• Monster Hunter World Best Tank Weapon

The final light category weapon in Monster Hunter World is one for those of you who prefer a bit of range in your combat – is the light bowgun, which is the most nimble of the ranged weapons. Monster Hunter: World weapon types. First up, let’s go over a few of the basics. There are 14 weapon types in total – 11 melee options and three ranged options. Attacks come in three flavours in Monster Hunter: World – either normal, special, or charged.

Weapons in Monster Hunter World have an Affinity stat which, like a lot of things in Monster Hunter World, can be confusing because it's poorly explained. Here’s how it works.

How Affinity affects weapon damage

Affinity is the probability of doing either a strong (positive Affinity) or weak (negative Affinity) hit with a weapon. It’s expressed as a percentage ranging from -100% to +100%. Strong hits do 25% more damage and weak hits do 25% less.

It may seem like avoiding weapons with negative Affinity is a good idea. It isn’t. Affinity is one of several stats that affect weapon damage, and, depending on the other stats, a weapon with negative Affinity can do more damage on average than one with positive Affinity.

Affinity affects the average damage done with each hit. It’s used to balance weapons so that weapons that do a lot of damage with each hit aren’t massively overpowered compared to weapons that do less damage per hit. You have to take a weapon’s raw damage into account if you want to determine how Affinity affects the weapon’s damage.

Weapons in Monster Hunter World have an Affinity stat which, like a lot of things in Monster Hunter World, can be confusing because it's poorly explained. Here’s how it works.

How Affinity affects weapon damage

Affinity is the probability of doing either a strong (positive Affinity) or weak (negative Affinity) hit with a weapon. It’s expressed as a percentage ranging from -100% to +100%. Strong hits do 25% more damage and weak hits do 25% less.

It may seem like avoiding weapons with negative Affinity is a good idea. It isn’t. Affinity is one of several stats that affect weapon damage, and, depending on the other stats, a weapon with negative Affinity can do more damage on average than one with positive Affinity.

Affinity affects the average damage done with each hit. It’s used to balance weapons so that weapons that do a lot of damage with each hit aren’t massively overpowered compared to weapons that do less damage per hit. You have to take a weapon’s raw damage into account if you want to determine how Affinity affects the weapon’s damage.

Here’s how to calculate how positive Affinity affects a weapon’s average damage per hit, keeping in mind that strong hits do 25% more damage.

• Multiply .25 by the Affinity value. For example, if a weapon has +10% Affinity, multiply .25 x .1 = .025.
• Add 1, thus 1 + .025 = 1.025.
• Multiply by the weapon’s raw damage.

For example, suppose you have a weapon that does 200 raw damage with +10% Affinity. Multiply 200 x 1.025 = 205. On average, the weapon does 205 damage with each hit.

The process is the same for weak hits only .25 is multiplied by a negative Affinity value because you are doing 25% less damage. Here’s the same calculation for a weapon with 200 raw damage and -10% Affinity.

• .25 x (-.1) = -.025.
• 1 -.025 = .975.
• 200 x .975 = 195.

The weapon does 195 damage per hit on average.

The formula is Average damage per hit = (Raw damage) x 1 + (.25 x Affinity), where Affinity can be positive or negative.

When choosing among weapons with different Affinity stats, pay attention to both raw damage and Affinity. A weapon that does 206 raw damage with 0% Affinity will do more damage on average than a weapon with 200 raw damage and 10% Affinity, (206 x 1 = 206).

A weapon that does 211 raw damage with -10% Affinity will also do more damage than the 200 raw damage plus 10% Affinity weapon (211 x .975 = 205.725). A relatively small increase in raw damage can completely offset a negative Affinity stat.

Affinity skills

You’ll begin to build combinations of weapons and armor that suit your playstyle as you progress deeper into Monster Hunter World. If some of your favorite builds rely on Affinity, you can increase your Affinity rating with skills found on charms, armor or armor decorations. Affinity increases that come from skills are applied to whatever weapon you’re wielding.

Here are some skills that increase Affinity.

• Affinity Sliding. Increases Affinity by 30% for 15 seconds after sliding. One level.
• Attack Boost. Increases Attack Power and also increases Affinity by 5% for every level between 4 and 7.
• Critical Draw. Increases Affinity of draw attacks by 30% at level 1, 60% at level 2 and 100% at level 3.
• Critical Eye. Increases Affinity from 3% at level 1 to 30% at level 7.
• Weakness Exploit. Increases Affinity for attacks that hit a monster’s weak spots by 15% at level 1, 30% at level 2 and 50% at level 3.

Experiment with Affinity and you may find some weapon and armor combinations that turn you into a death-dealing damage machine.

Good luck and happy hunting.

If you're interested in Monster Hunter World, here are other articles you might enjoy.

This is a list of all 14 weapon types available in Monster Hunter World. Each weapon type has their upsides, downsides, and different strategies. All of them have 18+ final form weapons that they can be upgraded to.

Weapon Trees[edit]

Want to know what the final form of that Ore weapon will be? Check out these complete lists of every weapon for every weapon type.

Best Beginner Weapons[edit]

Can't decide what to pick first? Check out this video to see why these three weapons are the best for first-time Monster Hunter players:

• Light Bowgun

Of course, the main goal of Monster Hunter World is to have fun. So if you're having fun with a different weapon, stick with it, have fun, and happy hunting

See a description of each weapon below, categorized between Light, Heavy, Technical, and Ranged. Click on that weapon's tree to see a list of every individual weapon of that type and how to get them.

Light Weapons[edit]

Heavy Weapons[edit]

Technical Weapons
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Monster Hunter World Best Tank Weapon

Ranged Weapons[edit]