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What does Affinity do in Monster Hunter Wilds?

Learn what a positive or negative Affinity stat means in Monster Hunter Wilds and how it affects your damage output.
Sam Chandler
Sam Chandler
Capcom
1

Affinity is a mysterious stat in Monster Hunter Wilds. Unless you’re a long-time veteran that remembers all the ins and outs, there’s a good chance you’ve either forgotten what Affinity does or have yet to learn about it. This is a critical stat (pun intended) that can play a massive part in your damage output.

What does Affinity do?

Comparing two weapons at the Smithy to see their Affinity
Comparing this weapon to my current weapon of equal rarity shows that it's lower, negative Affinity means it has a much higher base damage.
Source: Shacknews

Affinity is your weapon’s chance to deal bonus damage or less damage. A weapon with no Affinity will never be able to perform a critical hit. In order to take advantage of crit-specific skills, your weapon must have some form of Affinity.

  • Positive Affinity means extra damage when a critical hit occurs
  • Negative Affinity means less damage when a critical hit occurs

As you can see, there are two different types of Affinity, positive and negative. Positive Affinity gives your weapon a chance to deal an additional 25 percent damage (125 percent total). Negative Affinity gives your weapon a chance to deal 25 percent less damage on a hit (75 percent damage total).

Why would I want negative Affinity?

Showing the Expert Jewel that provides teh Critical Eye skill
Some Decorations can increase Affinity, which can negate the negative Affinity stat.
Source: Shacknews

At this point, most players question why they would want negative Affinity on their weapon. A weapon that features a negative Affinity stat will typically do significantly more base damage when compared to a weapon of a similar elemental and rarity level that has positive Affinity.

This means you will be dealing more damage most of the time with a percentage chance to deal less damage whenever Affinity activates. You could offset the negative Affinity with some Skills, Decorations, and Charms. This would allow you to keep a high base damage while mitigating the negative stat or even increasing it to the positive side.

How to know when Affinity activates

The player hits a monster and deals positive affinity
The pink star above the damage indicates positive Affinity has activated.
Source: Shacknews

There is an icon above or below your damage number whenever Affinity activates on a hit:

  • Positive Affinity is a pink star above the damage number
  • Negative Affinity is a blue star below the damage number

Now that you know Affinity is tied to your damage output, you can plan out some better builds. Keep an eye on those damage numbers to see how often it’s activating and whether you need to supplement your build with Affinity-specific skills. Read over our Monster Hunter Wilds page for help with other mechanics like understanding Lucky Vouchers.

Head of Guides
Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler 

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