Mhw Higher Affinity Means Better Crit Dmg
Dec 19, 2018 Weapon Affinity can make or break a build in Monster Hunter World, especially in the late game. A few of World’s systems could benefit from a bit more explaining, especially with the new influx. Affinity gives a% boost to your damage, Attack Up gives a flat boost. As your atk goes up, eventually the% boost is going to be higher Than the flat boost. Problem is you have to run the math on every weapon to Know which is better at what atk.
- Damage Type
- Sharpness
- Elemental Value
Damage Type
When attacks strike a monster, two types of damage are dealt: Physical (Raw) damage, and Elemental damage (but only if the weapon has an Elemental attribute).
Some weapons have an abnormal status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. These weapons will Physical damage and apply Status damage. Final cut 10.1.4 dmg 2017.
Physical damage includes Severing-type damage, Blunt-type damage, and Projectile-type damage. Elemental damage includes Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, and Dragon. There are also other sources of damage such as Fixed damage and Status damage. All damage types are dealt independent of each other.
Severing
Severing (sometimes known as Cutting) damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:
The following attacks also deal Severing damage:
- Hunting Horn's Handle Poke
- Bow's Melee Attack deals Severing damage
- Some Kinsects deal Severing damage
- Slicing shot from Bowguns
Tails can only be cut by Severing damage. This happens when sufficient Severing damage has been accumulated on the tail, which then severs it.
Blunt
Blunt damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:
The following attacks also deal Blunt damage:
- Sword & Shield's shield-oriented attacks
- Sword/Shield Combo
- Shield Attack
- Shield Bash
- Hard Bash
- Falling Bash
- Lance's Shield Attack
- Kinsects with Blunt attribute
Blunt weapons deal Exhaust status when they hit a monster. If they hit a monster's head, they deal Stun damage.
Projectile
Projectile damage is the primary damage type for the following weapons:
Gunlance's Shelling attacks deal Fixed damage instead of Projectile damage.
Elemental
Elemental Attributes:
- Fire
- Water
- Thunder
- Ice
- Dragon
Blademaster weapons can have an Elemental attribute, a Status attribute, or neither. Some Dual Blades have two Elemental/Status attributes, one for each blade.
The Bow may have an Elemental attribute. The Bowguns do not have natural Elemental attributes, but they can load Elemental shots that effectively functions as dealing Elemental damage when it hits a monster.
Elemental damage is mainly affected by the weapon's Elemental value and the monster's Elemental Hitzone. Abnormal Status damage is not affected by the monster's Physical or Elemental Hitzone values. Blademaster weapons have a 1-in-3 chance per hit to apply Abnormal Status damage, while Gunner weapons always apply Abnormal Status damage.
If a monster has no weakness to a specific element on their Hitzone, then no Elemental damage is dealt. The Physical damage done by the weapon is not affected, as Elemental and Physical damage are calculated separately.
Status Attacks
Abnormal Status attributes:
- Poison
- Paralysis
- Sleep
- Blast
Blademaster weapons can have an Abnormal Status attribute instead of an Elemental attribute. Bows cannot have a natural Status attribute, but may equip Status Coatings to make fired arrows apply Status damage. Equipping Status Coatings will disable the Bow's Elemental attribute temporarily. The Bowguns do not have natural Abnormal Status attributes, but can load Status shots that apply Abnormal Status damage.
For Blademaster weapons, each time an attack lands, the attack has a 1-in-3 chance of applyingAbnormal Status damage. For Gunner weapons, a successful hit will always apply Abnormal Status damage.
Applying Abnormal Status damage to a monster does not instantly activate it's effect. Instead, monsters have an innate tolerance to Status Ailments. To trigger a Status Ailment, enough Status damage must be dealt to a monster to overcome its tolerance threshold. Once a monster is affilicted with the Ailment, the accumulated Status damage is reset to 0 and additional Status damage cannot be dealt until the monster recovers. The only exception to this is Poison.
