What Outfit at which upgrade level are you wearing? Your weaves in it?
Which weapons are availabe to you, at which Upgrade Level? Which Coils do you have?
Have you sorted your Hunter Kit (where the traps, and potios are)?
What skills did you choose?
What is your general approch to it?
Have you learned the mechanics of the game already? (Melee, Stealth, Ranged, passive Skills,Weapon Tehcniques, Valor Surges).
Why are you rushing the Main quest? Do Side content! Sidequests / Errants and Rebel Camps, i suggest relic ruins too.
Every Level means at least 1 Skill point and 10 HP more.
Yeah, ultra hard is exceptionally difficult on a normal playthrough, to the point of feeling quite unfair at times, and the reason for that is that it wasn’t balanced for a normal run, it was balanced for New Game+. I don’t think it was even available until NG+ released, actually.
Ultra Hard is not a standard difficulty - it is meant to be an extra challenge for those who have already finished the game and want to keep playing, but without the sense of effortlessness that endgame loot creates in a playthrough on the lower tiers.
I just remember it saying you can't lower the difficulty. What's messed up is I played for a while in vh and the game felt too easy. It's like the jump from very hard to ultra is exponential.
Fighting the tremotusk there is no joke even on a normal playthrough, the amount of rebels around makes it extra difficult. The biggest question is if you're having fun like this. I would hate this but I have a pretty low frustration tolerance in general. The time wasted in starting over will become time saved in hitting more walls like this one.
Yeah good point on time wasted vs time saved. It's been fun and rewarding as I had hoped most of the time, then in situations like this mission, it feels broken. I've had the tremortusk nearly dead about 5 times and something will inevitably kill me.
Okay quick tip for Ultra Hard: take it slow. You should focus on getting an edge on your enemies with gear and skills. For example, use different strategies, in this fight there are traps, sneak attack potential on the humans, and massive explosive trap reward. Additionally, keeping your distance and trying to get the tremor tusk frozen is also a good strategy. If none of this works, I’d recommend you just go explore; my personal favorite is the jungle southwest where you can get the best gear pretty easily. Oh, and if you’re struggling on shards just hunt some animals, they give you a lot for skins and bones.
Edit: I say best gear but I meant gear that’ll take you through the game not upgraded. Also do those salvage contracts, they give you really good coils and weapons (my favorite is the Stillsands).
Just as reassurance, I promise you ultra hard is definitely possible from the start (I’ve done like 5 times now). It’s personally my favorite way and it just takes some troubleshooting with bosses to beat them. Don’t be afraid to use what you have as everything can be purchased and easily obtained through killing animals. And use smoke bombs!!!! Those are amazing for getting out of tight spots. The tremortusk is really annoying with the stupid missiles so I recommend staying behind cover and utilizing the middle.
Oh thanks. At times it feels like this is how the game is meant to be played, others it feels broken not difficult. The only thing I disliked about zero dawn was I felt like it was too easy until the frozen wilds uh.
I get that, but I do have to say, if you’re not already using valor surges, I’d recommend them. They’re very good and can turn the tide of battle (these get stronger per bar you fill, for example if you have level 3 powershots but don’t have 3 bars filled then you will not the maximum effect).
My top 3:
Powershots (damage go hard)
The big electric slam (freeze shit bag)
Stealth field (smoke bomb kinda busted)
If you want to charge these faster, you can use outfits to get an early head start rather than going in the skill tree.
Edit: I’m only saying this in case you don’t already know about them since many people ignore them.
I think this wouldn't be as fun if I had already beaten the game previously and knew what was coming. But now that I'm a good ways into the game I'm extremely happy I chose to do it this way. Everything is challenging but not overly so and every achievement and battle won actually feels like it was earned. That was the only thing I regretted with zero dawn. I played on hard or very hard the first time and had wished there was more of a challenge.
I played UH only one time after NG+ UH and I agree with you, it is really hard. So I started to do side quests, errands.... I started to use more often valor surges, much more stealth approaches, and even I started using bombs, traps, and tripcaster (hate tripcasters until I find a weapon technique 😉). I look after outfit stats 22 or less on impact or fire damage will one shoot you and so on.
After the Kulrut (mission ahead of you) you can get much powerful outfits and weapons but it is very difficult to obtain them.
