Monster Hunter is a game where the player is given the reigns on what to do and how to do it. This means that you are essentially free from all suggestions by other players and also free from all in-game recommendations as well.

The armor/gear, for example, were constructed as sets, giving the impression that the hunter is supposed to get the entire set and use that set of armor with any talismans and/or weapons that complement the set. The reality is that the sets are rarely ever wholly compatible, except by elemental resistances, meaning that most equipment should be paired with armors from other sets that will maximize skills. The developers likely made the skills not wholly compatible to advocate for building your own armor sets.

The most difficult part of utilizing the pairing of armors and talismans to maximize skills is knowing which weapons best complement a set of skills. The slugger skill, for example, works well with any weapon that applies blunt damage type in some form. This means that you can maximize slugger and run an Insect Glaive with a Kinsect that deals blunt damage, which would be the fastest application of stun damage to a monster. This idea is probably known to some, but the true purpose of relaying this is to show how versatile a skill can be. The evade extender skill can be used with the H. Bowgun, which has the longest evasion distance, to dodge an extreme distance; but could also be used with the Switch Axe for sword mode or the Great Sword to grant them more reliable dodges: The evade extender skill also works for aerial dodges with the Insect Glaive. The skill quick sheathe is wasted on a weapon that already sheathes extremely quickly like the Sword & Shield or Dual Swords, but the skill pairs well with critical draw, punishing draw, or both when not one of those two: punishing draw and critical draw naturally work well with the Sword & Shield and the Dual Swords because of each having fast sheathe animations.

Another difficult aspect of realizing the full potential of this game is knowing which sets of items complement the gear you choose to bring along. The Sword & Shield has the greatest versatility in terms of item usage. You can actually combo into item throws or item placements, like setting a shock trap (near instant effect upon placement) after dodging mid combo or throwing a flash bomb from any variety of attacks where the shield can be raised quickly after. The second most versatile weapon with respect to items is the Bowgun: It literally needs items to maximize its efficiency, and is powerful only when you know that about it, especially when playing solo; probably why this weapon is not used much. Bowguns apply status effects well, and can use those status effects to create combos from items: putting a monster to sleep, laying the maximum number of large/mega barrel bombs, setting a pitfall trap, blowing up the bombs before the trap goes into effect, laying more large/mega barrel bombs, blowing those up . . . or paralyzing a monster, laying a shock trap, laying one large/mega barrel bomb, put the monster to sleep, lay another large/mega barrel bomb, use a poison smoke bomb, blow the bombs up, throw a dung bomb. It is possible to capture or kill a monster without sustaining any damage with the Bowgun. The Bow touts a similar versatility with items and status effects and has faster movement with effective combos, which is why it is popular: The maximum potential of the Bow, however, is not reached until you incorporate the almost necessary tactics of the Bowgun; most item combos possible with the Bowgun are possible with the Bow as well. I will provide greater detail on item combinations with weapons in a later section.

I am not referring to the weapon types by their given names, I am referring to the efficiency and/or versatility of a weapon with respect to goals when hunting monsters.

The primary states that a monster can be put into is tripped, stunned, breaking or severing of parts, staggered or sent reeling, afflicted with statuses or elemental blights (game dependent), and exhausted.

I am categorizing the weapons by their causal capacity and efficiency at initiating one, many, or all of these states as either versatile or specialized: every weapon, in these later editions of the franchise, now has the capacity to cause statuses or elemental blights, tripping, reeling, and breaking or severing parts, however, not with equal efficiency.

Some of the states are tied together in that if certain parts are broken or severed, or the monster is stunned or afflicted with elemental blights, the states 'staggered', 'sent reeling', or 'tripped' may occur depending on the action the monster was taking at the time.

Ratings: awful, bad, decent, good, great, unmatched.

