Monster Hunter: World – How to Join Friends

Joining your friends in Monster Hunter: World is easy once you know how to do it. We show you how to join an online session together, be it public or private, and how to go on quests and expeditions together.

Monster Hunter: World can be a little bit challenging when you take on monsters by yourself. Fortunately, Capcom has provided several ways for hunters to join together and cooperate in these battles. It’s not always straightforward or immediately obvious how to do that, however. This guide will teach you all you need to know about how to join your friends in Monster Hunter: World.

Monster Hunter: World Multiplayer Tips

Before we get into how to group up, there are a few things you should know about how multiplayer works in Monster Hunter: World. One of the most important things to do is to create or join a squad with your friends. It will make a lot of the process of grouping up easier.

You should also know that the difficulty of quests scales up slightly in multiplayer sessions. The difficulty does increase when two hunters group up together, but there is no change between two hunters and four hunters, the maximum, in a session. The reason for this is that when four hunters group up, their Palicos will no longer accompany them. We’re a little bit sad about this but we’re also note sure if we could handle that much cuteness in one place, so maybe it’s for the best.

Loot is available for everyone in multiplayer sessions. You won’t need to worry about carving up that monster or mining that ore ahead of your friends. They will be able to do so themselves, no matter what you do. I like this feature in loot-based games because it prevents groups from infighting over who gets what. Everyone gets the same share, so everyone is happy.

Finally, the hunters in your group need to be of relatively the same rank. Hunters can always join quests that require a rank that is below theirs, but will not be able to jump up in rank requirements. So the lowliest hunter in your group will always dictate what hunts you can go on, and that is done to ensure no one can just drag their friends through the ranks by power-leveling them.

How to Join Your Friends

The easiest way to get started is to create and join an online session together. Have one player create the session from the main menu. After selecting your saved character, choose the Create an Online Session. If you are part of a squad and someone has already created one, use the Squad Session Search to quickly find and join it.

You will be able to set a number of options for the new session. Most notably is whether or not the session will be private. Private sessions can be joined by fellow squad members but are otherwise closed to the public. Players in the session will be able to invite their friends, however, even if they are not squad members.

How to Invite Friends

To send an invite from inside a session, bring up the menu and choose Invite a Friend from the Communication section. You will then be presented with the standard friend list interface depending on the console you are playing on. A game invite will then be sent to your friend and, if accepted, they will appear in Astera with you.

Not all of Astera, though. One point of confusion is that you can only see the other players that are in your session in the Gathering Hub area of Astera. In that special social space, you will be able to wave at your friends, challenge them to an arm wrestling match, and compare Palico outfits.

How to Post and Join Quests

Hunting monsters together is really the main reason you’re playing with your friends in the first place. At its most basic, one hunter will post a new quest and other players will join it. There are some limitations to this, however. As outlined above, hunters must meet the minimum rank of the quest, and some story quests have to be done solo. Outside of these special exceptions, the process is fairly simple.

Again, this is all easiest once you’re in a session with your friends, so be sure to follow the steps above and then hit up a quest board to get started. Choose the option to Post a New Quest and then navigate through the screens to choose the quest you want to attempt. You will then be presented with some options regarding the number of players to allow and whether or not to add a pass code. Having a pass code can be useful in public sessions if you only want specific people to join.

Once the quest is posted, you will have to wait for other players to join. You can depart on the quest at any time though, in case your friends are being too slow to join. There are ways for them to join the quest in progress later on, as long as not too much time has passed.

To join a quest, you also use the quest board and choose the Join a Quest option. You’ll get to make several choices on what to search for and if any quests are available to join, you can get right into the action from here.

Sending SOS Flares

On occasion, you may start a quest on your own, only to realize that things have gotten too difficult and you require assistance. Fortunately, you are able to send out an SOS Flare to request help from fellow hunters in your session. To do this, simply bring up the menu while on your quest and choose the Fire SOS Flare option from the Quest sub-menu.

This will allow other hunters to find your distress call from their own quest board. Note that if you originally set a pass code on your quest, firing an SOS flare will allow others to join without a pass code. This is meant to allow you to get help even if you originally intended to do things on your own.

It is highly encouraged to seek out friends, squad mates, group up with random players, or answer SOS flares in order to help out your fellow hunters. Monster Hunter: World is meant to be a cooperative game, after all. Hopefully this guide has helped you meet up with your friends and assist others in their hunts. Remember, you can find more guides in our Monster Hunter: World Guide Hub.