How to Hunter Basically

Sample Palette, according to Curtz. Don't use it.

Hi, this is AAAAAAAAAAAAA, and I'm here to talk about how to play Hunter, basically.

General Game flow

A balanced warrior adept at close combat with high ATK and DEF. Skilled in the use of melee weapons. Good for beginners.

A Hunter is a melee specialist. With a high ATK, hunters is best fit for melee weapons. With a high HP and DEF, they are also comfortable as a front-liner. Although, with their reliance on melee weapons, this also means that Hunters spend a lot more time running around than other Types. Speaking of melee weapons, melee weapons fall into a few different categories: a two-handed weapon with a big ATK and wide swing; a pair of twin weapons with a low ATK, but high hit count and fast attacking speed; and a one-handed weapon with decent ATK and decent attacking speed. Each weapon in the same category has similar functions, but has subtle differences which affects their overall performance.

Typically, a Hunter palette consists of a chainbreaker weapon, a chaining weapon, a gun for utilities, and a TECHNIC weapon with various support technics.

General Tips

• Melee attacks and Ranged attacks can miss enemies (dealing 0). This is a common issue for Hunters, as they have a lower ACC multiplier compared to Rangers and Vanguards.
  • Damage from otherwise big damage weapons (such as Axes) would be significantly lowered, and their chaining ability will also be hampered (0s don't add to chain).Ranged weapons of relatively lower inherent ACC (such as Twin Handguns) or not up to level (for example, if you run out of Extend Points to allocate) will be significantly less useful.
  • This problem is solved primarily via Rebirth bonuses. It can also be remedied via the use of Zalure (which lowers enemy EVA), utilizing Handguns or Daggers (both of which provides boosts to ACC) and weapons types with inherently higher ACC, such as Twin Daggers. ACC boost Abilities and Modules can also help early on, but generally provides too little to be useful in the long run.
  • Attacking an enemy from behind will also always hit.
• Perfect Attacks provides an additional 25% damage, which is a massive damage bonus, and should definitely be shot for whenever possible. Perfect Attacks on Square also increases the PP recovered by 50%, so try to shoot for it after a Photon Arts for faster PP recovery. Note that different weapons and different Photon Arts have different Perfect Attack timings, and the timing is affected by hitlag from attacking connecting with enemies. Try to get some practice in at lower-ranked missions.
  • It's possible to trigger a Perfect Attack Triangle to a Square, so Square -> Triangle for chain breaks is the way to go.
• Each Melee weapon has 4 to 5 equippable Photon Arts. Photon Arts is linked to Triangle, and is the primary way for Hunters to deal damage. Therefore, the choice of Photon Arts is quite important to a weapon's, and by extension, a hunter's performance.
  • There are a number of important aspects to Photon Arts: attack, accuracy, number of hits, stages, and pp consumption.
    • Attack and Accuracy is fairly self-explantory. Beware that Photon Arts with low accuracy % is even more prone to missing than usual.
    • The more hits the better, of course. Unless the hits are really slow with narrow hitboxes. Make sure to try out any Photon Arts you intend to use.
    • Each melee Photon Arts can have 1 to 3 stages: Photon Arts with multiple stages allows the player to input triangle more times for more hits. Later stages also have a lower pp consumption and higher damage than earlier stages. This means that they effectively have a manually prolong-able chain-break sequence.
      • This means that Photon Arts with more stages are better for longer chains, as they can potentially put out more hits more quickly.
        • Most chains below like 20 or something will expire before Stage 3, so a great stage 3 may not see much use. It's possible to use Foverse to sneak in a chain count of 2 or 3 before the stage 3 hitbox connects, but it will still lose power as the previously accumlated chain count does not apply to it.
      • This does not mean that Photon Arts with less stages is naturally worse: the quality of the Photon Arts is more dependent on the hit count, its damage, its attack speed and hitboxes rather than how many stages it has. As such, it comes down to which one the player is more comfortable with using.
    • Also to note is the PA Level: PA level affects whether or not Photon Arts are able to access their later stages, as well as how much PP they consume. This doesn't mean a PA with a high level is automatically better than one of a low level: it still comes down to which one you are more comfortable with using.
• Also note the PA% and PP% on the weapon you intend to use: definitely don't use a weapon that uses way more PP than you can handle, and try not to Photon Arts using a weapon with a low PA multiplier.
• Due to often being in proximity of enemies, Hunters are more prone to taking attacks compared to other Types. Therefore, Guarding is a vital asset in any Hunter's toolbox.
  • Guard reduces damage to 70% (90% for Shields), making it a hefty tool for damage reduction. Unfortunately, the PP cost for it can be a bit steep, since a lot of Photon Arts already cost a ton of PP. It can also be used to cancel some extra animations for weapons or Photon Arts.
  • A Perfect Guard reduces damage to 0 without consuming any PP, making it immensely useful. However, using it can be a bit diffcult, as the player need to read the enemies' attacks in-between their own attacks, and Guard have a different valid input window dependent on the weapon used.
    • Triggering a Perfect Guard using Shields will trigger Shield Arts, which deals a lot of damage to enemies nearby and adds 1 chain count to all enemies hit. This can be very useful if the player can use it consistently.
    • Triggering a Perfect Guard also makes the next attack a Perfect Counter, which increases the damage dealt by 25%. You can Photon Arts right out of a Guard, so weaving Perfect Guards into your combos can improve your damage quite a lot.
    • To practice Perfect Guard, try soloing low-rank missions using Shields only, to learn timings for enemy attacks. Shield Arts is a great indicator for if Perfect Guard activated or not. Afterwards, try soloing low-rank missions using weak weapons to learn the timings for those weapons categories.
• Since a melee-oriented playstyle will naturally involve a lot of running and moving, it is a good idea to bring weapons that can be used while moving, to minimize player downtime. Weapons usable while strafing, such as Handguns and Wands, are great candidates for this purpose.
  • There are also a few Photon Arts that allows the player to spend less time running: Tornado Dance, Shisoku Tenkai-zan and INSERT CLAW PA HERE. However, they have a base PP cost of 90, which can be a huge issue for Races less talented in PP regen.

