As you may already know, Monster Hunter Wilds offers thrilling battles against fearsome creatures.
While many hunters focus on maximizing their offensive capabilities, the importance of defense shouldn’t be overlooked.
This guide will explore the defensive mechanics in Monster Hunter Wilds, helping you understand how to build a more resilient hunter.
Understanding Defense in Monster Hunter Wilds
The core of any defensive strategy in Monster Hunter Wilds is your raw defense stat. This number plays a crucial role in determining how much damage you take from monster attacks.
However, it’s important to note that defense works on a slightly depreciating scale, meaning that each point of defense you add becomes slightly less effective than the last.
In previous Monster Hunter games, the damage reduction formula was relatively straightforward: 80 divided by (80 + your defense) times 100. However, Monster Hunter Wilds seems to have tweaked this formula.
Now, you reach 50% damage reduction at around 120 defense, rather than the previous 80.
To put this into perspective, let’s look at some numbers:
- With 1 defense (essentially no armor), you take full damage from attacks.
- At 121 defense, you take about 50% of the damage you would at 1 defense.
- At 241 defense, you take about 65% of the damage you would at 121 defense.
- At 479 defense, you take about 65% of the damage you would at 241 defense.
This scaling means that the first 120 points of defense you gain are incredibly valuable, offering a massive boost to your survivability. However, as you stack more defense, the returns diminish.
This doesn’t mean high defense isn’t useful – at 479 defense, you have between 300-400% of the effective health points you would have at 1 defense.
It just means that at a certain point, other defensive skills might offer more value than further increasing your raw defense stat.
Defensive Skills in Monster Hunter Wilds
Now that we understand how raw defense works, let’s explore some of the key defensive skills available in Monster Hunter Wilds:
- Defense Boost
This skill increases your defense stat by both a flat amount and a percentage, also offering some elemental resistance at higher levels. While it can be useful, especially early in the game, there are often more efficient defensive skills available at higher levels. - Divine Blessing
This skill gives you a chance to reduce incoming damage significantly. At max rank, you have a 25% chance to reduce damage by 50%. This is exceptionally useful against big hits that might otherwise cart you (in-game term for fainting). - Elemental Resistances
Skills like Fire Resistance, Water Resistance, etc., increase your defense against specific elements. At 20 resistance, you become immune to that element’s corresponding blight status effect. - Status Resistances
These skills reduce the duration of status effects like paralysis or poison, with the highest rank granting immunity to the status. - Recovery Up
This skill increases all healing you receive by up to 30% at max rank. This applies to potions, health augments, and any other form of healing, making it a top-tier defensive skill. - Evade Window
This skill increases the number of invincibility frames during your dodge roll. At max rank, it nearly doubles your invincibility time, making it much easier to dodge through attacks. - Earplugs
In Monster Hunter Wilds, most monsters only have “weak” roars, which can be negated with just two ranks in Earplugs. This allows you to keep attacking or heal during roars, providing both offensive and defensive benefits. - Shock Absorber
While not strictly a defensive skill, Shock Absorber prevents you from being flinched by other players in multiplayer hunts. This can indirectly improve your defense by allowing you to dodge or block at critical moments without interruption.
Building Your Defensive Strategy
When crafting your defensive strategy in Monster Hunter Wilds, consider the following tips:
- Prioritize Armor Upgrades: Ensure your armor is fully upgraded for your current rank. The raw defense from upgraded armor provides a solid foundation for your defensive strategy.
- Consider Divine Blessing: This skill offers significant damage reduction for relatively low investment, making it a top pick for defensive builds.
- Use Recovery Up: Increased healing effectiveness can dramatically improve your survivability, allowing you to recover from mistakes more easily.
- Don’t Neglect Evasion: Skills like Evade Window can help you avoid damage altogether, which is often better than reducing damage taken.
- Adapt to the Monster: Use elemental and status resistance skills when facing monsters that heavily rely on these attacks.
- Balance Offense and Defense: Remember, the best defense is often a good offense. Faster hunt times mean less opportunity to take damage.
Advanced Defensive Techniques
As you become more comfortable with the basic defensive strategies, consider incorporating these advanced techniques:
- I-frame Dodging: With practice and skills like Evade Window, you can dodge through attacks using invincibility frames. This advanced technique can dramatically improve your survivability.
- Counter Attacks: Many weapons have counter or guard point moves that can nullify incoming damage and provide an opportunity to strike back. Mastering these moves can significantly improve your defensive capabilities.
- Environment Awareness: Use the terrain to your advantage. Slopes can provide easy mounting opportunities, while some areas might offer natural cover from certain attacks.
- Item Management: Knowing when to use items like Max Potions or Lifepowders can save you or your teammates from carting. Practice quick item usage without leaving yourself vulnerable.
- Mantles and Endemic Life: Utilize defensive mantles and buffs from endemic life to give yourself temporary boosts in tougher fights.
Concluding Lines
Defense in Monster Hunter Wilds is a complex system that goes far beyond simply having a high defense stat.
By understanding how defense scales, which skills provide the most value, and how to incorporate defensive techniques into your playstyle, you can create a hunter that’s not only powerful but also resilient.
Remember, the goal isn’t to never take damage – that’s nearly impossible in Monster Hunter. Instead, aim to create a build and playstyle that allows you to withstand the punishment that comes with hunting giant monsters, giving you more opportunities to fight back and ultimately emerge victorious.
As you continue your journey in Monster Hunter Wilds, experiment with different defensive strategies.
What works best will often depend on your weapon choice, playstyle, and the specific monster you’re hunting. Don’t be afraid to adjust your approach as you face new challenges.
Ultimately, mastering defense in Monster Hunter Wilds is about finding the right balance between offense and survivability. A hunter who can stay in the fight longer has more opportunities to deal damage and complete the hunt successfully.
So sharpen your weapons, upgrade your armor, and head out into the wilds – you’re now better prepared to face whatever challenges await!
