removed.

  • This reverts a nerf from IB and is intended to reduce reliance on Clutch Claw softening.

• Focus:
  • Bonus gauge generation increased to 10/18/25% (up from 5/10/20%).

  • This change helps gauge-based weapons reach certain meaningful breakpoints.

• Heroics: Base Attack bonus changed from 0/5/5/10/15/25/40% to 5/10/15/20/25/30/40%.
• Flinch Free:
  • "Brace" decoration size decreased to Lv1 (from Lv3).
  • Now affects airborne launches from other hunters. Lv2 will reduce the effect to a normal trip. Lv3 will negate the launches entirely. (See "Airborne Launches" under "Quality of Life" section for more details)
• Fortify:
  • Duration increased to 9.1 hours (up from 50 minutes).

  • This partially reverts a nerf from IB, as Capcom's nerf only encouraged players to restart their Guiding Lands session every 50 minutes, rather than addressing any balance issues with Fortify.

• Quick Sheathe:
  • Speed bonus changed to 15/30/40% (from 10/20/40%).
• Maximum Might:
  • Level 5 Affinity bonus increased to 50% (up from 40%).
  • Max Stamina time requirement decreased to 0 seconds (down from 5).
  • Lingering buff duration changed to only apply at level 4 (2 seconds) and level 5 (3 seconds).
• Non-Elemental Boost:
  • Base Attack bonus increased to 10% (up from 5%).

  • This reverts a nerf from IB.

• Power Prolonger:
  • Dual Blades & Switch Axe bonus decreased to 1.15x/1.30x/1.40x (down from 1.3x/1.6x/2.0x).
  • Long Sword, Charge Blade, & Insect Glaive bonus changed to 1.15x/1.30x/1.40x (was 1.1x/1.2x/1.4x).
• Alatreon Divinity (Set Bonus):
  • Element Conversion rate for normal weapons increased to 8% (up from 5%).
  • Element Conversion rate for Bowguns increased to 8% (up from 2%).

  The above changes allow the Alatreon set to perform closer to other element oriented sets.

──────────【 Equipment 】──────────

【 Raw vs Element Balancing 】

Some weapon types have been rebalanced to increase the variety in competitive equipment options for hunters to choose from. The following lists show what the rebalancing goals are for those weapon types. Some weapons will be able to better take advantage of at least the element/status available on their weapon. For these weapons, raw will still be competitive and be the most consistent option when not planning for specific match ups. Other weapons may now be able to run full element builds for certain playstyles.

Raw/Element Weapon + Raw Build:

• Long Sword
• Lance
• Insect Glaive

Element Weapon + Element Build:

• Great Sword (only for new alternative combo playstyle)

【 Armor Changes 】

While a more comprehensive rework and rebalancing of armors is planned for ICE to increase the variety in build options for hunters that have meaningful impact on gameplay (with effects like Frostcraft from Velkhana), some specific sets have been adjusted in the mean time to preserve the limited options the game already did offer.

Dev Comment: We understand these changes result in a decrease in the endgame power of hunters. While these endgame sets served as a nice final reward from Capcom for "finishing" the game, we don't think the power creep introduced by these sets are healthy in the context of ICE where we will be continually adding to the game. If/when we get around to incorporating additional endgame content, we may come back to revisit these changes when it's appropriate to have gear at these power levels.

• Fatalis and Velkhana Gamma Sets have been reduced in skills and deco slots. Fatalis Set no longer has access to Transcendence.
• These sets should still be competitive compared to options before their introduction.
• Changes to armors will be tracked separately on the Armor Spreadsheet.

【 General Changes 】

• Health Regen augment:
  • For melee weapons, cooldown between procs decreased to 0.00s (down from 0.2s).
  • For ranged weapons, cooldown between procs decreased to 0.125s (down from 0.2s).

  • The above changes were made to avoid inconsistent healing rates as result of movesets, weapon mechanics, and the engine's inability to correctly handle variable frame rates. Healing on ranged weapons will be virtually unchanged compared to intended rates from vanilla.

• Awakened Abilities:
  • Attack V: Attack bonus for GS and Hammer increased to 10 (up from 9), to match other weapons.
  • Attack VI: Attack bonus for GS and Hammer increased to 15 (up from 14), to match other weapons.
• Ammo tables for Safi LBGs have been updated to match Aquashot, but for other elements.

──────────【 Quality of Life 】──────────

【 User Interface Changes 】

• Equipment UIs now show true Attack (aka Raw) and true Element values for weapons.

  • This removes the useless bloat multipliers that aren't actually used by the game for any calculations.

• Chat channel no longer changes during certain actions (joining party/session/etc).

【 Systems Changes 】

• Despawn time for item drops from Monsters increased to 30 minutes (up from 1 or 2 minutes).

  • This was done to help avoid situations where a hunter has to choose between interrupting their epic fight or forfeiting their rightfully earned loot. This wasn't a very interesting decision, in our opinion.

• Cutscene Skip option enabled on most cutscenes in the game. Given most players will be experiencing ICE as a second (or later) playthrough, this quality of life improvement should help shorten the time required to complete main story quests across all ranks.

  • This is still a work-in-progress feature. Some cutscene audio might not skip correctly due to not being defined by the game as cutscene audio.

• Astera Lift System:
  • Hunters can now utilize the lift system from the entrance of Astera, where they generally arrive after quests or expeditions (in front of the Resource Center).
  • When traveling to the "Tradeyard" using the lift system, the hunter will now arrive in the center of the Tradeyard.

  • These changes are intended to decrease the amount of downtime that would otherwise be required to navigate around Astera, allowing hunters to spend more time hunting and less time walking.

• Botanical Research Center:
  • Fertilizer usage limit per quest removed (was 1 per quest).
  • Fertilizer maximum stackable duration increased to 20 quests (up from 9).

  • Theses changes remove the constant attention required to maintain the Botanical Research Center. Hunters will only have to check on their BRC to reapply fertilizers as often as they need to collect their harvests (about every 15 to 20 quests once fully upgraded). These changes also make it so that restarting fertilizers (if expired) isn't a significant hassle.

