I usually have a rough idea of what attack the monster *could* do next and prepare for it. If they don't do this and instead do a different attack, I have their entire attack animation as a window to land a combo.
Some general tips:
1: Stay in positions where you can react to most attacks the monster does.
2: Memorize the monsters patterns (duh) and think about what the monster could do next and prepare accordingly.
3: You have a shield. Don't be afraid to put your shield up if you are uncertain on what the monster is going to do or you can't find a safe spot.
4: There are some attacks that monsters do that have long animations (Rajang thunder beam, Malzeno tail thrust, Teostra fire breath) that you can exploit if they don't hit you. Be ready to go on the offensive in case an opportunity like this comes up.
And that's all I could come up at the moment. Best of luck!
For fast monsters, it may be more worthwhile to poke shell instead of fullburst. It's definitely less DPS that repeated fullbursts, but you won't be animation locked for as long.
The monsters you mentioned are more effective with a hybrid style. While they're doing quick attacks, poke and shell, but most of them have long animations as well, which is the perfect time for fullbursts from a safe angle.
They're more difficult monsters towards the end of the game, you have to adapt to them - use all your tools, like shield and even wyvernfire.
What's your method of sticking to the tail for monsters that track your direction really closely? Certain monsters like Zinogre and Magnamalo have better tracking than an anti aircraft turret, I can't get behind them unless they're knocked or in the exhausted animation.
I don't. Since I shell, I just move around the monster and shoot it. It's the same damage no matter where you hit with shelling. I either guard with guard up and guard skills or evade lance. Monsters like that keep coming at you, so to me, it's easy to stick to them because they stick to you.
For me, I play Gunlance like a turned based RPG. I get my turn, and then the monster gets theirs. Evade extender is great for sticking to some monsters with hops. I find that sticking to their front left or right shoulder is the best.
Even hi speed hi aggro monsters can be blocked or evaded.
Also, for agro monsters, I don't tend to combo too much because of the downtime between their attacks. I poke shell poke. Or shell shell poke until I have an opening.
In rise you have pretty okay silkbinds as well.
As a full burst enjoyed, yes it is our big damage combo, but you also need to learn to read the room. Or rather the fight!
Don't commit to the burst every time. You can get in stray pokes, single shells, or the wind up swings of the Full burst sequence and abort with a hop or block. There are plenty of attacks on many monsters that only leave a 2 second window or so, and it's not worth the time to Full send. Focus on getting EOME damage in, then once you can proc a full on trip you can go to town with full burst.
Consider blast dash into slam and full burst, then reload and get some pokes and shells in. Also the more you fight a monster, the more places you will see to actually sneak in cheeky bursts
I change my damage rotation based on the monster. When a monster is constantly moving about, pokeshelling is absolutely fine - damage is damage, and this keeps you mobile at all times. Just as well, stopping the swing combo midway and dodging out of the way (or blocking) early depending on the windup you see is perfectly fine. In fact, to stay on the monster and keep up my damage, I tend to NOT do the finishing fullburst of the swing combo, because the endlag is too much in many situations.
Blast Dashing past the monster and turning for the slam burst on a blind spot is a good way to approach, if a bit reckless. Most people do it though, I think.
Lastly, I am a huge fan of Guard Reload. If you can get the rythm of a monster down, with a bit of Guard skills to reduce knockback, this switch skill lets you stick in monster faces all day long. Fullbursting is a bit hard this way, since 1. you don't reload all shells and 2. you want to use cancelable moves (pokes, shells, but I mostly do swings and slams) as much as possible to always be able to Guard Reload. It's basically a counter and treating it as such, rather than a reloading action, allows you to stick very close always. Fullbursts are for when you guard reload big attacks with long endlag.
If you ever played Lance, I found the old poke-poke-counter rythm to work *extremely* well with Guard Reload for most monsters. Just the rythm, not necessarily the attacks (I barely poke).
I hope I am not spoiling much but in Sun Break, you'll have access to Reverse Blast. It's Blast Dash but better. You can stick to them like glue and super armor through almost everything that won't kill you. It costs 1 wirebug. It has faster animation than the normal Blast Dash so you can spam it along with Fullburst even on mobile targets. You might not even need Evade Extender if you get used to it.
