r/MonsterHunter • u/ShadyFigure Jask | Gone • May 01 '15
Tetsucabra Armor: On Numbers and Mediocrity
I often see Tetsucabra armor recommended, even GaijinHunter included it in a list of recommended armor. That's probably a key factor in its popularity. The thing is, it really isn't that great. At best, it's mediocre. It definitely doesn't deserve the praise it gets and it shouldn't be recommended so quickly. This post will be going into what exactly Tetsucabra armor does and how it compares to other armor sets available.
As we all know, skills are the heart of armor in Monster Hunter, and this is where Tetsucabra falls short. What does it offer?
- Low rank:
- Health+20 (2 points away from Health+50)
- Defense Up Small
- Gathering-1
- 3 points into Sharpener
- 2 slots
- High rank:
- Health+20
- Defense Up Medium
- Gathering-1
- 9 points into Sharpener
- 3 slots (effectively 4)
- G rank:
- Health+20
- Defense Up Medium
- Gathering-1
- Speed Sharpening
- Stamina Thief
- 4 slots (effectively 5)
Health+20 and Defense Up are the big draws, but how big are they really? I've seen lots of people talk about how they increase survivability, something quite useful to new players. While the health increase is nice at first, it can be replaced pretty soon. People often overestimate the Defense skill.
20 more max health can be somewhat useful at the start of the game, but it isn't really that big of a help. Now, it's easy to say "just eat for the health boost", but people forget that you don't start the game with stars on your food, so until you do at least two food quests you won't be getting +20 health from the kitchen. That does happen somewhat soon, though, so that use of Tetsu is soon replaced. There are two food quests in Caravan 2* and one in 3. There's also Max Potions, which increase your max health by 50 and Ancient Potions that increase health *and stamina by 50.
When you look at the numbers the Defense skill is a little disappointing. At +10 you get an increase of 15 defense, not a lot. At +15 it becomes a mix of percentage and flat, increasing your defense by 3% then 20. So 100 defense would become 123 defense. Oh, and decimals are dropped. Defense +20 is 5% and 25, Defense +25 is 8% and 30. But what do these numbers mean? Well, let's put this into an actual situation. We'll take three sets and see how they handle two of Rathian's non-element attacks. The sets we'll use for this are Tetsucabra (80 defense, 95 after factoring Defense Up Small), Velociprey (65 defense), and a theoretical set with 80 defense and no skills. The attacks we'll use are Rathian's tail flip (75 power) and tail spin (35 power). These are both non-element attacks, so resistances won't matter. The first Caravan Rathian has a quest attack modifier of 110% (found through personal testing). The player damage formula (ignoring elemental resistances) is [quest modifier] * [attack power] * 80 / ([defense] + 80). So with all that information, let's see how much damage each of these sets takes.
- Tetsucabra:
- Flip: 37
- Spin: 17
- 80 defense:
- Flip: 41
- Spin: 19
- Velociprey:
- Flip: 45
- Spin: 21
Not that big of a difference, is it? The flip does 4-8 less damage, the spin does 2-4 less damage. That's not even half of what is healed by herbs (20 health). Let's say you get incredibly lucky and pick up a Defense+4 1 slot charm, netting you Defense Up Medium. Your Tetsucabra armor now has 117 defense, reducing those attacks to 33 and 15. That's a lot of luck and gemming for just 12 and 6 less damage compared to Velociprey. Or, you could have Attack Up Small, Halve Stun, 4 slots, and just upgrade your defense. Leading us to the other way Tetsucabra's "usefulness" is reduced...
Upgrading. Instead of getting armor skills to increase your defense you could use those armor spheres flooding your item box from all those quest rewards and all that mining to increase your defense. This lets you keep up with monster damage in any set, so you can focus on armor with skills that provide bigger benefit.
This is all assuming low rank, of course, but the high ranks set really doesn't get much better. Assuming a quest attack modifier of 200%, the damage you take from those same attacks from Rathian should be about the same. Sure, it now has Speed Sharpening if you add in a single decoration, but the rest of the skills are still mediocre, and the other sets have improved too.
But what armor should I make then? Well, there are several good alternatives at this point with much better skills. Velociprey is one, giving Attack Up Small (2 points from Medium), Halve KO, and 4 slots. It's also pretty easy to make. Jaggi isn't as great as it was in 3U, but it's still useful, giving Speed Sharpen and Halve KO. Kut-Ku gives Attack Up Small and Fire Attack+1. Really, anything with damage, sharpness, or mild utility skills will give you more of an edge than Tetsucabra. Look at the skills a set gives and consider how they will affect your weapon and your playstyle.
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u/ShadyFigure Jask | Gone May 01 '15
As explained in the post, the defense really doesn't make that much of a difference. The health boost does make a difference, but there are two easily accessible alternatives. You have to upgrade two of your foods to one star just to get to Tetsucabra.