So I’m nearly 200 hours into Monster Hunter World, and as most of you are aware, it’s fantastic. So fantastic that its very high review scores (a 90 on Metacritic at the time of writing this) paired with its jump from handheld to console has given the series a whole new level of popularity. Selling over 6 million units in just under 3 weeks, making Monster Hunter World Capcoms fasting selling game of all time. With numbers like that, you better believe that this is many peoples first foray into the series, leading to not only questions from newcomers, but an absolute INSANE amount of misinformation about the do’s and don’ts when it comes to hunting in a group. Teamwork has been a staple of the Monster Hunter series and it’s one of the most enjoyable ways to play the game when done with a certain amount of education and respect for your fellow hunters. So to combat some of the bad info going around on the internet, I have compiled a list of things you can be doing to improve the all around experience for everyone playing the game, even the newcomers.

Don’t always flash a mounted monster

I have seen so many posts lately that say it’s just better to flash a mounted monster than to wait for the mount to play out. This is only true if you are running out of time on a hunt or if you are attempting to speed run in the arena. Monsters stay downed longer after a successful mount than they do from a flash pod. The argument I see posted most often is that by not flashing the monster immediately, you are ultimately lowering your teams total DPS, especially in the case of flying monsters, which brings me to my next point…

DPS Doesn’t really matter (That much)

Sure, you wanna do all the damage. You wanna get that hunt done as fast as possible so you can move on to the next piece of gear for that sweet mixed set you saw that speed runner use on YouTube. Here’s the thing though, all that damage doesn’t mean squat if you’re hogging all the team carts. There are (typically) 4 hunters in a session, while most hunt’s only allow for 3 carts (deaths). That’s not even one for every person and in some of the rarer investigations a team is only allowed 1 or 2 carts. That speed runner probably restarted that run 20 times before he got that right. This is the only Monster Hunter game where a teammate who used all 3 of our carts messaged me after and said it was my fault for not having enough damage to kill the monster fast enough. I’ll tell you guys right now, even a 40 minute hunt that ends in success feels better than a 5 minute hunt that ends in failure.

Participate

Don’t be the guy who calls in an SOS for a hunt they are struggling on and then just sits at base and waits for the calvery to come in and hand you the victory. This is incredibly rude for so many reasons. First of all, Monsters have more health when you play online, so every person who is off mining or just “Leeching” from base is making it that much more difficult for the other hunters, and they came to help you. The other major reason being that you didn’t really earn those end hunt rewards. The learning that comes with actually fighting the monster and the sense of accomplishment that comes after the beast is finally slain, can only truly be felt if you do your part in the hunt. That feeling of overcoming the challenge of a new creature is what Monster Hunter is all about.

Tripping

Knocking teammates out of there combat animations by hitting them with some friendly fire, AKA “Tripping”, has been an issue in the Monster Hunter games for as long as I can remember. This is mostly due to poor positioning and not being aware of what weapons and moves cause the actual tripping. With longsword being the main culprit  in previous entries due to it’s long sweeping animations, I have noticed that in World the dual blades, bow, and slicing ammo from the two bowgun classes have been equally if not more frequent in my many, many trip ups. these can be extremely frustrating for hammer users and defensive play-styles such as the gunlance and lance users. as hammer bros need that sweet sweet stun damage to connect, especially since the stun thresholds in World are incredibly high compared to previous entries. As for the lance and gunlance, getting tripped up from behind while attempting to block a monster attack from the front will most likely lead to you taking a fireball to the face. so lets talk positioning, shall we.

Positioning

So the way it typically breaks down is hammers and hunting horn get full reign on the face so they can build up that stun damage. Blades with good tail cutting capability such as longsword, dual blades, and great sword, tend to really try and focus the tail end of the monster, looking for openings for mounting and heavy hits as needed. Now this does not mean you can never go for the head, these are just generally where your focuses should be, especially when the monster is downed. It’s most important to stick to this area while a monster is vulnerable via paralysis, traps, or being knocked down via mount, stun, of flash. As for the other weapons, I would say that insect glaive should be attempting at least 1 or two mounts a hunt and when a monster is downed should also focus points such as the tail, keeping his/ her buffs up and kinsect marking the monster. Charge blade, you just look for openings to well, charge your blade, and take advantage of knock downs to unload your full phial burst, now, this also can trip pretty easily and over a wide area of effect, so be aware of your teammates. Switch axe, I almost never see you guys tripping people up but I would say stick to just blowing things up and going nuts mid monster or rear end when heavier hitting weapons are on the hunt.

