As with previous Monster Hunter games, mounting a monster in Monster Hunter Wilds allows you to deal some heavy damage. However, the game’s new Wound system requires you to approach things differently compared to previous entries – where you could just go straight for the monster’s head or breakable/severable parts. Here is the best way to maximize your monster rodeos in Monster Hunter Wilds.
How do you mount a monster?
To mount a monster, initiate a jump attack by drawing your weapon while airborne and near your quarry (mounts can only be performed on large monsters). To prevent continuous mounts, an invisible mount meter must be filled after each successful mount attack to trigger another one. Since the mount meter is filled by performing jump attacks on a monster, more players executing jump attacks on a single large monster increases the rate at which the meter fills.
Wound as many parts of the monster before knocking it down
As soon as you mount a monster, start attacking it with your Strong Knife Attack. While the Light Knife Attack is faster, it is important to deal as much damage to a monster’s body parts with your available stamina.
Speaking of stamina, you’ll notice that your stamina gauge will start to deplete the longer you remain mounted. This serves as a personal timer for how long you can hang on before falling off the monster. Stamina depletes faster when you remain on a body part that the monster is targeting (i.e. you will lose more stamina while on the tail end of a Rathalos that is shaking its butt), so be sure to use the Brace input or move to a different body part to avoid getting knocked off. You can tell when a monster is targeting the area you are in by a darkened screen effect. Certain monster attacks will immediately buck you off if you stay within their effective range, so be wary of those as well.
Going back to offense, you’ll want to damage as many sections of the monster as possible. When a body part takes enough damage, a Wound will appear, denoted by a red glow. Take this as your signal to move to another side of the monster.
This is where Monster Hunter Wilds differs from past games. You’ll want to create as many Wounds as possible on a monster before knocking it down with a Draw Finisher (done by performing a Weapon Attack on a Wound). Some of your party members will try to attack the monster’s Wounds to knock it down, so try grabbing their attention through voice chat, stickers, or custom shoutouts so they can leave you to do your job in peace. They’ll get their chance to attack soon enough.
Once the monster is down, your party can target the Wounds (which serve as weak points) to deliver extra damage to the stationary target. While some players see the Wound system as a simplification of Monster Hunter’s core gameplay loop, it serves to increase immersion while allowing the formulation of unique strategies. You won’t be riding a large monster as often in Monster Hunter Wilds as in, say, Monster Hunter World, so it is important to make the best of your mounts whenever you get the chance.
Monster Hunter Wilds is out now on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC (Steam).
