Monster Hunter World: The Ancient Tree and Pouch Management

There are a lot of guides out there that talk about how best to take down a monster, how to forge certain weapons, or what are the best skill loadouts for a hunt. This is none of these. Instead I am focusing on something that will streamline your preparation for a hunt.

Resource. Management.

There are a myriad of items within Monster Hunter World, all of which are used for some kind of purpose. Be that potions to boost your attack, bombs to deal damage to monsters, or even just flash pods to buy you a second of breathing room. The problem seen among many hunters, especially those who may be new, is preparation. Of course, the game doesn't explicity say you should bring any items, but it does mention that it is important.

I'll guide your hand to have more efficient pouch loadouts, and a beautifully full box, as well as cover the Ancient Tree and what it can do for you, without the drawback of spending millions of zeni.

This is for the people not only who want stacked item boxes, but streamlined pouches.

It can be frustrating to go on a hunt only to not have an item that you need. Oh look, a Rathalos, better equip that flash pod...too bad, you didn't bring them. It's not the worst thing in the world, since you can go back to camp, but it does extend the time it takes to finish a quest. A prepared hunter is a happy hunter, and your friends will be happy for it as well.

Yes you can spend a lot of zeni to get some of the items, but let's try a different way, where you will not only be getting the items you need, but also GAINING zeni.

This guide already takes into account that you've played at least a couple of hours, so I won't go over certain tiny details.

The Ancient Tree - Quests

The Ancient Tree is the number one spot for getting a ton of hard to find items throughout the game (personally I recommend Flash Bugs and Devil's Blight). Unfortunately it isn't as easy to set up as simply going to the Botanists and telling them what to grow. There is a chain of optional quests as well as deliveries that need to be complete so you can grow to your heart's content.

Let's take a look at the quests first, then I'll go over the deliveries. Note, that you do need to have your HR missions unlocked in order to unlock every resource.

Picture	Quest Name	Conditions	Rewards
	Royal Relocation	Hunt a Rathian.	This is one of the first quests to start the Ancient Tree quest chain.
	Persistent Pests	Slay 14 Hornetaur.	+1 Cultivation slot, continued Ancient Tree quest line.
	Talons of Ire and Ice	Hunt a Legiana and an Odogoron.	+1 Cultivation slot, last of the Ancient Tree quest line.

The Ancient Tree - Deliveries

Sure there aren't many quests, but there are a lot of deliveries to get the proper fertilizers for the Ancient Tree. Fertilizers boost how many items you can harvest, as well as speed up the time until they are ready to harvest. Note: Many don't unlock UNTIL you have at least one of the needed items.

Picture	Delivery	Conditions	Rewards
	To Hold A Harvest	300 Research Points, and two Aqua Sacs (reward from LR Jyuratodus, and occasionally from the Argosy).	Ten extra slots in your harvest box.
	Your Storage Solution	1000 Research Points, and one Torrent Sac (reward from HR Jyuratodus, and occasionally from the Argosy).	Ten more slots in your harvest box.
	Sprouting an Ancient Tree	500 Research Points and one Coral Bone (common bones found in the Coral Highlands).	Catalyst
	Grow, Greenery, Grow	600 Research Points and one Great Jagras Hide+ (HR Great Jagras reward and carve).	Mega Fertilizer
	A Mouintain of Mushrooms	700 Research Points and one Kulu-Ya-Ku Plume+ (HR Kulu-Ya-Ku reward and carve).	Choice Mushroom Substrate
	The Pied Bug Piper	800 Research Points, and one Tzitzi-Ya-Ku Protophore+ (HR Tzitzi-Ya-Ku reward and carve).	Thick Summoner Jelly
	Shattering the Grass Ceiling	900 Research Points and one Great Girros Hood+ (HR Great Girros reward and carve).	Ancient Catalyst
	A Gentle Earthen Bed	1000 Research Points, and three Dragonbone Relics (Rotten Vale and Elder Recess rare bone).	Soft Soil

The Ancient Tree - Fertilizers

Okay, now you have everything unlocked...But what does it do? Let's take a quick look. Also, a cycle is just a quest/investigation.
Note, that to use a fertilizer, you need to spend Research Points, so manage accordingly.

