UPDATED FOR ICEBORNE!

I thought to make two separate pages, but combining it made more sense. This guide is all about Affinity & Critical Eye in Monster Hunter: World. How does affinity/critical hit work? How “good” is the stat? Read on, hunters.

  • How does Affinity and critical hits work?
  • In-game description
  • FAQ / Mechanics
    • How good is Affinity? How bad is negative affinity?
    • How good is Critical Eye? Compared to other skills?
    • How does Critical Boost improve all of this?
  • Summary & Discussion

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Affinity & Critical Hits: How does it work?

“Each point of affinity gives one percent chance for a critical hit that’s 25% stronger”

Affinity is simple, and can be compared to many similar mechanics across many different games. Affinity is a chance to add a percentile bonus (critical hit) to your attack. In the case of MHW – it’s 25% (modified by such things like Critical Boost).

Negative Affinity as found on some weapons gives you a chance to do a, what I call, “shitical hit” for (presumably) -25%. I also hear it’s -20%. Anyone got numbers on this?

With that out of the way, we can discuss how pure affinity affects our DPS. And when talking about pure affinity bonuses, the most basic example is the Critical Eye armor skill.

Critical Eye armor skill: In-game Description

Critical Eye
Increases affinity.
Skill Level Effects
1 Affinity +5%
2 Affinity +10%
3 Affinity +15%
4 Affinity +20%
5 Affinity +25%
6 Affinity +30%
7 Affinity +40%
Decoration? Expert Level 1

To understand how good Critical Eye is – we must first understand how good Affinity is.


Affinity & Critical Eye – FAQ & Mechanics

How good is Affinity? How bad is negative Affinity? 

First, a very basic info dump.

