Monster Hunter World is a huge and complex RPG. For newer players, the number of mechanics and options initially thrown at you can easily become overwhelming. Luckily we’ve poured over 100 hours into this gargantuan title to help you out.
From gathering, to armour and weapon types, to food and loot, we’ve broken it down to help kickstart your campaign. Welcome to our Monster Hunter World guide.
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Monster Hunter World Guide – Gathering
When first let loose in Monster Hunter World, you’ll find yourself able to go out on Expeditions to various maps that you’ve unlocked over the course of the main campaign. From here you’ll be able to freely explore the map and gather all the necessary items that you might need along the way. Beware, though, for the larger monsters are always lurking around the corner.
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Some items that we highly recommend collecting are Herbs and Honey, which make your basic Mega Potion. In addition to this, the various bugs and mushrooms that you find along the way are also key to success. Mandragora Mushrooms can be combined with Mega Nutrients to concoct a Max Potion which, as the name suggests, replenishes all of your health.
Depending on your weapon choice there’ll be other bugs and plants that’ll be worth collecting, but the ones above are essential for all Hunters.
Monster Hunter World Guide – Armour Upgrades
Instead of levelling up like in a traditional RPG, Monster Hunter instead utilises gear-based progression. That means whenever you fight a monster, you’ll often find an armour set or a weapon can be crafted based on the skin looted from that creature. As you progress through the game, huge development trees across the various weapon and armour sets will appear giving you so many different ways to upgrade your arsenal.
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When you initially fight the Great Jagras, we highly recommend making it’s armour set to get you through the game’s early hunts. From there, try to target and keep your gear current in order to keep up with the burgeoning strength of the Monsters, otherwise you’re going to have a pretty bad time. Additionally, some armour sets also offer a “set bonus” for wearing 3 or more items at once, this unlocks armour skills, which can prove invaluable in the long-term.
Sometimes you’ll have to hunt the same Monster multiple times in order to get enough parts to craft all of the armour. As you can’t choose what you harvest from your kills, it’s luck of the draw how quickly you collect all the pieces, but the fun is in the hunt, right?
Monster Hunter World Guide – Weapon Choice
If this is your first Monster Hunter title, then you might find yourself a little bit lost when it comes to choosing the right weapon. Some weapons, like the Sword and Shield, Dual Blades, Hammer and Greatsword are great beginner choices, with other weapons such as the Lance, both Bowguns, Switch Axe and Charge Blade being a fair bit more complex.
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Every weapon is created equally, and there’s not a single weapon which is better than another. Just note that every weapon plays like a different game entirely. Luckily, to find what weapon suits you the best, the game gives you one of every weapon type from the outset and also a training area. The best thing to do is to spend some time in the training area with various weapons in order to find what suits you the best!
Monster Hunter World Guide – Get Used to the Slinger
The Slinger on your arm can be triggered using L2/LT, and provides some excellent benefits, should you master it quickly. Around the world you’ll find various different ammo types, from Stones to Torch Pods and more, you’ll be wanting to use these to their full effects during your hunts.
For example, you’ll be able to fire a torch pod on the ground to create a fire underneath the monster, which gives a great passive damage benefit! Additionally, you’ll be able to craft pods from the items that you’ve gathered such as flash pods, which are able to down flying beasties, or dung pods, which when thrown cause a monster to leave the current area and move to a different one, which can be useful if you find yourself having to handle 2 large monsters in a small area.
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However, the catch is you can only pick up one ammo type at a time. Meaning if you pick up another piece of Slinger Ammo, it’ll switch out with whatever you’re currently carrying, so be mindful if you’re haphazardly harvesting everything you run past.
Monster Hunter World Guide – Remember to Eat
Part of the Monster Hunting ritual is to remember to eat before a hunt. You can either eat at the canteen in Astera or while on a hunt at camp.
When sitting to eat, you’ll find a huge range of options, which can vary from adding to your health and stamina, to increasing your defence or even weakening the monster that you’re about to fight! There are also daily food skills that you’re able to activate. Make it a part of your regular hunting routine and you’ll see the huge benefits that eating possesses!
Additionally, you’ll be able to add useful items to the canteen by accepting the Chef’s quests, which usually involve carrying eggs or delivering items back to camp. Though it might seem boring, don’t ignore them! They can give you a significant boost to your skills and capacity throughout the game.
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Monster Hunter World Guide – Research your Prey
Monster Hunter World’s Scoutflies are a new addition to the series, and they allow you to more easily track a Monster.
You’ll see their tracks while out on an expedition or during a hunt, and after collecting a certain number of them, the Scoutflies will automatically begin leading you toward the beast. We recommend that you find and pick up almost every track you find, as each of them gives you points towards monster research levels, which go back into your Monster Field Guide after you talk to the Ecological Research Team in Astera.
The benefits of this is after you upgrade your research level, your Scoutflies will immediately take you to the Monster’s location and also give you essential information on how to get the rarer items from the monster and it’s weaknesses. Don’t ignore those footprints!
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Monster Hunter World Guide – Capturing Monsters
More often than not, you’ll be able to get more items from capturing a monster rather than killing it. The game does not really teach you how to capture monsters well, but what you’ll first need are two different types of craftable traps, in addition to Tranq Bombs.
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There are two types of Traps, Pitfall and Shock, which can be crafted using a trap tool and a net, or Trap Tool and Thunderbug. Furthermore, Tranq Bombs can be crafted using Sleep Herbs and Parashrooms. You’ll only be able to capture a monster after beating it up a little bit. Telltale signs that a monster is ready for capture are it limping, returning to its nest or having a weak heartbeat (visibile in the lower left of the screen below the its map icon). After reading these signs, a monster will be ready for capture and you’ll be able to get greater quest rewards.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