  • Fertilizer balancing:
    • Research Point costs for Mega Fertilizer, Choice Mushroom Substrate, Thick Summoner Jelly, and Ancient Catalyst have been reduced.
    • Ancient Catalyst duration increased to 5 quests (up from 4), to justify its higher cost relative to normal Catalyst.

    • Since these fertilizers have lost their main advantage of allowing hunters to stack fertilzers faster between quests, they are now positioned as slightly more efficient versions of the basic fertilizers.

【 Combat Changes 】

• Airborne Launches:
  • Hunters can now protect themselves from being launched airborne by other hunters, using any of the available options that would protect against being knocked onto their butts. For example, Flinch Free Lv2 will reduce the launch to a trip, and Flinch Free Lv3 will negate the launch entirely.
  • Monster attacks are unaffected by this change.
• Guarding with Shield Weapons:
  • Guarding behavior changed to ignore attacks from other hunters.
  • Hunters will still see a hit effect (sparks), but the guarding hunter no longer consumes stamina and does not get locked into any follow-up guard reaction animations.
  • This change does not affect how hunters react to attacks they cannot block (attacks from behind, unblockable attacks, etc).

  • In vanilla, shield weapons experienced extra downsides compared to other weapons when fighting in close proximity with other hunters. In particular, Lance hunters could have their Counter Thrusts triggered early by another hunter, resulting in getting hit by the Monster attack that they were preparing to counter. With this change, these potentially frustrating situations are removed from the game.

──────────【 Bug Fixes 】──────────

• DPS Tick Fix: The engine components responsible for specifically handling ticking damage effects have been upgraded to mitigate the negative effects of frame rate on player damage output. In some cases, player damage could be reduced as much as 25% just for not playing at a stable 60fps. Some examples here: https://bit.ly/MHWEffectsOfFPS
• Moonshots Fix: Aim behavior has been adjusted for Bow and Bowgun at short ranges to mitigate the occurrence of projectiles that incorrectly fly straight up (seemingly towards the moon/sky) and completely miss the intended target. This is sometimes refered to as "moonshots" by the community. An example can be seen here around the midpoint of the clip: https://twitter.com/Irh_umbreon/status/1409001644411408391

Weapon Changes (Stable Build)

──────────【 Great Sword 】──────────

【 New Alternate Playstyle: Combo Great Sword 】

The following changes are intended to offer a new playstyle option for GS that is competitive with the current TCS-focused playstyle, without replacing it. Combat will be focused around utilizing non-charging combo attacks to lead into Jumping Wide Slash as a powerful combo finisher. Finding windows to fit in JWS safely and also achieving longer combos, will be core to mastering this playstyle. This playstyle will favor elemental builds.

• New Combo System:
  • Overhead Slash, Wide Slash, and Rising Slash increase combo count by 1, up to a maximum of 3.
  • These moves can now combo directly into Jumping Wide Slash (Triangle+R2).
  • Jumping Wide Slash's power level will match the hunter's current combo count.
  • Side Blow can be used after Overhead Slash, without resetting the current combo count.
  • Combo count resets when performing any other actions or attacks (idle, evading, etc) not mentioned above.
• Overhead Slash:
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Wide Slash:
  • MV increased to 39 (up from 26).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Rising Slash:
  • MV increased to 50 (up from 38).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Side Blow:
  • Stun buildup increased to 40 (up from 20).
  • Exhaust buildup increased to 30 (up from 15).
• Wide Slash v2:
  • MV increased to 42 (up from 26).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Rising Slash v2:
  • MV increased to 54 (up from 41).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Side Blow v2:
  • Stun buildup increased to 50 (up from 30).
  • Exhaust buildup increased to 35 (up from 20).
• Jumping Wide Slash Lv1:
  • MV increased to 92 (up from 75).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 2.6x (up from 2.2x).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Jumping Wide Slash Lv2:
  • MV increased to 123 (up from 96).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 3.6x (up from 3.15x).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.3x (up from 1.0x).
• Jumping Wide Slash Lv3:
  • MV increased to 163 (up from 118).
  • Element and Status increased to 5.0x (up from 3.5x).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.4x (up from 1.0x).

【 General Changes 】

Great Sword's main playstyle around charged-based attacks is in a solid place currently. As such, only minor quality of life improvements were added.

• Kick:
  • Stun value increased to 50 (up from 10).
• True Charge Slash:
  • First Hit:
    • Status Mod decreased to 0.0x (down from 1.0x).

    • This change prevents niche cases where the first hit might cause the monster to move out of range of the second hit.

  • Second Hit:
    • Status modifiers increased by an additional 1.0x.

    • This change compensates for the loss of status application on the first hit.

• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Repeated Hits:
    • Merged into a single hit.
    • MV changed to 25 (was 6 per hit).
    • Element and Status Modifiers changed to 2.0x (was 0.5x per hit).

    • This change brings sharpness drain more in-line with other GS attacks.

  • Final Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.85x (up from 1.0x).

    • This change compensates for earlier hits having Partbreak Modifiers of 0.0x.

──────────【 Sword & Shield 】──────────

There are no changes yet for this weapon.

──────────【 Dual Blades 】──────────

There are no changes yet for this weapon.

──────────【 Long Sword 】──────────

【 Spirit Economy Rework 】

Spirit generation and consumption has been reworked in an effort to make Spirit management a more impactful component of Long Sword gameplay. The new Spirit changes will offer hunters a deeper system that better ties together the LS moveset. A summary of the biggest changes are listed here, but full details can be found in the General Changes section, along with explanations of the changes.

• Foresight Slash no longer generates 100% spirit on success, but it also no longer deletes 100% spirit on use.
• Spirit regeneration buffs from Iai Slash and Spirit Helmbreaker have been drastically reduced.
• Spirit Roundslash no longer deletes remaining Spirit on use, however its cost has been increased.
• Spirit consuming moves have been adjusted where necessary to justify their Spirit costs.
• Spirit Decay has been removed.

