Monster Hunter Wilds Multiplayer Definitive Guide

Spend less time confused and more time engaged in jolly co-operation!

This guide starts with step-by-step instructions on how to party up with your friends, then covers all the multiplayer systems in detail. Use the sidebar on the right to jump to any section you want to learn about.

How to play with friends

The first time you party up will involve some extra steps. It'll be a lot easier in future sessions once you've already progressed far enough in the story and you added your buddies as Hunter Friends.

1. Unlock Multiplayer

In order to play any multiplayer, you first have to create your Hunter and Palico, watch some cutscenes, and play through the story until you find yourself in a base camp with lots of NPCs. All of this will take about an hour. At some point the game will ask you to visit your tent in camp for the first time. When you exit your tent you'll notice you're in a lobby with other players. This is the point where multiplayer is unlocked.

Now let's get everyone to join a private lobby, add each other as Hunter Friends, and then start a quest.

2. Enable crossplay for everyone

You need to make sure that you and your friends have the same crossplay setting. This is important even if you're all playing on Steam. The game will not let you group up if you have different crossplay settings from each other, period. Crossplay is enabled by default, but let's make sure everyone has this set up properly. Go to the Title Screen Main Menu → Options → Game Settings (first tab) → Crossplay. I recommend just leaving it on the default "Enable" at all times.

3. Create a private lobby

You, the person reading this guide, will make a private lobby for the others to join. Start a private lobby by going to the Title Screen Main Menu → Start Game → Choose your hunter → Private Lobby. (Alternatively, while in-game and at base camp, you can talk to Alma → go to 3rd tab for the Change Lobby menu → Private Lobby.)

4. Share your lobby ID code

After loading in to the game, you need to give your friends the lobby ID code. You can find this in the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Member List. When you've brought up the Member List window, the Lobby ID code will be on the right side of the screen. Share this code with your friends.

5. Find private lobby using ID code

Your friends will use the Lobby ID code and join your lobby by going to the Title Screen Main Menu → Start Game → Choose your hunter → Lobby Search → Lobby ID Search. (Alternatively, while in-game and at base camp, your friends can talk to Alma → go to 3rd tab for the Change Lobby menu → Lobby Search → Lobby ID Search.)



If your friends entered the code correctly then they will start loading in to the lobby.

Congrats, by this point you should all be in the same private lobby together! That was the hardest part. You can check this worked by looking at the lobby member list: Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Member List, then choosing the 2nd tab to view Lobby Members.

6. Add each other as Hunter Friends

Inside of the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Member List, you can select each of your friends and add them as a Hunter Friend. This is a friend list specific to Monster Hunter Wilds and it's a collection of all your friends across all platforms. By adding Hunter Friends it will be much easier to play together in the future. Add a Hunter Friend by hovering over their name in the Member List, selecting it, then choosing Send Friend Request.

Your friend can accept the request by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Invitation List → select the Hunter Friend Request → Accept.

Your Hunter Friends list is in the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Member List, in the 5th tab.



Becoming Hunter Friends is great because you'll no longer have to share lobby codes in the future. All you need to do is have one person start a lobby. You can join your Hunter Friend's lobby by going to the Title Screen Main Menu → Start Game → Choose your hunter → Lobby Search → Hunter Friend Search, then on the next screen select the friend you want to join. (Alternatively, while in-game and at base camp, you can talk to Alma → go to 3rd tab for the Change Lobby menu → Lobby Search → Hunter Friend Search.)

7. Post a quest

Post a quest by going to the Quest Counter (talking to Alma). You can choose to create a story quest, or optional quest, or event quest. After selecting the quest, choose the first option on the next screen that says "Post and Depart (Quick Start)". This will immediately load you into the quest.

8. Friends join the quest

Your friends can join the quest in-progress by going to the Quest Counter (talking to Alma), then selecting Lobby Member Quests. The quest that you just created will show up in their list. They can join by selecting the quest, then choosing the first option on the next screen that says "Post and Depart (Quick Start)".




Enjoy playing with your hunting buddies! The rest of this guide covers more details about the multiplayer systems and features.

How the hunt changes in multiplayer

The game works mostly the same in single player or multiplayer, though there are a few details you should know.

Fun factor

Most importantly, the game is even more fun in multiplayer! You get to show off your skills, heal and buff each other, and execute deadly plans like blowing up a sleeping monster with 8 barrel bombs.

In my experience the Monster Hunter playerbase is very welcoming and helpful even in a public lobby full of strangers. Lots of experienced hunters love nothing more than helping newbies. So don't be afraid to hop in a group hunt and enjoy the ride.

Monster Stats

Many monster stats will scale up in multiplayer for balance reasons. The monster will have a larger HP pool in multiplayer, and it will be more resistant to status ailments like poison, paralysis, or KO. Monster body parts will also have more HP so it'll take more damage to break or sever parts. Notably, the monster's attack damage does not scale up in multiplayer.

Palicoes

If you're only hunting in a duo, you both will get to keep your Palico buddy during the hunt. That means your Palico can help out by healing you, buffing you, drawing monster aggro, and anything else your furry friend does.

In a group of 3 or 4 hunters, everyone's Palico will sit out for the quest. If someone happens to disconnect and it brings the number of hunters back to 2 or less, then your Palico will return to the fight.

