MHW:I [PC] - 'The Place Where Winter Sleeps' (Arch-Tempered Velkhana) Switch Axe

༄ Ice is beautiful ｡.❅:॰·ཾ❅·*˚⁺
*note, the new world record is 5:24 as of August 2023 by -姬柊雪 www.bilibili.com/video/BV14F4...
It took a long time to get this world record (as of upload date). It's possible for SA to get down to the mid 5 minute range with an extraordinary stroke of luck, but the grind for it would be ridiculous. I tried a few hundred more times afterwards, but despite getting a 6:04 which was much cleaner it was still slower than this run, and I got nothing else close. Although this is a very ZSD-heavy matchup there are a myriad of tiny little tips & tricks that can add up to a big difference in time which are explained below (although luck is really the biggest factor):
• Instead of clutching to ZSD when she drools you can clutch to the outer side of the head, then if you have Sword Gauge available, drop off and do: Overhead Slash → Rising Slash → Double Slash → ZSD (if you clutch to the inner side of the head it's more reliable to skip the Rising Slash otherwise you may grapple onto the wings instead of the head during the ZSD). She doesn't have many ways to knock you off, so this trick lets you fit in some extra damage e.g. at 2:51.
• Focus 3 is very useful in this fight because it lets you regen Sword Gauge fast enough to ensure that you can do the above trick each time she drools. Quick Sheathe 3 is also very useful because of situations (like at 5:01) where it lets you punish tight head openings with Clutch → ZSD.
• Getting her to Aura 0 is useful for Switch Axe since her Sever hitzones increase by ~9% (static1.millenium.org/article... - credit to Deathcream & AsteriskAmpersand) and she typically starts flying a lot in this phase which is a good opportunity for free ZSDs, but terrible for other weapons. This means that it's preferable to build up a lot of Elderseal at the start, but this is basically down to luck since each hit has only a 33% chance to build up Elderseal and she can also just switch to Aura 2 early, even before the 2 minute mark - which is unfortunately very common. If you're not doing TA Wiki then Flash Pods can also be helpful in lengthening the period that she stays in Aura 0 as well as preventing her from flying which can help teammates.
• Clutching to the face at the absolute end of many moves' recovery animations (e.g. at the very end of the circular tail scrape) whilst not positioned directly in front of her will substantially decrease the likelihood of her not following up with her annoying lunging bite attack which throws you off.
• When the ice armour on her head initially breaks she usually doesn't drool and just continues her attack (like in this run at 1:15), but if it happens at the very end of some moves' animations then the headbreak can actually cause her to drool.
• During the AT signature move where ice ridges spawn from every angle, you can jump off one of the ice ridges, then if you're unsheathed whilst airborne press Light Attack + Strong Attack simultaneously to aerially grapple with ZSD, this interestingly also works if you jump off in Axe Mode. Watch Havik's run to see the usefulness of this. If you are not amped then the regular Element Discharge will initiate.
• Morph Sweep is the best move to punish her sweeping beam if in good position, but in Aura 2 try to avoid using it (best to grapple to face and ZSD instead) unless she has recently toppled or drooled since it has a high chance of causing enough head part damage to force her to shoot a counter-beam, which will certainly hit you during Morph Sweep since you'll be animation-locked, thus blowing you back and wasting a lot of time and can even kill you & end your run.
• If she does the ice pool move whilst you're grappled and doing ZSD: it's better to end the ZSD early just after she breathes it and do Double Slash → ZSD again if you have enough Sword Gauge e.g. at 4:10.
• Try to refresh Might Seed and Demon Powder at around the 3min mark. I forgot to do that here unfortunately; I ate a Nullberry instead (lol) at 3:25 which is the ugliest part of this run. This would've been sub-6 otherwise.
(˚ ˃̣̣̥﹏˂̣̣̥ )
Thumbnail created with this site: mhchargeblade.net/tools/thumb... and credit goes to the original creator of it. I'm not making any more runs, so don't subscribe.
Mods:
- Daily Food Skills Utility (to ensure that Felyne Booster is triggered)
- Monster Size Editor (to ensure that the size roll is on the small side since big monsters are usually instant resets)