Windows
The Really Long Version That's Mostly Relevant to S Spawning
A hunt’s window is the time frame in which a hunt can become spawnable. They are usually written as “hours since last kill” or “hours since the servers restarted”.
Somewhere within a hunt’s window, the server ticks to allow it to spawn. For A ranks, this is their only spawn condition and they will pop as soon as this condition is met. For S ranks, their other condition must be met after this tick for the hunt to spawn
Example: “Luminare’s window is 4 to 6 hours after kill” mean that Luminare (an A rank) can spawn 4 to 6 hours after it has been killed. It could randomly pop, also known as spawn, at 4 hours 30 minute after killed, 5 hours after killed, 5 hours 17 minutes after killed, etc.
Example: “Minhocao’s window is 57-63 hours after kill” means that Minhocao (an S rank) will become spawnable 57 to 63 hours after it has been killed. After it BECOMES spawnable (for example it could randomly become spawnable at 60 hours after killed), its spawn condition must also be met (in Minhocao’s case, killing 100 Earth Sprites) for it to spawn. Therefore, once 100 Earth Sprites have been killed AFTER it has been dead 60 hours, Minhocao will spawn.
S rank hunts are still spawnable once their window is over. The window ending only guarantees that the servers have ticked to allow spawn. Basically, the window is the time in which the server’s rng can tick to make the hunt spawnable, not the time in which the hunt can spawn. Also, many hunts still have an element of RNG after their timers have ticked to allow spawn, so it can take more than one attempt (even hours after their window has been maxed).
Windows are a set amount of time, but vary from hunt to hunt. All windows are reset (start counting up from 0 again) when the servers restart, and hunts have a shorter respawn window their first spawn cycle after this. Servers are reset during most maintenances. You can tell if the servers reset based on your Marketboard wishlist; if your wishlist reset, so did the servers. If there was a maintenance and the servers were NOT reset, the time the game was inaccessible still counts towards the window.
Example: Lampalagua’s post-maintenance window is 40-47 hours after servers restart, instead of 66-78 hours after killed.
Example: For the purpose of this example I’m using an imaginary S rank hunt with a very short window (8-10 hours after last killed). There was a maintenance, but your Marketboard wishlist did not reset. At 10 PM (an hour before servers go down for maintenance at 11 PM), you kill said hunt. The servers open at 4 AM the following day (after 5 hours of maintenance, 6 hours after the hunt was killed). The time the servers were inaccessible still counts for the hunt’s window, so it is spawnable from 6 AM to 8 AM (8 to 10 hours after 10 PM), NOT 1 PM to 3 PM (8 to 10 + 5 hours, how long the maintenance was, after 10 PM). - tldr treat hunts as if there was no maint at all
Oftentimes, after maintenance the servers are restarted before they are open to players. This means that windows can be open hours earlier than if calculated by the time the server becomes accessible to players.
Example: The server restarted at 2 AM. Players were able to join the server at 3 AM. The hunts will start counting up from 0 at 2 AM, not 3 AM. A hunt whose window is 11 to 13 hours after maintenance will have their window from 1 PM to 3 PM.
Example: Nandi’s window is 47 to 54 hours long. Nandi can randomly become spawnable at 47 hours after kill, 48 hours after kill, 52 hours and 27 minutes after kill, etc. Before Nandi becomes spawnable (at a random time within that 7 hours long window), any attempts to spawn Nandi will fail. After 54 hours have passed, it is guaranteed that Nandi has become spawnable, and attempts to spawn Nandi will succeed. For different hunts, like Agrippa The Mighty, there are rng elements. Because of this, you may need to make multiple attempts to spawn Agrippa even after his timer has reached max.
Mapping
After A/S ranks are killed, they “reserve” their next spawn location; nothing else will spawn there until the A/S rank spawns (at the reserved spot), dies, and picks another spot.
This means that, when spawning S ranks, you don’t need to kill A/B ranks in case the S rank wants to spawn where they are.
Where an A or S rank is going to spawn can be determined. This is especially useful for S ranks whose spawn conditions must be completed on their chosen spawn location (Brontes, Croakadile, Nandi, Mindflayer, Kaiser Behemoth, Orghana, Gamma).
How to map an S Rank’s spawn location: Hunts cannot spawn in the same location twice; mark off where it previously spawned. You can idly mark off anywhere you see the A/B Ranks spawn OR actively kill B ranks to determine the spot.
When killing the B Rank(s) over and over again, keep in mind that the A Rank(s) also reserve spots. When you get down to 2 or 3 spots left (depending on the expansion), wait for the A Rank(s) to spawn, and mark those off as your last spots - this should narrow it down to 1 spot left.
Echo Tab Storage
/echo is a chat channel that links things only to you. A tab that only shows Echo channel can be used to easily store hunt flags, as you can tab into that chat tab and grab links at any time. Be careful, as busy chats can cause your chat log to be flushed (you can turn off event and/or battle tab to limit this).
Alarms
In game alarms can be used to alert you of nodes or timed s rank spawn (such as Garlok, Laideronnette, Okina, etc). The alarm menu can be opened using /alarm. These alarms reset when you log off, so make sure to reassign them.