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[danowat]

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but spongy enemies......either this is by design, or I am missing something / shit at the game.

Take for example, corrupters.

They have 2 weak spots, the spike launcher and the grenade launcher, obviously destroying these will render those offensive moves useless, however, the game states that destroying these also inflicts "massive" damage to the body, it doesn't, the damage bar barely moves, either by destroying these parts with damage / tear arrows, or tear blast arrows, so you destroy those, and are left with the body (with a nearly full health bar).

So the game also says that the body is weak to fire, it isn't, fire arrows cause "3" damage, and a tiny amount of over time damage, normal arrows cause "6" damage, and precision arrows (if you can hit with they long draw time) cause about "50" damage, there are no more weak spots, no armour covered soft spots.

So basically you are left with either trying to plant precision arrows, or just spamming normal arrows, normal arrows take about 40-50 arrows.

 

[Infinite_Daremo]

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but spongy enemies......either this is by design, or I am missing something / shit at the game.

Take for example, corrupters.

They have 2 weak spots, the spike launcher and the grenade launcher, obviously destroying these will render those offensive moves useless, however, the game states that destroying these also inflicts "massive" damage to the body, it doesn't, the damage bar barely moves, either by destroying these parts with damage / tear arrows, or tear blast arrows, so you destroy those, and are left with the body (with a nearly full health bar).

So the game also says that the body is weak to fire, it isn't, fire arrows cause "3" damage, and a tiny amount of over time damage, normal arrows cause "6" damage, and precision arrows (if you can hit with they long draw time) cause about "50" damage, there are no more weak spots, no armour covered soft spots.

So basically you are left with either trying to plant precision arrows, or just spamming normal arrows, normal arrows take about 40-50 arrows.

Spam ice bombs. Go full ham with precision arrows. Works on pretty much any enemy.

 

[Skux]

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but spongy enemies......either this is by design, or I am missing something / shit at the game.

Take for example, corrupters.

They have 2 weak spots, the spike launcher and the grenade launcher, obviously destroying these will render those offensive moves useless, however, the game states that destroying these also inflicts "massive" damage to the body, it doesn't, the damage bar barely moves, either by destroying these parts with damage / tear arrows, or tear blast arrows, so you destroy those, and are left with the body (with a nearly full health bar).

So the game also says that the body is weak to fire, it isn't, fire arrows cause "3" damage, and a tiny amount of over time damage, normal arrows cause "6" damage, and precision arrows (if you can hit with they long draw time) cause about "50" damage, there are no more weak spots, no armour covered soft spots.

So basically you are left with either trying to plant precision arrows, or just spamming normal arrows, normal arrows take about 40-50 arrows.

The body is weak to fire in that it will trigger the Burning elemental state easily. This means it will take damage over time, and expose its cooling rod which you can hit for big damage.

 

[mrklaw]

I don't know if 'weak to fire' means fire does more damage, or just gets into an 'on fire' state more easily?

Freeze seems to be the go-to for making it susceptible to amplified damage from follow up attacks while frozen



As for resources - take a look when you get to a decent merchant at what your preferred weapons and armour needs - e.g. Shadow weapons and outfits. Make a note of which parts are needed (e.g. hearts, lenses etc). Then you should be able to sell the rest. Upgrades for carrying capacity is more tricky because you don't know what animal buys you need until you unlock each level of upgrade. So maybe keep animal bits for longer


I'd like some tips on elemental damage. Eg the behemoth has freeze canisters but I was shooting them over and over with freeze arrows and nothing.. are they armoured and I have to tear something off first? How do you tell - the little image in the notebook is rubbish

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but spongy enemies......either this is by design, or I am missing something / shit at the game.

Take for example, corrupters.

They have 2 weak spots, the spike launcher and the grenade launcher, obviously destroying these will render those offensive moves useless, however, the game states that destroying these also inflicts "massive" damage to the body, it doesn't, the damage bar barely moves, either by destroying these parts with damage / tear arrows, or tear blast arrows, so you destroy those, and are left with the body (with a nearly full health bar).

So the game also says that the body is weak to fire, it isn't, fire arrows cause "3" damage, and a tiny amount of over time damage, normal arrows cause "6" damage, and precision arrows (if you can hit with they long draw time) cause about "50" damage, there are no more weak spots, no armour covered soft spots.

So basically you are left with either trying to plant precision arrows, or just spamming normal arrows, normal arrows take about 40-50 arrows.

Your weapons aren't modded correctly.