Affinity 1 to 100
Raw Affinity Severity Critical Bonus Average Gain N Gain %
1000 1% 25% 1250 250 1002.5 2.5 0.0025
1000 2% 25% 1250 250 1005 5 0.005
1000 3% 25% 1250 250 1007.5 7.5 0.0075
1000 4% 25% 1250 250 1010 10 0.01
1000 5% 25% 1250 250 1012.5 12.5 0.0125
1000 6% 25% 1250 250 1015 15 0.015
1000 7% 25% 1250 250 1017.5 17.5 0.0175
1000 8% 25% 1250 250 1020 20 0.02
1000 9% 25% 1250 250 1022.5 22.5 0.0225
1000 10% 25% 1250 250 1025 25 0.025
1000 11% 25% 1250 250 1027.5 27.5 0.0275
1000 12% 25% 1250 250 1030 30 0.03
1000 13% 25% 1250 250 1032.5 32.5 0.0325
1000 14% 25% 1250 250 1035 35 0.035
1000 15% 25% 1250 250 1037.5 37.5 0.0375
1000 16% 25% 1250 250 1040 40 0.04
1000 17% 25% 1250 250 1042.5 42.5 0.0425
1000 18% 25% 1250 250 1045 45 0.045
1000 19% 25% 1250 250 1047.5 47.5 0.0475
1000 20% 25% 1250 250 1050 50 0.05
1000 21% 25% 1250 250 1052.5 52.5 0.0525
1000 22% 25% 1250 250 1055 55 0.055
1000 23% 25% 1250 250 1057.5 57.5 0.0575
1000 24% 25% 1250 250 1060 60 0.06
1000 25% 25% 1250 250 1062.5 62.5 0.0625
1000 26% 25% 1250 250 1065 65 0.065
1000 27% 25% 1250 250 1067.5 67.5 0.0675
1000 28% 25% 1250 250 1070 70 0.07
1000 29% 25% 1250 250 1072.5 72.5 0.0725
1000 30% 25% 1250 250 1075 75 0.075
1000 31% 25% 1250 250 1077.5 77.5 0.0775
1000 32% 25% 1250 250 1080 80 0.08
1000 33% 25% 1250 250 1082.5 82.5 0.0825
1000 34% 25% 1250 250 1085 85 0.085
1000 35% 25% 1250 250 1087.5 87.5 0.0875
1000 36% 25% 1250 250 1090 90 0.09
1000 37% 25% 1250 250 1092.5 92.5 0.0925
1000 38% 25% 1250 250 1095 95 0.095
1000 39% 25% 1250 250 1097.5 97.5 0.0975
1000 40% 25% 1250 250 1100 100 0.1
1000 41% 25% 1250 250 1102.5 102.5 0.1025
1000 42% 25% 1250 250 1105 105 0.105
1000 43% 25% 1250 250 1107.5 107.5 0.1075
1000 44% 25% 1250 250 1110 110 0.11
1000 45% 25% 1250 250 1112.5 112.5 0.1125
1000 46% 25% 1250 250 1115 115 0.115
1000 47% 25% 1250 250 1117.5 117.5 0.1175
1000 48% 25% 1250 250 1120 120 0.12
1000 49% 25% 1250 250 1122.5 122.5 0.1225
1000 50% 25% 1250 250 1125 125 0.125
1000 51% 25% 1250 250 1127.5 127.5 0.1275
1000 52% 25% 1250 250 1130 130 0.13
1000 53% 25% 1250 250 1132.5 132.5 0.1325
1000 54% 25% 1250 250 1135 135 0.135
1000 55% 25% 1250 250 1137.5 137.5 0.1375
1000 56% 25% 1250 250 1140 140 0.14
1000 57% 25% 1250 250 1142.5 142.5 0.1425
1000 58% 25% 1250 250 1145 145 0.145
1000 59% 25% 1250 250 1147.5 147.5 0.1475
1000 60% 25% 1250 250 1150 150 0.15
1000 61% 25% 1250 250 1152.5 152.5 0.1525
1000 62% 25% 1250 250 1155 155 0.155
1000 63% 25% 1250 250 1157.5 157.5 0.1575
1000 64% 25% 1250 250 1160 160 0.16
1000 65% 25% 1250 250 1162.5 162.5 0.1625
1000 66% 25% 1250 250 1165 165 0.165
1000 67% 25% 1250 250 1167.5 167.5 0.1675
1000 68% 25% 1250 250 1170 170 0.17
1000 69% 25% 1250 250 1172.5 172.5 0.1725
1000 70% 25% 1250 250 1175 175 0.175
1000 71% 25% 1250 250 1177.5 177.5 0.1775
1000 72% 25% 1250 250 1180 180 0.18
1000 73% 25% 1250 250 1182.5 182.5 0.1825
1000 74% 25% 1250 250 1185 185 0.185
1000 75% 25% 1250 250 1187.5 187.5 0.1875
1000 76% 25% 1250 250 1190 190 0.19
1000 77% 25% 1250 250 1192.5 192.5 0.1925
1000 78% 25% 1250 250 1195 195 0.195
1000 79% 25% 1250 250 1197.5 197.5 0.1975
1000 80% 25% 1250 250 1200 200 0.2
1000 81% 25% 1250 250 1202.5 202.5 0.2025
1000 82% 25% 1250 250 1205 205 0.205
1000 83% 25% 1250 250 1207.5 207.5 0.2075
1000 84% 25% 1250 250 1210 210 0.21
1000 85% 25% 1250 250 1212.5 212.5 0.2125
1000 86% 25% 1250 250 1215 215 0.215
1000 87% 25% 1250 250 1217.5 217.5 0.2175
1000 88% 25% 1250 250 1220 220 0.22
1000 89% 25% 1250 250 1222.5 222.5 0.2225
1000 90% 25% 1250 250 1225 225 0.225
1000 91% 25% 1250 250 1227.5 227.5 0.2275
1000 92% 25% 1250 250 1230 230 0.23
1000 93% 25% 1250 250 1232.5 232.5 0.2325
1000 94% 25% 1250 250 1235 235 0.235
1000 95% 25% 1250 250 1237.5 237.5 0.2375
1000 96% 25% 1250 250 1240 240 0.24
1000 97% 25% 1250 250 1242.5 242.5 0.2425
1000 98% 25% 1250 250 1245 245 0.245
1000 99% 25% 1250 250 1247.5 247.5 0.2475
1000 100% 25% 1250 250 1250 250 0.25

REGARDLESS of raw attack – Affinity gives a rough 0.25% DPS Boost
with default critical severity”

This is simple enough to calculate without the fancy table above. It’s simply “1% of your 25% critical hit” which is, lo and behold – 0.25%.

So is it worth stacking over other stats? Well… while the percentile increase remains the same for all builds, the NUMERIC INCREASE will vary wildly. I’ll talk about it in the next section after negative affinity.

