MINI-FAQs: MONSTER HUNTER 4 ULTIMATE PALICO GUIDE
Crossposted to Kiwi Farms.
All right, People, let's talk Palicos.
Lloyd, a Siamese-pattern Felyne Palico, rushing into combat.
Palicos are members of the Felyne and Melynx races; they are kitty-cat allies that work with your hunter in single-player and which act as helpers during your hunts. They help fight monsters, and depending on their skills, they can have a number of other abilities. By default you have one main Palico, who can be any of a number of colors and can be named; this Palico, sometimes called The Ace Palico, has sole custodianship of the Leadership forte. Other Palicos you acquire are randomly generated, with differing colors and patterns and fortes as well. You can re-name these other Palicos, so in time you can have a force group of Palicos named for the cast of Dark Souls (for example). You can have up to 2 Palicos at any given time on the field in single player - if your multiplayer team numbers 2 or less, you'll be allowed to bring Palicos along for the ride too, but only your mains.
The following are the initial Palico Fortes:
Fighting: These Palicos have the highest damage output in terms of raw offense, and will reliably out-damage even a Leadership Palico. Their focus is on offense, which they bring to the table by not only hitting really fucking hard, but boasting combo attacks, piercing boomerang strikes that can hit multiple times, and the ability to use Demon Horns to bolster the whole squad.
Stealing: These thieves learn well from their Melynx buddies, and are raging kleptomaniacs. Ranged fighters to a man, they use upgraded boomerangs to keep enemies at tail's length before moving in to attempt to steal valuables. These guys are a godsend when fighting opponents and looking for rare materials, since they'll happily pilfer an extra Scale or something from big monsters. If they pull off a grab for a rare item like a Wyvern Gem, they've saved you a buttload of work, so consider them.
Treasure: These guys are the Barbara Chandlers of the Palico line. ALL FOR THE HOARD. They're essentially incapable of fighting and focus everything on gathering goodies from resource cache points. These guys pay for themselves on Expeditions, where rare items can be worth their weight in gold and then some. They suck balls at fighting, though, so avoid using them if you need a Palico that can actually get shit done.
Healing: These are the Palicos most-likely to keep your ass alive. They provide vital healing abilities and can keep both you and other Palicos in the fight way longer than anyone else. The fact that they can heal you means that they can potentially keep down how often you'll need Potions and Mega Potions, and statistically they're average fighters to boot, which makes them arguably the most useful Palico around.
Bomber: These Palico Grenadiers throw explosives and excel at battlefield disruption. They can set barrel bombs on allied Shock Traps (Whether set by you or by an allied Support Palico), and will cheerfully chuck Barrel Bomb S at opponents to disrupt and damage them. Upgraded ones can chuck elemental bombs and even lace their grenades with Felvyne to incite their Felyne and Melynx brothers to attack their targets by roving in angry packs like a gang of 1920s Irish immigrants dealing with abuses by the police.
Support: These guys are simple, but have some great abilities - they can set Shock Traps, they can tell a monster's health/stamina levels, they can determine where a monster's going, and they're competent fighters, too. All of this on a Palico that works purr-fectly with Bomber Palicos, thieves, and even Fighters - they make every Palico class better.
When you get far enough, three new Palico Fortes become available:
Launcher: These flying kitty specialists excel at helping you mount monsters. Succeed at a mount? They'll blow horns to increase your bar buildup and even catch you if you get thrown. Their attacks wear down monsters to make them mountable (like a jump attack), and they can even act as a springboard to launch yourself high into the air - devastating when used with a Great Sword or Hammer. Their role is very specialized, but they excel at it and can be quite useful for many builds, and they're stronger than many Palicos. Worth using.
Protection: The tanks of the Palico World, these guys have statistically the highest defense and HP of any Palico type. At high levels, seeing them with a defense substantially higher than the Hunter they're backing is not unheard of. Their role is to draw enemy fire and keep the attention of monsters squarely away from friends and entirely on them. This makes them a godsend when fighting assholes like Steve or Deviljho, and better still, they're the only Palico who can block, a-la you with a Sword and Shield or Charge Blade. They sometimes blow horns to boost your defense, and those of other allies.
Stamina: A rare prize, easy to underestimate. Stamina Palicos focus on exhausting enemies and bolstering the party. If you're a defensive fighter, one of these kitties can be a godsend, though the competition between whether a Stamina or Healing Palico is better for a defensive fighter will rage endlessly if allowed (the correct answer is both, as I'll get into during the Leadership Palico explanation). They also are the only non-leader Palico that gets Grudge (which boosts their skill rate).