After the monster recovers, its tolerance threshold for the Ailment increases. This means it takes more Status damage must be accumulated before being able to inflict the monster with the same Ailment.
For all Ailments (except Blast), the accumulated Status damage disappears gradually due to the monster's tolerances. Overcoming this gradual decay is necessary to successfully trigger a Status Ailment on a monster.
Icon | Status | Effect(s) |
---|---|---|
Poison | Slowly drain the monster's health | |
Paralysis | Temporarily immobilizes the monster and makes it take a bit more damage | |
Sleep | Put the monster to sleep | |
Stun | Stun/KO the monster, which topples and immobilizes it | |
Exhausted | Drain the monster's stamina, making it tired | |
Blast | Triggers an explosion on a specific monster part, which deals damage |
Factors for Damage Calculation
The following factors influence damage calculations:
BM = Blademaster
Factor | BM (Physical) | BM (Elemental) | Bowgun (Physical) | Bowgun (Elemental) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Attack Value | O | O | O | O |
Motion Value | O | O | ||
Sharpness | O | O | ||
Weapon Adjustment | O | O | O | O |
Sharpness Adjustment | O | |||
Critical Hit | O | O | ||
Monster Hitzone | O | O | O | O |
Elemental Value | O | O | ||
Projectile Adjustment | O | |||
Critical Distance | O | |||
Rapid Fire Adjustment | O | O |
Attack Value
The Attack value of the Hunter is calculated from the Hunter's equipped weapon, offensive boosts (e.g. being in DB's Archdemon Mode or having a HH attack buff), equipped skills, items, and Food skills. When damage is calculated, only True values are used, and the Displayed Attack value is adjusted down by the Display Multiplier.
Motion Values
All weapon attacks have a Motion Value (MV), which determines what proportion of the Attack value is used in damage calculations. For example, a weaker move with 40 MV uses applies 40% of the Attack Value in calculating damage, while a stronger move with 80 MV applies 80% of the Attack Value in calculating damage.
In general, slow weapons make up for their slower attacks with larger MVs, and fast weapons make up for their faster attacks with smaller MVs.
Sharpness
Sharpness describes how sharp a weapon is. Sharper weapons deal more damage and are less likely to bounce when hitting tough body parts.
Weapon Sharpness is split into discrete colors (see below). Different colors provide different multipliers to the damage dealt by the player.
Sharpness | Icon | Physical | Elemental |
---|---|---|---|
Red | x0.50 | x0.25 | |
Orange | x0.75 | x0.50 | |
Yellow | x1.00 | x0.75 | |
Green | x1.05 | x1.00 | |
Blue | x1.20 | x1.0625 | |
White | x1.32 | x1.125 |
In addition to lower damage, weaker Sharpness colors causes some weapons to lose functionality. For example, at Orange Sharpness, the Gunlance's shells will deal less damage, the Switch Axe may bounce while in Sword mode, and the Dual Blades will not complete its full Blade Dance animation. At Red Sharpness, the Gunlance cannot shell.
Sharpness Gauge and Consumption
Each weapon can only make a specific amount of hits in a specific sharpness color before it dulls and and the sharpness color is lowered. Sharpness is consumed when a player lands an attack, but some shield attacks from the SnS and Lance do not deplete Sharpness.
Although most attacks deplete Sharpness by one per hit, some weapons have attacks that deplete Sharpness faster:
Attack | Sharpness Cost |
---|---|
Normal Attacks Landing | 1 |
Normal Attacks Bounced | 2 |
Guarding with GS or CB*, small knockback | 1** |
Guarding with GS or CB*, medium knockback | 2** |
Guarding with GS or CB*, large knockback | 10** |
Gunlance Shell, Normal | 2 |
Gunlance Shell, Long | 2 |
Gunlance Shell, Spread | 3 |
Gunlance's Wyvern Fire | 10 |
Gunlance's Burst Fire | Shell Count x Shell Cost |
*Charge Blade with Elemental Boost doesn't lose Sharpness when guarding.** Doesn't lose sharpness when blocking roars, wind pressure, or tremors.