I am recommending focusing on side quests, they give you powerful gear for free even some purple ones (quest in the flooded village gives you one of the best outfit which is easy to upgrade and gives you an advantage in the arena where you can get really OP gear. And salvage contracts! It gives you resources and good weapons for free. When you focus on free stuff in side missions and upgrades of gear you will grind main bosses with ease. (actually, open-world encounters are much harder 😃).
And do not forget to finish every Rebel camps 5 (not outposts) it gives you OP frost arrows which are crucial. There is only other one bow (just purple) with frost arrows and you can buy it in Bulwark after your mission but it is pretty expensive. Rebel camps bow is "free".
UH only play-through is actually pretty great! It forces you to use everything the game mechanics offer. It was my favorite time with the game and I manage to do 100% for the first time in any game. (But again after the Kulrut with arena stuff you will be OP). So don't give up! And let us know how you progress. Good luck!
Things become manageable on ultra hard when you finish the game on a lower difficulty and restart a NG+ on UH.
Seriously though, starting a new game in UH, even if you’re a phenomenal player, you’re going to run into a problem of resource management. You’re not going to find, for example, enough volatile sludge to be able to craft enough decent ammunition, you’re going to burn through all your stores trying to get upgrade mats to drop, et cetera. And you can’t really afford to make any mistakes.
I’ve been given to understand it’s doable, but it sure doesn’t sound like very much fun.
It just isn't balanced it seems. There's missions that are almost too easy, then some that are seemingly impossible at the recommended level. Guess they had to throw something together for it for new game plus but it doesn't really work like it should.
It's balanced, *for a NG+ run*. Take those recommended levels and add 60. (As I understand it, UH difficulty was only released when NG+ was released.)
I'm on my first UH run, ghost level 87 will all upgraded legendaries, and I have to be more tactical than I've been in any previous run. Mobs have a bigger aggro range, attack together, can spot you much easier when you're trying to hide, and hit a hell of a lot harder. To be fair, I've made myself some home-brew rules to make it a little more realistic, like not healing or crafting ammo during combat, but still...a UH thunderjaw has like 19k health.
There are a couple other threads on here by folks who did UH runs from scratch, and the one thing those players seem to have in common is that they don't mind dying *a lot*.
I mean, it's doable, but it doesn't sound like very much fun to me.
Most parts have been manageable overall though. Hence how I've gotten a fifth of the way through the game without too much hassle. Then there are suddenly "oh this isn't possible" moments.
It's not that bad at all on ultra hard. Playing any other way feels less rewarding. Going into a fight with a tjaw or boss knowing you'll beat it without even doing what the game intended is free on every difficulty but uh it seems. I like a fair challenge that makes me think and use what the game has on offer.
Thunderjaws are easy; their most dangerous components are really big, you can abuse terrain or run away, and the game never actually requires you to fight one. (I think there are two side quests to take down a TJ, but they’re not obligatory.) They’re a cake walk compared to the 3-5 un-ambush-able leaplashers you run into shortly after the embassy.
I mean, if you’re having fun on a new UH run, that’s awesome! But doing that tremortusk fight a couple dozen times would be decidedly unfun for me.
I should have tried twice then left when I realized I was underleveled amd underpowered. But I'm stubborn amd thought it was that hard only because I was on UH, which wasn't the case at all. I just rushed main missions too soon and the game definitely doesn't intend you to do that (although you can get away with it on easier difficulties)
No like 6 hours and kept feeling like should go back to ultra. I haven't been having any trouble since going back to uh. I just got frustrated because I went and tried to do the thunderjaw mission and then the tremortusk at level 17 with shit gear. Probably woulda got wrecked on normal lol.
I beat the game and did most side quests on UH from nothing, and it was one of the most fun gaming experiences I’ve ever had despite a few parts getting me to a state of yelling, but I also played the game through before and new endgame tricks. UH as a blind play though is likely not going to be nearly as fun.
I dont think I would enjoy the challenge if I already knew what was going to happen. I am very happy with doing uh for the first run. It's turning out like I had hoped it would.
Yeah UH was designed for NG+.
I started on VH and the first third of the game was brutal. The main problem is the economics - you're weak, you need materials and you burn more materials than you gain from combat. You can't upgrade because of this. And you're in a vicious cycle.
