Monster Hunter: World - 12 Incredibly Helpful Secrets You Need To Know

9. The Secret With Scoutflies

Not only are Scoutflies useful for pinpointing the location of far-away beasts once you've located a footprint or swipe of identifying slime, but following this, once you've got your literal pin on the map telling you where to go, it might be tempting to run right past more of the creature's tracks.

Do NOT do this.

Instead, continuing to track the monster not only ranks up a creature's level with the Ecological Researcher (found to the north-west of Astera, and more on him later), but means that once you start fighting, there'll be a clearer readout of its health and status on the mini-map.

Ever wondered why something like the miniature "skull icon" only showed up at certain times? It's because you've either put the time into tracking these footprints and monster signifiers beforehand, or ignored them.

The skull in particular is invaluable when capturing monsters instead of killing them. This denotes they're near death, and very susceptible to a Shock Trap/Tranq Bomb combo. The pulsing "half moon" icon also indicates the creature's health, as the more it starts to flash red, the closer to dying it is.