Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode Looks To Fix Iceborne's Biggest Mistake

Capcom put out new trailers today unveiling the Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode, alongside other gameplay features for the game.

Right out the box, it looks like the Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode builds on the Clutch Claw from Iceborne- the double-edged sword of that expansion's design.

In Iceborne, the Clutch Claw was a special attack that softened monster parts, opening them up to more damage and encouraging more focused attacks.

However, it drew the problem of bloating HP values- in an attempt to get more people using the tool that means monsters like Safi'Jiva and Raging Brachydios had to have more health so you'd see the value of softening them up.

Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode

The Monster Hunter Wilds Focus Mode fixes this by having it be cumulative instead- your regular attacks can weaken monster parts, and Focus Mode simply highlights those parts so you know where to target.

In addition, it also highlights other vulnerable monster parts, such as the exposed tongue of the Chatacabra.

Capcom also unveiled the Focus Strikes- these attacks take the place of abilities like Hunter Arts and do bonus damage to weak points- removing them but also potentially flinching big monsters.

One of these includes a big slide attack for the Greatsword, which shows it cleaving all along the side of the Chatacabra and hitting multiple weak points.

This kind of iteration isn't uncommon between Monster Hunter titles- just like how Monster Hunter World reintegrated many of the Hunter Arts into the base moveset, it looks like Wilds is building on the intentions of the new features from World and Rise and reiterating them into a more organic playstyle.