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Affinity is a term you will no doubt have noticed with your weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds. It’s an important stat for your weapon that has existed in previous Monsters Hunter but isn’t fully explained. (In fact, in earlier games that displayed no damage numbers, it was probably even harder to discern what it does than in Wilds.)
This guide will explain the role that affinity plays in Monster Hunter Wilds, what negative affinity does, and how you can increase your affinity.
What is affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds, and what does affinity do?
Image: Capcom via Polygon
Affinity essentially means “critical chance” in Monster Hunter Wilds — the chance, in other words, you have for your attacks to land a hit that deals more raw damage than usual.
When you first start, your baseline affinity will be 0%, which means you will not deal critical hits. But if you forge a new weapon that has an affinity of 5%, that means you have a 5% chance for an attack to register as a critical hit.
Image: Capcom via Polygon
A critical hit will deal an additional 25% of raw damage, which might be difficult to parse in the middle of a hunt. But if you pay attention to the damage numbers, a critical hit will not only have a higher number but a tiny pink star icon will also display above it (as shown in the screenshot above).
What is negative affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds?
Image: Capcom via Polygon
It’s also possible to have weapons with a negative affinity value. Rather than lowering the chance of dealing critical hits (because 0% is already as low as it can go), negative affinity means there is a chance that you might deal 25% less raw damage than normal. This will be denoted by a tiny blue star icon displayed under the damage number (as shown in the screenshot above).
In other words, if we are to say that a weapon usually deals 100% damage, a critical hit will deal 125% damage while a hit affected by negative affinity will deal 75% damage.
In theory, if you’re looking to deal as much damage as efficiently as possible, you should be wary of any weapon with negative affinity. However, if you’re in a position to forge a weapon that has much higher attack power than the one you’ve currently equipped, then it’s still technically an upgrade, with the chance that it’s not always optimal.
You might also find that a weapon with negative affinity but high elemental stats could be beneficial if you’re hunting a monster that is weak to that element (like Doshaguma being weak to fire and thunder or Lala Barina being weak to fire). As affinity only affects your raw damage, this will not have an effect on the elemental component of the attack.
How to increase your affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds
Image: Capcom via Polygon
You can increase your affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds depending on the armor, charms, or decorations you have equipped. Some skills may raise the affinity overall while others might increase your affinity based on the situation. For instance, Critical Draw hugely increases your affinity when you perform a weapon draw attack.
In other words, don’t be dismayed if your favorite weapon has negative affinity, as with the right combination of gear, it’s possible to not only mitigate the negative impacts but change it into a weapon with positive affinity.
It is also possible to increase the damage bonus of a critical attack above 25%, although as of this writing, the only skill that does so is Critical Boost.
To get the most out of combat in Monster Hunter Wilds, learn how to mount, create wounds, capture monsters, cut tails and get fangs, and work around the “your item pouch is full” warning.
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Kurt Indovina
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