Monster Hunter Wilds Multiplayer Guide — Co-op, SOS Signals & Hub Quests

Multiplayer Quick Reference

Sessions and the Gathering Hub

The primary way to play Monster Hunter Wilds with friends is through the Session system. A Session is a shared online room that up to 16 players can join. Once in the same Session, players can form hunt parties of up to 4 and take on quests together. To play with specific friends, either create a private Session with a password and share it, or join your friend's Session directly from the Friends List.

The Gathering Hub is the social hub area where players meet, post quests, and form hunting parties. Talking to the Hub's Quest Receptionist gives access to Hub Quests — versions of the main quest board designed with multiplayer scaling in mind. Hub Quests give the same rewards as standard quests but are expected to be taken on with a party. They are soloable but significantly harder alone due to increased monster HP and aggression.

Your session persists between quests. After a hunt ends, all players return to the Gathering Hub and can immediately start the next quest without re-inviting each other. This seamless loop makes extended play sessions with friends effortless — plan a hunting order before you start (e.g., 'we are farming Rathalos then Odogaron') and work through the list together.

SOS Flare — Getting Help Mid-Hunt

The SOS Flare system lets you call for reinforcements during a hunt without abandoning the quest. If a monster is proving too difficult solo, open the menu and fire an SOS Flare. This broadcasts your hunt to all online players who are in the SOS lobby — players actively looking for hunts to join. Up to three additional hunters can join, turning your solo fight into a 4-player co-op.

From the joiner's perspective, the SOS lobby is a list of active flares from hunts in progress. You can filter by monster type, quest rank, and other criteria to find a hunt that matches what you want to help with. Joining an SOS hunt is instantaneous — you load directly into the hunt at any point during its progress. If the original hunter has already significantly damaged the monster, you will be joining a shorter but still rewarding hunt.

SOS Flares can be fired from almost any quest type, including story quests and optional quests. This means newer players can always call for experienced backup on difficult hunts, and veteran players can join to help and still receive rewards for the hunt. The SOS system significantly reduces the feeling of being stuck on a hard monster solo.

Multiplayer Coordination Tips

• Assign roles before the hunt: one player targets the head (KO duty if using Hammer/HH), one focuses tail severing, others deal general DPS.
• Equip Flinch Free 1 before any multiplayer hunt — wide-swinging weapons (Great Sword, Switch Axe, Long Sword) will Flinch Shot teammates without it.
• Never wake a sleeping monster until Mega Barrel Bombs are placed — communicate clearly in chat before anyone acts on a sleep proc.
• Coordinate traps: only one trap can be active at a time. Decide who sets traps before the hunt to avoid two players wasting traps simultaneously.
• In 4-player hunts, poison/paralysis application is faster since more hunters are hitting — a dedicated status player is especially effective with 3 DPS teammates benefiting from the free attack windows.
• Watch the mini-map for the orange faint indicators — if two teammates have carted, everyone should play more conservatively for the rest of the hunt.
• If playing with strangers via SOS, check their gear from the equipment screen to gauge their experience level and plan accordingly.

Multiplayer-Specific Rewards and Progression

Multiplayer does not penalize individual rewards. Each player in a 4-player hunt receives their own complete reward box at the end — materials are not shared or split. The only shared resources are the carting counter (3 total faints between the whole party) and the hunt timer. This means multiplayer is strictly additive for rewards: more players means faster kills, which means more hunts per hour, which means more materials per hour.

However, monster HP does scale with the number of players. A solo hunt against a Low Rank Rathalos might involve 5,000 HP. With 4 players, that scales upward (scaling varies by quest type and monster). This HP scaling keeps hunts challenging and time-appropriate in groups — a 4-player team with good DPS should not trivially one-phase a monster that takes a solo hunter 15 minutes.

Progression gating is handled per-player. Each hunter must complete the required story quests to unlock High Rank, regardless of whether they play with someone who is already there. However, a higher-rank player can join a lower-rank player's quests to help them through the story, as long as the quests are accessible to the lower-rank player. The higher-rank player's gear and skills fully apply, making helping friends through tough story fights fast and effective.