What is affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds?

Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds is an important weapon stat players should understand if they want to take advantage of the game's combat system and extensive build variety. Even if they don't indulge in the mechanic, ignoring it can harm their build. This article elaborates on this attribute in Capcom's latest action role-playing game.

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Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds explained

Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming || Capcom)

Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds refers to your weapon's probability of landing critical hits on enemies. These strikes deal additional damage — +25% raw damage in this case (can be leveled up to 40%). For example, if your weapon has 10% affinity, then you'll have a 10% chance of landing a critical hit.

You'll start the campaign with the baseline affinity of 0%, but as you get higher stats, your chances of landing powerful blows increase. You'll notice you've landed a critical blow when you see a pink star above the damage numbers whilen hitting the enemy. Higher affinity increases your damage output, causing the hunts to conclude sooner.

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Negative Affinity

Affinity in Monster Hunter Wilds doesn't stop at 0%. Some weapons in the game can have a negative Affinity value, which will deal the opposite effect. Suppose you have -5% affinity, there's a 5% chance you'll deal -25% damage (you'll realize it when a blue star appears under the damage number). Thus, even if players don't focus their build around affinity, they need to make sure it at least doesn't drop below 0% unless they're following specific builds.

This is a chart that displays the affinity effect:

Affinity	Damage
Negative	75% damage
0%	100% damage
Positive	125% damage

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Elemental stats

In some instances, weapons with negative affinity can still be effective. As mentioned, the stat affects raw damage, which means any other damage will be free from this caveat. Choosing a weapon with high elemental stats will offset the disadvantage of negative affinity provided that the target monster is weak to said element.

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How to increase affinity

Raising your affinity can help increase our offensive output (Image via Sportskeeda Gaming, Capcom)

Use affinity-raising skills

Various skills can raise your affinity. Abilities like Weakness Exploit and Critical Draw temporarily increase your affinity if you do particular actions, like exploiting a monster's weak spot and performing a critical draw, respectively. These can be obtained from armor, weapons, or decorations.

High-affinity weapons

As you progress, you'll come across weapons that boast higher affinity stats. Craft these to increase your damage output.

Overcome Frenzy

Frenzy is a negative status usually inflicted by Gore Magala's scales and breath. If you're inflicted with this debuff, overcoming it will temporarily provide additional affinity.

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Check out our other guides on Monster Hunter Wilds:

• Monster Hunter Wilds: How to get Brute Bone
• How does Weather work in Monster Hunter Wilds
• All available Palico upgrades in Monster Hunter Wilds
• Monster Hunter Wilds: How to remove Frostblight status effect
• Monster Hunter Wilds: How to transfer Open Beta data to full game