If you’ve spent any time exploring the mist-shrouded old-growth forests and winding cave systems of Monster Hunter Wilds, you’ve almost certainly had a run-in (or a very close call) with the temnoceran. This large, arachnid-like monster is one of the first big skill checks new hunters face, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed by its fast attacks, venom, and web traps if you don’t know what you’re up against. I still remember my first encounter with it: I was wandering off the main path to gather glowmoss for a stamina potion, and it dropped from the tree above me before I even had time to draw my weapon. I lasted all of 12 seconds that first run, but after a few more tries and a lot of notes, I’ve got its patterns down pat. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know to take it down easily and farm all the best loot it has to offer.
Key Identifying Traits of the Temnoceran in Monster Hunter Wilds
The temnoceran is easy to mix up with smaller common arachnid enemies at first glance, but it has a few very distinct features you can spot from a distance if you’re paying attention. It has a thick, mossy camouflaged exoskeleton that blends almost perfectly with tree bark and cave stone, so you’ll want to keep an eye out for subtle movement when you’re in its preferred habitats. It also has six walking legs plus two front venomous stinger appendages that it uses to both stab and grapple prey, and a set of spinnerets on its rear that produce thick, adhesive web silk.
You’ll most often find it in the mid-level sections of the Ancient Grove biome and the upper tunnels of the Deepmist Cave system. It rarely leaves these areas, so you don’t have to worry about it wandering into open grassland zones if you’re sticking to lower-level quest areas. It’s also primarily nocturnal, so you’ll see far more of them on night-time quests than during the day. If you’re trying to avoid it entirely, stick to daylight runs of forest and cave quests, and you’ll cut your encounter chance by 70%.
One quirk I’ve noticed is that it will usually ignore small prey monsters if they don’t get too close to its nest. That means if you see a group of smaller lizards running around unharmed in a cave, you don’t have to immediately assume a temnoceran is lying in wait nearby. But if you see abandoned web traps strung between trees or rock formations, get your weapon out immediately, because it’s almost certainly within 50 feet of your position.
Temnoceran Weaknesses and Elemental Affinities
Like most Monster Hunter Wilds monsters, the temnoceran has very clear strengths and weaknesses you can exploit to make fights way easier. I made the mistake of bringing my upgraded ice dual blades to my first fight, and I barely scratched its exoskeleton before I got taken out. Once I swapped to a fire longsword, though, the fight got 10x simpler. Its core weaknesses break down into three main priority targets:
- Fire damage: Melts its outer exoskeleton layers, reducing its defense by 30% for 12 seconds after 3 consecutive fire hits. Even a low-tier fire weapon will outperform a high-tier non-fire weapon against this monster, so always prioritize fire if you have it available.
- Blunt damage to the underbelly: Its soft undercarriage has 50% less resistance than its back plating, so hammer and hunting horn users can stun it easily if you land three to four solid hits to this area. You’ll only have access to its underbelly when it’s rearing up to attack or knocked on its back, so don’t waste time trying to hit it from below when it’s standing flat on the ground.
- Interrupting its web prep animation: If you hit it while it’s rearing back to spin a web trap, it will stagger and drop a rare silk material 20% more often than normal. You’ll see a very obvious 1.5 second wind up before it shoots the web, so you have plenty of time to land a quick hit to cancel the animation if you’re paying attention.
You’ll want to avoid using water, ice, or poison against it entirely. It has full immunity to poison, and water and ice damage only deal 20% of their normal damage to its exoskeleton. Blast damage works okay if you don’t have a fire weapon, but it’s nowhere near as effective as fire. If you’re a ranged user, fire ammo and fire arrows are your best bet, and you should aim for its head and underbelly whenever possible for maximum damage.
Another thing to note is that its stinger appendages are breakable. If you deal enough damage to both front stingers, they’ll snap off, and it will lose access to its venomous stab attack for the rest of the fight. That’s a huge quality of life win, especially if you’re still learning its attack patterns, so I always make breaking the stingers my first priority when I start a fight.
