7 Essential Tips for New Players in Monster Hunter Wilds You Can't Afford to Miss!

At last, Monster Hunter Wilds has arrived, promising an extraordinary odyssey through uncharted territories where you’ll hunt towering monsters together with friends. Yet, it’s essential to note that this game is rich in intricate mechanics and ideas that could be challenging for newcomers who haven’t experienced Monster Hunter before. What makes matters worse is that some features aren’t clearly explained and are so well-concealed that you might overlook them during your initial playthrough.

Just like seasoned Monster Hunter players at Windows Central, we’ve traversed Monster Hunter Wilds and uncovered seven valuable insights we wish we’d known during our initial gameplay. Today, we want to pass these tips along to you newcomers, so you can avoid the mistakes we made and enjoy your debut playthrough even more!

Multiplayer setup

In numerous installments of the Monster Hunter series, the multiplayer setup has gained a reputation for being intricate. The same complexity applies to Monster Hunter World as well. To engage in cooperative hunting with your friends online, you’ll need to configure several aspects first.

To get started with multiplayer games among your friends, you should initiate either an Online Single Player Room, a Standard Room, or a Private Room from the main menu where you choose your game save.

After completing the initial setup, you’ll be ready to jump into the game. From there, you can instantly invite your friends to join your Lobby using the “Invite a Friend” option on the main menu. Another way is by connecting with other players in-game and becoming Hunter Friends, which allows you to access their Lobbies directly. You can also choose to join a pre-existing Lobby by following recommended players or just joining random ones via the Recommended Lobby feature.

If you prefer keeping your group’s Lobby exclusive, consider creating a Private Lobby that requires unique codes for players to join, or opt for a Squad Lobby where only invited members can participate.

In-game, you form Squads and Squad Lobbies by interacting with Felicita at the Squad Information Desk in Windward Plains Base Camp. This is where you can extend invitations to your friends to become part of your Squad. They can then establish exclusive Squad Lobbies which allow only fellow Squad members to join, eliminating the need for private lobby codes.

The story doesn’t stop there as afterwards, when your friends are waiting in your lobby, it would be beneficial for you to grasp the idea behind Link Parties and Environmental Link Parties.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, Link Parties allow you to form groups of four players to participate in quests either posted by Alma in the base camp or by another player within a Link Party. Alternatively, Environmental Link Parties enable you to explore the diverse hunting areas freely. Importantly, it’s not possible to be involved in both types simultaneously; therefore, you must decide on the party type that best suits your objectives.

To advance through the story missions or participate in routine quests, create a Link party. If you prefer exploring locales to assist friends with gathering resources, find Pop-up Camp locations, and hunt monsters freely, you’ll need to establish an Environmental Link Party instead.

Regarding story-based quests, it’s crucial to highlight that initially, players must complete certain hunts alone before they can team up online. Fortunately, unlike Monster Hunter World, you have the option to bypass cinematics, expediting this part of the game. After finishing these sections, the game will automatically generate an invitation link for your Link Party members, enabling them to join your hunt promptly.

Focus Strikes are for more than just hitting monster wounds

In Monster Hunter Wilds, one of the fresh gameplay features is called Focus Mode. To activate this, simply hold down the Left trigger and you’ll get a targeting crosshair that lets you adjust your attacks during combos so you won’t miss hitting the monster. Focus Mode additionally emphasizes specific vulnerable spots on the monster labeled as Wounds, which cause extra damage if successfully hit by a player.

In Focus Mode, you can unleash a unique attack for each weapon category known as the Focus Blow by pressing RB. If you successfully land this attack on a monster’s vulnerable spot (the Wound), it will stumble and inflict massive damage to the wound. Moreover, damaging wounds yields valuable monster components that you can utilize to craft equipment back at the camp’s smithy.

Additionally, Focus Strikes aren’t limited to monsters with wounded body parts. You can even use them on a monster immediately after it unleashes its ultimate attack, as indicated in Focus Mode. This brief window is crucial, so you must act swiftly and fire your Focus Strike promptly to exploit the enemy’s exposed vulnerable point and inflict significant damage.

Don’t forget to customize your controls in the options menu

Many players might find the standard controls in Monster Hunter Wilds somewhat awkward, including myself when I struggled to trigger Focus Mode amidst battle while simultaneously performing melee combos. Fortunately, Monster Hunter Wilds offers a wide variety of control customization options in the settings menu, allowing you to tailor them according to your specific preferences.

