Fortunately, I've gone and tested the weapons of Zoh Shia to lay down the parameters of how Whiteflame Torrent works in Monster Hunter Wilds, what the effect is and how it relates to the Scorcher skill. If you want to know the complex details, we've got them all laid out below.

What does Whiteflame Torrent in Monster Hunter Wilds do?

From my experiences, the Whiteflame Torrent skill in Monster Hunter Wilds does an extra flat 50 damage on certain hits with your weapon. So a 25 damage strike might become a 75 damage strike when it activates. However, the actual pattern with which this extra damage occurs is fairly complicated.

1. There are two elements to the Whiteflame Torrent skill: a cooldown and a random dice roll.
2. When you land the extra 50 damage, it starts a cooldown of 3 seconds before it can happen again.
3. However, that doesn't mean the next hit will necessarily deal the 50 damage. Instead, once the cooldown is over, the weapon has a one-in-three chance to deal the extra damage.
4. This chance then increases proportionately with each non-triggering strike. If it hasn't been activated by your third weapon strike, it's guaranteed to.
5. Once the extra damage activates, the cooldown begins again and we return to step one.

To illustrate the odds of the extra damage a little more easily, imagine that there are three doors, one of which has extra damage behind it. If you land the first attack (or open the first door) and there's no damage, it means you have a much higher chance, because now it's one-in-two. If you get it wrong again, there's only one door left, so then it's a guarantee!

Now, no matter which door you need, the triggering of the 50 damage will reset the cooldown, and you can't open any doors for the next three seconds. Damage distribution done in this way means that there's no real greater advantage to using weapons that strike faster – the Dual Blades aren't necessarily better than the Monster Hunter Wilds Great Sword in this case.

The community has been bewildered by the unclear abilities of Whiteflame Torrent since it was added to MH Wilds, but thanks to dreamingsuntide for being one of the first to decipher the mechanics of this ability and draw my attention to it! Having tested the weapons in the game myself, this does seem to fit the pattern of how they work.

The Whiteflame Torrent Skill is tied to all weapons crafted from fighting the Monster Hunter Wilds Zoh Shia hunt. At time of writing, there's no other way to get this skill for yourself.

The other thing to keep in mind is the Scorcher ability, tied to some of the Monster Hunter Wilds best armor, that from the Rathalos set. Scorcher, alongside the normal abilities of that skill, also increases the flat damage dealt by the Whiteflame Torrent ability, but turns it to Fire damage (so enemy resistances may kick in, depending on the foe).

Want more info on everything added by Title Update 1? Check out how to slay the Monster Hunter Wilds Mizutsune, or find out where to find the Monster Hunter Wilds Ayejack location for "The Apple of Her Eye" quest and retrieving Alma's Glasses.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Zoh Shia in MH Wilds is about as tough as they get, so if you want to know how to bring it down - either on your first attempt at the end of Chapter 4, or when replaying it in either later hunts and the Germination mission - we'll explain how. Not only that, but we'll also lay out the Zoh Shia spawn pattern, so you can encounter it again and again!

Monster Hunter Wilds Zoh Shia Spawn and location

If you want to fight Zoh Shia in MH Wilds again after the first encounter in the story, you need to do the following:

1. Reach Hunter Level 50+
2. Speak to Werner in Suja when alerted to
3. This will include the chance to fight Zoh Shia as part of the "Germination" Assignment quest
4. After completing Germination, Zoh Shia will randomly spawn in the Ruins of Wyveria during the Inclemency period

Specifically, it appears in a manner similar to Jin Dahaad, where it's a dedicated quest in its own arena that you'll be alerted to. It's not guaranteed that it will spawn during that time, but that is the only time it'll spawn, so if it doesn't, keep resting at your tent to set it to that world state.

Zoh Shia weaknesses and strategy in MH Wilds

Zoh Shia has the following weaknesses and vulnerabilities in Monster Hunter Wilds:

• Weaknesses
  • Dragon
• Immunities / Resistances
  • Exhaust
  • Flash Pod
  • Shock Trap
  • Pitfall Trap
  • Sonic Bomb
• Effective Items
  • None
• Monster attack types and special attacks
  • Fireblight
  • Thunderblight

The Zoh Shia's main strength is the regenerating crystal shell that protects it. This can be broken in sections through continued damage to specific areas, such as the head, legs or wings. The shell will regenerate and cover it again, but it comes back weaker each time, making it easier to crack. The moments where it's broken is your chance to do heavy damage to the exposed skin beneath.

Over time, sections will disappear permanently, revealing burnt-looking skin that the player can target for heavy damage, but this is paired with Zoh Shia becoming more aggressive and using additional elemental moves.

The other thing to keep in mind is that Zoh Shia creates a lot of Wylkcrystals throughout the battlefield as part of its moveset. It will then detonate these with elemental attacks - usually either Fire or Thunder. However, if the player can shoot them with slinger ammo first, you can detonate them prematurely and blow them up in Zoh Shia's face, doing heavy damage and stunning it in the process. This isn't just a useful feature, it's borderline essential to winning the fight - keep it in mind.

Ultimately, the encounter with Zoh Shia is an incredibly long battle and one of attrition. Play cautiously and defensively, and make sure that you have high resistance to fire and thunder. You should always heal if you're at anything less than 50% health, and as a rule, stay away from the head.

Once you defeat Zoh Shia, you'll start to be able to craft the only weapons with the Monster Hunter Wilds Whiteflame Torrent skill, which deals extra flat damage on certain strikes. Discover how it works in detail at the attached guide!

Want more fun for the Title Update? Check out how to beat the Monster Hunter Wilds Mizutsune here, or find out how to find Ayejack in Monster Hunter Wilds here!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

How to get Alma's Glasses

Now that you've found him, Ayejack won't give up the glasses until he receives a sample of Eastern Honey. This can be obtained in a few ways if you don't have it yet:

• Swap a Fossilised Fire Opal with the trader Ren
• As a rare drop from Honeycombs in the world
• As a rare drop from using the Wildlife Capture Net on Giant Vigorwasps
• Complete the Side Quest "A Leviathan's Temper" if you haven't yet

Once you have the Honey, give it to Ayejack to get Alma's Glasses. You'll then be able to have her equip them through the Appearance menu in your tent.

For more info on the Title Update 1 content, find out how to slay the Mizutsune in Monster Hunter Wilds here! Or for an even greater peril, find out how to slay the legendary Monster Hunter Wilds Zoh Shia here, and the nuances of the tools you craft from it, the Monster Hunter Wilds Whiteflame Torrent weapons, here!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

The first major milestone on Monster Hunter Wilds' roadmap has just been reached, with the hotly anticipated Title Update 1 dropping earlier today. The massive patch brings monsters like Mizutsune to the game, along with the Grand Hub and brand-new Arena Quests. It also marks a turning point for fans who worried that Monster Hunter Wilds is too easy, thanks to the return of Zoh Shia – the action RPG's first final boss.

This higher rank Zoh Shia is proving to be quite a behemoth to overcome, with one Reddit thread highlighting as much. "'MH: Wilds is too easy,' my ass," read the original poster's thoughts. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Attached is a screenshot showing the new Zoh Shia's carcass, with hundreds of comments in agreement with the OP following. "Yep, this thing is no joke," a fellow player replies. "Just attempted it first time and failed."

"MH:Wilds is too easy" my ass. WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT. from r/MHWilds

They're not alone, either. "Everyone else is like a 10-minute hunt – Zoh Shia took me 30 mins," admits another fan. "DAMN." Elsewhere, responses see people comparing the new fight as one akin to "average" ones found in Monster Hunter World, Capcom's 2018 entry. Others hope that the studio keeps the high-ranking monster's difficulty as challenging as it is right now. "Hopefully, Capcom won't nerf Zho Shia."

Our own Monster Hunter Wilds review praises the game for having the "best combat in the series," and it seems as though it's only going to continue improving over time, if this Title Update is anything to judge by. There's plenty more yet to come to the latest Monster Hunter, too, including "balance changes" and weapon improvements as well as the Festival of Accord: Blossomdance, the game's first seasonal event.

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

Having fought Mizutsune, this monster hasn't changed much from its previous appearances, generating large clouds of bubbles and firing off jets of water while moving unpredictably in leaps and bounds to confuse players. The bubbles themselves act as various types of mines, floating across the battlefield, and hunters will need to keep a high level of situational awareness to ensure that they don't go crashing into something dangerous. If you need more help on exploiting Mizutsune's weaknesses and formulating a strategy that's up to date for MH Wilds, our guide below will help with that.

Mizutsune weaknesses and strategy in Monster Hunter Wilds

Mizutsune in MH Wilds has the following weaknesses and vulnerabilities that players can exploit.

• Weaknesses
  • Thunder
  • Dragon
• Immunities / Resistances
  • Water
  • Sonic Bomb
• Effective Items
  • Flash Pod
  • Shock Trap
  • Pitfall Trap
• Monster attack types and special attacks
  • Water
  • Waterblight
  • Bubbleblight
  • Fireblight

Mizutsune has two different major attack types alongside the usual range of claws and teeth: inflicting Bubbleblight and inflicting Waterblight.

Bubbleblight is triggered by hitting the bubbles that it generates. Minor Bubbleblight is actually a buff for the player, increasing their evasion and stamina use, but getting hit by another bubble during that time turns it to Major Bubbleblight, which causes the player to slip and slide around as though incredibly soapy. This condition ends either when you take damage, or if you use a Cleanser, which can be crafted with Godbug Essence and a Fire Herb.

Waterblight is much less dramatic, a special affliction from being by Water jets that simply gives you a stamina regen penalty, and wears off with time. There's also Fireblight involved in a minor way, as a few of Mizutsune's bubbles are explosive when touched. When that happens, just roll as much as possible to put it out.

In terms of strategy against Mizutsune, this is a fight about battlefield control, speed, and situational awareness. This powerful leviathan moves quickly in a manner similar to Uth Duna, leaping and diving, but leaves bubbles around the battlefield as it does so.

There's four varieties of bubble out there that I've encountered:

• Regular/Blue: Inflicts Bubbleblight.
• Red: Grants a temporary damage boost.
• Green: Heals the player.
• Fiery: Inflicts Fireblight and damage.

On top of that, Mizutsune fires jets of water from its mouth. These are continuous blasts that fire like lasers, sweeping across the battlefield, but there's usually some warning, with it firing upwards before controlling the beam for the attack. Get on its flank to avoid the shot.

Ultimately this is a fight where you're dependent on speed, control, and evasion. Mizutsune is fast, so you need to be faster, and both the Bubbleblight and Waterblight conditions are designed to make you slower and less precise. You'll need to react quickly with defensive options and avoid dangerous areas like the monster's head, meaning that weapons like the Monster Hunter Wilds Dual Blades that encourage speed are especially good here. Another valid tactic is to use something like the Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun, as you can shoot the bubbles out of the air effectively to clear the battlefield.

For more help, check out our guide where we've got all the Monster Hunter Wilds weaknesses!

Mizutsune's location in Monster Hunter Wilds

If you want to hunt Mizutsune in MH Wilds, here's where you need to go and what to do.

1. Reach Hunter Rank (HR) 21+.
2. Reach the Scarlet Forest area as part of the main story.
3. Speak to Kanya in the Main Camp (she gives you the fishing related quests to find creatures like the Gravid Bowfin in Monster Hunter Wilds).
4. She'll grant you a quest called Spirit in the Moonlight, which will take you to fight the Mizutsune.

