Based on player feedback, this update introduces Limit Breaks so that developed equipment and excess skill points continue to matter. We have also improved the Build screen, equipment search, hunt timing, and combat records.
This update adds a new path for growing stronger after completing a build while making long-term hunting and equipment comparison easier to understand.
Skill Limit Breaks
- Skill points beyond Max Lv are now converted into additional effects.
- Limit Break does not create new skill levels. The game calculates Max-Lv effect + Limit Break gain = current effective value.
- Standard skills such as Might and Critical Eye continue at the same rate as their final level step.
- Economy skills such as Fortune, Bounty, Harvester, and Prospector switch to gradual logarithmic growth after Max Lv. Their extra rates differ for common materials, rare materials, signature drops, and blueprints to protect the game economy.
- Final affinity remains capped at 100%. Half of any excess affinity is converted into critical damage.
- Damage reduction remains capped at 95%. Ten percent of the excess is converted into effective HP.
- Conditional skills still require their original activation conditions after Limit Break.
- The lower-rank farming cap from Idle Mastery and all capacity limits are outside the Limit Break system.
For example, Critical Eye at 41 points has 16 points above its normal 25-point cap. Its normal +21% affinity gains another +12%, making the skill's effective value +33%. If the same loadout previously showed 41% total affinity, its final displayed and calculated affinity becomes 53%.
For calculations, effect categories, exceptions, and where to verify each value in game, see the dedicated Wiki page:
Full guide: Limit Breaks — Beast Market Official Wiki
Build Screen Redesign
- Added a Limit Break section showing the normal cap, overflow points, additional effect, and current effective value.
- Final Attack, affinity, critical damage, damage reduction, and related stats now include Limit Break effects.
- Active skills now use a clearer single-column layout. Individual expansion and “Expand all” now work correctly.
- Skills currently exceeding their normal caps are summarized at the top of the list.
- Completed Weapon Development Contracts are collapsed so equipment selection and stat comparison remain easy to reach.
- Auto Optimize now compares owned equipment using complete sets, Resonance, Limit Breaks, estimated hunt time, and survivability.
- Recommended loadouts show comparison data explaining why they were selected.
Improved Equipment Search
- The same equipment search is now available in Crafting, Inventory, and the weapon and armor selectors on the Build screen.
- Search by equipment name, Tier, weapon type, monster, element, skill name or effect, material, or blueprint.
- Search now normalizes full-width and half-width characters and capitalization, and supports space-separated AND searches.
- Queries such as “Assault Fire” or “T4 Fire” can narrow candidates by multiple conditions.
- Armor results are filtered at the Tier level so unrelated tiers are no longer left in the same result card.
Hunt Timing and Combat Records
- The official clear time is now the time at which the server confirms that the hunt can be settled, rather than an earlier client animation time.
- AP moves, Poison, Blast, Sleep, Paralysis, Stun, Exhaust, Down Hunter, and part breaks now use aligned calculations for estimates, settlement, and personal bests.
- Fixed cases where an AP move made the battle appear to finish early while the player still had to wait before the next hunt.
- Hunt records now show damage, time saved, and any amount prevented by a safety cap for each status effect and additional attack.
- Poison deals 1% of the monster's original maximum HP every 2.5 seconds, up to six ticks over 15 seconds. Blast deals 4% of the original maximum HP once.
- Capture no longer changes monster maximum HP or the damage of an ailment tick. Capture succeeds when remaining HP reaches 20% or lower.
- Only Poison and Blast, which deal fixed damage based on maximum HP, share a safety cap of 25% of the monster's maximum HP per hunt.
- Sleep wake-up hits, down attacks caused by Paralysis, Stun, or part breaks, the damage bonus during Exhaust, Follow-up attacks, and part-break bursts do not consume that 25% pool. They are calculated independently from weapon output and actual opportunities to trigger them.
- The old universal limit of three ailment procs has been removed. Proc count is now determined by weapon status value, the monster's required buildup, effect duration, and hunt duration. A 32-proc internal guard remains only for abnormal, extremely long simulations.
- Hunt records show how much of the Poison/Blast 25% pool was used, damage blocked by the cap, and the separate contribution of Sleep, down attacks, Exhaust, Follow-up, and part breaks.
Full guide: Combat Mechanics — Ailments and fixed-percentage damage
Grand Hunt Reward Adjustment
- Rewards now reflect not only difficulty, but also the starting AR band and selected hazards.
- High-AR, high-difficulty routes now grant Orb rewards that better match their required time and risk.
- Expected rewards and tuning rates can be checked before crafting a Grand Hunt Chart.
- Estimated hunt times for the current loadout and candidate loadouts are easier to compare.
Shop and Hunt Preparation
- Capture Traps and Heavy Capture Traps can now be purchased in batches.
- Hunt preparation and the Wiki now make it clearer that Standard monsters use Capture Traps, while Empowered and Apex monsters require Heavy Capture Traps.
Upcoming Balance Work
Limit Breaks substantially expand hunter growth, making current targets relatively easier to defeat. We plan to adjust existing monster difficulty and expand high-difficulty hunts so players have meaningful targets on which to test developed builds. We will announce concrete details after reviewing post-update clear data.
Legendary Resonance will also be adjusted after we measure how Limit Breaks affect real builds and hunt times. In particular, Resonance III is planned for a rework that grants a more distinctive, exclusive skill worthy of final-stage development. The number of required armor pieces may also change to create clearer differentiation from Resonance II.
This Resonance rework and monster-side balance pass are not included in the current update. We will first evaluate the new Limit Break environment and avoid creating one overwhelmingly dominant build or reducing the value of existing equipment.
Wiki Updates
- Limit Breaks — Core rules, standard versus economy-skill growth, conversion beyond affinity and damage-reduction caps, exceptions, and a 41-point Critical Eye example.
- Combat Mechanics — Hunt timing, weapon passives, AP moves, ailments, and Capture.
- Grand Hunt — Reward modifiers from AR bands, difficulty, and hazards, plus expected rewards shown before crafting.
- Build Simulator — Equipment and skill comparison with a link to the dedicated Limit Break guide.
We will continue improving Season 0 growth, combat, and economy balance while reviewing player builds and actual hunt data.