That’s kinda how it came across. The head was a pretty obvious one. The monsters at this point aren’t “that” big yet so it all blends right now.
I’ll have to start working on all the items and how they work in battle.
Also thanks @CDB2 for the Defender heads up. I wouldn’t have thought about it at the start of the game. .
No problem.
The Defender weapons were put into the game to fast track new players on to ICEBORNE.
I’ll give it another week before I decide to get the DLC. I haven’t really gotten a solid play session yet (30 - 40 minutes at a time over 3 days).
I also want to try a few other weapons out. Charge Blade seems to be where it’s at for me at the moment. Remembering to store energy before the blade goes red keeps me thinking.
Charge up the sword and shield . . . . PROCEED TO KILL EVERYTHING!
Chad Blade is best blade!!!
Hammer and Great Sword also give off that 'buss ass", grown man damage when it comes to melee!!
LBG and HBG are my preferred ranged weapons. You’ll love those when fighting Kushala and the Raths.
Is your loadout only available before the quest? I haven’t really tried to switch anything up yet in battle. I just figured it was that way because Capcom.
You can change equipment and saved loudouts at any camp
While I was in expedition mode, I was fighting Anjanath when I heard another roar in my surround setup. A Rathian decides to drop in. I was doing “alright”, but no need to be stupid and equipped a dung pod. Then Tobi-Kadachi entered the fray. Didn’t use the pod, equipped that cloak thing and I let them do their thing. Profited from the clean-up.
Charge Blade seems to be the weapon I am still most connected to. Learning how to properly space things out has significantly improved me taking these things out. On a second run, that Rathian was all broken before he was done.
My next move is to get more material to build out tranq bombs. I see the mushrooms a lot, but that sleep herb seems to be elusive.
“She,” Rathians are the females of the species.
Take some time to upgrade your Botanical Garden/Harvest Box.
If you do you can pretty much grow everything you need.
Ha, forgot that it says “Queen of the Land” in the field guide.
I guess I’m not there yet. I assume as I progress I’d have the ability to harvest mushrooms. I got honey, herbs, the shroom for the antidote, bitterbug.
Wait until you unlock the botanical garden. That changes everything
I highly recommend, if you haven’t already, spending time on an expedition and just going around and learning where all the gatherables are and in some cases routes and stuff. Don’t need to do it all at once but map knowledge can come in handy. And any gather points that are permanent (most of them) stay on your map
Yeah, I had a brush with death last night after I took out that Rathian. It was at it’s nest and saw one of the eggs and picked it up. Daddy wasn’t happy to see me when he got back 
Knowing the route back to camp is essential.
Here some info about the Botanical Garden:
It still relevant for newer players to the base game.
I’ve used the farm for a few things. I just got the trigger to open up more slots.
Main Additions / Changes
- General
- Kulve Taroth has been added to master rank.
- Arch-tempered Namielle quest has been added.
- Both are available as event quests for a limited time.
- System
- Increased the number of weapons that can use the layered weapon feature.
- Increased the number of bases/parts for layered weapons.
- Appraisal weapons can now be upgraded at the Smithy.
- Appraisal weapons can now be created at the Elder Melder.
- New Pendants added.
- Obtained Item Placement option added to the Options menu.
- Miscellaneous
- Appraisal weapons are now easier to obtain from the Kulve Taroth siege.
- Incandescent Weapons now produce higher rarity weapons more easily.
- The following charms have been added: Attack Charm V and Evasion Charm V.
Patiently waiting for MR Kulve tonight…my goodness this is so agonizing.
Edit: I’m so glad that I grinded Kulve seige so much that I have basically every single weapon that I needed and then some more. Even weapons I don’t care about, so I’m good. Just going to grind 24/7 on MR Kulve so that I can finalize everything.
Lastly, does anyone know the stats on the new Kulve sets?
So apparently MR Glutton is trash, with only 330 inflated raw (220 tRaw).
Looks like I’m just farming this for the armor since they gave it actual physics (and a size increase).