5 Essential Tips When Starting Out In Monster Hunter: World

Are you a newbie to the Monster Hunter series, or a seasoned pro just looking for a few reminders? We bring you the GGS Gamer: 5 Essential Tips When Starting Out in Monster Hunter: World.

Monster Hunter: World is an amazing game, with so much to see and do and also kill. If you are new to the Monster Hunter series it can seem a little daunting at first, with so many menus and all those craftable items. But what do you really need to know when first starting out? Here are some tips for when you begin exploring in Monster Hunter: World.

1. Character Customisation

As soon as you begin your adventure in monster hunter you are greeted with a really nice character customisation screen. If you’re like me, you have to make sure that your in-game avatar is just the way you like it, and that’s how it should be. Fear not though, if you don’t like your original creation you can change your appearance at any time with the Palico Housekeeper in your accommodation. So if you feel you don’t have quite the right look or want to try a new hairstyle – you can.

Although your character is hidden under armour most of the time, you can choose to remove your head armour in the options, under Game Settings, and then Head Armour. You have three choices for your headwear Show, Hide, or Hide in Cutscenes Only. Personally, I prefer hiding the helmet in the cutscenes as your likeness appears in all of the cutscenes, and if you want to screenshot yourself with some of the glorious monsters you must be looking your best.

2. Choose the right weapon

Probably the most important piece of advice; make sure you choose the right weapon for you. The weapons in Monster Hunter: World, fall into four categories, and those are Slow movement / High Damage Melee, Slow movement / High Damage Ranged, and High movement / Lower Damage Melee, High movement / Lower Damage Ranged. The trade-off for higher damage weapons and attacks is sometimes feeling like you are walking around in mud, and it can be difficult to dodge out of the way of monster attacks, so you have to be very aware and reactive. If this doesn’t sound like your thing, and movement is more comfortable, then weapons like the twin swords or light bowgun are going to be better for you. They offer far more manoeuvrability but deliver lower damage hits and cannot break off some parts of the monsters.

Use the training area to get a feel for what the weapon is like for movement, and practice your attacking combinations. Whilst in the training room, the basic weapon combinations are displayed on the screen and mark the buttons you are pressing, so that you can practice getting them right. To learn further weapon combos you can open the Hunter Notes and scroll down to Weapon Controls. There you can see the basic controls and also the Useful Combos.

3. Craft your armour

When you start to accumulate monster parts and materials you can begin to get out of your starter gear and get the Smithy to forge you some armour relating to what monsters you have killed. Don’t worry about collecting all the armour sets, although they look better in a set, you will only need the items that suit your weapon. Some armour sets are specifically more tuned to certain weapons, for example, the Anjanath armour would suit Bowguns or Bows, because of its Special Ammo Boost and Artillery skills.

So when you start crafting armour just select items that compliment your weapon. A good example is having Quick Sheath skills on your armour so that you can put your Great Sword away to drink potions and heal-up. Plus when you finish the story and your Hunter Rank goes up you will need to collect new higher sets of armour.

4. Complete story quests to unlock the cap on Hunter Rank

Your Hunter Rank is capped whilst you do the story quests. You will notice your Hunter Rank or HR, going up slowly as you complete each Assigned quest. If your mission is to level up quickly so that you can do higher quests with people in online sessions, you don’t want to get sidetracked. Just complete the Assigned/Story quests and once you have done that, your Hunter Rank will accumulate more quickly.

5. Use Consumables

Don’t be afraid to craft items to use. Your health is pretty low without them and monsters can hit like a truck, make sure you craft Nutrients or Mega Nutrients to increase your health pool and either use the rations or cook your own meat on the barbeque to max out your stamina bar. Stamina is used to evade and run, so having this maxed out every time you go on a mission will make your life a lot easier.

Materials are very easy to come by and get marked on the map the first time you collect them so that you can farm more easily. If you find that you are filling your bags quickly and stacks of herbs or mushrooms are at max capacity you can go back to camp and access your item storage in the tent. You do not need to go back to the main hub.