Recommended Keyboard & Mouse Settings (GONE WILD)

Getting to grips with Wilds' controls, and some suggestions for adjusting them for KB+M users.

For Anyone Still Here

Hi, if you've somehow found your way to this version of the guide, you should probably be reading my new version for release Wilds instead!

Intro

First, this guide is laid out for QWERTY keyboard users, depending on where you live you might be using a different keyboard layout like QWERTZ, AZERTY or etc and will have to adjust these settings accordingly.


My keybind recommendations are very subjective, you should take, leave or adjust each of my suggestions as it best fits how the game feels to you.

I'm also not really a ranged weapon user, all these keybinds will be for the Melee Weapon Basics. Many of the keys will still carry over but you will have to use your own preferences much more.


And finally, at the time of writing this, this guide is something I whipped up real quick before enjoying the rest of what the Wilds demo has to offer, I am under no illusion that it's perfect. If you have any additional information you think should be on here for people, alternate keybind recommendations, or just requests for how this guide could've been more helpful to you, please comment it and it should serve as good feedback for an updated version upon Wilds' release.

Navigating The Options

As you'd expect, you can open your menu with ESC and get a few tabs, Options and etc are on Settings at the end.

If you press R to open the submenu, you could alter things like which tabs are displayed, set up a favourites tab to design your own menu, or show/hide the status display screen on the right, it's worth tweaking!

Everything in this guide will be in either the Options or Keyboard Configuration (keybinds) sections.


Bear in mind that each tab in the options menu has multiple pages, you can use 1 or 3 to switch page.

Also, in Keyboard Configuration, we now have the handy option to set up specific Profiles, in case you want to use different keybinds for specific weapons.

If you're unsure about an alternate bind I suggest, you could set up a profile for your main weapon to test it out (use R on either the melee/ranged weapon basics, then select Duplicate, that way any binds you've already set up will carry over to the test profile), then you can delete it once you're done testing.

The Keybinds

All of this is being written with Melee Weapon controls in mind because I'm not familiar enough with ranged weapons. Most of this shouldn't change with ranged weapons, but a few things like keeping Reload as R just makes more sense, so adjust accordingly.


Note: Because of the beta, Photo Mode and Mission Info Menu (Mapped to right Ctrl and J respectively) are inaccessible and can't be rebound, but they still have binds that can cause keyboard conflicts.

Delete still works to remove the bind completely to free up those keys, so if you need them (eg. left-handed players using IJKL instead of WASD) that's how you free them up!

Hunter Controls

Dash (Press Once)/Sheathe Weapon is how Wilds handles Toggle Sprint as an option. Personally, I have left this as default, I don't like toggle sprint in Monster Hunter, but some people might feel differently.



Switch NPC Target (Lobby/Camp): Right I have unbound. (Select it, then press Delete to unbind a key) This option is used for if you have multiple interaction targets close together in town, you can switch between them- I haven't found a situation where this button is really necessary, and leaving this as R causes too many button conflicts.

Open Start Menu unbound from H as a secondary input. I don't feel like this secondary input is necessary, and it frees up the key.

Weapon Controls

Guard/Special Weapon Action changed to Ctrl. My muscle memory from previous PC Monster Hunter games like World is why I'm using Ctrl, so if someone new to Wilds thinks using Ctrl for this feels unnatural, you could use a different button, such as perhaps Q or TAB, which are very easy to free up in this control scheme, or stick with R if that's what feels best to you.

Simultaneous Action (the first one) changed to middle mouse button. You can consider this optional, as this just allows you to press the two mouse buttons simultaneously with a single button. Personally, I'm a Hunting Horn player, the new attacks mean that being able to consistently do several of these inputs quickly with no accidents is important, so this bind is great for that.



Focus Mode/Aim Slinger With Weapon Sheathed (Press Once) I have bound to Q instead of Alt. If you have no intention to remap the Seikret controls, you can avoid doing this if you'd prefer, I find that Q feels like a good button for this (or maybe I just got too used to using it for Silkbinds in Rise?) Binding this off Alt can also help if you're very alt-tab happy, like I am.

Equip/Unequip Mantle changed to V, I don't think it needs to be this close, and this way (provided you rebind Display Keyboard Shortcut to free up V) the C key is now free! (Note: This does NOT refer to the Ghillie Mantle, which in Wilds is essential equipment- In the real game, you unlock a 2nd mantle slot which this button controls, it's useless in the beta)

Slinger Controls

Fire Slinger Ammo (While aiming in Slinger/In Focus Mode) changed to C, this feels intuitive to me. You might want to swap this around with the Hook Slinger bind depending on your own preference, or use a different button if C feels weird, I think this is the least likely of my keybinds for other people to prefer.

