Monster Hunter World: Capture vs Kill – Which Should You Do?

Should You Capture or Kill Monsters in Monster Hunter World?

Monster Hunter World has tons of different quests to undertake and beasts to track down. Although the game doesn’t explicitly lay this out for you, players have probably noticed that there’s two different ways you can take down monsters – killing and capturing. Of course, this brings up the question, which option is better? Generally capturing is better as it’ll reward you with more resources, however, it’s also harder to pull off than killing and requires more traps/items to do so. We’ll explain a little on both.

Every monster in Monster Hunter World has phases to its fight, particularly when they’re injured. You’ll know a monster is injured when it starts limping and trying to escape. This is when you’re able to try and capture the creature. What you need to do is hit the monster with tranquilizer bombs and a trap. Electrocution traps work well, and if you manage to incapacitate and trap a monster it’ll result in a capture, and more rewards for you. It’s generally a better idea to hit the monster with the trap before using tranquilizer bombs, as the bombs tend to wear off over time so you may not still have the monster tranquilized if you take too long to get it into the trap. However, you can use the bombs first and have it still count for capturing. Further, because the monster is injured as it’s trying to escape, it can make capturing them pretty difficult in Monster Hunter World, but stock up your inventory and take your time and you’ll have a capture in no time.

On the other hand, killing is a much easier approach, as you can just keep bashing away at a monster until it falls. Keep in mind, of course, that breaking certain parts of a target’s body will not only make it weaker, but reward you with specific items for doing so.

There are times during Monster Hunter World that you’ll be required to take down a target in a specific way, so keep this in mind as you’re playing. If your objective says “Slay” the monster then know you need to kill it, while “Capture” means you’ll need to capture it. Additionally if your objectives simply says “Hunt” said monster, you can capture or kill as you see fit.

That’s all you need to know about capturing and killing in Monster Hunter World. For more on the game, make sure to search Twinfinite or take a look at our wiki.