Faint Limit

All hunters share the same total number of faints. On a 3 faint limit quest, one person fainting 3 times will end the quest, but so will 3 different people each fainting once.

"Friendly Fire", aka Flinches

You might find yourself getting flinched, staggered, or knocked into the air from your teammates’ weapon attacks. It can feel frustrating to get stunlocked from your teammates especially if it interrupts your combos. There are really just two solutions. Either move away from your friend and attack a different monster part, or equip the skill Flinch Free from an armor piece or decoration. Flinch Free prevents almost all interruptions from friendly weapon attacks. Personally, I feel that using one skill point slot for Flinch Free is much better for your DPS in multiplayer than a pure damage skill like Attack Boost or Critical Eye, so I'm happy to use it.

The Member List: Lobby Members, Hunter Friends, etc.

The Member List is where you can view various lists of players: members of your current lobby, your Hunter Friends, players you've followed, etc. You can also perform certain actions with the members in the list, like adding as a Hunter Friend, inviting to a Link Party, or starting a private text chat channel.

The Member List screen also shows additional helpful information about the current lobby on the right side of the screen. The most important piece of info is the Lobby ID code which you can share with others to allow them to find and join the lobby.

To see the Member List, go to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Member List.



Here's a summary of the different lists you can see by switching tabs in the Member List.

Past Interactions - 1st tab

Displays players that you've recently quested with.

Lobby Members - 2nd tab

Displays all of the current members in the lobby.

Link Member List - 3rd tab

Shows all of the players in your current Link Party.

Quest Members - 4th tab

Shows the members of your current quest. The player that posted the quest will have a full-size square ticket icon next to their name. All other players will have a tall skinny rectangular ticket instead.

Hunter Friends - 5th tab

All players you've added as friends will show up here. This friend list is specific to Monster Hunter Wilds, and you need to add people as Hunter Friends automatically in-game. In other words, your Steam friends list will not automatically appear here, for example.

Following - 6th tab

Shows a list of all players you've followed.

Followers - 7th tab

Shows a list of all players that have followed you.

Squad Members - 8th tab

Shows all the players belonging to your Squad.

Block List - 9th tab

Shows a list of all players you've blocked.

Platform Friends - 10th tab

Shows your platform friends list - your Steam friends on Steam, or your console friends list if playing on console. The only action you can take in this list is seeing someone's Steam profile (or Playstation / Xbox profile).

Hunter ID Search - 11th tab

This tab allows you to enter the ID of a player to bring up their profile, so that you can perform additional actions such as adding them as a Hunter Friend.

All About Lobbies

A lobby consists of the server you’re playing on, and other players on your same server. You can play on a public or private lobby. A public lobby is open to anyone, and your friends can join you in a public lobby as long as it isn't full. On the other hand, a private lobby is restricted; it can only be joined by friends of the lobby members or by people who know the lobby ID code. Public lobbies have a max capacity of 100 players, and for private lobbies it's 16 players.

While in an online lobby you'll see other players in the Base Camp. The game will only display a maximum of 16 player characters in Base Camp at once, so even if you're in a public lobby with 100 people, you won't be able to see everyone.

The game has a text chat channel for Lobby Members, and that channel does show all the messages for all players in the lobby.

You can join quests of other lobby members by going to the Quest Counter → Lobby Member Quests.

Joining and Creating Lobbies

You can decide what kind of lobby you'd like to play in by going to the Title Screen Main Menu → Start Game → Choose your hunter → Select Lobby. (Alternatively, while in-game and at base camp, talk to Alma → go to 3rd tab for the Change Lobby menu.) Below are the lobby options.

Recommended Lobby

The game will automatically find a lobby for you and place you in it. The selection is likely based on a number of factors like geographic location, your in-game language, your Hunter Rank, etc.

Lobby Search

Selecting Lobby Search will open up a few sub-options.

• Conditional Search - Look for lobbies that meet a set of criteria, like language or skill level (Beginner/Veteran/Any).
  
• Hunter Friend Search - Brings up your Hunter Friends list. Any friends that are online in an open lobby will have their name in bright white text. The Status column will also tell you whether they are in a quest, and their current in-game location. All other friends that aren't joinable will be in grayed-out text.
  
• Lobby ID Search - Brings up a text box for you to enter a Lobby ID code.

Private Lobby

This selection creates a fresh, new Private Lobby with you as the host. The only players that will be able to join your lobby are your Hunter Friends, and anyone that you give the Lobby ID code to.

Online Single Player

This selection does not create a lobby, so you can play totally in single-player with nobody else appearing in your Base Camps or showing up in your Chat Log. It is "pseudo-online" because you'll still be able to participate in online hunts with SOS flares.

Calling for Backup with SOS Flares

An SOS flare is a signal that you can send out to request aid from other hunters. The other players will only be around for the length of the quest. Once it's over everyone will go their separate ways. There are no lobby restrictions on SOS flares, so hunters from other lobbies can join to help you out.

There are a lot of players out there that spend tons of time just responding to SOS flares for the simple joy of helping others, so don't hesitate to seek help if you need it!

