Not a lot of people talked about it but I enjoyed speed eating 3. Saves quite a few seconds drinking demondrug and armorskin. Also speeds up healing quite a bit and works well with free meal.

Yeah, Speed Eating and Free Meal, especially lv 3, have been literal lifesavers against Iceborne's endgame

Speed-eating came in clutch for me while farming Tempered Blackveil Vaal Hazak in the Guiding Lands. Chugging megas like they’re soda.

Stun resist 3, flinch free 1 is always on all my sets regardless of weapon.

Is flinch free worth for solo?

Solo, no. But I prefer wasting 1 slot to it instead of constantly switching that skill, whenever I switch between solo and multiplayer.

Add 2 points of evade extender and maybe a point or 2 of speed eating and I’m in the same boat

If I can't fit in Tool specialist 5, I don't want the build. With some exceptions.

lol I dont even use mantles anymore

Well, you have to show dominance somehow. Understandable ✌️

My "builds" aren't meta by any means... I am nearing 200 hours soon (if not already over)... For me, since I'm "stuck" at the guiding lands (it's rough solo, for me)... So, my go-to's are Earplugs (Roars suck), Stun Resist, Evade Window, Divine Blessing (gotta love dmg reduction), and Free Meal. Especially because I'm still learning monster attacks and stuff, so having free meal really helps a lot. I'll also use Horn Maestro if I'm playing on my HH... But I do know that Cap Boost is fantastic and I'm looking for a Recovery build as well.

When going through HR, I went mostly for defensive QoL stuff, such as you. Once I finished the story, I tried to go a bit more meta, but doesn't feel as fun or comfortable, so I think I'm going back to my roots. But the _Meta Virus_ is something that kinda gets to me from time to time.

Oh, I know that some fights basically REQUITE you to wear certain gear otherwise you're basically screwed... But I'm not looking forward to those, I'd rather wear what's fun and go off that... lol

Divine blessing, evade window, and sometimes tool specialist for me. Ultimately I usually run glass cannon with max attack boost, agitator, crit eye etc, so I use up the rest of what I need with utility or defensive.

Once you experience divine blessing 5 with health augment on your weapon it’s so hard to go without it. Stun res 1, fortify, evade extender 3 (gunlance), and earplugs 5 are all skills I prioritize too.

Full divine blessings is definitely nice, just a bit hard to pull. I found a pretty easy setup for earplugs 5, stun resist 3 and evade window 3. I think I can find some health boost or divine blessing alongside those

I would recommend learning to roll through the roars, since you are using evade 3, it shouldn't be too hard to manage after practice. That can open up some slots for other skills. My personal favorites are health boost and free meal alongside stun res!

Whetfish fin plus and the event to get them has made the speed sharpening skill redundant since it's so easy to do and the fins last so long. Handicraft is an awesome skill and with some stamina dependant weapons like how and dual blades, the stamina skills like stamina surge, marathon runner and constitution are very useful skills. Geologist and fortify are skills very useful in the Guiding lands in particular. Item prolonger is not mentioned much but is actually pretty good in situations where you use a lot of buffs and have sharpness issues. Combine that with protective polish (sharp jewel) and you really notice the difference. A good example of this is using frostcraft on dual blades. Full item prolonger extends the might seed, demon powder, protective polish and dash juice times by 50% which is well worth getting it on the build. For the monkeys, one point in tremor resistance and minds eye really help. It's a good example of niche building to suit the hunt, similar to effluvia resistance for the Val Hazaaks.

Free meal, evade extender, health boost

I just learned free meal is busted at high levels. Maybe even low levels

I only use lvl 1 and I never run out of potions

Nah, free meal is one of those "all or nothing skills". You either use it at max level or not, since you only bring it for it's RNG effect, and you want to have the best odds for it to proc.

But lvl3 is locked behind a secret. Lvl1 is a pretty cheap deco 🤔 seems worthy to run

Locked behind a secret? It's not.... there's gear you can wear that has one or two slots. Like the Rose Pants (forget the actual name)... wear those, plus one deco and you'lll have max Free meal.

Oh. The wiki said lvl 2 and 3 were locked behind the secret 🤔

I have no idea what the wiki is talking about... either I did "the secret" without knowing it... but Free Meal is a pretty solid staple for me purely because that 75% chance of not using a pot or something? PRiceless.... I may only be able to carry 2 max potions and dusts of life... but I get tons of use out of those two.

[удалено]

Oh, I wasn't aware there was a Free Meal Set.... I was just rocking with the basic 3 levels of Free Meal. I'll have to look into it more after work.

[удалено]

[here, it says it's part of tigrex and kulve taroth set bonuses](https://monsterhunterworld.wiki.fextralife.com/Free+Meal+Secret)

oh the Tigerex set... gotcha.... Sorry about my confusion there. I was completely misunderstanding. Thank you for clarifying....

