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[TU3+] Niko's Guide to Mushroomancing 2: Afflicted Edition
By Niko
Turning from the New World, one may notice a Rise in difficulty in each tier of Afllicted monsters. Some would then think that guaranteeing the success of a hunt is more paramount to maximizing damage gains and triple-carting in the process. To that effect, I want to show people what I've done to reprise my role, considering a favorite build of mine, in order to do so. Put on your foraging pants, hunters, because we're going Mushroom hunting once again!
   
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Created by
Niko
Online
Category: Characters, Classes, Co-op, Game Modes, Multiplayer, Secrets, Weapons
Languages: English
Posted
Updated
31 Jan, 2023 @ 3:45pm
7 Feb, 2023 @ 10:10pm
1,115 Unique Visitors
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Guide Index
Overview
WIP / Foreword 
Mushroomancy 101 - The Basics 
Making the Mushroomancer - The Build 
Mushrooms a la Niko - My Personal Build [TU3 Updated - TU4 Theorycrafting] 
Who Supports the Support - One Buddy to Rule Them All 
Concluding Thoughts / Tips / Tricks / FAQ 
Websites and Guides Referenced 
Comments
WIP / Foreword
This guide is a work in progress, I'll try to actively work on it though, don't you worry. Just need to refine my information and add pictures where necessary.

Hello, and hello again for those who may recognize me from my World guide on the very same skill. I've been busy exploring all the different options available to me due to the massive skill variety available in Rise, but I've decided to reprise my role as the mildly-famous-for-a-Steam-Guide Chief Mushroomancer and explore how one could adapt the supportive core skills into a build that can not only survive, but thrive in the face of ever-growing odds as Title Updates pack way more punches than the previous.

Who is this guide aimed for?
  • Multi-player focused hunters that just like to join request on random hunts. People that want a significant boost to the reliability of completing hunts by carrying some lesser-skilled hunters with overwhelming healing.
What the purpose of this guide is:
  • To document how one of my favorite skills in Monster Hunter functions and how it can be best utilized
Why should you try Mushroomancer support?
  • I think it's fun, and it helps if you have bad luck with randos who decide Spiribirds are still optional in level 100+ hunts
Mushroomancy 101 - The Basics
What The Skill Is

  • Mushroomancer is a skill that lets you eat raw mushrooms, as opposed to using them in other healing items, to replicate the effects of certain items.

What effects does it have?
  • Blue Mushroom heal equal to Potions, but nigh-instantly with a faster eating animation rather than the long drinking one.
  • Toadstool increases natural healing equal to Immunizers, can carry 10 rather than 3.
  • Nitroshroom increases attack until you faint equal to Demondrugs, and you can carry 10 instead of 5.
  • Parashroom increases defense until you faint equal to Armorskins, and you can carry 10 instead of 5.
  • Mandragora heals you for max health, equal to Max Potions, and you can carry 10 rather than 2.
  • Exciteshroom decreases stamina usage like Dash Juice, and you can carry 10 rather than 5.

How it synergizes with other skills:
  • Speed Eating lets you eat faster, lets you get buffed and heal faster
  • Free Meal gives you a chance to not consume your mushrooms by up to 50%, down from 75% in World but still significant value.
  • Wide-Range lets you share all effects except for Mandragora with your allies
  • Peak Performance gets a special mention because keeping yourself at full health is super easy with 10 plus a variable amount of Max Potions in your back pocket. It's free damage.

How to best utilize it:
  • Using all the skills above, you can dole out a ton of extra healing nigh-instantly to your entire squad to save them from taking lethal damage as long as you keep an eye out and finger on the trigger. Very satisfying results.
  • Even without the support core of Speed Eating, Free Meal, and Wide-Range, being able to carry more of an item such as Max Potions than you would regularly can increase your personal survivability significantly,
  • If you want to min-max the effects, remember that Demondrugs and Armorskins don't stack with their Mega variants, and that also goes for Nitro- and Parashrooms. Use the Mega variants instead of these shrooms for an increased attack/defense bonus.
Making the Mushroomancer - The Build
How early in progression can I start?
  • Technically as early as High Rank, find Shadeshrooms using Meowcenaries in the Shrine Ruins to unlock the Chaos set or use Fungiform Jewels, but they are costly on slot-efficiency. I'd wait until you can get the Fungiform+ Jewel in Master Rank, where you may find the most people in need of a support anyway.

