Monster Hunter: World's PC release finally put the beloved action-RPG series in the hands of modders. With so many interconnected systems, Monster Hunter games are fertile ground for mods, from custom quests to quality of life tune-ups. So it's no surprise World's scene is already rich with helpful, handy and just plain cool mods.

Some Monster Hunter: World mods improve the game's performance and look, while others add features you didn't know you needed until now. Capcom's stance on modding World is still disappointingly vague, but it hasn't done anything to halt the use of any mods for the PC version of MHW. So, mod wisely and at your own risk. 

SmartHunter - Overlay

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This wonderfully detailed, frequently updated mod adds widgets to your screen that you can resize and drag-and-drop to your liking, offering all kinds of details to aid you on the hunt. The most basic info here is how much HP a monster has and how much damage each person in your hunting party has done. But it goes a step further in showing you cooldowns for your buffs and mantles, and breaking down how much damage has been done to the monster's head, wings, tail, etc.

Best of all, it'll show you how much damage you need to accrue for status effects like mount, paralysis, stun, and so on. It's a lot of information you wouldn't normally get, so if it's too much screen clutter or you feel like you're cheating, you can configure the mod to only show certain features. Be a smart hunter and don't leave home without it.

Kaldaien's Special K Performance Pack  

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Kaldaien, who you may know as the modder who led the charge on fixing Nier: Automata's lacking PC port via the FAR mod pack, set his sights on World's CPU-hungry engine shortly after the game released. His Special K mod pack reduces CPU usage, adds enhanced ReShade options, fixes some fullscreen problems, and lets you take HUD-less screenshots. It's no longer vital thanks to several MHW patches from Capcom, but still offers some nice perks.

ALL Items in Shop

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Okay, this one is basically cheating, but you know what: It'll make your Monster Hunter life better. Most of Monster Hunter is about that loop of killing monsters, getting parts to make better gear, using that better gear to fight more monsters, and so on forever. But some of the items you need to craft armor or augment it with the proper abilities for a high-level hunt have super low drop rates, and that's when things get frustrating. I'll fight the same monsters many times, but sometimes bad luck means that's still not enough.

This mod adds almost (but not every, despite the name) crafting material and decoration to the in-game shop, where you can buy what you need as long as you have the money. Getting that money's still going to require a lot of hunting time, so use this mod as a last recourse when the RNG just won't swing your way.

Clear Hunter Color and Texture Improvements  

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I'm glad I wasn't the only one who thought Monster Hunter: World, while beautiful, looked a bit washed out. Creision's Clear Hunter ReShade mod injects some much-needed color into the new world, giving you redder Rathaloses, greener Rathians, and bluer Tzitzi-Ya-Kus. It also sharpens textures across the board, especially on armor. 

Blur-Be-Gone  

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While you're sprucing things up, I'd also recommend Dirty Dan's Blur Be Gone mod, which, as you may have guessed, disables World's motion blur as well as the vignetting effect caused by its heavy-handed depth of field. This mod can only be used in conjunction with Kaldaien's Special K pack, but you should be using that anyway, so that's no problem.

Armor Transmog 

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Monster Hunter: Generations Ultimate for the Nintendo Switch added the ability to transmog your armor's appearance just like you might in World of Warcraft or Diablo 3. But for reasons I cannot fathom, World doesn't have this feature. So, once again, thank god for modders. You can change the appearance of individual armor pieces or save custom loadouts. Finally, you can get the armor skills you want without looking like you got dressed in the dark. 

Item Light Pillars 

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You just killed your seventh Deviljho of the day, and you're still chasing that gem. The post-hunt screen informs you that there's a rare, shiny drop somewhere nearby. It could be the gem you crave. All you have to do is pick it up. There's just one problem: you can't find the damn thing. 

This scenario is every hunter's nightmare. Luckily, 2hh8899 created a mod which attaches a clearly visible pillar of light to shiny drops. The funny thing is that all the mod actually does is take the light effect seen on fishing spots and staple it to shiny drops. Nevertheless, it's a godsend.