Sharpness can be restored by sharpening the weapon with a Whetstone.
Weapon Adjustment
Certain attacks have inherent damage bonuses:
Weapon | Attack Name | Physical Bonus | Elemental Bonus |
---|---|---|---|
SnS | Charged Slash | +XXL | |
Dual Blades | Demon Mode | +M | |
Dual Blades | When both blade strike at the same time | -L | |
Great Sword | Charged Slash Lv1 | +S | |
Great Sword | Charged Slash Lv2 | +M | |
Great Sword | Charged Slash Lv3 | +XL | |
Great Sword | Strong Charged Slash Lv1 | +XXL | |
Great Sword | Strong Charged Slash Lv2 | +XXL | |
Great Sword | Strong Charged Slash Lv3 | +XXL | |
Long Sword | White Spirit Gauge | +XS | |
Long Sword | Yellow Spirit Gauge | +S | |
Long Sword | Red Spirit Gauge | +M | |
Lance | Dash Attack | -XXL | |
Gunlance | Charged Shot (Normal/Long) | +M | |
Gunlance | Charged Shot (Spread) | +XL | |
Gunlance | Burst Fire (Normal) | +S | |
Gunlance | Burst Fire (Spread) | -S | |
Gunlance | Wyvern Fire (Long) | +M | |
Switch Axe | Power Phial | +M | |
Switch Axe | Elemental Phial | +L | |
Charge Blade | Elemental Phial | +XXL | |
Charge Blade | Elemental Boost (Axe Mode) | +M | |
Insect Glaive | Red+White | +M | |
Insect Glaive | Red+White+Orange | +M | |
Bow | Power Phial | +XL | |
Bow | Elemental Phial | +XL | |
Bow | Melee Attack | -XXL | |
Bow | Charge Lv 1 | -XXL | -L |
Bow | Charge Lv 2 | - M | |
Bow | Charge Lv 3 | +XL | |
Bow | Charge Lv 4 | +XXL | +M |
Bow | Arc Shot | -L | -L |
Bowgun | Normal | +L |
Sharpness Adjustment
Some moves modify Sharpness, which affects both damage output and the liklihood to bounce.
Weapon | Condition | Sharpness Adjustment |
---|---|---|
Blademaster weapon | Yellow Sharpness. At the start of weapon swing | -XL |
Blademaster weapon | Yellow Sharpness. At the end of weapon swing | -L |
All Melee Attack | Have the buff from Demon shot | +S |
Sword & Shield | All Attack | +XS |
Great Sword | All Charged Attack, Lv 1 | +S |
Great Sword | All Charged Attack, Lv 2 | +M |
Great Sword | All Charged Attack, Lv 3 | +L |
Great Sword | Hit with the middle of the blade | +XS |
Long Sword | Max Spirit Gauge | +S |
Long Sword | Hit with the middle of the blade | +XS |
Lance* | Damage based on Blunt Hitzone | -L |
Bow | Melee Attack with Close Range Coating | + L |
* Lance/Hitzone Selection
Critical Hits and Feeble Hits
When an attack makes a Critical Hit, additional damage is dealt. When an attack makes a Feeble Hit, damage is reduced.
Critical Hits occur when a weapon has a positive Affinity value. Positive Affinity refers to the probability of making a Critical Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with 20% Affinity will have a 20% chance of dealing a Critical Hit on an attack. Higher Affinity values will increase the likelihood of dealing a Critical Hit. A successful Critical Hit applies a +25% bonus to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.
Feeble Hits occur when a weapon has a negative Affinity value. Negative Affinity refers to the probability of making a Feeble Hit on an attack. For example, a weapon with -20% affinity has a 20% chance of dealing a Feeble Hit. Lower negative Affinity Values increase the likelihood of dealing Feeble Hits. A Feeble Hit applies a -25% debuff to the weapon's Attack Value when calculating damage.