Fear the Leadership Palico with 5 Bomber Fortes as First Stringers...
The Leadership Palico Forte is unique. His stats are all above-average, with no weaknesses. It has no forte skills and seems, other than its basic default abilities (a weak horn it can play, the ability to wake up allies and teammates, slap slacking Palicos and fighting better than every Palico shy of a Fighter-type) means that they don't seem all that impressive. This is because the Leader Palico is customizable. By assigning multiple Palicos of a given Forte to his wing as First Stringers, The leadership Palico can use their abilities. This means you can essentially kit him out as you see fit. The following is a list of what each Palico Forte offers for the Leadership Forte:
Fighting:
2 Fighting Palicos: Demon Horn
3 Fighting Palicos: Piercing Boomerang
4 Fighting Palicos: True Demon Horn
5 Fighting Palicos: Felyne Fury Combo+
Stealing:
2 Stealing Palicos: Mega Boomerang
3 Stealing Palicos: Boomerang Duty
4 Stealing Palicos: Stealth
5 Stealing Palicos: Thieving+
Treasure:
2 Treasure Palicos: Hasty Harvester
3 Treasure Palicos: Gathering Duty
4 Treasure Palicos: Gathering Scout
5 Treasure Palicos: Gatherpaw+
Healing:
2 Healing Palicos: Healing Horn
3 Healing Palicos: Detox Horn
4 Healing Palicos: True Health Horn
5 Healing Palicos: Parting Gift+
Bomber:
2 Bomber Palicos: Trap Rigging
3 Bomber Palicos: Bomb Duty
4 Bomber Palicos: Big Barrel Bomber
5 Bomber Palicos: Mad Bomber+
Support:
2 Support Palicos: Shock Trap
3 Support Palicos: Trapper's Eye
4 Support Palicos: Pro Trapper
5 Support Palicos: Cat Nap+
Protection:
2 Protection Palicos: Armor Horn
3 Protection Palicos: None (Leader Palico can now block attacks)
4 Protection Palicos: True Armor Horn
5 Protection Palicos: Provoker+
Launcher:
2 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Horn
3 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Damage
4 Launcher Palicos: Cat-Apult Taunt
5 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Master+
Stamina:
2 Stamina Palicos: Grudge
3 Stamina Palicos: Recovery Attack
4 Stamina Palicos: Exhaust Attack
5 Stamina Palicos: Meowrale Boost+
Now naturally, this means that there's an upside and a downside to the Leadership Palico's versatility - if he devotes himself to a given Forte, it means surrounding himself with Palicos of the same type. Different Palico Fortes have a different critical mass before they really start to give the Leadership Palico benefits - for example, the Healing Palico Forte requires at least 4 Healers to be of any real benefit, whereas the Treasure and Stealing Fortes can be easily made use of with only 2-3 Palicos of a given type. This is important because whilst the Leadership Palico is highly useful and should see constant use, he isn't a god, and surrounding himself with only one Palico type means having only that type for backup on missions.
Some Palicos work outstandingly well together (Healers most notably - you can never have too many of these), but other Palicos shine brightest when paired with other Palico fortes. Protection Palicos are often best used solo, rather than being some giant investment for your leader (the Leader is better at it once he gets Provoker+, but his stats are still lower) for example, and Support and Bomber Palicos are practically designed to work together, and Stamina and Healing Palicos make an outstanding team - as do Protection and Stealing, Thieving and Launching, and Fighting and Support.
Who's watching your back?
As such, this makes Palico balance and especially who your Leadership Palico's First Stringers are a balancing act - Do you want to load them up with skills to make your Leader really, really good at something at the cost of who they can pair up with, or do you want to go for less ability investment and more for a readily-available base of different Palicos you can troubleshoot with? It may seem obvious that loading up on Fighting Palicos for raw punch gives a tough-as-balls Leader, but it also makes your Palico team tactically one-dimensional since you can only have a Fighting first-stringer backing up your now-also-Fighting Leader Palico.
Additionally, some Palicos are frankly fine as a solo act. Healers do just fine on their own, even if they do better grouped. Stamina Palicos can handle themselves fine individually, as can Fighters. Thieving Palicos are practically lone wolves (lone cats?) by default, so this choice actually has some pretty big implications for your Palico usage. Many Palicos can get status ailment skills or elemental damage effects or even the ability to lace their attacks with Felvyne or the like that the Leadership Palico cannot get, no matter how many Palicos he has under his wing.