Select Scoutfly Notification (While Aiming Slinger): Move Down rebound from Q to Alt. What this button does is let you press it to automatically target a scoutfly notification with your slinger, then you can just press the hook button and your hunter will grab the item without you needing to move the camera. This is pretty handy and IMO Alt is a button that makes sense for it.

Mounted Monster Controls

Note: This section refers to the mounting status effect on hostile monsters, not the Seikret.


Weapon Attack changed to Ctrl, or whatever other button you decided to put Guard/Special Weapon action on. If you left it default, you won't need to touch this. This is only to avoid keybind conflicts.

Seikret Controls (While Mounted)

Call Seikret (Auto/Manual): In Auto mode, your Seikret is always trying to move to the quest target, in Manual mode you control it always. Personally, I vastly prefer Manual for most situations and only intend to enable Auto sometimes, so I've switched Auto to Y to be out of the way and Manual to TAB to free up Q. Depending on your own tastes, this could differ a lot, though, the use I've put for Q isn't massively important so you could just leave these binds default.

Check Seikret Pouch changed to H, I don't think this is a very important function and freeing up N is nice.

Item Bar Controls

Display Items(Hold)/Reset Camera changed to R. In layman's terms, this button holds open the item bar, and also allows you to access your radial menus. This is the main reason I prefer to change the special attack button from R, this button is right next to E as use item and feels intuitive to me in managing the item bar.

Custom Radial Menu Controls

Display Keyboard Shortcut changed to B. This feels like "backpack" so it's sorta intuitive to me? I want to free up V for other binds and this isn't a very important button, as you can always just press the actual keyboard shortcut buttons to do the same thing. You could also unbind this entirely, if you'd prefer.

Camera Controls

Enable Focus/Target Camera changed to N. Targeting the camera on a monster in Monster Hunter is not really my style anyway, so I just put this one out of the way. You could also use T for "target" if you'd prefer, but you would have to figure out how to remap push to talk, that is T by default- If you aren't intending to use voicechat anyway, you could just dump push to talk somewhere.

Chat Controls

I don't think there's anything in here I'm interested in changing personally, but if you never intend to use Push To Talk as mentioned above, it's here to rebind.

Direct Menu

Fire SOS Flare unbound, I'd rather not do this on accident.

The Options

I won't mention every option, but I will highlight some important stuff inside this giant options menu you might not initially be aware of, or might want to know where to find.


There's a filter you can activate with X- Setting this to "Shared + Keyboard + Mouse" will hide any options that only work for controllers, if you never intend to use a controller for Wilds (or vice versa for not intending to use a keyboard) this is handy!

Note: All these options are based on the in-game ones. I believe some of these don't display in the main menu options.

Game Settings

Damage Numbers: You could set these to Display With Decimals (Wilds tracks damage decimal points instead of round numbers now!) if you want precision, or Does Not Display if you don't like damage numbers.


HUD: Press this to enter a full menu where you can review HUD elements and if you'd like to hide, shrink or enlarge them. Personally, I've shrunk down a lot of this stuff because I'm playing close to a screen, and hidden Name Display for characters to avoid online clutter. If this menu's giving you a headache, skip to Accessibility - Automatic Settings, that has 2 quick HUD size options.


On the second page, you can set the Health/Stamina/Sharpness Gauge displays to if you want them seen at all times, or only in combat.

Subtitle Text Size is IMO a bit too big by default for people who don't need to rely on the subtitles to understand the game- If you do need the subtitles, you should probably leave it default or larger.

Ally Hit Effects/Critical Effects can be disabled, if multiplayer hunting is too visually cluttered for your tastes.



On the third page, you can check out the Weapon/Head Armor Visibility settings to adjust your cosmetic appearance a bit, if you'd rather not have the giant weapons or a helmet.

Obscured Hunter Visibility is partially on by default, to make sure you don't lose yourself if a monster's in front of the camera. You can adjust the outline's colour if you don't want it pure white, or turn it off. (though I recommend leaving it on)

Hide Other Players' Seikret is off by default, and I recommend leaving it off to avoid confusion/visual clutter.

Seikret Auto-Explore is on by default and personally, I'd turn it off, I don't really like the automatic navigation.

Support Hunter Settings lets you adjust how NPC Hunters behave. (these guys show up in scenarios like using an SOS flare while you're offline) If you'd prefer, you can stop them doing potentially disruptive behaviours like mounting the monster.

Controls

NOTE: In the demo version, there appears to be a big oversight with this menu. The Seikret Manual Controls options are mistakenly marked as Controller exclusive, so they won't appear if you have filtered the options to Shared + Keyboard. (The setting lets you change the controls from a "driving" style of raising/lowering your speed and steering, to simply holding a direction like normal movement)


I personally recommend Type 2 manual controls. It makes it much easier to use the Seikret for combat. The only thing you're really losing on KB+M is the ability for your Seikret to move slowly, only a controller's analog joystick input can do that under Type 2.

