Am a total Monster Hunter newbie so pardon me for my ignorance.
Is Lance really awful or do I just suck with it? :P
I've only tried 6-7 weapons so far, but I find the lance to be the hardest to play by far.. movement is so slow.
Really enjoying the demo so far, beat the first mission and we did a couple of tries on the second mission and while we didnt take on the the mission boss we took down Rathian after a couple of failed tries and that was a real good feeling.
Feels like a game it's going to take quite a bit of time to get good at though!
Hi!
Lance is slow once your weapon is drawn, but you shouldn't need to be walking around with it. Generally, if your weapon is sheathed, use the wirebug to get in a jumping draw attack, or leap off the dog into one. If your weapon is drawn and you are far away, a Lance charge will get you in (X+A+ZR, or press X+A while guarding, same difference.). Once next to the monster, use ZL+X to attach the silkbite cord (2 wirebug charges). This will allow you to leap back to it with a jumping attack (ZL+B to jump to it, then attack).
Once you're next to the monster, your basic attack pattern should be using your triple poke combo while practicing the sidestep and jump back to evade its attacks and keep the combo going (use them to cancel out after the last attack to avoid recovery frames). However, using your suite of counters is the key to mastering the Lance.
Hold ZR to block. holding ZR, hold down A to charge a counter- any attack you block will trigger the response.
While holding ZR and charging a counter, you can also press B instead to drop into a super counter- you'll drop to one knee, defence goes up, but it burns stamina fast. However, while in this position, you can change facing (with a bit of practice) and counter whenever you like.
The final counter in the demo is the wirebug one, ZL+A. It gives you a window of a second or so (visible by the strands locking you in place) to absorb an attack, the stronger the hit you take, the greater the temp. attack boost you receive.
At the moment I'm using the standard counter a lot as it's the most forgiving with a long shield time. If I think I've misjudged and an attack isn't coming, I drop into a super counter and launch attack, the super counter also has you leap forward a bit so it's a good way of extending your counter's range if you were anticipating an attack but the monster changed target and started moving away. If I *know* a big hit is coming and my health is at max, I risk the wirebug counter.
You can practice all these moves on the demo tutorial to your hearts content.
Essentially, the key to Lance is to use your mobility tools to stay on top of the enemy, don't walk around when you can run, charge or swing or ride. If the fight goes crazy against an enraged monster, having lodged the silkbite bungee cord can help you keep piling on the damage with jump attacks while also getting you out of the danger zone in front of it. Otherwise, practice making the monster pay for every hit it lands on you. If you don't master the suite of counters, you'll struggle to keep up with the damage output of the other melee weapons as their dodges and then renewing the attack are generally faster and stronger than a lancer blocking then settling back into a basic Lance combo.
However, when starting with the Lance, mastering just blocking and the basic combos combined with sidesteps and backsteps is your bread and butter. Everything else, the Lance charge, the jump attacks and counters, all builds on top of that.
I'm not the best lancer in the world but I've been one for a long time, so give me a shout if you've got any questions :-)