Finally, we have special attacks. Every Palico has access to one, and which one your leader gets depends on who's assigned to deploy with him. There are many variants, but they will fall into one of three categories:
Rath-of-Meow:
Summons a tank. The Rath of Meow is a powerful little vehicle armed with a powerful, wide-ranging cannon. The basic one is less a tank and more of a weapons platform armed with Acorn shells, but you can get advanced versions later that feature either elemental shells or the (surprisingly deadly) Omnicannon, which deals a barrage of completely randomized elemental damage blasts on impact. The damage done by the Rath of Meow and how durable it is depends on the two Palicos using it. These variant tanks will be called the likes of Rath-of-Thunder or Rath-of-Mix, respectively.
Flying F-Bomb: This aggressive special attack has both Palicos load up a portable version of a Palico transport rocket and launch themselves at the large monster. On impact, the bomb explodes, dealing pretty good damage, and releasing its two angry passengers, who will then latch onto the monster and do their own version of a Mounting Attack. During this time, the monster will usually be too distracted to do much - use this time wisely. Rare variants later can add stronger explosives, move much faster, or add elemental damage to the rocket. Look for these, as they'll be called Flying I-Bomb or Flying Fast Bomb, respectively.
Purrtuoso: This subtle but useful special attack is the least flashy, but potentially a game-changer. The Purrtuoso ability has the Palico team whip out a massive horn array and rock the hell out. The music provides pretty strong healing (about par with a Mega Potion), and boosts both your HP Max and Stamina Max - making this ability, uniquely, one of the few that can completely salvage a quest that goes bad due to a monster knocking your ass out, since it can restore your life gauge to max. The higher your Palicos' levels, the more this horn heals. Variants of this ability can add elemental properties that boost your resistances to a given element, or heal status effects - look for these, as they'll be called Purrtuoso/Ice for example, or Purrtuoso/Detox, respectively.
Note that if in Co-Op with a friend, your Palicos can (and will) use these attacks with your teammate's Palico in lieu of a first stringer.
All in all, Palicos are a potent force multiplier in Monster Hunter. Use them well.
All right, People, let's talk Palicos.
Lloyd, a Siamese-pattern Felyne Palico, rushing into combat.
Palicos are members of the Felyne and Melynx races; they are kitty-cat allies that work with your hunter in single-player and which act as helpers during your hunts. They help fight monsters, and depending on their skills, they can have a number of other abilities. By default you have one main Palico, who can be any of a number of colors and can be named; this Palico, sometimes called The Ace Palico, has sole custodianship of the Leadership forte. Other Palicos you acquire are randomly generated, with differing colors and patterns and fortes as well. You can re-name these other Palicos, so in time you can have a force group of Palicos named for the cast of Dark Souls (for example). You can have up to 2 Palicos at any given time on the field in single player - if your multiplayer team numbers 2 or less, you'll be allowed to bring Palicos along for the ride too, but only your mains.
The following are the initial Palico Fortes:
Fighting: These Palicos have the highest damage output in terms of raw offense, and will reliably out-damage even a Leadership Palico. Their focus is on offense, which they bring to the table by not only hitting really fucking hard, but boasting combo attacks, piercing boomerang strikes that can hit multiple times, and the ability to use Demon Horns to bolster the whole squad.
Stealing: These thieves learn well from their Melynx buddies, and are raging kleptomaniacs. Ranged fighters to a man, they use upgraded boomerangs to keep enemies at tail's length before moving in to attempt to steal valuables. These guys are a godsend when fighting opponents and looking for rare materials, since they'll happily pilfer an extra Scale or something from big monsters. If they pull off a grab for a rare item like a Wyvern Gem, they've saved you a buttload of work, so consider them.
Treasure: These guys are the Barbara Chandlers of the Palico line. ALL FOR THE HOARD. They're essentially incapable of fighting and focus everything on gathering goodies from resource cache points. These guys pay for themselves on Expeditions, where rare items can be worth their weight in gold and then some. They suck balls at fighting, though, so avoid using them if you need a Palico that can actually get shit done.
Healing: These are the Palicos most-likely to keep your ass alive. They provide vital healing abilities and can keep both you and other Palicos in the fight way longer than anyone else. The fact that they can heal you means that they can potentially keep down how often you'll need Potions and Mega Potions, and statistically they're average fighters to boot, which makes them arguably the most useful Palico around.