No Scout Flies 

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To be honest, I don't hate the scout flies in Monster Hunter: World, but I do hate the neck-snapping camera changes that come with them. No matter what you're doing, whenever these buggers lock onto something, your camera abruptly flies in that direction. 

MHVuze's mod disables your scout flies' sound and particle effects, as well as that stupid camera. You'll still be able to track monsters, you just won't have to listen to that incessant buzzing, struggle to see through neon-lit clouds every time you go to gather something, or pop your neck after every hunt. 

DualShock 4 Controller Prompts 

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The PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller is still our best gamepad for PC gaming, so it's always a little disappointing when games only support Xbox button prompts by default. Thankfully, MHVuze also smoothed over this minor annoyance: their mod for DualShock 4 button prompts works exactly as advertised and will save DualShock 4 users a lot of headache. 

Thomas the Elder Dragon

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Monster Hunter's big bad Elder Dragon Nergigante is pretty scary, but he ain't got shit on Thomas. Replace him with the horrifying dead-eyed tank engine to know true fear.

Meowscular Handler Face 

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I don't know what possessed UberGrainy to create a mod that swaps the face of your quest-giving partner with the furry visage of Astora's feline chef, but I'm not complaining because this is one of the funniest mods I've ever seen. 

Following the release of Monster Hunter: World on PC last month, Capcom has stated that Steam sales have "exceeded the company’s expectations" in its full-year business forecast.

The game's PC launch was eagerly anticipated, following its huge success on console, and didn't disappoint—James certainly rated it.

Monster Hunter: World takes you to breathtaking locations and lets you hunt down monsters—the clue is in the title—through a variety of missions, all of which can be undertaken solo or with up to four other players. Even the grindy nature of the crafting system can be fun for some.

We already knew Monster Hunter: World was enormous on PC, given how many people were playing it at launch, and hey, maybe Capcom will consider releasing whatever comes next in the series simultaneously with consoles. 

Thanks, Gematsu.

In Monster Hunter World the Nergigante is an elder dragon who is covered in spikes. They're on its head, tail, wings—it's just spikes everywhere. So of course, this being Monster Hunter, you kill it then skin it then wear all those spikes on your body. The Nergigante armor set has so many spikes it looks like it was designed by Games Workshop. When Kamui crafted her own (from EVA foam rather than the skin of a dragon) she put 825 spikes onto it. The effort was worth it.

She's not the only cosplayer inspired by this armor set. Kinpatsu created a similar interpretation of it, though without the damnation claws.

Monster Hunter World's armor sets are a big part of the game. Each one is a pay-off for a string of successful hunts and make the next round of even harder monster hunts possible. Each piece of chitin or scale ripped from a beast is a step toward being able to kill bigger and better creatures so they can be fashioned into fashion in turn, a neverending cycle of slaying.

It makes sense that cosplayers would be inspired to spend hours making these outfits in reality after spending hours earning them in the videogame. Broken Blade Workshop crafted a set of Jyura armor, complete with heavy bowgun, carving knives, and gourd flask. His armor looks a lot better than the Jyuratodus it's made from in-game, a blob-featured fish beast with a face only a mother could love.

It's not just the armor that's proved inspirational. The Bazelgeuse, an annoying wyvern that shows up when you're already in the middle of a fight and drops exploding scales everywhere, is the subject of Shyaku's cosplay. True to form, he appears by surprise, although only to photobomb people rather than scatter scalebombs all over the place. Which is presumably why nobody's rendered him down into a suit of armor yet.

The PC version of Monster Hunter: World is still a bit behind the console versions, but as Capcom announced today, a free update coming tomorrow will help catch us up. Along with a medley of bug fixes, the update will add a new monster: Deviljho, a hulking brute of a wyvern known for its size and appetite.

Deviljho comes with two sets of high-rank armor and a stylish suite of weapons, many of which are quite strong despite their negative affinity (more on that here). Defeating Deviljho will also unlock the Dragonproof Mantle which reduces incoming dragon damage, prevents the dragonblight debuff, and increases the dragon damage your weapons deal.