【 General Changes 】

The following changes generally fall in one of a few categories:

• Adjustments to Raw vs Element damage balance to increase the variety in competitive weapon options
• Small buffs to bring up weaker or under-utilized moves
• Adjustments to Spirit consuming moves, to ensure their benefits match their Spirit costs However, there is one notable change which has a large potential effect on playstyle: Iai Spirit Slash now can level up the Spirit Gauge on a successful counter, but at a cost of 35% Spirit. With this change, ISS is now a high risk and high reward alternative to FSS. Hunters now have the option to choose between these two counters with different strengths and weaknesses to suit a given situation, rather than relying heavily on Foresight Slash and Spirit Roundslash. The full changes are as follows:
• Spirit Decay:
  • Spirit Decay has been removed (was 5% lost every 6 seconds, reset on attacks).

  • This mechanic in theory encourages hunters to be more aggressive, but not so much in implementation. Because of how lenient the timer is, and the fact that IS and SHB regen buffs disable decay entirely, the decay only really came into play on area transitions. As such, this change is intended for QoL purposes.

• Step Slash:
  • MV increased to 26 (up from 24).
• Overhead Slash:
  • MV increased to 24 (up from 21).
• Thrust:
  • Element and Status Modifiers decreased to 0.5x (down from 1.0x).
  • Spirit generation decreased to 10% (down from 12%).
• Rising Slash:
  • MV decreased to 15 (down from 18).
  • Element and Status Modifiers decreased to 0.7x (down from 1.0x).
• Fade Slash:
  • Spirit generation decreased to 24% (down from 26%).
  • Combo timings now match Lateral Fade Slash timings more closely (was slower).
• Lateral Fade Slash:
  • Spirit generation decreased to 24% (down from 26%).
• Spirit Blade I:
  • Without Spirit: MV increased to 18 (up from 14).
  • With Spirit: MV increased to 32 (up from 26).
• Spirit Blade II:
  • MV increased to 32 (up from 30).
• Spirit Blade III:
  • MV increased to 15+20+35 (up from 14+19+34).
• Spirit Roundslash:
  • Recovery & sheathing animation length reduced.
  • MV increased to 52 (up from 38).

    • DPS output now above normal attacks, but still below other Spirit attacks.

  • Spirit Cost increased to 35% (up from 25%).
  • Spirit deletion after use has been removed (was deleting 100% spirit).
  • On successful attack at Red Gauge: 10% Spirit is refunded.
• Spirit Thrust:
  • MV decreased to 24 (down from 26).
  • Spirit generation decreased to 0% (down from 10%).
  • Partbreak Modifier decreased to 0.0x (down from 1.0x).
  • Avoids situations where flinch/trips on first hit cause the rest of the attack to miss.
• Spirit Helm Breaker:
  • MV decreased to 10/15/24 (down from 10/15/25).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.4x/0.6x/1.0x per Gauge level (up from 0.3x).
  • Last Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 4.0x (up from 3.0x).

    • Compensates for Spirit Thrust having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

  • Now additionally combos into Fade Slash or Lateral Fade Slash.
  • Reliability increased slightly.
  • Red Gauge: Spirit regen buff changed to 2%/s for 30 seconds (was 6.67%/s for 15s).
  • White/Yellow Gauge: Spirit regen buff changed to 2%/s for 20 seconds (was 6.67%/s for 10s).
• Foresight Slash:
  • Spirit cost increased to 25% (up from 10%).
  • Spirit deletion after use has been removed (was deleting 100% spirit).
  • Spirit generation on successful counters decreased to 25% (down from 100%).

  • In vanilla, FSS's ability to instantly fill the Spirit bar (or delete the bar on failed counters) negated most of the value in generating Spirit with other moves. With these changes, FSS is no longer a Spirit generator, but it still remains a powerful defensive tool.

• Special Sheathe:
  • Quick Sheathe bonus effect changed to apply fully to sheathing animation.
  • Can be canceled via dodge roll.
• Iai Slash:
  • MV decreased to 16+12 (down from 18+13).
  • Spirit generation increased to 5% per hit (up from 0%).
  • Spirit regen buff changed to 2%/s for 20 seconds (was 6.67%/s for 15s).
  • Successful counter changes buff duration to 30 seconds.
  • Now combos into Spirit Blade II (was previously Spirit Blade I).
• Iai Spirit Slash:
  • On successful counters, upgrades Spirit Gauge by one level.
  • Spirit Cost increased to 35% (up from 0%).
  • On successful counters at Red Gauge: 10% Spirit is refunded.

  • With these changes, ISS is now a high risk and high reward alternative to FSS. Hunters now have the option to choose between these two counters with different strengths and weaknesses to suit the situation.

  • The damage and properties of the first hit have been moved into the second hit.
    • MV changed to 0+78/0+92/0+120 by Gauge level (was 19+55/31+72/39+86).
    • Element and Status Modifiers changed to 0.0x+2.0x (was 1.0x+1.0x).
    • Partbreak Modifier changed to 0.0x+1.0x (was 0.0x+1.5x).
  • Can now combo into Fade Slash or Lateral Fade Slash.
  • Canceling recovery animation with dodge roll can now be done slightly earlier.
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Repeated Hits:
    • MV increased to 18 (up from 6).
    • Element and Status Modifier increased to 0.6x (up from 0.2x).
    • Spirit generation increased to 10% per hit (up from 5%).
    • Overall delay between hits increased to 0.21 seconds (up from 0.07).

    • These changes increase the damage per hit by 3x, but reduce the number of hits by 3x.

    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.4x (up from 1.0x).

    • This change compensates for the first hit having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

──────────【 Hammer 】──────────

【 Multiplayer Playability 】

Certain moves for Hammer lacked the necessary innate knockback resistance needed to be appropriately used in multiplayer, despite their core role in Hammer gameplay. The following moves will now grant the hunter innate minor knockback resistance (roughly equivalent to Flinch Free III):

• Big Bang Combo
• Side Slap -> Overhead Smash II -> Upswing Combo

──────────【 Hunting Horn 】──────────

【 Draw Attack 】

Forward Smash (aka Forward Slam) will no longer be performed when drawing the weapon while moving. Instead, the hunter will now simply perform a draw motion to unsheathe the weapon onto their shoulder. The hunter can choose to continue moving, or input an attack during the draw motion. This allows hunters to perform any of their normal moves (to play a note they desire) or perform various recitals, greatly enhancing the flexibility of the weapon.

