Hit Zone values. How do they work? - Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

I think many people have checked Monster Field Guide after they unlocked the monster to check what their weak points are and to what elements they are weak to. However, this is just part of the story which may not be telling all of the truth. In this guide I will try to break down what you should be caring about and how to maximize your damage during hunts.

Hit zone values show the true weak points of the monster. When I learned about them I changed my hunting tactics a bit. I now try to concentrate on those parts which have the highest hitzones.

In this tutorial let us take a look at Ruiner Nergigante as an example, the data is taken from: https://mhworld.kiranico.com/monsters/oAnim/ruiner-nergigante

Don't be intimidated by the table as everything will be clear soon.

Physical damage

There are three types of Physical damage:

• Sever – dealt by Greatsword, longsword, Charge Blade, etc. can cut tails. Also some ammo types deal this damage.

• Blunt – dealt by Hammer and Hunting Horn, Greatsword Tackles, etc. Deals KO damage to the head which can stun the monster (when you see stars on his head) and reduces their Stamina

• Ranged – Bows, Heavy and Light bow guns.

Now the main point is that the hitzone value has to be more or equal to 45 in order for that part to be called a weak point. Why should you care about this? Skill weakness exploit only works on them. So if we take Ruiner Nergigante we see that Forearms, Tail would be the best parts to attack in normal state for Sever and Head, Forearms for Blunt. Regarding Ranged damage, you should concentrate on the head.

However, you can also use clutch claw to tenderize it the parts to weaken them further and allow them to become weak spots.

Let’s have a look what happens when Nergigante changes its state to White. White state is the spikes on his forearms for example:

Sever – head and Forearms are the best point to attack as they have the highest valu 75 and 70 respectivelye. So your priority should always follow what is happening to Nergigantes spikes

Blunt – Head has a huge weakness of 90, so your priority should be it

Ranged – head, which has 60 points while White

Strategy

1. Before the hunt check the hitzone values of the monster

2. Concentrate on the ones which have highest values above 45.

3. Tenderize parts to increase hitzone values even more or make weak spots out of low hitzones. For Ruiner Nergigante that would be tenderizing horns before they are broken or his body

4. If monster state changes (like growing spikes) adjust attack target accordingly.

Elemental Damage types

Elemental damage is easy to understand:

• Fire

• Water

• Thunder

• Ice

• Dragon

With element you should concentrate on parts which have hitzone values above 20. The thing with Ruiner Nergigante is that he doesn’t have any elemental hitzones like that. So it is generally not recommended to use these types of weapons on him. However, what we can see for example, Dragon is effective against black spikes. While It is weaker to white and no spikes.

So in case you want to use elements, either go with Thunder or Dragon. Priority should be horns->Black parts on his body

here you can Nergigante with black spikes on his tail.

This is just looking at the table. In reality it may not be practical to fight like that and you should consider your fighting style.

Hope this guide will expand your knowledge on hitzone values and hot to better prepare for the hunts.