Now that Monster Hunter Wilds is set to shake up the franchise by increasing its scale, there’s more potential than ever for meaningful additions to its combat system. As the MH titles have evolved over the years, Elemental damage types and Secondary Status Effects/Ailments have become more prevalent with new varieties becoming available. Players of Rise and World have access to many different loadouts between these two sets of options, but the lack of additions throughout the series’ fifth generation gives Monster Hunter Wilds the chance to introduce even more types of damage.

Using the strengths of certain monsters on others through crafted gear can be a highly effective strategy for faster weapons, but Elements in Monster Hunter aren’t necessarily as useful with slower weapons that have a higher Motion Value, or raw damage per hit. They are still prominent among many powerful builds, but there’s potential for Wilds to innovate on the system by adding more genuinely original Elements.

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Monster Hunter Wilds Must Pick Up a Tradition that MH Rise Dropped

After the most recent entries in the series have kept a core feature completely static for years, Monster Hunter Wilds should do something fresh.

Monster Hunter's Elements and Statuses Have Largely Remained the Same

Following the introduction of the majority of the series' usable damage types and effects in the first title, there have only been a handful of additions within subsequent mainline releases. There have been a plethora of Status Effects exclusively wielded by monsters across all the generations, leaving players with a relatively stagnant set of Elemental damage options in Monster Hunter Rise.

Damages Types From Older Monster Hunter Titles

If Capcom takes inspiration from Elements which are currently only available in previous entries, there are several existing types that could carve out their own niche in Wilds. Mobile title MH Explore had a completely original Earth element which might fit right into the new setting, but MMO Monster Hunter Frontier, where Espinas originates, managed to feature an entire suite of Elements consisting of fusions that can be adapted. Some are redundant upgraded versions of the same combinations, but the most distinct include:

Monster-Exclusive Status Effects Could Pave the Way for New Damage Types in MH Wilds

Novel effects wielded by enemies alone have continued to appear as recently as Sunbreak, and several of these are viable candidates for future options wielded by the player. While the likes of the Snowman or Leeching Statuses are obviously too specific to easily translate into direct damage, some oppressing conditions suffered by the player could end up being utilized. For example, Bleeding makes the player take more damage from moving, while Gore Magala's Frenzy Virus and Malzeno's Bloodblight are both takes on affecting health regeneration, all effects capable of being flipped on monsters with the proper adjustments.

Getting More Out of Elemental Blights

Blights are effects inflicted upon the player after taking damage from a respective Element, but allowing these to be used alongside the damage types could enhance them while paving the way for further inclusions. Unique monster versions of Dragonblight or Waterblight would make having these Elements on weapons even more appealing, but there's also the opportunity to make the likes of Hellfireblight and Crystallization or Magnetism into fully accessible tools instead of just mere hazards in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds is the latest entry in Capcom's decorated franchise, and the game is expected to launch in 2025.

Franchise

Monster Hunter

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

2025-00-00

Developer(s)

Capcom

Publisher(s)

Capcom

Genre(s)

Action , Adventure

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