The below table briefly illustrates the interaction between Affinity and the probability of making a Critical or Feeble Hit:
Affinity | Probability | Damage Multiplier |
---|---|---|
60% | 60% | x1.25 |
20% | 20% | x1.25 |
0% | 0% | x1.0 |
-20% | 20% | x0.75 |
-60% | 60% | x0.75 |
Some skills influence Affinity values:
Skill/Food Skill | Effects |
---|---|
Critical Eye 1 | +1% |
Monster Hitzone
Mhw Crit Eye
Monsters are comprised of different body parts, and each part has has different weaknesses to Physical damage and Elemental damage. The Physical weakness of a Hitzone does not affect it's Elemental weakness, and vice versa. If a Hitzone is not weak to a specific Element (i.e. a Hitzone value of 0), then no Elemental damage is dealt, but Physical damage is not impacted.
The higher the Hitzone value, the weaker it is. For example, if a monster's head has Hitzone values of 20/50/40 (corresponding to the Severing, Blunt, and Projectile damage types respectively), then Severing-type attacks deal 20% of its damage, Blunt-type attacks deal 50% of its damage, and Projectile-type attacks deal 40% of its damage.
A Hitzone is generally considered vulnerable when its Physical Hitzone value is 45 or higher or when its Elemental Hitzone value is 20 or higher.
Elemental Value
When a weapon with an Elemental attribute lands an attack, the weapon will deal Elemental damage on top of the Physical damage it deals. Player-dealt Elemental damage does not inflict Elemental Blights on monsters.
Unlike Physical damage, Elemental damage is not affected by Motion Values. However, some weapons may confer a bonus to its Elemental damage on specific attack moves. In general, faster hitting weapons are better suited at dealing Elemental damage because they make multiple hits in the same time it takes a slower hitting weapon to make one hit.
Excluding Hunting Horn buffs, Elemental Attack buffs from Skills and Food skills are capped at a sum of +20%.
Elemental Crit Skill Adjustment
Weapon | Elemental Adjustment |
---|---|
Great Sword | +M |
Long Sword | +L |
Sword & Shield | +XL |
Dual Blades | +XL |
Hammer | +L |
Hunting Horn | +L |
Lance | +L |
Gunlance | +L |
Switch Axe | +L |
Charge Blade | +L |
Insect Glaive | +L |
Light Bowgun | +XL |
Heavy Bowgun | +XL |
Bow | +XL |
Projectile Adjustment
Skill/Food Skill | Affected Projectiles | Adjustment |
---|---|---|
Normal Up | Normal, Rapid | +S |
Pierce Up | Pierce | +S |
Spread Up | Spread Ammo | +M |
Spread Up | Spread Arrow | +L |
Critical Distance
For Gunner Weapons, Critical Distance (or Critical Range) refers to the distance at which a fired shot deals maximal damage. If the player is in Critical Distance, the aiming reticle will look like this:
Generally, being too close or too far away from the target will put the player outside of Critical Distance. Being too close or too far (i.e. outside of Critical Distance) will reduce the damage done by player Projectiles.
Does qss remove exhaust dmg reduction. Critical Distance does not affect Affinity or Critical Hits.
Rapid Fire Adjustment
The Light Bowgun is capable of Rapid Fire, where the LBG shoots multiple shots in a single burst at the cost of 1 ammo. Each individual shot fired from Rapid Fire is weaker than a single shot of the same ammo type, but if most Rapid Fire shots land, their combined damage will exceed the damage done by firing just a single shot.