After that point, more Mizutsune (both regular and tempered) will appear randomly in both the Forest and the Ruins for you to hunt. Keep in mind that while you're in the forest, you can also go searching for Ayejack in Monster Hunter Wilds, a Wubwub who's part of "The Apple of Her Eye" side quest.

Want to see everything else you can fight in MH Wilds? We've got the Monster Hunter Wilds full roster right here, or check out our pick for all the Monster Hunter Wilds best weapons!

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

In a recent post on the official Monster Hunter website, Tokuda outlines a couple of title updates planned for Wilds, including the first, coming on April 4, and the second, set to drop sometime this summer. The director also looks toward the more distant future, detailing changes to monsters and the game's overall balance, particularly regarding weapons, "in response to some of the feedback after launch."

Capcom is "planning to make various adjustments to the game," as Tokuda puts it, that "will be implemented gradually with each upcoming title update in order to make the game more enjoyable for everyone for a longer period of time." The lead then cites the Hammer, which arguably already stands as one of the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons in many a fan's heart, as a weapon with "upward adjustments" underway.

"For example," writes Tokuda, "we are currently carefully considering upward adjustments for the Hammer, and then looking at other overall weapon balance adjustments with a goal to implement them either in the end of May update or the second title update in summer." Nerfs are also in the works: "Some unintentionally overpowered things will be adjusted downward, but we will also be adjusting other parts upward, making for a generally balanced update."

Some balance changes will arrive sooner than others, including Corrupted Mantle nerfs and buffs to other Mantles, "balancing the line-up of Mantles to suit everyone's style of play." It's a lot to look forward to, but it's unsurprising to see just how much Capcom has in store for what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review dubs "the new peak of the series" and an "early contender for game of the year."

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

Capcom confirmed on the Monster Hunter Twitter account that it has released a special item pack for Monster Hunter Wilds players to celebrate 10 million sales. The pack includes a selection of common items, as well as some upgrade materials and eggs. It includes 30 Mega Potions, 20 Lifepowder, and 20 Mega Barrel Bombs, which are all great items to have, to be fair, but the real highlight of this pack is the final two items.

In the special item pack, you get 10 Hard Armor Spheres, which give you a whopping 1,000 points each toward upgrading your armor pieces. Plus, you get 10 Silver Eggs, which sell in the in-game shop for 10,000 Zenny each (so keeping roughly in line with egg prices in the US currently). Both of these are extremely useful items to have, especially if you're someone who likes to craft tons of armor.

You can get these items by going to the start menu and selecting 'Login Bonus,' and alongside your regular bonus of a Lucky Voucher, you'll have the items waiting for you. However, this is only available from now until Sunday, April 13, at 11:59pm / 7:59pm / 4:59pm, so you'll need to log into Monster Hunter Wilds before then to take advantage.

After you blast through Title Update 1 and go back to being upset that Monster Hunter Wilds doesn't have endless amounts of content (I can relate), it may be worth checking out our list of the best RPG games to pass the time until the Lagiacrus arrives in the summer.

In a letter posted on the Monster Hunter website, Tokuda reiterated some of the new additions to Title Update 1, like Mizutsune and the High Rank Zoh Shia fight arriving in-game. However, this time he also dug a little deeper into future updates, including the Monster Hunter Wilds Ver 1.011 update, which is set to arrive at the end of May.

Until now details about May's update were scarce outside of a Capcom collaboration (which still hasn't been detailed, but Street Fighter and Mega Man are always a safe bet) and broader additional features. Tokuda confirmed some more details here. First off, there's going to be an influx of stronger Tempered monsters, with Gore Magala and each region's Apex monster (Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra, and Jin Dahaad) getting a new version to balance endgame variety. (I'm hoping this means Gore Magala, who already has a normal Tempered variant, will appear outside the terribly, tiny ice map.) Broader adjustments to "overall gameplay flow" are in the pipeline, too.

Tokuda confirmed a number of things that are coming in the farther future. Capcom is set to introduce balance changes with each upcoming update, including tweaks to the corrupted mantle, which will be nerfed in this week's update alongside buffs for all of the other mantles. The director also mentioned that the team is "carefully considering upward adjustments for the Hammer and then looking at other overall weapon balance adjustments with a goal to implement them either in the end of May update or the second title update in summer." My kingdom for a lance counterattack buff.

Tokuda acknowledged the fan feedback over the game's performance (especially on PC) and noted what's changing in Title Update 1: "Improvements coming very soon include a reduction in VRAM usage and an upgrade to the DirectStorage version of the Steam version in Free Title Update 1. These should result in an overall improvement in stability for our PC players." While this won't magically fix every problem with the PC version, Tokuda reminds people that this is an ongoing process.

Finally, the letter also let us in on something all-new: layered weapons will be coming to Monster Hunter Wilds to complement layered armor, letting us enjoy the appearance of any weapon while still getting the skills we want. Tokuda didn't confirm which update this would be a part of, so it's probably safe to assume it won't be in this week's update, and likely won't arrive until Title Update 2 at the earliest.

Monster Hunter Wilds' Title Update 2 is also set to bring back Lagiacrus, which is probably the single most-requested returning monster in the series.

According to a new statement from Capcom, Monster Hunter Wilds has surpassed 10 million sales globally just one month after its record-breaking release in February. The milestone was also hit days before the game's first big title update, which drops April 4 with what Capcom calls "a fan-favorite monster as well as the Grand Hub, a new in-game settlement where players can gather and communicate with each other."

While 10 million players is no small number to hit, it's not the first impressive record Wilds has smashed. The new action RPG beat Monster Hunter: World, Capcom's previous defining mega-hit, by 40% in launch month sales in the United States alone, selling over 8 million copies in just three days – "the fastest a title has reached this milestone in the company's history," as Capcom itself described it then.

The game also boasted more than 1.3 million players on Steam alone in mere hours following its release, overtaking other massive titles like Cyberpunk 2077 and Elden Ring on the charts. For comparison, Monster Hunter: World's own all-time Steam peak was 334,684 at launch – a figure that Wilds comfortably tripled. As of last year, Capcom revealed that World had sold 25 million copies, accounting for over 25% of the series' total sales.

It seems like Wilds might just step into World's number one spot as the biggest and boldest Monster Hunter yet, though, with almost half its sales already and only a month under its belt. Our own Monster Hunter Wilds review dubs the latest entry in Capcom's 20-year-old franchise "the new peak of the series," celebrating the recent release as an "early contender for game of the year."

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

Following a much better onboarding early on and some story-heavy hours before the credits roll and the narrative continues with HR and Tempered hunts, Monster Hunter Wilds fully embraces what it’s all about: smacking wyverns on the head with massive hammers and slicing and gunning beasts with extreme prejudice. Despite the beautifully rendered environments, the Monster Hunter series has always been a violent affair. How do you reconcile that with a progressive environmental message? Uh, you kind of don’t.

I’ll be first to admit it’s a tricky river to navigate. On the one hand, you need to squarely deliver on the basic premise of hunting down a ton of monsters to craft cool hats and big swords. On the other, you want to say things, important things, because expensive video games that only run on vibes are a dying breed. Also, you want to recruit more players to make the money numbers go even further up, and people like stories. It’s all a trick, of course; the end goal is to make gamers focus on the solid hunt-loot-craft loop which is Monster Hunter’s core identity.

Looking at the first-month data, it seems that Capcom has hugely succeeded one way or another. Was a cutscene-heavy main quest the secret sauce the series had been missing to capture more folks’ attention? Er, probably not, especially when Wilds’ narrative is such a bungle once you mull it over for a bit.

Past conversations

Pre-World Monster Hunter is largely plot-less. You only got a small description for each quest and some half-cooked narrative bit about why you need to eradicate a big animal. It was possible to learn more about the world, lore, and role of the hunters if you put in the time, but the general assumption was they were a defensive force that protected cities, towns, and small settlements from too-aggressive giant animals.

In 2018, Monster Hunter World came along and took itself slightly more seriously by telling an actual story, cutscenes and twists included. This is where problems started to arise. The New World is being changed by the Elder Dragons, and there’s also a spiked beast named Nergigante that’s messing with other Elder Dragons. It’s all one big chain of anomalous events, but time and again, we’re told they’re natural events. They just don’t happen very often. By and large, humans, Wyverians, Troverians, and Lynians’ (the four sentient races in this world) relationship with nature was always depicted as sustainable, so you can see where this is going. The expedition that arrives to the New World doesn’t seek to establish cities or ravage the land for resources, so that was fine at least.

Since World needed big story beats and even bigger threats, such natural cycles were treated as impending catastrophes that needed to be stopped and essentially turned the hunters into superheroes. ‘Humanity’ began to interfere in its own way, oblivious to the natural order of a just-discovered continent and making up excuses to slay creatures that were doing their things. Oops.

What did we learn today, kids?

After Rise taking things in a more classical direction, Monster Hunter Wilds doubles down on the ‘saving nature from nature’ angle, with more cutscenes and slow-walking sections this time around. After several scary monster encounters and investigations to learn about the ‘White Wrath’ beast, there’s a perfect plot twist which places the blame on the ancient Wyverian civilization and a source of energy that caused ruin. Though it couldn’t retroactively fix the friction found in World’s story, it was the perfect way to make Wilds both have high stakes and justify the ongoing slaughter of every monster that does monster things across the Forbidden Lands. “The habitats are off; we need to correct past wrongdoings.” Good enough.

The thing is... the story arc just keeps going after the credits roll. With the previously ‘broken’ environments now restored to their former richness and old species making a return, hunters can go back to their regular activities. Fabius, a prominent figure of the Hunter’s Guild, makes a big statement to his assistant about how hunters will always fix what’s broken and whatnot. How do you correctly decide what needs to be fixed (killed) though? See, this wouldn’t be an issue if Monster Hunter’s humanity closely resembled our own (we’re bad at preserving environments), but that’s not the case.

Past this point, Gore Magala shows up to ruin everyone’s week with its virus and other surprises to put extra pressure on the hunters. The story also continues to violently swerve between Nata being sad about having to kill monsters which have gone off the rails and every change in the environments being treated as something in need of correction by Fabius. Why can’t we just have forgettable excuses like protecting the roads or cattle again after wrapping up the ‘a civilization fucked up, actually’ angle that half-works?

By placing a greater emphasis on story and answering the whys and hows which were generally avoided in the past, Monster Hunter might’ve written itself into a corner. If the series ‘needs’ to evolve and become more self-serious because the powers that be want to take ambitious swings, writing that has something coherent to say would be a good starting point. As it stands, Wilds’ discourse on nature is muddled and can’t soar above the actual video game’s needs.

We've ranked the best Monster Hunter games - where does your favorite land on the list?

Capcom recently hosted an action-packed showcase detailing what's coming in Title Update 1 on Friday, April 4 – the most important addition is the return of Palico cooking. However, Capcom is also keeping up the weekly schedule of event quests for players to dig into and nab some useful gear. Last week's quests allowed players to farm for decorations and nab a new piece of headgear from a Rathian hunt. While the Rathian quest is still available for an extra week, the decorations quests have been replaced with a brand new event quest, which has been detailed on the Monster Hunter website.

Titled Congalala Cravings, this new quest has you throw down with everyone's favorite farting ape and in return get some cooking materials (you'll probably want to wash them first though). You'll need to be at least Hunter Rank 9 to take on the quest, which has you battling through the Scarlet Forest.

In return for taking down the Congalala, you'll be rewarded with Droolshrooms for cooking. Droolshrooms are one of the ''Additional Ingredients' available to hunters while cooking, and using them gives you the Black Belt Meal (Lo) buff, which reduces your stamina consumption when running or evading. This quest also has a chance to give you the better variant of the item: Delishrooms, which offer an improved version of the same buff.

