Argh... I am so f*cking stuck.
This weekend I finished the 4-star offline missions, and got up to the "Attack of the Rathalos" quest... and that's as far as I went. I just
cannot solo a Rathalos; every time, I end up running out of supplies. The bastard took hits from, like, 6 or 7 large barrel explosions while trapped or sleeping, plus shots from my "Gospel" katana, and simply would not go down. It doesn't help matters that he's constantly moving to areas where fighting him sucks, like Area 10 (stupid cat things!) and Area 9 (stupid narrow passage!). I've got to rethink my strategy, or I'm done. In the meantime, I've started a new character.
Anyway...
Good news! Thanks to my Poison Axe, I've got a full set of Hornet armor! It looks totally badass, and makes you immune to poison damage!
...
Bad news... Hornet armor totally blows. Its base defense is high, but it's incredibly weak against fire and water; that's makes it a severe handicap against the Rathalos, and many other wyverns in the game. I've taken to wearing Kut-Ku armor instead.
BTW, if you're offline and want to make a lot of money, get yourself a poisonous weapon and do the
"Attack of the Giant Bugs" quest over and over again. Once an insect's poisonsed, don't attack it again; let the poison run its course, and it'll leave a corpse every time. The trick is to let your weapon's sharpness degrade to its lowest point; the more dull your weapon is, the more hits it takes to kill an enemy, the more chances you have to inflict poison and have a body to harvest from.
Each time, I've been able to get about 10-15 Vespoid Wings, 6-8 Vespoid Shells, 5-7 Hornetaur Shells, and a whopping 25-30 Hornetaur Wings, all of which can be sold for some nice dough. But the real treat here is Monster Fluid; on each run, I usually end up with about 10 of them... which get you 5000z when sold!
Oh, and the strategy guide is DEAD WRONG about the "Bring Me Eggs" quest. Trying to take 3 eggs through Area 2 is an exercise in frustration (trust me on this), as the Genprey there will always reappear. It's much easier to take the eggs around through the "long" way, 8-7-10-4-3-1. Drop an egg, then clear the Genprey out of Areas 7 and 3, as well as the pair of Apceros that block your path in Area 4. You'll still have to dodge Genprey in Areas 10 and 1 (the ones in Area 4 usually don't notice you), but it's over a much shorter distance and therefore much easier.
