To succeed at tackling Monster Hunter Wilds beefy brawls, you’ll need to take full advantage of the game’s wound system. This is a way to target the spots on monsters that have already taken significant damage, and are thus vulnerable to additional attacks.
In this Monster Hunter Wilds guide, we’ll explain how to see and target wounds.
How to see and target wounds in Monster Hunter Wilds
In any monster fight, you’ll be able to enter your focus mode by holding left trigger. Focus mode isn’t just for aiming slinger ammo; it allows you to put a reticle and somewhat direct your attacks, even when wielding a melee weapon.
If you’ve managed to direct a few hits to the same spot, entering focus mode will allow you to see a monster’s wounds. These wounds live up the video game cliché and glow red, making them very easy to see and target.
While in focus mode, hitting right bumper — which would normally put away your weapon — will cause your hunter to do a Focus Strike, a special wound-targeting attack that does extra critical damage. Hit a wound enough and it will burst, which will cause the monster to stagger for a second or two as well.
This could even cause a piece of the monster, like its tail or fangs, to break off, which will give you a little pop-up notification and cause a monster part to drop on the ground for immediate collection.
You can also inflict wounds on the monster’s back while mounting them, usually doing two to three wounds before you run out of stamina. (We have a helpful guide with tips on how to mount monsters during a fight, too.)
The takeaway: While it might not always be practical to stay in focus mode, make sure to flip back and forth to see where the monster is wounded, and make attacking those wounds a priority to speed up the fight. If you’ve managed to wound a monster higher up on its body where your weapon doesn’t reach, you could try to stun it and knock it over by targeting its head. Or consider carrying a secondary weapon on your Seikret with a longer reach or some range.
To get the most out of combat in Monster Hunter Wilds, learn how to mount, capture monsters, cut tails and get fangs, and work around the “your item pouch is full” warning.