Fertilizer	Effect	Duration	Research Points Cost
Fertilizer	Plant Harvest Up S (increases the yield of plant harvest).	3 Cycles	100 RP
Mushroom Substrate	Fungi Harvest Up S (increases the yield of mushroom harvest).	3 Cycles	100 RP
Summoner Jelly	Bug/Honey Harvest Up S (increases the yield of bug and honey harvest).	3 Cycles	100 RP
Catalyst	Growth Up S (removes one cycle until harvest, no effect on one cycle harvest items).	4 Cycles	300 RP
Mega Fertilizer	Plant Harvest Up L (greatly increases the yield of plant harvest).	4 Cycles	250 RP
Choice Mushroom Substrate	Fungi Harvest L (greatly increases the yield of mushroom harvest).	4 Cycles	250 RP
Thick Summoner Jelly	Bug/Honey Harvest Up L (greatly increases the yield of bug and honey harvest).	4 Cycles	250 RP
Ancient Catalyst	Growth Up L (removes two cycles until harvest, no effect on one cycle harvest items).	4 Cycles	500 RP
Soft Soil	Extends all current fertilizer effect durations by 5 (great way to stack catalysts with harvest boosters).	5 Cycles	600 RP

Combine fertilizers that are needed to boost yield and shorten harvest times, and then just reset it every once in a while with Soft Soil (in this example I'm looking to harvest plants). This way you can maximize you yield while minimizing time required.

Pouch Loudouts - Charms

Now I know I am diverging from the Ancient Tree information just presented, but I do need to touch on four extremely critical items you should always have in every item loadout you will ever make.
New players, this will be invaluable if you don't know about them.

Charms.

There are technically four of these items, and they are the Powercharm, Armorcharm, Powertalon, and Armortalon. What these items do for you is they boost your attack and defense, respectively. All you have to do? Keep them in your pouch. That's it. Simple and clean. Unfortunately they do cost a pretty penny especially if you are just starting the game out, but if you are debating between a new weapon or the charms...buy the charms first. These will last way longer and always be relevant.



Once you've bought the two charms, you will need to hunt Bazelgeuse a few times, as you need their talons for the Power and Armor talons. Once you get this item, a new option appears in the crafting list, so you should combine the charms and bazel talons. The kicker? The charms and talons stack once with each other, so it's time to buy another set of charms.

This will set you back 120,000 zeni, but it's worth it.

Pouch Loadouts - What They Are

So something the Monster Hunter franchise has been known for, is letting the player figure out a lot of things on their own. For many this can be extremely fun, as it lets them explore and adventure into the New World. For others however, this can be annoying, as they have a busy schedule and don't want information witheld. One of things I find important but is never explicitly stated, is pouch loadouts.

You can set some key loadouts and save them in your item box for easy retrieval. This makes preparing for any given hunt a breeze, as you will be prepared far in advance. Here's just a sample loadout for taking down generic elders.



When you load in your saved items, whatever can be pulled will be pulled out from your box. This is great, as it makes the hunt to find items super streamlined. Make a few loadouts and test them for yourselves, soon you'll find what you need to bring along in a hunt, and what you just won't ever use and can remove.

The Grind - Conclusion

Now we're informed about the Ancient Tree, and how to harvest...what next?

Now we grind.

Set up the items you desire into the Ancient Tree and be sure to fertilize it accordingly. Then just hit up some investigations or missions, and slap down some Soft Soil whenever it needs to be replaced. This way you'll be able to MAKE instead of BUY the items you really want. The experimentation you did earlier with item loadouts will also help in telling you what you will need or not need. This is why I mostly only craft Devil's Blight now, with a few Flash Bugs every now and then (for Mega Barrel Bombs and Flash Pods). This does take some time, but in the long run you will save money, and also skip out on wasting on items you just will never use.

Remember to always bring Large or (preferably) Mega Barrel Bombs on all Elder quests, and have fun out there Hunters!

[JPM岩]

A simple guide, but it's well done. Good work!

[Insaniac99]

The most efficient use of the tree/fertalizer once you have everything unlocked is to spend a few missions to apply all four large fertalizers, then just apply Soft Soil every 5 missions to keep it up. I constantly farm traps, potions and a bunch of items, with having all buffs up at all times I don't have to plan out what I farm when and it saves poitns in the long run.

[Brocko]

Helpful guide, Thanks!

[Agent Smith]

First MHW guide, feel free to add any comments, questions, or tips.