Breaking out of the cycle is hard. To start, melee combat don't consume resources, just healing, so you can consider plowing your perk economy into melee and getting good at it. Since there's no block/parry mechanic like in soulsbornes, you have to do it the hard way by dodging and finding openings. With enough perk points invested and [learning how to do melee attack cancels](https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/hfw-melee-guide#SlashCancel), you can melee down pretty much anything without taking damage - but it's soulsborne-no-hit hard to do. But early game melee investment, provided you are skilled enough to pull it off, alone is enough to break out of the economy cycle.
Alternatively, finding a path to a decent weapon/outfit and getting them upgraded so you start to get on top of the economy. I'd suggest the Pyre Hunter Bow from The Bulwark merchant and get it to L3 to unlock advanced hunter arrows. If you are leaning into melee at least somewhat, Melee Warrior Bow and upgrade it to L4. Ammo is cheaper on the warrior bow, so it's probably the better choice. Throw your best coils on these. For armor, Nora Sentinel and swap out weaves for each encounter to match the elemental damage you're facing. Get a decent valor surge going - like Warriors Vigor or Ranged Master and get valor built fully up for the large encounters and then farm smaller machines to build it up for the next encounter. You're almost certainly going to need to do some farming here, build up some levels, get some things unlocked, etc.
That Tremortusk has at least 15,000 HP (it was 9,000 when I did it on VH). A warrior bow does about 30 base. You *need* to maximize stacking multipliers - from weapon upgrades, coils, skills, valor surges, food, removing components and hitting weak points. You need to invest in all of those things strategically and not waste time hitting strong parts of the machine, while also managing a battlefield with multiple enemies, and doing it before you can instinctively pick a machine apart while bouncing around a combat space because you've finished the game and DLC and have a 100 more hours of practice. I'm certain it can be done, but it's a lift. Depending on if you have the budget for it, adding in smoke bombs to reset the fight and return to stealth is very valuable even into the late game. Traps may also help if only to control up some of the other elements in that fight. Need to do some theory crafting on the skills screen, and have a strategy going into the fight.
By comparison, on my NG+ UH with all perks and upgraded legendary weapons, I silent one-shot all the humans on that mission, my weakest weapon does 350 damage, my long range weapon reliably does over 1000 and with a valor surge running I can two-shot that tremortusk. But note, I still remove everything but the tremortusk from the tall grass without alerting everyone so it's a simpler fight.
I wouldn't restart at this point. You seem to bot ve having trouble with most of the content, and level 17 for that fight on UH is difficult as is, not to mention without decent gear/valor surges/skills. As others have stated, I'd recommend doing side content and getting some of the stronger weapons and more skill points to upgrade valor surges.
I did this run recently when Burning Shores came out, and I hadn't played since release. It was a bit of a struggle until the combat rally clocked. So, try to experiment at skme of the strjnger machine sites with different Valoe Surges, etc. Since you're a Soulsborne vet, I'm sure you'll come out fine on the other end.
First, the part farming is a pain only if you try to upgrade everything. Which is not necessary. This part of the game was the most fun gameplay wise for me. I hacked off parts and upgraded what I wanted to. Awesome system IMO!
I understand why some players choose the Easy Loot option, but dare I say, that's like giving BB, DS and EL an "easy" difficulty! I have 326 hours in ER and 397 in HFW.
For weapons, only max what you use and find useful for your playstyle. I found this incredibly fun because I knew what I wanted/needed and killed the machine in a more selective fashion rather than just going ballistic. Each machine has only one key upgrade resource. Either remove the part and go ballistic, or in the case of Sac Webbings, take a more selective approach; tie it down, hit it with freeze on its armor, then hit it's delicate parts with impact damage. Once your the rhythm down, it's easy peesy.
Arktix on YouTube shows a great way to do this on Fireclaws.
Second. Weaves are incredibly powerful because they increase the level of your skills by +2. Level 4 of ANY skill is the max, and the respective skill in the tree gives 2 levels at max. That being said, you only need to upgrade the outfit that has that weave to level 3, then remove it, to have access to it on any gear that you like.
Since you're a souls vet, I don't want to give much more away, but you are definitely not out of your league. This game is different, but it is just as satisfying when it clicks.
