Monster Hunter has become one of Capcom’s biggest franchises in the decades since the release of the first title in 2004 on PlayStation 2. Capcom Investor Relations lists Monster Hunter: World as the best-selling game with 18.3 million sales as of June 30, 2022 – not counting the Master Edition set of the Iceborne expansion. the more recent Monster Hunter Rise is currently the third bestseller with 10.3 million units. New entries will undoubtedly be in the pipeline at some point Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak runs its course, and one way the series can expand is by introducing more elements.
Unlike traditional RPGs like Final Fantasy where characters can cast elemental spells that do their own general damage, elemental attributes in Monster Hunter act as a secondary damage modifier. The 2004 title included four elements: fire, water, thunder and dragon. Most of the monsters embodied these natural powers, with fire represented by creatures such as the original flagship monster Rathalos. The weapons a fighter creates using monster parts usually embody the same element and have their own attribute number that stacks on top of raw damage based on a target’s weaknesses or resistances.
The second generation of Monster Hunter games introduced Ice to the primary lineup, used by the Elder Dragon Kushala Daora and later doled out to powerful monsters such as generationsGammoth and Iceborne’s Velkhana. Then the third generation of Elemental Blights debuted that give fighters or monsters unique status conditions with less overall impact than the major ills Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, and Blast. A few other games have tested the waters of elements, but Capcom should consider expanding the main roster beyond Ice to give players more content to engage with.
Elemental experiments in other Monster Hunter games
While the vast majority of monsters can be sorted into one of the series’ five main element categories, a few don’t. Smaller monsters like To get up‘s Great Izuchi are element-agnostic, as are iconic beasts like Diablos — regularly featured in auxiliary media, including Paul W.S. Anderson’s live-action film. Selected monsters, including Diablos, Barroth, Nibelsnarf, Duramboros, and Uragaan, were given the element designation “Earth” exclusively for the mobile game Monster Hunter Explore. In most of the other entries, non-elemental monster weapons and armor tend to focus on stats like Defense and Affinity (critical hit probability).
Another spin-off, the MMORPG Monster Hunter Frontier which stopped in December 2019, was experimenting with mixing elements. For example, Blaze was a mix of Fire and Dragon, Darkness was a mix of Ice and Dragon, and Sound was a mix of Water and Dragon. More often than not, these elements were exclusive to monsters like White Fatalis, who used a mix of thunder and dragon called Emperor’s Roar. Some of these may still return given Espinas’ appearance in Monster Hunter Risewhose fiery breath may also cause poison and paralysis.
The benefits of additional elements in Monster Hunter
The best place to start when adding new element types to Monster Hunter would probably return To discoverEarth’s designation for monsters such as Diablos and Duramboros, known for behavior that involves digging underground or launching pieces of rock. This would leave room for a handful of monsters with exclusive Blight-based status effects, such as Gore Magala’s Frenzy and Malzeno’s Bloodblight, while giving players a more complex web of strengths, weaknesses, and resistances to consider.
Each new element should have its own Blight adding a wrinkle similar to Thunderblight making it easier for hunters to stun or Fireblight dealing damage over time, and as Hunting Helpers bring out a new bug to inflict that Blight that would be just as nice. As interesting as it would be to see new monster designs and attack patterns (or more monsters that combine elements and status effects, like Sunbreak’s Garangolm), probably the biggest reason for Capcom to take this step is that it would encourage diversity.
There are almost endless combinations of armor pieces and weapons in Monster Hunter that give players an edge in combat or environmental exploits. An important subset of armor builds are those that bolster one of the five elements, encouraging players to use something like an Ice Great Sword against monsters weak to Ice. Adding more element types to that mix increases the likelihood that a monster’s armor pieces will also contain unique secondary abilities. Exploring this expanding web of options can get too cumbersome if overused, but can add dozens of hours of content and new tricks to show off.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is now available on PC and Switch.
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