Bomber: These Palico Grenadiers throw explosives and excel at battlefield disruption. They can set barrel bombs on allied Shock Traps (Whether set by you or by an allied Support Palico), and will cheerfully chuck Barrel Bomb S at opponents to disrupt and damage them. Upgraded ones can chuck elemental bombs and even lace their grenades with Felvyne to incite their Felyne and Melynx brothers to attack their targets by roving in angry packs like a gang of 1920s Irish immigrants dealing with abuses by the police.
Support: These guys are simple, but have some great abilities - they can set Shock Traps, they can tell a monster's health/stamina levels, they can determine where a monster's going, and they're competent fighters, too. All of this on a Palico that works purr-fectly with Bomber Palicos, thieves, and even Fighters - they make every Palico class better.
When you get far enough, three new Palico Fortes become available:
Launcher: These flying kitty specialists excel at helping you mount monsters. Succeed at a mount? They'll blow horns to increase your bar buildup and even catch you if you get thrown. Their attacks wear down monsters to make them mountable (like a jump attack), and they can even act as a springboard to launch yourself high into the air - devastating when used with a Great Sword or Hammer. Their role is very specialized, but they excel at it and can be quite useful for many builds, and they're stronger than many Palicos. Worth using.
Protection: The tanks of the Palico World, these guys have statistically the highest defense and HP of any Palico type. At high levels, seeing them with a defense substantially higher than the Hunter they're backing is not unheard of. Their role is to draw enemy fire and keep the attention of monsters squarely away from friends and entirely on them. This makes them a godsend when fighting assholes like Steve or Deviljho, and better still, they're the only Palico who can block, a-la you with a Sword and Shield or Charge Blade. They sometimes blow horns to boost your defense, and those of other allies.
Stamina: A rare prize, easy to underestimate. Stamina Palicos focus on exhausting enemies and bolstering the party. If you're a defensive fighter, one of these kitties can be a godsend, though the competition between whether a Stamina or Healing Palico is better for a defensive fighter will rage endlessly if allowed (the correct answer is both, as I'll get into during the Leadership Palico explanation). They also are the only non-leader Palico that gets Grudge (which boosts their skill rate).
Fear the Leadership Palico with 5 Bomber Fortes as First Stringers...
The Leadership Palico Forte is unique. His stats are all above-average, with no weaknesses. It has no forte skills and seems, other than its basic default abilities (a weak horn it can play, the ability to wake up allies and teammates, slap slacking Palicos and fighting better than every Palico shy of a Fighter-type) means that they don't seem all that impressive. This is because the Leader Palico is customizable. By assigning multiple Palicos of a given Forte to his wing as First Stringers, The leadership Palico can use their abilities. This means you can essentially kit him out as you see fit. The following is a list of what each Palico Forte offers for the Leadership Forte:
Fighting:
2 Fighting Palicos: Demon Horn
3 Fighting Palicos: Piercing Boomerang
4 Fighting Palicos: True Demon Horn
5 Fighting Palicos: Felyne Fury Combo+
Stealing:
2 Stealing Palicos: Mega Boomerang
3 Stealing Palicos: Boomerang Duty
4 Stealing Palicos: Stealth
5 Stealing Palicos: Thieving+
Treasure:
2 Treasure Palicos: Hasty Harvester
3 Treasure Palicos: Gathering Duty
4 Treasure Palicos: Gathering Scout
5 Treasure Palicos: Gatherpaw+
Healing:
2 Healing Palicos: Healing Horn
3 Healing Palicos: Detox Horn
4 Healing Palicos: True Health Horn
5 Healing Palicos: Parting Gift+
Bomber:
2 Bomber Palicos: Trap Rigging
3 Bomber Palicos: Bomb Duty
4 Bomber Palicos: Big Barrel Bomber
5 Bomber Palicos: Mad Bomber+
Support:
2 Support Palicos: Shock Trap
3 Support Palicos: Trapper's Eye
4 Support Palicos: Pro Trapper
5 Support Palicos: Cat Nap+
Protection:
2 Protection Palicos: Armor Horn
3 Protection Palicos: None (Leader Palico can now block attacks)
4 Protection Palicos: True Armor Horn
5 Protection Palicos: Provoker+
Launcher:
2 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Horn
3 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Damage
4 Launcher Palicos: Cat-Apult Taunt
5 Launcher Palicos: Mounting Master+
Stamina:
2 Stamina Palicos: Grudge
3 Stamina Palicos: Recovery Attack
4 Stamina Palicos: Exhaust Attack
5 Stamina Palicos: Meowrale Boost+
Now naturally, this means that there's an upside and a downside to the Leadership Palico's versatility - if he devotes himself to a given Forte, it means surrounding himself with Palicos of the same type. Different Palico Fortes have a different critical mass before they really start to give the Leadership Palico benefits - for example, the Healing Palico Forte requires at least 4 Healers to be of any real benefit, whereas the Treasure and Stealing Fortes can be easily made use of with only 2-3 Palicos of a given type. This is important because whilst the Leadership Palico is highly useful and should see constant use, he isn't a god, and surrounding himself with only one Palico type means having only that type for backup on missions.
