Gather round and grab a bite of our fresh-from-the-grill Monster Hunter Wilds guide. Every hunter worth their salted steak knows to do a little preparation before the fight, and we’ve rounded up everything we learned from a collective hundreds of hours playing ahead of launch to send you off buffed and geared up.

Any series that’s been around 20 years is bound to get into the weeds, but Monster Hunter is no small fry of inscrutable systems—this is one of the big’uns. There’s a lot to know about weapons, gear, the clunky multiplayer system, and more as you pack your seikret’s saddlebags for the Forbidden Lands.