Weapons Introduction

Two-handed weapon with a big ATK

Two-Handed weapons are generally notable for having a large ATK value, making their Photon Arts quite good for chain breaking. However, their Square combos can be a little weak, and their chain ability may not be up to par. Bring some for BIG DAMAGE NUMBERSSS.

Swords

Swords are the bread and butter of Hunters. Hell, you even start with one at the beginning of the game!

Sword's main draw is its inherent multi-target abilities. Swords inherently have 4 lock, and a fairly long range, which allows them to easily dispatch groups of mobs and melt through bosses. They also generally have good ATK values, second only to the Axe in ATK numbers, which provides them with great DPS capability. Swords also provides a category bonus of DEF and MND, which makes the player more resistant simply by holding one.

Also notable is how easily accessible Swords are: There are a whopping FIFTEEN swords in Downloadable content, another 4 Swords accessible using Visiphone Passwords, another 5 swords obtainable from Titles, and even more via Trade Missions. These Swords not only covers a massive range of levels, but also include some of the best Swords in the game: the unsealable Yonohate Fu, Famitsu Dendo Blade, and Kokuintou Hozuki. A sword main Hunter is set for life from the very start, basically.

However, while sword's square speed has been vastly improved since Phantasy Star Portable 2, its 1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit square combo is still very poor chain building-wise. It's recommended to use other methods to build chains, and use Sword square to maintain the chain before the chain break.