Known Issues: The animations and transitions for the new draw animation will not look smooth for the time being. This will be addressed later.

【 General Changes 】

Hunting Horn has a lot of untapped potential, mainly as a result of poor damage tuning across its kit. While it has many interesting and unique attacks, most of them are too weak or situational to see much use. ICE aims to address these issues in the following ways:

• Damage output (when fully buffed) has been made competitive with other weapons. While it will likely still be on the weaker side when it comes to individual damage output, it now won't be lagging so horribly behind that it encourages hunters to take other weapons entirely.
• Shockwaves and Echo Waves now are affected by affinity and can deal critical damage. They are also affected by Sharpness. These changes allow these attacks to properly scale along with the hunter and stay relevant across all points in progression.
• Recital and Encore damage has been raised to allow these moves to play a larger role in fights. They should be a strong option that a hunter can choose to fit in where possible when they have songs queued, instead of relying only on Echo Attack and Superpound for general damage.
• Echo Wave "Dragon" has been replaced with Element Echo Wave. Element Echo Waves deal damage based on the element type and damage of the equipped weapon. Some elemental Hunting Horns have had their notes changed to allow them to play Element Echo Waves.
• Impact and Element Echo Wave are now positioned as high damage options that hunters can mix in with existing combos for extra damage. Single Echo Waves after a Recital can offer a decent boost in damage, while preparing 3 Echo Waves ahead of time can lead to staggering levels of damage during extra long damage opportunities.

The full details can be found below:

• Right Swing:
  • MV increased to 36 (up from 27).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Left Swing:
  • MV increased to 36 (up from 22).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Forward Smash (aka Forward Slam):
  • MV increased to 42 (up from 28).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Backwards Strike (aka Back Slam):
  • MV increased to 54 (up from 37).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Hilt Stab:
  • MV increased to 12 (up from 10).
  • Element and Status Modifiers decreased to 0.60x (down from 1.0x).
• Overhead Smash (aka Superpound):
  • MV increased to 16+50 (up from 14+39).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x+1.2x (up from 1.0x+1.0x).
• Flourish:
  • MV increased to 16+32 (up from 15+22).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x+1.2x (up from 1.0x+1.0x).
• Echo Attack (aka Echo Spin):
  • First Hit:
    • MV increased to 12 (up from 10).
    • Element and Status Modifiers decreased to 0.60x (down from 1.0x).
  • Spinning Hits:
    • MV decreased to 16 (down from 17).
• Recital:
  • MV increased to 32 (up from 29).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Encore:
  • MV increased to 40 (up from 35).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.5x (up from 1.0x).
• Midair Recital:
  • MV increased to 40 (up from 35).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.5x (up from 1.0x).
• Shockwave:
  • MV increased to 32 (up from 27).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Now affected by affinity and can deal critical damage.
  • Now affected by sharpness damage modifiers.
• Impact Echo Wave:
  • MV changed to 40/100/160 (was 50/100/150).
  • Now affected by affinity and can deal critical damage.
  • Now affected by sharpness damage modifiers.
• Element Echo Wave (previously Echo Wave "Dragon"):
  • MV changed to 30/75/120 (was 45/65/85).
  • Deals element damage based on the equipped weapon's element type and damage.
    • Base Dragon damage removed (was 60/120/180).
    • Element damage no longer scales with Attack stat.
    • Element Modifier increased to 4.0x/10.0x/16.0x (up from 1.0x/1.0x/1.0x).

    • While the increase to element modifier looks significant, it is mainly compensating for the equally significant loss of Attack stat scaling.

  • Now affected by affinity and can deal critical damage.
  • Now affected by sharpness damage modifiers.
• Jumping Smash:
  • MV increased to 40 (up from 35).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.2x+1.2x (up from 1.0x+1.0x).
  • Second Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.65x (up from 1.0x).

    • Compensates for the first hit having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

──────────【 Lance 】──────────

【 General Changes 】

Lance has a solid playstyle and was only lacking damage to compete with other weapons. As such, most attacks were simply increased in power. In addition, the Raw vs Element balance was adjusted to increase the variety of competitive weapon options.

• Mid Thrusts:
  • MV increased to 24/24/32 (up from 20/20/27).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x/0.8x/0.9x (up from 0.7x/0.7x/0.7x).
• High Thrusts:
  • MV increased to 26/26/32 (up from 22/22/27).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x/0.8x/0.9x (up from 0.7x/0.7x/0.7x).
• Wide Sweep:
  • MV increased to 34 (up from 20).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.0x (up from 0.7x).
  • Changed to have Mind's Eye effect.
• Counter Thrust:
  • MV increased to 46 (up from 40).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.25x (up from 0.7x).
• Leaping Thrust:
  • MV increased to 10 (up from 8).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.35x (up from 0.3x).
• Dash Attack:
  • MV increased to 14 (up from 11).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.4x (up from 0.2x).
• Finishing Thrust:
  • MV increased to 60 (up from 50).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.6x (up from 0.8x).
• Finishing Twin Thrust:
  • MV increased to 30+60 (up from 25+50).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x+1.6x (up from 0.7x+0.8x).
• Reverse Attack:
  • MV increased to 60 (up from 50).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.6x (up from 0.8x).
• Jumping Thrust / Advancing Jump Thrust:
  • MV increased to 36 (up from 30).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.0x (up from 0.7x).
• Dash Attack (Midair):
  • MV increased to 30 (up from 25).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.0x (up from 0.7x).
• Shield Attack:
  • MV increased to 20 (up from 14).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Stun buildup increased to 45 (up from 27).
  • Exhaust buildup decreased to 25 (down from 27).
• Counter Claw (Second Hit):
  • MV increased to 24 (up from 16).
  • Stun buildup increased to 35 (up from 30).
  • Exhaust buildup decreased to 30 (down from 33).
• Mounting Finishing Thrust:
  • MV increased to 80/20/40 (up from 40/10/20).
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Second Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.75x (up from 1.0x).