Congalala already has a special cooking ingredient associated with it. During a hunt the monster can dig up a Truffle Du Conga which is one of the "Finishing Touches" you can use in cooking. This ingredient gives you the Gatherer Meal buff, which will sometimes increase the number of resources you get from gatherable areas (bones, ores, etc.). Not only that, but the Eastern Honey and Wild Seed Oil ingredients are also available as quest rewards. Honey will give you Medic Meal (increased health recovery), while Oil will give you Specialist Meal (increased potency when using abnormal status attacks).

Overall this quest seems like a great way to buff up your canteen ahead of the new monsters arriving in April. This quest and the "Like a Fire Hidden by Sand" quest are available until Wednesday, April 1, after which we'll be given some new ones to sink our teeth into ahead of the update on Friday, April 4.

While you're here, be sure to check out our Monster Hunter Wilds review, as well as our guide to the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons.

Monster Hunter is known for its lavish cooking and dining animations, and while you can see a fair few of those in Wilds thanks to those occasional village meal cutscenes, the series' tradition of Palico chefs at base camp has been replaced by a more convenient but less fun portable BBQ grill.

But in the new Grand Hub, it looks like Palico cooks are coming back to the kitchen. The footage in the new showcase reveals a trio of Palico chefs offering a variety of meals to the player, and it all looks decidedly more heartwarming than sitting at a lonely BBQ grill in the wilderness.

For the waifu enthusiasts among you, Title Update 1 will also introduce the option to change Alma's outfit, with one free alternative available from the start. Even more importantly, "after completing a certain side mission," you'll also be able to change out Alma's glasses separately from the rest of her outfit. Will wonders never cease?

Title Update 1 launches on April 3 or April 4, depending on your region, and that's not all that's on the Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap. In answer to seven years of prayers, Capcom is also bringing back Lagiacrus for Monster Hunter Wilds this summer.

Monster Hunter Wilds beat Monster Hunter World, Capcom's previous defining mega-hit, by 40% in US launch month sales.

Lagiacrus was the flagship monster (the monster on the box with storyline importance) for Monster Hunter Tri, and it was the perfect way to show off that game's main gimmick of underwater combat. However, since the underwater stuff was nixed after the third generation of games was done, Lagiacrus has struggled to get out of the sea.

It did make an appearance in Monster Hunter Generations, as well as it's updated version Generations Ultimate, albeit in a bit of an underwhelming state, and it was seemingly once planned for Monster Hunter World but cut during development.

Despite taking a backseat, the monster has remained popular, coming in third during Capcom's Hunters' Choice poll for the series' 20th anniversary. That fandom has paid off, as Capcom showed a clip at the end of the Monster Hunter Wilds Title Update 1 showcase which confirms that Lagiacrus is the next monster joining the game in summer 2025.

We didn't see much of it, but the teaser kicked off with the sound of water splashing before we were shown a monster carcass being thrown to the ground and a familiar set of claws grabbing onto it. Then, if it wasn't obvious enough, a watery background appeared with the 'Summer 2025' text.

The real question is how Capcom handles the monster this time. We've already heard that underwater combat won't be returning, but the blueprint for a more out-there fight is still present in Monster Hunter Wilds. I reckon the Lagiacrus battle will play out very similarly to Uth Duna. During the Uth Duna fight, the beast is able to retreat into the water where you can then pull down wreckage onto it to bring it back into the arena. Considering the teaser shows Lagaiacrus in that monster's home – the Scarlet Forest – I wouldn't be shocked if that unique trait returns too.

Monster Hunter Wilds has done pretty well sales-wise, with the game beating out Monster Hunter World by 40%.

The update will lead with Mizutsune, a bubbly leviathan last seen in Monster Hunter Rise, and a full-fledged version of Wilds' final boss Zoh Shia, who can now be hunted repeatedly to farm a new and, frankly, stunning set of angelic armor. A brief look at Mizutsune suggests it may have inherited some of the attacks previously reserved for its Soulseer form, and Zoh Shia looks as fierce as ever even as a normal quest target a la Jin Dahaad. Mizutsune will be available at Hunter Rank 21, while Zoh Zhia is reserved for HR 50.

Mizutsune and Zoh Shia will appear (and reappear) alongside the release of the Grand Hub, a new multiplayer social space filling in for the guild halls of old, finally giving players a place to hang out that doesn't look like it was freshly slapped together from emergency supplies.

The Grand Hub is "a massive gathering space for hunters to engage in new ways, such as competing in the new Barrell Bowling minigame to earn useful items and pendants," Capcom explains in a press release. "Hunters can also gather in the Grand Hub to observe the village of Suja’s traditions, including the Diva’s nightly vocal performance.

"Talking to Tetsuzan in Suja after reaching Hunter Rank 16 unlocks the Grand Hub, at which point the Squad Information Counter will relocate from the Windward Plains so hunters can conveniently manage their Squads in the communal area. The entrance to the Grand Hub will also host the Expedition Record Board, where the newly added Arena Quests' fastest global clear times will be displayed alongside Arena Quest limited bounties."

Those arena quests will challenge players to defeat specific monsters as quickly as possible, with the fastest times unlocking special pendants, and the fastest players in the world earning a spot on global leaderboards tied to more exclusive cosmetics.

Speaking of: Title Update 1 will see the release of a new wave of free and paid emotes and add-ons, including free returning gestures and an optional new look for Alma. From April 22 through May 6, a seasonal event called the Festival of Accord: Blossomdance will be available, unlocking plenty of limited-time decorations and quests, and reviving most previous event quests.

From April 29 through May 20, Arch-Tempered Rey Dau will be available as an event quest, unlocking yet another new armor set. Arch-Tempered monsters have more health and deal more damage than even Tempered monsters, and it just feels right for Rey Dau, our first Apex predator, to raise the difficulty ceiling in Wilds. AT Rey Dau will be unlocked at HR 50.

Capcom finished the TU1 showcase with a nod to Title Update 2, which is coming this summer on the heels of an unspecified Capcom collab, and which we now know will bring back the fan-favorite monster Lagiacrus, who hasn't been seen since 2018's Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate.

Monster Hunter Wilds director joined an online hunt in the new action RPG himself "only to promptly cart before anyone else" did: "I feel bad about that."

Announced today, the showcase – which is being hosted by producer Ryozo Tsujimoto – will take place next week on Tuesday, March 25, at 7am PT / 10am ET / 2pm GMT. So far, it looks like the returning Leviathan monster Mizutsune is the star of the update, so we can almost certainly expect to see some of that, but Capcom teases "a host of other new additions," too.

We might have already been given some clues as to what some of those other new bits are because, for anyone who thought that Wilds was too easy, it was already confirmed that "a new level of challenge" is coming with "a monster of formidable strength at a level above Tempered." It wasn't previously clarified if this monster is the aforementioned Mizutsune or something else entirely, as a short summary of the update from last month noted that beyond the unnamed tough foe, "another challenging monster will also await you!" With that in mind, there should be at least two new monsters to take on, and we can expect to get our collective butt kicked by no less than one of them.

Beyond this, the extra good news is that the upcoming title update is just the first of multiple to come. In a recent video, the game's producer noted that Capcom was "working on title updates," plural, and asked fans to "keep an eye out for news about those." Furthermore, art director Kaname Fujioka noted: "We have lots in store, both already announced updates and some we're still working on, and we're doing our best to make the game as enjoyable as possible for everyone."

In our Monster Hunter Wilds review, we called the action RPG the "new peak of the series" – if you're just getting stuck in, be sure to check out our guide to the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons.

We already have plenty of data we can point to as measures of Monster Hunter Wilds' success. Right around its launch, it beat out titans like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077 with a peak concurrent player count of 1.3 million on Steam, and then it broke records as the first Capcom game to cross 8 million sales in just three days. Capcom marked that milestone with a tweet assuring fans "this is just the start for the next generation of Monster Hunter."

Now we have a new Big Number from Circana analyst Mat Piscatella on Bluesky, who reports Monster Hunter Wilds' total US launch month sales are 40% higher than its closest predecessor and competition, Monster Hunter World, which launched back in January 2018. (Monster Hunter Rise is the previous game in the series, but was initially a Nintendo Switch exclusive, whereas Wilds is practically World 2.)

Granted, Monster Hunter World retailed at $60 while Monster Hunter Wilds is $70, and World's PC launch came seven months after its console launch while Wilds launched on all platforms simultaneously, but 40% is a notable leap regardless.

So what's making Monster Hunter Wilds such a successful entry in the long-running series? Well, no one quite knows for sure, but producer Ryozo Tsujimoto recently attributed part of it to the game's increased focus on story. Meanwhile, our Monster Hunter Wilds review suggests it might be topping sales charts because it's just a really good video game, with Austin calling it "the new peak of the series and an early contender for game of the year."

The Dark Souls games might be my all-time favorites, but Monster Hunter Wilds beats them in one crucial way: fashion.

Speaking in a recent video message on Monster Hunter Wilds, Tokuda first acknowledges how many players the new game has reached and shares his appreciation for the community. "Firstly, I'm really happy to see how many people are enjoying the game around the world," says the director. He then goes on to recount how he tried to answer a multiplayer SOS flare to hunt Gore Magala – an attempt that didn't go too well.

"I recently joined a Gore Magala hunt via an SOS flare, only to promptly cart before anyone else," admits Tokuda, much to producer Ryozo Tsujimoto and art director Kaname Fujioka's delight. "I felt bad about that, but we did manage to clear the hunt!" The three leads then promise that there's still "lots in store" for Monster Hunter Wilds beyond just "the planned title updates," not to mention the "series as a whole."

While Tokuda's admission is amusing, to say the least, he's certainly not the only one who worked on what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review calls "the new peak of the series" but found actually playing it challenging. Gemma voice actor Kristen McGuire did, too, taking to online forums to request "tips for beginners" and discuss the game's infamously confusing menus – a topic I'm sure many of us longtime fans could chat about extensively.

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

The first two quests go hand-in-hand together. Ballet in the Rain and Sand-Scarred Soul are both five-star quests that have you hunt a monster for Glowing Orbs – with the former giving them to you for weapons and the latter giving them out for armor. Glowing Orbs are appraisal items that grant players Decorations to slot into their weapon and armor slots, adding new skills to your repertoire. Both of these quests are available until March 25, 2025.

In Ballet in the Rain, you'll be hunting a Tempered Lala Barina in the Scarlet Forest (which means you'll be able to nab some of the Hunter Symbol I item too). Meanwhile, Sand-Scarred Soul gives you the significantly less daunting task of hunting a regular old Doshaguma in the Windward Plains. The Glowing Orbs will automatically be appraised following the hunt, so you'll be able to find out what decorations you have right away. Capcom hasn't said how many Orbs will drop per quest, but based on the Armor Spheres in last week's event, it's likely to be random.

Then there's the Like a Fire Hidden by Sand quest. This four-star quest has you take on a Rathian in the Windward Plains and allows you to unlock an exclusive bit of armor – Expedition Headgear Alpha. This quest features the Expedition Headgear Ticket reward, which is used for crafting the headgear (three of them to be exact). Unlike the other two quests, you'll have an extra week to get the Expedition Headgear as this quest is available until April 1, 2025, alongside next week's new quest, Congalala Cravings.

If you're like me and waiting impatiently for Master Rank to arrive in Monster Hunter Wilds, why not check out our best Monster Hunter games list?