Firing an SOS Flare

To fire an SOS flare during a quest, go to the Start Menu → Missions & Quests (2nd tab) → SOS Flare. Responding to SOS flares involves other players manually choosing your quest from a list, so it may take a minute or two for you to see others join. If other players aren't finding your quest, the game will eventually substitute in NPC Support Hunters.

Canceling an SOS Flare

You can cancel an SOS flare you've already fired by going to the Start Menu → Missions & Quests (2nd tab) → SOS Flare → Cancel.

Joining an SOS Flare Quest

You can join someone else's SOS flare by going to the Quest Counter → SOS Flare Quests. After choosing this option the game will present you with a list of criteria that you can choose to search for. For example, you can look for a particular monster as the target, the locale in which the quest takes place, and you can choose to search for quests on all platforms (PC/PS5/Xbox) or just your own platform.



After choosing the criteria and selecting SOS Flare Search you'll see a list of available quests that match your criteria.

Team Up with Link Parties

A link party is a grouping of 4 players max, allowing them to more easily keep track everyone's activity and join group quests. When someone in a link party posts a quest, the other members will see a notification, and can join the quest directly through the notification popup or from the Quest Counter → Link Member Quests. Link party members also get access to their own in-game chat log and voice chat.

Note, players can be in a link party together even while in different lobbies. In this way you can think of link parties as totally separate features from lobbies. Joining someone’s link party will not automatically put you in their lobby; it only gives you access to the quests they post. If you want to hang out in Base Camp together, for example, you still need to join the same lobby. Also, you're not forced into questing with your Link Party. You're completely free to do solo quests or join other players' quests outside of your current Link Party, then get back into Link Party quests whenever you want.

Creating a Link Party

Go to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Invite to Link Party. This will bring up a list of other players you can invite, including other players in your current lobby, or in your current quest, or players you recently played with.

Joining a Link Party

If you received an invite to a Link Party, you can accept the invitation by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Invitation List → select the Link Party Invite → Accept.



You can then confirm you're in the Link Party by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Link Party → View Link Members.

Leaving your current Link Party

Leave your current Link Party by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Link Party → Leave Link Party.

Joining Link Party Quests

If the Link Party members are all outside of a quest, then when one member posts a quest, everyone else will get a notification on the right side of the screen.

You can join a quest made by someone in your Link Party by going to the Quest Counter → Link Member Quests.

Link Party Chat and Voice Chat

Link Party members have access to their own in-game chat log and voice chat channel.

You can choose to set your message/sticker/shoutout recipients to Link Party Members only, by going to the Chat Log, pressing the button indicated next to Recipient, and setting it to Link Members.



You can bring up the Voice Chat screen by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Voice Chat. In this screen you can see who's in the voice chat, and you can mute/unmute people.

Exploring with Environment Links

An environment link is an extra, optional experience for players that are already in a link party. An environment link allows the group to freely explore the open world together without posting a quest.

What's so special about that? Well, every Monster Hunter Wilds player has their own instance of the game world (their own environment) which means your in-game day/night cycle and weather pattern and wild monsters will be different from your friends. You can't normally walk out of base camp into the open world with others, because all of your environments will be desynced from each other. This is where the environment link comes in. All members of an environment link temporarily join the host's instance of the world. The group can freely roam the world with no time limit and with no requirement to be in a pre-made quest. Environment links are great for doing gathering runs, or field surveys (fights with random monsters you find in the world), or generally hanging out.

However, it also comes with restrictions. You can only form an environment link with the players in your current link party. In other words, to make an environment link you always have to make a group with a link party, then form an environment link with that group. Also, only the host of the environment link can post quests.

Creating an Environment Link

As mentioned before, you can only create an environment link after you've already formed a Link Party. Follow the instructions in the previous section Team Up with Link Parties and check that everyone made it in the party. Then, create an Environment Link by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Link Party → Invite to Environment Link. This will send an invite to all your Link Party members, and they'll need to accept to get the Environment Link started.

Joining an Environment Link

To join an Environment Link you need to accept an invitation from someone in your Link Party. Accept the invitation by going to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Invitation List → Select the Environment Link invitation → Accept.

Exploring the Open World

Now that everyone has joined the Environment Link, you can all simply head out of Base Camp and freely roam the world together.

Form Communities with Squads

Wilds has introduced a new multiplayer feature for the series with Squads. A squad is a great way to organize a larger community of players. A squad can hold up to 50 members. Everyone in your squad will show up in the Member List, therefore, you'll be able to do all the normal Member List actions with them like adding as Hunter Friends, inviting to a Link Party, viewing their Hunter Profile, opening a private chat channel, etc. Squads also have a persistent chat function. You can leave a message in the squad chat, and other people that weren't online at the time will be able to see it later.

To start using Squads, find Felicita in the Windward Plains base camp. She's at the back sitting next to the large tent.



After talking to Felicita the first time, you can manage your Squads by talking to her again, or you can also do it anytime from the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Manage Squads.

The Manage Squad Menu

In this screen you'll see a list of all the squads that you currently belong to. You can be a member of up to 8 squads, but you can only be an active participant in 1 at a time. Being an active participant basically just means you'll have access to the Squad chat log, and you'll see the other Squad members in the Member List.

The first time you go to this menu, you won't be a member of any squad. Press the big button to Join a New Squad. You'll have the option to search for an existing squad or create a new one.

