Can't win a hunt in Monster Hunter Outlanders? This guide lists what to review, from upgrades and gear to your team: the Growth Guide, levels and Ascension, Engraving, Proof of Mastery, weapons, armor, visages, monster moves, training and items. Information as of November 4, 2026.
What to Review When You Can't Win
Work through this list from the top. Each item has its own section below.
| What to review | How it helps |
|---|---|
| Growth Guide | Shows which upgrades lag behind your progress |
| Raise Keepsake levels | The main source of stats and the easiest to raise |
| Level up and ascend Buddies | More stats from materials that are easy to collect |
| Upgrade Engravings | Strengthens passive skills from level 30 |
| Raise your Proof of Mastery | Permanent stat boosts for your adventurers |
| Upgrade or switch weapons | More damage, and the right element for each monster |
| Pick armor with the right skills | Less damage taken and skills that add damage |
| Review your visages | Stats plus Core Effects and Set Effects |
| Review your team | A party that works well together |
| Learn monster traits and moves | Fewer hits taken, and weak points to aim for |
| Practice at the Training Ground | Learn each adventurer's skills and combos |
| Prepare items and shortcuts | Heal and cure ailments during a hunt |
Check the Growth Guide First
Open the main menu and select the Growth Guide to see, for each adventurer, whether their upgrades are enough for your current progress. It rates the adventurer, visages, gear and Buddy separately, so upgrade whichever one is falling short first.
Upgrade Your Adventurers and Buddies
Raise Keepsake levels
Keepsake level is the main way to raise an adventurer's stats and the easiest to upgrade, so raise it first. It takes Dew materials such as Verdant Dew plus Zenny, so collect them as you play every day.
Ascend to raise the level cap
The level cap starts at 20. Ascension takes Amber materials such as Clear Amber plus Zenny and raises the cap by 10 each time. After that, how far you can ascend depends on your Ecological Rank: once your Adventurer Rank is high enough, an Ascension Challenge appears, and clearing it raises your Ecological Rank.
Level up and ascend Buddies
Leveling up Buddies with berries such as Dewberry raises their stats further. The materials are as easy to collect as adventurer level-up materials, so upgrade Buddies right after your adventurers.
Buddies need Ascension too
Buddies have Ascension just like adventurers. The unlock conditions are all the same; only the material differs: Buddies use their own material, Tasty Acorn.
Upgrade Engravings
Engraving is an adventurer upgrade that mainly strengthens passive skills. From level 30, you can engrave every 10 levels, and what you can upgrade differs by level. It takes Engraved Gems and Zenny.
Raise your Proof of Mastery
The higher your Proof of Mastery, the more your adventurers' stats are permanently boosted. Earn the Mastery Points you need to rank up by clearing quests that award them and by reaching goals such as hunting and growth.
A higher rank lets you run two Set Effects
At a higher Proof of Mastery rank, a stage bonus makes the visage in the core slot count as 2 toward its Set Effect. Add 2 visages of the same set and 2 of another set outside the core slot, and you get a 4-piece and a 2-piece Set Effect at the same time.
Review Your Gear
Upgrade or switch weapons
If a lack of damage drags hunts out, review your weapon. Weapons are crafted and upgraded with Hunter's Jade and monster and field materials. Keeping weapons of several elements ready, to match the monster you want to beat, makes hunts go smoothly.
Apex Weapons for high-difficulty content
Apex Weapons are especially strong against high-difficulty content. Unlike normal crafted weapons, they are crafted and upgraded through the Apex Challenge.
Pick armor with the right skills
If monsters hit you hard or you want more damage, review your armor too. After setting your weapon, open the armor screen: the recommended list at the top shows armor with skills that suit that weapon.
Review your visages
Visages raise stats and strengthen adventurers through Core Effects and Set Effects. Check that their effects suit the adventurer wearing them and that you haven't forgotten to level them up, and swap visages if needed.
Resketch if you can
Resketching adds extra substats to a leveled-up visage. You can leave serious substat farming for later, but even the first resketch gives a solid boost, so do it if you can.
Review Your Team
How strong each adventurer is matters, but so does your party lineup. If upgrades alone don't get you through a hunt, compare your party with the recommended team comps and party-building tips in our team guide.
Learn the Fight and Prepare Items
Learn monster traits and moves
Knowing a monster's traits and moves makes fights much easier. Monsters in Free Hunt can be fought at any time, so they are good for practice. The Free Hunt screen shows a monster's weak points, and you can tap it to read its traits and hunting tips.
Know Radiant monsters' weak points
Radiant monsters can have special weak points. Hitting them deals big damage and also disrupts the monster's moves, so learn where they are before you hunt.
Radiant Monsters / Radiant Rage Tips
Practice at the Training Ground
The tutorial in the main menu lets you review the basics at the Training Ground, read each adventurer's skill explanations and practice combos on a training dummy. It has separate training for each of the main character's weapon types and for the other adventurers, which helps you understand the adventurers you own.
Prepare items and shortcuts
Preparing consumables such as Potions and Antidotes before a hunt lets you handle more situations and hunt more steadily. Put the items you use most in easy-to-reach spots of your item shortcuts.
The screenshots are from the Japanese version of the game.