Speaking in a recent video message on Monster Hunter Wilds, producer Ryozo Tsujimoto, art director Kaname Fujioka, and director Yuya Tokuda teased new content and announcements to come. Looking to the future of Wilds, Tsujimoto tells fans to "keep an eye out" for news on title updates – the first of which drops in April, with another timed for summer. "It's only been a few weeks since Wilds launched, but we're already working on title updates, so keep an eye out for news about those," he said.

Tokuda says the developers have been taking fan feedback into consideration, telling players to "please look forward" to more than just the unveiled title updates that the community already knows are in the works: "We've been gathering player feedback, including via a number of surveys, and will continue making adjustments through not only the planned title updates but in updates released at other times."

Fujioka echoes Tokuda's words, reiterating that more is coming to Wilds than just the "already announced updates" players are anticipating. "We have lots in store, both already announced updates and some we're still working on, and we're doing our best to make the game as enjoyable as possible for everyone," he added. "We'll be sharing more announcements in the future." That's not all fans have to be excited for, either.

According to Tsujimoto, "There is so much more in store, not just for Wilds but for the series as a whole." These are certainly wonderful times to be a Monster Hunter stan, it seems, with what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review calls "the new peak of the series" being out and with more where that came from. I personally can't wait for the first title update to launch early next month, either, with hopes for some dual blade-shaped additions and perhaps some balance changes for the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons.

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

After the first set of limited-time event quests arrived in the game last week, Capcom has released a new event to players today. Titled ‘Tongue Tied,’ the quest has you head out into the Windward Plains and throw hands with a Tempered Chatacabra. While the previous event quests gave you a unique piece of armor and cooking ingredients as rewards, this time around, you’ll be getting rare Hard Armor Spheres and Advanced Armor Spheres as part of your mission rewards. These are used for upgrading your armor pieces. Advanced Spheres give you 200 points towards an upgrade, while Hard Spheres give you a whopping 1,000 (the highest quality armors typically require 2,000 to boost).

This mission can be done as many times as you like before it is taken away (alongside the Kut-Ku Gone Cuckoo quest) on March 18, 2025, at 23:59 GMT / 7:59 ET / 4:59 PT, so you’ll be able to farm Armor Spheres like nobody’s business in return for the pretty easy task of battering Chatacabras relentlessly. However, how many of each Sphere you get for completing the mission seems to be random, as players responding to Capcom’s tweet have mentioned getting one Sphere per quest, while others got as many as nine at once.

Since you’ll be battling a Tempered Chatacabra, it’s also a chance to farm the ever-useful ‘Hunter Symbol I’ item, which is used to upgrade some of the High Rank weapons. Its Tempered state does make it a bit more dangerous, but it’s still an absolute pushover, so have fun!

Monster Hunter Wilds is pretty popular, eh? Turns out the series producer thinks the story focus is to thank for that.

Before Monster Hunter Wilds' launch, some hardened action RPG veterans were left concerned that the latest installment in the series might be a bit too easy. While Capcom was quick to reveal that "a new level of challenge" is coming in the game's first title update in April, seeing certain screenshots of hunt times on social media claiming that players have smashed through quests in mere seconds, you'd think that turning up that difficulty ought to be a major priority. However, not all is as it seems, as some have been taking advantage of a handy little trick involving poison damage to get a head start on their hunts.

As reported by VG247, it turns out that hitting monsters with poison ammo doesn't actually start hunt quests, despite them taking damage from the ailment. This is probably because, in general, monsters can be injured by their environment even without you having a hand in it, but this doesn't force quests to start because, let's face it, that'd suck. Anyway, it's probably because of this that you can freely poison your foes without triggering a quest, so long as you don't hit them with actual attacks beyond that.

This is where the magic happens, and an incredibly drawn out process gets translated into what appears to be (to the game itself and your social media followers) a near instant win. By waiting for the poison damage to build up as the monster's health depletes, and then jumping in right at the end to either finish it off for good or swoop in to capture it, you can make it look like you're some kind of Monster Hunter god. Or at least, you will until everyone finds out this is what you've been doing – the magic sort of vanishes from this 1.53-second Tempered Chatacabra capture once you realize it actually takes around nine minutes to do it, for example.

Is it cheesy? Yes. Is it satisfying to see the game proclaim your victory in under two seconds? Also yes. Beyond this and simply showing off, there's not really any reason to do this, but hey, it's good fun.

Be sure to check out our Monster Hunter Wilds review and read our guide to the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons if you want a hand in hunting monsters the proper way.

After requesting "tips for beginners" before hopping into Capcom's latest action RPG, which Gemma actor Kristen McGuire admits is her first-ever foray into the Monster Hunter series, fans provided all sorts of advice. Upon securing the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons for her play style, however, McGuire has returned to her original thread on Reddit to share her frustrations with the game's notoriously challenging menus.

"The true battle is the menus," comments one fan, to which McGuire agrees. "This is honestly what I'm struggling with the most," writes the actor. "The menu is like looking at something written in a foreign language." Underneath another response, in which a player advises she get "used to the grind," McGuire explains that grinding isn't a problem at all and mentions the game's hard-to-navigate UI once again.

Hi, I’m the English VA for Gemma, and I would love your tips for beginners from r/MHWilds

"I actually like grinding, so that doesn’t bother me, haha," she says. "The overall menu is just kind of confusing." It's a sentiment all us Monster Hunter players share in, I'd argue as a fan myself – but thankfully, players are offering both solidarity and some words of wisdom to help mitigate how painful navigating Wilds' menus can be: "Trust me when I say everyone was confused with the menu for the first few days."

Hopefully, developers hear this sort of feedback and clean things up a bit. Capcom did reveal that it's working on the first free update, after all, cooking to bring fresh content and some behemoth beasts to what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review calls "the new peak of the series." If the past entries offer anything to go by, though, it's likely that Monster Hunter will never lose its infamous menu-related jank.

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

Monster Hunter Wilds has been an absolute behemoth for Capcom, selling 8 million copies within the first three days of release and becoming Capcom’s fastest-selling game of all time in the process. While it was bound to do well by virtue of having the words ‘Monster Hunter’ in the title (World and Rise are currently Capcom’s number one and two best-selling games of all time, after all), Monster Hunter World sold 5 million in the same time frame, so Wilds’ success is even more impressive. And the producer of the series, Ryozo Tsujimoto, reckons the increased focus on story has something to do with it.

Speaking to The Nikkei (translated via Google), Tsujimoto – when quizzed on how Monster Hunter Wilds had become such a success – said "we placed emphasis on the story and increased the immersive feeling with the voice actors' voices." Later adding that he believes players were able to "get a feel for the world of Monster Hunter" and that was done by depicting "how the hunters are seen by others in the world of Monster Hunter… and what the hunters are thinking."

While Wilds definitely has the most robust plot in the Monster Hunter series, it hasn’t gone down so well with some of the fanbase. Some players called the game’s story "relentless on-rails handholding," with specific criticism aimed at the walk-and-talk scenes. Meanwhile, others were big fans of the characters – namely Rove and Gemma – although almost everyone can agree that the lead-up to Low Rank’s final boss is peak.

However, the story can’t take all the credit. Tsujimoto also mentions in the interview that another factor of Wilds’ success is because Capcom "made it possible to link play between different game consoles." Not only is this the first time in the series that the PC release (which outdid both PS5 and Xbox Series X in the US) is available at the same time as the console launch, but it’s the first Monster Hunter game with crossplay, which undoubtedly allowed some more squads of hunters to team up for the first time. I personally believe the simultaneous PC release and enduring popularity of Monster Hunter World are likely the biggest reasons for Monster Hunter Wilds doing so well out of the gate, so the crossplay focus rings more true in my eyes.

Gemma is one of the most beloved characters in Monster Hunter Wilds, and her voice actor has been requesting tips for beginners so that she can get into the series.

"Monster Hunter: Wilds enjoyed a great launch in the US market," Mat Piscatella of US market analyst group Circana says on Bluesky. "Launch week dollar sales were the largest for a title since the debut of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6" last October, Piscatella continues, and the game ranked top in weekly dollar sales across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles.

Most notably, however, is this: "PC was the lead platform" in sales. Monster Hunter has historically been a console-first series, and Wilds is the first entry in the series to have actually launched day and date with its console counterparts. But it seems the new fans on PC generated by the staggered releases of World and Rise were more than willing to jump into Wilds on day one.

Every version of Monster Hunter Wilds suffers from some less than ideal performance, but PC is certainly the biggest offender in that regard since so many players are going to be trying to run it on lower-end hardware. The game debuted to mixed Steam reviews because of these performance problems, and only recently managed to claw its way back up to a 60% positive response, but it's still a GPU-melting proposition for most computers.

If you're looking for the best Monster Hunter Wilds mods, you know where to click.

McGuire's request for advice from longtime players came in the form of a recent Reddit post, in which she introduces herself and explains that Wilds would be her first-ever foray into the Monster Hunter series. "Hi, hunters! My name is Kristen McGuire, and like the title says I'm the English VA for Gemma," she writes, revealing that she only just received the game. "I just got my copy of the game yesterday and am excited to play."

The actor continues, asking fans for tips: "However, this is my first MH game that I've ever played, and I feel woefully underprepared. Do you have any tips for a total noob like me? For what it's worth I started with the glaive weapon. Thank yoooou." Players quickly commented on McGuire's post, offering everything from serious advice to fun jokes referencing Wilds: "The guild authorizes you to take your time and enjoy the game."

Hi, I’m the English VA for Gemma, and I would love your tips for beginners from r/MHWilds

One fan asked if it'll "feel weird hearing your own voice and then unfortunately but inevitably skipping your own dialog to craft," to which McGuire responded truthfully that she's "already done it." Other players suggest the actor try weapons like the dual blades (my personal pick, too) as they feature "rapid attacks" and "are strong for elemental and crit element builds." In the end. McGuire does just that – and she seems happy with the swap.

An update proves as much, with McGuire thanking those who took the time to help. "Omg thank you all so much," she adds at the bottom of her original post. "This is way more tips than I expected, haha. Following your advice, I tried a few different weapons and have switched over to dual blades for the time being. I’m dying less, hooray!" A solid choice, if you ask me – to one of the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons available.

After you finish playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, here are some of the other most exciting new games this year and beyond to keep an eye on.

As I said in our Monster Hunter Wilds review, which had me playing this game back in February, what's already here is fabulous. The best-feeling combat in the series elevates a stellar roster of original monsters. I'm having a blast in High Rank, and I'm going to log some serious hours practicing weapons and screwing around with friends. But the whole time, I'm also going to be daydreaming about what we'll get in Wilds' Ultimate, Iceborne, and Sunbreak-style Master Rank expansion.

It goes without saying that more Monster Hunter is always appreciated, but it's not really about more for me. I still have loads of High Rank content to clear, to say nothing of incoming updates. I'm not at all disappointed with the volume of Wilds as-is. Yes, it doesn't have the biggest monster lineup, but I think it's the best and most varied High Rank stable ever. Rather, Wilds is uniquely positioned to strut its stuff in Master Rank thanks to a suite of exciting new ideas and some promising but undercooked ones that a full-fat expansion could really catapult into the stratosphere.

Masterfully ranked

Every new Monster Hunter game comes in parts. First, the opening act. New characters! New monsters! Oh no, a bad monster! No, not that one, that was just the flagship, you fool; this is the real bad monster. Bam, credits roll. Then it's time for part two: High Rank, baby, also known as The Real Game. Monsters are tougher and there's more of them, gear is much better and buildcrafting expands, and endgame systems add in more grinding than rails in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4. This is it, right? We've made it?

