Monster Hunter: Wilds: Differences between Elemental and Status Effects

Status and Elements are two different concepts in Monster Hunter: Wilds, but sometimes closely related. While players can get through the whole game without paying much attention to them, they are required to know if you want to create a perfect build.

While the game is much more complex, and sometimes it's hard to categorise everything, I'll try to tackle a common doubt for Monster Hunter games without going too deep, but enough for you hunters to understand what is going on. In this Monster Hunter: Wilds guide, I'll explain the differences between two concepts. Elements, which are five: Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, and Dragon, and Status Effects, which is a much wider category, that include Attack or Defence Boosts from meals, melodies, items like Might Seeds or Armorskin; Blights related to the five elements (Fireblight, Thunderblight) and ailments like Poison, Stun, Paralysis, or Sleep.

Let's tackle Elements first, because it is not that intuitive, but crucial to choose armour and, especially, weapons. The monsters and the hunter's armour have different strengths and weaknesses to each element, and weapons also cause more or less elemental damage, which you can see right below the Physical (main) damage. When hitting the monsters, Elemental damage is like a bonus damage added to the physical damage (which still is the main source of damage).

The amount of elemental damage your weapon causes (if any) and the elemental damage the monster gets (if any) is determined by the weapon's elemental damage number and the monster's resistance to that element, which you can see in the Monster's Field Guide. There, you can even see which part of the monster's body is weaker to elements, but we won't delve much further here.

In short, the thing you need to check is which element is that monster's strong or weak to, and use a weapon that deals elemental damage in that element, and an armour that protects you from the element the monster is strong at.

Status Effects on monsters and the hunters, including poison

We have just said that there are only five elements in Monster Hunter, but if you see this weapon, you can see that the Element listed here is neither: Poison. Technically, Poison could still be considered an element, but in Monster Hunter, Poison works a little different. The '120' value in this example isn't the added damage, like it would be with other element like Water or Fire, but it's rather related to the Poison build-up: how much damage you need to cause the monster for it to be poisoned.

Poison, in this case, would be one of the Status Effects that can cause a particular type of handicap the monsters and the hunters. In the case of poison, it is pretty evident what it does: it deplenishes health little-by-little until you use an antidote - or wait a few seconds, using potions so you don't pass out.

Other Status Effects include Sleep, Paralysis, and Stun (very similar, and you recover after a while or when you get hit), Webbed (use a Cleanser or spam buttons), Frostblight (also Cleanser), Stench (you can't use items for a while unless you use Deodorant), Bleeding (you lose health whenever you move, and can cured by crouching or eating jerky).

To be honest, except perhaps for Poison, these Status Effects don't really do much damage, and can be cured after a few seconds with very minor repercussions. Some wikis even add Tremor and Winds as status, which are technically true, but... really, you shouldn't worry too much about them.

Blights in Monster Hunter: Wilds

However, there are even another type of Status effect... directly tied to Elements: the Elemental Blights, or simply Blights, which - unlike the aforementioned - only affect the hunters, not the monsters. Fireblight, Thunderblight, Dragonblight, Waterblight, and Iceblight can happen when hit by a monster with strong elemental damage and have a bit more serious consequences unless you deal with them... or wait a few seconds.

• Fireblight: gradually depletes your health


• Waterblight: slows down your stamina recovery


• Thunderblight: makes it easier for monster attacks to stun you


• Iceblight: increases your stamina consumption


• Dragonblight: negates your weapon's elemental and abnormal status properties

You will know when you're hit with a Blight by looking at the icons above you health bars. The good thing is that you can cure all of them using a Nulberry. Well, and for Fireblight, which also causes you body to go on flames, you can - obviously - roll on the ground to extinguish it.

See? Sometimes the game is pretty intuitive, but sometimes it's quite obscure about its mechanics (like Dragonblight, what on earth is going on there?). Hopefully this guide will help you understand these concepts a bit easier, if you don't have the time to study wikis...