Weapon Mechanics | Monster Hunter World Wiki

Sharpness in Monster Hunter World (MHW) is a factor in determining the cutting power of a Weapon and its damage output.

For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.

 

The Sharpness level of a weapon will degrade over the course of a fight. When wielding a Blademaster Weapon, it is important to keep it at its maximum Sharpness with Whetstones. This will make cutting Monster parts easier (blade weapons only) and lower the chance of an attack being deflected.
There are 7 levels of Sharpness. Damaging Monster parts sometimes requires a weapon to currently be at a certain level.

 

In addition to reducing chance of deflection, Sharpness will also increase Raw (Physical) Damage and Elemental Damage.
See Attack Power for more information.

 

 

 

Sharpness Consumption by Weapon and Motion

Sharpness consumption rate is often -1 Sharpness per hit. Some weapons or attacks for specific weapons may consume Sharpness at a faster rate.

Please note that guarding against roars, wind pressure and tremors does not cost any Sharpness.

 

Attack Power or Raw Damage is a damage statistic in Monster Hunter World (MHW). Monsters also have raw damage, which is offset by the hunter's Defense stat.

For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.

 

How Attack Power is Calculated

Raw Damage - also called Physical - is calculated separately from Elemental Damage and Status Effect buildup. The higher the Attack on your weapon the more Raw Damage you will deal to a monster.

 

 

Notes

While trying out weapons in the Training area, note that the Monster Part multiplier for the large training post is 0.8 for Physical damage and 0.3 for Elemental.

Refer to Sharpness, Weapons and Monsters for more information on these multipliers.

Refer to Affinity to see how it can affect displayed damage numbers.

Remember that Raw Damage is subdivided into three types: Cut, Blunt, and Ammo, and that Monster Body Parts have individual Body Part Multipliers for each.
Refer to Damage Types to see how different weapons may perform in combat.

 

Skills that Affect Attack Power

The following Skills boost Raw Base when granted by Armor or Charms:

• Agitator
• Attack Boost
• Heroics
• Peak Performance
• Resentment

 

Weapons with the Highest Attack Power

 

 

 

Elemental Damage or Elements in Monster Hunter World (MHW) refers to the secondary damage dealt by Weapons and Monsters and lowered by specific Resistances.

For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.

FAQ: Some Weapons have Elemental Damage that is grayed out and in parentheses. These Weapons require a skill called Free Elem/Ammo Up in order to take effect.

 

 

Elemental Damage

Each monster has weaknesses and resistances that will cause it to take more or less damage from specific sources. For example a fire monster may take more elemental damage from weapons that deal water damage but less or zero elemental damage from weapons that deal fire elemental damage.

Monsters can also deal elemental damage to the hunter. Armor with high resistances to certain elements will cause you to take less damage and reduce the effects of Elemental Blights.

Some important things to note when considering Elemental Damage against Monsters

• Elemental weakness is not always a given. Just because a monster uses fire does not mean it is weak to water.
  The ingame Monster Field Guide contains information on Monster weaknesses.
• Some monsters possess resistances that change during the course of a fight because of breakable defenses.
• Elemental Damage is normally not affected by a weapon's Affinity. The Critical Element Skill will allow Elemental Damage to strike critical hits.
• Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Blast and Stun are Status Effects, which are separate from Elemental Damage and Raw (Physical) Damage. They do not deal damage with each hit, but rather cause a hidden buildup that will eventually trigger an effect.

See Elemental Resistances for more information on resistances possessed by Monsters and the Player & Allies.

 

 

Calculating Elemental Damage

Like Raw Damage, Elemental Damage is modified by Sharpness and Monster Body Part multipliers; it is not affected by Combo Move multipliers or weapon type, however. This means that, for the most part, Elemental Damage is a flat addition to a weapon's damage.

The formula for the Elemental portion of damage displayed during combat is:

 

 

 

 

For example, hitting a Great Jagras' tail with a Wide Slash from the Red Wing (180 Fire and 768 Physical), assuming Quest Difficulty and Rage status multipliers of 1.0 and no boost to Fire Damage from Skills, will yield:

18 (Starting Elemental value / 10)

x 1.0625 (Sharpness multiplier for blue level sharpness towards elemental)

x 0.15 (Monster Part multiplier for Great Jagras' tail against Fire Damage

= 2.9 Fire Damage (in addition to 22.5 slashing damage)

 

Notes

Displayed Damage numbers are an addition of both Physical and Elemental Damage (if any).

While trying out weapons in the Training Area, note that the Monster Part multiplier for the large training post is 0.8 for Physical damage and 0.3 for all types of Elemental.

Refer to the Sharpness, Weapons and Monsters  pages for more information on these multipliers.

Refer to Affinity to see how it can affect displayed damage numbers.

 

 

Elemental Ammo

Elemental Bowgun Ammo is noteworthy for having both a Raw (Physical) component and an Elemental component. The Elemental component is calculated much like Physical damage in that it begins with the current value for Attack, and is subjected to both a Weapon type multiplier and a Combo Move multiplier.¹ Skills that boost Elemental Damage increase this starting value taken from Attack, before the Weapon type multiplier is applied.

The formula for the Damage displayed from Elemental Ammo is:

 

 

 

 

For example:

 

 

In the case of Elemental Ammo striking a critical hit (Affinity,) the critical hit multiplier will normally be applied to the Physical portion only.

With the Critical Element or the  Iceborne-only True Critical Element Skills active, a special critical hit multiplier will apply to the Elemental portion. This special multiplier is dependent on Weapon type.

