10 Monster Hunter Wilds tips we wish we'd known before playing

Our helpful Monster Hunter Wilds tips and tricks can set you up for a successful hunt, and steer you away from the many dangers that lie ahead. We've put together this guidance after investing a lot of time in Monster Hunter Wilds, to deliver the tips we wish we'd known before we started playing with the benefit of hindsight. We've got pointers covering areas from combat and inventory management, to exploration and beyond so you can get to grips with the basics and develop your hunting skills. However, this guide will also be useful for veterans of the Hunter's Guild, to refresh your memory and introduce fresh systems, so everyone can benefit from our tips and tricks for MH Wilds.

1. Pick two weapons and focus on them

Because of the ability to hold a second weapon on your mount now, we recommend that those who are starting the game for the first time pick one of the MH Wilds weapons to really learn the nuances of, and a second one in reserve that they can master over time as a backup. Ideally these weapons should be meaningfully different from each other (long-range and melee, or fast and slow, etc), but it's not essential.

If you're very new to the game and pick something complex like the Monster Hunter Wilds Insect Glaive or even the rooting-tooting Monster Hunter Wilds Hunting Horn, it's important that you figure that out before you start work on learning the second one. Or even better yet, learn a simple weapon first and then make the complicated one your back-up project.

2. Set up a good "default" loadout in your camp tent

There's several pre-existing loadouts you can access through the inventory in your base camp tent, but you can also make your own, which we highly recommend doing. Players have their own strategies and ways of playing, so different items will help, but generally we suggest having Potions, Mega Potions, Nulberries, both Trap types and Tranq Bombs in there, so you can capture Monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds. Remember, you can always use the loadout, then add individual items to it to taste.

3. Look for white patches on enemy skin

You're taught early on that open wounds on monsters can be hit with focus strikes to do massive damage, but there's more to it than that. If you see a section of a monster's body that's largely white scar tissue, as though the hair and scales have been rubbed away, that's an exposed section that's very close to becoming the open wound you're looking for. Hit that area with all your attacks, and before long it should turn into a wound you can then exploit with the focus strike. Some weapons, like the Monster Hunter Wilds Long Sword, even get a power-up for landing those Focus Strikes!

4. Watch the left-hand list of environmental objects for easily-missed advantages

At the left-hand side of the screen is a constantly-updated list of interactive objects that pass through your character's sightline (aka, anything on the screen). It's always good to keep one eye on this list, as there can be some life-saver elements highlighted there that might otherwise easily be missed - from Herbs, to built-in traps and hazards in the landscape you can use, to dropped pieces of the monster you're hunting. Some powerful monsters will even drop spoors, which can be searched for materials you can make the Monster Hunter Wilds armor and weapons with!

5. If you're not attacking, get on the Seikret

Your velociraptor chicken mount is called a Seikret, and it's very useful for mobility and speed. However, more importantly, while fighting from it is something you should only do with certain weapons, if you need to do anything else, immediately get on its back! Drinking potions and using the Whetstone leave you vulnerable when on foot, but on the Seikret you'll be much harder to hit. Get into the habit of quickly mounting and dismounting your pet dodo according to need. Also…

6. Your Seikret has hidden treasures in its saddlebags!

MH Wilds isn't very good at telegraphing this and it's easy to get quite far into the game without realising, but your Seikret has a supply pouch you can access by pressing Left on the D-Pad. This pouch gets filled whenever you start a quest, and it's usually a basic mix of healing potions, first aid, and rations. That's already useful, but depending on the mission, it might also include some more specialised items - a mission where you have to trap a monster will give you some actual traps to use, for example, or a quest in a cold region will give you Hot Drinks to nullify the worst effects. Sometimes you'll even get gear that will help you exploit the various Monster Hunter Wilds weaknesses.

7. Your charged abilities don't have to just trigger on the scary monsters

Certain weapon powers - like the Dual Blade's Archdemon Mode or the Long Sword's Gauge - are triggered when you land attacks on Monsters. Fortunately, that doesn't just mean the big ones that you're hunting! If smaller creatures are in the area, even ones that can't hurt you, you can hit them with those special minor attacks to easily build up whatever meter you're trying to fill. Then, once you're topped up, you can run into battle with the main hunt target without having to earn your way up to full strength.

8. Make custom meals on your BBQ according to need

Early on you'll get a portable BBQ you can use to create meals. Regular rations just restore depleted health and stamina, but full meals provide long-term temporary buffs of 50 minutes that can be incredibly beneficial. Not only that, but you'll collect different ingredients along the way that you can use to customize the meal's effects.

With that in mind, the best thing to do at the start of a difficult hunt is to immediately cook yourself a meal and work out the best food for that quest. It might grant effects that help negate monster damage, enhance your playstyle and weapon, or give you environmental advantages. Between missions, speak with NPCs and go fishing and hunting to keep your supplies up!

9. It's not just wounds that you can Focus Strike

The Focus Strike ability is sold to you as a way to open enemy wounds for massive damage, but it has a second, secret ability: hitting enemies in specific locations during certain moves. It varies from monster to monster, but as an example: if Jin Dahaad is rearing its head back to do an icy breath attack, there'll be a brief moment where the head is susceptible to a Focus Strike as part of the animation.

Hitting it right then triggers the high damage combo that you would get on a wound, and also interrupts the attack, stopping it in the process. Fast, perceptive players can learn exactly when monsters open themselves up in this way and exploit the opportunity to its utmost, and weapons like the Monster Hunter Wilds Bow can really make the most of this if used right.

10. White "Wylk" Crystals can be used to your advantage

In the mid-game, you'll meet monsters that start creating white crystals that rise up from the ground as part of their attacks. These white crystals are Wylk, a type of volatile fuel, and given enough time the monsters will end up using them against you, usually hitting them with an elemental attack that causes them to explode with that same kind of element.

Well, beat them to it! Shooting the Wylk with an elemental Slinger attack like a Sparkflint lets you trigger it yourself at a time of your choosing, and by hitting it with the right attack, you can choose the best element. If a monster creates Wylk, wait until it's standing close to the crystal formation, then hit it with the element to do heavy damage and remove a battlefield threat that might otherwise be used against you first! If you have the Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun, the choice of ammo means you can detonate it pretty easily with the contextual weaknesses of your enemy.

Check out our Monster Hunter Wilds review to see why we described it as "The new peak of the series and an early contender for game of the year".