Monster Hunter Wilds isn’t Pokémon, but it does offer you some advantages when catching monsters alive. Generally, more experience and monster parts can be obtained by capturing monsters – allowing for quicker part and experience farming. Certain monster parts can only be acquired by capturing (be sure to check your in-game Field Guide), which further incentivizes keeping a monster alive. Here’s a quick and easy guide to capturing monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds:
Always stock up on tranquilizers, Shock Traps, and Pitfall Traps
Before leaving camp to embark on a quest, make sure you have enough tranquilizers, Shock Traps, Pitfall Traps, and their associated crafting materials in your Item Pouch.
Tranq Bombs are crafted by mixing Sleep Herbs (found in Windward Plains, Scarlet Forest, and Iceshard Cliffs) and Parashrooms (found in Windward Plains, Scarlet Forest, Oilwell Basin, and Ruins of Wyveria). Tranq Bombs can also be combined with a Throwing Knife or Normal Ammo (both found in unlimited supply in your Item Pouch) to create Tranq Blades or Tranq Ammo that serve the same purpose of putting a monster to sleep.
Shock Traps are made by combining a Trap Tool (which can be purchased from the Provisions Shop in any Base Camp) and a Thunderbug Capacitor (which are automatically crafted when you capture a Thunderbug with your Capture Net). Thunderbugs can be found in Windward Plains and Ruins of Wyveria.
Pitfall Traps are similar to Shock Traps in that they require a Trap Tool to craft, although you will first need to make a Net to combine with it. To make a Net, you need to combine Ivy (found in Windward Plains, Scarlet Forest, and Ruins of Wyveria) and Spider Web (found in Scarlet Forest, Oilwell Basin, and Iceshard Cliffs).
You can find most of the ingredients by exploring the various maps, completing certain quests, and occasionally in your Supply Pouch when starting a quest. To make things easier, try blasting through the main story until you complete Chapter 3 and unlock High Rank. By this time, Nata will be a Village Intermediary and allow you to gather items from NPC traders in different regions (be sure to talk to any hub area characters with a “!” mark above their heads). Choose the “Material Retrieval” option when speaking to Nata to set your desired items and check in regularly to see what the traders managed to scrounge up for you.
Catching monsters is just like hunting them, with a few extra steps
Once you have your tranquilizers and traps settled, start a quest and do things as you normally would when hunting a monster. The most important thing to watch out for is the monster’s status, which can be found on your minimap in the lower left-hand side of your HUD. When a small skull pops up beside your quarry’s icon, it means the monster is at low health and is ready to be captured.
To capture a monster, place a Shock Trap or Pitfall Trap in the monster’s path. Once it’s trapped, head over to where the head is and toss a few Tranq Bombs, Tranq Blades, or Tranq Ammo its way. Provided you’ve used enough tranquilizers and the monster’s health is low enough, the monster will fall asleep, and the quest will be completed. If you’re doing a Field Survey quest, the sleeping monster will eventually wake up and run off into the distance, so don’t worry if you see it suddenly stand and peace out for no reason.
Some final tips for multiplayer quests
You’re free to do as you please when you’re on your own or with Support Hunters (the AI-controlled NPCs that help you when no players are available), but there are a few guidelines to follow when you’re in a multiplayer quest.
For starters, the host of the quest usually has the final say as to whether a monster should be killed or captured (they started the quest, after all). If you see that a monster’s health is low and no one in the party is making an effort to trap it, you can take that as a sign that everyone wants the monster dead. On the other hand, spotting Shock Traps or Pitfall Traps on the battlefield is your cue to ease up on the damage and look for opportunities to use your tranquilizers.
For clearer communication, try signaling your party using voice chat, stickers, or Shoutouts (the last two are customizable). It can be rather difficult to see Gestures during a quest, so try not to use them unless you’re looking to get hit by a monster. Monster Hunter Wilds lacks a traditional in-game text chat, so you have to get creative when catching your team’s attention. Everyone wants to get the most out of their quests, so be sure that you don’t accidentally capture or kill a monster by mistake!
If you’re looking for more Monster Hunter Wilds tips, consider checking out our guides for more precise Seikret controls, adjusting your field of view, and transmogging your hunter and Palico’s armors.
Monster Hunter Wilds is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).