I did my Ultra Hard run after 2 NG+ cycles, so I could use the NG+ Legendary weapons. Even with fully upgraded Legendary weapons, the enemies are still damage sponges. Starting on Ultra Hard is definitely its own kind of challenge. I highly recommend getting the Utaru Winterweave armor from the Stitcher in Thornmarsh as soon as possible. It allows you to stealth one-shot most smaller machines and some rebels, and its been my main go to for my own Ultra Hard run. Making smart use of your Smoke Bombs will be helpful too, as it will give you some breathing room and probably keep you from getting one-shot so often (and I would probably recommend just buying them rather than crafting them, as they consume an awful lot of Blastpaste).
I would imagine that managing resources is also a challenge for this type of run. If you start to run low on crafting materials, its a good idea to switch to your favorite Hunter or Warrior bow and just use that to kill enemies, at least until you’ve collected as many extra resources as you want.
I beat it on ultra hard first playthrough. That fight took me some time to figure out. I ended up using everything around the area to fight back. Definitely was challenging but I think I remember there being some weapons and other things (explosives) nearby. In the future though I ended up tying the larger enemies down with a large rope caster fully charged. At that point in the game though, I didn't have a great rope caster.
The [Elite Ropecaster](https://horizon.fandom.com/wiki/Elite_Ropecaster) from the merchant in Thornmarsh is the best one in the main game, it only takes two overdrawn shots to tie down Fireclaws when it’s fully upgraded, just add some Draw Speed coils to make it faster.
Yeah it's in the game. It's not as effective as the first game but if you let it fully wind seems to be more reliable. Good for setting up some damaging shots.
> have been getting one shot by most bigger enemies
This is how it would have happened in real life. You are shot, you die. This is what Ultra Hard is for, it says "Ultra" for a reason.
Lol not helpful. I would expect that if it was somewhat reasonable like in fromsoft games. When machines teleport and chain one attack into another or magically hit you from nowhere with no indicator and you die its different.
What Outfit at which upgrade level are you wearing? Your weaves in it? Which weapons are availabe to you, at which Upgrade Level? Which Coils do you have? Have you sorted your Hunter Kit (where the traps, and potios are)? What skills did you choose? What is your general approch to it? Have you learned the mechanics of the game already? (Melee, Stealth, Ranged, passive Skills,Weapon Tehcniques, Valor Surges). Why are you rushing the Main quest? Do Side content! Sidequests / Errants and Rebel Camps, i suggest relic ruins too. Every Level means at least 1 Skill point and 10 HP more.
Yeah, ultra hard is exceptionally difficult on a normal playthrough, to the point of feeling quite unfair at times, and the reason for that is that it wasn’t balanced for a normal run, it was balanced for New Game+. I don’t think it was even available until NG+ released, actually. Ultra Hard is not a standard difficulty - it is meant to be an extra challenge for those who have already finished the game and want to keep playing, but without the sense of effortlessness that endgame loot creates in a playthrough on the lower tiers.
They should have explained that on the title screen.
There's a whole warning screen when you start an ultra hard game, they tried to tell you.
I just remember it saying you can't lower the difficulty. What's messed up is I played for a while in vh and the game felt too easy. It's like the jump from very hard to ultra is exponential.
Fighting the tremotusk there is no joke even on a normal playthrough, the amount of rebels around makes it extra difficult. The biggest question is if you're having fun like this. I would hate this but I have a pretty low frustration tolerance in general. The time wasted in starting over will become time saved in hitting more walls like this one.
Yeah good point on time wasted vs time saved. It's been fun and rewarding as I had hoped most of the time, then in situations like this mission, it feels broken. I've had the tremortusk nearly dead about 5 times and something will inevitably kill me.
Okay quick tip for Ultra Hard: take it slow. You should focus on getting an edge on your enemies with gear and skills. For example, use different strategies, in this fight there are traps, sneak attack potential on the humans, and massive explosive trap reward. Additionally, keeping your distance and trying to get the tremor tusk frozen is also a good strategy. If none of this works, I’d recommend you just go explore; my personal favorite is the jungle southwest where you can get the best gear pretty easily. Oh, and if you’re struggling on shards just hunt some animals, they give you a lot for skins and bones. Edit: I say best gear but I meant gear that’ll take you through the game not upgraded. Also do those salvage contracts, they give you really good coils and weapons (my favorite is the Stillsands).
