Monster Hunter World - What is Affinity?
Learn what the "Affinity" stat is and how to use it when hunting monsters.
Monster Hunter World can be a confusing beast at times, what with all the features, mechanics, and dozens of menus you can dig through. One stat that might have caught your eye is called Affinity, and it’s no doubt left you wondering, “What is Affinity and what does it do?”
Last updated on January 7, 2024, at 4:09 p.m. PT.
What is Affinity
In Monster Hunter World, the Affinity stat refers to the chances a weapon has of dealing extra damage (a critical hit). Most of the time, when you inspect a weapon, the Affinity stat will be set to “zero”, but as you progress through the game, you will find weapons with varying Affinity.
The way Affinity works is this: if your weapon has an Affinity rating of +10% that means it has a ten percent chance to deal more damage. Similarly, if a weapon has a -10% Affinity rating, it means that it has a ten percent chance of dealing less damage.
There are obvious payoffs for choosing one or the other. At first glance, it might seem ridiculous to use a weapon that has a -10% Affinity rating, but while it will sometimes deal less damage, the payoff is that it will have a higher overall damage. Take for instance the Palico weapon, the Felyne Anja Bonehammer, it has an Affinity rating of -30%. However, it makes up for this by offering 14 melee damage and 12 ranged damage, both of which are significantly higher than other weapons of the same rarity, and that’s before you consider it also does 160 Fire damage.
Meanwhile, a weapon with high Affinity is going to have reduced overall damage, as you are more than likely to be dealing higher damage whenever the Affinity percentage procs. Ultimately, it’s up to you whether you want to risk dealing less damage overall at a chance of bonus damage, or dealing more damage with a high risk of dealing less.
How to know Affinity has activated on an attack
If you do opt to use a weapon with a positive Affinity rating, you'll want to know it's actually doing something. A red line through the damage number indicates Affinity has activated on that attack, boosting the damage of the hit. This can be a bit difficult to proc on slow-hitting weapons, as you're getting out fewer attacks, but the damage will be higher compared to something like the fast-hitting Insect Glaive.
How to boost Affinity
Keep in mind, there are ways you can improve your Affinity stat, which essentially helps lift up some of those negative Affinity ratings. This is done through Skills, the bonuses included on armor and Charms. The following is courtesy of Fextralife:
- Affinity Booster tool
- Critical Eye skill
- Affinity Sliding skill
- Attack Boost
- Weakness Exploit
- Agitator
- Maximum Might
- Latent Power
- Critical Boost
- Critical Element / True Critical Element
- Critical Status / True Critical Status
- Affinity Augment
Now that you know what Affinity does, you can make an educated decision on your weapon's upgrade path. Be sure to check out our Monster Hunter World Guide for more tips on the many in-game features.