Jokes on you, hunter, because here comes part three, approximately 18 months later: Master Rank, also known as The Real Game V2 Final FINAL. Monsters and gear go up another notch, endgame systems get overhauled or expanded, and some kind of gimmick might get chucked in depending on Capcom's mood. This is how it always goes, and with record-setting sales, a Wilds expansion is as inevitable as daylight. But Wilds has made some fundamental changes that make these familiar promises especially exciting.

Let's start with the monsters. I'm as hyped as anyone to see the April update for Monster Hunter Wilds adding Mizutsune, a recurring favorite going back to Monster Hunter Generations. Hell, I'm probably more hyped. I love Mizutsune; it's my favorite of the Fated Four. But what I really want to see is new monsters, because Wilds has made such enormous leaps in monster design – body types and bones and hitboxes and animations – that I just want to see Capcom cook in their new kitchen.

We just plain did not have monsters like Nu Udra and Xu Wu before – slippery, slimy, cephalopodic things with piercing eyes, brutal grab attacks, or mouths better off unseen. The face of Wilds, Arkveld, leverages similar tentacle technology to wield powerful chains that would be the envy of God of War's Kratos. Even local apexes like Uth Duna, which I'd describe as a water bed with legs, move with bizarre and distinct heft. Wilds doesn't have the most monsters, but for my money it does have the most unique ones, and I want to see what else Capcom has up its sleeve.

It's not just that I want more things to fight with the most satisfying weapons in Monster Hunter history, though that is a big part of it. I am inordinately hungry for new challenges to poke with a lance and cleave with a great sword if only for the kinetic thrill of it. But with the design floor that Wilds has set and the monster tech it's refined, there's no telling what a Master Rank-sized shot of new creatures would throw at us – far more than a blue Rathalos and pink Rathian, I'd wager – and that's the best part.

Hook me up, Gemma

With those new monsters will come new, stronger gear, and Wilds is also in particular need of this thanks to its new-fangled skill system. Skills are split between weapons and armor now, and while this has its benefits, it can also feel limiting in the endgame. There's still a lot of room for experimentation and your results will vary between weapons, but a few armor sets and weapon branches have quickly carved out a reputation as go-to picks.

The new skill divide has exacerbated the underwhelming nature of High Rank gear, which will unavoidably pale in comparison to the endgame sets from the previous Monster Hunter game, by making some decisions even easier. Lots of weapons are downright unusable because of the skills they come with, even if they may have solid stats and sharpness. The one-eyed man is king in the land of the blind, and the lance with Offensive Guard is king in the land of Crit Draw.

This new skill system ought to be a lot more interesting once we get weapons with more and better skills attached, to say nothing of armor, which is largely fashion-first in Wilds given the lackluster set of skills outside the highest-end picks. I really do like how much personality assigned skills can give a weapon. It's not just another vector for game balance; these skills are also another way to add flavor to a weapon by translating the traits of the monster whose scales and fangs were used to forge it. You're totally right, Capcom. This thing should have Focus or Master's Touch on it, because that's exactly how this monster hunted before I turned it into a hammer.

I'm also hoping to see more weapon customization building on the honing and specialization systems of previous games. Wilds has something similar in Artian weapons, but the iteration here is more about base stats. I want to see Capcom really lean into this skill system. Let us chop and change the skills we put on our weapons using some sort of resource budget that sits alongside decoration slots. Let me craft one weapon and sacrifice it to splice one of its compatible skills onto another weapon.

Whatever Wilds' Master Rank expansion ends up doing with gear, I hope it gives us more room to play with skills in a way that creates build variety and adds value to the full weapon roster – without spiraling into Iceborne power creep or linear 'just build for health' honing.

Having played every Monster Hunter since 4 Ultimate, I've never wanted Master Rank (or G Rank) so badly. Monster Hunter games are consistently at their best in the true endgame, and the series' combat is at its best in Wilds, so More Of This is extra tantalizing. That said, we're probably going to be waiting for Master Rank until mid to late 2026 at least, so for all my impatience and daydreaming, there's nothing to do but hunker down and wring every last drop out of High Rank. Oh, twist my arm.

Monster Hunter Wilds is slowly recovering from a rough PC launch, finally hitting 60% positive reviews on Steam – but some big issues remain.

Capcom announced the upcoming patch – 1.000.05.00 – today, but it's not set to go live until March 10. Notably, it'll fix an "issue wherein Main Mission: Chapter 5-1 'Omens' cannot be progressed. "The action RPG's previous patch already took aim at a number of progress-blocking bugs, but it seems this current one slipped through the cracks.

Elsewhere, we've got some incoming improvements to the game's stability, with an "issue which may cause crashes or some monsters to act strangely under certain situations," as well as one "which may cause the game to forcefully shut down when starting a game with saved data that encountered a force quit" both set to be fixed.

Speaking of monsters acting weird, there's currently a bug that sees monster parts inexplicably transform into parts from different monsters when they're cut off. This should also be sorted out in the next patch, and the large wyvern Gravios – who currently "does not gain resistance to flinches" after its parts are broken – will also be adjusted.

There are plenty more bugs on Capcom's radar. The Palico support move, Attract Vigorwasps, could cause your hunter to "become unresponsive to some controls," for example, and you might currently find that using Equipment Loadout sometimes causes decorations to disappear from your weapons, as well as "Bowgun Customization being reverted back to default, and Kinsects reverting to the initial rarity." On top of that, certain rewards can currently "be obtained repeatedly under certain conditions," when that's clearly not supposed to be possible. Again, expect fixes for all of these by Monday.

You can check out the full list of planned changes here, but it's worth noting that certain fixes seemingly won't be ready in time for the 1.000.05.00 patch. In a separate section of bugs not included in the list of "issues planned to be addressed in the next update," Capcom mentions the network error you might get after using an SOS Flare immediately after a quest begins, as well as a problem where "Palico's attacks with blunt weapons do not inflict stun and exhaust damages."

Obviously, there are more fixes to come – it remains to be seen if any further improvements can be made to the game's performance on PC, however, which many players have been struggling with.

In our Monster Hunter Wilds review, we called the action RPG the "new peak of the series" – if you're diving in yourself, be sure to get yourself equipped with the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons.

Nu Udra is an octopus monster, so it's no surprise that the resulting Palico armor is all octopus-ish, but the slithering tentacles of the Nu Udra set are so otherworldly that it looks less like a costume and more like a full-on transformation into an adorable extraterrestrial. It's even cuter when you ditch the head piece and see your Palico's little kitty face peaking out from the cephalopod body.

GamesRadar+'s own resident Monster Hunter sicko Austin Wood shared his Nu Udra Palico for the headline image above, and players across social media have been doing the same. There are numerous Reddit posts celebrating the armor set, and even more tweets from players sharing their octocats. Please, keep scrolling and enjoy the majesty.

The Nu Udra Palico is clearly a hit, and Capcom itself has shared a tiny bit of fanart of the, uh, creature. Just look at that hapless little kitten face peeking out from a tentacled body. You may not like it, but this is what peak performance looks like.

Changing your pants in Monster Hunter Wilds also changes your most important weapon: the little knife you use to carve beasts, with at least 25 different skins available.

True to the series' action game/fashion designer roots, Monster Hunter Wilds still lets you strip the hide off your enemies and repurpose them into fabulous armor for your legs, arms, head, torso, and waist, and that last piece is what affects the carving knife in your pocket.

Redditor my607 documented the small detail alongside a screenshot of 25 different carving knife models. Beware of spoilers below, however, since many of the models reveal the names of the big beasts you'll come across.

Did you know, there's 25 carving knife models based on what belt you're wearing? Here's a picture! (spoiler because of monster names) from r/MonsterHunter

Noticing the change at all is kind of tough since Monster Hunter Wilds only brings attention to the knife during carving animations, the steak cutting animation, some idle animations, a few emotes, and an endgame cutscene or two, which is a shame because some of them are downright gorgeous to behold.

The feminine Nerscylla knife, for example, is shaped like a pretty little climbing axe. Not to mention the literal mini lightsaber that comes with the Artian waist. No matter what knife is equipped, the model will show up in seemingly any context, cutscenes included.

At this point, Capcom, just turn it into an official 15th weapon that's comically underpowered. Think of the meme potential. We'd be nothing without this thing – those materials don't collect themselves, after all.

Elsewhere in Monster Hunter Land, you can play Wilds and two other early game of the year contenders on streaming service GeForce Now. And then you can come join us to argue about its divisive story that's already splitting the rest of the Monster Hunter fandom.

In the meantime, check out the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons and full tier list.

Announcing his love for the new Monster Hunter entry in a recent online post, Gamble says he's enjoying Wilds thoroughly – but it sounds like it's impossible for him to ignore Capcom's infamously confusing menus and online play.

"Like Worlds (played for years post launch), I'm loving the hell out of MH Wilds," says the Mass Effect 5 director. "I did, however, forget how…interesting…the matchmaking and world sharing in these games were."

Gamble clarifies that he's playing the game on "PS5 Pro, before anyone asks…" but as a PC player myself, I'd argue none of us are safe from Monster Hunter Wilds' multiplayer or the action RPG's difficult-to-navigate menus – and fan complaints regarding the "ridiculously poorly built UI" highlight as much. Thankfully, there are mods out there that try and improve upon Capcom's own design, but that doesn't exactly help console users like Gamble.

Hopefully, Capcom hears the player feedback and can clean things up a bit. The studio did reveal that it's working on the first free Wilds update, after all, cooking to bring fresh content and more behemoth beasts to what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review calls "the new peak of the series." If past entries offer anything to go by, it's probable that Monster Hunter games will never all lose their menu- and multiplayer-related jank.

If you're also playing one of the best Monster Hunter games to date, you might want to check out our guide on the strongest Monster Hunter Wilds weapons around.

PlayStation Access previously released a video giving a sneak peek at the effort that went into motion capture sessions for Capcom's latest action RPG, and it's a real sight to behold. Not only do we have motion capture for the hunters themselves – beautifully demonstrated by the guy flailing a foam sword and diving onto a mattress (not seen in the final version of the game, believe it or not) – there are also people behind the dear, sweet Palicoes.

While some developers employ actual animals for their motion capture efforts – like how Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 brought an actual horse into its mo-cap studio as a four-legged actor – it doesn't seem that Capcom turned to any actual cats to help, but rather actual humans roleplaying as the Felynes. From scratching their imaginary fluffy ears to waving their paws around, there's something very funny about grown adults in motion capture suits embodying the adorable companions.

"Your lovely Palicoes are motion-captured by these guys," one Redditor points out, bringing anyone swept away by the vision of their cute kitties being actual fluffy friends straight back to reality.

Elsewhere, someone's got to be the monsters themselves, and you can see the lion-like Doshaguma come to life, too. Again, it's amusing to watch someone charging around on all fours, roaring and swinging their arms, but you can't deny that there's a genuine skill to it – the side-by-side comparison of the actor and the game footage is incredible.

In our Monster Hunter Wilds review, we called the new action RPG the "peak of the series," and its "diverse roster of new and old monsters" is an important part of that. Imagining all the humans behind them does put them in a slightly different light though, it's got to be said.

While you're here, be sure to check out our roundup of the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons.

It's worth keeping in mind that you really do have to slay these monsters at Low Rank - if you do so at High Rank difficulty, their chance to drop either the Aqua Sac or Flame Sac is negated, as they drop the rarer Inferno and Torrent Sacs for crafting. If you haven't unlocked any of the above monsters yet, just keep progressing the main campaign: they'll show up eventually.

Want more help exploring the wilderness? Find out pick of the best Monster Hunter Wilds mods and how to install them here, or if you're at the point in the game where you're thinking about Flame and Aqua Sacs, you might need help defeating the legendary Monster Hunter Wilds Black Flame!

