I’ve done a fair chunk of hunting now.  Nowhere close to some other people, but enough to have a general idea of what’s going on.  One thing I’ve come to terms with is that Monster Hunter World is complicated and obtuse – something that will push people away.

Sure, at the most basic level you run through environments and kill really big monsters.  And you can do just that, until the Anjanath (T-Rex battle).  From there on, there are some rather large walls that need to be breached.  My thoughts on that.

Weapons

Try them all out in your personal quarters.  The trial mode isn’t super, but it works enough.  Realize that the Horn is meant for group play only, and that the 2 ranged weapons are much better suited for group play but can work solo.  Blunt weapons will work to stun an enemy on the head, and sharp weapons will be able to cut off tails.  Tails, in nearly all cases, are very dangerous and cutting one off makes some battles pretty easy.

Keep a “normal” weapon with no elemental damage at maximum upgrade rank, and use it for all new quests where you’re not sure what enemy you’re going to face.  It is also quite useful for missions where you fight multiple enemies with different resistances.  After that, you want to have a weapon of each damage element type – they make a massive difference.

Use the Wishlist feature (triangle on PS4) to track items.  It took me too long to figure out the use for this.  Great for when you’re tracking materials for 5 items at once.

Some weapon effects are greyed out.  They need the Free Elem/Ammo Up armor skill to activate.  Charms and a few armor pieces have this.

Armor

My rule of thumb now is that your defense level be equal to the Assigned Mission level x 10.  So if you’re on mission 12, then have at least 120 defense.  Low defense means you die faster, and you will get hit in long battles for various reasons.  Having high defense means you can ignore most mechanics and just go to town.

Resistances are good too, and you want to stay as close to neutral as possible.  In particular for Fire attacks.  You can use buffs to help with this instead of armor if need be, but keep it in mind.

Armor skills are great to have, but you’ll find yourself worrying about the above more than this for the middle part of the game.  Decorations (gems) and Charms (necklace) can add some extra skills without impacting armor.

Tools

Mantles and gizmos provide all sorts of benefits.  You’ll get the Gillie Mantle first, which hides you from combat.  Great to heal, or sharpen a blade.  You’ll find other types through optional quests that increase resistances, damage, or other useful features.  Each has a timer for re-use.  I personally like the healing mist tool, as I can put it down and the effects last for quite a while.

Palico

You Palico is very useful.  Their weapon type is great for inflicting status on enemies, not so much for damage.  The Palico can’t die but will be stunned for a bit if it takes too much damage.  Not much value in the armor here, except for cosmetic reasons.  Palico tools though… that’s good stuff.

Each zone has a Grimalkyne base, they looks like Palicos.  The icon on the map is 4 white icons.  Each has a quest involved, which rewards you with a tool and the ability for your Palico to ride a smaller animal in combat.  The solid one is from the Rotten Vale (zone 4), which is a Plunder Blade.  This thing allows your Palico to loot more items from combat… extremely useful when you are looking for ingredients.  And of note, each of the tools has 10 levels, gained through use.  Each level improves the function of the tool.  The Vigorwasp tool should be used for any new enemy, allowing you more room to learn.

Also of note, Palicos are not in battles with 3 or more players, but still gain experience.

Safaris / Argosy / Tree

These are free-ish loot events.  The Palico safaris unlock with zone 4, and you select a group of Palicos to spend 5 quests collecting items.  Their skill level needs to match/exceed the events in the quests.  Good to find some specific resources.

The Argosy is a rotating vendor, with 3 packages.  You can select the type of package for the next round.  I’ve found a few rare items here.

The Tree allows you to plant items that grow after every quest. There are more additional quests to plant extra things, grow them faster, and have more space to collect.  I use it solely to generate Zenny (gold).  Has uses.

Food

This is way more complicated than I like.  Long story short, eat before every mission.  For monsters that you consider easy, choose the Attack buff food, otherwise focus on Defense.  Food has a 10 minute timer before you can eat again, and if you die you lose the buff.

Complete optional quests in order to unlock more food types.  They have a big impact in the buffs food provides.

Nutrients also provide temporary food-like buffs.  You should not need any until you’re at the very high rank battles.

Quest Types

Assignments are the main story missions.  One time events (sort of ) that cannot be repeated.  They unlock more zones and more options.  These are the walls you need to breach with better weapons & armor.

Optional Quests provide 1 time benefits (extra food, items, gear) and are repeatable.  There’s no reason to do them more than once, with an exception.  Some main mission battles against Elder Dragons show up here after you’ve completed the assignment.  They randomly appear, with 2 attempts each.  Strongly recommend doing these.

Investigations are repeatable quests that focus on a specific activity, on a specific target.  Kill 20 wasps, capture an Anjanath, and so on.  Unlocking more is based on a ton of things.  Finding more tracks, killing monsters, looting items… just normal play will unlock more of them.  After a while, you’ll want to delete the lower ranked ones to make place for higher ranked events.

Bounties – these are not exactly quests but collection missions that can be completed at any time.  They unlock additional hunting sites, more food, more storage… very useful things.

The general order of things for me is

1. Assigned quests until I hit a wall
2. Optional quests that unlock needed items
3. Investigations for specific enemies where I know I need their drops

Captures

This investigation type provides additional loot, but requires some extra steps.  You have to bring the enemy down to near-death status (often shown by a limp).  Then you need to lay down a trap for the monster to walk through – lightning works best.  That’s a Thunder Bug (in zones) and a Trap Tool (from town).  Then stand at the head and throw at least 2 Tranq Bombs (Sleep Flower + Parashroom – both in the zones).  If you are prepared, these are actually easier than regular fights.

Big Monster Battles

Some general tips.

• Pay attention to attack patterns.  They often chain together.
• Understand your weapon, how much time it takes to attack, and how long you cannot move.
• Do not attack any enemy head on.  They will bite, or shoot something at you.  Attack the head from the side.
• If you have a sharp weapon, always sever the tail.  It provides more loot, and removes a painful attack.
• Attack from above where possible.  Jump, and attack in the air when close to the enemy.  You may mount them, or provide a ton of damage, while avoiding most.
• You want to see reddish numbers when attacking.  And large numbers.  Each part of the enemy has different armor levels on the body.  Pay attention to the numbers.
• Enemies will change location in battle after a specific set of time, and sometimes after a certain amount of damage is dealt.
• If another large monster shows up, step away and watch the fireworks.  There’s nothing worse than getting a fireball in the back.  Bazelgeuse in particular does this.
• Keep weapon sharpness in mind.  You always want it to be “in the green”.  Yellow will do with weaker enemies, but won’t be able to hit tougher ones.  Always sharpen when you’re tracking a monster after they run away.
• Negative effects are super useful.  Stun is obvious.  Sleep allows you to lay down bombs (always carry 2).  Paralyze negates their abilities, though they still shuffle.  Poison does some minor damage over time.  Blast is a lategame skill that acts a bit like poison – but the damage is all at once instead of overtime.
• Elderseal only impacts elder dragons.
• If you can’t kill a monster in the 50 minute timeslot, upgrade your weapons and pay attention to resists.