Lance and gunlance users aren’t to bad about tripping, as the amount of moves that can actually trip are limited due to the precision of these weapons, with the main exception being the gunlance wyvernfire. There is a lot of bad info going around about this move, saying that you should only use it on the head, if at all, which just isn’t true. not only will this stop the all out assault on a downed monster by a teammate if struck by this move, it will knock them clear out of attacking range, so if anyone is even remotely near your blast radius, just save it for later. Also, shelling does set damage, meaning that it can’t crit or do more damage to certain body parts. Whether you are blasting a face or a thigh, you are going to do the same damage. It is exceptionally good at breaking parts though so if you have a free shot at that Diablos horn, fire away boom buddy.

Now at launch the slicing ammo from the bowguns was an enormous issue, so bad as a matter of fact, that not only was it quickly patched to do less damage and have less tripping capability, Japanese websites were writing entire articles about how it was bad for the game. Now since the patch it has gotten better, but just save that stuff for solo guys, it was created so that bowgun users had a shot at that tail when playing alone, not to ruin the experience for others because you were too worried about “Muh Deeps”. As for the rest of the hunt, heavy bowgun, you kinda have similar rules to gunlance, that little bit of extra damage isn’t worth pissing off your whole team because you wanted to unload a cluster shot on a downed monster. Light bowgun users, you guys are unsung heroes and, aside from some accidental sticky ammo misfires, are pretty good about not stopping your fellow hunters mid combo.

And then there was the bow. Guys I know you want that stun with your rain of rocks on a monsters head, but you already have so much. The cool dodges, the dragon pierce shot, the acrobatic wall shot. That head is all our horns and hammers have, so just stop spamming that move, as it trips up pretty much everyone.

Don’t be mean

Look this one is really pointed towards those vets out there. I know that guy just leeched your tempered elder hunt, but that doesn’t mean that you have the right to trip him out of his carving animation. Honestly, He’s already gonna get the end rewards and you rage trip at the chance of also tripping someone who actually earned them nearby. Also, everyone carts, even you. You don’t have to kick someone from a hunt just because they went down a little quick for your standards. Now if it’s your hunt, totally your right, I don’t want someone unprepared failing one of my rare investigations either, but try and give the new guys a second chance. The Monster Hunter community has always been known for being very open to newcomers as it’s always been that a good hunter came from a great one teaching them the game. We have wanted this game to be popular for so long and now that it has reached that mainstream popularity with World, I have seen a lot of greifing from mostly the long time hunters, and that’s pretty disappointing.

 Come Prepared

Now with all that said, come to your hunts prepared or prepare to be kicked. If you come into a tempered elder dragon investigation and get one shot by a move you should be able to take at this point in the game, you will get kicked. Even I have a rule where if a person carts twice in less than 10 minutes, I’ll boot them from my rarer investigations. So eat your eats, craft those max potions, bust out those vitality gems, whatever it takes to stay alive, as carting due to not having a strong enough defense is the #1 reason hunters will fail a quest. You’re teammates wont care about how sick your build was if the only thing you actually show them is that quest failed screen.

To Sum Things Up

Don’t believe everything you see on YouTube. The fast popularity of this game has led to a lot of click-bait, “Best Weapon in the Game!!!!” nonsense. There is no meta. The best weapon is the one you feel most comfortable with. All and all to bring this long winded piece to a close, don’t be a dick. It’s not funny knocking around someone trying to get carves and it’s just not what this game is about. When played with a certain etiquette, Monster Hunter is a fantastic experience where anything can happen, and no 2 hunts are the same. Keep sharing those amazing kill screens and hilarious clips on Reddit, as it’s something that really makes this community so special and easy to be a part of. I want to challenge everyone to try something. The next time you are farming a monster, and you have a great hunt, don’t be so quick to click in that analog stick. Try and stay with that group, because finding new hunters and talking to eachother about what one person has learned or seen, is one of the many reasons Monster Hunter is so incredible.

If you have any questions or feel I said something incorrect, feel free to comment below, or message me on PSN. My ID is Gpie0711.

Happy Hunting!