Upgrading Your Hunter | Journal #12 | Monster Hunter World: The Board Game

Phew! Facing Rathalos was tough, right?

Our Ancient Forest hunting party deserves a break!

Of course, that means we’ll need to recruit a new party for our next virtual campaign. 

(And speaking of campaigns, don’t forget to hit ‘Notify Me’ on Kickstarter.)

Before we get to that, though, let’s check in with our hunters and see how they’ve been using their loot...

Upgrading Your Hunter

From the journal of Jamie Perkins, Lead Developer

So, you’ve successfully completed a quest and you’ve got the rewards to show for it.

Now, it’s time to use them! Let’s craft some equipment.

Weapon Types

We’ve tracked a monster in the gathering phase and fought them in the hunting phase. 

Next, we turn to the third and final phase of the quest: the HQ phase, or ‘the place where crafting happens’.

Every hunter can craft improved weapons using ore, bone, and monster parts.

If you’re only using hunters and monsters from the Ancient Forest set, every hunter can make an ore weapon, a bone weapon, and two monster weapons.

Just like the video game, not every hunter can make weapons from every monster. 

The weapons your hunter can make are listed on their forge reference card.

Forge Reference Cards

Let’s use the great sword hunter’s forge reference card as an example:

Each box shows a weapon the great sword hunter can craft, and the resources you need to craft it.

This hunter can craft new weapons using Great Jagras and Rathalos parts, plus the usual improved ore and bone weapons. 

Think of it like a recipe. Once you have all the ingredients for a weapon, you can hand them over to the Smithy to make it.

(So, you’d better keep an eye on those recipes when deciding which monsters to hunt and what resources to carve when you succeed!)

The lines between the weapon boxes show how weapons can be upgraded.

Take the Great Jagras weapon line, for example. Because Buster Sword is your starting weapon, you could craft a Jagras Blade as soon as you’ve got the resources. 

However, you can’t craft the Jagras Hacker until you’ve crafted the Jagras Blade, even if you’ve got the resources. 

So how do you get the resources you need?

Let's take a look at the Great Jagras reward table to find out!

Monster Reward Tables

Okay. We hunted and successfully took down Great Jagras. Now we’re back at HQ.

After checking our great sword hunter’s forge reference card, we know we need the following to craft a Jagras Blade:

2 Great Jagras claws, 1 Great Jagras hide, 2 Great Jagras scales, and 1 sharp claw.

How do we get them?

Well, some are resources we could have found in the gathering phase. Others are automatic rewards we can get by breaking body parts during the hunting phase. 

If we broke the claws body part, for instance, we’d gain 1 Great Jagras claw as a break reward. 

(That’s everyone in the party — not just the hunter who did the breaking.)

Once we’ve figured out which break rewards we earned, it’s time to roll on the reward table to claim the rest of your loot!

Spending Dice on Rewards

The number of dice you roll depends on the difficulty of the monster and the number of hunters in your party.

Let’s say there are two hunters in your party and you’ve just completed the Great Jagras assigned quest (1 star difficulty). That means you’ll roll 3 dice on the reward table.

Now, let’s say you roll a 2, 3, and a 4.

You really need that sharp claw to make your Jagras Blade. So, you combine your 3 die and your 4 die to get the 7 total you need for the sharp claw. 

You also need another Great Jagras claw. So, you use your 2 die to get that, too.

Choosing how to spend your dice is a big part of crafting upgrades. Use your forge reference card to help you decide which resources you really need, and what monster parts to target for automatic break rewards. 

Oh, and remember to note down anything you find in the gathering phase, as well as any break rewards or rolled rewards, on your character sheet. 

New Weapon Cards

So, you’ve got what you need for the Jagras Blade! 

To craft it, tick off the resources you’ve used on your character sheet, and find the Jagras Blade card.

To equip it, replace the weapon card on your stamina board with your new one.

You keep all weapons you craft during your campaign, so you can freely change your equipment between quests. 

(It's a good idea to note down any weapons you craft on your character sheet, too.)

New weapons must come with different attacks and damage, right? Right.

So, now you’ve equipped the Jagras Blade, you’ll need to swap the cards in your attack and damage decks to match your new weapon.

For the damage deck contents, check the list on the weapon card. You’ll usually find your damage deck becomes stronger, with higher numbers, and sometimes even more cards in total (because some weapons are sharper than others). 

For your attack deck contents, check the list on the bottom of the weapon card. Remove the cards listed in the ‘remove’ column, and add the ones listed in the ‘add’ column. 

Again, you’ll often find you’ve gained new, stronger attacks—so you can take on tougher monsters! 

Whenever you equip a new weapon, you’ll follow the same steps. 

That’s weapon upgrades covered. Now, what about armour?

New Armour Cards

Armour cards follow pretty much the same process. 

You need to search for, or earn, the rewards listed to make the armour. Then, exchange those rewards for the new armour card. 

Equip new armour by placing it in the slot on your stamina board.

The main difference between armour and weapons is that you don’t have to craft armour in any order. Just find the resources you need and make the armour you want.

Oh, and make sure to read your new armour cards carefully, because they’ll often come with powerful new abilities that can help you in future quests!

Take the Jagras Helm, for example:

Usually, during your turn, you’ll need to decide whether to attack or take preparation actions (e.g. drinking a potion and/or sharpening your weapon if your damage deck is depleted).

You can’t attack and do preparation actions — unless you have the Jagras Helm equipped!

This nifty bit of kit lets you sharpen your weapon, drink a potion, and attack all in the same turn. It also gives you 1 bonus armour and 1 water elemental resistance.

Cool, right?

Over the course of a campaign, you’ll gain a whole arsenal of new weapons and armour. 

Soon enough, you’ll be able to check your stash and choose whatever equipment gives you the best chance in the next quest.

Speaking of which…

~ Journal Ends ~