This mod makes the Insect Glaive more reliable and responsive by tweaking buff durations, kinsect mechanics and the execution parameters of some attacks. These improvements come at the cost of a reduced damage bonus from the kinsect extracts. Things have been mathematically modeled and tested, comparing multiple damage parses to keep everything balanced.

== Installation ==

Unzip the archive and copy the extracted nativePC folder to your MHW installation folder (where MonsterHunterWorld.exe is located). To uninstall, delete the following files from your game's nativePC folder:
- wp10_param.w10p
- wp10.col
- rod_marking.shlp
- rod_marking_epv1.shlp

This mod is probably not compatible with other mods that tweak the Insect Glaive, but I've included a version compatible with Foamypop's Kinsect Pierce Normalized, which is an awesome mod that I've been using for a long time. Install their mod first, then install mine, replacing their version of the wp10_param.w10p file.

== Detailed Changes ==

=== General ===

- Red + White Damage Bonus*: 10% -> 5%.
- Triple Buff Damage Bonus*: 15% -> 5%.
- Triple Buff Duration: 90s -> 210s.

* The nerf was implemented for two reasons. First, because some moves now deal more damage. Second, because the triple buff's duration has been substantially increased, which means less downtime (and thus more DPS).

The triple buff duration (210 = 90 + 120) is the maximum duration you can achieve with the old trick of red + white -> orange, used to optimize buff uptime. Unfortunately, this trick is no longer usable if you want to benefit from the new Flinch Free special bonus, which only works while triple buff is up. Personally, I think it was a bad design decision to make the weapon's gameplay depend so much on kinsect extracts — especially in Iceborne, where monsters became faster and far more active. These are the reasons I elected to increase the triple buff's duration.

=== Ground Moves ===

- Kinsect Command (harvest/recall): no more hitlag (in theory, because the animation lock is still real).
- Kinsect (Fire) (aka mustard shot): projectile speed doubled; no more hitlag (again, in theory).
- Kinsect (Mark) (melee attack): damage vastly increased; now applies element and status.
- Dodge Slash (back spin for repositioning): damage moderately increased; no hitlag.
- Strong Thrust*: damage moderately increased; no hitlag.
- Strong Reaping Slash: damage moderately increased.
- Strong Double Slash (the 3-hit move)*: damage moderately increased.
- Strong Wide Sweep: now applies a little stun and exhaust, to synergize with blunt kinsects.
- Tornado Slash: no more hitlag on the final hit.

* With the changes to Strong Thrust, Strong Reaping Slash and Strong Double Slash, all of the main combos are now dealing approximately the same DPS, so it's just a matter of choosing the one that best fits your window of opportunity, instead of repeating the same combo over and over.

=== Aerial Moves ===

- Vault and Vault Dance (jump): executes faster (jump height remains the same).
- Midair Evade: executes slightly faster (travel distance unchanged).
- Jumping Advance Slash: executes slightly faster (same travel length).
- Jumping Advance Slash: maximum number of jumping advance slashes: 4 -> 5.
- Jumping Slash (descending spin): executes slightly faster; damage slightly increased (mounting damage unchanged).
- Descending Thrust: executes slightly faster.
- Midair Clutch: wind-up animation executes much faster.
- Clutch Claw Attack: landing animation after the last hit executes much faster (does not affect other weapons).
- Flying Slash*: damage slightly increased; part break multiplier slightly decreased (same overall value).

* This is the spinning attack you do when you move while mounted. Not to be mistaken for the mount finisher attack.

=== Kinsect Tweaks ===

- Kinsect Power-up Duration: standardized to 300 seconds for all ammunition types.
- Kinsect Attack and Element: values now scale linearly. As a result, kinsects with lower stats should be a bit more viable.
- Kinsect Speed: now scales linearly, plus the baseline has been bumped up to make slower insects more viable.
- Kinsect Healing Extract: now scales linearly and has been buffed by about 30%.
- Weapon Speed Boost for Kinsect: 1.5 -> 2.
- Weapon Healing Extract Boost for Kinsect: 1.5 -> 2.
- Weapon Blunt Boost for Kinsect: 1.2 -> 1.4 (now same as element)*.
- Weapon Sever Boost for Kinsect: 1.3 -> 1.4 (now same as element)*.

* This may seem like it's skewed towards physical damage, since elemental values are inherently lower, but the red kinsect power-up gives element a 3.5 multiplier, while physical only gets 1.5, so in the end everything is kind of equalized (assuming you're using a kinsect whose element matches the monster's weakness).

==== Kinsect Dust ====

Dust Cooldown has been standardized to 3s for all dust types. Previously, paralysis clouds were generated every 4 seconds, and heal clouds every 5.5 seconds, which made these two kinsect types lose DPS while auto-attacking a marked target, because they would take longer to attack when compared to blast and poison kinsetcs. To compensate for generating more clouds, the status values of paralysis and healing dusts were reduced proportionately.

- Poison Dust: straight-up buffed by 10%.
- Healing Dust: buffed by about 30%, after the aforementioned adjustments.
- Kinsect Stamina Drain per second: 4 -> 3, improving uptime for all kinsetcs.
- Kinsect Stamina Regeneration: doubled (this is based on the kinsect's heal stat).

== FAQ ==

Is this mod balanced?
I've tried to make it balanced, since I have no interest in playing with an OP weapon. It's certainly not game-breaking in any way. But, all mods that tweak game mechanics are considered unbalanced by default and not usable in a competitive setting.

Can I use this in multiplayer?
The changes will affect only you. But, as with all mods that tweak game mechanics, you are advised to use this only in single player and co-op with friends. That said, I play this in multiplayer all the time and never ran into any sort of trouble.

Can this mod crash my game?
The only way this mod could crash your game is if Capcom releases an update that changes Insect Glaive mechanics — which is extremely unlikely. If this happens, just uninstall the mod and everything should be back to normal. Regardless, you should always make periodic backups of your save.