Capture Fails

[Fleshbits]

I managed to capture some of the lower level monsters. However, 9 times out of 10 the ones I that are my current targets escape. I am not sure if I am doing something wrong. What determines whether they escape your trap?

I beat them down until the skull appears with thier icon on the minmap. Usually they go to thier den and go to sleep. I walk up to them while they are sleeping and drop a stun trap under their nostrils. I then poke them with my gunlance and they appear to be trapped (they dont move) I then drop tranq bombs and the mist surrounds thier face. By the time I drop the 3rd trnq bomb, they just walk right out of the area that the stun trap was going off in and resume attacking me. If I hit them a few more times they die.

I've tried teleporting back to camp 2 and 3 times to get another trap (you can only carry 1) and they do the same thing, what gives?

[Skiptro]

don't poke them, just put the stun trap right next to them, it'll proc emmediatly, then drop two tranq bombs immediately. You should be done. The only ones that are hard for me personally are the water based ones since you can't put a trap in water, you have to lure them into the trap.

[</>]

You're doing it right, just simply stun them with the trap once and drop 2 tranqs on their faces
That's what I do.
In case something goes wrong, bring materials and craft more traps while in the quest :D

[DOOM996]

Weird! Normally you need the trap plus 2 tranq bombs, nothing more. Watch if the skull appears or his lifeline in the bottom left is almost flat. I never fail a capture.

[Suzaku]

Traps last a shorter time after each use (the monster builds up a resistance). You can use tranq bombs first before the trap to help negate the issue of the trap not lasting long enough. Also note that monsters heal when they sleep, so be wary that they may heal up over the capture threshold before you make it to them.

[Darksidewalker]

You even can drop the traqs everywhere on then, you won't need to hit the face.

[lolschrauber]

Usually two bombs are enough to capture them, I'm not sure if it's easy to just miss with them or if you should hit a certain part of the monster or something.

We usually do the same, wait until they're sleeping, drop the trap, two bombs, done.

The signal we usually aim for isn't sleeping itself, but when they are limping. That usually seemed enough.

If they just appear to be not moving, they may not be trapped but just exhausted. Try dropping the trap at their feet instead, It's pretty noticable if they trapped or not.

[San-Kyu]

Using tranq bombs first and then trapping is a safer method of capturing. If the monster isn't captured when the trap hits then you have time to attack the monster so that hit HP levels hit the capture threshold. As soon as it does if the monster is still in the trap it will get captured automatically.

[San-Kyu]

Also, take a look at their icon on the lower left of your screen, next to the map. The monster icon has an ECG graph, a heart rate graph, underneath it. The closer that line is to a flatline the closer to death a monster it. In general when its practically just at flat line you can capture it.

Although if the monster is enraged it will show stronger ECG readings, but only for a while. If you keep watching the heart graph you'll see that once out of three beats it'll show the monster's real HP levels. Fatigue does the opposite, it makes the HP levels you see on that ECG appear lower than they are.

[Knightmare]

Capturing monsters when they limb has ‘bout 80% success rate (at least in previous installments but maybe someone can correct me if things are different on MHW).

Second thing you should know is that traps have diminishing returns, meaning that the monster will be able to break out faster every time you use the same type of trap, so if you’ve been abusing it, by the time you throw your second tranq bomb, the monster prolly already broke out.

[Rogue]

A skull appearing on the monster icon on the minimap is a sure sign for a guaranteed capture.

Other sign is the limping motion of non-flying monster trying to flee from you.

Finally, the ECG heart meter at the bottom left.

If all else fail, remember to carry enough mat to fast craft another trap. 1 trap + 2 tranq bombs(out of 8) -> fail -> craft new trap + another 2 tranq bombs(out of 6) and try again. Assign craft to a radial menu.

[Suzaku]

Another less known tip is when you start seeing the monster dropping slinger ammo. A video I watched estimated that the monster will drop ammo at 30%, 20%, and 10% hp, so when you see it suddenly drop 2 ammo drops late in a fight (showing it is under 20% hp), it's time to bust out the trap and tranqs.