Monster Hunter Wilds – Hunting Horn DPS / Healer Dragon Element Build

HH “Witch Doctor” DPS / Healer 98% Affinity Build

Ву Sinclair.

This is a high risk/reward, DPS/healer Dragon Element build that provides Earplugs, strong damage and utility buffs, heals (including a large emergency heal), and 98% Affinity when hitting wounds, or 90% otherwise. The core of this comes from Gramklang’s high base Affinity (highest of all horns), Frenzy + Antivirus, and Corrupted Mantle.

These provide so much Affinity that we only need Weakness Exploit 1, as anything higher goes over 100% when hitting wounds. Reaching the Affinity cap allows us to instead spec into Burst 5 which is somewhat lackluster on non-elemental weapons (+18 attack), but quite powerful on elemental ones (+18 attack, +200 Elemental), which Gramklang is. Pair this with Critical Element 3 from Gramklang and Dragon Attack 3, and 98% of your attacks will benefit from a bonus 41% Elemental Damage.

Additionally, because of Partbreaker, breaking wounds with focus strikes deals +30% damage. While Gramklang lacks the Recovery Up (L) or Defense Up (L) melodies, its Echo Bubbles provide Evasion & Movement Speed Up, making you and your hunting party evasive enough to compensate. For heals, you still have Recovery Up (S) and Song of Healing for emergencies.

This build also has Flinch Free 3, making it virtually impossible for monsters to interrupt melodies, at the cost of possibly dying. Oooh yeah. If this is an issue, I suggest replacing Flinch Free Jewels with Protection to reach Divine Blessing 2 instead.

Witch Doctor

Gear

Gramklang – Heals and buffs

• Critical Jewel III [3]
• Critical Jewel II [2]
• Attack Jewel [1]

G. Resounding Galahad – Damage, since Echo Bubble (slash) procs Affinity

• Expert Jewel III [3]
• Critical Jewel III [3]
• Critical Jewel [1]

Arkvulcan Helm β

• Chain Jewel [3]
• Evasion Jewel [2]
• Brace Jewel [1]

Gore Mail β

• Chain Jewel [3]
• Brace Jewel [1]

Gore Vambraces β

• Destroyer Jewel [2]
• Destroyer Jewel [2]

Gore Coil β

• Chain Jewel [3]
• Destroyer Jewel [2]

Gore Greaves β

• Tenderizer Jewel [3]
• Sane Jewel [1]
• Sane Jewel [1]

Chain Charm II

Corrupted Mantle (+30% Affinity after continually attacking)

Provided Skills

• Critical Boost 5 (Gram)
• Critical Element 3 (Gram)
• Attack Boost 1 (Gram)
• Critical Boost 4 (Gala)
• Critical Eye 3 (Gala)
• Horn Maestro 2 (Gala)
• Burst 5
• Weakness Exploit 1 (higher goes above 100% affinity)
• Black Eclipse II
• Antivirus
• Evade Window 4
• Flinch Free 3
• Constitution 3

Gameplay Tips

• Keep one Recovery Up (S) Melody at the end of your queue so you can quickly activate it + Encore for a small burst heal. Ending your melody early will keep it in queue, meaning you can keep it there for as long as you want if you only queue up two melodies before it and end your performance early with Encore. For more heals, use Melody of Life.
• Echo Bubbles don’t typically benefit from damage boost skills. i.e., while they do generate wounds, they don’t benefit from Flayer, and while they can activate burst, they do not benefit from its stat bonus.
• Echo bubbles can generate separate wounds if they damage separate locations, so make sure they don’t overlap too much.

FAQ

Why dragon jewel what if I went to another monster?

Dragon Jewels are recommended because Gramklang is a Dragon Element weapon, and Dragon Attack 3 gives a 20% bonus to dragon damage, which synergizes with the additional elemental damage granted from Critical Element, Convert Element, and Burst. A lot of the elemental damage from this build is given as a percentage instead of a flat bonus, meaning you get greater returns the higher your total elemental damage is.

If you’re fighting a monster with Dragon resistance, it’s probably better to swap to a horn with a different damage type, like Valkyrie Chordmaker, but you can also swap your jewels out to something more appropriate.