    • Compensates for the first hit having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

──────────【 Gunlance 】──────────

【 XanSamHi's Omnilance Rework 】

Gunlance has received a significant rework with four major changes:

• Normal, Long, and Wide shelling types have been unified into a single new "Omni" type, which combines the strengths of all three. Hunters can now actively choose between all shelling attacks in combat, rather than being locked into spamming only a single optimal shelling attack for an entire run.
• The shelling level system has been reworked to span 9 shelling levels, to help smooth out weapon progression as High Rank effectively only had 1 shelling level (Lv4) compared to Low and Master Rank having 3 each. Now High Rank will also have 3 levels. This rework also includes better shelling level balance across all Gunlances, so there are more competitive weapon options available at all levels of progression.
• Wyrmstake Blast has been removed due to various problems with the implementation and the mostly negative impacts it had on Gunlance gameplay. Since Gunlance received Wyrmstake Blast instead of Master Rank's 1.5x Fixed Damage multiplier, we have re-enabled this damage multiplier and rebalanced Shelling attacks around it. Shelling attacks should deal roughly 80% to 90% of the damage they used to deal while Wyrmstake Blast was active.
• As a replacement for Wyrmstake Blast, the (previously decorative) shield has gained a core role in Gunlance gameplay in the form of a guardpoint on Quick Reload. This guardpoint enables a more aggressive playstyle and allows hunters to keep pressuring monsters if timed correctly. For small or medium knockbacks, hunters can follow-up with any options already available after a Quick Reload, including comboing into an Overhead Smash and Full Burst.

The details for these changes are below:

• Base shell capacity for Omni type is 4. Capacity Boost skill can increase this by 2 (was 1).
• All Shelling Attacks:
  • Now affected by Master Rank's 1.5x Fixed Damage modifier.
• Shelling (Uncharged):
  • Uses "Wide" type damage scaling and hitbox.
  • Consumes 2 shells per use (up from 1).
  • Fixed Damage changed to 10/16/20/26/30/40/46/50/60 (was 18/26/32/40/48/54/61).
  • Fire Damage changed to 8/9/10/11/12/13/14/15/16 (was 6/8/10/11/12/13/14).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.16x (up from 1.00x).
• Charged Shelling:
  • Uses "Wide" type damage scaling, but uses "Long" type hitbox.
  • Consumes 2 shells per use (up from 1).
  • Fixed Damage multiplier increased to 1.8x (up from 1.4x).
  • Partbreak Modifier decreased to 1.32x (down from 1.5x).
  • Charge time now affected by Artillery, instead of Focus.
    • Artillery Lv3 grants a charge time reduction of 45% (equivalent to Focus Lv2).
    • Artillery Lv5 grants a charge time reduction of 60% (equivalent to Focus Lv3).
• Full Burst:
  • Uses "Wide" type damage scaling, but uses "Normal" type hitbox.
  • Fixed Damage multiplier decreased to 0.8x (down from 0.9x).
  • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.22x (up from 1.0x).
  • Per shell delay decreased to 0s (down from 0.05s), to increase consistency.
• Wyvernfire:
  • Uses "Wide" type damage scaling and hitbox.
  • Changed to a single larger hit (was 3 small hits).
  • Fixed Damage changed to 80/90/100/150/200/250/266/355/444 (was 66/75/79/86/103/112).
  • Fire Damage changed to 45/54/63/72/81/90/99/108/117 (was 15/18/21/24/27/30/33).
  • Charge time increased to 3.5s (up from 2.0s).
  • Cooldown Rate is no longer affected by Artillery skill.
• Wyrmstake Cannon:
  • Ticks:
    • MV changed to 6/8/10/12/14/16/18/20/22 (was 6/8/11/14/17/20/23).
    • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x (up from 0.0x).
  • Final Explosion:
    • MV changed to 31/36/41/46/55/61/67/70/76 (was 31/36/41/46/55/61/67).
    • Fire Damage changed 12/15/18/21/24/27/30/33/36 (was 12/15/18/21/24/27/30).
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 2.7x (up from 1.5x).
• Wyrmstake Blast:
  • This attack has been removed for now.
• Full Reload: Replaced by Quick Reload.
• Quick Reload:
  • Now has a guardpoint starting from 0.166s from the start of the animation, lasting 0.60s.
  • Now reloads Wyrmstake ammo.
  • Now usable while at full ammo.
• Step Dodge / Hop:
  • Can now combo into Shelling attack or Quick Reload using their respective usual keybinds.
  • Forward distance increased to 3.0m (up from 2.3m).
  • Left & Right distance changed to 2.8m & 2.8m (was 2.6m & 2.8m).

【 Sharpness Changes 】

The following changes were made to reduce the significant sharpness consumption of Gunlance that generally makes Razor Sharp mandatory on every build. We believe this is an excessive restriction on build variety, given the high quantity of skills that Gunlance hunters want to use already.

• Shelling (Uncharged): Sharpness consumption decreased to 1 per use (down from 2).
• Charged Shelling: Sharpness consumption decreased to 1 per use (down from 2).
• Full Burst: Sharpness consumption decreased to 1 per shell (down from 2).
• Wyvernfire: Sharpness consumption decreased to 5 per use (down from 10).
• Razor Sharp / True Razor Sharp:
  • Sharpness cost reduction for shelling attacks decreased to 0 (down from 1).
  • Sharpness cost negation chance for shelling attacks increased to 50%/70% (up from 10%/20%).

  • The above changes result in RS/TRS changing from 55%/60% to 50%/70% average cost reduction on Shelling, Charged Shelling, and Full Bursts, and its value is now more consistent with other melee weapons.

──────────【 Switch Axe 】──────────

【 Sword Gauge Rework 】

Sword Gauge generation has been changed to be focused around the active use of Axe Mode attacks, instead of either waiting for Sword Gauge or only using Axe Mode Morph Attacks. In addition, gauge generation and consumption has been increased to reduce resource pooling and encourage more proactive switching between modes to manage Sword Gauge and Amp Charge.

