While most play Monster Hunter Wilds to go out and slay some monsters, you can actually capture them as well. Often times capturing them may even be more beneficial to you. In this guide we will go over the differences and which method you should use.
Slaying Monsters
Killing the monsters is the most common way people go about getting missions and hunts done, and it's pretty straight forward. You hunt down what monster you are going for and fight it until it's dead. This method typically includes the monster running away a few times until you get it down to little health and it retreats to its den where you slay it.
While using this method you will want to focus on certain body parts in order to gain more rewards once you do kill it. Focusing on the tail and breaking it off for example will give you a chance to carve out tail pieces once you do slay the monster. You of course need to do this to get newer weapons, armors and upgrades.
Slaying monsters is ultimately the most straight forward method to deal with them and is what the bulk of people will do, especially in random multiplayer games.
Capturing Monsters
Capturing a monster has many more moving parts to it than kill a monster does, however it is often quicker. In order to capture a monster you must fight it first to weaken it. Once it is weak enough, it will be visibly limping, you can then capture it.
How you capture it is where things get different from killing. First you must trap the monster. Most traps will work here but a shock trap is probably the most effective. Once the monster is in your trap it is time to use tranq bombs on it. Most monsters take about 3-5 tranq bombs to be captured so make sure you have a stockpile ready to go.
Incase you are wanting to craft these items:
- Shock Trap = Trap Tool + Thunderbug Capacitor
- Tranq Bombs = Sleep Herb + Parashroom
So Which Method Is Best?
Honestly this is going to sound cliche but the answer to this question is, it depends. It depends on what you need really.
Slaying the monster will give you item rewards and depending on what you need it can benefit you to kill the monster. As mentioned above in the example of you break off a monsters tail you will be more likely to get tail pieces. There's also the monster gems which are only given if you kill the monster.
There are benefits however to a capture as well. As mentioned it is quicker to capture and in general you get more rewards for a capture than a kill, though part of that is because you miss out on carving.
Generally speaking most Monster Hunter veterans will tell you that capturing is best, and the most ideal way to hunt unless you really need something specific from a kill (again ie a tail).
Check Your Field Guide
It should also be noted that you can go to the menu and head over to your monster field guide. If you head to the 4th page of any monsters page you can get detailed information on how often you will get an item. A target reward is the odds of you capture. Broken parts for of course if you broke something off, and carve for if you managed to kill the monster.
Using the field guide will help you make informed decisions on what route you wish to take when looking for specific materials. We hope this helps you on your journey to be the most powerful hunter of them all.
