The Support Ship is a special shop in Monster Hunter Wilds that is only accessible after players progress through the game’s main story up to a point and advance to a High Rank Hunter. Its job is to deliver supplies and take requests from the hunter, bringing back new materials to be purchased on every trip. Here is how it works.
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How to Unlock the Support Ship
The Support Ship is unlocked after completing the main story mission Chapter 3-5 “Monster Hunter,” where the hunter defeats Zoh Shia and saves Nata’s life in the process. Immediately after returning to camp, they will be greeted by the sight of the Support Ship’s very first arrival. From here on out, the Support Ship will regularly make trips to and from base camp, bringing supplies in the process.
Where is the Support Ship
The Support Ship only makes trips to and from the Windward Plains base camp. Santiago, the Support Ship’s representative in the camp, will only be available when the shop is docked. He can be found sitting on top of a stack of boxes directly across from Gemma’s Smithy.
You can easily tell whether or not the Support Ship is currently available or not by checking for the yellow and white ship icon on the Windward Plains in the World Map (pictured above).
When Does the Support Ship Arrive
A key mechanic of the Support Ship is that it only stays in the Plains base camp for a short duration before leaving and only returns a long while later. The main way for players to tell that the Support Ship has arrived is an in-game Chat Log message saying, “The Support Ship has arrived.” When the ship is just about to leave, they’ll receive a message, “The Support Ship will depart soon.” Finally, when it does leave, it will say: “The Support Ship has departed.”
If players are in the middle of a hunt, this message will be delayed until that hunt is over.
From testing, it appears that the Support Ship takes roughly a week of in-game time before it comes back to the Windward Plains after leaving. Changing time and seasons to advance time will work to speed up this cycle, but it can be quite costly.
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How Does the Support Ship Shop Inventory Work
Unlike other shops and vendors, the Support Ship is a limited-time shop with a rotating inventory that changes every time the Support Ship leaves the Windward Plains camp and makes a return trip.
Buying Items From the Support Ship
When it arrives, players can talk to Santiago and select ‘Purchase Goods’ to see what he has in stock. Instead of accepting money (Zenny) for transactions, Santiago only deals in Guild Points, which can be earned by completing quests and collecting resources. Other than setting up (or repairing) Pop-up camps and changing time and seasons, this is the main use of Guild Points in MH Wilds.
Requesting Items From the Support Ship
After the Support Ship completes a new departure/arrival cycle, Santiago’s inventory will be refreshed with new items. Players can actually influence what he brings by choosing ‘Request Goods’ when talking to him before he leaves and selecting their preference. There are four options:
- Any (default): A balanced set of items
- Medicinal Items: Mostly comprised of highly effective medicinal items.
- Equipment Materials: Mostly comprised of materials for forging weapons and armor.
- Misc. Items: Mostly comprised of special items, such as equipment, hunting items, and trade-in items.
Equipment Materials do not mean actual weapons and armor but the raw materials needed to craft equipment pieces. To get Santiago to bring weapons, choose either the ‘Any’ or the ‘Misc. Items’ option. He does not bring armor.
Whichever option you choose determines what Santiago will bring the next time the Support Ship comes around.
The weapons on sale in the Support Ship tend to be one tier lower than the best weapons available to hunters at that time in the game, but it’s still worth it buying them out every time Santiago stocks his shop with new ones, especially for players who like to experiment with different weapon types. This is because these can serve as bases to upgrade to a higher-tier weapon, saving players the hassle of having to hunt down lower-tier monsters to gather the parts needed to craft multiple base weapons leading up to the best one.
- Released
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February 28, 2025
- OpenCritic Rating
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Mighty