Attack Power[]
The Attack Power is the raw damage done without the aid of elements or secondary status effects. It is important to favor raw damage over elemental damage and secondary statuses because raw damage is universal and has more weight in most cases (100 points of raw damage is worth more than 100 points of element damage).
Affinity[]
Affinity is a hunters chance to deal either more or less damage with a weapon attack. It is measured in percentages, and varies based on weapons, armor, and skills. A positive affinity means attacks have that percentage chance to use 125% attack power, while a negative affinity is the chance to use 75% attack power. Some monsters can cause a status condition which lowers affinity temporarily.
Sharpness[]
Sharpness is the sharpness of a melee weapon, represented by the color of the little blade near the clock on the game interface. It is a very simple scalar variable which increases attack power by a percentage. The best sharpness, purple, is 150%, white: 130%, blue: 125%, green: 112.5%, yellow 100%, orange: 75%, and red is 50%. Note - These percentages represent the amount of your weapons attack power which is used when calculating damage, not straight damage. Sharpness also affects elemental damage similarly.
Slots[]
Like armor pieces, weapons may or may not have empty slots where decoration jewels can be placed to supplement a skill tree.
Elements[]
Elements are the secondary damage that is done. Like raw damage, it is done directly. How much the element effects a monster is dependent on the monster's weaknesses. In MH3, monster's element attacks now have status conditions. The elements are fire, water, thunder, dragon and ice.
| Element | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Fire Element |
Fire is a common element found in nature. Fire creatures are usually weak to water but fire weapons are good against Thunder monsters. Many species of wyverns are imbued with it. Using Flame Sacs or other flammable materials, hunters can forge weapons with fire element, as well as armor. In MH3, being hit by a fire attributed attack (like an Alatreon's fire blast, or an Agnaktor's fire beam) inflicts a secondary effect that slowly lowers your health, similar to that of Lunastra's or Teostra's fire aura.
|
File:TeoFire.png |
| Water Element |
Water is an element that is extremely abundant in nature. Water creatures are weak to the thunder element but water weapons are strong against fire creatures. Weapons and armor can be imbued with the element of water. Bosses weak to water:
|
File:Water.jpg |
| Thunder Element |
Thunder is an element that is rarely found in nature. Thunder creatures are usually weak to fire but thunder weapons are usually effective against water creatures.
|
File:Thunder.jpg |
| Dragon Element |
Dragon element is special in the sense that it can be devastating only to monsters that are dragons or have dragon lineage. As with other elements, the damage dealt varies with each monster.
|
File:DragonFireball.png |
| Ice Element |
A new element that was first introduced in Monster Hunter Freedom 2, as well as Monster Hunter 2. Ice and fire are both weak towards each other.
|
File:Ice.jpg |
Special Attack Attribute[]
The types of special attack attributes that weapons may have.
| Element | Description | Image |
|---|---|---|
| Poison | Poison is a secondary status effect that affects monsters or you by gradually losing health over a certain amount of time. Different monsters are affected differently by it. Poison time can be increased or decreased. You can tell a monster is poisoned by seeing purple bubbles rising from atop its head. You can implement the poison from a monster into your weapons. If you poison an elder dragon that has an aura (Daora, Teostra, and Lunastra) their aura will be gone until the poison effect has ended. This will also disable the Chameleos' invisibility. | File:Poisoned.jpg |
| Sleep | Some monsters have the potential to put hunters into sleep. This allows them to get an extra hit off them. The effects of sleeping can be increased or decreased if you have armor that allows you to do so. Being interacted with, either hit by a monster or a hunter during a sleep will wake you up. Sleep is also a secondary status effect that you can cause to your enemies by the use of weapons or items. While an enemy sleeps, you can do necessary things such as sharpening your weapon, drinking potions, eating meat, or even taking advantage of the sleeping monster and attacking it. It is worth noting that while a monster sleeps it regains lost health. However an added advantage of putting a monster to sleep is that the next attack dealt to it does triple the damage in comparison to normal attacks. Placing and detonating bombs on a sleeping enemy will give it a devastating wake-up call. | File:TigarexSleep.jpg |
| Stun | AKA: Paralysis is a secondary status effect. This immobilizes you or the monster for an amount of time, allowing for free hits without fear of getting hit from either side. You can tell if a hunter is stunned when they fall down frantically and yellow shock waves pass through their body. Stun duration can be increased or decreased by wearing armor with the appropriate skill. You can see a creature is stunned when it is hunched over, and yellow shock waves pass through its body. You can stun a monster by using a weapon or an item. Each monster has their own resistance to paralysis, and some stay longer than others in the stunned state. | File:TigarexStun.jpg |
| KO | Also called dizzied or KO'd. When a monster hits you several times in succession you have a high chance of getting knocked out. You become immobile for a short time, allowing the monster to get a free hit off of you. You know you are knocked out when you stand unbalanced and you have several stars circling your head. The knock out time can be diminished if you rapidly rotate the analog stick and press the X button repeatedly. You can also knock out a monster by using Flash bombs. But, if you're fighting a certain monsters, you must throw the Flash Bomb in front of them. Please note that bosses can still attack you while in its dizzy status (Except the dromes) but attacks are made blindly, and can be easily avoided. In Monster Hunter 2, CAPCOM has implemented the Knockout skill in Hammers and Hunting Horns though not to be confused with the flash bomb type of knockout, this one will knock the monster down. After hitting a monster repeatedly with a hammer/hunting horn on its head, you have a chance of making it dizzy, leaving it completely defenseless. | File:KnockedOut.jpg |
Status Icons
File:E5d3641e70af12ab12feb28e1b73a5bd.jpgFile:D15585bfeeff7e8ca1d1fd4fc205de71.jpg