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So where can you find the Black Flame and how do you beat it when you do get there during the Long Forgotten Flame quest? We've covered exactly how to find clues of where the Black Flame went so you can find its location, along with details on its weaknesses and moves so you can learn how to beat the apex predator of the Oilspring Basin, who actually goes by the name of Nu Udra.

As you head further into the Oilspring Basin, you'll find the next clue, which should be whichever of the two clues above you haven't found already. After you inspect this one, your scoutflies should identify the location of the Black Flame all the way down in either Area 14 or 15. Head down there to begin the fight with the apex predator.

How to beat the Black Flame

The Black Flame's real name is Nu Udra, and to beat it, you need to make yourself resistant to fire and capable of dealing water damage. The Arajakan armor set is a strong choice due to its fire resistance, so repeat that battle a few times if you need to source more materials (or you can use one of the best Monster Hunter Wilds mods).

As mentioned above, you'll want Puddle Pods for the water damage, which are auto-crafted when you pick up Watermoss. Thankfully, you'll find a fair few of these on your way to the Black Flame, along with Chillshrooms which are used for the Cold Drink effect to keep you cool.

While the Black Flame is weak to water, this weakness is only in its mouth, which is inconsistent to hit. The rest of its body is weak to stun, sleep, exhaust, and poison, so any elemental damage you can deal along those lines, including with your slinger, is a huge help. Flash Pods and Sonic Bombs have no effect, but Shock and Pitfall Traps are very effective. For more info on how to beat it, we actually have a guide on all Monster Hunter Wilds weaknesses laid out here!

In terms of where to focus your attacks, the mouth is its weak point, but when you can't damage that, focus on the arms. All six of them can be severed and its head can eventually be broken. However, its six arms all attack individually, so it's nigh-on impossible to get behind it, so-to speak. You'll want to be on your guard constantly for attacks, ready to dodge or parry at all times.

Nu Udra has a couple of attacks you should avoid at all costs, telegraphed by either raising its head backwards then charging ahead or inflating itself and attacking with four arms in a wide spread. Then there's the state when it covers itself in flames and starts using fire-based attacks, including a flamethrower-esque move coming out of one of its arms, and one where it throws fiery projectiles at you from afar.

This will be the toughest fight you'll have encountered so far in Monster Hunter Wilds, so if you're struggling, return to camp and prepare some more. Make sure you're using the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons, and that they're upgraded as much as possible. And if all else fails, send out an SOS flare and call in some assistance.

Want to know what else is out there? Check out our Monster Hunter Wilds full roster and Monster List!

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We've got one mod that adds a health bar to monsters you're fighting so you know how long is left in the fight, another that makes you rich and pairs nicely with one that allows you to buy any items you like, and if you've got the ol' arachnophobia, we can help with that too. Unfortunately but as expected, these mods are only available for the PC version of the game, so console players are out of luck. So without further ado, here are the best Monster Hunter Wilds mods, and details on how to install mods if you're unfamiliar with the process.

The best mods for Monster Hunter Wilds

Here are the best mods in Monster Hunter Wilds on PC:

• Health Bars
  • Adds health bars to monsters you're fighting.
• MHWilds Overlay
  • Shows all of your stats on the HUD.
• Shop Tweaks
  • Makes all shop items available at once.
• Item Cost Tweaks
  • All items cost 1Z and sell for 99,999Z.
• No Crafting Requirements
  • Removes material costs for armour, weapons, and other equipment.
• 3x Monster Drops
  • Increases quantity of monster loot drops.
• Temnophobia Mode
  • Turns giant spiders into slimes.
• Wilds Rehydrated
  • Makes the world and environment more vibrant.
• Wilds Optimizer FPS Boost
  • Improves game performance.
• Skip Pouch Replace Prompt
  • Removes the prompt that appears when you pick up an item with a full pouch.

How to install mods in Monster Hunter Wilds

Installing mods in Monster Hunter Wilds isn't as complex as it might seem. Here are the steps you need to follow:

1. Install the REFramework mod, as this is the essential basis for all mods. This just needs downloading and extracting into your game folder; full instructions are on the linked mod page.
2. Install the Fluffy Mod Manager. This isn't absolutely essential but is highly recommended as it helps manage all of your mods and works across a lot of different games.
   1. Download the files and extract the .zip file to an empty folder.
   2. Run Modmanager.exe.
   3. Find Monster Hunter Wilds in the list.
   4. Select your Monster Hunter Wilds install folder.
   5. Voila! Fluffy Mod Manager is installed.
3. To install individual mods, all you need to do is download the respective files, then drag and drop the .zip folder to Fluffy Mod Manager. This should make them show up in the list and you can toggle them on and off in the menu.

Health Bars

One quirk of Monster Hunter Wilds, although infuriating to some, is that you never know how much health a monster has left. Early on this isn't an issue as fights are usually over fairly quickly, but some of the bigger foes you'll face can take a while to go down. The Health Bars mod from GreenComfyTea fixes that issue, so you can see exactly how many hit points it has left, going as far as to display the remaining health for multiple monsters in the area.

MHWilds Overlay

Want to see all the possible information available to you in one place, including monster health, your character stats, how much damage you're dealing, and more? Look no further than the MHWilds Overlay mod from lingsamuel, which is the mod you need if you want to monitor every aspect possible.

Shop Tweaks

The first of three mods from LordGregory, the Shop Tweaks mod for Monster Hunter Wilds modifies the item shop so you can buy any consumable or material you like, whenever you like. This doesn't affect weapons and armor, but does essentially remove the progression-gating from certain items so they're available at all times.

Item Cost Tweaks

LordGregory's second is the Item Cost Tweaks mod which is a slightly roundabout way of making you rich beyond your wildest dreams. Rather than just granting you a heap of zennies in one go, this instead makes it so all items cost 1Z, and all items sell for 99,999Z. Sell one item and boom, you can afford anything you like, as many times as you like.

No Crafting Requirements

To round off LordGregory's trifecta we have the No Crafting Requirements mod, which makes it so that crafting any type of equipment such as the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons, the best Monster Hunter Wilds armor, and kinsects doesn't require any materials. It also ignores unlock requirements, much like the Shop Tweaks mod does, but this time for equipment.

3x Monster Drops

If the idea of removing all material requirements sounds like it'd make the game a bit too easy, why not consider the 3x Monster Drops mod from Delvores instead? This does exactly what it says on the tin: you'll receive triple the amount of materials when killing monsters. Although if that is too much, you can also tweak it to only offer double if you'd rather. Thankfully, you don't need a separate 2x Monster Drops mod for that…

Temnophobia Mode

Virtual spiders may be harmless but that doesn't stop them from still being terrifying. Some games offer arachnophobia modes built in, but Monster Hunter Wilds doesn't, so that's where the Temnophobia Mode mod from TeaSharkLad comes in. Voila, all Temnocerans, Nerscylla, and Lala Barina monsters are now enormous slimes instead!

Wilds Rehydrated

Monster Hunter Wilds is a good looking game, but it can look a tad washed out at times, so the Wilds Rehydrated mod from ISpectre23 fixes that by "restoring clarity, depth, and colour balance without sacrificing performance". It does this by only using two "carefully selected effects", so even if you're playing Wilds on a sub-par rig, you can still use the mod.

Wilds Optimizer FPS Boost

However, if you are struggling with performance issues in Monster Hunter Wilds, the Wilds Optimizer FPS Boost mod from VANILLAcoffee promises "increased performance by 10+ FPS" and "reduced CPU usage by 10-15%". There have been some grumbles about Wilds' PC performance, so this mod should be your first port of call to improve performance without sacrificing quality.

Skip Pouch Replace Prompt

Finally, we have the Skip Pouch Replace Prompt mod from PeaslyWellbott. This is a simple quality-of-life mod that removes that pesky prompt whenever you pick up an item but your pouch is at maximum capacity. This mod sends the item you've picked up to your field pouch by making sure "Yes" is picked automatically, without you having to do anything.

Now you know everything about the best mods and how to install them, make sure you're familiar with the Monster Hunter Wilds event quest calendar and schedule if you're planning on spending a lot of time in the endgame. We also have a complete Monster Hunter Wilds beginner's guide if you're new to the series, which should be essential reading.

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I've been monitoring discussions around other reviews and various player communities for the past few days, and it seems that Monster Hunter Wilds players have generally split into two views on the narrative. It's either a refreshingly hands-on examination of the Hunter's Guild that gives our hunter some real power and personality in the story, or it's a tedious and overwrought obstruction to the real reason we're playing this game. There's obviously a gradient of opinions here and these two arguments aren't mutually exclusive, but these feel like the two extremes of that gradient, and that's what I want to examine.

Case in point: this red-hot post from Reddit user Ruminatingsoule, who argues that "the relentless on rails handholding in story mode is absolutely [ridiculous]." They point to the many fixed walking sections which introduce new areas and prevent you from wandering too far from your posse of NPCs, lest you delay the carefully timed introduction of monsters or environmental details. There's an argument to be made for using these sections to guide players through the world, but it can feel like Wilds yanks on your leash right as you're about to pounce on something fun.

"Did the developers seriously think people wanted this? They are treating the player base like incompetent children," adds Ruminatingsoule, ruminating soulfully. "LET ME PLAY THE GAME, FOOLS."

"I have definitely had a few moments where I just rolled my eyes cause I walked 5 feet away from the path it wanted and it rubber banded me back to the intended path or wouldn't let me hunt a monster I wanted to hunt," agrees tazmaniandevil1210.

"Rockstar vibes," says Kourtos, in one of the most incisive critiques in the thread.

Chimwizlet raises another point: "I don't understand how a series that used to be famously bad for giving players little to no direction has somehow got to the point of doing the exact opposite and not letting the player just play the game." (I don't understand how a co-op game keeps flubbing co-op systems so hard after 20 years, but here we are.)

Many other posts have argued a similar point and likewise become community water coolers. "I get that the game director says he wanted to focus on an ecosystem, but it should be up to me to do the exploring and to discover that ecosystem, not to have NPCs slowly walking through maps pointing crap out to me like I'm a child on some safari," says Cannibal_Yak. "The way they handled the story makes this game feel restrictive," echoes minev1128. Another player expressed their exhaustion over spending 10+ minutes traipsing through environments only to spend just a few minutes actually fighting a new monster.

That being said, plenty of people demonstrably liked Monster Hunter Wilds' story. Players in one 8,900-upvote post from story enjoyer Monkey_With_Tankard, who is presumably a Congalala, praise the game's focus on tangible dangers and local concerns, buckets of new lore filling in large gaps in the Monster Hunter library, gorgeous and plentiful cutscenes, and an appropriate mix of lighthearted and serious moments. Core companions like Alma and Gemma are well-liked (much more than Monster Hunter World's Handler), side characters like Rove and Olivia can steal the show, and our hunter in particular has a measurable impact on the story. But here again, some fans may say "my only complaint is the forced railroading."

Link spoiler warning: The sheer charisma of the player character has been a high point for many, myself included. Bwub2 celebrates "the Pure 'Him' energy Wilds gives your character." Evelynn_cretoxyrhina calls the low rank finale "THE hardest hunter cutscene," while kennydevin says it's "the best scene in Monster Hunter history." The community is flush with similar positivity. If nothing else, folks seem to agree that Wilds has a heck of a finale.

I followed similar discussions after the release of Monster Hunter World, and looking at the critical and community consensus for Wilds, my overall read of the narrative reception is this: pretty good but inelegant. It's better than World, probably the best in the whole series, and consistently visually stunning, but it can feel like gameplay and storytelling butt heads instead of complementing each other.