How late in Anomaly grinding does it get good?
  • Somewhere around the time where you get the Stability Augment option to get extra level Level 1 Slots on some choice pieces of gear.

How do you determine what armor to use?
  • Use the MHR Armorset Search website to plug in your Charms, restrict armor or decorations you can't access, and use any Qurious Crafts you can access. Also lets you prioritize your own skills and see what you can build with it.

What Charm to grind?

  • RNG-dependant, but Wide-Range 2 and a Level 3 Slot is the absolute basics I'd recommend. Available with Attack Boost 3 if you use the latest charm melding option.

What weapon is best?
  • Sword and Shield, in my opinion, is the premier choice for a support build of any caliber. The ability to use items while the weapon is unsheathed gives you an unmatched ability to use what items you need and go straight back to the fight.
  • Hunting Horn and Light Bowgun in my opinion, while also can be considered support weapons, they're a little overkill and might require extra skills to make a functional build compared to the plug and play nature of SnS.
  • That being said, using Mushroomancer and Wide-Range can alleviate the need for a Hunting Horn with healing ability if those aren't as accessible for you. And the same goes for Recover / Demon / Armor Ammos for the Bowguns. It's not something I do, but feel free to experiment with whatever weapon you fancy.

Supporting skills? Comfort? Damage?
  • For Comfort, always take Flinch Free 1 so you aren't getting tripped in melee range with other hunters. Stun Resistance 3 is also nice so you aren't locked out of healing in critical moments when you take too many repeated hits.
  • Speed Sharpening is always great for maintaining your best damage sharpness at all times. Other management skills are up to you.
  • I'd refer to the most recent Meta guide if you want guidance on what skills will give you the best chances to succeed. SnS guide in particular goes very in-depth and is a valuable resource


Mushrooms a la Niko - My Personal Build [TU3 Updated - TU4 Theorycrafting]
  • My build was generated through the Armorset search using my selection of Charms and Decos available to me at my current Anomaly Rank. My armor choices are deliberately in mind using the Stability Augment on each piece for increased defense and extra slots with no risk. My point here is, your mileage may vary.

My Item Pouch

  • My box setup is designed to quickly restock for any and every situation I find myself in. I take the usual core of supporting items (Nulberries, Herbal Medicine, etc.) with effects that Mushroomancer can't replicate. I even take Deodorants with me in the one in a hundred chance someone's fighting a Volvidon. I also bring traps and tranqs to capture when necessary, and enough for two rounds of sleep bombing in case the group I hot drop into are coordinated enough to pull it off. I don't use my Radial Menu as often as I probably should, so I took a little extra time to set up my last row so that everything to my left of the default position of the item menu can be swapped to in a timely manner.

How the skills work and why they work together:
  • My prerogative after getting the support and comfort skills of my choice was to maximize damage output. While I can't take every good damage skill, I'm able to take just enough using Stability augments to still have competitive damage alongside my teammates.
  • Phecda's Asterism is my choice of SnS because it has respectable raw, good slots, and has a small, but important, Poison stat. While Poison isn't great in multi-player, the skill Buildup Boost is. Also, its innate purple sharpness and small white sharpness makes it really good for Grinder (S), another good damage boost.
  • In terms of Qurious Augment and Rampage Decoration, I go for full Attack Boost and pick Buddy Rally. Going for a Rampage Slot Up + Attack Boosts and using Species Jewels is better for DPS, but I join most of my hunts through join request and I don't like to swap between setups in such a small way every time. Not that it's bad, it's just I'm bad. I'm shilling a build where you just eat mushrooms, for Gog's sake.
  • While Protective Polish 2 is usually recommended for Grinder (S) setups, I find that in my personal experience in multiplayer, you aren't really able to keep up on the monster for the full duration of Protective Polish and then burn through sharpness by the time Grinder (S) runs out. Grinder (S) would have ran out a long time ago since I re-upped it from blue sharpness. Instead, I opt for either Razor Sharp 2 or Handicraft 2 in that Level 4 Decoration Slot since it helps maintain your sharpness while almost paradoxically helping you maintain Grinder (S) by shortening the time until you need to resharpen.

