Bringing your best gear is a fundamental part of playing Monster Hunter Wilds. No enemy is too tough when you have the appropriate mix of weapons, armor, and mantles. While your hunter will always bring the sneaking Ghillie Mantle with them, they’re able to choose one more to aid in combat.
The recent nerf to the Corrupted Mantle has given the others the chance to shine a bit more. Their viability is of course dependent on the hunt and personal preference, but some mesh better with certain weapons. Here are each of the combat mantles and the best weapons for them.
Mending Mantle
We’ll first be going over the simplest option. Activating the Mending Mantle will provide steady health recovery over 80 seconds. It’s a great way to get quick healing without having to chug some potions in the middle of a hunt.
As a restorative mantle, Mending will work for whatever setup you have. Heavy-hitting weapons that apply armor benefit nicely, since you’ll soon replenish any lost health. That same reasoning applies to any weapon that you can guard with. Recovering the chip damage you took during a Stalwart Guard feels great.
- Charge Blade
- Great Sword
- Hammer
- Heavy Bowgun
- Switch Axe
- Sword & Shield
Rocksteady Mantle
While the previous mantle is pure support through restoring health, the Rocksteady Mantle is all about increasing your defense for a solid 90 seconds. It applies an armor effect that negates damage reactions, reduces how much damage you take, and boosts resistances against roars, tremors, and wind pressure. Taking damage will decrease the amount of time you have left.
Rocksteady is the mantle to choose if you want to feel like a tank. Equipping it means you can just keep attacking no matter what gets thrown your way. Naturally, this works great for landing hits from heavier weapons with slow or charge attacks.
- Bow
- Charge Blade
- Great Sword
- Gunlance
- Hammer
- Heavy Bowgun
- Hunting Horn
- Lance
- Switch Axe
Evasion Mantle
This is the ideal choice if you’re like me and prefer to dodge rather than parry. With the Evasion Mantle equipped, you have 105 seconds to trigger temporary attack boosts by dodging attacks at the last moment. Depending on what weapon you’re using, you might receive unique follow-up attacks as well.
Try to get those last moment dodges in as much as possible to keep refreshing the attack boost. Weapons that have special dodge mechanics, such as the Bow or Dual Blades, are a perfect fit. You’ll likely trigger the Evasion Mantle’s effects more often with these. Any that receive follow-ups are also worth considering.
- Bow
- Charge Blade
- Dual Blades
- Insect Glaive
- Lance
- Light Bowgun
- Long Sword
- Sword & Shield
Corrupted Mantle
The Corrupted Mantle is a complicated one. It provides attack and Affinity increases at the cost of constantly decreasing health. What its description fails to get across, though, is that landing enough hits will increase the buffs and remove the one drawback. Before the first Title Update, the Corrupted Mantle was the best choice, bar none. Nothing came close to its massive attack and Affinity enhancements. Although the update did nerf the buffs and the duration down to 90 seconds, it’s still undeniably strong.
No matter what weapon you rock with, this mantle can help support an aggressive build. If your builds aren’t super aggressive, then it’s best to pair this with weapons that can make quick attacks. Triggering its second phase as soon as possible will be your biggest priority after all.
- Bow
- Dual Blades
- Gunlance
- Heavy Bowgun
- Hunting Horn
- Insect Glaive
- Light Bowgun
- Long Sword
- Sword & Shield
Monster Hunter Wilds is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.