One of the most satisfying feelings in Monster Hunter Wilds is landing a perfectly timed critical hit and watching your weapon deal boosted damage. But not all critical hits are created equal, especially if your build is focused on elemental damage. That’s where the Critical Element skill comes in.

Most monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds are tied to a particular element, and most weapons that are crafted from those monsters carry that element forward. Knowing how to maximize elemental damage is important for passing high-rank quests faster. It can also help in taking down even the most difficult monsters with precision. Critical Element is a must-have skill if you’re running a build focused on elemental weapons.

So how exactly does it work? And how can you boost your critical hit rate? Read on to find out.

How Does Critical Element Work In Monster Hunter Wilds?

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The Critical Element skill boosts the elemental portion of your attack, but only when you land a critical hit. Unlike other offensive skills such as Latent Power or Agitator, Critical Element has no on-screen prompt when it’s activated. There’s no skill flash, no sound, and no pop-up. The effect is always active as long as the conditions are met. This means that you’ll only notice it if you’re paying attention to your damage output. To spot when it activates, look at your damage numbers:

• Red highlight: Indicates a critical hit with positive affinity. This is when Critical Element activates.
• Blue highlight: A negative affinity hit, which does reduced damage and does not trigger Critical Element. So, for example, if you’re using a weapon with Ice element against a monster weak to Ice, your regular attacks deal a base amount of elemental damage. But once you land a critical hit, that Ice damage is boosted further thanks to Critical Element.

The skill is very useful for players that use fast weapons like Dual Blades, Sword & Shield, and Insect Glaive. This is because these weapons land frequent hits and get more chances to trigger criticals. That said, it can work well with any elemental weapon once your affinity is high enough.

Critical Element Skill Levels

Critical Element in Monster Hunger Wilds has three known levels. Each level increases the multiplier that is applied to your elemental damage when you land a critical hit. The table below gives a breakdown of each level and what they offer:

To raise this skill, you’ll need to equip armor pieces or decorations that have Critical Element. Most players will get their first taste of this skill from high-rank armor sets or from crafting late-game weapons. Because Critical Element is a percentage-based bonus, its value scales with the raw elemental damage of your weapon. The higher your base elemental value, the more this skill boosts it. That’s why pairing it with weapons that already have strong elemental stats makes the most sense.

How To Get More Critical Hits in Monster Hunter Wilds

You can’t use Critical Element effectively if you’re not landing critical hits often. To increase the chance of critical hits, you need to raise your Affinity. Affinity is the stat that governs your critical hit rate, and it’s influenced by multiple factors:

Choose a Weapon With High Base Affinity

Some weapons naturally come with high Affinity, such as those from the Nargacuga tree or certain Elder Dragon weapons. Picking these weapons gives you a strong starting point for frequent critical hits. Use Affinity-Boosting Skills There are multiple armor skills that increase your affinity directly or under certain conditions:

• Critical Eye: Raises Affinity by a flat percentage at each level.
• Latent Power: Temporarily increases Affinity after taking enough damage or spending enough time in combat.
• Critical Draw: Boosts Affinity for draw attacks—perfect for Great Sword or Bow users. You can mix and match these skills with Critical Element to ensure you’re triggering it as often as possible.

Affinity Augments

Later in the game, you’ll unlock the ability to augment weapons. Some augmentations allow you to increase a weapon’s affinity directly. If you’re running a Critical Element build, it may be worth investing one of your augmentation slots to push your affinity even higher.

Building Around Critical Element

If you’re focused on elemental damage, Critical Element should be a central part of your build. But it works best when supported by the right gear and strategy:

• Match Your Element: Always bring a weapon that targets a monster’s weakness. Fire against Ice-type monsters, Water against Thunder-types, etc.
• Keep Up Time: Fast weapons like Dual Blades land more hits, which means more chances for criticals and more elemental procs.
• Elemental Decorations: Try to pair Critical Element with Element Attack Up skills or elemental-specific skills for your weapon tree. Remember, even if you have Critical Element at Level 3, it’s not helpful if your affinity is sitting at zero. Affinity comes first. Once you’ve got that covered, Critical Element can help you melt monster health bars before they even know what hit them.

Seamless Multiplayer Hunting with ScalaCube Servers

For hunters looking to optimize their co-op experience, Scalacube provides reliable private servers for Monster Hunter Wilds. Whether you’re coordinating a full elemental damage squad or experimenting with Critical Element builds in group hunts, a stable connection makes all the difference.

Scalacube offers lag-free servers, customizable settings, and 24/7 support, making it easier to focus on strategy and synergy rather than connection drops. With quick setup times and flexible plans, you and your fellow hunters can jump into the action without any delays.

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Conclusion

Critical Element can silently power up your attacks without needing special conditions, and when paired with high affinity, it turns your hunter into a serious elemental threat. To use it effectively, focus on raising your Affinity through skills like Critical Eye or Latent Power, and match your weapon’s element to your target’s weakness. With the right build and a bit of practice, you’ll see your damage numbers climb, and monsters fall faster than ever.