To unlock Deviljho, download the update and reach hunter rank 12 (you don't have to finish the story, just the quest that unlocks Pink Rathian), then look for an expedition with an unknown monster in the area. If you don't see one, load into an area and check the map again. Once you find a wild Deviljho, you can either collect its tracks or hunt it outright. 

Either way, once you encounter a Deviljho in the wild, return to the research center in Astera and speak to the scholars there. They'll tell you to collect more info on Deviljho, which translates to researching it the same way you did Pink Rathian. Once you fill the research bar, you'll get the special quest "The Food Chain Dominator."  

Deviljho can invade high-rank quests and expeditions just like Bazelgeuse, so you'll be seeing a lot of him. If you want to farm his weapons or armor, you can replay his optional quest or collect investigations by hunting him in expeditions. I recommend the latter, since his gem can be tough to get and investigation drops improve your odds of getting rare items. 

You can find more on the update, including the full list of bug fixes, in this Steam forum post.  

Monster Hunter is a social series designed to be played with friends. Monster Hunter: World is no exception, and even added new social elements in the form of post-hunt emblems highlighting what teammates contributed to the hunt—things like most monster parts broken, statuses applied, or slinger shots landed. One of the most coveted emblems is for most damage dealt, which I can only assume inspired modder muriEX to create this mod which not only tracks your overall damage, but also your DPS.

As muriEX explained on Nexus Mods, the DPS overlay mod "displays the damage breakdown and DPS of your current team." During a hunt, you can see how much damage you and your teammates are doing at any given moment. After a hunt, you can see how much damage you and your teammates dealt to the monster relative to its overall health, as well as your average DPS. 

World's post-hunt damage emblem shows up very rarely, but many players would like to see their damage after every hunt. There's just something satisfying about knowing how much damage you dealt to a monster, kind of like a post-raid breakdown. MuriEX's mod not only meets that demand, it provides additional information which players could use to improve their play. 

However, this mod is also in the gray area of what mods Capcom deems permissible. It's not like the cosmetic mods we've seen crop up, but it also doesn't provide any sort of power benefit. But because Capcom hasn't clarified its policy on mods for World, some players are nervous about modding their game at all. So, as always, mod with caution and at your own risk. 

It's a little funny how much we've come to expect dance emotes in 2018. Obviously /dance doesn't top our lists of demands like 4K support or unlocked framerates, but it's honestly hard to imagine an MMO without a diligently programmed jig. It's a tradition at this point, and one that's expanded beyond massively multiplayer games to practically everything with avatars and a chat box. It's just part of the culture, at this point: if you see a Night Elf, you can bet they'll know the "Billie Jean" dance.

So we decided to tell a brief history of the dance emote in PC gaming, recorded through the power of 11 gifs. Considering that most of the world's teens communicate exclusively through Fortnite tangos in 2018, I imagine that we've only scratched the surface of video game dancing tech. But that just goes to show how deeply /dance has absorbed into gaming.

Everquest - 1999

Everquest was ground zero for the modern MMO, and also the /dance /dance revolution. If Sony Online Entertainment wasn't the company responsible for first letting our avatars dance with each other, they're at least in the picture. Enjoy the above gif, of a squat Froglok raging against the primitive engine to get down. It's a far cry from the smooth pop, lock, and drops of the Fortnite generation, but we had to start somewhere.

Star Wars Galaxies - 2003

Star Wars Galaxies will always be remembered as one of the great missed opportunities in the history of video games. But it did enable our Han Solo-surrogates to air guitar. That alone probably forgives for the whole NGE debacle, right?

World of Warcraft - 2004

This was my first experience with a /dance emote. Blizzard, in their constant efforts to make sure you never took the Warcraft universe too seriously, programmed unique dance animations for every race, and every gender, in Azeroth. More specifically, they made it so you could do the macarena if you were playing a female human mage. Shout out to the Night Elf lady samba, too. That thing alone probably earned the game its T rating.

Runescape - 2004

You gotta hand it to Jagex. The British company was permanently hamstrung by an engine that needed to work in a browser window, and the programmers still managed to will a chintzy jig from the low-res knights and mages of Gielinor after a patch in 2004.

