4 Tips for First-Time Monster Hunters

If Monster Hunter Tri is your first experience with the franchise, you may be feeling in a bit over your head.  The tutorial in the game is sorely lacking in substance, but before you sell your copy in frustration, here is a list of things every good hunter should know:

1. How to Make a Well-Done Steak

As your character scrambles around, he or she will become hungry which will cause their stamina bar to shorten.  When this happens you won’t be able to run as far and (depending on your weapon) you may not be able to charge your attacks as effectively.  The best way to keep your belly full is by slaughtering any manner of large docile beast, which generally yields raw meat.  If you have both raw meat and a BBQ spit in your inventory, you can cook it and eat it.  Depending on your timing you can get various different levels of done-ness but “well-done” is the most effective at recovering your stamina bar.

Here is a video showing the timing for a well-done steak:

• You may notice that directly after the catchy tune ends, the meat changes color.  That is when the meat is done, and you should take it off the flame.  Practice makes perfect!

2. Try All the Weapon Types

You may think the Great Sword looks bad-ass, but maybe you’re a Bowgun prodigy and you don’t even know it.  Looks are one thing, but surviving is much more important.  Find what feels comfortable and master it — this means experimenting with combos and learning what buttons string together.  If you picked up the demo from Game Stop a while back, this is a great, cheap way to learn which weapon is for you.

• Some weapons are better suited to different enemies or missions, so you may have a bread-and-butter weapon, but it doesn’t hurt to have a backup.

3. Item Combining

When you’re out on the field and you’ve already downed your sparse supply of First-Aid Drinks, how are you going to finish off the boss in the remaining 45 minutes?  Well, start by looking around you.  Seemingly worthless items, when combined, can turn into the most helpful supplies on the battlefield.  Experiment as much as you can, this is relatively simple since only certain items can be combined.  You can even combine right from your storage box in your room.

• Here is a classic = (Blue Mushroom + Herb = Potion)+Honey = Mega Potion

4. Dazing, Sleeping, Crippling, Limping, and Killing

Monsters in Monster Hunter do not have an HP bar, and that’s part of what sets these games apart from most action RPGs.  You’ll need to keep your eyes open to tell what the status of your enemy is.  Here is a rundown of what sign means what:

• Limping: The monster is close to death and may try to run.  It can be captured by snaring it in a trap and tranquilizing.
• Dazed: If stars circle the enemies head, it is dazed meaning it won’t be able to act.  This is generally the result of Hammer-induced head-trauma.
• Sleeping: If a monster flees they may take a nap somewhere on the map.  This recovers their HP so you want to avoid this by hucking a paintball at a monster before it runs so you can track it.
• Crippled: By aiming your attacks at a certain appendage, you can cripple it — you can even lob off a tail.

If you’re still hungry for knowledge I would suggest checking out the Monster Hunter Wiki here.  It has a decent amount of into on Tri, and some other helpful pages for beginners.  If you have any other questions feel free to ask in a comment.  Happy hunting!

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