Monster Hunter Wilds, the latest entry in Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise, has recently received the patch notes for its next major update that's set to go live on August 13, 2025.
According to the game's director, Yuya Tokuda, this patch will add several new Tempered versions of challenging monsters to address fans' complaints of the endgame content's lackluster difficulty.
In addition, a new endgame reward system will be implemented to complement the new Tempered Monsters, and several adjustments will be made to the game's mechanics, systems, and weapon type balance.
Here are the major highlights of what you can expect from Monster Hunter Wilds' Ver. 1.021 Update.
Hunt new 9★ Tempered Monsters
The first significant content addition from this update is the inclusion of several Tempered versions of the toughest beasts from Monster Hunter Wilds' monster roster.
These include new Tempered versions of Rey Dau, Uth Duna, Nu Udra, Jin Dahaad, Gore Magala, Arkveld, Mizutsune, Lagiacrus, and Seregios.
They will appear in 9★ Quests and will be available to hunt once a player reaches Hunter Rank 100.
With the addition of these new challenging monsters, Capcom has decided to implement a new rewards system tied to completing 9★ Quests as an incentive to take them on.
These new rewards are Glowing Stones, which, when appraised, can transform into special Talismans that grant the player powerful passive Skills.
The randomized Talismans from old-school Monster Hunter games are back, for better or worse.
Unlike the regular craftable Talismans, which offer a preset set of passive Armor Skills, these new Talismans, formed from Glowing Stones, have completely random skills attached.
Additionally, the randomized Talismans offer not only armor skills, but they also grant weapon skills and Decoration Slots, which can fit both armor and weapon skill Decorations.
So with a bit of luck, you could end up acquiring powerful Talismans that open up tons of new possibilities for creative weapon+armor set builds, much more so than regular Talismans could.
However, do note that the randomized Talismans can't be upgraded, and due to their randomized skill set, it could take you a good long while to farm for Talismans with the specific skill and Decoration slot set you want.
Several weapon and game system balance adjustments
New Tempered Monsters isn't the only new thing this update is bringing to Monster Hunter Wilds.
It will also include several balance changes to the game's vast array of weapon types, specifically for Great Sword, Long Sword, Sword & Shield, Dual Blades, Hunting Horn, Lance, Switch Axe, Charge Blade, Insect Glaive, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun.
For the most part, these balance changes include increasing the attack power of each weapon's techniques, making them easier to combo moves together, and making the Bowguns' elemental ammo and Special Ammo Modes more viable during endgame hunts.
To say that Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the biggest disappointments of 2025 would be an understatement.
The most interesting change is with the Dual Blades, which has received a brand new move called the Turning Tidedrill. This is a new finisher that can be performed after the Focus Strike: Turning Tide by pressing △ (PS5), Y (Xbox), or the default Right Click (PC).
This will allow you to drill your Dual Blades into a monster's wound instead of riding down their spine like a demented spinning top of death, if you wish to continue assaulting a monster without messing up your positioning.
While I commend Capcom for that, I feel this is a small band-aid on a huge, gaping wound of an issue. In my opinion, it's not just the endgame that's lacking in difficulty; it's the entire game.
The update will also include several game system changes like making it easier to swim and use items underwater while fighting Lagiacrus, increasing the duration of all cooked meals, adjustments to several Armor Skills, tweaks to Support Hunters and the Seikret mount, and more.
For more detailed information on these changes and several miscellaneous bug fixes, you can check out the full mountain-sized list of patch notes for this update on Monster Hunter Wilds' official website.
Monster Hunter Wilds needs a difficulty spike for the whole game, not just the endgame content.
To say that Monster Hunter Wilds is one of the biggest disappointments of 2025 would be an understatement.
This game had a strong launch in February 2025 by selling over 10 million copies, gathering over a million concurrent Steam users, and receiving worldwide critical acclaim.
However, several months later, the fans have turned on Monster Hunter Wilds with review bombs criticizing the game's poor optimization on PC, unremarkable story campaign, lack of meaty end-game content compared to previous titles, and aggressively dumbing down the series' beloved challenge thanks to incongruent and excessively streamlined gameplay mechanics.
To Capcom's credit, it has been trying to address these issues through its post-launch patches, with this latest one aiming to add much-needed content and difficulty to the game's endgame content as Capcom promised it would back in March 2025.
While I commend Capcom for that, I feel this is a small band-aid on a huge, gaping wound of an issue. In my opinion, it's not just the endgame that's lacking in difficulty; it's the entire game.
Monsters in Low Rank and High Rank quests (with some exceptions) barely do any damage to the player (even with un-upgraded gear), die too quickly to the new game mechanic's, and the game constantly warns when you're about to die with the flashing health bar, taking the unpredictable, adrenaline-pumping danger away from hunts.
While this new update may make Tempered Monsters threatening again, it's not going to solve the problem of players being forced to sit through 50-60 hours of a mediocre story campaign hunting weak Low Rank and High Rank monsters just to get to the exciting endgame content.
Personally, I feel Capcom should give players the option to remove the flashing warning health bar in the options menu and buff up the damage output and health of Low Rank and normal High Rank monsters to incentivise the player into improving their skills and gear throughout the entire game instead of at the end.
Not only will this give players a great sense of accomplishment for taking the time to prepare hunting monsters, but it will also make them better players and enjoy the game from start to finish.
Either way, this update is a step in the right direction that I hope Capcom continues to tread on so that Monster Hunter Wilds can truly fulfill its potential and become one of the best games in the series.
In the meantime, we'll keep an eye out for more updates on Monster Hunter Wilds and news regarding the next upcoming Xbox title/upcoming PC title for the Monster Hunter Stories series, Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available for purchase on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
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