Joining a Squad

There are a few different ways you can join an existing squad. You can search for one with search criteria like the "squad vibe" and rank preference you want, or you can search for one by its Squad ID number, or you can accept an invite to the squad.

If you received an invite to join a squad, accept the invite by going to the Start Menu → Communication → Invitation List → Choose the Squad invite → Accept.

If you want to search for open squads, go to the Squad menu and select Join a New Squad. You can choose to search for a squad with a conditional search or with the Squad ID.



Choosing Conditional Search will open this menu, where you can choose to search for an open or invite-only squad; choose the vibe of the squad you prefer; whether it's geared for beginners or vets or anyone; whether you want hunters of all languages or just your language; and open to all platforms or just your platform.



Choosing Squad ID search will just give you a text box, where you have to enter the exact ID of the squad you want to join.

Participating in Multiple Squads

You can belong to 8 squads at once, but you can only be an active participant in one at a time. You can change your current squad at any time by going to the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Manage Squads, then choosing the squad from the list of ones you've already joined.

Creating a Squad

You can create your own new squad in the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Manage Squads → Join a New Squad → Create New.



You'll have a chance to create the Squad Settings, the squad emblem, and its name. As the squad leader, the setting that's most impactful here is Join Approval, required or not required. If Join Approval is not required then you're basically making a public squad. Anyone will be able to join it, like through a conditional search. If you set Join Approval to Required, you or a squad sub-leader will have to allow all newbies into the squad. After this, set the Squad Vibe, Rank Preference, and the other settings as you like.



You can choose an icon for your squad. This icon will show up wherever your name appears in the Member List. There are 8 pages of icons but only 1 page of colors available to pick from.



Finally, pick a name for your squad and then choose Confirm to create the squad.

The Squad Menu

After picking your squad from inside the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Manage Squads. every member can access the Squad member list, participate in the Chat Log, and invite someone to the squad.



The Squad Chat is the only chat channel in Wilds where messages stay saved across play sessions. Someone can post a message and then log off, and someone else can then log in to the game and still see their message.

Squad Leader Privileges

The squad leader is able to change the squad settings, update the name and emblem, check and approve Join Requests, edit the Leader Message (a public message everyone can see from the Squad Menu), or choose to disband the squad. Disbanding will delete the squad from existence, for you and for everyone else that was a member.

In-game communication

You can type messages, talk in voice chat, send stickers, give shoutouts, and make your hunter gesture or pose. Let's go through all those options.

The Chat Log

The first thing to know about is the chat log. Whenever someone sends a message or a sticker, it'll show up on the right side of the screen as a little notification. You can open up the chat log by opening the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Chat Log. (Alternatively, hold down the menu button on your controller, the 3 horizontal lines button.) You'll see all the most recent messages and you can scroll up to see older ones.



You can do these things while the chat log is open:

• Press X / Square to begin typing a new message.
  
• Press RT / R2 to open the Communication menu, which has all of the shoutouts, stickers, gestures, and poses.
  
• Click the right stick / R3 to filter whose messages you see (like players in the whole lobby, or just your quest, or just your link party).
  
• Press LT / L2 to select message recipients, that is, who your messages get sent to.

At any time when the chat log is closed, you can just press Enter on your keyboard to start typing a new message right away.

Voice Chat

Wilds has an in-game voice chat channel. Voice chat is available only for people in the same quest, or for people grouped up in a Link Party.

To see who else is in your voice chat channel, go to the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Voice Chat. In this same menu you can also choose to mute or unmute individual people.



There are more voice chat settings in the game options. Go to the Start Menu → System (6th tab) → Options → Audio (5th tab). From here you have these settings to choose.

• Voice Chat - Choose "Enable" to allow you to listen to others in voice chat, and keep your own mic active at all times. Choose "Disable" to turn off all voice chat functions (you won't be able to hear or speak to others). Choose "Push to Talk" to allow you to listen to others, and only activate your mic when you press a certain keyboard key (T by default).
  
• Voice Chat Volume - Set the volume of everyone else in your voice chat channel.
  
• Voice Chat Auto-swap - Automatically changes your voice chat channel depending on the conditions. It's possible for you to be in a quest with one group of people, and in a Link Party with a different group. So you can choose to prioritize quest members or prioritize link party to set your default preference.

The Communication Menu

The Communication Menu is a storehouse for all of your shoutouts, stickers, gestures, and poses. Go to the Communication menu in the Start Menu → Communication (4th tab) → Communication. Switch tabs to go through the different communication categories.





Recently Used - 1st tab
Any shoutout, sticker, gesture, or pose that you recently used will show up in this tab. Go here to quickly access your favorites.

Manual Shoutouts - 2nd tab
A shoutout is a short premade message that you can select to send in the chat log, without having to type anything on the keyboard. Sounds boring for PC players, but it's very useful on console with no keyboard available.

This tab of the Communication menu is for manual shoutouts. You'll see that all these messages have a globe icon next to them. The globe icon means that the message will get auto-translated for whoever receives it. This feature is awesome for hunting parties that span multiple countries and across the world.

There are a few pages of these manual shoutouts so scroll left and right to see all of them. On any of the shoutouts you can press Y / Triangle to bring up an option menu: you can edit the shoutout and make it your own (which will disable the auto-translate feature for that shoutout), sort the list, turn translation on/off, reset the shoutouts and settings to their defaults, and change the UI window size.