The mentality and strategy
  • Use Mandragoras instead of Blue Mushrooms or Potions when only I'm hurt to maintain Peak Performance
  • Resharpen only at Blue sharpness to refresh Grinder (S), mid-combat sharpening is way less awkward with Speed Sharpening.
  • Keep an eye out on your team to maintain Toadstool and Exciteshroom buffs every so often and Gourmet Fish even more often to reduce need to pop out the Blue Mushrooms when someone gets injured.
  • The 50% chance to not consume shrooms may be nice, but it can still have you burn through Blue Mushrooms fast. Fall back on Mega Potions and even steal any First-aid Med+ still in the supply box to go longer without having to Farcaster out for more items. You're going to be sharing them with people anyway.

Will leave this here and document any changes I'd make as future updates roll out.

TU4 Changes to be Tested:
  • Risen Valstrax's Legs are a really efficient piece for any and every build. Attack Boost 2, Stun Crit Boost 1, and Stun Resistance 3 has extreme value for comfort and damage. This blows open the possibilities to add a ton of other skills to the build. I'll try to get an updated set through as soon as I can.
  • The amount of new decorations that got added and their slot levels also open a ton of possibilities.
Who Supports the Support - One Buddy to Rule Them All
Unlike previous entries, Rise allows you to bring your first slotted Buddy into multiplayer hunts always. This creates an opportunity to pack an extra source of utility, damage, or healing with you on every occasion. It may not be a lot, and it may not be consistent, but it's undeniably one of the features of all time. In that essence, I believe you should choose your buddy accordingly.

What Pal to bring? Palico or Palamute?
  • The short answer: It's up to preference. Use whatever you feel like brings out the best success in your hunts.
  • Refer to the MHR Buddy Guide for more in-depth analysis of Buddy builds, why they work, etc.

Palicos
  • The classic option of Hunting Helper. What Palicos may lack in raw damage, they make up for in versatility and utility. Each Palico class brings something different, but they're all useful in their own way, so while I can tell you how useful I find them, you may have a different experience.
  • Something to be said though, Palicos don't rely on your inputs and uptime to function as they should, which can be preferable to some people. Just don't forget to use the Felvine when it comes off cooldown, and set their behavior to Large First so they focus your target rather than small monsters.

Healer Palico / Healing Clover Bats

  • Not terribly worth using in my opinion when you already bring all the healing your group could ever want without thinking about all the dropped healing bubbles and such. The Healing Clover Bats are overkill on top of overkill.

Gathering Palico / Lottery Box
  • Classic choice, helps with grinding monster parts with Pilfer, guarantees some status procs with Endemic Life Barrage, and fringe benefit of automatic collection of mushrooms for you. Couldn't recommend enough if you're looking for the extra utility. Kittenators are always fun, and provide free knockdowns.

Fighter Palico / Felyne Powered-Up

  • Consistent 30% Affinity buff through Rousing Roar and Felyne Powered-Up is nothing to sneeze at, and it's the best damage dealer of Palicos with access to Furr-ious. However, if just damage is what you're after, use a Palamute.

Bombardier Palico / Felyne Fireworks
  • While not recommended from any guides I could find, I can speak from experience that these Palicos do pull their weight in damage and stagger with their assortments of abilities like Fighter Palicos do. Very fun type to have around. Felyne Fireworks does require some micromanagement but the damage each one can do when you get it just right on a downed monster is always a sight to see.

Assist Palico / Ameowzing Mist

  • Also a rather "off-meta" choice. I would consider an Assist Palico useful in the same places as a Gathering Palico is in terms of raw utility. You just trade Pilfer for a built-in Pitfall Trap + Poison proc, and Endemic Life Barrage status procs for the ability to keep a monster in one spot for slightly longer with Felyne Silkbind. Ameowzing Mist mines are also pretty good for giving you access to more Elemental Blights per hunt. Definitely something to experiment with if you're looking for something new.

Palamutes
  • Palamutes do more damage than Palicos, and attack as frequently as you do. For the Sword and Shield that attacks somewhat rapidly, you may find better use out of them than a Palico's wide swath of utility options.
  • Utility-wise, Palamutes can help you find Spiribirds all around the map which can help with your own personal survivability. Just as well, certain setups can still guarantee Status procs every now and again much like Palicos can.
  • Other options than what I listed are usually fine. Guarding Parasol and Heal Blade come to mind. Pretty much, just use what you want.