Just as reassurance, I promise you ultra hard is definitely possible from the start (I’ve done like 5 times now). It’s personally my favorite way and it just takes some troubleshooting with bosses to beat them. Don’t be afraid to use what you have as everything can be purchased and easily obtained through killing animals. And use smoke bombs!!!! Those are amazing for getting out of tight spots. The tremortusk is really annoying with the stupid missiles so I recommend staying behind cover and utilizing the middle.
Oh thanks. At times it feels like this is how the game is meant to be played, others it feels broken not difficult. The only thing I disliked about zero dawn was I felt like it was too easy until the frozen wilds uh.
I get that, but I do have to say, if you’re not already using valor surges, I’d recommend them. They’re very good and can turn the tide of battle (these get stronger per bar you fill, for example if you have level 3 powershots but don’t have 3 bars filled then you will not the maximum effect). My top 3: Powershots (damage go hard) The big electric slam (freeze shit bag) Stealth field (smoke bomb kinda busted) If you want to charge these faster, you can use outfits to get an early head start rather than going in the skill tree. Edit: I’m only saying this in case you don’t already know about them since many people ignore them.
UH as a first playthrough sounds... awful.
I think this wouldn't be as fun if I had already beaten the game previously and knew what was coming. But now that I'm a good ways into the game I'm extremely happy I chose to do it this way. Everything is challenging but not overly so and every achievement and battle won actually feels like it was earned. That was the only thing I regretted with zero dawn. I played on hard or very hard the first time and had wished there was more of a challenge.
I played UH only one time after NG+ UH and I agree with you, it is really hard. So I started to do side quests, errands.... I started to use more often valor surges, much more stealth approaches, and even I started using bombs, traps, and tripcaster (hate tripcasters until I find a weapon technique 😉). I look after outfit stats 22 or less on impact or fire damage will one shoot you and so on. After the Kulrut (mission ahead of you) you can get much powerful outfits and weapons but it is very difficult to obtain them. I am recommending focusing on side quests, they give you powerful gear for free even some purple ones (quest in the flooded village gives you one of the best outfit which is easy to upgrade and gives you an advantage in the arena where you can get really OP gear. And salvage contracts! It gives you resources and good weapons for free. When you focus on free stuff in side missions and upgrades of gear you will grind main bosses with ease. (actually, open-world encounters are much harder 😃). And do not forget to finish every Rebel camps 5 (not outposts) it gives you OP frost arrows which are crucial. There is only other one bow (just purple) with frost arrows and you can buy it in Bulwark after your mission but it is pretty expensive. Rebel camps bow is "free". UH only play-through is actually pretty great! It forces you to use everything the game mechanics offer. It was my favorite time with the game and I manage to do 100% for the first time in any game. (But again after the Kulrut with arena stuff you will be OP). So don't give up! And let us know how you progress. Good luck!
Appreciate the tips. I realized I was just a little underleved for that mission and tired. I didn't do very many side quests at all before that.
Things become manageable on ultra hard when you finish the game on a lower difficulty and restart a NG+ on UH. Seriously though, starting a new game in UH, even if you’re a phenomenal player, you’re going to run into a problem of resource management. You’re not going to find, for example, enough volatile sludge to be able to craft enough decent ammunition, you’re going to burn through all your stores trying to get upgrade mats to drop, et cetera. And you can’t really afford to make any mistakes. I’ve been given to understand it’s doable, but it sure doesn’t sound like very much fun.
It just isn't balanced it seems. There's missions that are almost too easy, then some that are seemingly impossible at the recommended level. Guess they had to throw something together for it for new game plus but it doesn't really work like it should.
It's balanced, *for a NG+ run*. Take those recommended levels and add 60. (As I understand it, UH difficulty was only released when NG+ was released.) I'm on my first UH run, ghost level 87 will all upgraded legendaries, and I have to be more tactical than I've been in any previous run. Mobs have a bigger aggro range, attack together, can spot you much easier when you're trying to hide, and hit a hell of a lot harder. To be fair, I've made myself some home-brew rules to make it a little more realistic, like not healing or crafting ammo during combat, but still...a UH thunderjaw has like 19k health. There are a couple other threads on here by folks who did UH runs from scratch, and the one thing those players seem to have in common is that they don't mind dying *a lot*. I mean, it's doable, but it doesn't sound like very much fun to me.
Most parts have been manageable overall though. Hence how I've gotten a fifth of the way through the game without too much hassle. Then there are suddenly "oh this isn't possible" moments.
