1. Beat the Game!
Technically, rolling credits is the only thing you need to do in Monster Hunter: World to be able to access Iceborne’s storyline. If you rush, you can probably get through Monster Hunter: World’s story quests in about 40 hours, give or take. If you need help getting started, check out our Monster Hunter: World Beginner’s Guide!
But, Iceborne’s Master Rank—like previous Monster Hunter’s G-rank—s no joke. You’ll probably want to prepare more not only to shake off the cobwebs, but so the difficulty spike doesn’t feel like a brick wall. Expect the jump into Master Rank to feel similar to how it felt transitioning into High Rank from Low Rank. If you had the best Low Rank armor, you probably felt fine going into High Rank, while you likely had a tougher time if you started High Rank with early-game gear.
2. Master at Least One Weapon
Practice really does make perfect in a game like Monster Hunter: World, where skill is just about as important, if not more, as equipment. Completely master at least one weapon, two if you want to be prepared for anything! I switch based on the challenge at hand. For example, I learned the Bow because Bazelgeuse originally gave me a tough time when using my go-to, the Sword and Shield.
3. Become a True Armorsmith
Not every weapon and every playstyle goes well with just one armor set—and a set of pieces all from the same monster is rarely the best way to go. Choose Armor Skills that complement your playstyle and weapon and upgrade that armor set, and you’ll probably have a much easier time.
Personally, my favorite go-to set for Sword and Shield is built with a mix of defensive and offensive skills, like Health Boost, Evade Window, Weakness Exploit, Crit Boost, and a few more! For a support set, I run Wide-Range. You’ll want to collect Armor Decorations to help round out sets!
Try making a set to counter a specific monster if you’re having a tough time! Or, if you generally feel like you’re not doing enough damage, build for Affinity.
4. Collect Every Palico Gadget
You’ll earn Palico Gadgets by befriending the Grimalkynes in each Locale—or Gajalaka in Elder’s Recess. These are incredibly useful and can be leveled up, so get to finding Grimalkyne doodle’s to collect them all. The Palico Gadget Guide explains how to get them all.
5. Learn How Food Works
Yeah, getting the Chef’s Choice is tempting, but it’s not the best way to go. Collecting Canteen ingredients will open up a plethora of new food skills you can access for the Custom Platter. Find some skills you especially like, and save meal sets based off them. Or, at minimum, eat for the stat you need—like Elemental Resistance against Kirin. Make up for the lack of health with items like Max Potions!
If you’ve done all of your optional and delivery quests, but are still missing ingredients, that means you haven’t collected them all out in the wild. Try going on Investigations with an Upsurge on gathering spots, and gather at spots that sparkle. For example, when there’s an Upsurge: Conch Shells in the Coral Highlands, head through the small cave in the southeastern part of Sector 9 to find a spot to gather Violent Abalone, which will unlock a fish ingredient in the Resilience category. Perfect for getting a large Defense Boost and Felyne Moxie, which prevents fainting one time!
6. Do Your Optional Quests!
Now we’re into the sort of, should do, but don’t really need to do category on the path to Iceborne. Every so often, an NPC will have an exclamation mark above their head, which probably means they have a quest to give out! Make sure to complete these Optional Quests (marked by a speech bubble in the quest list) to gain Canteen ingredients, hunter tools, access to new monsters, and more. And don’t forget to turn in Deliveries at the Resource Center for more important rewards as well – like the Iceproof mantle, which will obviously come in handy for Iceborne!
7. Collect Every Mantle and Booster
Note: This video is missing mantles that released after the game launched! See How to Unlock Every Mantle and Booster in Monster Hunter: World for guides for each.
Speaking of mantles, try to collect all hunter tools available which are useful for myriad reasons. One of the most useful ones—he Rocksteady Mantle—can’t be earned until you reach HR50! But, at the very least, unlock the Temporal Mantle, which grants near invulnerability for 90 seconds and only requires HR16.
First, complete the Special Assignment The Food Chain Dominator—which will unlock the Dragonproof Mantle—and then more on to the line of Special Assignments that begins with The Blazing Sun. This will also unlock the Lunastra, an Elder Dragon whose weapons are the bomb. They have Blast element (hah), skills baked into them, and decoration slots! They’re some of my very favorite weapons.
