Augmentation gives you the ability to further enhance your weapons and armor beyond their limit in Monster Hunter World. Learn here what Augmenting actually is and how to unlock and apply it.
In the current endgame of Monster Hunter World, you mainly face tempered monsters. These are monsters that have more attack power than their normal variations. Especially tempered Elder Dragons can pose a significant challenge. To defeat them, you need appropriately strong equipment.
At a certain point, you can modify your armors and weapons through Augmentation so that they become strong enough for the endgame.
What is Augmentation and how does it improve my equipment?
Through Augmenting, you can increase the stats of your armors and weapons beyond their maximum. So, an Augmentation removes the actual stats cap of your equipment. Weapons can even have different Augmentations or multiple of the same type at the same time.
Weapons have 5 possibilities for Augmentation:
- Attack Boost – The “raw” damage of the weapon increases by +5. This is stackable with other enhancements.
- Affinity Boost – Grants 10% more affinity. This is stackable with other enhancements.
- Defense Boost – Grants 10 additional defense points and increases the chance to reduce incoming damage. This is stackable with other enhancements.
- Additional Slot – Grants 1 additional slot for decorations. Slot levels are stackable here.
- Health Recovery – Health is restored when hunters hit with their attacks. Health recovery is stackable here.
Armors have 1 possibility for Augmentation:
- Augmentations remove the maximum limit of armor spheres that you can use for armors. This increases the defense beyond the cap.
How do I get Augmentation and what do Power Stones have to do with it?
When you hunt tempered monsters in investigations, you can receive special rewards known as Power Stones. There are different types. Once you receive a Warrior or Hero Power Stone for the first time, you unlock the Augmentation option in the forge.
Warrior and Hero Power Stones are needed to further enhance weapons and are extremely rare. Other Power Stones are used to further upgrade armors, and they appear somewhat more frequently.
To unlock Augmenting, you must have completed the following:
- Complete the main story by defeating Xeno’Jiiva
- Reach Hunter Rank 29 – Here you can learn how to level up in Hunter Rank.
- Complete the quest “Beyond the Exploding Scales” and face two tempered Bazelgeuse
- Find a Warrior Power Stone for the first time – These are rare rewards from tempered monsters of level 2
- Or find a Hero Power Stone for the first time – These are rare rewards from tempered monsters of level 3
It can happen that you find a “regular” Power Stone before you receive a Warrior or Hero Power Stone. However, you can only use it once you have unlocked weapon Augmentation with a Warrior or Hero Power Stone.
How do I best farm Power Stones?
It can be frustrating for some hunters to get the coveted Hero and Warrior Power Stones and to unlock Augmentation at all. They appear extremely rarely as rewards, and there have been reports of hunters who were well over Hunter Rank 80 and still did not receive a single Power Stone. To obtain several of the stones, you should prepare for a hard grind.
You can only obtain Hero and Warrior Power Stones from tempered monsters, which are divided into three threat levels:
- Level 1: Hunter Rank 13+ – This level includes weaker monsters such as Tobi-Kadachi, Barroth, or Pukei-Pukei
- Level 2: Hunter Rank 30+ – This level includes stronger monsters such as Rathalos, Diablos, or Legiana
- Level 3: Hunter Rank 50+ – This level consists exclusively of Elder Dragons like Nergigante, Teostra, or Kushala Daora
Hero and Warrior Power Stones drop exclusively from tempered monsters of level 2 and 3. The drop chance for the special stones is highest at level 3, meaning when killing tempered Elder Dragons.
To obtain the rewards, you must start investigations with tempered monsters in them. These are marked in the quest descriptions in purple, and tracks of tempered monsters are blue.
“Follow the Sapphire Star” is one of the best quests to farm Power Stones
The drop chances for Hero and Warrior Power Stones are low. Your best chance to get the stones is to complete investigations with tempered Elder Dragons. These are the tempered monsters with threat level 3. To get there, follow these steps:
- Lift your limit for Hunter Rank 29 by completing the quest “Beyond the Exploding Scales,” where you hunt two tempered Bazelgeuse. Now you will have a limit up to Hunter Rank 49.
