10 Best Equipment Skills in Monster Hunter Wilds

Monster Hunter Wilds offers players dozens of ways to improve their gear and success rate in hunts. You can invest in new weapons and armor and ensure you go into every hunt with essential items.

Another way you can boost your efficiency is with Equipment Skills. Every piece of armor has them, and you can insert decorations into your gear to add them manually. There are dozens of Equipment Skills, and it’s enough to make your head spin, even if you aren’t a newcomer.

Fortunately, you can comfortably stroll through most of the story without worrying about Equipment Skills, but the game really opens up when you do!

If you don’t know your Stamina Surge from your Weakness Exploit, let me show you some of the best Equipment Skills to prioritize. Keep in mind that you can also equip Talismans with Equipment Skills if you can’t find them on armor you like.

10 Stamina Surge

All Those Acrobatics Are Hard Work

Every action in Monster Hunter is dictated by your yellow Stamina bar. Depending on your weapon choice, stamina may rarely come into play. However, exhaustion is a consistent threat if you use nimble weapons like the Bow or Dual Blades.

Stamina Surge is an elegant solution to your stamina woes as it dramatically speeds up your recovery rate. Level 3 Stamina Surge gives you a 30% faster Stamina recovery speed, which feels fantastic when you’re spamming quick attacks and dodges.

Honestly, Stamina Surge isn’t worthwhile on every weapon, and you can still run out of stamina through poor resource management. Still, it’s better than nothing and borderline essential for most play styles.

9 Constitution

Try And Hit Me!

Constitution is another valuable Equipment Skill for stamina management and is incredible when paired with Stamina Surge.

Constitution reduces the cost of all stamina-draining attacks and abilities. Naturally, Bow users, in particular, will love Constitution, but it’s valuable with any weapon in the game. The percentage of reduced stamina cost increases the more you invest in the skill, up to a whopping 50%!

Constitution is also an excellent tech choice when fighting in the Iceshard Cliffs or against monsters with ice attacks that can ravage your stamina bar.

8 Evade Window

What Hitbox?

Evade Window is an incredible Equipment Skill that extends your I-Frames while evading. The downside is it’s hard to go back once you’re used to it.

Whenever you dodge roll in Monster Hunter, you’re briefly invincible at the start of the animation. A well-timed roll can make you survive the most brutal attacks in the game unscathed, but it’s obnoxiously tricky to pull off.

Evade Window keeps you safe for longer as you roll, so you don’t have to be so precise with the timing. You’re absolutely not untouchable, but you can get away with murder if you’re paying attention.

Some Monster Hunter veterans will say Evade Window and the next skill on this list are crutches which do more harm than good. I agree somewhat, but ultimately, they are in the game to be used, and these warnings speak to the power of the Skill.

7 Evade Extender

When A Roll Becomes A Dive

Similar to Evade Window, Evade Extender increases the distance you travel during a roll.

At max rank, you move an almost comical distance, and it’s arguably more forgiving than Evade Window as you don’t care about I-Frames.

If you’re rocking Evade Extender, you will move so far that you can completely dodge everything from precise swipes to massive AOE attacks. Two quick rolls will cover a tremendous distance, and it’s a skill that is viable with every weapon.

Just beware that Evade Extender is an Equipment Skill you will dearly miss when you take it off.

6 Divine Blessing

Just Shrug It Off

Divine Blessing is one of my favorite Equipment Skills in Monster Hunter Wilds, and it’s a defensive ability that doesn’t augment your movement options.

As the name entails, Divine Blessing works like an intervention from beyond. You have a chance to receive less damage than usual from attacks, and you’re more likely to trigger Divine Blessing by investing more points into the skill.

I’m unsure of the precise percentages for the skill, but Divine Blessing can take the sting out of the most deadly attacks in the game. It works with every weapon and play style. Best of all, you don’t need to do anything special to trigger it.

5 Earplugs

Do They Need To Scream In My Face?

I can’t imagine a noise so loud I’m forced to cover my ears, but that’s how loud monster roars are. Fortunately, there is a way around the more vocal creatures in Monster Hunter Wilds.

Earplugs prevent your hunter from covering their ears when the monster roars, allowing you to attack while the monster is defenseless. This is especially nice if you rock a weapon like the Greatsword, as roars can interrupt your weapon charges.

The Equipment Skill offers an excellent quality of life improvement, and its level denotes how loud of a roar you can withstand. Ultimately, the value of the Earplugs Skill is dictated by your weapon, and it shines with the right kit.

4 Slugger

If He Dies, He Dies

Slugger is arguably the best Equipment Skill in the game for Kings of the KO, aka Hammer Bros.

The Slugger Skill increases your KO damage, and while it’s not a visible number, you’ll notice your opponent becomes far more susceptible to stun damage.

A great Hammer player can reliably knock a monster on its butt once or twice per hunt, allowing the team to swarm for free damage. Slugger can make KOs more reliable, and you can even squeeze in another knockout if you consistently land hits on the chin.

If you’re a Hammer specialist, you need a good reason not to rock Slugger.

3 Handicraft

A Monster Hunter Staple

Handicraft is a sought-after Equipment Skill in the best Monster Hunter games, and Wilds is no exception.

Handicraft increases your weapon sharpness, which is directly tied to your damage. If your weapon uses a Whetstone, you will benefit from Handicraft, as the sharper your blade (or hammer and horn…), the more damage it does.

Like the best Equipment Skills on this list, Handicraft doesn’t require any playstyle adjustments and just provides more damage.

It’s a useless skill for ranged weapon users, but don’t worry about them; they don’t need to sharpen their tools after every encounter!

2 Weakness Exploit

Pump Those Damage Numbers Up

Weakness Exploit has a confusing description if you’re new to Monster Hunter as it increases your Affinity, something the game doesn’t really tell you about.

Without diving into Monster Hunter math, Affinity is similar to a ‘critical chance’ increase. Critical hits deal more damage to the monster, so Weakness Exploit grants a blanket DPS bonus.

Some weapons come with a negative Affinity stat, like the Doshaguma Greatsword, for example. Negative Affinity gives the weapon a chance to deal less damage than usual, and Weakness Exploit can mitigate this entirely. You also deal bonus damage to wounded monster parts, which increases the lethality of Weakness Exploit even further.

1 Agitator

U Mad Bro?

Agitator is my favorite Equipment Skill in Monster Hunter, as it grants a significant damage boost multiple times per hunt for free.

Agitator gives you bonus damage whenever your target is enraged. The boost is pretty significant, too, and it’s so strong that it’s worth maxing the skill out if possible.

The ability requires zero setup, and it will trigger during every quest. It’s also excellent against monsters you’ll encounter later with abilities I won’t spoil here.

Agitator is an incredible Equipment Skill. It works with any weapon and any build, and you’re basically rewarded for the monster having a temper tantrum.