So this game seems a bit too hard and crafting heavy. I currently did a mission where I had to fight two of those walker octopus robot things. It was a pain the entire time. I was able to get rid of one with logs but had to spend so much time fighting the other.
I have a Blue Colored Sligshot, Bow, Staff, and Trip Shooter (Places the trip wires). Everything seems to do low as hell damage even when I use weaknesses such as Fire. I was above the level requirements for the mission but I must be doing something wrong.
Majority of the time I basically just use the trip mine like a grenade launcher to get any real damage done. Is there anything I'm missing? I bought ultra rare armor and then went to check the weapons and don't see anything of use. It's just a machine gun, other bows, and the gun to tether robots down.
I'd like to enjoy the game since it has potential, but it's fighting me every step of the way
If you need ammo resources, you just need to remember to silent strike small machines along the road so you get max drops at 0 resources expense.
Don't forget to stack up on ridge-wood early in the game.
If you want a early high damage weapon you should try the blue sharpshooter bow, which in addition to heavy arrows, it uses one of the best ammo types of the game: tearblast arrows (specialized for removing machine parts).
You aren't going to rely on Hunter bow for damage until you unlock to purchase the purple variant with hardpoint arrows (the most versatile ammo in the game).
Investing on double and triple arrows skills will amp up your damage per hit later on.
Remember, though, that all machines are going to easily tank your attacks, unless you aim for their weakspots (some machine have spots that can go up to a x8 damage multiplier if I'm not mistaken) or their main body under the plate (normal damage)
Elemental damage works similiar to MH status effects: elemental arrows and projectiles don't cause much damage on hit, but they fill a meter on the target. Once it is full, the target gets affected with a status, like "burning" which inflicts damage over time. If a machine is weak it basicly means that the meter for that element fills up faster.
A good way to learn how the different damage types work is to do Hunting Ground trials
As for Shellwalkers, they are tough motherfuckers at the beginning due to their intimidating arsenal. You should focus on disabling their weapons (tearblast arrows are really good for this)
Then, expose its weakpoint and attack for massive damage.
EDIT: wait, you mean the Corruptors with "octopus walker". Ah.
Well, those don't have many exploitable weaknesses except for the possibilty for them to "overheat". As it receives fire damage (and, iirc, also uses its ranged weapons) a meter fills up and when its full it reveals its weakpoint. Encounter-wise, they are bit different from the wildlife machines.