• Great Swords - Great at breaking parts and unmatched at severing parts, great at staggering and sending a monster reeling, unmatched at tripping a monster, awful at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and decent at stunning, capable and good at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile +
  
  
  
• Sword & Shield - Good at breaking parts but decent at severing parts, good at staggering but bad at sending a monster reeling, great at tripping a monster, great at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and good at stunning, capable and great at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile ++
  
  
  
• Dual Swords - Good at breaking and severing parts, bad at staggering and sending a monster reeling, great at tripping a monster, unmatched at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, incapable of exhaustion at default.
  
  Specialized ++
  
  
  
• Long Sword - Good at breaking parts and great at severing parts, good at staggering and decent at sending a monster reeling, good at tripping a monster, good at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, incapable of exhaustion at default.
  
  Specialized +
  
  
  
• Hammer - Unmatched at breaking parts but incapable of severing parts, unmatched at staggering and sending a monster reeling, decent at tripping a monster, decent at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and unmatched at stunning, capable and great at exhaustion.
  
  Specialized +++
  
  
  
• Hunting Horn - Great at breaking parts but incapable of severing parts, great at staggering and good at sending a monster reeling, decent at tripping a monster, decent at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and great at stunning, capable and great at exhaustion.
  
  Specialized +
  
  
  
• Lance - Good at breaking parts and decent at severing parts, good at staggering and decent at sending a monster reeling, good at tripping a monster, good at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable but bad at stunning, capable but bad at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile
  
  
  
• Gunlance - Great at breaking parts but decent at severing parts, great at staggering and sending a monster reeling, decent at tripping a monster, decent at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, incapable of exhaustion at default.
  
  Specialized +
  
  
  
• Switch Axe - Great at breaking and severing parts, good at staggering and great at sending a monster reeling, bad at tripping a monster, great at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, incapable of exhaustion at default.
  
  Specialized ++
  
  
  
• Charge Blade - Great at breaking and severing parts, great at staggering and sending a monster reeling, decent at tripping a monster, good at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, incapable of exhaustion at default.
  
  Specialized +
  
  
  
• Insect Glaive - Great at breaking and severing parts, decent at staggering and sending a monster reeling, decent at tripping a monster, great at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and good at stunning, capable and good at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile +
  
  
  
• Light Bowgun - Decent at breaking and severing parts, decent at staggering and sending a monster reeling, bad at tripping a monster, good at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and decent at stunning, capable and decent at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile +
  
  
  
• Heavy Bowgun - Good at breaking parts but decent at severing parts, good at staggering and sending a monster reeling, bad at tripping a monster, good at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, capable and decent at stunning, capable and decent at exhaustion.
  
  Versatile ++
  
  
  
• Bow - Good at breaking parts but awful at severing parts, decent at staggering and sending a monster reeling, bad at tripping a monster, great at application of statuses and elemental damage/blights, incapable of stunning at default, capable and decent at exhaustion.
  
  Specialized

Weapons that are specialized are those that are lacking in one or more areas, while versatile weapons are capable of initiating any of these states. Versatile weapons can be played without assistance from other players or the need to switch weapons. Weapons that are specialized require other players to compensate for areas that are lacking, or for the user of the weapon to be capable of switching. A specialized weapon also performs better at its specialization than any versatile weapon, generally by a significant amount.

The specialized blunt weapons are incapable of severing and require player assistance or weapon swapping to sever, while the specialized cutting weapons are incapable of stunning or exhausting and require player assistance or weapon swapping to stun.

The phrase 'incapable at default' means that the game provides a means for that weapon to cause states that it generally cannot, but it is not a natural component of the weapon. The Insect Glaive requires a Kinsect so every Insect Glaive is given the means to stun at default if a blunt based Kinsect is equipped. Switch Axes with exhaust phials can stun, but no other type can, so it cannot stun at defualt.

