Capcom’s cult classic action RPG franchise is back! Monster Hunter: World charged onto PS4 and Xbox One Friday morning, giving thousands of fans their first opportunity to explore the New World. There’s tons to see and do, most of which calls for fighting something with long, pointy teeth. But the most important thing (obviously) is learning how to channel your inner bull rider whenever you successfully mount a large monster.
Monster Hunter’s rodeo mechanics are back and better than ever in World. The improved visual fidelity, made possible by the transition to modern consoles (and PC), makes it easier to know when to attack or brace yourself. Monster mounting also benefits from MHW ’s array of safari zones, each seemingly as tall as it is wide. Learning to wrangle World’s biggest creatures takes requires a fair amount of practice. But knowing what you’re up against,and what the game expects from you should make it easier for players to find their footing.
Jumping onto a monster and leaving it vulnerable to attack is a two-step process. Your first priority is getting onto the monster. Hunters have a few means of accomplishing this. You can slide down a hill and launch yourself at the creature. You can leap onto its back from raised surfaces, like a stone column or a nearby cliff. You can leap off of vines and tendrils towards the target. Players who wield an insect glaive can mount large monsters from the ground via their leaping attacks. Your method for getting airborne doesn’t really matter. Just find one that works and make sure to strike your target on the way down. We also recommend aiming for your target’s back. Doing so offers a bit of wiggle room during your descent and you can always reposition your hunter once he/she successfully mounts the target.
The most important thing to remember is that once you’ve mounted the creature, you’re in a stamina battle with your prey. For this reason, you should prioritize bracing yourself against the monster’s attempts to fling you off over your desire to poke at the creature with your knife. Even if you don’t deal enough damage to get a free charged attack, you’ll eventually wear the creature down enough to knock it over. If you get pitched loose, spam the X/A Button and your hunter should return to the creature’s back via grappling hook, if you have enough stamina. As with most things in life, it’s better safe than sorry.
Anytime the creature is stationary, or in the moments right after it tries to shake you loose, spam the Y/Triangle button until a red tinge appears around your mini-map. The color change means the creature is about to try to buck you off again. Stop stabbing the creature and hold R2/Right Trigger until it’s done trying to toss you. You’ll generally have a few seconds to attack again after each attempt to shake you off. Repeat the process until you get a window for a free charged attack or your target falls to the ground. Then position yourself near a weak point and inflict as much punishment as you can.
Unfortunately, for those who enjoy monster wrangling, you can’t just spam this process throughout the fight. There does appear to be a cooldown timer between mount attempts; however, we’ve yet to get a clear sense of exactly how long you have to wait. It does seem to be less than a minute but we're not certain of that fact. We've heard people claim you can only mount monsters when you jump on them from the sides or back; however, it's worth noting we've mounted several who were facing us. In some cases, we jumped directly onto their heads. So that particularly claim seems to be a bust. If you've noticed anything about the process, share it in the comments. There's no such thing as too much information in Monster Hunter.
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Monster Hunter: World is available on PS4 and Xbox One. The game hits PC this fall.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Monster Hunter: World news in 2018 and however long Capcom supports MHW in the months ahead.