Custom Shoutouts - 3rd tab
The Custom Shoutouts are just like the Manual Shoutouts from the previous tab, except these shoutouts do not have any auto-translate features. This is where you should start if you want to make your own custom shoutouts (by pressing Y / Triangle and choosing Edit Shoutout).



Auto Shoutouts - 4th tab
The Auto Shoutouts are messages that you will automatically send in response to some in-game event, like a monster getting mounted or a teammate fainting. These messages are auto-translated by default. If you edit them to make your own, they'll no longer be translated. Make sure to scroll left and right to see all the shoutouts.



Stickers - 5th tab
Stickers are fun/cute/expressive pictures that you send to others through the chat log. Just like the shoutouts, simply select a sticker to send it in the chat. You can also hover over a sticker and press Y / Triangle to open the options menu. Choose Edit Shoutout to change the text on the sticker. If you edit the text, it will no longer be auto translated.



Sticker with custom text:



Additional stickers may become available in-game through quest rewards. The Steam Store may also have stickers available to purchase through DLC cosmetic bundles.

Gestures - 6th tab
A gesture makes your hunter do some emotive action and usually also sends a message in the chat log. Select the gesture to perform it. You can also press Y / Triangle to bring up options like editing the accompanying shoutout. You can click the right stick / R3 to enable/disable the accompanying shoutout



Some gestures involve interacting with your Seikret, and they have the word Seikret in the name. The gesture will require you to either be mounted on the Seikret, or standing near it. The gesture will be grayed out if the proper conditions aren’t met.

Additional gestures may become available in-game through quest rewards. The Steam Store may also have gestures available to purchase through DLC cosmetic bundles.

Poses - 7th tab
If you want to impress and intimidate, show off your gear with a Weapon Pose. If you're feeling flirty, try the Cutesy Pose. While striking a pose your character will stand completely still, which is perfect for a group photo with others, or for getting an awesome shot to feature in your Hunter Profile!

Select the same pose set repeatedly to cycle though a few different poses and find your favorite for the situation.

In the Communication menu you can choose a pose to use. The only options you have with the Pose List is to sort the order of items in the list.



Additional pose sets may become available in-game through quest rewards. The Steam Store may also have pose sets available to purchase through DLC cosmetic bundles.

The Radial Menu

The Radial Menu

Everything in the Communication Menu -- shoutouts, stickers, gestures, poses -- all of them can be placed in your Radial Menu for quick access mid-hunt. To use the Radial Menu on controller, keep LB / L1 held down and tilt the right stick in any direction, then release the stick to neutral. If playing on mouse and keyboard, just press a key in your number row.



If that's not enough, you actually have access to multiple Radial Menus at once. On controller, hold down LB / L1 and with the button held down, press up or down or left or right on the D-pad. This swaps you over to a different Radial Menu configuration. On mouse and keyboard, press any function key F1 to F8 to change between Radial Menu configurations.

The default Radial Menus already have a bunch of helpful things, but you can customize them entirely to your liking to quick-use potions or traps or mantles; you can quick-change ammo/coatings when playing a bowgun or bow; and of course you can equip any number of shoutouts, stickers, gestures, or poses for quick use in multiplayer.

To edit your Radial Menu, go to the Start Menu → Items & Equipment (1st tab) → Customize Radial Menu.



Alternatively, enter your tent and go to Item Menu (1st tab) → Customize Radial Menu.



On the next screen you'll choose the Radial Menu you want to edit. The left side of the screen will either show the mouse-and-keyboard Radial Menu or the controller Radial Menu. You can press Alt on the keyboard to swap between them and choose which one to edit.



Pick the specific Radial Menu configuration you want to edit.



On the next screen, tilt the left stick in any direction and then press A / X to change that specific Radial Menu slot.



On the right side of the screen there are several tabs with different categories, allowing you to assign things like a consumable item, or a specific ammo/coating, or a Communication item. In this example I'm going to place a sticker in this Radial Menu slot. This Communication tab works just like the Communication menu that you can view from the Start menu -- it has all your shoutouts, stickers, gestures, and poses. Find the thing you want to use from the Communication menu and select it.



You can see on the left side of the screen that the sticker has been assigned to the slot I chose! Now just back out of these menus and you'll be able to use your updated Radial Menu.

Hunter Profiles

Your Hunter Profile is a showcase of your personality and your in-game achievements! More than any other Monster Hunter game, in Wilds you have tremendous freedom to create a memorable profile unique to you.

Access your own Hunter Profile in the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Hunter Profile. To see someone else's Hunter Profile, select their name in the Member List, then choose View Hunter Profile.





In previous Monster Hunter titles you had the ability to create a Guild Card, which was sort of like your hunter's business card. You could customize a limited number of things, like the background of the card and your hunter's pose in their picture. Apart from that, the Guild Card followed a standard format for everyone, showing things like your Hunter and Palico name, the number of quests you've completed, your weapon usage stats, and the achievements you've unlocked. In-game, you'd have to manually send someone your Guild Card in order for them to view it.