Fire mods on the hunter bow do much higher DoT than 3 damage. Damage mods on blast slings do huge amounts of damage.

Think logically, a bow is not an assault rifle. You're fighting a machine made of metal......with bows. Bows are meant to be versatile weapons, not high dps ones.

You want to do more damage with your normal/hardpoint arrows? Freeze the target and it will take more than twice the damage. Use traps, bombs and slings for massive damage. Mix and match all the weapons in your arsenal. Nothing in the game behaves like a bullet sponge.

I don't know if 'weak to fire' means fire does more damage, or just gets into an 'on fire' state more easily?

I'd like some tips on elemental damage. Eg the behemoth has freeze canisters but I was shooting them over and over with freeze arrows and nothing.. are they armoured and I have to tear something off first? How do you tell - the little image in the notebook is rubbish

The latter, and they stay under that status effect longer.

Many enemies have armored coverings that you have to shoot off first to expose the vulnerable canisters or overheat vents.

 

[Infinite_Daremo]

I'd like some tips on elemental damage. Eg the behemoth has freeze canisters but I was shooting them over and over with freeze arrows and nothing.. are they armoured and I have to tear something off first? How do you tell - the little image in the notebook is rubbish

This got me for ages too. I thought the game bugged out. They are indeed armoured. Blow off the casing first and reveal the weak point. Generally the weak points glow without focus scan if they're visible. Blaze canisters are orange, ice and lightning are a blue.

 

[danowat]

So rather than attempting to do damage with the arrows, I am actually looking at creating elemental damage?

So damage mods for weapons are a waste of time, and I should be concentrating on using elemental mods to buff the arrows instead of thinking of it as a gun?

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Sorry to keep banging on about this, but spongy enemies......either this is by design, or I am missing something / shit at the game.

Take for example, corrupters.

Specifically in regards to the corruptors, they present a hidden weak point when suffering burn. I had a handy loading screen tip tell me that last night haha.

Sounds like you're gear is just not quite there yet though, you'd be surprised the difference a few good mods will make. I absolutely tear through them and I didn't know about that hidden spot. If the enemy feels ridiculously bullet spongy, odds are your not ready for them.

 

[Ruthless_Barbarian]

So rather than attempting to do damage with the arrows, I am actually looking at creating elemental damage?

So damage mods for weapons are a waste of time, and I should be concentrating on using elemental mods to buff the arrows instead of thinking of it as a gun?

It all depends on the kind of machine you're up against and the weapons you have equipped.

Ideally, you want to target any offensive weapon that enemy may have, or weak points that are susceptible to tear damage. Then you want to inflict some sort of elemental status effect depending on what the enemy is weak against, and then finally use your bow and/or sling to deal more damage.

Don't ignore the tripcaster and ropecaster, both are incredibly good at trivializing tough fights.

 

[leng jai]

Yeah, there's an incredible amount of depth when it comes to the dinobot combat. You really need to know what you're doing on higher difficulties if you want to kill things efficiently. Easily one of the best aspects of the game.

Essentially you're meant to focus fire on the attached weapons, spam their body with whatever element type they are weak against and then unload on them with the highest damage arrows you have. The shadow rope caster is pretty OP as well, you can tie down even the bigger dinobots and they are powerless while you go to town with damage.

 

[Balphon]

So rather than attempting to do damage with the arrows, I am actually looking at creating elemental damage?

So damage mods for weapons are a waste of time, and I should be concentrating on using elemental mods to buff the arrows instead of thinking of it as a gun?

Elemental effects are basically debuffs, so no.

Generally the most efficient way to kill something is to put a debuff on it (usually freeze, sometimes fire) and then switch to damaging arrows or explosives as you prefer.

 

[danowat]

Cheers.

Ehhh, I don't know what it is, but I just cannot get my head around the combat in this game.

 

[leng jai]

Cheers.

Ehhh, I don't know what it is, but I just cannot get my head around the combat in this game.

I'd recommend getting the shadow rope caster ASAP so you can tie them down and then experiment to see what does the most damage.

 

[Tunesmith]

Cheers.

Ehhh, I don't know what it is, but I just cannot get my head around the combat in this game.

Identify weakness, test off offensive weapons, bomb their weakness. Rinse repeat.

I tend to stick to shadow bow, bomb sling and shadow sling, with the occasional ropecaster. Though as of late I've gotten into doing melee takedowns, makes you feel real good.

