If you watched any of the trailers for Monster Hunter Wilds then you know it is possible to mount your target to inflict some big damage. Much like Power Clashes and Offset Attacks, this mechanic is woefully under tutorialized in the game to the point where you can go hours without ever figuring out the tips and tricks necessary to pull it off. This is a shame not only because of how useful it can be to quickly take down a monster but also because it is just so cool to do. There are a lot of nuances to mounting a raging beast, so we’ll give you all info you need on how to mount monsters and what to do once you’re on its back.
How to mount monsters
Even if you go into the hidden tutorial screen in Monster Hunter Wilds and find the description of how you mount a monster, it still doesn’t properly explain the mechanic. The main idea is to do aerial attacks on a monster, but just that alone won’t guarantee you will mount it. The tricky part is that there is a hidden gauge for each monster that fills up as you do leaping attacks that, once filled, will then let you mount the monster automatically on your next aerial attack.
Airborne attacks come in different forms, with some weapons having access to them as part of their moveset but most not. Even if your preferred weapon can’t do any jumping attacks, you always have access to your dismount attack from your Seikret. Otherwise, you will need to find elevated parts of the environment to jump onto the monster from, which can be quite tricky.
Once you are on a monster’s back, your controls will change. You can now do a weapon attack, light knife attack, strong knife attack, brace, and move between different parts of the monster’s body. The best strategy tends to be using a weapon attack once and then moving to a different location as the monster tries to knock you off of that spot to attack there. Eventually, your stamina will run out and you will be dismounted no matter what, so cause as many wounds as you can while your grip lasts.