Monster Hunter Wilds Ranks, Quests & Monster Variants
Many of the words that confuse players in Monster Hunter Wilds describe difficulty: which rank a quest belongs to, what the stars next to it mean, and why the same monster can turn up as a normal, Tempered or Arch-tempered version. This glossary sorts those terms out, together with the quest types you choose from at the Quest Counter and the tools you use to fill a hunting party.
All entries are checked against the live game in October 2026, which runs version 1.042 (released in August 2026, followed by bug-fix patches), and against Capcom's event quest schedule. Weapons and combat systems are explained in the weapons and combat glossary, and upgrades and materials in the gear, crafting and farming glossary.
| Hunter Rank | What it opens (from the official update notes) |
|---|---|
| HR 16 | The Grand Hub, unlocked by talking to Tetsuzan in Suja |
| HR 21 | The Mizutsune extra mission (after Kanya's first fishing side mission) |
| HR 31 | The Lagiacrus and Seregios extra missions |
| HR 41 | 8-star Tempered versions of Gore Magala, Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra and Jin Dahaad; the Omega Planetes extra mission |
| HR 50 | The story mission that unlocks the High Rank Zoh Shia fight |
| HR 100 | 9-star Tempered monsters in the field, the Gogmazios extra mission and the 10-star event quests |
Low Rank and High Rank
The first chapters of the story are Low Rank: monsters are weaker, materials are basic, and the armor you make there sits below rarity 5. When the credits of that first part roll, the game moves into High Rank, where monsters hit harder, Tempered monsters appear and quest rewards start to include decorations.
The split matters for gear. Several High Rank systems ignore Low Rank equipment completely: armor Transcending, for example, only works on rarity 5 armor and above.
Hunter Rank (HR)
Hunter Rank is your account's progress number, the Monster Hunter version of a player level. It rises as you complete quests, including Field Surveys and Investigations, and the cap is HR 999. A high HR does not make a hunter stronger or better by itself; its practical job is opening content, as the table above shows.
During the story, HR is capped at several points, the first one at HR 8 at the end of Low Rank. Hunting past a cap is not wasted: the points are kept and applied once you finish the main mission that raises the cap. After the story ends, the cap is lifted and HR keeps climbing. For most players the number that matters is HR 100, because the hardest content in the live game (9-star Tempered monsters, Gogmazios and every 10-star quest) requires it. How fast the number grows is a classic experience curve question, and event quests are known for speeding it up.
Master Rank
Master Rank is the tier that earlier Monster Hunter expansions, such as Iceborne and Sunbreak, added above High Rank. In Wilds it is not in the live game as of October 2026. Capcom announced it as part of Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, a large expansion revealed at Summer Game Fest in June 2026 and scheduled for 2027 without an exact date.
The official Ascendance page lists two requirements: a copy of the base game and completion of the 7-star assignment "Awaking From a Dream". Capcom has also named a new locale, the Skybound Eyrie, new actions for all 14 weapon types through a piece of equipment called the Boost Bracer, and the return of Elder Dragons, Kushala Daora among them. Until the expansion is out, any guide or listing that talks about Master Rank gear in Wilds describes something that does not exist yet.
Quest stars and monster strength
Every quest has a star rating, shown in game as a number of stars, that tells you its difficulty. On the official event quest schedule the range runs from 1 star to 10 stars. The 10-star tier is the newest: it arrived in February 2026 with Arch-tempered Arkveld, and 10-star quests now exist for all five Arch-tempered monsters and for Gogmazios.
Monsters met in the field also carry a separate strength rating, shown as purple diamond icons. More diamonds mean higher stats and better bonus rewards, which is why players compare diamonds before choosing which monster to hunt or save as an Investigation.
Assignments, missions and optional quests
Assignments are the main story quests. They play cutscenes, move the plot forward and unlock other quest types; their target monsters always have a fixed, ordinary size. Around them sit extra missions, which introduce monsters added in updates (Mizutsune, Lagiacrus and Seregios, Omega Planetes, Gogmazios), and side missions, smaller tasks from characters you meet along the way.