8. Unlock Augmentation
We’re not sure how exactly this will work in Iceborne, but Augmentation is a huge part of World’s current endgame. It involves reaching HR29 and then earning a rare Warrior’s Streamstone by completing Threat Level 2 Tempered Monster investigations. This will allow you to finally use the more common Streamstones you’ve probably collected along the way, giving you the ability to upgrade your armor’s defense even more. The Warrior’s and Hero’s Streamstones are strictly for adding special skills to your weapons, and are rare and weapon-specific.
9. Challenge Yourself
Are you still with me? Good! There are plenty of other challenges to conquer too, like the Final Fantasy XIV and Witcher 3 collaborations, which both, although greatly challenging, grant amazing rewards. Defeating Final Fantasy XIV’s Behemoth (which is no small feat (see the Behemoth Strategy Guide) will give you access to the amazing Drachen Armor. Want to cheese it? Head into the battle with just one friend and Palico equipped with the Plunderblade. Cut off the tail and break the horns (run Partbreaker), then return from the quest, and repeat.
The Witcher’s Special Assignment is solo-only, and has special side-quests that reward an Attack Jewel and more help from Gajalaka! You can also craft Witcher’s Silver Sword, an amazing SnS. You’ll have to take on the Ancient Leshen to upgrade it, which requires HR50, and is one of the most difficult fights in the game along with Extreme Behemoth. Ancient Leshen materials are also used for Zirael Dual Blades (Ciri’s weapons!).
Once you’re beyond Hunter Rank 50, you’ll then have access to the extremely challenging Event Quest-only Arch Tempered Elder Dragons and the new armor sets that come with them. If you’re going to defeat one of them, though—hunt the massive Kulve Taroth, which only requires HR16. Defeating her rewards incredible new Gold and White Gold weapons.
10. Do Event Quests
Best of all, all of these Arch Tempered Elder Dragons are around as Event Quests in Monster Hunter: World until August 29, 2019—along with most previous Event Quests. Here are the ones we recommend, listed under required Hunter Rank.
HR15 and Below:
Greeting the Gluttons
Vouchers that guarantee food skill activation
Every Hunter’s Dream
Wyvern Ignition Greatsword (it’s really good)
Triple Threat Throwdown
Armor Decorations. Wear Bandit Mantles in a full party for extra cash. Skip this if you can do HR50 quest The Greatest Jagras instead.
Wiggle Me This
The hilarious Wiggler Head
Mosswinin’ and Dinin (8/07 – 8/09 only)
For Golden Eggs, Armor Spheres, Faux Tickets for layered armor sets, and more. Note: Giant Mosswine will one-shot you, but are very weak to status effects, like stun. I had success using the Bow’s Arc Shot.
Rollin’ with the Uragaan
Armor Sphere+ and Advanced Armor Spheres
HR16
The Fury of El Dorado
Accept in the Gathering Hub for Kulve Taroth armor, tons of extra loot to sell for cash, and some of the best weapons in the game. See the Kulve Taroth Siege Guide for tips!
HR30
A Nose for an Eye / Snow and Cherry Blossoms / No Tomorrow for Usurpers
Large boost to Hunter Rank. Mainly just to get to HR50 so you can take advantage of The Greatest Jagras and The Name’s Lavasioth quests,
A Simple Task
Collect Tempered Monster tracks to unlock Tempered investigations
HR50
The Thronetaker and Relish the Moment
Sullied and Shining Streamstones
Tracking the Delivery
Collect Tempered Elder Dragon tracks to unlock Tempered Elder Dragon Investigations
The Greatest Jagras – (7/25 to 8/08) Best to farm BOXES of Armor Decorations – look at this image! This is normal!
The Name’s Lavasioth – ( 8/08 to 8/29) Also to farm boxes of Armor Decorations! Not quite as good as the Greatest Jagras though, so get to it.
Really, that’s it /s! Remember, for complete guides to everything mentioned, click on the links for helpful pages from our Monster Hunter: World: Wiki Guide! For even more game help, here are video playlists of every Monster Hunter: World Game Help stream (aka Monster Hunter Bootcamp) and Monster Hunter: World monster strategy guide videos (aka Monster of the Week) the writer of this article has done.
For more on Monster Hunter: World, check out these 9 Quality of Life Improvements in Iceborne, Gameplay and Impressions of Three New Iceborne Subspecies, and 34 New Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Impressions.
Casey DeFreitas is an Editor on the wikis team at IGN who loves monster hunting, slaying, and catching. Catch her on Twitter @ShinyCaseyD.
