Monster Hunter’s bread and butter may be hitting these fantastic beasts until they hit the ground, letting you carve their hide and bones into powerful gear, but there’s another way. Whether it’s part of your current quest or you’re feeling just a bit more humane, you can capture monsters with just a little bit more effort than it takes to slay them.
Read on to learn how to capture monsters in Monster Hunter Rise, why you might want to do that, and what’s awaiting those hunters who add this valuable alternative to their repertoire. To begin, we’ll need to prepare you with a rundown on how to get traps.
How do I get traps to capture monsters in Monster Hunter Rise?
The process to capture a monster in Monster Hunter Rise isn’t that much more difficult than killing (or “slaying”, to use the game’s own distinction) them instead. The biggest difference is that you need to come extra prepared with a few crucial items.
Capturing monsters requires traps. There are two different types of traps, both of which can be crafted at Item Boxes. These are the Pitfall Trap and Shock Trap. You must have at least one of these on-hand to capture a monster. Crafting them reliably will take some time for you to have enough of the proper materials, but their recipes are as follows:
- Pitfall Trap – Trap Tool + Net
- Shock Trap – Trap Tool + Thunderbug
Of those, the Thunderbug is the easiest item to gather. They can be found at various spots on each of Rise’s maps/hunting grounds. Nets aren’t too much more difficult, however they’re also a craftable item. To make Nets, you’ll need to gather Ivy and Spider Webs out in the field first.
The most important piece of a trap is the Trap Tool. While a Trap Tool can be found in the Field Box when you’re on hunts specifically asking you to capture monsters, Rise doesn’t throw these types of quests at you too often. The easier and most reliable way is to purchase them from either of the merchants, in the Village or Gathering Hub. They’re fairly inexpensive, but only buy in bulk during sales!
There’s one last thing you need to capture monsters: Tranq Bombs. These are also purchasable and craftable, with the recipe requiring a Sleep Herb and a Parashroom. Both of these can be found at various spots in maps as well. If you use either Bowgun, you can also use a Tranq Bomb and some Normal Ammo 1 to craft Tranq Ammo.
These are the main ways to get these items and materials, but they aren’t the only ways. Sometimes traps or their materials can be traded for at The Argosy. Likewise, if you think you’re going to be capturing a lot you can use The Argosy as a steady and reliable way to passively harvest the more hard to get materials, like Sleep Herbs and Spider Webs.
Palicos can also help with capturing monsters. If you check their skills, sometimes they have techniques like Shock Purr-ison and Poison Purr-ison. These also trap monsters, and while they’re helpful they aren’t as reliable as placing a trap yourself. Not a bad back up though, and Assist-type Palico are particularly adept in this regard.
Finally, you can also win these as part of merchants’ lotteries, though Trap prizes seem to come up fairly rarely. Still, don’t forget to scan three amiibo daily for free entries!
How do you capture monsters in Monster Hunter Rise?
Now that you’ve got your Traps and your Tranq Bombs in hand and plenty of materials stashed away just in case, it’s time to capture a monster! The process isn’t all that different from slaying – get to work doing as much damage as you can. Focus on either the head or (if you’re using a cutting weapon and the monster has one) the tail, as well as other breakable parts and try not to get carted.
There are three main indicators that a monster is ready to be captured. Once you start seeing them, pull back on doing too much damage. If you continue to attack, you run the risk of accidentally slaying. Ideally you’ll want to have broken all possible parts and severed tails when possible, but you’ll have to use best judgement and other indicators to figure how much you can continue attacking. This is easy enough to manage hunting solo, but if you’re playing with others (especially random players online) it’s important to coordinate and communicate your plan to capture.
If you have a Palico with you, they’ll likely give you your first indication on the monster being capturable. Keep an eye on the right side of the screen, and if you see your felyne friend mention that the monster is ready for capture, then it’s the purrfect time to put your trapping plan in motion.
If you don’t have a Palico on hand, check out the top right corner of the screen. You’ll see icons for all monsters on the map, and if the monster you want to capture has a blue icon in its corner then that means it’s on its last legs and likely capturable. This nearly always appears after a Palico would speak up, but how soon can vary based on the monster.
The last indication is also the one that’ll help you capture the monster most. If the monster retreats when you know it’s nearing death and falls asleep, then it’s not only ready for capture but it’s an easy target. Keep in mind that sometimes monsters will sleep or get tired on their own or thanks to weapon effects – the main distinction is that they ran away to their “nest” and tried to sleep off the beating you’ve been giving them.
Once you’ve gotten one of these indications, you’ll want to lay your trap. Have it as your current item selection (or pull it up via shortcut) and set it. If you’re gutsy you can go right up to the active monster and hope it’ll stay put, or you can set it in a certain spot and try and lure it there with some kind of bait, such as Raw Meat or yourself.
After a severely wounded and weakened monster triggers the trap, you’ll want to use either Tranq Bombs or Tranq Ammo on it. Bombs are thrown at your hunter’s feet, so rush in close and throw a few. If you’ve done everything correctly, you’ll have just captured yourself a monster!
Is capturing monsters better than slaying in Monster Hunter Rise?
As a reminder, the only times you’re required to capture a monster is when a quest specifically says so. If a quest says “capture,” you have to capture. If it says “hunt” however, you can either slay or capture based on your personal preference.
Even though capturing takes less time when you’re actually fighting the monster, it requires more prep and item management to pull off successfully. You also run the risk of not breaking parts or cutting tails since you have to eventually pull back if you think you might accidentally kill instead. Slaying is much more straightforward – fight until they stop moving, no fancy tricks or traps needed.
So why one versus the other when it isn’t a requirement? This ultimately comes down to material drop rates. By checking the Large Monsters section of your Hunter’s Notes in the game’s menu, you’ll be able to find a table of all their drops and how often they occur. Have a look at this example from a High Rank Mizutsune.
As you can see, the Bubblefoam+ has a 21% chance of being carved from a slain Mizutsune, but only a 16% chance to be a capture reward. If you’re after that specific thing, it’s in your interest to slay instead of capture. Reviewing these numbers from monster to monster will benefit you when it comes to crafting desirable armor and weapons.
Monster tails generally have the largest gap here, but are also unique in that they can be severed and carved independently of a monster’s death. If you were after a Mizutsune Tail and also some Mizutsune Claw+s, then your best bet would likely be to cut its tail, carve that when you can, and then capture.
It is worth noting that capturing a monster also usually provides a few more Target Rewards once a hunt has finished compared to slaying them, but this can be evened out by the post-kill carve. While more is better isn’t a bad mantra most of the time, if you’re after specific materials it won’t matter if you got a couple extras you’ll never use for your trouble.
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Written by Ricky Berg
When he isn’t writing for Nintendo Wire, Ricky’s anticipating the next Kirby, Fire Emblem, or if the stars ever align, Mother 3 to be released. Till then he’ll have the warm comfort of Super Smash Bros. to keep him going.
