Hunter Rank (HR) is basically your level in Monster Hunter Wilds. It measures your progress and how many monsters you have killed, or in other words how much effort you’ve put into the game.
What Does Hunter Rank Do?
Simply put: it unlocks higher-difficulty missions.
In the story from Chapter 4-3 onward you will need to increase your Hunter Rank to unlock new Main Missions (called Assignments). To finish the story you will need to reach at least Hunter Rank 40. You also unlock new optional missions (side missions) as your Hunter Rank increases.
Your Hunter Rank can be seen on the Status Screen, in your Equipment Info, in your Hunter Profile, and when simply holding L1 (PS5) / LB (Xbox).
During the Story your HR gets capped at certain story points. However, any excess XP you earn will be attributed to you after advancing the story to increase the cap. After finishing the story (after Chapter 6), the cap is lifted and you can continue to rank up. After HR40 you will have access to all tempered monsters, which takes around 20-35 hours to reach depending on your experience level with Monster Hunter games and if you play solo (harder) or with SOS Flares (AI Helpers) / Co-Op.
What Does Hunter Rank NOT Do?
- It does not increase your health
- It does not increase your stamina
- It does not increase any of your stats
- It does not make you stronger in any way
In other words, it has no positive effects on your character development other than unlocking more difficult missions which will eventually lead to better gear.
How to Increase Hunter Rank
Simply put: by killing/capturing large monsters and completing side missions.
That’s all there is to it. It will go quicker when using SOS flares to call AI helpers, or doing 4-player co-op to kill the monsters faster. Higher difficulty monsters give more HR points (as indicated by their star rating and whether they are tempered or not). To put things in perspective: getting from HR 39 to 40 takes about 2-3 high-difficulty monster kills.
Doing side missions also rewards HR progress. This can be combined with monster hunts to effectively double your HR progress. Talk to NPCs with yellow icons over their head, then talk to Alma (Quest Counter) to play the optional missions with a yellow icon on them. Those are the side missions, they simply require slaying a monster. You then get HR points from slaying the monsters and beating the optional missions, then again when turning in the quest to the NPC. You can go up a Hunter Rank from a single side mission, which can be done in 5-12 minutes if using SOS flares.
Just keep on hunting to increase your rank during and after the story. Reaching Hunter Rank 100 unlocks the 
Established Hunter trophy/achievement.
Leave a Reply