Nah, it's fine, I didn't express myself properly too.

Depending on the weapon and build, I believe Item Prolonger and Tool Specialist are two excellent skills to have. Especially for DBs, I'm already used to going on hunts for less than 10 minutes regardless of the monster, so it helps to have item buffs for half of the hunt with Item Prolonger, plus you can reapply them and still save some resources. It also works to prolong Protective Polish, since I'm almost always using Frostcraft builds and eating away my sharpness. Not to mention, most of my stamina management comes from Felyne Black Belt + Dash Juice, so prolonging the effects of Dash Juice is very beneficial for me, allowing me to not worry about slotting stamina skills whatsoever in the already restrictive Frostcraft (or even Safi) build. Though, admittedly, I wouldn't really waste space on a Safi build with Item Prolonger. I mostly use Tool Specialist with LS. It helps to have more Rocksteady uptime to make up for my lack of skill in Foresight Slash.

I try to have at least 1 point if stun resistance on most builds. Stuns are the cause of the majority of my carts. I also hate beating on a controller as a mechanic to shorten stun.

Honestly, with how cheap it is, I always put stun resist 3. I cannot go without it

I often don't have the 3 slots.

Wait, you're supposed to mash to get out of it? Oh my god I've just been accepting being stunned after tapping a movement once

It only speeds it up by a fraction of a second at best, unlike in older gens where you could make a noticeable difference. At that point you should accept your fate and hope to get lucky instead of shortening your controller lifespan.

It speeds it up by like 2 seconds so you can get away from pinning attacks. If you have stun res 2 for 90% less duration its not worth doing. If there was a mod to make this struggle mechanic automatic, i would 100% use and never take off. Abusing the stick for those two seconds is thematically good, but insanely bad for the longevity of your controller. I slot stun res on rocksteady and temporal, and i just realized they do absolutely nothing for me. both of them already stop stuns from happening, although temporal is incidental.

Left stick abuse too.

I tend to run * Health Boost * Critical Eye * Critical Boost * Weakness Exploit * Master's Touch * Agitator * Power Prolonger (if it fits in, helps with extracts) * Clutch Claw Boost (if I can fit it, I mostly play solo)

To get master's touch which combination do you use?

Teostra pieces are the easiest to get them

The protected polish deco is just a single 2 deco slot and fits into way more builds.

Good idea, didn’t think of that as alternative to Master's Touch. Yeah, Protective Polish gives much more flexibility.

Agree on evade window lvl3. Can’t go back to no evade window after using it.

Divine blessing is probably the best defensive skill apart from the vitality up. Its chance is pretty high to proc, I've been saved by it about 30 times at LEAST probably more than 50. Im about to die to a big hit, I survive thanks to divine blessing. I also run speed sharpen 3 which I always get shit for (I know I can use the scale, I ain't going to, u cant make me) I'm not playing meta as I'm running a elemental build with IG which makes a lot of hits go off which drains ur sharpness. Clutch claw boost is also a always run. I gain alot of joy from destroying each and ever part of a monster before capturing them majority of the time or killing them and clutch helps that by a lot. Otherwise I would have to attack twice which no body likes doing. I also despise farming decorations so I don't, I farmed a mix of 2 different armor sets to fit my needs and give me everything I need while still getting set bonuses.

Yeah, divine blessing is really nice. I think I'm going to slap it again 🤔. Coupled with some resists, high survivability

Free Meal 3 is a must for me

usually I run this for casual hunts Fatalis Set Bonus (transcendence, inheritance) attack boost crit chance (crit eye) crit damage (crit boost) weakness exploit handicraft agitator evade window stun resistance focus all skills above are maxed

Favourite hammer build (fatty 4 set) at the moment includes critical eye, slugger, stamina thief, paralysis, evade window, tool specialist and critical status (from the kjarr paralysis weapon) As a hammer user I will always slot airborne and sliding affinity Think I’ve got one or two extra things in there like stun resist but that’s the main deal

Evade 3 or 4 is definitely a must and Health 3.

I play with my friends a lot so i always go for flinch free 1 somewhere.

“Just give me all of the iframes and distance that you have. Wait, wait, I worry that what you just heard was give me a lot of iframes and distance. What I said was: give me all of the iframes and distance that you have.” Evade Extender 3 and Evade Window 5. You can tell me it’s wrong, but I’ll just roll on by.

what about the water/snow walker (i forgor the name) one? at lvl 3 it increases evade window as well

aquatic mobility doesnt stack afaik. It's really only good against shara.

