In-Depth Powderstone FAQ FAQ written by Yedokai, Copyright 2004 Originally created on November 20, 2004 Version: 1.3 Update Information: v.1.3 February 22, 2002 - Changed "R3 signal" to the correct "L3 signal" V.1.2 December 1, 2004 - Added "Whoops!" section Contents 1) Introduction 2) Preparing for Powderstone 3) Preparing for the Run 4) The Run 5) Whoops! 6) Top 5 Reasons to Become an Expert Powderstoner 7) Credit 8) Contact and Copyright 1) Introduction One of the most-feared online missions in Monster Hunter is the Powderstone mission. Most people hate it. They won't do it unless they really need to, and once it's marked as cleared on their list they'll never touch it again. Even Hunters with Rank 20 abhor it. So, Powderstone must be really tough, right? Wrong. The fact is, most players do poorly at Powderstone because it can't be defeated with mindless brute force. Your Red Dragonsword and full Auroros armor don't mean a thing in this mission. Sorry kids, but you're going to have to use your brains on this one. Additionally, even if you know how to do Powderstone, it can be difficult to find 3 accomplices that are also up to snuff and won't let you down. It's very difficult to try to explain something to someone else online in Monster Hunter, especially when players are impatient and want to go-go-go. That's why I'm writing this FAQ. Players with Powderstone difficulties can read this FAQ and understand how the mission should be done, and players who already know how to do it can refer other players to this FAQ instead of wasting 10 minutes explaining the finer details. Hopefully this FAQ will help at least a handful of people. 2) Preparing for Powderstone. Alright, so you've decided to try Powderstone out. Good for you. You'll need to prep first. Here's what you'll ideally want for the mission to be a smooth success: - 4 players; 3 will be "Runners" and 1 will be a "Guard"(more on this later) - 1 Mega Juice for each Runner - 5 Flashbombs for the Guard - 3 Cold Drinks for everyone - 1 Paintball That's it! 3) Preparing for the Run In the Powderstone mission, your goal is to move 3 Powderstones from one end of the map to the other. This act is referred to as "The Run." There are a few things you need to do to prepare for the Run though. The plan is to carry the Powderstone from Zone 8 to your base. The path will be: 8 --> 7 --> 6 --> 4 --> 1 --> Base Now, if a monster attacks you while you have a Powderstone, you'll drop it and have to start over. That's bad news. So, our first goal is to kill all monsters in the areas we'll be walking through to make our travels easier. Zone 8 doesn't have any monsters in it, so it's clear. Zone 6 has some Apceros dinosaurs in it. They're easy enough to get rid of, so do so. Now it's clear. Did you know that when a Powderstone is first picked up, new monsters appear in Zone 7 and Zone 1? For this reason, someone needs to go to Zone 8, pick up an Powderstone, and drop it as soon as possible after you start the quest. This will make the new monsters appear, and once they appear, you can kill them. After dropping the Powderstone, Zone 7 will be filled with Vespoid and Ioprey. Take them out to clear the zone. Similarly, Zone 1 will be filled with Bullfango. Killing them will clear the zone. Zone 4 is all that's left, but it's a problem area. No matter how many monsters you kill, more will keep coming, so we can't clear it. Don't worry about this for now. So, we need to clear Zones 7, 6, and 1. Here's the most efficient way to do this by giving each person on your team specific orders: Player 1 - Goes to Zone 8 and drops the Powderstone, then starts to clear Zone 7. Player 2 - Goes to Zone 6 and clears it, then helps player 1 with Zone 7. Player 3 & 4 - Wait until the Powderstone has been dropped(at which time Player 1 should signal with the L3 signal) and then go to Zone 1 and clear the Bullfango. 2 players are used here because Bullfango can be a pain. When Zone 1 is clear, they should go help with Zone 7. Also, along the way someone might run into a wyvern. It's a good idea to throw a Paintball at the wyvern to keep track of it, though it's not absolutely necessary. So, all the zones are clear. Time to Run! 4) The Run Everyone should gather in Zone 8. Before commencing, everyone should take a Cool Drink to make sure their old one doesn't wear out during the Run, which can cause panic and confusion. A Runner's job is to carry a Powderstone to the red box in your home area, and a Guard's job is to protect the Runners. So, in more detail, let's break the jobs down: Guard - The most important job. A good Guard can make up for the presence of terrible Runners, and a poor Guard will jeapardize the entire team's success. Use teamwork and don't try to show off. The Runners are counting on your for their safety. The Guard enters every zone first while the Runners wait in the previous zone. When it is safe to enter the zone, he uses the L3 signal to let them know they should proceed. There are 2 requirements for a safe zone. First of all, if there is a wyvern, he must not be too close