The Hunter Profile in Wilds is quite different from past Guild Cards. Now, you no longer need to send someone your Hunter Profile for them to see it. Hunter Profiles can be viewed practically anywhere you're able to select someone's name from a list; like the lobby Member List, or your Hunter Friend list, or your Chat Log history. In addition, the first page of your Hunter Profile now consists of a grid structure onto which you place emblems, icons, and other info (like the apps and widgets a smart phone home screen). With this new structure, the Hunter Profile lets you create a totally custom and unique profile page. Subsequent pages of the Hunter Profile contain all the usual info like your armor and skills, the number of hunts you've done with each weapon, and how many of each monster you've hunted.

Editing your Hunter Profile

To edit your Hunter Profile, first access it through the Start Menu → Info (3rd tab) → Hunter Profile. then press LB / L2 once (or Q once on keyboard) to bring up the edit menu. You can cycle through several other pages in your Hunter Profile using the shoulder buttons (or Q and E on keyboard).

Edit Nameplate

Your Nameplate is the rectangular icon that shows your hunter's name on top, and your Steam name on the bottom. The nameplate background can be changed to a different one of your liking with the Edit Nameplate option.

Edit Top Page Widgets

This is where you change the various icons, emblems, badges, pictures, and other things that you want to show up on your Hunter Profile.

The Hunter Profile has a grid structure of 6 squares tall and 10 squares wide. That means you have up to 60 squares of widget space to use. Each widget you place down has a certain size. For example, you can show off an in-game achievement, which will take up 1 grid square. Your nameplate is 1 square tall and 2 squares wide. You can add a Title widget to your profile, which is 1 square tall and 4 squares wide. You can even add your own picture that you took with the in-game camera feature; this will be 2 squares tall and 3 squares wide.

To add a new widget, just select an empty square on the grid. This will bring up a list of things you can place down. Certain widgets are only allowed once on a Hunter Profile, like your Nameplate, Hunter Rank, Title, and others. They'll be grayed out if you already have one of them on your profile.



To move a widget, just select it and then choose a different square to place it on.

To delete a widget, select it then press X / Square (or G on keyboard).

To change a widget to something else, select it then press Y / Triangle (or R on keyboard)

Change Pose

Select this option to change the poses of your Hunter, Palico, and Seikret in your profile background.

Change Expression

Select this option to change the facial expression of your Hunter in your profile background.

Change Camera

Select this option to change the perspective with which you see your Hunter, Palico, and Seikret in your profile background, You're able to zoom in/out and pan the camera.

Change Background

Select this option to change the background design of your Hunter Profile. New backgrounds become available over time as you progress the story or complete other objectives.

Register Equipment

Other hunters are able to view the equipment you're wearing through your Hunter Profile. With this option, you can toggle whether they will see your current equipment, or a fixed equipment set no matter what you're currently wearing (for example you might want to show off a cool build or a fashionable outfit).

Online Etiquette

There are no hard and fast rules that you need to follow online. Everyone's pretty chill and just looking to have a good time. But if you heed these guidelines, people will notice (and you'll probably make a lot of friends!)

These are my recommendations for playing online with strangers. Feel free to do whatever you want when playing with friends. Anything between two consenting adults is OK by me.

Communicate!

The game has lots of great messaging features, so use them! Type out a message if you've got a plan you want everyone to follow. Communicate your intentions: like if you're about to put the monster to sleep, or if you want to lure it to another area, just so everyone else knows what's going on. When you're hanging out in base camp and you want others to help you hunt something, feel free to ask in the lobby chat.

Pictures are worth a thousand words, and some stickers seem to have a thousand uses, so put stickers on your Radial Menu for quick and effective communication.

When at base camp or immediately after a hunt, use gestures to express yourself and bond with your teammates.

Make your own shoutouts for situations like mounting a monster or getting carted if you're feeling especially creative.

Take advantage of the in-game communication options to create awesome and memorable experiences.

Buff your teammates!

Everyone appreciates some extra healing, and attack and defense buffs. If you're feeling generous you can take care of your team in many ways.

• Bring Lifepowder and Dust of Life - These items provide instant healing to everyone nearby. Very helpful if your hunter friend just took a big hit or if they're grabbed by the monster.
  
• Bring Demon Powder and Hardshell Powder - Demon powder increases attack for everyone nearby, and Hardshell Powder increases defense. Each one lasts 3 minutes.
  
• Play Hunting Horn - Hunting Horn songs provide various buffs to your team. Each horn also has its own song list, meaning a different combination of buffs, so check out which ones are best for the situation.
  
• Use Wide Range Skill - The armor skill Wide Range allows certain consumable items that you use to also affect other hunters nearby. For example, regular Potions and Mega Potions will also heal others. There are a wide variety of items affected by this skill. More points in Wide Range will mean that allies will be affected in a wider radius around you, and with greater efficacy.

Use all tools available to you

The game has so many more tools available to you other than just swinging your weapon. I personally have the most fun when there's creative and unusual stuff happening in the hunt.

• Set traps to render the monster immobile.
  
• Use weapons with status attributes to inflict Sleep, Poison, or Paralysis.
  
• Keep your eyes peeled for stuff in the environment you can trigger to damage or trap the monster.
  
• Coordinate a Sneak Attack. Normally the monster can only be hit by one sneak attack before the fight starts, but it's possible for everyone to hit it together at the same time for huge damage.
  