The Critical Boost Skill only affects the Physical portion of Elemental Ammo.

See Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun for information on Combo Move multipliers of Ammo and more.

 

 

Types of Elemental Damage

The following are the five types of Elemental Damage that can be wielded by Hunter Weapons or Monster attacks.
See Status Effects for more information on their corresponding Elemental Blights and Elemental Resistances for information on defending against Elemental attacks.

 

 

Improving Elemental Damage

Skills

The following Skills and Effects can be used to improve Elemental Damage performance on Weapons.

• Fire Attack increases Fire Damage by a flat amount
• Water Attack increases Water Damage by a flat amount
• Thunder Attack increases Thunder Damage by a flat amount
• Ice Attack increases Ice Damage by a flat amount
• Dragon Attack increases Dragon Damage by a flat amount
• Critical Element allows the Elemental Damage of a Weapon to be affected by Affinity
• Elemental Attack Boost (S)/(L) from Hunting Horns increases Elemental Damage by approximately 7.5% and 10% respectively, displaying to the nearest 10. See Status Effects for more information.

 

Effect

Using the previous example of the Red Wing (180 Fire and 768 Physical), and adding one level of the Fire Attack Skill will improve the weapon's Fire damage to 210 and yield:

21 (Starting Elemental value / 10)

x 1.0625 (Sharpness multiplier for blue level sharpness towards elemental)

x 0.15 (Monster Part multiplier for Great Jagras' tail against Fire Damage

= 3.3 Fire Damage (in addition to 22.5 slashing damage)

 

Notes

• Since elemental damage Skills add a flat amount and and are not affected by weapon-type or motion value multipliers, they are more often suited to fast weapons such as the Dual Blades or Sword & Shield.

 

¹ Information taken from a Reddit post made by user mltsquigs and confirmed ingame.

 

Affinity, also known as Critical Chance, in Monster Hunter World (MHW) is a weapon's chance to deal a bonus or a penalty to Damage on attacks. Some Weapons have innate Affinity, but it can also be increased with Skills and Equipment

For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.

 

 

 

 

 

Status Effects are special buffs or ailments in Monster Hunter World (MHW) which come in the form of Player-and-Ally-only Effects, Elemental Blights, and Abnormal Status Ailments. Both Hunters and Monsters can receive Effects from Skills, the environment and attacks.

For a more complete rundown on combat with Monsters, see Weapon Mechanics, Defense, and Elemental Resistances.

 

Status Effects that affect only the Player and Allies are granted from Items, the Canteen, Hunting Horns, and the Coral Orchestra Palico gadget.
Elemental Blights are inflicted on the Player and Allies by Elemental Monster attacks.
Abnormal Status Ailments are inflicted on the Player and Allies by certain Monster attacks. Some can also be inflicted on Monsters by Weapons which wield the corresponding status damage.

 

Character Status Effects

Beneficial Status Effects that appear on the Player and Allies are granted by Items, the Canteen, Hunting Horn Melodies, and the Coral Orchestra Palico Gadget

Many of these Effects have counterparts that are granted by Skills, but they are distinct as they require different specific actions to trigger while out in the field. Some also stack on top of Skill effects, with some limitations. A Hunter can tell when one of these Status Effects has been triggered by the icons that appear on the HUD.

 

 

 

Elemental Blights

Blights will impart negative effects such as health loss or performance impairment. Remove them as quickly as possible using the appropriate items or actions. Blights are contracted mostly from certain Monster attacks, and can be prevented by having 20 Resistance toward the corresponding element. The effects are indicated by marks next to the Player's name in the HUD. Blights cannot be triggered on Monsters by the Player.

Blastblight (see below) should not be confused with these effects, as it is a Status Ailment and not an Elemental Blight.

See Elemental Resistances and the Blight Resistance Skill for information on resisting Blights.

 

 

 

Abnormal Status Ailments

Abnormal Status Ailments act similarly to Elemental Blights, although some can be inflicted on Monsters by the Player and Allies through the use of Weapons, Environmental Hazards, and some Items.
The effects are indicated by marks next to the Player's name in the HUD.

 

When affecting Monsters, Abnormal Status damage from Weapons work by building up to a threshold, whereupon the Ailment will trigger.

Poison, Sleep, Paralysis, Blast, and Stun can all be inflicted upon Monsters through Weapon attacks. With the exception of Stun, each of these is wielded by a Weapon in place of Elemental damage. Stun buildup is caused by particular weapon attacks, sources of Blunt Damage when dealt to the head, and Flash Pods.

When a Blademaster Weapon wielding Ailment damage strikes a Monster, it has a 1/3 chance of contributing toward that Monster's threshold for that particular Ailment. Ailment Coatings for Bows and Ammo for Light and Heavy Bowguns have a 100% chance of applying buildup.

Each time an Ailment's threshold is reached, the Ailment triggers and the Monster's threshold value increases. This increase often requires about twice as much buildup before the next trigger. A Monster's resistance to an Ailment will modify the speed at which that Ailment builds up. In the case of Poison, a Monster's resistance also modifies the total damage dealt. Ailment resistances can be found in the ingame Monster Field Guild along with Elemental Resistances.

Additionally, some Ailments can be inflicted on Monsters through the use of Slinger Ammo, Environmental Hazards such as Paratoads, and Items such as Poison Smoke Bomb, Poisoned Meat, Tainted Meat, and Drugged Meat.

See Skills for information on how to boost Ailment performance or resistance.