Photon Arts:

Grand Crusher: Deals 4 hits and covers a surprisingly large area, and has a pretty fast start-up, which makes it quite easy to use, and quite good for damage dealing. However, the lack of a 2nd stage makes it unoptimal for situtations with longer chains. Its massive PP consumption (100 PP prior to PA Lv21 is the highest costed out of all melee Photon Arts) also makes it difficult to use for some Races without much PP. Also to note is its 90% ACC, which while not terrible, can still be inconvenient at times.

Gravity Break: A incredibly high damage multiplier, along with 3 stages (totalling 4 hits) makes it great for dishing out a shitton of damage, especially off a high chain. However, in a very un-sword-like fashion, Gravity Break only has 2 lock, which makes it significantly worse for multi-lock bosses compared to other Sword Photon Arts. Stage 1 also has a slow startup, which can be an issue for following up chain breaks.

Spinning Break: Has a slightly lower damage multiplier than Gravity Break, but has a higher number of hits between its 3 stages (totalling 5 hits). It also more locks (3), higher ACC multiplier, and a much faster startup than Gravity Break. However, its hitbox is relatively narrow, and can miss enemies quite easily. It also moves the player a bit forward, which further increases its hitbox problem, by going right past enemies. This makes lining up the attack against groups smuch more difficult, and requires a lot of practice to use properly. Remember to hold L to auto-track enemies!

Tornado Break: Has a much quicker start-up than the other photon arts, and costs much less PP. It also has 5-locks, which makes it better against large groups and bosses. Also, Stage 3 has a large knockdown, which works quite well when surrounded. However, its damage multiplier is lower than that of Spinning Break and Gravity Break, and it only deals 1 hit per enemy (3 hits between its 3 stages), which means its significantly worse against groups sizing 2 or 3, or a large enemy with one-lock.

Axes

Axes have a similarly wide swing to Swords, but are much slower and has 2 lock instead of 4. So what does Axes have? Well, each Square is 2 hits (for 2hit -> 2 hit -> 2 hit), making it better at chaining. The 2nd hits on each swing also has a massive knockdown, which makes chaining quite safe against many enemies. Axes also has the highest inherent ATK, which makes it a prime choice for chain-breaking. However, Axes generally have low ACC, and may require a Rebirth or two to work well on some Races. The slow attack speed is compensated by the knockdown at close-range, but it's a detriment in situations where the player is unable to knock the enemies down, such as groups of long-range enemies, or boosted enemies that cannot be knocked down.

Double Sabers

Double Sabers has lower ATK compared to the other two-handed weapons, but it has a wide range, good chain count (2 hit -> 1 hit -> 3 hit), and can hit a large amount of enemies (4 lock). This makes Double Sabers very good at putting chains on large groups.

Spears

Spears have a fairly long range, attacks quite quickly, and has higher ACC than other two-handed weapons. However, its range is very narrow, making it difficult to hit groups of enemies. Its chain count (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit) is quite poor as well. It should also be noted that its Square Stage 3 recovers PP faster than its other hits, but has a long hitlag, meaning it should be used for PP recovery but not while chaining.

A pair of twin weapons

Twin Weapons are generally notable for high hit count, and high attack speed. Their ATK is usually lower than that of two-handed weapons. While their Square damage is generally as good or better due to having more hits than the two-handeds, their Photon Arts damage can often be a bit lacking in comparison. In general, it's a good idea to pack some twin weapons to quickly put chains on enemies, and use their Photon Arts dependent on the situation.

Knuckles

Knuckles have very fast attack speed and very short hitlag, which allows Knuckles to weave in Guarding almost seemlessly. With some practice, Guarding and Perfect Guarding with knuckles can allow the player to mitigate lots of damage. Knuckles' damage can also be improved via Perfect Counter after triggering a Perfect Guard. However, Knuckles' range is quite short, and its chaining ability is a bit poor for a fast weapon (2 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit). It's recommended to animation cancel using Guard after the 1st Square in order to use Stage 1 repeatedly, as that stage is better than the other two.