• Lure 2 monsters together for a turf war. This will take the heat off your allies and chunk down the monster's HP. On second thought, can you make a 3-way monster jamboree???

Here are some examples of ways you can help your teammates.

• Use a Lifepowder to bump up their HP in a pinch.
  
• If they're caught in a grab attack, or standing in front of a huge incoming attack, shoot a flash pod or use a Focus Strike on a wounded part to interrupt the monster.
  
• Shoot a luring pod to draw the monster's aggro towards you.

Coordinate on waking up a sleeping monster

When they're on death's door, most monsters will flee from the fight and go back to their lair to sleep. This is the perfect time to hit them with a devastating attack. A sleeping monster will take double damage from the very first hit they receive. Beware, as soon as they take a single hit they will wake up and the double damage opportunity is over. Therefore it's been very common in Monster Hunter games to do one of two things to wake up the monster for max damage.

• Place barrel bombs next to the monster, all of which are within blast radius of each other, so the monster wakes to a bunch of explosions.
  
• Let the beefiest weapon hit the monster for the highest amount of amplified wakeup damage.

Oftentimes groups will place barrel bombs next to the monster, and also let the big-weapon user do the wakeup attack. In this way the goal is for the weapon attack to strike the monster and then one of the barrel bombs, so the weapon attack gets the double damage bonus and the bombs add extra damage right after.

Here's a rough tier list of the best weapons to wake up sleeping monsters, based on the strongest single attack they have. If you have a high tier weapon in your group, the others might sit back and let you do the honors. If you have a low tier weapon, consider letting someone else do the wakeup.

Undisputed God Tier	Greatsword, Hammer
Pretty Good Tier	Charge Blade, Gunlance
OK Tier	Switch Axe, Heavy Bowgun, Hunting Horn, Longsword, Insect Glaive, Lance, Sword and Shield
You're Griefing Tier	Bow, Light Bowgun, Dual Blades

Online Etiquette (continued)

Stay in the fight!

Everyone loves to complete quests in this game. Completing quests gives you loot, money, HR points, story progression, and who knows what else. With that said, don't be afraid to be in the fight with a hard monster, even if you think you might get carted and fail the quest. Everyone gets carted sometimes, and it's all part of the learning process. I guarantee that 99% of players would rather have the whole team fighting the monster, than having 1 person passively sitting out.

Hunting horn players aren't off the hook! The hunting horn can contribute just as much damage as any other weapon, on top of helping KO the monster. You really should be fighting, and not just buffing the team with songs off to the side.

Avoid overlapping CC on the monster

This isn't an especially big deal, but keeping this in mind can help your hunts go even smoother. Hunters can incapacitate the monster in a variety of ways for free damage windows. When the monster is in the middle of one CC, it's possible for you to inadvertently start a different CC and negate the duration/effects of the first one. In other words, by overlapping CC effects you're not getting the most of the free damage windows available to you. It's not a big deal to optimize this. Group hunts can be pretty messy anyway. But you can feel pretty godly if your group stunlocks the monster by doing something like: dropping boulders on it, then putting it in a pitfall trap at the last second, then knock it into a KO. This can give your group a full 20 to 30 seconds to deal overwhelming massive damage.

Here are several different ways you can incapacitate a monster. Try to wait for each one to end before beginning another one.

• Mount - A player briefly rides the monster, then does a finishing attack to knock it to the ground
  
• Trap - The monster is trapped in place by a Shock Trap or Pitfall Trap, or a cat's Shock Trap, or a Vine Trap from the environment
  
• KO - The monster gets knocked to the ground from blunt force trauma to the head
  
• Paralyzed - The monster is paralyzed from weapons that have the Paralysis status effect
  
• Sleep - The monster is put to sleep from weapons that have the Sleep status effect
  
• Environment obstacle - The monster is struck by environmental features that hunters can trigger, like falling rocks in the Windward Plains or mechanisms in the Oilwell Basin
  
• Tail Cut - Cutting the tail or other severable part will instantly send the monster reeling, and interrupt whatever action or CC it was in at the time
  
• Focus strike - A successful Focus Strike on a wound from any weapon will briefly stagger the monster, and potentially interrupt whatever action they were taking.

Dealing with poor sports

In the event that you run into someone spreading negativity, you have a few methods to deal with them.

• Mute their messages in the chat log - Mute someone's messages by opening the chat log, scrolling to a message sent by that person, selecting the message, and choosing “Mute Messages”.
  
  
  
  
• Mute their voice chat - Open the Voice Chat menu by going to the Start Menu → Communication → Voice Chat, scroll to the person’s name, and press the button indicated in the UI at the bottom of the screen to mute them.
  
  
  
  
• Kick them - You can remove someone from your quest, as long as you're the quest host. Go to the Start Menu → Communication → Member List → Quest Members (4th tab), select the player, then choose Remove from Quest Members.
  
  
  
  
• Block them - Block someone by finding their name in the Member List, selecting it, then choosing Block. Any players that you've blocked will be found in the Member List → Block List (9th tab). You can Unblock players in the Block list, by selecting their name and choosing Unblock.
  
  
  
  
• Report them - Report someone by visiting their Hunter Profile, pressing LB / L2 once on controller (or Q once on keyboard) to bring up an options menu, then select Report.
  
