Hunting Horn Guide

Hunting Horn is a long-reaching blunt weapon whose attacks also write notes. Queued melodies become effects only through Performance, and repeated performance can upgrade them through Encore.

Scope and Weapon Model

This article assumes final-patch Iceborne. Hunting Horn's displayed Attack multiplier is 4.2, so 1260 displayed Attack represents 300 true raw. It has no guard and is a heavy clutch weapon. The official manual: Hunter's Notes owns controls and the current horn's melody list; this article explains state, numeric modifiers, and skill interactions.

Most horn attacks use blunt hitzones and can build stun on the head. The hilt stab is severing, but its low severing output does not make Hunting Horn a practical tail-severing substitute.

Notes, Performance, and Encore

Each horn has three attack notes and a weapon-specific melody set. Valid note sequences enter a queue of up to three melodies. Performance plays the queued effects and also attacks; Encore attacks again and upgrades supported effects. Directional recital and encore animations have different movement and hit timing while applying the same queued melody rules.

Every horn has Self-Improvement. Its first performance increases drawn movement speed. Its upgraded effect supplies deflection protection and a 1.15x total true-raw modifier to the horn user. This personal modifier is part of the weapon state and must be included before comparing the displayed Attack of an active horn with another weapon type.

Notes, Performance, and Encore
Melody attack modifier	Value
Attack Up (S)	`1.10x` base true raw
Attack Up (L)	`1.15x` base true raw
Attack Up (XL), after upgrade	`1.20x` base true raw

Melody effects with the same purpose do not become independent multiplicative copies merely because several horn users play them. Duration, upgrade state, and the exact melody effect remain separate facts.

Echo Attack and Echo Waves

Iceborne's Echo Attack begins with a hilt hit and can spin for up to four 17-MV blunt contacts. Each spin uses 0.8x element and status. It writes an echo note used by the horn's echo melodies.

Queued copies of Echo Wave "Impact" combine when performed and encored:

Echo Attack and Echo Waves
Stored copies	Raw MV	Stun buildup	Special calculation
1	50	40	Cannot crit; calculated at green sharpness.
2	100	60	Cannot crit; calculated at green sharpness.
3	150	90	Cannot crit; calculated at green sharpness.

Dragon Echo Wave instead uses 45, 65, or 85 raw MV and its own fixed dragon component. The weapon's listed element does not replace that fixed dragon value. Ordinary Performance and Encore also emit a 27-MV shockwave that cannot crit and is calculated at green sharpness.

Core Offensive Priority

Core Offensive Priority
Priority	Skill or system	Mechanical reason
1	Maintain upgraded Self-Improvement	Supplies movement, deflection protection, and `1.15x` true raw.
1	Horn Maestro Lv 2	Extends melody durations and the echo-bubble duration, reducing how often state must be rebuilt.
1	Weakness Exploit Lv 3, affinity to 100%, and Critical Boost Lv 3	Scale ordinary physical hits on the intended wounded blunt weak point.
1 when eligible	Non-elemental Boost Lv 1	Adds `1.05x` base raw when the horn has no active element.
1	Required sharpness support	Preserves ordinary hit damage; fixed-green shockwaves do not gain purple sharpness.
2	Agitator	Adds raw and affinity during enrage.
3	Slugger	Raises head-hit stun buildup, including eligible waves, but not direct damage.
3	Clutch Claw Boost Lv 1	The heavy clutch attack already wounds; the skill adds slinger-ammunition drops.

A horn's melody set is an equipment property. Attack Up can outweigh small differences in listed raw when its uptime and team recipients are relevant, but a melody does not excuse ignoring sharpness, affinity, element, or the target hitzone.

Defensive and Utility Priority

Defensive and Utility Priority
Priority	Skill or system	Hunting Horn interaction
1	Health Boost Lv 3 and upgraded armor	Broad survival increase during long recital commitments.
2	Evade Window	Extends rolls used to cancel or reposition after eligible horn attacks.
2	Stun Resistance or matchup resistance	Prevents control loss not already covered by an active melody.
3	Flinch Free Lv 1	Reduces common teammate interruption; some active extract-like or melody effects do not replace every multiplayer flinch rule.
Conditional	Defensive melody effects	Can replace the corresponding armor skill only while their exact effect and duration remain active.

Settings and Mechanical Details

The melody queue stores valid sequences; it does not mean the effect is active before Performance.
Wide-Range does not share horn melodies. Melodies already use their own area and recipient rules.
Echo Wave raw cannot crit, so affinity skills affect the horn swings around it but not that wave's raw instance.
A sweet-spot connection on eligible horn attacks receives a small 1.03x raw modifier; range and contact point can therefore matter even when the same monster part is hit.