Despite widespread criticism about the absence of endgame activities in Monster Hunter Wilds, the speedrun community has risen to the challenge, completing tough hunts in just a minute or two.

Monster Hunter Wilds has been out for a little while now, and as such, many players who have sunk unhealthy numbers into the game are running out of things to do. Totally normal! You can’t drop 100+ hours of your week into anything without it getting a bit drab. However, rather than fishing or complaining on Reddit, a select few have created new goals to strive towards: Solo speed hunts.

The aim, if it isn’t apparent by the name alone, is to take down a monster as fast as possible, all on your lonesome. If you look up a monster name on YouTube alongside “solo” and a weapon type, chances are you’ll come across an exceptionally good player absolutely storming through a creature that can take other gaggles of players five, ten, minutes to take down. Maybe longer!

These videos all share some qualities with each other. For one, if you weren’t sold on just how powerful Artian weapons are, these should make it crystal clear. Artian weapons, with the perfect upgrade stats and the right parts, can absolutely chew through monsters with absurd speed. In addition, we’re seeing good exploitation of the wound and stagger system in some of these videos, with constant barrages of blows keeping monsters locked down in place. It thoroughly expels any belief you might have as to your own skill, if you had such confidence in the first place.

But, having watched a few of these, my favourite has to be this Uth Duna Solo by streamer and Youtuber Dr. Philliam. He kills the beast in around 110 seconds, which is wild and truly impressive! However, and this is a phenomenon those of you who have ever played a game at a high level will understand, the video is packed full of frustration. The good doctor gets hit a once or twice, and doesn’t block an attack, and moans in displeasure. It’s the perfect encapsulation of the sort of mind set that pushing for fast hunt times requires, a deep understanding of all your misplays. Still, it’s a great time, and his blue bucket hat is nice too.

But there are loads of these kinds of videos all over YouTube, as well as streamers taking on similar challenges on live streams while they wait for Mizutsune or a higher difficulty hunt to show up. Why not give them a watch!? If nothing else, you can learn how to better imrpove your own loadout before you set out on future hunts.