to the entrance where the Runners will appear. The Guard will need to judge this himself. Second of all, and more importantly, the Guard must allow the wyvern to see him. You see, when a wyvern first notices that a hunter is near, it will let out a roar. This roar will cause Runners to drop their Powderstones. For this reason, it's important to make sure the wyvern sees you and roars before you allow your Runners to enter. Once these requirements are both met, signal the Runners. Of course, if there is no wyvern in the zone, he should just signal the Runners to proceed. If a wyvern is in the zone that the Runners are in, it is important to do your best to keep it from harming them. There is no flawless way to do this, and the Runners will have to do a few things(which I'll talk about later) to fend for themselves, but you can help. First of all, simply being in the same zone as the Runners gives the wyvern an extra target to think about. This is good! Now instead of the wyvern always dashing after a Runner, there's a 1/4 chance that it will dash towards the Guard. If you have a very strong weapon, it is possible to "stun" the wyvern. However, from what I've seen, this doesn't work very well, and it hinders the Guard's ability to keep up with the Runners if he is fighting a wyvern. Don't do this! If the wyvern seems like it will be causing trouble, use some of your Flashbombs on it. To properly use a Flashbomb, don't throw it straight at the wyvern. Throw it so it will explode somewhere in front of the wyvern. Flashbombs can only work if the wyvern can see them, so make sure they land in front of him. I wouldn't recommend using more than 3 Flashbombs in this manner. Aditionally, with good Runners, the wyvern won't pose any threat and this will be unnecessary anyway. Above all else, it's important to remember that simply fighting a wyvern does nothing to "distract it" and nothing to protect your Runners. When the Runners reach the end of Zone 6 and are ready to enter Zone 4, as always the Guard enters first. However, we know what to expect; there won't be any wyverns, and there will be a gang of Ioprey waiting. Signal for the Runners to enter. It is important that the Runners enter as soon as they hear the signal so that they can all enter at the same time. About 2-4 seconds after the Guard gives the signal he should throw a Flashbomb towards the middle of the room. After a few seconds of walking forwards, he should throw a second Flashbomb. The reason that the Guard has to do things EXACTLY like this is because of the strange way that enemies work in Monster Hunter. To make it short, if the Guard throws the Flashbomb before the Runners enter the area, the Guard's monsters will be dizzy, but when the Runners enter, the monsters they see will NOT be dizzy. Basically, if the Runners don't see the Flashbomb go off, it never happened. This can be hard to wrap your mind around for some players, and it's not the easiest thing to explain either, but don't worry about it. Just do it. It's possible that there may be an Ioprey that doesn't get stunned. No worries. The Guard should attack this Ioprey to keep it busy, making sure that he does not bump any of his Runners. Once the Runners all make it to Zone 1, the job of a Guard is almost done. All that's left to do is congratulate them on a job well-done like a good Guard should. Now, the job of a Runner can be tricky for some people. In actuality, it's probably more difficult for players to learn to do properly than the job of a Guard. Still, you can do it. Runners will follow their Cool Drinks with a drink of Mega Juice. This will give them infinite stamina for some time - more than enough time for the Run. Now they'll pick up their Powderstones and book it towards the home area. Remember, you should always be running, and with infinite stamina, you won't have to worry about accidentally dropping the Powderstone. The main skill that a Runner needs to be able to perform is moving the camera while running. It's not as hard as it sounds. Here's how to do it: A typical player will hold the controller with their left index finger on the L1 button and their thumb on the left analog stick. Instead, we want to move that index finger down to the directional pad. To hold the controller properly while doing this maneuver, you'll need to change the way you hold the controller with your left hand. Keep the right hand the way you normally hold it. With the left hand, simply roll your index finger from the L1 button down to the directional pad. Don't lift your finger up; just roll it down the controller, curling your finger a bit more to reach the buttons. Your controller should be stabalized on the left side between your palm and the last three fingers of your hand. Normally your thumb will be pointing towards your right hand while holding the analong stick. When your hand is in the proper place, your thumb should instead be pointing towards the controller's cord, but this might not be exactly the case depending on the size of your hands. Now, you won't be pressing the directional pad with