Is Affinity Worth It in Monster Hunter? Yes, Absolutely.

Affinity is without question one of the most valuable offensive skills to build for in the Monster Hunter games. By increasing your critical hit rate, affinity directly translates into higher raw damage output. Prioritizing this crit rate through armor skills and weapon selection is highly recommended for hunting monsters faster.

What is Affinity and How Does it Work?

Affinity determines your chance, on every attack, to land a critical hit doing 125% of your normal damage. So with positive affinity, a percentage of your strikes will deal extra damage.

• Positive affinity gives a chance for 125% damage crits
• Negative affinity means a chance for 75% damage hits

The amount of extra damage from critical hits depends on the crit multiplier, boosted further by the Crit Boost armor skill:

So with 100% positive affinity, every single strike will do 25% increased damage (or up to 40% with Crit Boost)!

Why Affinity is So Valuable

Landing critical hits allows you to effectively multiply your damage output. The math illustrates why building affinity gives such an efficient boost compared to other offensive skills:

• +15 True Raw from Attack Boost 7 = 2.5% damage increase
• +40% Affinity from Critical Eye 7 = 10% average damage increase

As the examples show, affinity impact is nearly 4x as high per skill point invested. This makes affinity and critical hit chance an extremely worthwhile stat to build for.

Reaching 100% Affinity

Many endgame Monster Hunter builds aim for 100% critical rate. Here are some sample skill and equipment combos to easily reach max affinity:

High Affinity Gear

• Nargacuga Weapons – Up to 40% base
• Mizutsune Armor Set Bonus – 30% affinity
• Barioth Armor Set Bonus – 30% affinity

Affinity Skills

• Critical Eye 7 – 40% affinity
• Weakness Exploit 3 – 50% affinity (on weak spots)
• Maximum Might 2-3 – Up to 30% conditional affinity

When combined with a high affinity Nargacuga weapon, it becomes simple to have every single attack crit!

Affinity Prioritization by Weapon Class

While affinity benefits all weapons, some classes have playstyles and mechanics that scale exceptionally well with critical hits:

• Great Sword & Hammer – Better to capitalize on your few big hits
• Dual Blades – Hit frequently to activate Demon Mode and dish out more crits
• Rapid fire Bowguns – Crit boost applies multiply times per volley

Standard practice is to build enough affinity across all weapon types to reach 100% crit rate. This ensures your strikes reliably deal 125%+ damage as much as possible.

Expert Opinions on Focusing Affinity

According to top Monster Hunter players and speedrun record holders:

"I prioritize affinity over attack boost or agitator. Crits allow for faster clear times" – Rainbow Hitz YouTube Channel

"100% affinity meta changed the weapon tier lists by increasing crit-focused weapons" – TA Wiki Rules Council

"Crit meta reshaped ideas on skill priority – affin needed for any damage build" – JinJinx and Tuna YouTube

Conclusion

In summing up the analysis, affinity and critical hit chance contribute tremendously to overall damage and faster clear times in Monster Hunter. Building enough affinity to reach 100% crit rate should be a prime focus when making gear and upgrading weapons. Through a high affinity rated weapon plus affinity boosting skills, hunters can slash quest completion times by reliably landing critical hits. So yes – affinity is absolutely worth it!