MH4U! My Mixed Armor Sets! Set #8! Heat Source!

Heat Source! This is a my fire elemental mixed armor set that's sure to do justice against monsters susceptible to fire. I like to use this armor set for speedy melee weapons such as the SnS, preferably the Annular Sol or use fire relic DBs that have an enormous amount of purple sharpness when paired with Sharpness +1 or Honed Blade.

*Purple sharpness weapons give out the most bonus damage to elemental attacks, a multiplier of 1.2, so yeah, you're doing 20% more damage with your elemental attacks.*

I like the fact that the armor comes in a nice fiery red color, it just matches the way it looks and how it works. The reason why I made this set is because I hunt a lot of Chameleos and I thought to myself, why not make a set that exploits his fire weakness and tadah!! Heat Source was born! This set does need an Edgemaster +4 relic chest piece so search your inventory thoroughly because you might have one unnoticed. Okay, on to the set itself and what other armor pieces it needs!

The armor pieces and talisman are:

White Fatalis Head - ---
Esurient Armor - Edgemaster +4
Silver SolBraces Z - OO
Silver SolCoil Z - OO
Rathalos Greaves X - O
Miracle Charm - Sharpness +7 OOO

Since it's made out of rarity 9-10 armor pieces, it's got top tier defense ratings.
Maxed out Defense = 754 (No armor talon/charm)

Elemental Resistance:

Fire +5
Water -12
Thunder -10
Ice -2
Dragon +0

Nothing too alarming in terms of elemental resistances, nothing above -20 so it's all good and manageable. A heavy water or thunder attack may hurt a lot but it'll still leave you in one piece.

Decorations needed:

Fire Attack +3 Jewel x2
Fire Attack +1 Jewel x1
Expert +1 Jewel x2
Sharpness +1 Jewel x1

Skills activated:

Honed Blade (10)
Razor Sharp (10)
Fire Atk +3 (20)
Critical Eye +1 (10)

Honed Blade is probably the best blademaster skill out there for weapons that need Sharpness +1, not only does it boost the sharpness bar by one level it also gives Attack Up L! I put in Razor Sharp to get more out of the purple bar and maximize the elemental damage output and to top it off, it has Fire Atk +3!

Fire Atk +3 gives a massive boost to fire elemental weapons! An Annular Sol that has 350 fire will become 490! Elemental damage at those amounts for a speedy weapon is absurd and just think about what high element relics can do, it's just evil I tell you.

The Critical Eye +1 is a bonus feature because the set gives +8 expert and it has a couple of free slots to gem in some expert decorations. Extra offensive skills are always welcomed!

If you haven't tried some heavy elemental damaging blademaster set, then give this one a go, it might give a liking to your taste. Give it an honest try and I promise you, you'll have a lot of fun hunting with Heat Source.

Thank you for checking out my mix sets and have fun doing yours. Happy hunting!

MH4U: My Top 5 Non-Relic Switch Axes! (SA)

1. Ceadeed Axe

This has got to be one of the best, if the not the best craftable switch axe you could ever get. Just look at the those stats, high raw paired with element and a good dose of affinity and defense? topped off with purple sharpness with Sharpness +1? This is madness! Oh yeah it's a power phial switch axe so you're going to do tons of damage whatever mode you're using. The materials needed to make this switch axe comes from Chaotic Gore Magala and you have to trade them to the Wycoon for the Ceadeus parts so good luck getting the materials!

• Attack - 1566 Power Phial
• True Attack - 290
• Element - 330 Water
• Affinity - +15%
• Sharpness - 10 Hits with white or 30 hits of purple with Sharpness +1
• Defense - +20
• Slots - None
• Rarity - 10

2. Nether Excellion

This is my favorite thunder switch axe to use because of its good overall stats and it makes hunting monsters weak to thunder all the while easier. It's got impressive sharpness with a bit of affinity too and being an element phial switch axe, it boosts its thunder element during sword mode. It does need a lot of different materials to make such as Critical Brachydios parts, A Zinogre Skymerald and a good amount of Kirin Finehide but once crafted, it's all worth it.

• Attack - 1512 Element Phial
• True Attack - 280
• Element - 360 Thunder
• Affinity - +10%
• Sharpness - 180 Hits with white or 60 hits of purple with Sharpness +1
• Defense - +0
• Slots - One Slot
• Rarity - 10

3. Stygian Vanagloria

If you're having trouble against monsters weak to dragon and you're finding yourself in bit of a situation finding a good switch axe to fight them, then this is the answer to your problem. The Stygian Vanagloria is a high raw power phial switch axe that has a nice touch of dragon element. This is a good dragon switch axe that is easy to create and access early on because the parts needed aren't that demanding and it's worth the effort of going through Stygian Zinogre a couple of times just to get his skymerald.

• Attack - 1512 Power Phial
• True Attack - 280
• Element - 350 Dragon
• Affinity - 0%
• Sharpness - 90 Hits with white or 40 hits of purple with Sharpness +1
• Defense - +0
• Slots - None
• Rarity - 9

4. Doomaxe "Downpour"

The Devil/Savage Jho switch axe has got to be the most impressive looking switch axe that MH4U has to offer. If you look at it closely you'll see it pulsating with pure power and boy does it look intimidating. It has an absurd amount of raw and if you add in the skill Sharpness +1? Just look at that purple sharpness, come on, that is a lot! Also, you don't need to awaken the element it has since it's a dragon phial switch axe, but if it does bug you, then why not put in some Awaken right?

• Attack - 1620 Dragon Phial
• True Attack - 300
• Element - 180 Dragon
• Affinity - -10%
• Sharpness - 10 Hits with purple or 120 hits of purple with Sharpness +1
• Defense - +0
• Slots - One Slot
• Rarity - 10

5. Azure Straybloom

The Azure Rathalos switch axe is a good poison heavy weapon that has well balanced stats. If a monster is susceptible to poison and you're good at applying pressure and you're keeping the monster poisoned through out the hunt, then it's gonna be an easy ride for you. To make this weapon, you need to work your way from the Dragonmaiden Axe and upgrade from there. The materials aren't that hard to get but you do need to battle different monsters such as Pink Rathian, Azure Rathalos and Chameleos.

• Attack - 1512
• True Attack - 280
• Element - 400 Poison
• Affinity - 0%
• Sharpness - 40 Hits with white or 30 hits of purple with Sharpness +1
• Defense - +0
• Slots - Two Slots
• Rarity - 9

*Do note that the attack values here are the original values they started off with, they aren't honed with attack.

There you have MY top 5 non-relic Switch Axes! If you like a switch axe that isn't on this list, don't fret! We all have our own taste in weapons, some look at the stats whilst some look at the aesthetics. If you like a switch axe that you think is really good, then go and craft that, don't limit yourself to my list, the choice is always yours to make. 

If you're having trouble knowing what kind of stats a good switch axe should have then you could use my list to help you decide on that. Have fun as always!

Thanks for reading and happy hunting!