Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is finally here. Every Monster Hunter World players have been waiting for this one for a while now and the expansion has delivered in spades. While you can jump straight into Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s content if you’ve reached Hunter Rank 16 and done the main story of Monster Hunter World, don’t expect things to be a walk in the park. There are a few things you should do before jumping directly into Monster Hunter World: Iceborne and some more that will help you a lot in the long run. Here are some tips to make you have a better experience and more fun in Monster Hunter: World Iceborne.

Don’t jump directly into Monster Hunter World: Iceborne story content

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne directly after beating the main story of the base game: I cannot stress this enough. While the requirements to access Monster Hunter World: Iceborne’s story content is just the main game’s story and being Hunter Rank 16, you will have a hard time unless you are comfortable taking on very difficult monsters. I’d recommend tackling Monster Hunter World: Iceborne once you’re able to take on tempered monsters easily.

Spend time in Seliana and the new Gathering Hub

Seliana is more compact than Astera but is a much better hub overall since everything is near each other and you spend less time moving around. The new Gathering Hub is actually more than just eye candy. Unlike the one in Astera, you actually have access to most facilities you’d need here and will spend a whole lot less time on loading screens while your friends are waiting for you to join or post a quest.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Hot Drinks are essential

The Hoarfrost Reach is very cold and while you can find enough hot peppers around and hot springs to stay warm, you’re better off using a Hot Drink and not worrying about the cold affecting your stamina for a good amount of time. Get used to drinking one before setting out of the camp area on a hunt. Also don’t forget to eat before every expedition or hunt. It barely costs anything and will save your skin more often than not.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne mantle upgrades explained

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne lets you upgrade your mantles to add decorations and these will give you a much needed boost to whatever stat you focus on for your build or what you’d like to do when you have a particular mantle equipped. The first mantle upgrade is given to you directly but make sure you spend time on upgrading whatever you can as soon as possible because this helps a lot.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Steamworks rewards

The Steamworks is a new facility available in Seliana that lets you play a new minigame to earn rewards. This requires you to input a three button combination to attempt to progress to the next portion of the minigame that sees the pressure in the Steamworks build up. Your aim is to get it to overload by inputting the correct button combinations and earn more rewards. The rewards include higher tier armor spheres, trade-in items like eggs, prints, consumables, and a lot more. Whenever you get an alert that there is enough fuel at the Steamworks, spend a bit of time because the rewards are more than worth your time even if you can’t get too far ahead the first few times. You will even find some NPCs helping you out in the middle of the minigame.

How to access Monster Hunter World: Iceborne new training area

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne sees the training area get a big upgrade. While you should spend time to learn your new combos and practice the new moves, make sure you try out the new training area option that customises the placement of objects by talking to your Housekeeper. This is a great place to practice using the Clutch Claw.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Clutch Claw explained

While the Slinger was a great addition to Monster Hunter World itself, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne sees the slinger be more useful than ever thanks to the clutch claw. You can fire this at monsters to grapple on and do damage, make it run into walls, or weaken a specific body part. This is very useful for the monsters who take far too little damage from attacks initially. Spend time using this because it can save you in many hunts. There is a quest early on that rewards you with a trophy or achievement depending on your platform once you learn the basics of the Clutch Claw in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. If you aren’t confident about trying it on the new Master Rank quests, there is no shame in going on low or high rank expeditions to get used to the Clutch Claw against monsters in the wild.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Rank armor crafting is crucial

While your weapon upgrades will build on what you already have for the most part, your high rank armor is mostly useless in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. The new monsters hit hard so make sure you focus on crafting Master Rank armor pieces because the boost in defense is massive when going from High Rank to Master Rank for armor. Don’t forget to craft armor for your palico as well.

Don’t be afraid to fire an SOS flare in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

There is no shame in asking for help if you’re stuck on a wall in the story or a specific quest is giving you trouble and can’t progress. Even after spending loads of time in the base game, Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Master Rank monsters hit like an angry truck. You probably didn’t use this feature much in the base game but there will be loads of people playing the early parts of Monster Hunter World: Iceborne now so it is worth calling for help when you need some to save time.

Do some of the Low Rank and High Rank content as a refresher

Many players will be returning to Monster Hunter World with Monster Hunter World: Iceborne after a long time and it is always good to spend time doing some of the easier hunts as a refresher if you haven’t played in a while. You can also use these moments to practice the new combos and mechanics like the Clutch Claw with live monsters before dipping your toes into Master Rank.

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