MHW Attack Boost Guide & FAQ | Iceborne Updated

In this guide we will be talking about a popular armor skill in Monster Hunter World – Attack Boost.  Here’s a summary of what we will be tackling here:

• In-game description
• FAQ / Actual Mechanics
  • How much attack does it actually give? Does it scale per weapon?
  • Does it compound with Non-Elemental Boost?
  • How much DAMAGE or DPS increase can I expect?
• Summary and Discussion

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Attack Boost armor skill: in-game description

inb4 you close this page and laugh at “lol +3 attack”, please read on.

Attack Boost – FAQ & Mechanics

How much Attack/Damage does Attack Boost Give? Does Attack Boost scale differently per weapon? Yes. It differs per weapon. Here’s a chart of how it affect EACH WEAPON on EVERY LEVEL. Long story short it gives “3 True Raw damage MULTIPLIED by the weapons attack multiplier”. So it can be further condensed to, for actual mechanics sake, giving roughly “3 true raw damage per point”.

I tested this manually on every weapon adding one point at a time.

First of all – IT GIVES A DIFFERENT AMOUNT PER POINT PER WEAPON – as you can easily see in the averages on the rightmost column. Is this relevant? I’m going to go out on a limb and say NO, for a vast majority of cases these uneven bonuses don’t matter. I don’t know how or why this happens – but there it is. Notably, check out the Lance and Gunlance growth… It gets 1 less point at the 6th level of Attack Boost.

Does Attack Boost factor in the percentile growth of the Elementless Jewel (Non-elemental Boost armor skill / Set Bonus)? Does it compound? A definitive NO.

Elementless / Non-Elemental Boost adds ROUGHLY 5% TO YOUR WEAPONS BASE ATTACK, rounded to the nearest whole number “for the most part”.

How much DPS increase should I expect from attack boost? Okay this will be a vast simplification, but there is a way to determine this “roughly”. Each point of attack boost gives you 3 true raw damage. so for the vast majority of weapons attacks…

“Each point of attack boost adds anywhere from 0 to 1 damage,
depending on rounding (for a vast majority of attacks)”.

Attack Boost – Summary & Discussion

First of all, attack boost is a basic DPS skill that you can’t really be sad to have. It’s often a skill you try to add at least 4 points of if you can fit it.

TLDR: It’s mostly used as a filler skill. If you want it try to get 4 points.
Points 5 to 7 are a bit meh. 

And I want to repeat myself from the above, FOR MOST WEAPONS AND COMBOS, ATTACK BOOST GIVES ANYWHERE FROM 0 to 1 DAMAGE. If you wanna get specific, look up your weapon/combo motion values.

Attack Boost is also a lot better on weapons that have low raw power compared to their counterparts. Meaning, for example, adding attack boost to builds that use (let’s say) a Diablos weapon won’t be too good since adding a droplet of attack power is DILUTED, compared to a high affinity/sharpness low raw weapon.

Ultimately Attack Boost went cold in Iceborne – but it’s often misunderstood. It’s not trash, but its value varies WILDLY from build to build. But here’s a hot take – If you do less than 100 damage on your basic attacks, and adding an Attack Boost gives you 1 more damage, then it’s one of the best skills in the game.

Trust me, there’s a lot more to DPS and I can’t possibly mention it all on this guide, which focuses purely on the Attack Boost Skill – but hopefully coming here reduced your questions regarding it and it alone.

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