Some Palicos work outstandingly well together (Healers most notably - you can never have too many of these), but other Palicos shine brightest when paired with other Palico fortes. Protection Palicos are often best used solo, rather than being some giant investment for your leader (the Leader is better at it once he gets Provoker+, but his stats are still lower) for example, and Support and Bomber Palicos are practically designed to work together, and Stamina and Healing Palicos make an outstanding team - as do Protection and Stealing, Thieving and Launching, and Fighting and Support.
Who's watching your back?
As such, this makes Palico balance and especially who your Leadership Palico's First Stringers are a balancing act - Do you want to load them up with skills to make your Leader really, really good at something at the cost of who they can pair up with, or do you want to go for less ability investment and more for a readily-available base of different Palicos you can troubleshoot with? It may seem obvious that loading up on Fighting Palicos for raw punch gives a tough-as-balls Leader, but it also makes your Palico team tactically one-dimensional since you can only have a Fighting first-stringer backing up your now-also-Fighting Leader Palico.
Additionally, some Palicos are frankly fine as a solo act. Healers do just fine on their own, even if they do better grouped. Stamina Palicos can handle themselves fine individually, as can Fighters. Thieving Palicos are practically lone wolves (lone cats?) by default, so this choice actually has some pretty big implications for your Palico usage. Many Palicos can get status ailment skills or elemental damage effects or even the ability to lace their attacks with Felvyne or the like that the Leadership Palico cannot get, no matter how many Palicos he has under his wing.
Finally, we have special attacks. Every Palico has access to one, and which one your leader gets depends on who's assigned to deploy with him. There are many variants, but they will fall into one of three categories:
Rath-of-Meow:
Summons a tank. The Rath of Meow is a powerful little vehicle armed with a powerful, wide-ranging cannon. The basic one is less a tank and more of a weapons platform armed with Acorn shells, but you can get advanced versions later that feature either elemental shells or the (surprisingly deadly) Omnicannon, which deals a barrage of completely randomized elemental damage blasts on impact. The damage done by the Rath of Meow and how durable it is depends on the two Palicos using it. These variant tanks will be called the likes of Rath-of-Thunder or Rath-of-Mix, respectively.
Flying F-Bomb: This aggressive special attack has both Palicos load up a portable version of a Palico transport rocket and launch themselves at the large monster. On impact, the bomb explodes, dealing pretty good damage, and releasing its two angry passengers, who will then latch onto the monster and do their own version of a Mounting Attack. During this time, the monster will usually be too distracted to do much - use this time wisely. Rare variants later can add stronger explosives, move much faster, or add elemental damage to the rocket. Look for these, as they'll be called Flying I-Bomb or Flying Fast Bomb, respectively.
Purrtuoso: This subtle but useful special attack is the least flashy, but potentially a game-changer. The Purrtuoso ability has the Palico team whip out a massive horn array and rock the hell out. The music provides pretty strong healing (about par with a Mega Potion), and boosts both your HP Max and Stamina Max - making this ability, uniquely, one of the few that can completely salvage a quest that goes bad due to a monster knocking your ass out, since it can restore your life gauge to max. The higher your Palicos' levels, the more this horn heals. Variants of this ability can add elemental properties that boost your resistances to a given element, or heal status effects - look for these, as they'll be called Purrtuoso/Ice for example, or Purrtuoso/Detox, respectively.
Note that if in Co-Op with a friend, your Palicos can (and will) use these attacks with your teammate's Palico in lieu of a first stringer.
All in all, Palicos are a potent force multiplier in Monster Hunter. Use them well.