• Sword Mode minimum gauge requirement decreased to 0% (down from 30%).
• Reload: Gauge generation decreased to 5% (down from 30%).
• Axe Mode passive regen decreased to 0% (down from 4% per 1.5sec).
• Axe Mode Attacks: Gauge generation increased to 8% (up from 0%).
• Axe Mode Morph Attack:
  • Gauge generation decreased to 10% (down from 15%).
  • Also counts as an Axe Mode Attack, so generates 18% gauge in total.
• Sword Mode Attacks:
  • Gauge consumption increased.
  • See General Changes section for details on individual attacks.
• All sources of Sword Gauge generation are now affected by Focus skill (10%/15%/25%).

  • In vanilla, Focus was in an unfortunate position where it did technically affect Amp generation, but not by enough to warrant the use of the skill. This change increases its overall viability without making it a necessity for general SA gameplay. Since it also affects Sword Gauge generation now, it can be a good option when facing Monsters where Axe Mode is less useful.

【 Phial Type Rebalancing 】

Too much of Switch Axe's damage output was locked behind phial bonuses (especially Power Phial), thus limiting the number of competitive weapons to choose from. To correct this, phial effects have been rebalanced, with much of their original power now baked directly into Sword Mode attacks instead.

• Power Phial: Total Attack multiplier decreased to 1.07x (down from 1.17x).
• Power Element Phial: Total Element multiplier decreased to 1.21x (down from 1.45x).
• Exhaust Phial: Bonus Stun buildup for Sword Mode increased to 10 (up from 5).
• Sword Mode attacks:
  • MVs increased. See General Changes section for details on individual attacks.
  • Element Modifiers of most attacks increased to 1.20x (up from 1.00x).

【 General Changes 】

• When performed from idle stance, "Axe: Side Slash" replaced with "Axe: Overhead Slash".
• "Axe: Side Slash":
  • MV increased to 30 (up from 23).
• "Axe: Forward Slash":
  • MV increased to 23 (up from 19).
• "Axe: Rising Slash":
  • MV increased to 32 (up from 31).
• "Axe: Overhead Slash":
  • MV increased to 50 (up from 45).
• "Axe: Fade Slash":
  • MV increased to 37 (up from 34).
• "Axe: Wild Swing":
  • Bonus multiplier after 2 swings decreased to 1.1 (down from 1.3).
• "Axe: Sweep Morph":
  • MV decreased to 16+58+29 (down from 20+70+35).
• "Sword: Phial Burst":
  • Delay significantly decreased to mitigate situations of missing the intended attack location on fast moving monsters.
  • Now also applies to Axe mode attacks.
• "Sword: Overhead Slash":
  • MV increased to 38 (up from 29).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Sword Gauge consumption increased to 11% (up from 7%).
• "Sword: Right Rising Slash":
  • MV increased to 30 (up from 21).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Sword Gauge consumption increased to 11% (up from 7%).
• "Sword: Left Rising Slash":
  • MV increased to 25 (up from 18).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Sword Gauge consumption increased to 11% (up from 7%).
• "Sword: Double Slash":
  • MV increased to 31+34 (up from 22+26).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Sword Gauge consumption increased to 17% (up from 10%).
• "Sword: Bridging Slash":
  • MV increased to 25 (up from 15).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• "Sword: Heavenward Flurry":
  • MV increased to 30+41 (up from 24+35).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Sword Gauge consumption increased to 17% (up from 10%).
• "Sword: Jumping Slash":
  • MV increased to 39 (up from 35).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• "Sword: Jumping Rising Slash":
  • MV increased to 39 (up from 35).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• "Element Discharge":
  • Thrust:
    • MV increased to 11 (up from 10).
    • Element Modifier increased to 0.24x (up from 0.20x).
  • Ticks:
    • MV increased to 9 (up from 8).
    • Element Modifier increased to 0.6x (up from 0.5x).
  • Finisher:
    • MV increased to 94 (up from 85).
    • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• "Zero Sum Discharge":
  • Thrust:
    • MV increased to 20 (up from 18).
    • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Ticks:
    • MV increased to 14 (up from 13).
    • Element modifier increased to 1.38x (up from 0.5x).
  • Finisher:
    • MV increased to 94 (up from 85).
    • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
    • Raw damage multiplier increased to 2.0x (up from 1.4x).
    • Amp State is now terminated upon completing a Zero Sum Discharge.
    • When releasing early, the chance of hitting the wrong Monster part has been greatly decreased, especially for fast-moving Monsters.
• Element Discharge (Mounted):
  • Thrust:
    • MV increased to 22 (up from 20).
    • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
  • Ticks:
    • MV increased to 6 (up from 5).
    • Element Modifier increased to 0.6x (up from 0.5x).
  • Finisher:
    • MV increased to 110 (up from 100).
    • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Amp State:
  • Amp State versions of the above Sword Mode attacks now share the same MV and gauge consumption.
  • Amp State duration increased to 80 seconds (up from 45).
• Power Axe:
  • Duration increased to 80 seconds (up from 45).
• "Sword: Hop":
  • All sword hops can now be cancelled into a roll, just like forward hop.
  • Reduced endlag on sword hops.
  • Forward: Hop distance increased to 2.45m (up from 1.8m).
  • Left: Hop distance increased to 2.5m (up from 1.7m).
  • Right: Hop distance increased to 2.5m (up from 2.0m).
  • Backward: Hop distance increased to 2.35m (up from 1.7m).

  • Sword hops in vanilla have a significant issue with spacing, as the limited distance combined with the low iframes make it difficult or in many cases impossible to iframe or out space attacks without investing in evasion skills. These changes aim to improve the overall survivability and mobility of sword mode. Also fixes an odd discrepancy in vanilla where the left hop is significantly shorter than the right hop.

