Unlike traditional RPGs such as Final Fantasy where characters can cast elemental spells that deal their own blanket damage, elemental attributes in Monster Hunter act as a secondary damage modifier. The 2004 title included four elements: Fire, Water, Thunder, and Dragon. Most monsters embodied these natural forces, with Fire represented by creatures like the original flagship monster Rathalos. The weapons that a hunter creates using monster parts typically embody the same element, and come with their own attribute number that stacks atop raw damage based on the weaknesses or resistances of a target.
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The second generation of Monster Hunter games introduced Ice to the primary lineup, utilized by the Elder Dragon Kushala Daora and later handed out to powerful monsters like Generations’ Gammoth and Iceborne’s Velkhana. After that, the third generation debuted Elemental Blights that give hunters or monsters unique status conditions with less overall impact than the major ailments Poison, Paralysis, Sleep, and Blast. A few other games have tested the waters with elements, but Capcom should consider expanding the main roster beyond Ice to give players more content to engage with.
Elemental Experiments in Other Monster Hunter Games
Though the vast majority of monsters can be sorted into one of the series’ five main element categories, a number do not. Smaller monsters like Rise’s Great Izuchi are element agnostic, as are iconic beasts like Diablos - regularly seen in auxiliary media including Paul W. S. Anderson’s live-action film. A select few monsters including Diablos, Barroth, Nibelsnarf, Duramboros, and Uragaan were given the “Earth” element designation exclusive to the mobile game Monster Hunter Explore. In most other entries, non-elemental monster weapons and armor tend to focus on stats like Defense and Affinity (critical hit chance).
Another spin-off, the MMORPG Monster Hunter Frontier that shut down in December 2019, experimented with blending elements. For example, Blaze was a mix of Fire and Dragon, Darkness a mix of Ice and Dragon, and Sound a mix of Water and Dragon. More often than not these elements were exclusive to monsters such as White Fatalis, which utilized a blend of Thunder and Dragon called Emperor’s Roar. Some of these may yet return given the appearance of Espinas in Monster Hunter Rise, whose fiery breath also potentially inflicts Poison and Paralysis.
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The Benefits of Additional Elements in Monster Hunter
The best place to start when adding new element types into Monster Hunter would probably be bringing back Explore’s Earth designation for monsters like Diablos and Duramboros, known for behaviors that involve digging underground or launching hunks of rock. This would leave room for a handful of monsters with exclusive Blight-based status effects, such as Gore Magala’s Frenzy and Malzeno’s Bloodblight, while giving players a more complex web of strengths, weaknesses, and resistances to consider.
Each new element should come with its own Blight that adds a wrinkle akin to Thunderblight making hunters easier to stun or Fireblight dealing damage over time, and if Hunting Helpers carry forward a new beetle to inflict that Blight would be just as fun. As interesting as it would be to see new monster designs and attack patterns (or more monsters combining elements and status effects like Sunbreak’s Garangolm), probably the biggest reason for Capcom to take this step is that it would encourage build diversity.
There are nigh-endless combinations of armor pieces and weapons in Monster Hunter that give players an edge in combat or environmental exploits. A key subset of armor builds are those that power up one of the five elements, encouraging players to use something like an Ice Great Sword against monsters weak to Ice. Adding more element types into that mix increases the odds that a monster’s armor pieces include unique secondary skills, too. Exploring this expanding web of options may become too cumbersome if overused, but could add dozens of hours of content and new tricks to show off.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak is available now on PC and Switch.
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