Merry Monster Hunter Wilds day to all those who celebrate. Capcom's dino-basher has been going from strength to strength since Worlds became a breakout hit back in 2018, and Wilds doubles down on that open world monster-mashing experience with style. It's a great time to start playing Monster Hunter if you're new to the series, and we've got a whole Monster Hunter Wilds walkthrough to help you every step of the way through the main campaign.However, despite Capcom's best efforts to streamline its barrage of systems and complex web of interlocking stat boosts, weapon buffs and goodness knows what else, there's still plenty of stuff that Wilds doesn't tell you from the outset. It may be the friendliest and easiest Monster Hunter to get into in, well, ever, but to help make your journey even smoother, we've put together some extra handy starter tips to help give you a leg up into this brilliant action RPG - stuff we wish we knew before we started playing Wilds for the first time, and stuff we hope you'll want to know before you dive in, too.Watch on YouTubeOn this page:Take the time to experiment with different weapons - don't just accept the Great Sword Attack the barrels and you'll be able to practice each weapon's attack combos in complete safety. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomDuring the opening monster chase, you'll be handed an enormous Great Sword as your first weapon. But be warned. While the Great Sword is one of the best Monster Hunter Wilds weapons, it's not necessarily the easiest one to master early on due to its slow wind-ups and excessive heft. It's a heavy, sluggish weapon, and can make fights more difficult if you're not used to it. There are a lot of weapon types in Monster Hunter Wilds, and finding the right one for you is crucial before you continue. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomInstead, before you carry on with the story mission, take the time to experiment with all 14 weapon types by speaking to Alma. Once you've equipped a weapon, practice attacking the barrels to the side of the spring where you're resting. For beginners, I'd recommend a lighter kind of blade weapon - the traditional sword and shield is a great starter weapon and lets you play Monster Hunter like a more traditional action adventure game, but I'd also recommend having a go with the Dual Blades. This is my particular weapon of choice, and I love how fast and nippy they are - and how powerful and cool its Demon Mode attacks are, too. Try it - you might be surprised. And as for those who prefer ranged attacks, the regular bow is another great option to try your hand at. Once you've found a weapon you like, feel free to continue with the mission. You can always swap weapons and try even more new ones when you're back at base camp.Don't forget to raid your Seikret's supply items for free stuff Make sure you leave some space in your own item pouch so you can take advantage of your Seikret's freebies. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomIf you find yourself running low on health and stamina items, don't forget that your Seikret is basically a walking med kit in disguise thanks to its bundle of free supply items that get dumped there at the start of every mission. Wilds doesn't do a great job of flagging this up when you head out on missions, but if you press left on the d-pad while mounted on your Seikret, you can open up its Supply Item menu for free first aid kits and rations, among other items.It's well worth transferring all of these supply items over to your main item pouch at the start of a mission, as it's basically just loads of free stuff that will help you out later on. If you leave them on your Seikret, they'll disappear at the end of the mission, so make sure to grab them while you can. Waste not, want not, right?Customise your radial menus for a wider variety of healing items There are so many healing items available in Monster Hunter that it's worth taking the time to create a dedicated radial menu for them to give you greater control over your item stocks. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomThe new crop of radial item menus in Monster Hunter Wilds make it easier than ever before to get the right item you need for any given situation. The default Action wheel is particularly handy for flagging up appropriate healing items, and 90 per cent of the time it will give you exactly the thing you're looking for straight away. Poisoned? Here's an Antidote. In need of more health? Here's a herb.For that remaining 10 percent, though, you might want to consider making your own custom radial menu instead. This way, you'll have a wider variety of items at your fingertips, and more control over your growing pool of crafting items. For example, I found the Action wheel's Optimal Health Recovery option kept offering up my very limited number of herbs when I tried to select it, which never quite topped up my health bar as much as I wanted, especially when I was sitting on about 86 potions that would do a much better job at patching me up. So rather than waste some of my more precious items, I opened up the main menu, clicked on Customise Radial Menu in the Items & Equipment tab, and set about stuffing a new radial menu with the widest selection of health and stamina boosting items I could muster.Learn how to pause the game when you're in a pinch Put the pause function on your radial menu, stat! | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomOn a similar note, I was 12 hours into the game before I learned I could pause Monster Hunter Wilds from the radial menu - which is exceedingly handy if you need to stop the action for a minute. Like Elden Ring, you'll probably notice quite quickly that opening up Monster Hunter Wilds' main menu doesn't actually pause the game at all - the action continues to run away in the background, and leaves you exceedingly vulnerable in the meantime. The main menu does, technically, have a pause function in it, if you somehow manage to navigate to the System tab and hit Pause there, but the easiest thing to do is stick it right on one of your radial menus, so it's much easier to reach when you need it.To do this, go to Customise Radial Menu in the Items & Equipment tab of the main menu, select the radial menu you want to add it to, select where you want to put it on the radial menu, then press left trigger to get to the Other tab, and you'll see Pause right near the bottom of available options. Trust me, you won't regret this one.Always grill a meal before heading out on a hunt Your portable BBQ can now cook more food types than ever before when you're out on a mission - make the most of it! | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomPrevious Monster Hunter games have always made a big deal about eating some food before you head out on hunts. Sadly, Wilds doesn't have its equivalent Meowster Chef, or dedicated canteen area in your various camps, to help hammer this point home, but eating a meal before heading out on missions is still just as important as ever, so don't forget to chow down before continuing with the story.To grill yourself a meal in your base camp, you'll need to head to your tent and do it through the menus. Alternatively, if it slips your mind and you suddenly need a pick-me-up out on the field, never fear. Rather than fast travel back to base camp, whip out your portable BBQ. Previously, you could only use this to grill stamina-restoring meat cuts (provided you had some raw meat on you to begin with, that is), but now you can do that and grill more substantial meals that can boost your health, stamina and attack power depending on the ingredients you use. It's exceedingly handy, and the fact you can do this anywhere, anytime, means there's now no excuse not to stuff your face before a big fight.Use waypoints and your Seikret's auto-run to easily get around If you want to get to a specific area on a map, just select any harvestable material there as a waypoint and your Seikret will run straight toward it. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomYour Seikret's auto-run is both a blessing and a curse. A blessing, in that it will automatically take you towards your target so you can concentrate on more important things like sharpening your weapon with a whetstone, switching weapons, using your slinger to nab important crafting materials without disrupting the flow of your journey, and generally taking in the sights and sounds of the area without worrying too much about where you're going.The curse is that, because you're paying less attention to how each area's many disparate parts fit and connect together, it can sometimes be tricky to know exactly how to get to specific places on the map if you want to indulge in some side missions or just do a bit of exploring for materials between major story beats. Luckily, your Seikret's auto-run is once again your friend in disguise here. Open up your map from the main menu, select Detailed Map and then decide where you want to place your waypoint by clicking in your right analogue stick. Unfortunately, you can't select general numbered areas to head to in Wilds, but you can select a specific monster or material in an area instead. Once you back out of the menu and mount your Seikret, you'll be on your way in no time.Pay attention to your armour's equipment skills to maximise buffs and elemental resistances Navigate to the equipment skills menu and you can see how different armour pieces can bring new skills for your hunter. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomCrafting armour is an integral part of the Monster Hunter experience, and every time you return from a hunt, you should head straight to Gemma to see what new bits and pieces you can make. You'll usually always be able to craft some part of a new armour set after taking down a monster for the first time, and constantly updating your wardrobe is a great way to raise your defence and elemental resistances for taking on bigger and badder beasts later on.But savvy hunters can take advantage of some quite key passive skills and buffs early on if they pay attention to the equipment skills menu. There's a lot of information thrown at you when crafting new armour, with tons of valuable information hidden away in sub-tabs you might not notice on the crafting screen. But if you use your controller's trigger buttons to navigate left and right through the Skills tabs, you'll see each piece of armour's respective equipment skills, and how they stack with everything else you've currently got equipped. If you want to reduce your stamina depletion when evading or blocking, for example, focus on crafting items with the Constitution equipment skill, as the more pieces of armour you have equipped with this skill, the more that skill will level up and increase its effect. Left: Equipping this mail armour will mean I lose my Rey Dau Voltage set bonus skill. Right: To see what each skill name means, hit Y to open the sub-menu to see their skill info description. | Image credit: Eurogamer/CapcomYou can also gain valuable bonuses from equipping armour belonging to the same set. These are listed as Set Bonus Skills below the Equipment Info tab, and you can often get an initial bonus from wearing two armour pieces from the same set, which then gets better if you equip four from the same set. Others, meanwhile, will give you a group bonus if you're wearing three pieces from the same set. They're worth paying attention to as you get further into the game, as sometimes raw defence just isn't enough to help you overcome the monster at hand.Happy hunting!