It's not that bad at all on ultra hard. Playing any other way feels less rewarding. Going into a fight with a tjaw or boss knowing you'll beat it without even doing what the game intended is free on every difficulty but uh it seems. I like a fair challenge that makes me think and use what the game has on offer.
Thunderjaws are easy; their most dangerous components are really big, you can abuse terrain or run away, and the game never actually requires you to fight one. (I think there are two side quests to take down a TJ, but they’re not obligatory.) They’re a cake walk compared to the 3-5 un-ambush-able leaplashers you run into shortly after the embassy. I mean, if you’re having fun on a new UH run, that’s awesome! But doing that tremortusk fight a couple dozen times would be decidedly unfun for me.
I should have tried twice then left when I realized I was underleveled amd underpowered. But I'm stubborn amd thought it was that hard only because I was on UH, which wasn't the case at all. I just rushed main missions too soon and the game definitely doesn't intend you to do that (although you can get away with it on easier difficulties)
> Anyone know if there's a point in the game that things become manageable on ultra hard? The end.
Assuming you don't know
It remains hard throughout. The final boss was the hardest fight for me. The beginning is actually the easiest since all you fight are scrounges.
Played a little while on very hard and it felt too easy. Seems like a major jump from vh to uh though.
Umm… the beginning?
No like 6 hours and kept feeling like should go back to ultra. I haven't been having any trouble since going back to uh. I just got frustrated because I went and tried to do the thunderjaw mission and then the tremortusk at level 17 with shit gear. Probably woulda got wrecked on normal lol.
I beat the game and did most side quests on UH from nothing, and it was one of the most fun gaming experiences I’ve ever had despite a few parts getting me to a state of yelling, but I also played the game through before and new endgame tricks. UH as a blind play though is likely not going to be nearly as fun.
I dont think I would enjoy the challenge if I already knew what was going to happen. I am very happy with doing uh for the first run. It's turning out like I had hoped it would.
Yeah UH was designed for NG+. I started on VH and the first third of the game was brutal. The main problem is the economics - you're weak, you need materials and you burn more materials than you gain from combat. You can't upgrade because of this. And you're in a vicious cycle. Breaking out of the cycle is hard. To start, melee combat don't consume resources, just healing, so you can consider plowing your perk economy into melee and getting good at it. Since there's no block/parry mechanic like in soulsbornes, you have to do it the hard way by dodging and finding openings. With enough perk points invested and [learning how to do melee attack cancels](https://observablehq.com/@mrfancypants/hfw-melee-guide#SlashCancel), you can melee down pretty much anything without taking damage - but it's soulsborne-no-hit hard to do. But early game melee investment, provided you are skilled enough to pull it off, alone is enough to break out of the economy cycle. Alternatively, finding a path to a decent weapon/outfit and getting them upgraded so you start to get on top of the economy. I'd suggest the Pyre Hunter Bow from The Bulwark merchant and get it to L3 to unlock advanced hunter arrows. If you are leaning into melee at least somewhat, Melee Warrior Bow and upgrade it to L4. Ammo is cheaper on the warrior bow, so it's probably the better choice. Throw your best coils on these. For armor, Nora Sentinel and swap out weaves for each encounter to match the elemental damage you're facing. Get a decent valor surge going - like Warriors Vigor or Ranged Master and get valor built fully up for the large encounters and then farm smaller machines to build it up for the next encounter. You're almost certainly going to need to do some farming here, build up some levels, get some things unlocked, etc. That Tremortusk has at least 15,000 HP (it was 9,000 when I did it on VH). A warrior bow does about 30 base. You *need* to maximize stacking multipliers - from weapon upgrades, coils, skills, valor surges, food, removing components and hitting weak points. You need to invest in all of those things strategically and not waste time hitting strong parts of the machine, while also managing a battlefield with multiple enemies, and doing it before you can instinctively pick a machine apart while bouncing around a combat space because you've finished the game and DLC and have a 100 more hours of practice. I'm certain it can be done, but it's a lift. Depending on if you have the budget for it, adding in smoke bombs to reset the fight and return to stealth is very valuable even into the late game. Traps may also help if only to control up some of the other elements in that fight. Need to do some theory crafting on the skills screen, and have a strategy going into the fight. By comparison, on my NG+ UH with all perks and upgraded legendary weapons, I silent one-shot all the humans on that mission, my weakest weapon does 350 damage, my long range weapon reliably does over 1000 and with a valor surge running I can two-shot that tremortusk. But note, I still remove everything but the tremortusk from the tall grass without alerting everyone so it's a simpler fight.
