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In the Monster Hunter Field Guide, each monster has a vulnerability rating for each element and ailment, from 0 (high resistance) to 3 stars (high vulnerability).

diablos-chart

The picture above shows that the Diablos is very vulnerable to Ice and Paralysis (3-star), but very resistant to Fire (0-star / X).

It's best to have multiple weapons of different types so you can attack each monster most efficiently, so I'm not asking which element is "the best". But, if you wanted to focus on / prioritize certain weapons more than others, because of material limitations or tree structure, which element / ailment types are large monsters most commonly vulnerable / resistant to?

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    Focusing on a single element, while it sounds like a good idea, won't really help you in the long run. If you're looking for a more reliable way to attack any monster, focus on raw damage, and ignore elements entirely. Otherwise, prepping for the monster you want to fight is core to the gameplay loop.
    – Frank
    Feb 15, 2018 at 13:11
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    Maybe a better frame for the question could be that you want to make a new elemental weapon for yourself and have the resources for only one - which element/status would be the best choice?
    – Zodack
    Feb 15, 2018 at 15:00
  • @Zodack Yeah, Thats a better way of putting it, but i figured it would get razzed for trying to ask which element was best or something. I was pretty explicit that I wasn't doing that, and yet it was the first comment. I hesitate to get any more specific but if you have a good edit in mind, have at it, no worries.
    – Dpeif
    Feb 15, 2018 at 15:06
  • The question is based on a false premise; that each weapon uses the same materials. If you've been fighting ice monsters, you can make ice weapons. You're not going to be getting materials to make fire weapons. Using a numerical argument misses aspects of gameplay that invalidate element entirely. Amor skills, your current location, and most of all, your own skill, all affect this. Just saying, "most monsters are weak to ice" ignores all of it.
    – Frank
    Feb 15, 2018 at 18:02
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    I disagree. The information is useless in the grand scheme of things, and can actually be harmful, as it implies all monsters can be handled the same way. Following this is just asking to get complacent. Monster Hunter rewards proper preparation, and you're just dumbing it down to, "take this weapon".
    – Frank
    Feb 15, 2018 at 23:54

1 Answer 1

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TL;DR

Ice, Thunder, Paralysis, and Stun are the most common effects for monsters to be vulnerable to (3-star and 2-star ratings). If you only care which effects have the most high vulnerabilities (3-star), then you want to actually aim for Water, Thunder and Poison (more on that at the bottom). So, Thunder seems to be the statistical winner for vulnerabilities.

For effects to avoid, Fire, Water, and Blast are the most common effects for monsters to be resistant to (1-star / 0-star). I didn't catalog all the high resistances (0-star only) but I may add that later (or someone else is welcome to).

The numbers are pretty even depending on how you look at them, so this is not suggesting you completely devote yourself to, or completely ignore, any type of weapon. I personally just thought it was useful information.

Note: This is only concerning large monsters

If you go through and tally up how many monsters have a 3-star or a 2-star vulnerability to an element / ailment, here are the results:

Elements

  • Fire: 11
  • Water: 14
  • Thunder: 18
  • Ice: 21
  • Dragon: 13

Ailments

  • Poison: 19
  • Sleep: 21
  • Paralysis: 22
  • Blast: 19
  • Stun: 22

And if you tally up how many monsters have a 0-star or 1-star vulnerability (which means they have a resistance to it):

Elements

  • Fire: 16
  • Water: 16
  • Thunder: 12
  • Ice: 8
  • Dragon: 14

Ailments

  • Poison: 10
  • Sleep: 10
  • Paralysis: 8
  • Blast: 11
  • Stun: 6

What does this mean?

When comparing vulnerabilities, Ice and Thunder will be the most effective elements across the greatest number of monsters. For ailments things are pretty even across the board, but Paralysis and Stun are statistically most effective, with Sleep in second place.

Comparing resistances, Fire and Water are the most common elements for monsters to be resistant to. For ailments, Blast is the leader, with Poison and Sleep tying for second place.

Taking things a little further, I personally don't consider a 2-star rating to be a true vulnerability, even though it's one less than a 3-star. So, I always go for the effect that has the 3-star rating if at all possible, just to be most damaging.

Taking that into account, it's more interesting to me to know which elements / ailments have the most 3-star vulnerabilities, without taking into account the 2-star results. Here are those numbers:

Elements

  • Fire: 5
  • Water: 8
  • Thunder: 8
  • Ice: 4
  • Dragon: 5

Ailments

  • Poison: 8
  • Sleep: 3
  • Paralysis: 5
  • Blast: 5
  • Stun: 5

This changes the above results slightly, making Water and Thunder the leaders in elemental damage, and Poison the clear leader in ailments. It's interesting to note that Thunder is in the winner's circle for the 3-star-only comparison, as well as the 2-star + 3-star comparison.

Source: monsterhunterworld.wiki

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