  

FAQ and Troubleshooting

My friend and I can't get into a lobby with each other

It's possible that you and your friend have different crossplay settings. You both need the same crossplay setting even if you are both playing on the same platform (like Steam). You cannot play together if one person has crossplay enabled and the other has crossplay disabled.

Change crossplay settings by going into the Title Screen Main Menu → Options → Crossplay. After confirming you have the same crossplay setting, see the previous section of this guide, How to play with friends.

My friend and I can't join the same link party. The link party invites aren't working

One of you might already be in a link party without realizing it. You cannot be invited to a Link Party if you’re already in another one. You and your friend can try leaving your current link party by going to the Start Menu → Communication tab → Link Party → Disband Link Party. Then try inviting to a new Link Party like usual.

For example, the screenshot below shows that I'm in a Link Party and I have the option to disband the party, even though nobody else is in it.

I'm in a lobby or link party with my friend, but I can't join their quest / they can't join mine

The issue might be related to the requirements to participate, or the host’s quest settings, or the quest might be full.

Every quest will have a hunter rank (HR) requirement shown in the Quest Info screen, on the first page under the Conditions header. Make sure everyone has leveled up to the right hunter rank to participate. Hunter rank increases for everyone at the same rate by progressing the main story. Once you’ve finished the main story, your hunter rank cap will unlock and it’ll increase gradually over time just by playing the game.

It's also possible the quest filled up with other people before you or your friend tried to join it. in the Quest Info screen, the Party Size will be displayed as 4/4 or similar (as in, 4 people joined out of 4 players max).



Quests related to the main story require all players to at least be up to that point in the story (or further). Otherwise they’ll be locked out for people that haven’t progressed enough yet. If your friend is at Chapter 4 in the main story and you’re only at Chapter 2, you can’t skip ahead and play Chapter 4 together. However, it should be possible for the both of you to play Chapter 2. In this example you'd have to initiate the Chapter 2 quest and your friend would join it.

A story quest might require the quest host to complete an objective or watch a particular cutscene before anyone else can join. In this case, keep playing as usual, and you should eventually see the blue "BEGIN QUEST" popup at the top of your screen. At that point your friends should be able to hop into the quest from the Quest Counter.

Lastly, the issue might be related to the quest settings of the person who posted it. Go to the Quest Counter → Settings and try resetting everything to the default values shown below.

• Max Members → 4
  
• Multiplayer Settings → Other Players & Support Hunters
  
• Quest Join Settings → Auto Accept
  
• Set Passcode → No
  
• Passcode → 0000
  
• Platform Permissions → All Platforms

How do I stop people from spamming messages in the chat?

You can mute messages from a specific player by opening the chat log, selecting one of their messages, and choosing Mute Messages. To turn off messages from all other players, with the chat log open, click the right stick on controller to set a message filter, and choose System Messages Only.

How do I mute other people in voice chat?

You can mute others on voice chat. Bring up the voice chat menu through the Start Menu → Communication → Voice Chat, scroll to the player, and toggle Mute/Unmute (the button will be indicated on the UI at the bottom of the screen).

My friend and I are disconnecting from each other mid-game

It could be the Wilds servers, or maybe one of you has a spotty internet connection, or it's some other rare and obscure issue.

Closing

I hope my guide helped you out today! Let me know if I missed anything or if any section needs tweaking. Looking forward to catching you all out and about in the Forbidden Lands.

For more information, Capcom has an online manual website for Monster Hunter Wilds. Here's the link to the section on multiplayer. On desktop, use the menu on the left side to navigate sections. On mobile, press the menu button at the bottom right of the screen.

https://manual.capcom.com/mhwilds/en/steam/page/7/1

Happy hunting!

[LiLRotum]

I can't help but wonder why they made multiplayer so complicated. Links, Lobbies, Environment Links, bro just let me play with people

[SuspiciousSeal]

@Solyssey Its so annoying me and my friends have decided to solo until the story quest spam stops.

[Solyssey]

Another thing to add would be the desire of doing story quests together. Unfortunately the only way to make it possible is to do the World way of everyone going through and watching cutscenes initiating the actual hunt, then backing out and waiting for the last one in the group to go through it to join to complete together.

[tentacles]

razordragonwolf - it sounds like you have other players' names anonymized. Go to the title screen main menu → Options → Game Settings (1st tab) → Anonymize Other Player Names, and change that setting to Do Not Anonymize Names.

[razordragonwolf]

when i look at my freinds list in game i can see my friends names they all show as hunter and i cant see there name till im in a link party with them . is there a way to change this ? i cant tell who is who if there all named hunter

[tentacles]

CC = crowd control. Basically, stunning the monster or interrupting its moves.

[CosmicTacoCat]

What is CC?

[tentacles]

TugginTime - there's no in-game option for that. It might be possible with mods. I have no experience using them myself though. good luck!

[TugginTime]

Is there anyway to see your party members damage numbers? I wanna see how
much damage my buddy is actually doing lol

[tentacles]

IMO popping wounds is first come first served. None of the weapons actually NEED to use focus strikes to get their buffs up. And I say this as a charge blade enjoyer, lol. The focus strike for hammer is amazing because you get the shortcut into a juicy mighty charge for insane damage. So, I say just go for it and enjoy 😉