Monster Hunter Wilds | Low-Rank Gear & Skill Guide

Monster Hunter Wilds is Capcom's return to the Monster Hunter franchise, where every hunt tests your skills, patience, and creativity. Built on the foundations of its predecessors, it's a memorable title that has enticed gamers with its relentless and intense quests and challenges. 

The game introduces new mechanics for weapons and armor, making it important to understand them so that you can build an effective gear set. This guide covers the fundamentals so that you can breeze through the early bits of the game.

How Skills Work

Every piece of equipment in the game comes with skills that have different ranks. The skills can be viewed in detail at the Smithy. Most skills have 3 ranks, and unlike the previous edition of Monster Hunter, skills are now present on both armor and weapons. 

Skill Categories

Skills are divided into different categories, such as offensive, defensive, and utility. These categories are shown by symbols (sword for offense, shield for defense.) Talisman and decorations also have this categorization, with weapons decorations providing you with weapon-specific skills and armor decorations offering you armor-specific skills.

Weapon Skills vs. Armor Skills

Weapon skills and armor skills shouldn't be confused as they are entirely separate. Skills found on weapons can't appear on armor and vice versa; most of the skills come innately on equipment, but as you progress to a higher rank, decoration slots become available. 

Allowing you to customize. However, armor skills in Wilds are less focused on offense compared to the predecessors, with most offense boosts coming from weapon skills.

Group Skills

Armor sets now have group skills, which activate when you wear three pieces of the same set. The group skills give you minor bonuses, and they can be shared between different sets (if they have the same group skill).

Low-Rank Weapon Recommendations

For low rank, I would recommend those from the Ore and Bone trees. These weapons prioritize sharpness, with a jump from green to blue sharpness being really useful; plus, they are pretty easy to craft. The choice between the two trees depends on the weapon type and the skills they offer.

Low-Rank Palico Equipment

You'll always want to craft the most recent weapon available for the Palico, especially if it uses parts from monsters that you don't need for other gear. Palicos do a lot of damage, so it's important that you keep their weapons up to date. On the other hand, Palico armor has a minimal impac, so it's fine if you experiment around to see what you prefer.

Low-Rank Armor to Get

When you are at a low like, you'll likely have the Hope Amor set available to you, but I would recommend moving away from it as soon as you can. Crafting armor from the first large monster you encounter will give you a significant buff in defense from the Hope set. The Alloy set that you can get from mining is also another good option early on.

If you're looking into specific pieces, though, I would recommend the Ludroth gloves, waist, and legs. They offer Recovery Up, which enhances potion effectiveness. The Barroth set provides an Evade extender, making it easier to avoid attacks. 

The Jaggi set gives you Free Meals, reducing your overall potion usage, and a two-piece bonus that increases attacks after successful counterattacks. As you progress through the game, upgrading armor for higher defense is key, with the Apex Monster set being one of the best low-rank gear.

Also, check out our Monster Hunter Wilds Review and other guides below:

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• Monster Hunter Wilds Guide | Low-Rank Gear & Skill Guide