What Do Hunting Assistants Do In Monster Hunter Wilds?

Monster Hunter has never been a solo experience. While many of the early game hunts are entirely possible to complete by yourself, High Rank is an affair that the game intends you’ll bring others along for. Monster Hunter Wilds introduces Support Hunters so you’ll always have someone to help you, but that’s just not enough.

Monster Hunter Wilds Review: Don’t Think, Just Hunt

Monster Hunter Wilds is a more approachable, if slightly more mindless Monster Hunter.

So Wilds also introduces Hunting Assistants. These are independent of NPC Support Hunters and work more with the environment and the shifting events within them. They’re a fun little addition, but working out how they’re supposed to function can be a bit perplexing at first, so we’re here to make it a bit clearer.

How To Unlock Hunting Assistants

Hunting Assistants don’t become available until the post-game, when the weather system fully unlocks and changes dynamically alongside the time-of-day. At this point, two new quests can unlock – Smithy’s Seal of Quality, and Werner’s Test Run. Both of these quests are intended to show off what each Hunting Assistant, Gemma and Werner, can do.

After you complete these quests, both Gemma and Werner become available as Hunting Assistants. Except the game doesn’t actually explain what that means. So we will.

How To Use Hunting Assistants

Once you unlock a Hunting Assistant, you don’t actually have to do anything. While the game makes it sound like they might be a function you employ, they work just like any other active event in a region.

Just as there can be a surge of Fulgurite in the Windward Plains or Blastcoal in the Oilwell Basin, Werner and Gemma can appear as Hunting Assistants randomly in a particular region. This means that you can’t use them whenever you would like or choose where they will appear.

You can check if a Hunting Assistant is active by checking the Environment Overview tab in the map.

With the game trying to make the hunts you take on a more organic process, the same is true for your Hunting Assistants. If you do see one while out on a hunt though, be sure to lure a monster nearby to activate them and enlist their help for a brief while.

What Each Hunting Assistant Does

There are just two Hunting Assistants in the game at launch, though each has a unique fucntion that is great to use if you find yourself nearby.

Gemma – Places a trap that locks the enemy in place in a similar manner as a Vine Trap. Lets you attack all body parts.
Werner – Places a multi-stage explosive furnace. You must strike it to start it up, at which point any subsequent hit will unleash a large explosion.

Both Hunting Assistants are a great help, but Werner has the more unique device by far. That said, having a free trap employed is never a bad thing, and can even be used to capture a monster if they’re weak enough.

Neither Hunting Assistant is exactly game-changing, but using their talents if you happen to come across them is never a bad idea.