Progression Guide - Monster Hunter World: Iceborne Guide - IGN (2024)

There are a lot of moving parts and choices to make as you play through both Monster Hunter World's story and Iceborne's story. Consider this your all-in-one progression guide on what you should do besides the assigned quests, when to craft recommended armor sets and more.

If you're just getting started period, make sure to read through this page. It goes over everything you should be doing in general between quests and on quests, and answers questions like what items you should bring and more.

• Beginner's Guide to Monster Hunter World

You can also see a full list of assigned quests, optional quests, and delivery requests with their rewards here:

• Monster Hunter World Quests

Reference these to see what monsters you'll be up against and when. These pages include links to monster pages that note their weaknesses.

However, there are some optional quests you should do and things in-between quests. Here's a complete step-by-step progression guide to Monster Hunter World and Iceborne so you can get by comfortably while unlocking everything you need to.

Monster Hunter World Progression Guide

Here's a quick general step-by-step guide with more details on equipment below:

1. First, go to the Training Area and try out the different weapons and choose one to stick with so you can truly learn it. Weapons have a lot of nuance to them.
2. Play through assigned quests, upgrading weapons ASAP and forging new armor as you go only if needed, and not dawdling on this while in Low Rank. Armor progression suggestions are detailed below. If you have the Iceborne expansion!: You can comfortably use the Guardian Armor Set and a Defender Weapon to carry you through the entire story. Details below.
3. Farm important crafting materials at the Botanical Research Center and do other activities between quests to stay stocked up on items and more (See What Do I Do In-between Quests)
4. As you visit new maps, unlock all the camps that act as fast-travel points. See where to find them all in the Locations Guide.
5. Befriend the different tribes in each map to unlock all of the very useful Palico Gadgets.
6. Make a point to complete all of the delivery quests to unlock important features besides just the camps.
7. Speak to NPCs with! above their heads to unlock Optional Quests and do the ones with elipses (...) next to them to unlock important things like Mantles and Canteen Ingredients (so you have access to better meals between quests.)
8. After the story, complete the post-credit Special Assignments as they're unlocked to increase your Hunter Rank. (You can return to do these as they unlock as you play through Iceborne.)
9. Optional: The Final Fantasy XIV collaboration and Witcher 3 collaboration are worth doing just because of how well-done and unique they are!
10. If you have the Iceborne expansion: you can skip unlocking Augmentation for World and continue straight into Master Rank and the Iceborne story with just the Defender gear or whatever you used to complete World's Story. Move on to Iceborne progression.

Monster Hunter World Suggested Armor and Weapon Progression

Low Rank Armor Suggestion:

Do not spend time grinding Low Rank armor. Make what you can when you need it without worrying about a specific set or skills. Here's what we suggest that should be easy to make without grinding:

• Bone Helm (Health Boost)
• Bone Mail (Attack Boost)
• Alloy Vambraces (Defense Boost)
• Kulu Greaves (Critical Eye)

This is a general suggestion. Make better armor if you feel you need it as you go, but don't spend time grinding a Low Rank set. Very little time is spent in Low Rank in the grand scheme of Monster Hunter. Kulu Vambraces is also useful for its Pro Transporter skill for certain delivery quests.

Low Rank Weapon Suggestions:

Go to the Training Grounds and choose a weapon you "vibe" with. (You can read more about the Weapons here). Focus on upgrading one weapon tree through low rank.

• We suggest going with the Bone Tree or Ore Tree as they're fairly easy to upgrade as you go without needing to grind while having decent raw attack power, making them versatile.

more soon...