- Lift your limit for Hunter Rank 49 by completing the quest “Thundering Roar in the Highlands,” where you kill a tempered Kirin.
- Once you have completed “Thundering Roar in the Highlands,” your Hunter Rank limit is finally lifted, and you can accept investigations for tempered Elder Dragons with threat level 3.
There is an optional quest that is perfect for farming Power Stones: “Follow the Sapphire Star”:
In this quest, you must kill a tempered Kushala Daora, a tempered Teostra, and a tempered Nergigante. So, these are three tempered Elder Dragons united in one quest. This increases your chance of receiving a Power Stone reward from one of the three.
However, the requirement for the quest “Follow the Sapphire Star” is that you have reached Hunter Rank 100. This unlocks the quest.
What types of Power Stones are there and how do I use them?
There are a total of five types of Power Stones that you can receive as rewards from tempered monsters in investigations.
| Power Stone Types | Locations |
| Power Stone Shards | Investigations with tempered monsters of Level 1 |
| Power Stones | Investigations with tempered monsters of Level 2 |
| Shimmering Power Stones | Investigations with tempered monsters of Level 3 |
| Warrior Power Stones | Investigations with tempered monsters of Level 2 (very rare) and Level 3 |
| Hero Power Stones | Investigations with tempered monsters of Level 3 |
Power Stone Shards, Power Stones, and Shimmering Power Stones are used in melting and as primary components to upgrade your armor. They are also used as secondary components to augment weapons. Warrior and Hero Power Stones can be used to augment weapons.
Weapons have their own types of Power Stones
The different weapon classes of Monster Hunter World have different Power Stones. This increases the grind for the stones. Because you need to not only be lucky enough to obtain a special Power Stone but it also needs to be compatible with the weapon you want to enhance.
| Warrior Power Stones | Hero Power Stones | Augment These Weapons |
| Warrior Power Stone (Sword) | Hero Power Stone (Sword) | Great Sword, Long Sword |
| Warrior Power Stone (Blade) | Hero Power Stone (Blade) | Sword & Shield, Dual Blades |
| Warrior Power Stone (Hammer) | Hero Power Stone (Hammer) | Hammer, Hunting Horn |
| Warrior Power Stone (Lance) | Hero Power Stone (Lance) | Lance, Gunlance |
| Warrior Power Stone (Axe) | Hero Power Stone (Axe) | Energy Blade, Morpheus Axe |
| Warrior Power Stone (Shaft) | Hero Power Stone (Shaft) | Insect Glaive, Bow |
| Warrior Power Stone (Ranged) | Hero Power Stone (Ranged) | Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun |
The rarity of weapons and armor plays a role in Augmenting
Which and how many Power Stones you can process into your equipment depends on their rarity.
- Weapons of rarity 6 have 3 x Augmentation slots and require 1 x Warrior Power Stone for each slot
- Weapons of rarity 7 have 2 x Augmentation slots and require 2 x Warrior Power Stones for each slot
- Weapons of rarity 8 have 1 x Augmentation slot and require 1 x Hero Power Stone for the slot
- Armors of rarity 6 or lower require Power Stone shards for Augmentation
- Armors of rarity 7 require Power Stones for Augmentation
- Armors of rarity 8 require Shimmering Power Stone shards for Augmentation
I meet all the requirements and nothing drops – What now?
Finally, it should be mentioned that the drop chance of Power Stones is indeed rare. Don’t be discouraged by that. If you meet the described requirements, a Warrior or Hero Power Stone will drop sooner or later and unlock Augmenting. It’s purely a matter of luck.
In general, it’s advisable to complete as many investigations of threat levels 2 and 3 as possible if you want to farm the stones.
What you also often need to further enhance your equipment are gems, and they are also rare: These are the drop rates of all gems in Monster Hunter World in percentages.