Lord of the Rings Online - 2007

In 2007 I breathlessly installed my free trial of Lord of the Rings Online and emerged dewy-eyed into Middle-Earth to find some of the absolute worst dance emotes I've ever seen. I don't know if it was the engine, or the relative solemnity of the Tolkien fiction, but Turbine gave us a truly morose, joyless waltz. It actually kinda won me over; it's like they fed all the elves in Rivendell some ketamine-spiked lembas. 

Mass Effect - 2007

I get that this might be stretching the definition of a dance emote, but honestly, no documentation of the history of video game dancing would be complete without a mention of Commander Shepard's terrible, extremely self-conscious moves in the Milky Way's neon clubs. The animation became a meme almost instantly, and Bioware leaned all the way in to the joke in Mass Effect 3's epilogue DLC, where Shepard once again looks like a goober in front of all his friends.  

League of Legends - 2009

League of Legends made the community-driven MOBA genre the biggest in the world. Where everyone was once trying to ape WoW and strike it big with an MMO, League kicked off the MOBA boom and inspired a wave of imitators. So it was only natural for it to keep the forms of expression MMOs had popularized and bake them into the MOBA, too. Every one of LoL's champions has a unique dance, and Riot eventually added an entire emote system with purchasable icons.

Final Fantasy 14 - 2010

Of course Square Enix would load up its characters with more dance emotes than anyone could ever possibly need. To this day, I don't think an MMORPG has touched Final Fantasy 14 as far as modular dancefloor potential goes. And honestly, that's why we play these games in the first place.

Destiny - 2014

Bungie got itself embroiled in a stupid controversy when it tried to sell emotes for real money, but thankfully, the catalogue of tangos the company put together was pretty solid. I can't hate a game that attempts to be so deathly serious, while also letting you drop your candy-colored robot-man to his knees for the "Hotline Bling" dance.

The Elder Scrolls Online - 2014

This might be the only game on this list that adds a few funny curveballs to the traditional MMO /dance formula. For instance, if you decide to indulge in some tipple during your journey through Elder Scrolls Online, your character will give you awesome, catatonic-white-guy-at-the-club moves when you instruct them to get down. They look so confident! Just like you do after enough vodka-cranberries at a wedding reception.

Fortnite - 2017

Perhaps the first time video game emotes have gone truly mainstream; Fortnite's ridiculous popularity means that the game's dances have been replicated on basketball courts, soccer pitches, and football fields constantly over the past six months. The dances themselves are adopted directly from the sort of Vine-ready memes that pass through YouTube (looking at you Backpack Kid), which has actually caused Chance The Rapper to petition Epic to offer some sort of financial kickpack to the choreographers who come up with the jigs themselves.

Monster Hunter: World - 2018

Monster Hunter made its long-awaited debut on PC this year with World, and quickly revealed itself as a franchise that's far goofier and more self-aware than its ornery reputation. I mean, just look at that player bust a move while hauling around one of those ridiculous, character model-dwarfing swords.

Modders have been hard at work customizing and fine-tuning Monster Hunter: World's PC port, but while modding in excessive patriotism or essential armor transmogs is tempting, many players have been reluctant to use any mods out of fear of being banned. The cosmetic mods we're seeing for World aren't like the paid Street Fighter mods that have drawn Capcom's ire in the past, but World is still a multiplayer game with a vague EULA, so it's unclear what mods Capcom considers harmless. 

Concerned Reddit user Tenzi92 recently reached out to Capcom for clarification regarding two mods: one that replaces the Xbox button prompts with PS4 versions, and an armor transmog mod (presumably FineNerds' excellent mod). According to a screenshot posted by Tenzi92, a Capcom support representative said: 

Capcom does not support any mods created by third parties, any official mod would be published on the Steam page of the game.

You can use any mods you like for the game, but it is at your own risk.

If the mod only improves the graphics of the game and gives you no game play advantage, normally you should not be banned. 

It's an encouraging response, and I haven't heard of any players being banned for using mods so far, but the notion of "normally" not being banned is still shaky, so I reached out to Capcom for more information. Capcom did not comment on the above statement, but simply said:

Modded content is not officially supported by Capcom. We are unable to comment on the use of particular mods with the game, however our team does actively monitor content used in the game.