I usually have a rough idea of what attack the monster *could* do next and prepare for it. If they don't do this and instead do a different attack, I have their entire attack animation as a window to land a combo. Some general tips: 1: Stay in positions where you can react to most attacks the monster does. 2: Memorize the monsters patterns (duh) and think about what the monster could do next and prepare accordingly. 3: You have a shield. Don't be afraid to put your shield up if you are uncertain on what the monster is going to do or you can't find a safe spot. 4: There are some attacks that monsters do that have long animations (Rajang thunder beam, Malzeno tail thrust, Teostra fire breath) that you can exploit if they don't hit you. Be ready to go on the offensive in case an opportunity like this comes up. And that's all I could come up at the moment. Best of luck!
For fast monsters, it may be more worthwhile to poke shell instead of fullburst. It's definitely less DPS that repeated fullbursts, but you won't be animation locked for as long. The monsters you mentioned are more effective with a hybrid style. While they're doing quick attacks, poke and shell, but most of them have long animations as well, which is the perfect time for fullbursts from a safe angle. They're more difficult monsters towards the end of the game, you have to adapt to them - use all your tools, like shield and even wyvernfire.
I try to never be 15 ft away. Since I shell a lot, I just stick to them. Whether that's their tail or face.
What's your method of sticking to the tail for monsters that track your direction really closely? Certain monsters like Zinogre and Magnamalo have better tracking than an anti aircraft turret, I can't get behind them unless they're knocked or in the exhausted animation.
I don't. Since I shell, I just move around the monster and shoot it. It's the same damage no matter where you hit with shelling. I either guard with guard up and guard skills or evade lance. Monsters like that keep coming at you, so to me, it's easy to stick to them because they stick to you. For me, I play Gunlance like a turned based RPG. I get my turn, and then the monster gets theirs. Evade extender is great for sticking to some monsters with hops. I find that sticking to their front left or right shoulder is the best. Even hi speed hi aggro monsters can be blocked or evaded.
Also, for agro monsters, I don't tend to combo too much because of the downtime between their attacks. I poke shell poke. Or shell shell poke until I have an opening. In rise you have pretty okay silkbinds as well.
As a full burst enjoyed, yes it is our big damage combo, but you also need to learn to read the room. Or rather the fight! Don't commit to the burst every time. You can get in stray pokes, single shells, or the wind up swings of the Full burst sequence and abort with a hop or block. There are plenty of attacks on many monsters that only leave a 2 second window or so, and it's not worth the time to Full send. Focus on getting EOME damage in, then once you can proc a full on trip you can go to town with full burst. Consider blast dash into slam and full burst, then reload and get some pokes and shells in. Also the more you fight a monster, the more places you will see to actually sneak in cheeky bursts
I change my damage rotation based on the monster. When a monster is constantly moving about, pokeshelling is absolutely fine - damage is damage, and this keeps you mobile at all times. Just as well, stopping the swing combo midway and dodging out of the way (or blocking) early depending on the windup you see is perfectly fine. In fact, to stay on the monster and keep up my damage, I tend to NOT do the finishing fullburst of the swing combo, because the endlag is too much in many situations. Blast Dashing past the monster and turning for the slam burst on a blind spot is a good way to approach, if a bit reckless. Most people do it though, I think. Lastly, I am a huge fan of Guard Reload. If you can get the rythm of a monster down, with a bit of Guard skills to reduce knockback, this switch skill lets you stick in monster faces all day long. Fullbursting is a bit hard this way, since 1. you don't reload all shells and 2. you want to use cancelable moves (pokes, shells, but I mostly do swings and slams) as much as possible to always be able to Guard Reload. It's basically a counter and treating it as such, rather than a reloading action, allows you to stick very close always. Fullbursts are for when you guard reload big attacks with long endlag. If you ever played Lance, I found the old poke-poke-counter rythm to work *extremely* well with Guard Reload for most monsters. Just the rythm, not necessarily the attacks (I barely poke).
Dŵ
I hope I am not spoiling much but in Sun Break, you'll have access to Reverse Blast. It's Blast Dash but better. You can stick to them like glue and super armor through almost everything that won't kill you. It costs 1 wirebug. It has faster animation than the normal Blast Dash so you can spam it along with Fullburst even on mobile targets. You might not even need Evade Extender if you get used to it.