 

[danowat]

I'd recommend getting the shadow rope caster ASAP so you can tie them down and then experiment to see what does the most damage.

Yeah, I think my shopping list will include a rope caster and sling, two items I haven't yet got.

 

[GlamFM]

It´s a testament to greatness of this game´s combat to see how different people tackle it in this game.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Yeah, I think my shopping list will include a rope caster and sling, two items I haven't yet got.

Oh Damn, I did not realise this during your last post. You definitely want these. For a lot of enemies you want to tearblast to dearmour and disable, pin with the ropecaster, freeze with sling or burn with arrows, then hammer them with whatever you have, hardpoint arrows, precision etc. Setting up tripwires in advance goes a long way too. Just get experimental and have fun and it'll all come.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

This is incredible haha I would love to see your gameplay, you must have great reflexes. I'm not even playing on very hard, went with hard, and I can't imagine getting by early on without that stuff, and even now with some of the larger encounters.

 

[Tunesmith]

It´s a testament to greatness of this game´s combat to see how different people tackle it in this game.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

Bomb sling makes it a Michael Bay movie.

 

[Carcetti]

It´s a testament to greatness of this game´s combat to see how different people tackle it in this game.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

Haha, that' is pretty amazing. The blast sling with damage mods just kills stuff without aiming, and ropecaster makes big dinos cry. Tearblaster, not so great, though.

 

[GlamFM]

Oh Damn, I did not realise this during your last post. You definitely want these. For a lot of enemies you want to tearblast to dearmour and disable, pin with the ropecaster, freeze with sling or burn with arrows, then hammer them with whatever you have, hardpoint arrows, precision etc. Setting up tripwires in advance goes a long way too. Just get experimental and have fun and it'll all come.



This is incredible haha I would love to see your gameplay, you must have great reflexes. I'm not even playing on very hard, went with hard, and I can't imagine getting by early on without that stuff, and even now with some of the larger encounters.

I played on normal. I also ran away a lot. I did a lot of the bigger encounters only after I got this one armor that basically breaks the game.

 

[mrklaw]

It´s a testament to greatness of this game´s combat to see how different people tackle it in this game.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

Yeah I never really got to grips with the ropecaster properly.

I have three shadow hunter bows though - each fully modded for tear/damage/fire respectively. Depending on the fight I might have all three equipped so I get the best damage per arrow type

 

[Redders]

Question about trophies as I don't want to look at the list yet.

Do you have to upgrade all your carrying pouches to full capacity to get the platinum?

 

[GlamFM]

Question about trophies as I don't want to look at the list yet.

Do you have to upgrade all your carrying pouches to full capacity to get the platinum?

Nope.

Yeah I never really got to grips with the ropecaster properly.

I have three shadow hunter bows though - each fully modded for tear/damage/fire respectively. Depending on the fight I might have all three equipped so I get the best damage per arrow type

That´s actually a great idea - never thought about that!

 

[Donniewahlberg]

I played on normal. I also ran away a lot. I did a lot of the bigger encounters only after I got this one armor that basically breaks the game.

XDDD hey if you had fun man! I do think the game design is very accommodating of different play styles and levels of engagement. I'm nearly at 50 hours time and on my way to

Spoiler

Makers End

but I could see where folks could just blast through in 15 hours and have a great time too.

 

[stryke]

I didn't find myself using traps all that much. Aloy can't plant one down while moving and makes her vulnerable while trying to do so.

 

[GlamFM]

XDDD hey if you had fun man! I do think the game design is very accommodating of different play styles and levels of engagement. I'm nearly at 50 hours time and on my way to

Spoiler

Makers End

but I could see where folks could just blast through in 15 hours and have a great time too.

Got my Platinum after 43hrs.

Hands down one of my favorite games of all time.

I want NewGame+ now to do it all again.

 

[flipswitch]

Is there a way to see how many hours you've played?

 

[ISee]

I didn't find myself using traps all that much. Aloy can't plant one down while moving and makes her vulnerable while trying to do so.

I only used them in cauldrons for the 'endfights' tbh.

 

[texhnolyze]

I'd recommend getting the shadow rope caster ASAP so you can tie them down and then experiment to see what does the most damage.

This. Ropes pin down machines for a good 90 seconds. It's great for experimenting,also crowd control.

 

[GlamFM]

Is there a way to see how many hours you've played?

Yes, make a manual save at a fire.

 

[danowat]

I didn't find myself using traps all that much. Aloy can't plant one down while moving and makes her vulnerable while trying to do so.