Optional quests are the repeatable ones. They keep the same conditions every time and none of them can be missed. Title Update 4 added optional quests with several 9-star monsters in one hunt, which reward nameplates, and Hunting Exercises for practicing against 9-star Tempered monsters. You accept quests through your handler or at the Quest Counter in the Grand Hub.
Field Survey
A Field Survey is a hunt you start on a monster you find in the open world, without visiting a quest board first. You can begin one from the map by selecting a monster's icon, or simply by attacking a monster in the field until the game turns it into a quest.
Survey hunts work like normal quests, with a time limit and a limited number of faints, but the monster's strength rating decides the bonus rewards: extra materials, decorations and, for Tempered monsters, Artian weapon parts. That makes surveys the backbone of High Rank play once the story is over.
Investigations
An Investigation is a saved Field Survey that you can replay later. You save it from the map or from your survey history, paying Guild Points, and the replay keeps everything that made the original good: the same monster at the same strength and size, the same conditions and the same bonus rewards.
Each saved Investigation has a limited number of attempts, and the Quest Counter can sort them by attempts left (added in Title Update 4). Because size is kept too, an Investigation is a handy way to share a crown-sized monster with friends. Capcom has warned that some shared Investigations and Field Surveys are made with modified game data, and asks players not to play quests that look altered.
Event quests
Event quests are special quests with their own conditions and rewards, posted on Capcom's schedule. They used to rotate in and out, but that has changed a lot:
- Version 1.041 (February 2026) made all 29 event quests that give equipment materials permanent, and playable offline.
- Version 1.042 (August 2026) opened the 25 event quests and Challenge Quests that still needed a connection to offline play and turned "Just What the Doctor Ordered" into a permanent quest.
The official schedule is now split into permanent and limited-time quests. For 7 to 27 October 2026 it lists one limited-time quest, the 6-star "Gravios Blockade" (HR 31+, a Tempered Gravios hunt that gives extra cooking ingredients, open until 3 November 2026), while the permanent list includes the 10-star quests for Gogmazios and the Arch-tempered monsters. The schedule marks each quest as online-only or available offline.
Arena, Challenge and Free Challenge Quests
Arena Quests are time-attack hunts taken at the Arena Quest Counter in the Grand Hub. You use a fixed set of equipment, alone or with one other hunter, and your clear time is ranked against players worldwide on the Expedition Record Board, the in-game version of a speedrun timer.
Challenge Quests, added with Title Update 1, sit next to the arena hunts and come with equipment restrictions. A Free Challenge Quest is the same kind of hunt with no equipment restrictions, so you bring your own build. Since version 1.042 the Challenge Quests on the schedule can also be accepted offline.
Tempered monsters
A Tempered monster is a battle-hardened individual of a normal species: shinier, tougher, more aggressive and marked with large blue-and-white scars. In Focus Mode its wounds glow blue instead of red. Tempered monsters are the main source of the parts used to forge Artian weapons.
They come in strength tiers that match the quest stars:
- 7-star and 8-star: the 8-star versions of Gore Magala and the four apex predators arrived in May 2025 and need HR 41.
- 9-star: added in August 2025 for nine species, with more following; they need HR 100, resist wounds and status ailments better, and reward Glowing Stones that turn into random talismans.
Since Title Update 2, Tempered monsters can also appear inside monster herds, and since Title Update 4 a 9-star Tempered Rathalos roams several locales at HR 100 and above.