These include but are not limited to:

Being able to adjust Focus Mode so it can be activated by toggling it via pressing the Left Trigger instead of holding the trigger down. You can also adjust the activation method for melee weapons and ranged weapons separately so the melee weapons’ Focus Mode can be toggled and ranged weapons’ Focus Mode can be held down or vice versa.
Adjusting the radial menu so items are used by pressing down on the analog stick instead of releasing it.
Adjusting the Seikret so it doesn’t automatically go into Auto-explore Mode when you mount it.
Adjusting the D-pad and face button configurations.
And much more.

Set up Pop-up Camps in safe locations to avoid wasting Guild points

As you venture through the enigmatic territories of the Prohibited Lands, you might stumble upon spots where you can establish Temporary Encampments. These handy spots enable you to organize your supplies, restore health, consume food for boosts, and unlock quick-travel destinations.

In an unsafe or insecure location, a pop-up tent might be vulnerable to damage from creatures if they notice it. If your camp is wrecked, you’ll need to use valuable Guild Points for repairs. Luckily, there are certain areas where you can safely set up a pop-up camp without fear of destruction by monsters.

You’ll recognize safe spots when they are indicated as such in the Pop-up Camp management menu during your conversation with Tek, the Pop-up Camp Meowster at the Windward Plains base camp. I suggest placing your camps exclusively in safe locations, even though they might be slightly distant from a monster’s typical territory, they aren’t too far off, and it will help you avoid squandering resources by fixing them unnecessarily.

Complete sidequests to unlock content

As you journey through Low Rank and High Rank missions, you’ll encounter various side missions given by NPCs at your base camp and in small villages across the Forbidden Lands. It’s strongly advised to finish these side missions whenever possible as they often open up gameplay features and additional content.

Finishing tasks given by your Palico improves its battle skills. Furthermore, accomplishing specific tasks for different villagers opens up invitations to feasts, where eating various dishes provides numerous passive benefits for an hour. Additionally, completing other tasks enables sending villagers on missions to gather crafting materials for you.

Fight monsters with high Strength levels for better rewards

Once you finish the primary questline for the Low-Rank missions and receive authorization for High-Rank tasks, you’ll find that monsters on your map now display Strength levels. These numbers reflect their difficulty in combat and the extra bonuses you’ll earn when defeating them.

As you advance through High Rank and boost your Hunter Grade, you’ll come across more formidable beasts with greater power stats and additional loot rewards. If you’re up for a tougher fight and want extra materials to enhance your equipment, work on increasing your Hunter Level by finishing quests, allowing you to take on these powerful monsters.

Pass the time in your Camp

Monster Hunter Wilds offers a constantly shifting day-night and seasonal system, where the environment transforms swiftly and impacts which monsters and resource spots are visible in each area of the Prohibited Lands. To illustrate, during an Inclemency phase in the Windward Plains, the weather becomes erratic, increasing the likelihood that Rey Dau, the region’s top predator, may make an appearance.

Instead of waiting extended periods for favorable weather conditions or specific times of day to hunt monsters or gather nodes, you can spend some time at your Base Camp or Pop-up Camps while you wait. This convenience comes with a cost of 300 Guild Points.

Do note that resting is unavailable while on Quests and only available while free-roaming the maps.

Good luck on your wild journey into Monster Hunter Wilds

In summary, here are our seven tips for beginners to enhance their initial experience with Monster Hunter Wilds. However, the most crucial advice we can provide to any newcomer in the world of Monster Hunter is to proceed at a steady pace and avoid rushing through the game, even though it might be tempting to quickly reach endgame content.

Familiarize yourself with Monster Hunter Wilds’ 14 different weapon types by practicing in the training room. Delve into various regions to discover hidden secrets, and study the attack patterns of the monsters you’ll encounter during long hunting sessions, allowing for efficient material farming to craft stylish armor sets that will impress your friends.

The highly-anticipated follow-up to Capcom’s critically acclaimed Xbox and PC games, Monster Hunter World, titled Monster Hunter Wilds, is set to debut on February 28, 2025. This action-packed adventure will be available for the Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and personal computers via Steam.

2025-02-27 14:10

7 Essential Tips for New Players in Monster Hunter Wilds You Can’t Afford to Miss!