Monster Hunter World Affinity meaning – What does Affinity do in MHW?

Monster Hunter games have always had confusing lingo for their unique mechanics, especially the important ones. In Monster Hunter World, Affinity is one such mechanic, but it's not as perplexing as it sounds.

What does Affinity mean in Monster Hunter World?

Affinity is just Monster Hunter World's way of addressing bonus damage on a strike. Effectively, Affinity is the same thing as Critical Hit Chance in other RPG games. Whenever you land an attack on the enemy, you have a chance to deal a large boost of damage based on the percentage of total Affinity your character has. You know when you've landed a Critical through Affinity when you see a bright red flash pop up on a monster as shown in the depicted image above.

How to gain Affinity in Monster Hunter World

There are several ways to gain Affinity. The first, and most obvious, way is to use a weapon that has a percentage of Affinity on it. Some weapons will give you Affinity just by using them, while others will reduce your total Affinity usually at the gain of additional damage. It is possible to have negative Affinity, which means that all of your blows have a percentage chance to deal less damage on an attack. Generally, you want to avoid this.

Related: What to do with Wyvern Egg in Monster Hunter World

The other method to gain Affinity is to use Skills such as Weakness Exploit or Critical Eye. Weakness Exploit gives you additional Affinity that is not tied to your character when you land an attack on a monster's weak point. Critical Eye, on the other hand, grants you Affinity that is tied to your character and is permanent until you remove the skill.

Affinity is an important stat you want to be aware of if you are looking to speed up your hunts, as the damage boost is significant enough to build around. The more Affinity you have, the more often you'll land more powerful attacks.

For more useful guides on everything Monster Hunter World, check out How to get Great Spiritvein Gems in Monster Hunter World right here on Pro Game Guides.