• Special Claw Shot:
  • MV increased to 8+61 (up from 7+55).
  • Element Modifier increased to 1.2x (up from 1.0x).
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Second Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.4x (up from 1.0x).
    • Compensates for the first hit having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

──────────【 Charge Blade 】──────────

【 General Changes 】

• Amped Sword Mode:
  • While active, the remaining duration increases by 1 second per successful sword attack.
• Charge Phials:
  • Can now combo into Element Discharge II (R + Circle).
• Condensed Elemental Slash:
  • MV increased to 75 (up from 60).
• Amped Element Discharge:
  • MV increased to 90 (up from 82).
• Super Amped Element Discharge:
  • First Hit (Back Swing):
    • Partbreak Modifier decreased to 0.0x (down from 1.00x).

    • Avoids situations where flinch/trips on first hit cause the rest of the attack to miss.

• Savage Axe Slash:
  • MV increased to 65 (up from 30).
  • Backwards movement greatly reduced to avoid forcing the hunter out of range.
• Impact Phials:

  • The following changes are targeted at increasing the effectiveness of Impact Phial CBs.

  • All Types:
    • Scaling penalty for Bonus Attack removed (was 50%).

    • This reverts a nerf from base MHW. This should result in roughly a 5% buff to phial damage in endgame gear.

  • Normal Type:
    • MV increased to 5 (up from 4).
    • Stun buildup and Exhaust buildup increased by 100% when triggered from guardpoints.
  • AED Type:
    • MV increased to 15 (up from 9).
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 2.0x (up from 1.0x).
  • SAED Type:
    • MV increased to 30 (up from 25).
  • Sword Type:
    • MV increased to 4 (up from 2).
• Power Axe Ticks (Normal and AED/SAED Types):

  • The following changes are targeted at increasing the effectiveness of Power Axe on Impact Phial CBs, without affecting the performance of PEP CBs.

  • Normal:
    • Element Modifier increased to 0.4x (up from 0.2x).
    • Status Modifier increased to 0.4x (up from 0.3x).
    • PEP's bonus Element Modifier decreased to +0.4x (down from +0.6x) to cancel out buff.
  • AED/SAED:
    • Element Modifier increased to 0.4x (up from 0.2x).
    • Status Modifier increased to 0.4x (up from 0.3x).
    • PEP's bonus Element Modifier decreased to +0.8x (down from +1.0x) to cancel out buff.

──────────【 Insect Glaive 】──────────

[ Equipment ]

• Default Kinsect Boost type on Safi IGs changed to Element Boost (was Speed Boost).

【 Kinsect Changes 】

• Extract Durations:
  • Red: Increased to 150 seconds (up from 90).
  • White: Increased to 180 seconds (up from 120).
  • Orange: Increased to 210 seconds (up from 150).
  • Triple: Increased to 150 seconds (up from 90).
• Extract "Low Duration" Warning Threshold:
  • Increased to 15 seconds (up from 10).
• Kinsect Charge Durations have been normalized for field ammo types (150s) and Monster ammo types (300s).
  • Pierce Pod: Unchanged (was 300).
  • Stone: Increased to 150 (was 75).
  • Redpit: Increased to 150 (was 90).
  • Scatternut: Increased to 150 (was 120).
  • Crystalburst: Increased to 150 (was 120).
  • Thorn Pod: Unchanged (was 300).
  • Puddle Pod: Unchanged (was 150).
  • Dragon Pod: Increased to 300 (was 150).
  • Bomb Pod: Unchanged (was 300).
  • Brightmoss: Increased to 150 (was 120).

【 General Changes 】

The changes below mainly are intended to bring up underpowered moves to increase the variety of useful attacks available to hunters, or are intended to address Raw vs Element damage balance to increase the variety of competitive weapon options.

• Wide Sweep:
  • MV increased to 26 (up from 22).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.0x (up from 0.8x).
• Strong Wide Sweep:
  • MV increased to 22+26 (up from 18+22).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x+1.0x (up from 0.8x+0.8x).
• Strong Thrust:
  • Element and Status Modifiers decreased to 0.7x+0.7x (down from 0.8x+0.8x).
• Strong Double Slash:
  • MV increased to 22+20+32 (up from 16+14+28).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x+0.8x+1.0x (up from 0.6x+0.8x+0.8x).
  • Second Hit Only:
    • Damage type changed to Blunt (was Sever).
    • Stun Buildup increased to 20 (up from 0).
    • Exhaust Buildup increased to 10 (up from 0).
• Tornado Slash:
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 0.8x+1.0x (up from 0.8x+0.8x).
• Bridging Slash:
  • MV increased to 13 (up from 10).
  • Element and Status Modifiers increased to 1.0x (up from 0.7x+0.7x)
• Kinsect (Mark Target):
  • MV increased to 12 (up from 5).
  • Stun buildup increased to 12 (up from 5).
• Kinsect Dust Explosions:
  • Blast Type: Fixed Damage increased to 15 (up from 10).
  • Poison Type: Fixed Damage increased to 12 (up from 5).
  • Para Type: Fixed Damage increased to 10 (up from 3).
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Finisher Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 2.0x (up from 1.0x).

    • Compensates for the first four hits having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

【 Bug Fixes 】

• Attempting to use "Kinsect: Harvest Extract" after dodging sideways to the left, will now correctly send the kinsect out. Previously, this would result in using "Thrust" or "Strong Thrust".

──────────【 Gunner Changes 】──────────

• Gunner defense penalty has been reworked, to help prevent issues in late endgame content where Monster damage has been increased to levels that make it very difficult for gunners to not get one-shot.
  • Gunners will mostly take the same damage as they did before this change (i.e. much higher than blademasters).
  • Gunners will only notice a change in late endgame content where one-shot attacks become more common.
  • When taking these one-shot attacks, Gunners can still take lethal damage without adequate defenses, but the reduced damage may help gunners survive some of the weaker one-shot attacks.

  • For context: Gunners normally receive a 30% reduction in base defense (before flat additive bonuses), which in late endgame content roughly equates to 40% increased damage taken from all sources. The element resistance bonus for Gunners does not significantly help put a dent into this penalty because elemental Monster attacks consist of mostly raw damage (usually 66% to 75% raw).

• Spare Shot / True Spare Shot:
  • Proc algorithm changed to be deterministic, instead of random.
  • Procs once every 5 shots for Spare Shot and every 3.33 shots for True Spare Shot.

