The core of Monster Hunter Wilds' gameplay is the weapons and armor you can forge and upgrade by using various monster parts. By using materials from successful hunts, you can build sets of strong gear that offer unique skills and bonuses. However, armor and weapons follow different upgrade paths, as each follows specific rules tied to how you can enhance their strength.

Thankfully, most of the weapon changes in Monster Hunter Wilds do not affect the upgrade system for them. Armor and weapons follow similar upgrade rules from past games, which will help veterans of the series get a head start on gear improvements. However, you do need to progress through the game's story to unlock any upgrade mechanics present through Gemma, the Smithy you create gear with.

How To Unlock Weapon & Armor Upgrades

Reach Different Story Chapters

You unlock weapon upgrades earlier than armor upgrades, but both are achieved when you reach a certain part of the game's main story. Once you establish your first base camp in the Windward Plains, you can speak to Gemma to start enhancing your weapons in different ways. From here, you can create various weapons from branching trees, which each hold stronger variants of specific tools.

Weapon upgrades are unlocked as you encounter and defeat new monsters throughout the story. For example, you unlock the Quematrice upgrade path to create your first Fire elemental affinity weapons after you take down a Quematrice in Monster Hunter Wilds for the first time. As you progress through the story, new upgrade paths unlock for you to explore, including new weapons focused on unique elements and status effects.

Not every new monster you encounter will unlock a new upgrade path for a weapon. While many weapons have multiple element or status upgrade paths, not every tool has every possible branch from its branching trees.

Armor upgrades, on the other hand, are unlocked at a very specific point in the story. You get armor upgrades once you reach Chapter 2 after you unlock the Oilwell Basin region on your world map. At this point, Gemma will tell you about how to upgrade your armor to improve the defensive properties of the gear you equip.

Best Weapon Upgrades

Follow The Path That Suits Your Build

Every weapon you unlock comes with multiple weapon trees in Monster Hunter Wilds you can invest in. There are two primary weapon upgrade paths, including:

• Expedition (Metal) Tree
• Bone Tree

Each path has multiple options for you to explore, with some weapon upgrades offering new elemental affinities for different damage types. For every weapon, there is a branch of either tree that may lead to Water, Fire, Thunder, Paralysis, Sleep, and many other effects that suit your preferred playstyle. I've always found that building every type of upgrade for my preferred weapon can help counter any monster.

Later in the game, you eventually unlock Gem Decoration slots on higher-tier weapons found in the furthest part of upgrade paths. Decorations allow you to add extra Skills to a weapon, giving you more possibilities in a build.

There is technically no "best" weapon upgrade path, as each offers something different for your build. You could follow one path that gives you lower Critical hit chances but offers higher raw damage, or another path that gives you low damage but a high build-up of powerful status conditions against monsters. Look into the Skills offered by weapons along different upgrade paths to help determine which ones you should pursue.

Best Armor Upgrades

Only Improve What Works For Your Build

Armor upgrades work very differently from weapon enhancements, as pieces of armor do not have tree paths you can follow. Instead, you can upgrade armor pieces by infusing them with Armor Spheres, specific items gained from hunt rewards. By putting an Armor Sphere into a piece of gear, you can raise its overall Level and improve its general Defense stat.

Every individual armor piece you choose to upgrade has six possible Levels, whether it's a Helmet, Coil, or anything else. There are different types of Armor Spheres, which each impart a different amount of XP into an armor piece to enhance it. You only get upgraded Defense with armor if you raise its Level, so you'll need to use stronger Armor Spheres to reach the max experience cap of any gear.

These are the three basic types of Armor Spheres you can get among other farmed items in Monster Hunter Wilds, including how much XP they offer when infused into an armor piece:

• Armor Sphere - 10 XP points
• Armor Sphere+ - 50 XP points
• Advanced Armor Sphere - 200 XP points

Higher Levels cost more XP to reach, but similar to weapons, there is no "best" armor upgrade path to follow. The best way to determine whether it's worth spending Armor Spheres to upgrade armor is how useful that armor is to your build. Certain Skills and Decoration slots on a piece of armor could make it more valuable, especially if it already has high Defense you can increase further.

How To Get Upgrade Materials

Complete Quests Without Failing

Both weapon and armor upgrade materials are collected after successful Quests and Assignments you complete. Armor Spheres are a common reward from Optional Quests and main story missions that have you defeat various monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds​​​​​​. Over time, you'll gather a strong surplus of armor upgrade items just by progressing through the story to its conclusion.

You can see what rewards are offered by a Quest when you look into its details beforehand. Armor Spheres and specific monster parts are usually listed as possible rewards from a hunt, provided that you don't fail the quest by carting multiple times.

Weapons are a bit trickier to upgrade, as many require specific monster parts to create. Oftentimes, weapons farther along in an upgrade tree cost rarer materials to make, forcing you to farm specific monsters for their parts. One of the easiest ways you can get rarer materials you need is to break monster parts during a hunt, such as severing a tail or breaking a horn.

Farming for upgrade materials is an inevitable part of any Monster Hunter game, so make sure you know what you're looking for first before you commit to the grind. Knowing what weapon and armor you want to upgrade in Monster Hunter Wilds will make the process much easier, especially if you ask friends to help you farm certain items.