Twin Sabers

Twin Sabers is the simple one out of the twin weapons family. It has good ATK and ACC (about average, relative to the other twin-s), decent attacking speed, decent chain count (1 hit -> 2 hit -> 3 hit), average range (both length and width). However, Twin Sabers only has 1 lock inherently, which makes them worse for chaining groups. And since the chain count relies more on later stages, the player needs to finish all 3 stages for max chains, which can be a huge ask in some situations.

Twin Daggers

Twin Daggers have the highest chain count of any Melee weapon (2 hit -> 2 hit -> 3 hit), along with a high attack speed and small hit lag. These combined makes Twin Daggers the best chaining melee weapon in the game. It also has high ACC which helps attacks connect, which is especially helpful for Races with low base ACC. Twin Daggers does have low ATK, but it's compensated by the high hit count on both Square and its Photon Arts. However, it has short range both in length and width, and requires the player to be right up to an enemy, which means the player needs to spend more time repositioning, and can be an issue in many situations.

Twin Claws

Twin Claws shares many similarities with Twin Sabers: they have similar ranges and similar attack speeds, and the same weakness against chaining groups. Twin Claws have higher ATK than Twin Sabers, but it has a more difficult Perfect Attack timing, and a longer hitlag, which makes it slightly more difficult to use. Note that male characters have 1 less hit in its basic combo than female characters (Male: 1 hit -> 1 hit -> 3 hits; Female: 1 hit -> 2 hits -> 3 hits, same as Twin Sabers). While male character can still utilize Twin Claws just fine with one less hit, it does become a harder sale compared to Twin Sabers.

One-handed weapon with decent ATK

Single Hands don't really have the chain count of twin weapons, or the damage output of two-handed weapons. However, the freed up left hand slot allows for more versatility with Ranged Weapons and Tech-Mags, and single hands generally have a much better PP recovery rate than the other weapons. Use as you see fit.

Saber

Sabers are the basic vanilla of one-handed melees. It has decent ATK, decent ACC, a basic combo (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit), meaning it's decent, but also nothing special. It also does not have a category bonus, which compares unfavorably to other one-handed weapons. Similar to Swords, Sabers are notable for being easily accessible: there are ELEVEN sabers accessible via Downable content, 3 accessible via Visiphone Passwords, and even more via Trading Missions. These Sabers cover a wide range of levels, which is quite a huge headstart, even if it doesn't contain best in slot weapons like Swords do.

Dagger

Daggers is the fastest one out of the single-hands. Unlike all other single-handed melee weapons, it has a 2 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit combo, which, combined with its faster attack speed and smaller hit lag, makes it the best chaining weapon out of the bunch. Daggers also has inherently high ACC, as well as a category bonus to ACC, which is a big help to making your attack hits, and potentially boost the damage of your left hand ranged weapons. However, much like Twin Daggers, Daggers' range is small, which requires the player to up close to enemies. Combined with the fact that Daggers cannot Guard without using Shields, makes Daggers a potentially risky choice to use.

Claw

Claws is the high damage one out of the single-hands. Claws have inherently big ATK, and a category bonus to ATK, allowing it to push some large damage values. Its range is similar to Sabers, but it's a little bit slower and has a different timing.

Whips

Whips is one of the few weapons with inherent 5 lock. Combined with its relatively long range, allows Whips to perform well against groups of enemies from a distance. However, Whips have very low ATK, low attack speed, and low chain count (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit). This means they are very poor against single targets, and they are inferior to other group options at close range (Double Sabers or even Swords, for example), making their usefulness somewhat questionable. Many Whips also has a high Status Effects level and a relatively high Status Effects infliction rate. This aspect of whips is hindered due to its slow attack speed, each swing being only 1 hit, and that the rates are still not high enough to apply reliably.