Dual Chain Blade + Blitz Scroll
  • Meta option for damage, but you want to change elemental weapons each hunt or stick with the ranged options for Status.


Silkbinder / Shuriken + Blitz / Throwarm Scrolls

  • Despite nerfs, Gundog and its devolution to Shuriken dog are still a preferable choice if you want to focus on status buildup, they just won't be doing as much damage.

Diversion Scroll + Steel Fang

  • Fine for keeping aggro off of you but it's not consistent, may screw with your group, so results may vary.
Concluding Thoughts / Tips / Tricks / FAQ
Updating this part of the guide if any questions come up that could use answering
Anomaly Hunts and how they change the item-supportive playstyle:
  • Increased damage output of monsters absolutely make having someone dedicated to healing a valuable commodity. Just as well, Bloodblight does increase the self-sufficiency of the average hunter by a somewhat equal amount, and halves any healing output from items. Basically, it's a wash.

Other Hard Monsters:
  • Something I can think of off the top of my head, fighting Flaming Espinas is slightly easier because of Parashrooms acting as a counter to its Defense Down fireballs like Adamant Seeds do. Which is definitely something to keep in mind in case other monsters come out that can use that debuff.

Why Poison and other Status are less favorable to build around:
  • Poison Buildup needed to proc Poison and other Status on any given monster goes up dramatically as more hunters are added to the party. This makes Poison in particular much less consistent of a damage source, making it just not optimal for multi-player. You can still use it in despite of it, because there are particular synergies to Poison that I can't ignore the usefulness of, but I wouldn't do it if I were you.

Variations that can be made:
  • Of course, depending on how much maintenance you like to do between hunts, you could opt for Elemental setups, or using your Rampage Slot to switch to anti-species jewels to increase damage to specific monsters. Really it's up to preference.

What to expect in the future?
  • As more updates come our for Rise, it can be expected that more armor, charms, decorations, and qurious augments will come about that can provide expanded options or revolutionize how you might look at certain setups. I'll do my best to try and document anything relevant to the Mushroomancer playstyle that may change how a certain set-up can be made for this skill, but if there's something in particular you want to see, let me know.

Websites and Guides Referenced
5 Comments
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SlantedRhetoric 3 Feb, 2023 @ 10:07am 
The 101 section makes them almost sound OP. I feel a bit dumb for not looking into what it actually did.
Niko  [author] 1 Feb, 2023 @ 8:59pm 
Ah, that's fair then. Though I mean, Toadstools act as Immunizers so they would cure bleed alongside their buff. Haven't had too many opportunities to fight Seregios consistently enough to state as fact but it'd be really weird if that wasn't the case. Furthermore, Gourmet Fish also cures bleed and applies its own HP Regen on top of it as well, which I'd say is well worth the longer eating animation.
clientIDFailure 1 Feb, 2023 @ 8:05pm 
My bad, I meant blue mushroom, not toadstool, I mis remebered. it's just weird and doesn't have an equivalent, being weaker than sushi fish and not curing bleed
Niko  [author] 1 Feb, 2023 @ 7:15pm 
I'll agree that a lot of what Mushroomancer can do, other items can do the same if not better in terms of going full support in your loadout. Especially if you pack in things like powders and seeds which do stack with other items. I just find that I give up something more important to me when I go through my item loadout when I try to add those things in.

I'd say Mushroomancer takes a more defensive niche compared to the standard healer build. If you do include Mandragoras in your kit, which I don't see why you wouldn't, it gives you a way to ensure your own survival so you can save your other healing wares to heal others. It's a safety net.

The advantage of unsheathed item usage comes from being able to use your items with as little downtime as possible. See someone hurt, heal them, and then continue without having to drop what you're doing at a fraction of the time that you would take to sheathe and heal.

Toadstools are in fact Immunizers, you can see for yourself in game.
clientIDFailure 1 Feb, 2023 @ 4:02pm 
Mushroommancer is a lot of extra skill points for things that you can just use items for and those items have upgrades MM doesn't offer. You still want to bring seeds and powders, cause they stack.
If you're getting anything from it, it's cheap dash juice since you can't wide range max pot you're better off just not taking them.

Sushi Fish. Take Sushi Fish instead.

SNS - using items with the weapon out is only really helpful for things that have long animations that don't let you move around. if you can move while comsuming it, using the SNS unsheathed will make you move slower...

I think toadstool is actually Herbal Medicine.