That said, the fact that these conversations are even happening, whereas we previously would've collectively shrugged our shoulders and said "I don't know, we hunted monsters I guess" in any reflection on a Monster Hunter game's story, shows that Wilds has moved the series forward in some ways.

An Iceborne-style Master Rank expansion for Wilds looks more inevitable than ever after the game set a Capcom record by selling 8 million copies in three days. If the campaign experience in that expansion can better combine the superb gameplay, likable characters, gorgeous biomes, and interesting themes of Wilds, the next batch of narrative discourse could be more universally positive.

Capcom promises "this is just the start for the next generation of Monster Hunter" as Wilds shatters sales milestones: "The Guild authorizes this celebration!"

To find Ceratonoth, they tend to wander the open deserts of the Windward Plains, but remember that you need Low Rank ones. If you kill them at high rank, they'll drop different items like the Herbivore Carapace. Fortunately, if you've progressed the campaign into the High Rank phase, just play a Low Rank optional quest in the Windward Plains and deviate away to kill some Ceratonoth before you're done. I recommend the mission "The Desert is Demanding", where I had easy success. And of course, while you're in the desert, you have a chance to catch the legendarily rare Monster Hunter Wilds Sandstar.

More helpful tidbits for MH Wilds are all over GamesRadar+! Pick out all the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons at our dedicated tier list, or find out how to get the best Monster Hunter Wilds armor here!

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You have two main options for reaching this path:

1. Wudwud Hideout in Area 14: Fast travel to the hideout then head uphill towards Area 17 and you're bound to see several Dapperwings perched on the twisted tree branches and shrubs.
2. Great Lake Shore pop-up camp in Area 17: This automatically unlocks after the Uth Duna fight. Fast travel here then head down the ruined path towards Area 14 and you should come across many Dapperwings perched on the ruins and branches.

You're looking for a small bird-like creature with a bat-like face and large, black eyes – in the Fallow season, they're green and blend in quite well, but the males are much more brightly colored in Plenty. Once you've found one, equip the net, aim at the Dapperwing, and make sure you're close enough that the aiming rectangle goes orange (it also helps if you aim the center of the rectangle slightly above your target Dapperwing). Thankfully, Dapperwing don't seem to get scared, so you don't need to worry about them flying off if you get too close. This is in stark contrast to the Monster Hunter Wilds Sandstar, which will bolt unless hit with a specific kind of item first.

With one in your net, you can return to Samin in the Windward Plains base camp to cash in. However, the research report war between Dareel and Samin continues as you progress the story, with the pair requesting you catch them a Monster Hunter Wilds Ember Rufflizard. It's also not worth catching Dapperwings outside of this side quests for rewards as they don't provide anything other than five Guild Points. Fish are generally much more helpful in this regard, with things like the Monster Hunter Wilds Goldenfish providing scales that can be sold for lots of Zenny.

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How to catch a Goldenfish in Monster Hunter Wilds

I found the cave system in Areas 14 and 15 in the Windward Plains to be the best location for catching Goldenfish in Monster Hunter Wilds, but you must catch one with the fishing rod equipped with the Golden Bughead lure to complete this side quest.

You'll unlock the Groundwater Vein pop-up camp in Area 14 after the Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau boss fight for easy fast travel to that cave system. It's almost directly below the Oasis campsite in Area 13 in the south of the Plains map. From the camp, head out the southeast cave and towards the water area visible on your map. Run right to the edge and you'll see a large, deep pool which you can cast your fishing line into with the Golden Bughead lure. Alternatively, you can take the north exit out of the camp and dive into the water to reach a narrow cave area with a small and shallow pool that you can fish from.

Make sure you equip your fishing rod and use the D-Pad to scroll through your lures to find the Golden Bughead. Now you can cast your line into either of the fishing spots outlined above and slowly reel in and move your line by moving the left stick. When the fish bites, press R2/RT to reel it in automatically.

Note that you can catch Goldenfish using the net as well, just like how you would capture a Monster Hunter Wilds tracktail lizard, for example, but this does not count as a catch for the purposes of Kanya's Seeking the Goldenfish side quest – you must use the fishing rod.

Goldenfish are quite rare given that they appear in such specific areas but they're valuable since they drop Golden Scales which can be sold to the provisioner back at base camp for 1000 Zenny a piece. Zenny is hardly difficult to get in Monster Hunter Wilds, but if you do find yourself running low, catching a few Goldenfish and selling their scales can certainly help!

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Gravid Bowfin spawn in all the major areas of Monster Hunter Wilds, but this specific pond is one of the most reliable. And unlike the larger Monster Hunter Wilds Whopper fish, catching them is very simple - just twitch the line until they take notice, then press R2/RT the moment the Bowfin bites to reel it in.

Want more help with hunts? Find out when you can play all the special Monster Hunter Wilds Event Quests, or check out where to find the elusive Monster Hunter Wilds Ember Rufflizard here! Or, if you're ready to really go looking for the rarest of all critters, we've got a guide on how to find the Monster Hunter Wilds Sandstar.

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Now with event quests becoming an integral part of MH Wilds going forward and a fundamental part of the Monster Hunter Wilds roadmap, we've assembled everything you need to know about them right here, with data on what to expect, what you need to do, and what special monsters and prizes will be coming down the road.

Event Quest calendar for Monster Hunter Wilds

Below I've laid out all the event quests in Monster Hunter Wilds that are currently live or upcoming, when they're active, and what the rewards are.

You can get more info on Event Quests and what Capcom have planned at official MH Wilds site.

How to start event quests in Monster Hunter Wilds

Event quests in Monster Hunter Wilds, like most quests, are started via the NPC Alma. Just talk to her, and among the various kinds of quests she offers, there's a specific tab for Event Quests among them, as shown above. However, keep in mind that your game will need to be up to date, and of course you can't play event quests outside of the schedule shown above - they're time sensitive, after all.

Of course, if you're looking at all the monsters to slay in the quests to come, give yourself the advantage with our page on all the different Monster Hunter Wilds weaknesses! Or, alternatively, check out how to wield one of the game's most popular weapons in our guide to the Monster Hunter Wilds Great Sword.

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It's been a rocky few days for the latest Monster Hunter entry, between lows like performance issues and highs like record-shattering sales, but the game is holding strong as one of 2025's most monumental releases – and it's only getting bigger. Capcom has just launched the action RPG's first-ever time-limited event quests, giving players the opportunity to obtain items like a special armor piece that they won't be able to get otherwise.

The event quests and their current schedule are detailed on Capcom's official Monster Hunter website, with the initial two falling between now and March 18 – a solid two weeks to snag the first few rewards, including the Mimiphyta α headgear from Kut-Ku Gone Cuckoo and Kunafa Cheese from Stalking Supper. The only requirement set for participating players is a Hunter Rank of at least nine – a relatively easy level to hit post-story.

Another event quest drops on March 11, lasting just one week and requiring a higher HR of 21. This quest, titled Tongue-Tied, gives rare Hard Armor Spheres and Advanced Armor Spheres for easier gear upgrades. That's not all, though – Capcom has three more event quests up its sleeve on March 18, including Ballet in the Rain, Sand-Scarred Soul, and Like a Fire Hidden by Sand, with glowing decorative items and Expedition Headgear α.

It sounds like a few fun weeks are ahead for the Monster Hunter community between the time-limited event quests and coming patches. Capcom revealed that developers are also working on the first free update, after all, cooking to bring fresh content and some behemoth beasts to what our own Monster Hunter Wilds review calls "the new peak of the series."

Be sure to check out our guide to the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons to help you out in the action RPG.

Monster Hunter Wilds launched last week on February 28 to stellar reviews, with our own writeup awarding the game 4.5/5 stars and calling it "the new peak of the series and an early contender for game of the year." For the brief amount of time in-between Wilds' launch and the new co-op jaunt from Hazelight, Split Fiction, it was the highest rated game of 2025 with a highly respectable 90 Metascore.

But Wilds' success isn't at all limited to reviews; it's also selling like monster-shaped hotcakes, shifting eight million copies in the first three days after release. Capcom said that's the first game in its 46-year history to reach that milestone so quickly.

In a tweet from the official Monster Hunter Twitter account, Capcom thanks its fanbase for helping Wilds break that record and promises exciting things to come.

"This is just the start for the next generation of Monster Hunter, and we look forward to taking the next steps with you, including Event Quests, Title Update 1 in early April and more," reads the tweet. "The Guild authorises this celebration!"

It's very early days still, and as such we don't have many specifics on Capcom's plans for actual content, but we can only assume one of the studio's top priorities at the moment is addressing performance as complaints mount amid ongoing patches aimed at squashing bugs.

Playing Monster Hunter Wilds in multiplayer is a confusing mess, but in defiance of Capcom I've jury-rigged a co-op campaign that actually works.

First, a history lesson. Throughout the Monster Hunter series, several pieces of high-value equipment have required some version of Monster Fluid to craft, which is ordinarily extracted from small bug monsters. Squishing bugs – easy, right?

The problem is that killing these tiny bugs without destroying their bodies and, with them, their precious fluids, could be a headache. Ironically, ripping scales out of a dragon was often easier. I have, well, not fond memories but clear memories of using low rank weapons in endgame hunts or bringing stacks of poison bombs to kill these bugs as gently as possible. It had that 'herding cats' annoyance and inconsistency about it, but for certain armor pieces, there was no way around it.

Skip ahead to Monster Hunter Wilds and Capcom is practically giving out Monster Fluid on the street. I was explaining this to my hunting crew just last night, and Monster Hunter animator NCH handily summarized it in a Twitter post: "Infinite monster fluid now.... to think how hard it was to get back in the old games..."

Monster Hunter Wilds brought back the spider monster Nerscylla, and with it we've gotten dozens upon dozens of baby Nerscyllas which you can easily mow down en masse. Each one you squish is another shot of Monster Fluid in your pocket, and as NCH shows, you can even camp their spawn point for functionally infinite juice. This is yet another change that would blow the minds of old-school Monster Hunter players if you went back in time to share it, and I'm putting it on the list with slinger gathering as an uncontested win.

The kicker? Barely any gear seems to use Monster Fluid now, and none of the equipment that does seems especially valuable. Monster Hunter giveth, and taketh away.

Elsewhere in Monster Hunter boomer rants: Monster Hunter Wilds revived a play style I fell in love with almost 10 years ago, and now it's one of my favorite ways to play all over again.

This bird's nest of an online system didn't really come up in the pre-release environment of our Monster Hunter Wilds review. While I stand by the score I gave it – the game, after all, is fun – now that I'm playing with my own friends and negotiating matchmaking hurdles like an obstacle course, my gob is smacked and my gast is flabbered. This is ridiculous.

Send help

Let me lay out the labyrinth of menus before you, not with care and a pragmatic spirit like our aforementioned guide, but with the kind of red-faced hyperbole and frustration that this system deserves and elicits. To play Monster Hunter Wilds with friends, you may want to:

• Make or join a Squad, which is sort of like a guild and secondary friends list smoothie
• Add your friends via Hunter ID for the primary friends list, not to be confused with the friends list you already have on your platform of choice – and don't get that Hunter ID and Squad ID mixed up, either
• Form and join private lobbies from the main menu or at Authorization Master Alma in-game
• Join Link Parties to drop into hunts that anyone in the party posts, obviously via 4-player hunting lobbies which are separate to the other lobbies
• Form Environment Links to explore the same instanced world together
• Answer SOS requests which present an entire planet worth of quest options
• Look out for ghost or redundant joining or invite notifications which may well be locked behind upwards of three different menus
• Prepare to be jump-scared by dozens of random players in spoiler-tastic endgame gear when you inevitably join the wrong lobby

This fractal mess of lobbies and lists is approximately 200% more complicated than it needs to be. It is 2025. What the fuck are we doing here?