Whips also have a category bonus to TEC...which affects Tech-Mags, Cards, R-Mags, and nothing else. Yeahhhhhhhhh. Recall that Cards and R-Mags' effective ATK is calculated by (TEC + ACC)/2, meaning that the boost is effectively halved. Meanwhile, the Tech-Mags' TEC score is so low you shouldn't be using it for damage anyway, so a TEC boost to it is moot.

Note that Whips consume more Total Extend Points than other single-hands, for some reason.

Slicers

Slicers is a long-range melee weapon with built-in piercing. Its attack speed is decent, and its chain count is about on par with other single-handed wepaons (1 hit -> 1 hit -> 1 hit), which is to say it's not great. However, since Slicers are long-range, it provides a valuable alternative to Ranged weapons for hunters. While Slicers does not necessarily chain as well as some Ranged weapons (Twin Handguns, for example), Slicers recover a fair bit of PP instead of consuming PP, and its Photon Arts is a better damage option than Charge Shots are.

Note that Slicers consume more Total Extend Points than other single-hands, for some reason.

Other Considerations

Since Hunters spend a lot of time running around, so it would be nice to have something to do before or while moving.

Ranged Weapons

Rifles

Rifles have very long range, and a high ACC score, which allows even a Hunter to connect Ranged attacks from a long distance away. It also has access to FPS mode, which allows the player to use Rifles for various utilities.

However, Rifles' chaining capabilities isn't great, which means it's a bit lacking as a conventional weapon, and more of just something to do while you are a distance away. Unfortunately, Rifles can't shoot while strafing either, which hampers its utility in that purpose a little bit. Also, Rifles costs double the normal amount of Extend Points, which can be a big issue at lower Type Levels.

Handguns

Handguns function similar to Rifles, but they are left-handed and a bit shorter. This allows combining them with single-handed melee weapons for various versatility. Handguns can be used while strafing, and also has access to FPS mode, providing a good amount of utility. Handguns have a category bonus to ACC as well, which helps your right hand weapon connect easier. Combine with Daggers to further the boost both the Handgun's damage as well as the Dagger's accuracy. Handguns' Charge Shot II also provides healing to both the player and any allies the shot came into contact with, making it a good alternative to Charge Shot I, if you aren't planning to use the Handgun to chainbreak. Do note that the recovery from Handgun CS2 is middling, and is good for a pinch heal, but not good enough to replace Resta entirely.

Twin Handguns

Twin Handguns is a great option for chaining from a distance. It is also capable of shooting while strafing. However, Twin Handguns have relatively lower ACC, which makes connecting attacks more difficult if the Twin Handguns used isn't quite up to level. Since Twin Handguns costs more Extend Points than normal, this can be a common occurence for lower type level Hunters.

Machine Guns

Machine Guns have very low ACC, and consumes a ton of PP. Sure, it gets you chain decently quickly. If the hits actually connects. And if you have the pp to captialize on it afterwards. In other words, normally, it's pretty useless for Hunters.

The big game changer, though, is Meseta Fever. Meseta Fever allows the Machine Guns to fire without consuming PP, meaning the player can utilize its chain ability to the fullest, as well as use it during PP recharging downtime. It is also capable of shooting while strafing, which provides additional utility for the player.

Unfortunately, even Meseta Fever doesn't fix the Accuracy issue, so it's a better idea to try Machine Guns after getting ACC from Rebirth.

R-Mags

R-Mags fires automatically, which means it adds chains for free every few seconds. Free chains without player input is always welcome, and R-Mags also provides a category bonus to ATK, adding more damage to the paired right handed melee weapon. However, R-Mags generally have low stats, and their damage is calculated using TEC and ACC, both of which are Hunter's weaknesses. The damage from a R-Mag can be quite low, and it can't provide chains if it only deals 0. Using R-Mags also removes the ability to Guard, which can be an issue for some playstyles.

Quick shoutout to the line of R-Mags that doesn't fire but adds a lot of stats instead. Those can be decent at times (although I haven't quite figured out what I want to use them for).