──────────【 Bow 】──────────

【 General Changes 】

• "Sticky Aim" behavior has been removed.

  • In vanilla, when using certain moves like Power Shots and Charge Step, the aiming reticle will "stick" to where the Hunter was aiming. This can often lead to missed shots when the reticle stays in mid-air where the monster has already moved away from. While this behavior can be canceled by momentarily aiming at something else, this can be annoying and tiresome for many hunters.

• Dragon Piercer:
  • Damage type changed to Sever (was Shot).
  • MV increased to 21/25/30/36 (up from 19/20/23/24).
  • Element Modifier increased to 0.3x/0.3x/0.45x/0.45x (up from 0.15x/0.2x/0.3x/0.3x).
  • Status Modifier increased to 0.3x/0.35x/0.4x/0.5x (up from 0.15x/0.2x/0.3x/0.3x).
  • Fixed Damage Removed (was 1/1/2/2).
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Final Hit:
    • Partbreak Modifier increased to 1.875x (up from 1.0x).

    • Compensates for first two hits having a Partbreak Mod of 0.0x.

【 Bug Fixes 】

• Power Shot arrow spread patterns:
  • Fixed a bug causing Power Shot Lv2 and Lv3 arrow patterns to be right-biased.
  • Patterns are now correctly symmetrical.
  • Reference: https://twitter.com/AsteriskAmpers1/status/1235082146743803904

──────────【 Bowgun Ammos 】──────────

Many of the following changes are intended to address ammo-to-ammo balance, with the intent of giving hunters more competitive options when choosing an ammo for a particular matchup.

• Rapid Fire:
  • All individual projectiles within a shot must now be manually aimed.

  • Previously, all additional projectiles would travel the same trajectory based on the first projectile.

• Normal Ammo: MV increased to 12/22/36 (up from 10/20/34).
• Pierce Ammo:
  • MV increased to 8/8/10 (up from 7/7/9).
  • Delay between ticks decreased to 0.050s/0.033s/0.033s (down from 0.067s/0.050s/0.050s).
  • Projectile speed increased to 30/30/25 m/s (up from 25/25/20).
  • Super Crit Start Distance decreased by 70%.
  • Damage reduced to 0% after the 6th hit (down from 20% after the 9th hit).

  • These changes are intended to allow Pierce to perform more consistently across different sized monsters, making it a good option in more matchups.

• Spread Ammo:
  • Spread patterns changed to be grouped around a central point (was horizontal line).
• Sticky Ammo:
  • Damage Type changed to Blunt (was "HZV independent").
  • MV increased to 20/29/40 (up from 12/17/24).
  • Stun buildup decreased to 21/35/70 (down from 30/50/100).

  • These changes are intended to address the fact that Sticky was too consistent across most Monsters.

• Slicing Ammo:
  • MV increased to 9 (up from 6).
  • Partbreak modifier increased to 1.4x (up from 1.0x).
• Wyvern Ammo:
  • MV increased to 100+10 (up from 70+19).
  • Fire damage decreased to 0+0 (was 40+20).

  • Wyvern ammo wasn't particularly strong, but the fire damage further limited its usefulness.

• Elemental Ammo:
  • Damage decreased by 17.5%
  • Damage reduced to 0% after the 6th hit (down from 20% after the 9th hit).
• Dragon Ammo:
  • MV increased to 4 (up from 2).
  • Dragon damage increased to 36 (up from 18).
  • Damage reduced to 0% after the 6th hit (down from 20% after the 9th hit).

  • The damage increase compensates for damage lost from reduction in number of hits.

• Cluster Ammo:
  • MV increased to 19/22/28 (up from 17/20/26).
  • Fire damage decreased to 0/0/0 (down from 5/8/10).
  • The nerf to ammo capacity from IB has been reverted.

  • These changes allow the ammo to perform consistently across monsters.

──────────【 Heavy Bowgun 】──────────

• Close Range Up Mod: Maximum active range increased to 8m (up from 6m).
• Long Range Up Mod: Minimum active range decreased to 10m (down from 16m).
• Special Scope Mod:
  • Removed scoped FOV and blur effects.
  • Normal Ammo damage multiplier decreased to 1.20x (down from 1.30x).
  • Pierce Ammo damage multiplier decreased to 1.15x (down from 1.30x).
  • Spread Ammo damage multiplier removed (down from 1.30x).
• Shield Mod:
  • Increased Guard Strength now caps at Shield mods x2 (equivalent to CB & GS Guard Strength at 14/39/40+).

  • Shield mods x3 now grants no bonus over Shield mods x2. Shield mods x4 still grants reduced chip damage.

• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Backward impulse decreased to 300 (down from 800).

  • With this change, hunters will be dropped closer to the monster.

• Wyvernsnipe:
  • Main projectile: MV increased to 30 (up from 20).
  • Explosions: MV increased to 50/75/110 (up from 38/49/81).
• Wyvernsnipe Type 2:
  • Distance Match:
    • MV increased 165 (up from 98).
    • Stun buildup increased to 100 (up from 15).
  • HZV Match:
    • MV increased to 235 (up from 147).
    • Stun buildup increased to 200 (up from 40).
  • Perfect Match:
    • MV increased to 350 (up from 243).
    • Stun buildup increased to 300 (up from 60).

──────────【 Light Bowgun 】──────────

• Light Bowgun mod slot limit increased to 5 (up from 4).
• Close Range Up Mod: Maximum active range increased to 8m (up from 6m).
• Long Range Up Mod: Minimum active range decreased to 10m (down from 16m).
• Evade Reload Mod:
  • Ammo reloaded per mod increased to 3 (up from 1).
  • Now changes "Neutral unsheathed roll" to "evade reload slide", if equipped.
• Clutch Claw Weapon Attack:
  • Backward impulse decreased to 250 (down from 700).

  • With this change, hunters will be dropped closer to the monster.

• Wyvernblast:
  • Charge consumption decreased to 1/2/3 (down from 1/2/4).
• Wyvernblast Type 2:
  • MV increased to 43/75/87/130 (up from 26/49/73/110).
  • Fire damage decreased to 0/0/0/0 (down from 3/5/6/7).