How to mount monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds

The Monster Hunter franchise is a glorious exploration in what the world would be like if humans needed to kill giant animals to use their body parts to create weapons and armor. And mounting monsters is a key part of that pursuit.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, hunting is all about dealing the most damage possible by knocking the monsters off their feet and punishing them with horrifying attacks while they struggle on the ground. And the best way of doing this is by mounting the monster, or getting on their back and attacking them from a place of safety.

Here’s everything there is to know about mounting monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds.

How to mount monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds

To mount monsters, repeatedly use jump attacks against the monster. This can be done by jumping in the air off of your Seikret or higher ledges above the monster. While in midair, press the primary attack button (triangle/Y on controller, LMB on mouse) to perform a jump attack.

The more jumping attacks you do, the more likely you are to mount the monster. But the more you mount the monster, the less likely you will be able to mount it as the fight rages on. So, repeated jump attacks is the best way to mount—just know you might get some diminishing returns if you keep trying to do it after successfully mounting a monster.

Certain weapons, like the Insect Glaive, are naturally way better for landing jump attacks than others. Since the Insect Glaive’s moveset includes an attack that allows you to vault into the air, this makes it the best weapon for mounting monsters.

Jump attacks are also possible with hills. With weapons like the hammer, if you load up an attack and then move down a hill, you can slide towards a monster at the bottom of the hill and then release it to launch yourself into the air.

Other methods of gaining air are running against walls and launching yourself backwards. Basically, if you can get yourself in a position to be above the monster and attack it, you can trigger a mount.

Why is mounting monsters important in Monster Hunter Wilds?

When you mount a monster, you can deal repeated attacks to it until it gets knocked off of its feet, allowing yourself and other hunters to follow up for massive damage. While mounted, there are several options, all shown at the top of your screen to detail which button prompt to use:

• Light Knife Attack
  • This is a fast attack that does minor damage.
• Strong Knife Attack
  • This is a slightly slower attack that does a bit more damage.
• Weapon Attack
  • Use your equipped weapon to deal big damage.
• Move
  • You can move back and forth on the back of the monster for the best/safest vantage point.
• Brace
  • Periodically, the monster will begin flailing, flying, or shaking to try and make you lose your grip. When this happens, the edges of your screen will get blurry and your stamina/grip meter will deplete. Brace while this happens to prevent stamina depletion. If you lose all of your stamina, you will be thrown off of the monster.

Once a damage threshold is reached, you will perform one final attack to knock the monster down. At this point, it’s your chance to follow up with your best, most high-powered attacks to deal as much damage as possible before it gets back up.

Now that you know how to mount a monster successfully, go out there, catch some air, and farm those monsters for upgrades, hunter.