Critical strikes are the same (for me), they leave you wide open for getting hit, which can kill you instantly on hard(er) difficulties.

 

[Redders]

Nope.

Wonderful, upgraded all the pouches I actually use. Glad I don't have to keep searching for those skins!

About the ropecaster I didn't use it early on, but once I got the

Spoiler

Hunters lodge one

and a few purple handling mods to put on it I use it when fighting multiple large enemies. I think mines at 194 handling, shoots ridiculously fast so it's far easier to use.

 

[GlamFM]

Wonderful, upgraded all the pouches I actually use. Glad I don't have to keep searching for those skins!

About the ropecaster I didn't use it early on, but once I got the

Spoiler

Hunters lodge one

and a few purple handling mods to put on it I think mines at 194 handling. Shoots ridiculously fast so it's far easier to use.

Oh right - I did use it when it was required in one or two of these hunting lodges.

 

[TsuWave]

It´s a testament to greatness of this game´s combat to see how different people tackle it in this game.

I NEVER used a Sling, a Ropecaster or a Tearblaster in my playthrough.

agreed. earlier in this thread i read some people say they killed corrupted rockbreakers with fire arrows and i was like "???" cause i did the total opposite and worked them with ice arrows and focused on getting rid of their arms so they couldn't dive underground.

i never use the sling, tearblaster or the sharpshot bow

hunter bow
tripwire
ropecaster
war bow

kind of guy

 

[stryke]

I only used them in cauldrons for the 'endfights' tbh.

Yeah that's where I used them mostly as well. The final enemy encounter in Cauldrons are so broken. I laid tripwires and bombs/traps everywhere before triggering the enemy. I wiped out 90% of the thunderjaw's HP without touching it (though this is on normal difficulty)

 

[TsuWave]

I have three shadow hunter bows though - each fully modded for tear/damage/fire respectively. Depending on the fight I might have all three equipped so I get the best damage per arrow type

can't believe i never thought of this

 

[Donniewahlberg]

Do most folks feel like they found a foursome that worked for them weapon wise and stuck with it then? I will literally change my loadout multiple times during some fights haha

 

[GlamFM]

can't believe i never thought of this

Super clever, right?

Gonna do that tonight.

 

[Ammogeddon]

The texture and lighting around the Sunfall area is just stunning.

30 hours in and only just come across the place. There are still many places I haven't seen.

 

[Yabberwocky]

Some of the audio logs are so fuccccked upppppppppp. Disturbingly probable, too.

Yeah I never really got to grips with the ropecaster properly.

I have three shadow hunter bows though - each fully modded for tear/damage/fire respectively. Depending on the fight I might have all three equipped so I get the best damage per arrow type

....

....

....

D'oh. I never thought of that! It's always so annoying changing mods before a fight, that would be much more efficient. I'm drowning in mods anyway.

 

[ISee]

Got my plat trophy yesterday. I normally don't care about trophies but I just couldn't stop playing.

 

[Skux]

So rather than attempting to do damage with the arrows, I am actually looking at creating elemental damage?

So damage mods for weapons are a waste of time, and I should be concentrating on using elemental mods to buff the arrows instead of thinking of it as a gun?

It depends on the machine and your play style. Damage mods are very powerful but you need to use the Freeze elemental state to take advantage of its potential.

For example, Bellowbacks are weak against ice and become Frozen easily. Once frozen you can use a damage-enhanced hunter or sharpshooter arrow to deal huge damage.

But Snapmaws are strong against ice, and can't be frozen easily. In this case, pure damage isn't all that helpful. So it's best to use fire damage from arrows or bombs or traps to trigger the Burning state, where you'll get most of your damage by inflicting the DoT debuff.

This is where you get to customise your arsenal through mods and weapon choices. Do you use your sharpshooter bow to tear off components or use it as a DPS source? Do you use the war bow or sling to inflict elemental states? If you're low on wire and can't make Tripcaster traps, you might want to switch to slings and arrows. If you're low on Blaze, you might want to switch to Shock weapons to disable enemies to go in for close range melee kills to save ammo.

This is what makes the game great for me. Not necessarily the act of fighting (which is still thrilling), but the act of planning how to fight. How to itemise for particular threats while still being able to fight others with a well-rounded arsenal. How to improvise when running low on resources and come up with strategies on the fly.

 

[Orcastar]

Do most folks feel like they found a foursome that worked for them weapon wise and stuck with it then? I will literally change my loadout multiple times during some fights haha

I'm constantly switching my loadout. I wish there were more than four active slots.

