Focus Mode, Focus Strike, & Wounds Explained

Monster Hunter Wilds introduces a new injury system on monsters called Wounds, a natural evolution of the Clutch Claw system from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. Wounds serve as weak spots on a monster’s body, which can be targeted normally, but another new system, Focus Mode, is the best way to get the most out of them.

Rather than simply swinging a weapon at an open Wound and hoping for the best, Focus Mode allows for pinpoint targeting, massive damage, and stagger. Here is how it all comes together.

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What Are Wounds in Monster Hunter Wilds

Wounds are player-created weak spots on a monster’s body that appear after the monster takes a large amount of damage from a Hunter’s weapon in that specific spot. Wounds can appear anywhere where multiple hits occur and appear relatively frequently. Consistently damaging a Wound will cause it to explode or close, dealing damage to the monster and staggering it. Entering Focus Mode will highlight a Wound with a red glow, but only if the Wound is fully formed.

If left undamaged, Wounds persist for roughly 30-40 seconds before fading away.

regular vs wound targeting attacks in monster hunter wilds

Targeting a Wound deals bonus or critical damage to the monster, signified by the dark orange damage numbers with four pointers on each corner. Aiming at a Wound is a great way to get the most out of a damaging window against a monster, and the best way to aim at Wounds specifically is by using Focus Mode.

Stages of a Wound

open wound on a monster in monster hunter wilds

There are three stages of a Wound: a large white gash, an open Wound surrounded by white discoloration, and black scarring. If you target a monster’s arm, for example, a white gash will appear on their hide. Using Focus Mode at this time will not highlight it in red because the Wound is not fully formed.

If you keep targeting the same spot over and over again, it will eventually turn red and start bleeding. Now, the Focus Mode will show the spot in red, and you will be able to target it for extra damage. After this Wound is destroyed, black scar tissue will appear on top of where the Wound was, preventing new Wounds from forming in the same spot again. Barring a few exceptions, this exact spot cannot be Wounded again.

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How Does Focus Mode Work in Monster Hunter Wilds

focus mode tooltip in monster hunter wilds

Focus Mode is a new addition in Monster Hunter Wilds that allows players to better aim their attacks during the heat of battle. Regular melee attacks during Focus Mode will be automatically directed toward where the camera is facing and not where the weapon’s swing would naturally go. This makes it easy for Hunters to target Wounds if they’re in vision, preventing whiffing attacks and functioning as a pseudo-aim-assist, correcting the weapon’s trajectory to hit the Wound.

Focus Mode also highlights weak points on a monster’s body (other than Wounds) with glowing red light as they appear.

A downside of using Focus Mode is that the player’s FOV is reduced, simulating the effect of the Hunter focusing all their attention on one specific spot. A smaller Field of Vision means that if a second monster is barreling towards you to interfere with the fight, you likely won’t see it coming, especially when you’re facing very large monsters. This is a fairly common occurrence in MH Wilds and why overusing Focus Mode can, sometimes, end in catastrophe.

How to Enter Focus Mode

To enter Focus Mode, press and hold Mouse 4 (PC), L2 (PlayStation), or LT (Xbox).

On PC, you can also toggle Focus Mode ON and OFF by pressing ALT.

You can also use Focus Mode when riding on a Seikret to gather nearby resources.

How to Perform Focus Strike

Players can perform a special action during Focus Mode, called Focus Strike, by pressing Shift (PC), R1 (PlayStation), or RB (Xbox) while aiming at an open Wound (red glow). When the Focus Mode reticle turns bright yellow (pictured below), a Focus Strike can be performed by pressing the appropriate hotkey.

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When Should You Use Focus Strike

focus strike reticle in monster hunter wilds

Focus Strikes destroy Wounds dealing massive damage and a large amount of stagger to the target. After a Focus Strike is performed, the Wound will close, the red glow will fade, and the player will not be able to do bonus damage to that spot again. They will have to reopen another Wound to perform another Focus Strike.

Focus Strikes can also be used to instantly turn white gashes into open Wounds. Focus Strikes that do a single instance of damage will only open the Wound dealing no bonus damage, but ones that hit multiple times will open the Wound on the first attack, and deal bonus damage on the subsequent attack, automatically closing the Wound on the last hit.

Because Focus Strike always destroy Wounds, it’s sometimes a good idea to hold off on using Focus Strikes and instead aim at simply dealing bonus damage to the Wound using regular attacks. This is especially relevant in multiplayer, when closing a Wound too quickly can result in the party missing out on a ton of easy damage.

Destroying Wounds with Focus Strike can drop special monster parts. These monster parts are directly picked up by the Hunter and do not spawn on the ground. Monster parts obtained by cutting tails and body parts are an exception to this.

If you’re prioritizing damage, the best time to perform Focus Strike is when a Wound is about to close on its own, due to the timer running out.
If you’re prioritizing farming, use Focus Strike at every opportunity in order to gather as many monster parts as possible from a single encounter.

Certain weapons are exceptions to this. For example, the Long Sword’s damage is boosted depending on the number of Wounds that are destroyed in a single Focus Strike. Similarly, the Dual Blades essentially always destroy all Wounds on the target’s body when performing a Focus Strike, one of the most powerful moves for the weapon. Additionally, weapons like Insect Glaive and Charge Blade also recover weapon-specific resources to make them more effective in combat by using Focus Strike effectively.