How bad is negative affinity?

Assuming a “shitical hit” is -25% (or -20%?) the formula is simply reversed. Each point in negative affinity penalizes your average DPS by 0.25%. Given that most people love these weapons due to high base damage, the penalty is negligible, BUT SHOULDN’T BE IGNORED.

Long story short, fixing negative affinity on a weapon with high affinity should be a priority in these builds. I can only think of a very few niche builds which want to retain the negative affinity…


How good is Critical Eye? Compared to other skills?

Well not that we’ve determined the percentile value of affinity for ANY BUILD, we can get an good idea of how strong Critical Eye is (very generally speaking).

Skill L Aff+ DPS% Gain
Critical Eye 1 5 1.25
Critical Eye 2 5 1.25
Critical Eye 3 5 1.25
Critical Eye 4 5 1.25
Critical Eye 5 5 1.25
Critical Eye 6 5 1.25
Critical Eye 7 10 2.5
Average DPS 1.43
  • Critical Eye points 1 through 6 give 1.25% DPS, which is godly considering it’s a small jewel, and pretty easy to find armor skill all in all.
  • Critical Eye point 7 gives 2.5% DPS
  • All seven points give an average of 1.43% DPS. Wow.

(More on this later, but, Critical Element builds benefit MORE from this)

So, comparing to other skills… it’s going to be really hard to beat that. Since the Iceborne buffs, I look at the numbers above and feel that Critical Eye has joined Weakness Exploit in the GOD TIER skill list.

But wait – Critical Element?

Depending on how good the damage increase Critical Element and True Critical Element is, how valuable is Affinity and Critical Eye for these builds.

Builds utilizing True / Critical Element get HIGHER bonuses from affinity.
(Compared to pure physical builds).

But, I guess it doesn’t really matter since Affinity is a PREREQUISITE for Critical Element builds. Estimated


How does Critical Boost improve all of this?

As discussed in the link above, “CB improves for each point of affinity you have”. Not surprisingly the cross-scaling works both ways. “Affinity improves by 0.05% DPS increase per point of Critical Boost“.

Not bad at all. Basically, the higher your Affinity, the better Critical Boost becomes – at 100% affinity, Critical Boost becomes probably the most powerful skill.


Affinity & Critical Eye – Summary & Discussion

“Affinity is plain great. Luckily, the Critical Eye skill is amazing”

Affinity isn’t a bad stat. Critical hits = good in Iceborne patch.

As for Critical Eye – I imagine most builds WANTING all 7 points. There are a few niche cases where I can imagine not taking all seven points, but for the most part…

“Critical Eye is in the absolute top tier of offensive skills”.

Why? Well, getting OVER 1% DPS for a “small deco” tier skill is pretty godlike. I can’t even list the reasons why this skill is so great in Iceborne (compared to being trash in vanilla).

  • Great for almost all DPS builds imaginable.
  • Extreme decoration size / armor skill efficiency. (Gives huge bang for buck)
  • Enables Crit Element, Crit Status builds.

This is all meaningless if there aren’t any good armor pieces or decos that help us get these 7 points – BUT THERE ARE. The free Expert L4 gem, Kirin body B, Garuga boots B… the list goes on!


Well that’s about it. I hope you learned a bit about Affinity in Monster Hunter: World, and in extension, Critical Eye and it’s relative power to other skills. In the end, there’s really much more to “killing monsters” than “math and spreadsheets” but they CAN save us from traps and bad decisions here and there.

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7 COMMENTS

    • Becouse point per point atack boost was almost equivalent if not better, with ib higher atk values, %increases became better

  1. So if I have Critical Eye lvl 7 (+30%) on a 20% base Affinity weapon, for Example, Vice, and Level 3 Weakness Exploit, and Critical Boost Lvl 1 (30% more damage).

    That means every time I hit a weak spot, I have 100% Affinity, right? Does that mean I’ll be getting 55% more damage when hitting weak spots?

    Also do you know how much does Non-Elemental Damage boost attack?

    Btw, great work, loved your post.

    • Elementless adds 10% of unbloated raw. Bloat values are added to true raw to help players intuitively understand motion values, but that’s a whole other topic of discussion. It’s best to just simplify it as a 10% boost.

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