As of the second beta, the category thing is still a problem. I hope Capcom have marked this as a Shared setting, not a controller setting, for the game's release build. I also hope that the "Slow Down" button under Type 2 will no longer stop you completely, that'd be a good button for atmospheric slow riding in Type 2.



Auto Sheathe: I HIGHLY recommend disabling this, auto sheathing can get you killed.

Directional Controls: I personally left this on Type 2 as that's what makes sense to my brain (eg. if you are looking to your hunter's left while attacking, evade while holding W, your hunter evades forward instead of left) but this is personal preference, you could test both settings.

Expanded Item Bar: This is a neat function that lets you display the Item Bar's full contents at once with an extra button press. You can adjust how it works or disable it.

Slinger Auto Load: With this option, having a slinger ammotype selected in the item bar will have your hunter automatically load it after a moment. Manually loading is faster anyway, and I can confirm the animation is not fully evade-cancellable, so I personally have turned this off.

Start Menu Cursor Position: This setting ALSO saves the tab you were on in the Start Menu as well! I personally like having this enabled.

Key Bindings: No, not that kind of key bindings, this is for people who want to use the keyboard as a secondary control input like for chat or keyboard shortcuts, while using a controller to primarily control the game.

Shortcut Display: The keyboard shortcut button can be used either to display one set of keyboard shortcuts, or to display most of them at once and let you use the scroll wheel to dash through them. This can be really powerful for letting you select items quickly if you master it, you could set it to Fixed Four-Row Mode if you want to master that forbidden art. If you'd rather not have the giant popup menu, leave it.

Reverse left and right mouse buttons: Left handed players should give this some consideration!

Camera

Camera Distance: Zoom on the first page might be worth tweaking, I have personally found especially in villages the default setting of 4 feels way too close-up.


Focus Camera on the second page of this tab might be worth disabling, to stop yourself from engaging in a potentially unwanted lockon.

Auto Centering can also be found on the second tab, and while it's thankfully disabled by default on foot, it's not for the Seikret, so you might want to tweak that.

Display

This guide isn't about graphics/visual tips, but you should still know the default Brightness settings might be too bright for most people. Here is a video with comparisons!

Graphics

What graphics settings you're using depends on your setup of course, I'd just like to highlight that Motion Blur is on the second page, four options from the bottom, so strike that OFF button with the righteous fury of a thousand suns

Audio

You can change the Palico Language here back to meows in case you're regretting your choice.

You can also set sound to not play while the game window is inactive, in case you're literally me and alt-tabbing all the time.

Accessibility

Colour Blindness Assistance changes the colour of certain HUD elements, including weapon specific ones like Charge Blade phials. If you have any form of colourblindness, give it a look.

Visual Accessibility, Auditory Accessibility, and Motion Sickness Reduction I believe are just "quick menus" that assemble previously seen options like Motion Blur or HUD size.

Automatic Settings is great if you don't want to customise your HUD manually. It provides two default sizes for desk/TV players.

[lexilogo]

@Zeo: Wait, this is the beta's guide! I've got an updated version of this guide for the full game, please check that one out. It's very funny that you still have access to this page, I lost it after the betas ended lmao

[lexilogo]

@Zeo: Whoops, I had meant to make an edit to that bind's description yesterday but I must have messed up somewhere. I found what was happening with the Mantle bind- That bind doesn't control the Ghillie Mantle, it controls your other mantle slot that you unlock during the course of the Low Rank campaign. We didn't have that mantle in the betas so I had no idea why the button didn't seem to be working, but the mystery is now solved. I'm leaving the button as V because so far it's worked pretty wellf or me!

[Zeo]

I find it interesting that the Mantle bind still does not work.

[Fever Exit]

hell yeah shouts out

[Birphon]

Thanks for this! Did a skim through of it and I will attempt to use it next time I boot up the game... man I really wish there was an easier way to "Migrate Settings" or something from another game.

I have found that there is a lot of "bloat" with the keybinds now and that the non contextual keybinds resulting in conflicting keybinds everywhere is rather annoying. Like the least Capcom could do is to make it so that the binds are in the same order (and named the same) as every other game so it becomes easier to transfer over the settings

[enoze]

This is going to help a lot, thanks for going into detail.

[[VEGAN] Yabon]

Thanks for your effort!

[lexilogo]

@Incleficker: Thank you for finding a blindspot in my guide, I looked into it!

In the beta, a few features are locked like Photo Mode, in J's case, the Mission Info Menu. That also stops you from entering the rebind reselection process. I did find a workaround: Mouse over the assigned key and press Delete on your keyboard to remove the bind entirely.

This also effects right Ctrl, so I'll add an extra bit to the guide talking about this. Thanks again!

[ZedR]

Awesome guide! Just what I was looking for. Thanks!

[Incleficker]

Good guide.

I hope all keys are remappable by full release, right now the J is locked and i can't really work around that, being left-handed, unless you know a workaround?