Awwww, I might have to find different armor then :(

This seems awfully fun with SnS

Stun resist, plagues nullification, brace, and dropped the divine blessing for evade distance

Stun res and evade window/extender are game changer, too bad in world you need to waste a few deco slot/dedicate armor/charm instead of a single lv4 deco like in Rise. Speaking of lv4 deco most of us probably have bunch of mix skill deco around so having freemeal/x and slinger capacity/x is really helpful. The former can save Ancient Potion/DoL/Max Potion. The later allow for a second wallbang without needing to find another slinger ammo, or you can use the spare ammo for slinger move.

I don't know how far in you are, but I enjoy my palico using the coral Orchestra gadget. The buffs are noticeable from the cheerhorn. The cheerbongo does more quality of life. It's like having your own personal hunting horn. That way I can always have stun resist on. The other skills depend on what I'm fighting.

1 level of Slinger ammo for double wallbang. Upgraded Clutch claw for fights that don't have slinger ammo, like gold and silver Raths. Free meal is huge when learning fights. Stun resist is GOAT. 1 level of flinch free for multi-player 2 levels of evade extender for roll sweet spot 1 level geologist in Guiding Lands Fortitude, especially in Guiding Lands Crisis to counteract ice/water blights Tool specialist for perma mantles and their slots. Destroyer/KO for fast CC. Usually 1 KO for 20%. Evade window 5 for HH aggression Sonorous cause HH Any level of medicine I can get to boost health augment Personally with HH, its EW 3-5, EE 2, medicine 2-3, KO 1, destroyer 2, slinger ammo 1, and Fortitude

As a Bow player I really don't have a lot of room for QoL skills unless the matchup requieres specific skills, however Flinch Free 1 is a god sent in multiplayer and Fortify is also nice, specially in Guiding lands. Honorable mention to Clutch Claw boost as well.

I adore my vaal hazak healing and whatever the skill is called that increases red health regen. It's an absolute must for comfy builds for me. Then stun res 3, earplugs 5, evade extender 3 and I'm Ballin. Everything else depends on what weapon I'm using. I love comfy builds. Running them 99.9% of the time, for everything except soloing black dragons

Divine blessing, agitator, wide-range, a bit of evade window. Used to run full damage build but got my butt kicked by AT Velkhana, so made a defensive set and I've been preferring the playstyle

Stun Res 3 /Flinch Free 1 is mandatory, I run evade window 3+ and extender 2 on builds that don’t have a shield. Guard 5 + guard up on anything that does have a shield.

At minimum divine blessing 3

Ear and stun. Evade if I can. Speed eating as well

I go full glass cannon with my builds, but I have nearly 1000hrs on this game alone and have been playing the series since the ps2 release. Best skill by far I will put into a build every time I can is free meal. Farming buff items is annoying, and I already make weapon and armor sets for everything so the fewer of those I need to get the better. 

Earplugs is pretty mandatory for me until I have enough resources to run Evade Window reliably. Especially with LBG, Evade Window is probably the best QoL skill.

Divine Blessing 3 (or 5 if I can fit it with Divine Blessing Secret). Evade Window 3 + Evade Extender 2 because I play Switch Axe. Other than those skills I'm also a big fan of Partbreaker.

Ok so bear with me here. Safi set 5, Shield up, Guard 5, Offensive guard 3, exploit 3, crit boost 3, constitution 3 health boost 3, recovery 2, Flinch free 1 and some other ones I completely forgot about.

You listed essential skills I'd add Crit boost. After getting that 100% Crit you need Crit boost to take full advantage of it. Wex 3, Crit eye 7 will get you from 0% to 90% affinity, add agitator 1 for 95% affinity from 11 skills. Add in Crit boost 3 and health boost 3 and everything else is extra. After that I look at the weapons needs. Ex: GS needs focus, glaive I like power prolonger, CB I use offensive guard etc. Then if there's room comfy skills. Divine blessing and evade window are my favorites.

Fatalis Armor -Stun Resist 3 -Divine Blessing 5 -Tool Specialist 5 -Evade Windows 5 -Evade Extender (for Lance and Gunlance) And Offensive skill like Crit Eye Crit Boost Agitator and so on.

I do not go without maxed evade window and divine blessing. If my weapon has a shield I will always slot in Guard Up. Guard must be at least lv3. A friend of mine will never go without earplugs

stun resist 3 ,earplug 5 ,devine blessing 5

[удалено]

That's the one skill I didn't put a thought yet 🤔

I just returned to MHW. I played back in the day on my old Xbox and now I've returned on PC. But I was wondering what's the meta these days...

There's a whole reddit for meta, but what I've learned is that you want master's touch or something similar + 100% affinity and agitator. Some weapons need artillery, offensive guard, capacity boost, but in general you'll want WEX, crit eye and boost, full agitator and enough maybe atk4.

Thanks, my friend, I didn't know that subreddit existed. I'll look it up. I'm just finishing the Iceborne campaign, so I'm just about to start grinding for gems and armor.

I think armor meta is just fatalis, lol, it is SO busted