the tip of your finger. You'll be pressing it with the side of the tip of your finger. Practice doing this. All you'll need to do is rotate the camera left and right. Practice running in a variety of directions while rotating the camera. Remember, your movements don't have to be perfect. You have more than enough time and very little to worry about. Just a good feel for the system should be enough. So, why do you need to be able to perform this impossible and unnatural skill? Well, as it turns out, when you're running away from something, it helps to be able to see it. Apparently, when you see what something is doing, it's easier to react in the proper way. The thing you'll be reacting to is a wyvern. So, let's say there are two Runners. One has the camera behind them like normal. The other is running but has the camera turned behind them to see the wyvern. The wyvern makes a movement that indicates it is about to spit a fireball. Which Runner is more likely to be able to dodge the fireball? More to the point, which Runner knows the fireball even exists so that he can have the slightest chance of dodging it? Keeping your eye on the wyvern is vital. If it charges you, start moving to the side. If it shoots a fireball, you start moving to the side. Dodging a wyvern pretty much just means moving to the side a lot. Additionally, when moving, try to think ahead about where you will go if the wyvern charges you. Don't walk in the middle of a path; walk on the edge of it. That way you have more room to dodge should the wyvern run straight towards you. Should something go wrong in Zone 4, it can be a pain for Runnesr to avoid Ioprey. Still, it can be done. The best way to avoid Ioprey is to move in a zig-zag pattern. Alternate your zigs and zags about every second, and always keep moving in the general direction of the next zone. Hopefully you won't have to deal with this, but if you have the ability to make up for a Guard's mistake, all the more power to you as a Runner. ...and that's that! There's a lot to know, but the actual performance is pretty simple and straightforward. There's always the chance that something will go wrong or something unexpected might happen, but if you know these basic rules, you'll be able to handle almost any situation. Good luck! 5) Whoops! Not everyone will be an expert at Powderstone, and accidents happen. Don't get discouraged; you can still win! If one player drops a Powderstone during any part of the Run, they should go back and get a new one ALONE. The Guard and remaining Runners should stick together and follow the normal strategy. When both Runners reach Zone 1, the Guard should go assist the other Runner. The two Runners should also come to assist once they have delivered their Powderstones. Remember, simply being in the same zone as the last Runner will give all of the enemies there more targets to consider, so even if you have run out of Flashbombs, you can still help. Spread out. In Zone 4, try to attack Ioprey that aren't close to the Runner to help them out. With some nifty zigging and zagging, you'll have that last Powerstone in the box in no time. If two Runners happen to drop their stones, the Guard should not waste any Flashbombs; it's not worth it for just one Powderstone. Instead, everyone should help the remaining Runner get to the box(similar to the "last Runner" strategy above) before commencing a new Run. This new Run should still have 3 Runners, even though you only need 2; this will lower the odds of there being a need for a 3rd Run. 6) Top 5 Reasons to Become an Expert Powderstoner --5-- It will get you Commendations which you'll need for some fancy items. --4-- There are 3 Powderstone quests in the game, so you'll have to sometime. --3-- You can amaze players by doing such a "difficult" mission with ease. --2-- Hoping to get lucky will waste a lot of your time with failure. --1-- It's your first step towards being a man.(even if you're a woman) 7) Credit A special thanks goes out to every member of every group I've ever Powderstoned with. There are far too many individual players to actually remember or name every one, but because of you all I've been able to learn from both my mistakes and others about the tricks of Powderstoning. Thanks to Capcom for making such an innovative and great game, which will undoubtedly bloom into a barrage of sequels. Thanks to GameFAQs for always being there for gamers and giving me a place to house this FAQ. Thanks to Darthmdm25 for pointing out the fact that I wrote R3 signal instead of L3 signal. 8) Contact and Copyright Copyright - 2004 Yedokai If you find any problems with this guide or have comments, please contact me. My email address is onewingedsamurai@msn.com, or you can find me on Monster Hunter as 0neWing(that's a zero, not an Oh). This FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstance except for personal, private use. It may not be placed on any web site or otherwise distributed publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other web site or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.