Monster Hunter Wilds: How To Use Whetstones

One of the mainstay mechanics of the Monster Hunter series is weapon sharpening. As you continue to hit enemies, your equipped weapon will dull, dealing less damage and running the risk of attacks bouncing off targets.

How to Play Monster Hunter Wilds Solo (How to Go Offline)

Those hoping to play Monster Hunter Wilds solo without disconnecting from the internet will need to make use of the game’s Online Single Player mode.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, sharpening weapons is easier than ever before, and there are more ways to guarantee your safety while sharpening weapons, too. This guide explains how to use the Whetstone to sharpen your weapons, the basics of Monster Hunter Wilds weapon sharpening system, and some tips on what you can do to reduce weapon sharpening time.

How To Sharpen Weapons In Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds How To Sharpen Weapon Sharpness Icon Sword

Weapon Sharpening Basics

Players can sharpen weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds with the Whetstone item. The Whetstone is unlocked after completing the intro section and after picking up the ‘Desert Trotters’ quest. During the fight, your MHW weapon of choice will begin to lose sharpness and prompt a menu pop-up that explains the sharpening system.

In the Monster Hunter weapon sharpness system, each hit will cause your weapon to dull slightly, reducing its damage and potentially causing hits to bounce off of enemies.

Your weapon’s current sharpness is indicated by the green sword symbol below your resource bars in the top-left of the screen.

If the weapon sharpness bar is green, it’s will deal full damage.
If it’s yellow or red, the weapon is not at its full effectiveness. This should be the Hunter’s prompt to break out their Whetstone as soon as possible.

How To Use Whetstones To Sharpen Weapons

To sharpen weapons, Monster Hunter Wilds players must open up the radial menu with either L1 or LB. Then, tilt your right analog stick upward to select the Whetstone. Simply let go of the right analog stick once you’ve selected your Whetstone and your Hunter will kneel down to re-sharpen their weapon.

Unlike in previous iterations of Monster Hunter, sharpening weapons with a Whetstone does not use up a consumable in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Under normal circumstances, it will take your Hunter four cycles to sharpen a weapon, which can leave players open to bosses for an uncomfortable few seconds. Thankfully, we have Seikrets in Monster Hunter Wilds which grant invulnerability to the Hunter while they are mounted.

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Insect Glaive is a weapon for those who love mobility in Monster Hunter Wilds, as the weapon will allow different move sets to escape from monsters.

If you need to sharpen a weapon, Monster Hunter Wilds players should first call their Seikret over by pressing up on the D-pad, then mount it and create some space. While mounted, follow the same inputs to bring up the radial menu and select your Whetstone. The Hunter will then re-sharpen their weapon while riding and take no damage.

How To Sharpen Weapons Faster

Monster Hunter Wilds How To Sharpen Weapon Sharpened Weapon Faster Gemma

Normally a Hunter will spend about four seconds, or four ‘cycles’, sharpening a weapon. But there are a handful of ways to reduce the time spent sharpening weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds via Armor and Food skills:

Speed Sharpening, a skill granted by some Armor pieces, which removes one cycle from the sharpening animation
Felyne Polisher, a Food buff granted by cooking two ingredients with the Courage tag, which removes a cycle from the sharpening animation

You can also find a Whetfish Fin, a single-use sharpening stone that takes half the time to sharpen weapons (2 cycles). The Whetfish Fin can be found by catching Whetfish, but unlike the normal Whetstone, these are consumed upon use. It’s one of the most useful materials to harvest in Monster Hunter Wilds because of how much time it saves during combat.