Right now, it doesn't seem like Capcom is doing anything to halt the use of cosmetic mods, but until it firmly states whether or not it will ban or otherwise punish players for using them, we can't be sure that every mod is safe to use at this time.

Astera, the main hub of Monster Hunter: World, is one of the biggest hub areas in the series' history. It's got blacksmiths, feline chefs and vendors galore, to say nothing of dozens of NPC hunters traipsing about. But you know what it doesn't have? Big ol' flags from your country. Thankfully, modder highsouled recently released a mod that adds just that. 

Dozens of flags are available, and highsouled has added many more following user requests, including the flags for Brazil, France, Malaysia, Germany, Finland and Scotland. It's a neat way to personalize Astera, and hell, we've already made 10,000 pairs of mittens out of the local fauna so we may as well claim the land for ourselves too. 

If you too want to represent your country in-game, you can find download and installation instructions on Nexus Mods. 

The creatures of Monster Hunter: World are majestic, awe-inspiring beasts, so it's only natural that we would want to murder them and carve out their organs to make cool suits of armor. It's a complicated relationship—one that makes us profoundly ambivalent thanks to these creatures' tendency to employ dastardly tricks in order to stay alive. We love them and we hate them, but we love (and hate) some more than others. So if you're out hunting and see one of these beasts listed below, just turn the other way and avoid the excruciating pain that they'll inevitably cause you. 

Anjanath 

This dumbass T-Rex. It's everyone's first major roadblock in Monster Hunter: World and the rudest wake up call in videogames. I'd wager most players meet their first Anjanath while hunting a Pukei-pukei or Great Jagras. There they are, plodding along and following their first scoutflies like moths to a flame thinking about all the cute, fun outfits they're going to make when jaws snap around their waist and toss them into the canopy. It's our friend, the Anjanath, a fiery, chicken-winged Jurassic Park wannabe with zero chill. I'm still farming Anjanaths in high rank just to get a damn gem that won't drop so I can complete each armor set and firmly place the fool dinosaur in the rearview. And still, as far as I've progressed, fighting them is a chore. As soon as you think an Anjanath is near death, all limping and scared, they'll suddenly perk up, spread those wings, start puking fire and jumping all over the damn place. They never kill me any more, but Anjanaths still manage to knock me around like a bean bag, which is somehow worse. —James Davenport

Kirin 

This elder dragon is one of the first you'll encounter on your quest to slaughter every creature in Monster Hunter: World. From a distance, they're a majestic, docile unicorn that could make even the sturdiest hunter shed a tear at the thought of flaying it for a new coat. But any experienced Kirin-slayer knows that's just a guise. Kirin is a piece of shit of the highest, eldritch order. Chances are you'll spend more time chasing it than actually hitting it because this prancing pony dances around the map with the happy-go-lucky pep of a Viagra commercial, flailing and kicking and unleashing lightning bolts with such furious aplomb that you're better off just ignoring this garbage monster and focusing your efforts on something that doesn't require Matrix-esque bullet-time precision to actually hit. Who am I kidding, though? I know you won't take my advice because those who do manage to kill Kirin enough times will end up looking like a My Little Pony cosplayer and that's a siren call too alluring to ignore. —Steven Messner

Nergigante 

For me, Monster Hunter is all about mastering monsters in order to improve your hunt times against them, so I view World as a time trial first and an RPG second. World's new Elder Dragon Nergigante is everything I want from that kind of experience: he punishes you big time if you mess up, but you're hugely rewarded for learning his moves and you'll see big jumps in your hunt times as a result of your efforts. The white spikes that appear on his body make every fight a little different since they force you to target different body parts, and breaking them creates openings to land big, satisfying combos. These spikes are also a race against time all their own: if you don't break them fast enough, they'll harden and buff Nergigante's armor and attacks. Fighting Nergigante feels like the world's most intense game of tug-o-war, and I never get tired of it. He looks awesome, all of his gear is good, every weapon is good against him, and to top it all off, he eats Elder Dragons. I mean, come on, dude. —Austin Wood

Paolumu 

It's a pink bat that inflates. —James Davenport

Odogaron 

This screaming streak of bile glows from within during temper tantrums. Yes, it hates you so much its insides go into a molten fury. It starts frantically lashing out with claws that inflict a unique and cruel bleeding status effect. The more you move while bleeding, the more damage you take. You’re a sitting duck unless you hide and crouch down for a while, or eat a healing steak. 