I understand that this is depressingly close to the norm for Monster Hunter, which has arguably never had the smoothest multiplayer, but even by those standards Wilds feels like an outlier. It's added a bunch of cool features but optimized them like a 5/8" screw in a 3/8" hole. The most frustrating part is that this is worse than the previous game, Monster Hunter Rise, which condensed multiplayer pretty nicely with a simple passcode lobby system. Add friends, set password, join lobby, bam. A little setup, but it worked. Now it's confusing even after the setup. We can only hope that the April update for Monster Hunter Wilds, which is adding some sort of Gathering Hub-like space, will help.

For now, my best advice is this: make a Squad and use it as a catch-all workaround. Your Squad is your rock. There's no getting around the multi-step multiplayer mayhem, but a Squad will at least give you a consistent starting point when setting up sessions. My crew's experience has only been relatively smooth because I made a Squad (and Discord server) to help coordinate things. I've had to explain this stuff to several different people at this point and even I'm starting to think I sound insane. This is not normal! We are having fun despite this system, not because of it, which is textbook UX breakdown.

On top of that, Wilds repeats the cardinal sin of Monster Hunter World by walling off campaign co-op until everyone in the party reaches certain story beats on their own. You can still progress the story with friends by having everyone start a quest, quit out of their sessions, and then dogpile a host who's playing the same mission – which is exactly what my group has done, with consistent but fiddly success – but that's like saying you can drive a car with square wheels. It makes sense that you can't hunt monsters you haven't naturally encountered yet, but I don't understand why Capcom has pushed so hard on cross-play, a more structured narrative, and near-immediate access to multiplayer – all good things – while refusing to blend them together.

Once you push through the rigamarole and earn a degree in Menu-ology, Monster Hunter Wilds generally plays just fine in multiplayer. My friends and I have been able to hunt together with only one or two disconnects across dozens of hunts on PC. But for a game that's gone out of its way to entreat and onboard new players, and done a pretty good job elsewhere, Wilds spectacularly fumbles the task of explaining and constructing multiplayer. I've never seen another game with such excellent co-op, and that is so focused on co-op, convey co-op so poorly. It's unintuitive, over-designed, and as badly in need of changes as the PC version itself.

A Monster Hunter Wilds bug doomed one player to fight the 5-minute punching bag tutorial boss for a freakin' hour: "I’ve had to sharpen my weapon at least 15 times now."

Once you have it, you can head back to Dareel to hand in the questline and get the rewards for completing this phase of the questline. The next critter he'll want you to catch is the Monster Hunter Wilds Rime Beetle, which we have a guide ready and waiting for you if you want to get a head start on that!

Want more help with the Forbidden Lands and what dwells within? Prove yourself a master fisherman with our guide on how to catch the Monster Hunter Wilds Whopper, or discover where to find the near-legendary Monster Hunter Wilds Sandstar, which is hiding in the wastelands somewhere...

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The survey is split between generalist questions and Monster Hunter Wilds-specific feedback. Capcom said in a tweet that "in May, we'll hold another survey that focuses on product content," seemingly to assess player sentiment after Wilds gets its free April update packing additional monsters and a "new level of challenge."

The 20+ question survey, which took me longer to complete than many hunts in Wilds, initially digs into typical marketing and audience demographic topics like how you learned about Monster Hunter Wilds, what platforms you use, whether you played the beta, what developer streams you watched, if you read websites like this one, and what genres and specific games you like to play.

I'm always fascinated by what games get a shoutout on surveys like this, and apart from Capcom's library, games such as Elden Ring, Hogwarts Legacy, Destiny 2, Horizon Forbidden West, Final Fantasy 14 and 16, Diablo 4, Baldur's Gate 3, Black Myth: Wukong, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, and The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt were all mentioned in my survey. The Witcher 3, still taking names 10 years later.

Some Wilds-specific portions are a mix of open-ended and multiple-choice questions about what you like or dislike about the game, and still want to see in updates or DLC. "Please let us know what contents you would like included in additional paid DLC for Monster Hunter Wilds," implores one question. "What things did you enjoy about Monster Hunter Wilds after playing it?" asks another, listing off the action, story, cast, monsters, environments, single player and multiplayer, and – funnily enough – "the game's difficulty level." And a special shoutout to the question on "your reasons for buying Monster Hunter Wilds," one option being, "I like the graphics."

I, too, like the graphics.

A Monster Hunter Wilds bug doomed one player to fight the 5-minute punching bag tutorial boss for a freakin' hour: "I’ve had to sharpen my weapon at least 15 times now."

Whoppers have their own unique fishing mechanics that kick in once they've bitten the line, wherein you need to exhaust them before you can reel them in. Here's how it works:

1. Once the fish bites the hook, press R2/RT to start the minigame.
2. The goal now is to stop the line from reaching too much tension. Match the Whopper's movements with the analog stick to minimise line tension: if it goes left, you go left too. If it goes right, you also go right.
3. Eventually the fish will temporarily stop moving when it's exhausted. Rapidly press up and down on the analog stick to reel it in.
4. If the fish jumps in the air, follow its movements with the analog stick as normal, then press R2/RT at the height of the jump to restrain it and exhaust it again.
5. Once the fish is reeled in to be close enough to the shore, it'll automatically get dragged onto the bank and will be caught!

Whopper locations in Monster Hunter Wilds

There are multiple fish that count as Whoppers in Monster Hunter Wilds, but it seems all of them can be found in Area 17 of the Scarlet Forest, usually around the churning water (though not exclusively). Below we'll list the different Whopper fish and what lures/bait you need to catch them:

• Great Trevally: Tuff Joint Bait
• Gajau: Duster Rigs
• Gastronome Tuna: Tuff Joint Bait
• Goliath Squid: Tentacle Jigs (and only shows up at night)

Goliath Squid are the rarest and you won't even have the Tentacle Jigs if you're at this specific point in the quest chain, so definitely use the Tuff Joint Bait as a rule just to draw any whopper from the water and complete the side quest. If the flying Harpios are diving into the water, clear them out with your Slinger to stop them from scaring away the fish first!

Looking for new forms of life in the Forbidden Lands? Check out the location of the Monster Hunter Wilds Gillopod here, or discover the incredibly rare Monster Hunter Wilds Sandstar here!

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Reddit user *checks notes* dabs_bud_bongs shared their plight with the Monster Hunter Wilds subreddit last week. "Can’t get past the first monster," they pleaded. "Read below." What follows is a Twilight Realm account of an implacable beast far removed from the plodding and predictable Chatacabra I know and love, so obviously I had to reach out to Dabs – I'm just calling 'em Dabs – to find out what exactly happened.

Their post insists it's "not skill issue or anything," and I fully believe them. "Just literally been fighting it for over an hour and it’s not dying. This first Chatacabra in the intro after selecting your weapon, rescuing the little girl's brother. The quest instructions are 'slay the Chatacabra.'"

The bug in question seems to prevent the quest to fight the Chatacabra from progressing, rather than actually giving it a zillion health. The fight is broken into a guided, move-by-move tutorial that introduces things like Focus Mode and wound destruction, and then the quest proper starts and you get to hunt the thing for real. Dabs, I gather, never made it that far at first due to this bug, and I'm not talking about a Bulaqchi.

"It literally won’t 'slay' this thing," the post continues. "I’m assuming the first fight shouldn’t be over an hour long. I haven't fainted once or anything. I've just been fighting it the whole time. I’ve had to sharpen my weapon at least 15 times now. Probably more. Is this some kind of glitch? How do I get past this. I don’t wanna just keep fighting it for 20 hours lol."

Hilarious and impressive as it would've been to see someone fight the first monster for longer than it takes to finish the campaign, Dabs did eventually restart their game, repeat the tutorial, and slay Chatacabra within five minutes. Now convinced that this isn't a hoax farming Reddit Karma – partly because my Chatacabra fight took maybe 50% longer on PC compared to PS5, though Dabs was playing on PS5 – and curious why this went on for so long, I asked at what point they began to think something might be wrong.

"I have played Monster Hunter previously," they explained. "I’ve played [Generations Ultimate], World and Rise. Probably about 10 minutes in give or take I was like, hmmm this is taking a while for early game. Probably about another 10 mins passed before I finally paused it for the first time. At this point I tried to look up how long this fight should take and couldn’t find anything. So then I was like, okay I’ve done some really long quests before, maybe this is just a part of the story for some reason.

"I played another 15 mins before pausing again. At this time I tried to look up any bugs or glitches but again couldn’t find anything. I also thought it was weird at this point the monster has not ran away or anything yet, it’s just been a steady battle, but not challenging. I played another 10 mins, paused and made my post online while I saved quit and took a break for a little lol."

Dabs says that, apart from functionally infinite health and an adamant refusal to leave the arena, this Chatacabra behaved normally throughout the fight – enrage timers, part breaks, tripping, wounds, the works. And it doesn't sound like their version of Monster Hunter Wilds is just dreadfully busted, either.

"The only other bug I experienced was yesterday actually," they added. "I do not remember the quest but way farther in the game. When the cutscenes and story part ended and the quest began and it came time to actually fight the monster, no controls worked. I couldn’t jump off my riding monster. I couldn’t pull out my weapon. I could only access the start menu and direct where to go directionally." Their lesson learned, they said, "I did not waste much time with this one and instantly saved, quit, restarted and then it worked fine the next time."

New Monster Hunter Wilds patch fixes a bunch of progress-blocking bugs, but there's still a network error bug playing havoc with SOS signals

Just like the SOS Beacon in Helldivers 2, the SOS Flare in Monster Hunter Wilds allows you to call for reinforcements when you're out on a hunt. If you do it right after a quest begins, though, you could be met with a network error, so hold off for a while or just don't use them at all if you want to play it safe. There are plenty of other co-op games you can play in the meantime.

Fortunately, there are a lot of progress-blocking bugs that have been fixed, as noted by the Monster Hunter status updates Twitter page. When you're on your way to Azuz during chapter 2-1, Toward Fervent Fields, you shouldn't fall through the map anymore. In chapter 5-2, A World Turned Upside Down, all the NPCs that should appear, will appear.

The Monster Field guide can now be accessed no problem, and you'll also be able to grill a meal and access the ingredient center when the appropriate criteria have been met.

Other fixes ensure weapons are acting as they should be. Weapon Equipment Skills shouldn't mistakenly activate when you're using a mantle, you won't freeze when doing an Offset Attack with the Insect Glaive's Descending Slash, and your lance's Power Guard should trigger correctly too.

You can read the full patch notes right here. The update is available now, but just remember to close the game to install the fix and then restart it to apply it correctly.

Luckily, these issues don't seem to have affected how popular the game is. Monster Hunter Wilds has sold eight million copies in just three days – that's a new Capcom record.

Be sure to check out our Monster Hunter Wilds review to find out why the action RPG is "the new peak" of the series, as well as our guide to the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons to get you started in the latest installment.

At this point you can head back to Samin and hand in the quest for 5 Wild Herbs and 10 Honey, as well as a load of Guild Points to increase your Hunter Rank. There's no benefit to capturing Sandstars other than the Guild Points, so don't worry about hunting more of them from this point.

Want to find more monsters that are just as dangerous? Find out how to hunt the fearsome Monster Hunter Wilds Gillopod, or discover the secret location of the terrifying Monster Hunter Wilds Tracktail Lizard!

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