Pro Tips to Survive and Win Temnoceran Fights
Even if you have the right weapon, the temnoceran’s fast attacks and trap abilities can catch you off guard if you don’t know what to watch for. There are a few small tricks I’ve picked up over 20+ runs that make every fight way less stressful, no matter what weapon type you main. First, always bring antidotes and herbal medicine to every fight. Its venom stacks up to three times, and a single antidote only removes one stack, so you’ll need multiple doses if you get hit more than once. Herbal medicine removes all stacks at once, so keep a few of those in your item bar for emergency situations.
You should also avoid fighting it in narrow cave passages if you can. It can shoot web traps that stick to walls and block off escape routes, and if you get trapped in a small space, you’ll have nowhere to roll to avoid its leaping stinger attack. If you spot it in a cave, throw a sonic bomb or a small rock to get its attention, then run out to a nearby open area before you start attacking. It will follow you as long as you don’t get more than 100 feet away, so you don’t have to worry about losing it mid-pull.
When it climbs on tree branches or cave ceilings, don’t waste ammo or stamina trying to hit it from the ground. Use your slinger to shoot a sonic bomb at it, and it will fall straight to the ground and be stunned for 10 full seconds. That gives you more than enough time to run up, break its stingers, or wail on its underbelly for massive damage. I always keep at least three sonic bombs in my item pouch before every temnoceran run for exactly this situation.
Once it loses 40% of its health, it will enter an enraged state. Its attacks get 25% faster, and its leaping stinger attack will cover twice as much distance as normal. Don’t get greedy with long attack combos when it’s enraged. Stick to quick, one or two hit combos, and roll away immediately after you land your hits. It will stay enraged for 45 seconds, so if you’re struggling, you can just run and dodge until it calms down if you need to. There’s no shame in playing defensively until the enrage timer runs out.
Rare Temnoceran Loot and Crafting Uses
All the effort of learning the temnoceran’s patterns pays off with some of the most useful early to mid-game loot in Monster Hunter Wilds. The most sought-after drop is the Temnoceran Sharp Silk, which is the core material for the Weave Armor set. This set gives you 30% poison resistance, 20% stun resistance, and a small passive boost to your stamina recovery speed, which is incredibly useful for both cave and forest quests later in the game. I still use pieces of this set 30 hours into my playthrough, even after I unlocked higher rank armor sets, because the resistance bonuses are so good.
Its broken stingers can be used to craft the Stinger Insect Glaive, a fast fire-element weapon that has one of the highest attack speeds of any early-game glaive. It also has a 10% chance to apply a small burn effect to enemies with every hit, which adds up to a lot of extra damage over long fights. It’s my go-to weapon for all low-rank plant and bug type monsters, and I’ve recommended it to all my friends who main insect glaive.
Drop rates for rare materials are pretty consistent across low and high rank runs. Low rank runs have a 5% chance to drop Sharp Silk and a 8% chance to drop a Broken Stinger if you break both appendages. High rank runs have a 15% chance for Sharp Silk and a 18% chance for a Broken Stinger, plus access to the rare Temnoceran Exoskeleton material needed for the upgraded High Rank Weave Armor set. If you capture the temnoceran instead of killing it, you’ll get a 10% higher drop chance for all rare materials, plus two extra common materials, so it’s always worth bringing tranq bombs and a shock trap if you’re farming for specific gear.
You can also sell common temnoceran materials for a decent amount of zenny if you’re running low on cash. I usually sell any extra common shell and leg materials I get after I have enough to craft the armor and weapon I want, and it adds up to a nice little income boost when I’m saving up for higher rank weapon upgrades. You won’t get rich farming it, but it’s a nice bonus on top of the great crafting materials.
Taking down the temnoceran in Monster Hunter Wilds feels intimidating at first, but once you learn its attack patterns and play to its weaknesses, it becomes one of the most reliable and rewarding monsters to farm in the early game. Don’t get discouraged if you die a few times when you first start fighting it—everyone does, even veteran Monster Hunter players. Take note of what attacks catch you off guard, adjust your loadout to fit its weaknesses, and you’ll be farming rare silk and stingers in no time. I still run this fight at least once a week when I need extra materials for weapon upgrades, and it’s still one of my favorite early-game encounters in the entire game.