Odogaron does run out of breath eventually, but it still lunges at you with more ferocity than most of the other monsters in the game. I have killed dozens now, and every single one of them was a total asshole. I can never bring myself to feel sorry for Odogaron. Odogaron is the one monster I can never forgive, even though I have a grudging respect for its raw determination to survive. —Tom Senior

Zorah Magdaros 

At the far, far end of the spectrum, we have Zorah Magdaros, a stupid rock that always takes forever to fight. World's story spends ages hyping Zorah up as this big, bad force of nature, but when you finally get to hunt him, all you do is hit rocks for 10 minutes and then fire cannons for 10 more minutes. I wish I was exaggerating. Zorah is a repetitive fight that requires no skill and is virtually impossible to speed up since cannon and ballista damage can't be improved outside of a few niche armor skills which don't make the fight any less boring. I hope Nergigante eats him.   —Austin Wood

Legiana 

This flying ice dragon is one of the most beautiful creatures in Monster Hunter World. Every time I bring one down I imagine a single tear rolling down the cheek of David Attenborough. Legiana isn’t really bothering anyone, its lair is way up in the clouds far away from human civilisation. You have to climb or wind-mantle your way up there to finish it off. Doing so means dodging annoying ice breath attacks as you try to flash-pod it to the ground, but whenever I hear Legiana’s dying cry, the Monster Hunter fanfare rings a little hollow. Wouldn’t he world be better with this awesome dragon flying around?

Maybe, but Legiana crafts into one of the game’s prettiest armour sets. It’s kill or be worn in the world of Monster Hunter, and not even Britain’s most auspicious naturist can guilt me out of that. —Tom Senior

Monster Hunter: World has done the series justice on PC, but it is missing some popular features, chief among them the ability to transmog armor: changing its appearance to another armor set, while keeping its stats. Alas, transmog was added in Monster Hunter XX, which hasn't been announced for PC and probably never will be. Luckily, the PC does have modders—more specifically, modders like FineNerds, who's gone and created an armor transmog mod for World. 

As FineNerds explains on Nexus Mods, all you have to do is download the mod, open Monster Hunter: World, open the mod, and "enter the armor you want to switch to." I was skeptical, so I decided to try the mod for myself. And while it's not quite that simple, it does work and it is very easy to use. Let's start with a look at the interface: 

To change your armor, open the mod (with World open) and enter the save slot for the character you want to edit. If you only have one character, just enter 1 here. Next, enter the armor slot you want to edit, with 1 through 5 representing your head through legs. You can also enter 6 to change everything at once, and you can save and load outfits using 7 and 8. Once you've selected a slot, enter the armor code for the monster armor you want to use. You can find armor codes in this spreadsheet provided by FineNerds. To get the Nergigante alpha armor, for example, you'd enter 107. 

You'll need to travel to a new area to get your new armor to show up, but you can preview your new look via your guild card before travelling. Some armor isn't currently available, and a few sets are incompatible with multiplayer, but everything I tried worked perfectly. My transmog showed up immediately, and it even worked online when I hopped into a game with James. Restarting the game and changing the actual armor pieces I have equipped didn't mess it up, either. 

According to FineNerds, the mod works by manipulating the layered armor in World, which itself works like a very limited transmog system. For the unfamiliar: you can equip layered armor like the samurai set included in World's deluxe edition to have it override the way your armor looks without changing your stats or skills. This mod works the same way: my stats weren't affected, only my appearance. The downside to this is that you can only recolor your transmogged armor if you have an actual layered armor set equipped. Even so, the mod makes building ideal armor sets much easier, and much more fashionable.