Arch-tempered monsters
Arch-tempered monsters are a step above Tempered: higher stats, new attacks and stronger resistance to wounding. In Wilds the state is no longer reserved for Elder Dragons. Five monsters received it through the free updates:
| Monster | Added |
|---|---|
| Arch-tempered Rey Dau | Title Update 1 (spring 2025) |
| Arch-tempered Uth Duna | Title Update 2 (summer 2025) |
| Arch-tempered Nu Udra | Title Update 3 (autumn 2025) |
| Arch-tempered Jin Dahaad | Title Update 4 (December 2025) |
| Arch-tempered Arkveld | Version 1.041 (February 2026) |
All five are now permanent event quests. The first four started as 8-star or 9-star quests and gained 10-star versions for HR 100 players in February 2026; Arkveld's quest was 10-star from the start. The 10-star hunts reward Battle-tempered Emblems, which you spend on reinforcing Gogma Artian weapons, and Timeworn Charms, a talisman appraisal item. Arch-tempered quests are also where γ (gamma) armor comes from: the Arkveld quest, for instance, gives the materials for the Arkveld γ set. Since Title Update 4, SOS Flare quests can target Arch-tempered monsters too.
Alpha monsters and packs
Some large monsters in Wilds live in packs, and a pack is led by an alpha. The best-known case is Doshaguma: in the Scarlet Forest it usually lives alone, but in the Windward Plains it forms packs led by an Alpha Doshaguma, which is noticeably larger and has deep red patches in its mane. Bring down the alpha and the rest of the pack scatters, which is exactly what one of the story assignments asks you to do.
Title Update 3 added quests that target whole monster packs. Do not confuse an alpha monster with α armor (the Greek letter marks a version of an armor set) or with Alpha, the character from the Final Fantasy XIV collaboration.
Apex predators, seasons and the Inclemency
Each locale cycles through three phases: the Fallow, when food is scarce and predators roam; the Inclemency, a locale-wide storm or disaster; and the Plenty, when life returns. The same map can look and play very differently from one phase to the next.
Every locale has an apex predator that rules it and appears during its Inclemency:
- Rey Dau, Windward Plains, during the Sandtide (a thunder-filled sandstorm);
- Uth Duna, Scarlet Forest, during the Downpour;
- Nu Udra, Oilwell Basin, during the Firespring;
- Jin Dahaad, Iceshard Cliffs.
From HR 100, apex predators are more likely to appear even when their locale is not in its Inclemency, and all four have Tempered and Arch-tempered versions.
Guardian monsters
Guardians are artificial copies of existing monsters, found in the Ruins of Wyveria. They look like the species they are modeled on, but with pale coloring, pitch-black eyes and glowing purple veins, and they put Wylk energy into their attacks. Examples include Guardian Rathalos, Guardian Doshaguma, Guardian Ebony Odogaron and Guardian Fulgur Anjanath.
Guardian Arkveld is a story fight only; after the story you meet the regular Arkveld instead. Guardians have their own materials and equipment, so a Guardian Doshaguma hunt is not a substitute for a Doshaguma hunt.
Crowns and monster size
Large monsters vary in size. Exceptionally small or large ones earn a miniature crown or a giant crown when you hunt them, and collectors chase both. You can check a monster's size by scouting it with binoculars before the hunt.
Story assignment targets always have a fixed, ordinary size, so crowns come from the field, Investigations and some event quests that deliberately feature unusually large or small monsters. Since an Investigation keeps the monster's size, a crown found once can be replayed and shared.
SOS Flare, Support Hunters and lobbies
An SOS Flare is a call for help you fire once a quest has started. Up to three other hunters can answer from anywhere in the world, even if they are not in your lobby; it needs an internet connection. If not enough players join after a while, Support Hunters, NPC hunters with their own weapons, fill the empty slots and leave again when a real player joins. In the quest settings you can choose Only Players or Only Support Hunters, and since Title Update 2 you can pick which Support Hunters may come.
Online play is organized in lobbies of up to 100 people, with crossplay between platforms. Friends you hunt with often can form a Link Party with its own chat and voice chat. The Grand Hub, unlocked at HR 16, is the shared social space, a player hub in the usual sense. One fight breaks the four-player rule: Gogmazios is fought by up to four hunters plus four Support Hunters, although the 10-star version has no Support Hunters on its upper level.
