More Tips to Get By in Monster Hunter World

written by Justin Prince (@prince_justin)

Since writing my original article focusing on beginner tips, I'd procrastinated in writing this one. But with Monster Hunter World on PC dropping recently, I wanted to share a few more advanced tips to get by. I've plugged in over 500 hours into Monster Hunter World to date, and here are some tips that helped me get by from low rank to high rank and beyond.

Make sure to adjust the field of view to the max! While it may look more cinematic to have a tighter camera, adjusted your field of view to its widest will only be beneficial for you. Giving you a wider view make dodging monster attacks more manageable and can save you from a cart. This is especially useful if you play with a ranged weapon, giving you a wide area to survey the hunt, if you're hunting with friends this can give you an advantage when going after a particularly tricky monster.

This may be personal preference, but switch to target camera over focus camera. Tapping the right analog stick to lock on to a monster may feel more fluid to gamers used to lock-on mechanics in current games, personally I found it to be more of a hindrance. Focus camera continually keeps your prey locked in until you swap targets, but this can toy with your camera and especially if you like to micro-adjust your targeting during combat.

utilizing target camera feels more at home as a MonHun vet

Target camera feels more like previous Monster Hunter titles, so if you are a player that is coming over from the 3DS titles, this will feel more fluid. I also add that you should set it to target only large monsters. If you need target camera to take down a lowly Jagras, fighting the big guys will be the least of your worries. While hunting, you can click the right analog stick (R3/RS) to cycle between the monsters in the locale (their icons are next to the map). Then, when you need to position said monster in your sights, you just tap the left shoulder button (L1/LB) and continue your onslaught. This also serves as a great way to be aware of where the monster is, if you get knocked on your ass and have to quickly orient yourself, it's much easier to tap a single button than it is to look around with the right analog stick. Target camera also gives you a level of control you don't get with focus camera, something that you will need when you start hunting more difficult prey.

Literally invest in your attack and defense. Two items you absolutely should buy are the Armor and Attack Charms. These aren't piece of equipment, but rather take up a slot in your inventory. Just carrying the item gives you attack and defense a permanent bump simply for having it in your inventory. Once you hit high rank, try and find Bazelgeuse and before shitting your pants... try and kill it or at least farm some materials. If you can obtain two Bazelgeuse talons, you can craft and Armor and Attack Talon by using the charms you already bought... go a step further and buy another set of the charms to further give you that permanent bump.

expensive but well worth it!

These are pricey so you'll have to grind some Zenny, but believe me hunter this is well worth the effort.

Understanding damage and how all those numbers work. Monster Hunter games are notorious for being niche and not really explaining everything, while World does a great job getting newbies up to speed, for those who are interested in optimizing their gear, understanding damage numbers will be key.

First off, the attack values on your weapons will be bloated. When you see the attack damage next to your weapon, those numbers will not be a one-to-one calculation. Understanding the bloat value will be key, a harder but slower hitting weapon will have a higher number than say a set of Dual Blades, but when you get into execution you may find that they aren't that far off from each other when optimized in a fight. Because a weapon like the Greatsword hits hard but slowly as opposed to quicker weapons like Dual Blades or Sword and Shield. The long and short of it is that the more time it takes for your weapon to attack, the closer it is to the max damage; a fully charged Greatsword slash is going to do more damage per hit than a slash for your Sword and Shield, but this can be compensated when you take into account how many hits you can perform with your more swift armaments.

Next is going in to elemental damage, when you pick a weapon with an element you'll see another number next to your weapons raw attack along with an icon indicating what element it has. Typically, elemental damage is more beneficial on weapons that hit faster like the Dual Blades since elemental damage ignores motion value. This means that as far as improving your base attack, you may find that strong elemental damage is better suited to faster hitting weapons than the slow but heavy hitters.

