Tips For Going Solo In Monster Hunter: World

While a big part of the fun in Monster Hunter: World stems from playing with friends and random players, syncing up different weapons and playstyles to deliver a deluge of punishment to a massive monster, maybe you don't want to get online or group up at all. Monster Hunter: World can be enjoyed completely by yourself as a single-player game. If you choose to go it alone, you have plenty of different tools available to make the experience manageable. While it's probably not a problem to solo your way through things like Great Jagras and other low tier monsters, when you start getting to Elder Dragons and other high-tier fare you may find yourself seeking an extra edge in the fight. Here are some tips to take with you if you want to tackle the challenges of Monster Hunter: World alone.

• Your Palico is an essential companion. To get the most out of your Palico, you're going to want to seek out questlines in each zone during expeditions. Use your tracking skills to look for clues to find Palico tribe locations, and then handle a simple quest. This will unlock a new Palico gadget, the ability to recruit members of that Palico tribe (while out on a mission, they are not permanent additions) and the ability to recruit a certain monster type in each zone. So, if you're really in need of extra help on a mission this means you can have up to 3 extra NPC friends with you at any given time (Your Palico, a companion, and a monster), providing you with essential extra fire support and distractions. These unlocks are one of the most helpful things you can do during solo play, so don't skip out on doing expeditions to discover these bonus helpers in each major zone.

• Your Palico gadget is critical. The one you start with is pretty handy and gives you some bonus healing, but some of the others facilitate the solo experience better. If you're using a slower weapon especially, consider the shield/taunt Palico to provide a critical distraction while you unload with your weighty weapon. Faster builds can benefit more from the hunting horn Palico, keeping you buffed and swinging hard. If you're using a more cautious playstyle that wears monsters down over time or are taking on extremely dangerous prey, the explosive-wielding ranged Palico might be the right choice to keep some sustained pressure on the monster.

• While the game does away with loading zones and makes it so monsters can chase you down, they often lose their focus after an area or two. Running away and restocking is your best friend, as you can use the reprieve to fully stock up at your tent. Even if you can only carry 10 Mega Potions on you, you can refill endlessly as long as you have the materials, so know when to break off from a fight and completely resupply. It's much better to keep your meal buff than get knocked down and have to go back into the fight at half-strength for the rest of the battle.

• Consumables can make even the hardest fights much, much easier. Good preparation and consumables can make impossible fights easy. The use of traps, bombs, buffing, powerful ammunition, and more can turn a 40 minute endurance fight into a 5 minute massacre. If you are having a lot of trouble on a fight, come back fully stocked and watch the monster melt.

• If all else fails, turn on the cheese engine. As mentioned above, you can recruit from tribe pools in each area. If you're tackling a particularly challenging fight, make sure that you always have a full roster of NPCs on your side - if they die, teleport back to camp and pick up some new ones. Use the fodder as a shield until the monster is dead or you need to go recruit more. It only takes a few seconds to go get some new friends!

• Slower weapons can be more challenging when it's just you and the monster. If you're really having trouble, try switching to something faster and more responsive like the longsword or dual blades.

• "Let them fight". You can turn an impossible battle into a brawl by dragging monsters to each other and having them duke it out. This is often fairly dangerous for you as well, but if you can get them to punish each other in a big melee, you can clean up after they beat each other down. By the same token, some fights are made much harder when other monsters get involved, so during those periods you may wish to take the chance to run off and wait for the location to clear out.