The bowguns are capable of everything but are worse than many of the other weapons in at least one of those areas, so bowguns could also benefit from player assistance or weapon swapping. The Sword & Shield, Greatsword and Insect Glaive are all capable enough by themselves; although, the Greatsword is lacking in application of statuses and would benefit from allies specializing in weapons that compensate, while the Sword & Shield is lacking at sending a monster reeling and would benefit from allies specializing in weapons for that purpose.

A weapon's potential is not fully realized until the appropriate items are brought and utilized.

All weapons that constantly affect stamina --Hammer, Dual Swords, Insect Glaive, Lance, Switch Axe, and others-- benefit greatly from the item Dash Juice: Dash Juice minimizes stamina consuming and stamina draining actions.

Bowguns and Bows benefit greatly from large barrel bombs, not really needing to carry small barrel bombs; while the Sword & Shield benefits greatly from carrying all bomb types. All three of those weapons benefit greatly from traps in the midst of combat, and can combo traps into bomb usage much easier than other weapons.

The Sword & Shield, and all weapons that sheathe quickly or incorporate sheathing into its play, will benefit greatly from throwable items. Great Swords are given several opportunities to use throwables because you constantly have to sheathe the weapon. Great Swords are not fully realized until you incorporate flash bombs and/or sonic bombs; traps help as well, and are usable after stunning a monster through stun damage, flash bombs, sonic bombs etc. Long Swords are harder to use with throwables in the middle of combat because you lose out on DPS if you sheathe the weapon without valid reason, so it is better to use throwable items at the onset of combat or when naturally sheathing the Long Sword for other reasons: Bows, Insect Glaives, and Dual Blades suffer from this as well but apply statuses that grant them opportunities to use items.

Play the game however you want but keep these in mind if you want to get far; primarily the first two sections. The game is not a traditional action/rpg/action-rpg so the tricks I taught here are those that fall outside effective combos with weapons or valid weapon options against certain monsters. Monster Hunter is so bizarre that knowing when to delay your combo to check whether continuing that combo will cause a faint is a necessary skill to have at the hardest parts of the game.

I can say with pride and without shame that I lost to an Apex Diablos in its event quest over 40 times solo. I also beat it solo using the Light Bowgun, Bow, Hammer, Greatsword, Sword & Shield, Insect Glaive, Dual Swords, Lance, and Gunlance. I challenged the Apex Diablos event quest as soon as it became available solo on two different accounts running a different assortment of those weapons. The first truly difficult monster that had me itching to see if I really couldn't beat it at that point, and I was shocked to find that it one shots you guaranteed with max HP and max armor improvements at the HR where it becomes available, except with the Lance and Gunlance where it takes 1/3 shielded. The reason I was even able to win at that HR with all those weapons was because of the tricks I mentioned here, and not anything to do with effective combos or maximizing damage output. Impossible to dodge without evade extender and I did not have a high enough version of the skill at that time so I stopped trying to fight it with movement and combos and instead employed appropriate weapon switching based on the earlier weapon categorizations, and item combos effective with those weapons.

I think the developers should start pushing for a more serious style of Monster Hunter like World where your ability to move is close to Rise and the later monsters are as difficult and intense as the Apex Diablos so that you question whether your ability to attack and move is really the key to killing or capturing monsters. The Apex Diablos, the Apex Zinogre, that ******* Jet Plane of a monster, and the insane thunderous gorilla are what I mean as intense enough to warrant pause in your ability to just combo them to death: MR Nargacuga maybe . . . nah. Anyway, If the game does move in that direction, then these tips should help people deal with those significantly harder monsters. All the developers really need to do is just amp the damage because I literally only had difficulty because of how early I attempted that quest. I beat the Apex Diablos in 2 tries once I did get the ability to swap switch skills in the field, could survive a hit, and maximized evade extender. If it was close to as difficult as I described at HR 500 as it is at HR 20~40 then the game would warrant help or this more deliberate way of playing: I'm HR 160 at this point and completed several MR event quests so I'm essentially done until the next one comes out. Someone tell them to make this harder.