Rapid Fire Type | Adjustment |
---|---|
Lv 1 Normal x5 | -M |
Lv 2 Normal x3 | -M |
Lv 2 Normal x4 | -L |
Lv 1 Pierce x3 | -L |
Lv 2 Pierce x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Pellet x3 | -M |
Lv 2 Pellet x2 | -M |
Lv 1 Sticky x2 | -L |
Lv 2 Sticky x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Sticky x2 | -L |
Lv 2 Sticky x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Crag x2 | -L |
Lv 1 Fire x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Fire x4 | -XL |
Lv 1 Water x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Thunder x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Ice x3 | -L |
Lv 1 Dragon x2 | -XL |
Lv 1 Slicing x2 | -S |
Lv 2 Slicing x2 | -S |
Fixed Damage
Fixed damage is dealt directly to the monster and does not have a damage calculation. This means that Fixed damage attacks are not mitigated by the monster's Hitzone values or affected by the player's Attack value.
Some sources of Fixed damage, such as Gunlance shelling and Wyvern Fire, and Bowgun Sticky shot and Crag shot, also deal additional Fire damage. This additional Fire damage will be impacted by damage calculations.
Category | Damage Source | Damage Dealt |
---|---|---|
Slinger | Stone | 1 |
Slinger | Knife | 20 |
Slinger | Paralysis Knife | 5 |
Slinger | Poison Knife | 5 |
Slinger | Sleeping Knife | 5 |
Item | Small Barrel Bomb | 20 |
Item | Barrel Bomb | 80 |
Item | Barrel Bomb G | 150 |
Gunlance | Shelling | |
various other items | tbd | |
Charge Blade | Phial Burst - Counter | 3 |
Charge Blade | Phial Burst - ED | 5 |
Charge Blade | Phial Burst - AED | 10 |
Charge Blade | Phial Burst - SAED | 25 |
Bowgun | tbd |
Weapon Affinity can make or break a build in Monster Hunter World, especially in the late game. A few of World’s systems could benefit from a bit more explaining, especially with the new influx of players from the PC release, so here’s how it works.
While your main character doesn’t level up or progress in Monster Hunter World in the traditional RPG sense, your progress is instead marked by the evolution of your gear. You’ll spend much of the game working towards new and better armor sets and shiny new upgrades for your weapon of choice – and a huge part of the latter is the concept of Affinity, a special stat relating to weapons and their use.
Affinity is a statistic that helps determine how much chance a weapon has to deal additional damage in Monster Hunter World. It’s really important to the meta of balance and has a larger impact on the tail end of the game and the high-end, high-rank hunts in particular. If you need more help with other complex bits of the game beyond Affinity we’ve got a full Monster Hunter World guide – check it out!
What is Affinity? How the Affinity stat works in Monster Hunter World
Affinity can be positive or negative – meaning that a weapon with negative affinity will actually be more likely to do ‘weak’ hits that have reduced damage. Meanwhile, a weapon with a high affinity stat will have a higher chance to do an extremely damaging critical hit – and in some instances and builds, crits can even be guaranteed in certain situations.
Every weapon in the game has its own unique Affinity statistic – these can be a neutral value of zero or can be positive or negative. Don’t write off all weapons with a negative affinity value – for there’s more to it than that.
A major part of balancing out your Affinity comes in the form of Armor Skills. Armor Skills are powerful abilities that are part of your armor pieces that you equip, and many of them can have an impact on your affinity. Carefully balancing out armor against your choice of weapon can lead to a powerful build, such as how in many previous Monster Hunter games a combination of a Greatsword with the Focus and Crit Draw skills would lead to a near unstoppable damage output.
We’ve got a full list of Armor Skills on our Armor Guide page, but for the record these are the ones we’ve found so far that increase your affinity:
Mhw Higher Affinity Means Better Crit Dmg In Games
Subscribe to the VG247 newsletterGet all the best bits of VG247 delivered to your inbox every Friday!- Affinity Sliding is a quickly little one, increasing your affinity for a short time after you perform a slide.
- Attack Boost raises your affinity at higher levels while also increasing your attack power.
- Critical Draw increases the likelihood that draw attacks will land a critical hit.
- Critical Eye is a flat-out boost to your affinity, and a fairly significant one.