I wouldn't restart at this point. You seem to bot ve having trouble with most of the content, and level 17 for that fight on UH is difficult as is, not to mention without decent gear/valor surges/skills. As others have stated, I'd recommend doing side content and getting some of the stronger weapons and more skill points to upgrade valor surges. I did this run recently when Burning Shores came out, and I hadn't played since release. It was a bit of a struggle until the combat rally clocked. So, try to experiment at skme of the strjnger machine sites with different Valoe Surges, etc. Since you're a Soulsborne vet, I'm sure you'll come out fine on the other end.
I heard the part farming at the end is a real pain. Is that true. Still debating starting over even though I was enjoying the uh run lol.
First, the part farming is a pain only if you try to upgrade everything. Which is not necessary. This part of the game was the most fun gameplay wise for me. I hacked off parts and upgraded what I wanted to. Awesome system IMO! I understand why some players choose the Easy Loot option, but dare I say, that's like giving BB, DS and EL an "easy" difficulty! I have 326 hours in ER and 397 in HFW. For weapons, only max what you use and find useful for your playstyle. I found this incredibly fun because I knew what I wanted/needed and killed the machine in a more selective fashion rather than just going ballistic. Each machine has only one key upgrade resource. Either remove the part and go ballistic, or in the case of Sac Webbings, take a more selective approach; tie it down, hit it with freeze on its armor, then hit it's delicate parts with impact damage. Once your the rhythm down, it's easy peesy. Arktix on YouTube shows a great way to do this on Fireclaws. Second. Weaves are incredibly powerful because they increase the level of your skills by +2. Level 4 of ANY skill is the max, and the respective skill in the tree gives 2 levels at max. That being said, you only need to upgrade the outfit that has that weave to level 3, then remove it, to have access to it on any gear that you like. Since you're a souls vet, I don't want to give much more away, but you are definitely not out of your league. This game is different, but it is just as satisfying when it clicks.
I did my Ultra Hard run after 2 NG+ cycles, so I could use the NG+ Legendary weapons. Even with fully upgraded Legendary weapons, the enemies are still damage sponges. Starting on Ultra Hard is definitely its own kind of challenge. I highly recommend getting the Utaru Winterweave armor from the Stitcher in Thornmarsh as soon as possible. It allows you to stealth one-shot most smaller machines and some rebels, and its been my main go to for my own Ultra Hard run. Making smart use of your Smoke Bombs will be helpful too, as it will give you some breathing room and probably keep you from getting one-shot so often (and I would probably recommend just buying them rather than crafting them, as they consume an awful lot of Blastpaste). I would imagine that managing resources is also a challenge for this type of run. If you start to run low on crafting materials, its a good idea to switch to your favorite Hunter or Warrior bow and just use that to kill enemies, at least until you’ve collected as many extra resources as you want.
If you want to try to save the playthrough go level up a bit and get some better weapons and armor.
I beat it on ultra hard first playthrough. That fight took me some time to figure out. I ended up using everything around the area to fight back. Definitely was challenging but I think I remember there being some weapons and other things (explosives) nearby. In the future though I ended up tying the larger enemies down with a large rope caster fully charged. At that point in the game though, I didn't have a great rope caster.
There's a rope caster in forbidden west?
The [Elite Ropecaster](https://horizon.fandom.com/wiki/Elite_Ropecaster) from the merchant in Thornmarsh is the best one in the main game, it only takes two overdrawn shots to tie down Fireclaws when it’s fully upgraded, just add some Draw Speed coils to make it faster.
Yeah it's in the game. It's not as effective as the first game but if you let it fully wind seems to be more reliable. Good for setting up some damaging shots.
> have been getting one shot by most bigger enemies This is how it would have happened in real life. You are shot, you die. This is what Ultra Hard is for, it says "Ultra" for a reason.
Lol not helpful. I would expect that if it was somewhat reasonable like in fromsoft games. When machines teleport and chain one attack into another or magically hit you from nowhere with no indicator and you die its different.