To paralyze monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds, players have to inflict Paralysis Buildup on them by attacking with Paralysis-element weapons or ammo. See how to paralyze monsters in this guide!

Paralysis Status Ailment Explained

Prevents the Hunter From Moving

When the Hunter is paralyzed, they become unable to move and are stuck in place, vulnerable to any monster attack headed their way.

Cannot Be Cured Once Afflicted

As the Hunter is incapacitated, they cannot use items, and so cannot cleanse the status in that manner.

Only Other Hunters can Remove the Effect

However, attacks from other Hunters can force players out of their Paralyzed state. The attack just has to have enough force behind it, like a swing from a Great Sword or a Hunting Horn.

How to Paralyze Monsters

Tips for Paralyzing Monsters
Equip Paralysis Weapons or Ammo Utilize Endemic Life

Equip Paralysis Weapons or Ammo

To paralyze monsters, you need to it them with attacks that cause Paralysis Buildup. The easiest way to do this is with weapons or ammo that have a Paralysis element; once enough buildup is accumulated, the status effect activates.

As the buildup of the status is reliant on multiple weapon hits, faster weapons like the Dual Blades and Sword & Shield excel at applying status to monsters.

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Utilize Endemic Life

Lastly, players can look to use Endemic Life to cause Paralysis on monsters. Specifically, the Paratoad is a very effective tool for doing so; do note that the cloud from the Paratoad can also affect players, so be wary!

List of All Endemic Life

Monsters Will Build Up Resistance to Status

Note that once a monster is inflicted with Paralysis, it will take increasingly more buildup to re-inflict Paralysis on it. This is due to monsters developing resistances to status effects after they suffer one, making them more resilient to that status.

Benefits of Paralyzing Monsters

Paralysis Benefits
Stops Monsters From Moving Great For Hunts With Multiple Monsters Chain Paralysis with Focus Strikes

Stops Them From Moving for a While

Paralyzing a monster provides players with a window of opportunity, either to use items and heal, or to set-up for a powerful combo for a chunk of damage.

Some Monsters are Immune to Paralysis

Note that some monsters are immune to Paralysis entirely, and will not be paralyzed no matter how much times it gets hit with Paralysis Buildup attacks.

Paralysis vs. Sleep: Which is Better?

In general, Paralysis is better than Sleep. Sleep's biggest advantage is that it doubles the damage of the next attack that hits the sleeping monster. While powerful weapons like the Great Sword or the Gunlance have powerful attacks that can take advantage of this mechanic, the same can't be said for other weapons.

On the contrary, Paralysis makes a monster remain stationary, something that all weapons can take advantage of. This makes it a better general purpose status ailment no matter what your weapon is.

Great When Hunting Multiple Monsters

Whenever you want to do an Investigation, specifically a Great Hunt Investigation, it is possible that you will encounter two monsters with differing Elemental weakness.

Instead of bringing two weapons with different elements or going back to camp to change builds, you can simply bring a Paralysis weapon to fight both monsters (assuming they are not resistant or immune).

Elemental Weapons Are Still Strong

This isn't to say that Elemental Weapons are no longer needed. If you want to go for a higher damage output, weapons with Elemental damage are still the way to go.

How Does Weapon Elemental Damage Work?

You can Chain Paralysis with Focus Strikes

While a monster is paralyzed, you can focus on one specific body part to create a Wound. Once the monster breaks out of paralysis, you can then perform a Focus Strike on said wound.

This will destroy it to deal a burst of damage to the monster while also potentially knocking the monster down, giving you an even bigger window to attack.

Monster Hunter Wilds Related Guides

Tips and Tricks

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