In the vast and thrilling world of Monster Hunter Wilds, mastering your weapon’s Affinity can mean the difference between a swift victory and a grueling hunt. But what exactly is Affinity? Simply put, it’s your weapon’s chance to land a critical hit-boosting your damage by a staggering 25% or more with each strike. Whether you’re wielding a sword on PC, PlayStation, or Xbox, understanding and maximizing Affinity is key to unleashing devastating attacks and conquering the fiercest monsters.
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?
Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds is the in-game term for Critical Hit Chance, representing the percentage chance that your weapon’s attack will land a critical hit. Affinity ranges from -100% to 100%, where positive affinity increases the chance to deal a critical hit that inflicts 25% more physical damage than a normal hit. Conversely, negative affinity means there is a chance to deal 25% less damage than normal. Critical hits are visually indicated by a pink star icon above the damage number, while weakened hits from negative affinity show a blue star below the damage number. Affinity only affects raw physical damage and not elemental damage by default. Players can increase affinity through weapon selection, skills, and buffs, making it a crucial stat for maximizing damage output in hunts.
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.
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?
Negative affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds refers to a weapon stat where there is a chance that your attacks will deal less damage than normal. Instead of increasing damage like positive affinity, negative affinity means your weapon has a percentage chance to inflict 25% less raw damage on a hit. For example, a weapon with -10% affinity will have a 10% chance of dealing 25% reduced damage on each attack. This is often a trade-off for weapons that have higher raw damage but come with the risk of weaker hits. Negative affinity only affects raw damage, not elemental damage, and can be mitigated or even reversed with certain skills and gear, allowing players to still effectively use weapons with negative affinity if properly built.
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
To increase your affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds, focus primarily on equipping weapons, armor, decorations, and talismans that boost affinity. Certain weapons come with a base affinity percentage, which can be enhanced further through skills like Critical Eye, Weakness Exploit, Critical Draw, and Agitator that increase affinity either passively or under specific conditions such as when monsters are enraged. Additionally, armor sets like Gore Magala with Antivirus skill can synergize with the frenzy virus mechanic to temporarily raise affinity. You can also craft Artian weapons that allow affinity customization. Keep in mind affinity caps at 100%, and higher affinity increases your chance of landing critical hits that deal 25% more damage.
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.
How does affinity influence my damage output in Monster Hunter Wilds
Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds directly influences your damage output by determining the chance your weapon has to land a critical hit. A positive affinity percentage means that portion of your attacks will deal 25% more raw damage than normal, significantly boosting your overall damage potential. For example, a weapon with 20% affinity has a 20% chance to hit critically, increasing that hit’s damage by a quarter. Conversely, negative affinity introduces a chance to deal 25% less damage, which can hinder your effectiveness unless offset by other factors like high elemental damage. Affinity affects only the raw damage portion of your attacks, not elemental or explosion damage, making it a crucial stat to consider when optimizing your build for maximum damage.
How much does a critical hit increase my damage in Monster Hunter Wilds
A critical hit in Monster Hunter Wilds increases your weapon damage by 25% per hit by default. This means if your weapon normally deals 100 damage, a critical hit will deal 125 damage instead. This damage boost applies only to the raw damage portion of your attack, not elemental damage. Additionally, the Critical Boost skill can further enhance critical hit damage, increasing it up to 40% at its highest level.
