Hunting Horn — Onyx Choros Gore Tyranny Echo Wave Slash Meta

Overview

Endgame meta build for Hunting Horn with Onyx Choros (Gogma Artian Attack Focus, non-elemental). It weaves together three threads only HH allows: a critting Echo Wave Slash via a non-elemental weapon, affinity stacking near 100% on weak parts, and a dual-HH Seikret for pre-buffing through the secondary Ajara-Jivaka.

Echo Wave Slash — why a non-elemental Gogma is BIS

Echo Wave Slash is the only Echo Wave variant that crits — it inherits affinity from the weapon and skills like a normal hit. The other variants (elemental, status, blunt) deal fixed damage with no crit scaling.

A non-elemental Gogma Artian stands out here because it produces, simultaneously: Purple/Red/Blue notes, Echo Wave Slash, and strong Atk Up and Def Up melodies. The combination makes the crit-heavy build mathematically superior in personal DPS against any monster. Elemental builds only win on a specific 3★ weakness — which this build treats as the exception, not the rule.

Gogma Artian weapon-as-piece

The Gogma Artian weapon counts as +1 piece toward both set bonus and group skill when rolled via Tarred Devices.

In the canonical composition (4pc Arkvulcan γ + 1pc Gore Coil β):

• Gore Magala's Tyranny: 1pc Gore + weapon-as-piece = 2pc Lv 1, activates Black Eclipse I (Frenzy proc).
• Lord's Soul: 4pc Arkvulcan already closes the 4pc straight from the armor — the weapon roll is redundant here, but kept as a canonical template for derived HH builds that run only 2pc Arkvulcan γ.

Active set bonuses

Arkveld's Hunger Lv 2 (4pc Arkvulcan)

Regenerates HP on sustained attacking (also known as Hasten Recovery). HH is the weapon class that benefits most — it hits constantly via passive echo bubbles, hilt stabs, and swings between melodies.

Gore Magala's Tyranny Lv 1 (2pc via weapon-as-piece)

Black Eclipse I / Frenzy proc. Useless without Antivirus — hence the maxed Antivirus 3 in the build, which converts every Frenzy survived into +25% affinity temporarily.

Lord's Soul Lv 1 (4pc Arkvulcan)

Survive one lethal hit per hunt at 1 HP — as long as HP at the moment of the hit is above the yellow line on the bar. It has a passive cost: -5% defense pre-proc, which becomes +5% defense + 3 resistance after activating. Safe against a one-shot at a modest defensive cost.

How to play

Performance Beat — an in-combat decision point

HH has a critical rhythm mechanic: while performing a melody, pressing Perform again with the right timing triggers Performance Beat — it shortens the animation and chains into the next melody. Perfect timing flashes the weapon red, signaling +damage on the final hit (BIS).

Three viable options in combat:

• Stack 2 melodies. Some veterans argue for peak motion values on the 2nd Perform. Trade-off: shorter setup, lower DPS ceiling.
• Stack 3 melodies + full BIS with a red Performance Beat. Higher DPS ceiling, needs a safe 2-3s window.
• Stack 3 + a plain Encore. Lower risk, lower damage. Good against aggressive monsters.

The canonical build assumes option 2 — endgame-proficient. Horn Maestro 2 (max) extends melody duration and opens the window.

Wounds and Flayer 5

HH already generates wounds fast via echo bubbles and frequent swings. With Flayer 5 maxed, time-to-wound drops ~50%. Each wound opens three opportunities:

• Focus Strike: Reverb — banks 5 notes instantly + damage.
• A vulnerable hitzone activates WEX 5.
• A trigger for Gore/Arkveld wound effects in derived builds.

Canonical pattern: open wounds early at the start of the hunt to speed up buff stacking.

Dual HH Seikret pre-buff

An HH-exclusive mechanic: with Horn Maestro 2 maxed, you equip a second HH on the Seikret. Before combat (or during, on the Seikret), you perform the secondary's melodies — they persist at full duration when you swap back to the primary. Effective buff stack roughly 2× larger.

Canonical secondary: Ajara-Jivaka (Ajarakan HH). Stats display 882 / true raw 210 / aff +10% / Blast 250 / slot 3-2-1 / inherent Slugger Lv 3.

Why Ajara-Jivaka specifically: Onyx Choros already delivers Defense Up (L), All Wind Pressure Negated, Atk/Def (S) and Stamina Reduced (L) natively. Exactly Atk G and earplugs are missing. Ajara-Jivaka fills both gaps via Attack Up (L) (a real upgrade over Atk/Def S) and Earplugs (S).

In a build with saturated affinity (near 95%), multiplicative Atk Up beats Affinity Up — alternative sources would overflow against the 100% cap. Earplugs S covers standard AT-monster roars via Horn Maestro 2 extending the duration; G-tier roars (Jin Dahaad, transformed Gore Magala, possibly AT Arkveld) may get through — an accepted trade-off.

Pre-buff rotation: Seikret → Ajara-Jivaka → Attack Up (L) + Earplugs (S) + Self-Improvement → swap to Onyx Choros → enter with full-duration buffs.

Charm and decorations

Mighty Charm III delivers Maximum Might 3 directly, freeing the armor's lv2 slots for:

• Counter Jewel [2] stacking to Counterstrike 3 max (+25 atk when knocked back) — it rewards HH's natural trade-off of performing during a long animation.
• 3x Challenger Jewel [3] = Agitator 3 (+10 atk + 10% aff in rage) — direct synergy with the Gore Tyranny Frenzy proc.
• Flayer Jewel [3] on the chest + base 4pc Arkvulcan = Flayer 5 max.
• 3x Sane Jewel [1] = Antivirus 3 max.

Reinforcements (DPS-max)

Top tier: 2× Attack EX + 2× Affinity EX + 1× Sharpness I. EX rolls less often than Tier III in Gogma Artian crafting.

Accessible fallback: the same layout with Tier III in place of EX. The DPS ceiling drops ~8-12%, but the build stays functional as a practical meta.

Target profile

A generalist for any endgame AT hunt: AT Arkveld, AT Gogmazios, AT Jin Dahaad, AT Nu Udra, 10★ quests. No target-specific pivot.

Against monsters with a strong elemental weakness (Jin Dahaad weak to fire, for example), Gogma Element Focus builds can edge it out in damage at specific points. But this is the anti-hubris build of the class: sustain via Hasten Recovery + team buffs via melodies + crit-heavy personal DPS via Echo Wave Slash. It doesn't optimize for pure speedrun — it optimizes throughput across multiple hunts.

Divergences from the traditional meta

• Armor: the traditional meta suggests 2pc Gore β + 2pc Numinous β + 1pc Dahaad for Black Eclipse II + Super Recovery. The canonical here prefers 4pc Arkvulcan γ for Flayer 5 max + Hasten Recovery Lv 2 + WEX 5 max from the base armor, without depending on jewels.
• Reinforcements: the meta cites 3× Attack instead of 2× Attack + 2× Affinity. A deliberate divergence: with Artian +15% rolled + WEX 5 + Max Might 3 + Crit Boost 3 + the Antivirus proc, crit uptime stays near 100% on weak parts. Affinity is always more efficient than extra raw against Echo Wave Slash, which crits.