How to do a Sneak Attack in Monster Hunter Wilds

Sneak Attacks are a nice way in Monster Hunter Wilds to catch a monster off by surprise to secure a cheeky amount of damage pre-fight or just troll a few creatures before running away.

Most folks might rush into fights, but if you are an achievement hunter looking to get everything, you’ll eventually need to do at least one Sneak Attack to pick up the Hunter-Assassin achievement. Not many even know the attack is in-game, let alone know how to do it, so how does it all work?

Hunter-Assassin achievement guide: How to perform your first successful Sneak Attack

Performing a Sneak Attack in Monster Hunter Wilds is pretty simple, and there are many ways to perform the action.

The basic approach to getting a Sneak Attack is simple. Approach a monster you haven’t begun fighting from behind while crouching and getting close enough to it until you see a prompt appear on a monster asking you to hit a button. In this case, on PlayStation, the button is the circle button.

Your character will then proceed to attack the monster, and the achievement should pop up. If you attack the monster anytime before the prompt, the Sneak Attack fails, and you’ll need to run away and find a new monster to act instead.

If you’re worried about alerting the monster or are against more finicky creatures, you can equip the Ghillie Suit to make yourself quieter, giving you more freedom and wiggle room to get right up to a monster to perform an attack instead.

Not every monster can be Sneak Attacked, as most are always highly agitated or too big for the prompt to appear. If you want to perform it quickly, find some of the more miniature, less violent monsters in the Plains or Forests to use the ability to test first before using it against more significant threats.

Not only do you get an achievement the first time you perform a Sneak Attack, but you also deal massive damage on the first surprise attack, so it is worth trying to accomplish it every time you face off against a monster for the first time to get that nice little bit of damage to kick off the fight before proceeding into the battle normally.

Are Sneak Attacks worth it?

Sneak Attacks might feel great at first, but as time passes, there is usually more value in rushing head-first into a fight and trying to mount a monster instead. Mounting feels better than a Sneak Attack, as you can deal lots of damage and create wounds on a monster’s body for quick flurry attacks and items.

We only used a Sneak Attack once when getting the achievement, and we haven’t revisited it since. We doubt most players will do so unless someone finds an incredible build and strategy too good not to use.