Build your own four-man party when hunting solo. Now I know this may sound weird but you'll understand it if you've gotten far enough into the game. So, aside from your own Palico you can recruit additional help when taking on the myriad of deadly beasts in the new world. Each locale has a tribe of Felynes called Grimalkynes. These helpful little cats become allies with each tribe bringing unique abilities that can supplement your own Palico. Also, you can befriend the Palico of a fellow hunter whose guild card you've received. After completing the Grimalkyne mission, your Palico unlocks the ability to recruit small monsters as well.

So! Let's get into building a solo hunting party. First, find a tribe of Grimalkynes or a group of friendly Palicos to recruit. If you Palico has the ability to befriend small monsters, find a group of those monsters and start fighting them, when your Palico befriends it you now have a fourth soldier to follow you on your hunt. This is beneficial because while you end up having three extra warriors on the field, the Monster is still scaled to solo hunts. A word of caution though, if you are in a public session or you don't require other hunters to be approved before joining your hunt, if another hunter jumps in you will lose your two extra helpers.

Be a team player on hunts. Now there are various different ways to be a team player on hunts. I won't get to deep into it but will instead outline three key points I believe make for a better multiplayer experience.

First off, know your roles and understand your positioning. Not every hunter will equip Flinch Free and I can't even count how many times I've had a combo interrupted or worse... carted because an overzealous hunter goes all in with zero regard for the team. If your group has a Hammer or Hunting Horn user, make sure to not get in their way when they focus the head. There is more than enough space to attack if you study the monster's weak points, a good rule of thumb is to leave the head for blunt weapons while cutting weapons focus on the tail. This will ensure that Hammer Bro Big Bang combos don't get interrupted and for an added bonus, if you cut that tail off you earn an extra carve.

To flash or not to flash. Since launch, there have been some changes made to the game... one of the biggest was nerfing Flash Pods when fighting tempered monsters. Now, this isn't something you need to worry about until you hit end game, but a few key points when using Flash Pods; do not flash a flying mounted monster when a fellow hunter is trying to topple it and when fighting tempered monsters do not waste the few precious flashes too early.

Be a bare minimum support, but if you can run Wide Range do it. If the current Behemoth hunt taught the community anything, it's that you only as strong as your weakest link. While no amount of babysitting will help a button mashing hunter who dives and rolls into exploding Teostra dust, when you keep your team alive you can have a hand in ensuring that the hunt ends in completion. The basics are to bring various support items like powders (Armor, Demon, Life etc). While your ability to heal will be limited to three Life Powders and the amount of materials you bring with you, this is still better than just hoping your fellow hunters actively monitor their health.

Also, keep an eye out for hunters who are stunned or paralyzed. If you can, get up close to them to knock em back a bit, helping to save cart if their health is low. While friendly fire doesn't cause damage, it does allow you to knock back party members.

Of course, running a Wide Range build is preferable if you wanna be a true support, but at least bringing the bare minimum can make up the difference between success or failure.

This last bit of advice is less about the game and more about your attitude with the game. Give yourself a break, while I have had moments where I've easily given up an entire day chasing down the perfect build, failing hunt after hunt can get demoralizing. So, my personal rule of thumb is that if you are facing a particularly high wall to get past, step away from the game for a bit and come back in a couple hours or even a couple days later. That can make all the difference in a hunt, something that should give you a real sense of pride and accomplishment.

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This should cover my key tips for getting by in Monster Hunter World. This game is a very big game and luckily the community has been mostly positive. Joining in on discussion with fellow hunters on Reddit or Discord, along with checking out various YouTubers. My personal favorite Monster Hunter YouTubers to follow are Arrekz, Gaijin Hunter, TagBackTV, and Team Darkside.

Just remember to have fun, while it may be frustrating to be on the business end of a Tempered Kirin one-shot or to find your 75th Meowster Jewel when all you want is another Attack Jewel, remember this is still a game and it's supposed to be fun. So for our PC friends who are now joining the ranks of the Fifth Fleet, welcome to the New World.