 

[danowat]

It depends on the machine and your play style. Damage mods are very powerful but you need to use the Freeze elemental state to take advantage of its potential.

For example, Bellowbacks are weak against ice and become Frozen easily. Once frozen you can use a damage-enhanced hunter or sharpshooter arrow to deal huge damage.

But Snapmaws are strong against ice, and can't be frozen easily. In this case, pure damage isn't all that helpful. So it's best to use fire damage from arrows or bombs or traps to trigger the Burning state, where you'll get most of your damage by inflicting the DoT debuff.

This is where you get to customise your arsenal through mods and weapon choices. Do you use your sharpshooter bow to tear off components or use it as a DPS source? Do you use the war bow or sling to inflict elemental states? If you're low on wire and can't make Tripcaster traps, you might want to switch to slings and arrows. If you're low on Blaze, you might want to switch to Shock weapons to disable enemies to go in for close range melee kills to save ammo.

This is what makes the game great for me. Not necessarily the act of fighting (which is still thrilling), but the act of planning how to fight. How to itemise for particular threats while still being able to fight others with a well-rounded arsenal. How to improvise when running low on resources and come up with strategies on the fly.

Thanks, that is helpful.

So basically find what the mech is weak too, trigger DoT using this if it's fire, and hit with damage, or freeze and hit with damage.

Tear blast arrows are good at removing parts, but the resources for them appear to be (very) scarce.

I just think I am probably trying to deal plain damage, and removing items, I don't know why, but fire DoT doesn't seem to do that much damage, but it appears that I have missed that fire and heat pops the heat core on things like corrupters, is it quite obvious once it pops it's core?.

 

[adamsapple]

I'm constantly switching my loadout. I wish there were more than four active slots.

I was switching between armors more so than weapons. It was either sneak + melee or switch between my 2 bows.

 

[bombshell]

I just think I am probably trying to deal plain damage, and removing items, I don't know why, but fire DoT doesn't seem to do that much damage, but it appears that I have missed that fire and heat pops the heat core on things like corrupters, is it quite obvious once it pops it's core?.

Just a quick question: Are you triggering the elemental state? (filling the circle that pops up when you fire an elemental arrow on an enemy)

It does plenty of damage to an enemy weak to fire when I trigger the fire elemental state on it.

 

[Steve.1981]

Do most folks feel like they found a foursome that worked for them weapon wise and stuck with it then? I will literally change my loadout multiple times during some fights haha

I generally run with; War Bow for corruption, freeze and shock. Hunter Bow for Tear, Fire and a bit of damage (Hardpoint arrows). Ropecaster to tie things down so I've got room to manoeuvre in fights against multiple machines, or just to immobilise something and target it's weaknesses. Blast sling for some big boom. All shadow/purple.

I swap out the Ropecaster for the Rattler against humans, and I like to play around with the Tripcaster to lay traps and make zones of death, usually just for fun. Edit; I also upgraded the Spear with the damage/critical/knockdown Perks. That's really useful to fall back on, I think.

The weapons are magnificent. I love combat in this game. Early in my playthtough I didn't like only having 4 slots for quick-swapping, but now that I have multiple arrow types for bows, etc, I think it works for the best.

 

[danowat]

Just a quick question: Are you triggering the elemental state? (filling the circle that pops up when you fire an elemental arrow on an enemy)

It does plenty of damage to an enemy weak to fire when I trigger the fire elemental state on it.

There are plenty of icons and meters that I have no idea what they are, they aren't mentioned in the game anywhere (at least that I can see, or I missed), so possibly not........

Is there anywhere with a good amount of detail what these icons and meters mean?

 

[bombshell]

There are plenty of icons and meters that I have no idea what they are, they aren't mentioned in the game anywhere (at least that I can see, or I missed), so possibly not........

Is there anywhere with a good amount of detail what these icons and meters mean?

It's just the icon that pops up right on the enemy, where the icon is identical to the icon that the game use for that element. When you only shoot one elemental arrow it will only be partly filled, how much depends on how weak the enemy and the part you hit is to that element. The skills where you can pre-load 2 or 3 arrows are great for quickly triggering the elemental states.

 

[MisterFalcon]

Secretly? It's openly the best ability in the game, everyone should get it first

Can you swap in combat ? It's getting a little silly going 'three seconds till the Trampler hits, better craft 20 arrows, brew a potion, switch my armor and weave the right mod into it' mid-combat.