We will talk about the most MISUNDERSTOOD armor skill inMonster Hunter World– Critical Boost.  Here’s a summary of what I’ll talking about here:

  • In-game description
  • FAQ / Actual Mechanics
    • How does Critical Boost work? Like, TRULY?
    • Is Critical Boost good? How GOOD is it, if it is!?!?
    • Critical Boost worth it? Versus other skills?
  • Summary and Discussion

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Critical Boost Armor Skill: In-game Description

Critical Boost
Increases the damage of critical hits.
Skill Level Effects
1 Increases damage dealt by critical hits to 30%
2 Increases damage dealt by critical hits to 35%
3 Increases damage dealt by critical hits to 40%
Decoration? ? (Haven’t found it yet) S? M? B?

Before you say “OMFG THIS IS DEEZNUTS” read on…

Critical Boost – FAQ & Mechanics

How does Critical Boost even work!? TRULY?

OKAY LISTEN UP. THIS DOESN’T ADD +30 “CRIT SEVERITY”
IT ADDS 5. FIVE.

The default “critical hit severity” in this game is 25% BONUS damage. CRITICAL BOOST ADDS A LINEAR PLUS FIVE PERCENT TO THIS. With Critical Boost 1 added – “critical hit severity” now becomes 30% BONUS DAMAGE. “1.3x Multiplier”. Does 30% more damage. You get the idea.

Do I need to rewrite it for Critical Boost II (35%)? Critical Boost III (40%)? This was one of the most misunderstood skills pre-Iceborne due to the tooltip, and may confuse new players now.

Is Critical Boost good? How good is it?

This one is hard to answer. So let’s use something that doesn’t lie. Math. To summarize it:

Every point of affinity ABOVE POSITIVE equates to
Critical Boost giving a 0.04~% DPS INCREASE.

CB Raw Aff Severity Crit Bonus Average Diff Gain %
0 1000 1% 25% 1250 250 1002.5 BASE <
1 1000 1% 30% 1300 300 1003 0.5 0.05
2 1000 1% 35% 1350 350 1003.5 1.0 0.10
3 1000 1% 40% 1400 400 1004 1.5 0.15
0 1000 5% 25% 1250 250 1012.5 BASE  <
1 1000 5% 30% 1300 300 1015 2.5 0.25
2 1000 5% 35% 1350 350 1017.5 5.0 0.49
3 1000 5% 40% 1400 400 1020 7.5 0.74
0 1000 50% 25% 1250 250 1125 BASE  <
1 1000 50% 30% 1300 300 1150 25.0 2.22
2 1000 50% 35% 1350 350 1175 50.0 4.44
3 1000 50% 40% 1400 400 1200 75.0 6.67
0 1000 100% 25% 1250 250 1250 BASE  <
1 1000 100% 30% 1300 300 1300 50.0 4.00
2 1000 100% 35% 1350 350 1350 100.0 8.00
3 1000 100% 40% 1400 400 1400 150.0 12.00

(Rounding errors make this look weird, but you get the message)

So here’s the “estimated DPS increases per affinity, per Critical Boost invested“.

Critical Boost Affinity % DPS Inc
L1 1 0.05
L2 1 0.10
L3 1 0.15
L1 5 0.25
L2 5 0.49
L3 5 0.74
L1 50 2.22
L2 50 4.44
L3 50 6.67
L1 100 4
L2 100 8
L3 100 12

I “feel” like I missed something small in there because there’s an odd semi-bellcurve (is that intended? or due to rounding??) … But the numbers at 100% vs 1% DO NOT LIE, and it revealed what was already quite obvious. More Affinity = better Critical Boost.

How does Critical Boost stack up versus other offensive armor skills?

There’s no quick answer for this. Given the above info, we can assume “The more affinity you have the better it is” – while that’s already proven, how does it stack up versus other skills? Let’s look at the other armor skills first.

Attack Boost is different per weapon, and different per weapon tree. But lets just put the ballpark on 1.x%. The fourth node gives A LOT MORE THAN THAT, THOUGH.

Critical Eye is roughly a 1.25% per point, with 2.5% on the seventh point.

YOU WOULD NEED 30%~ AFFINITY FOR CRITICAL BOOST
TO LET ITS FOOT INTO THE DOOR OF THE “VIABILITY REALM”.

At 50% affinity – it enters the godly realm.

At 90 to 100% affinity, it becomes the absolute best DPS skill. 

As we mentioned many times before, higher affinity is better Critical Boost. I would say Critical Boost becomes very very difficult to beat at 75+! However, you would need many many other skills invested to reach this point (which is fine).

Critical Boost – Summary & Discussion

“Critical Boost is god tier ONLY IF you have sky-high affinity…
… which you should!”

While at first people were raving about this skill (who wouldn’t… +30% linear bonus for one skill is dumb), it’s actual effects were misunderstood and vastly bloated.

Then, to further this – people COMPLETELY discounted this skill as “trash tier” upon discovery of the “truth”. But is it really trash?

Critical Boost is one of the most powerful skills you can include in your build, but it’s only really for guys approaching the endgame – WITH high affinity builds.

Increasing DPS is far more than just “the best offensive skill” stacking. Personal skill, and hell, even DEFENSIVE skills play a part into increasing DPS AND UPTIME. But, for the purposes of the Critical Boost skill ALONE, I hope this guide help you clarify on some things.

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7 COMMENTS

  1. I do not think that this one is misunderstood, in my opinion the ingame-definition is simply wrong. if you check the definition that says (at level 1) “increase BY 30%”, I simply presume that I have an additional 30% bonus damage to the already existing 25% extra damage when hitting critical. we were discussing this as well a lot today until we simply tried and found out that the critical boost increases TO 30%. I think this is where the confusion is coming from.

    Kudos to your effort and the analysis!

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