Monster Hunter Wilds: Monster Hunter: Wilds - 100% Achievement Guide

Steam Community guide by Brachragon.

The stuff you want to know about

Since there are no missable achievements, there's only one info you should know as early as possible for this game:
All the achievements are tied directly to the ingame "Hunter Profile" awards. As such, ALL the achievements for this game NEED to be earned on the SAME ingame character in order to unlock the required award associated to:
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Eastward WingsObtained all other achievements

If you've got any questions about the game outside of achievements, Minorou got you covered:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3435494189
  And if you just want to re-read any ingame tutorials, navigate to:

Main Story

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Windward Lands
Shadow in the Downpour
Guardians of the ForgeCompleted: The Desert Trotters
Completed: Beyond the Deluge
Completed: Long-forgotten Flame



Bringer of Harmony
New Ecosystems
A Bitter EnvironmentCompleted: Monster Hunter
Completed: New Ecosystems
Completed: Wyvern Sparks and Rose Thorns


Beyond the Black Wings
One Corner of the WorldCompleted: What Lies Ahead
Completed: A World Turned Upside Down
Complete the main story.
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Established HunterReached Hunter Rank 100
Don't get confused or shocked about the Hunter Rank 100 requirement, if you're still in the early parts of the story. Your Hunter Rank is hard-locked during the first 3 chapters, but will increase MUCH faster from chapter 4 onwards.
Once it unlocks, you'll start to earn a certain amount of Hunter Rank points for each monster hunted and each quest completed. Some late game quests can even give you an entire rank up on their own.
Your Hunter Rank will get frozen again on rank 15, 20 and 40, until you clear the story quests unlocked at these thresholds. ALL earned Hunter Rank points will be saved in the background though. So you can do the story at your own pace. For example, my Hunter Rank jumped from 40 straight to 56, immediately after clearing the corresponding story quest.
That being said, this achievement progresses passively, can be sped up depending on your choice of quests, and is basically impossible not to obtain along the way to all other achievements.

Hunting & Questing

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The Hunt is On!Completed your first Field Survey

Let the Investigations Begin!Completed your first investigation
While out in the field, open your map, hover over a large monster or select it from the Environment Overview and click "Details" -> "Create Quest".
You can choose between hunting it right away -> Field Survey, or later -> Investigation.
Ironically, Field Surveys are also available right away from the beginning of the game, while Investigations only become available later during chapter 4 of the story.
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Hunter-AssassinPerformed your first successful Sneak Attack
Simply walk towards a monster without being noticed and press the button prompt displayed roughly in the middle of the screen. Works both at the start of a quest and every time the monster changes locations.
Equipping the Ghillie Mantle from your item bar (unless disabled at camp) makes this all but guaranteed.
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The Bigger They Are…Successfully mounted a monster for the first time.
Hit a monster a few times with jump attacks and you'll mount it. From there, spam the knife attack until you can perform the weapon finisher. Do that one and the achievement unlocks.
*Jump attacks refer to attacks performed after your character performed a natural jump from an elevated position of the surroundings, or the jump attack from the back of your Seikret. For weapon-exclusive moves, only some of the Insect Glaive's attacks count towards this.
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Hit ‘Em Where It Hurts!Landed 50 successful attacks on weak points or wounds in Focus Mode
Once you've hit a body part repeatedly, the damage numbers will take on a darker hue of orange with little markers around the corners. From there, press the Focus Mode button (displayed in top right corner, unless disabled in the options) and focus strike the glowing red weak point. It will play a unique animation, coupled with big damage.
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Capture ProCaptured 50 monsters

A monster can be captured, once it's health has been reduced to something like 10~20%. Most will start to limp in a very obvious fashion, and a small skull gets displayed next to their icons on the mini map.
At that point, lure them into a shock- or pitfall trap, and hit it with TWO tranquilizer bombs or -bowgun ammunitions.
To craft a trap, you'll need to buy a "Trap Tool" at the base camp item vendor. All other ingredients must be gathered in the wilds:

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Seasoned HunterHunted 50 tempered monsters

Top of the Food ChainHunted 50 apex predators

Monster SlayerHunted 100 large monsters

You can find your amount of hunted monsters in the menu -> Info -> Large Monster Field Guide.
Note though that the "Hunted" counter does already include the captured monsters.
For the screenshot just above, I've captured the monster 4 times, and only slayed another 2, which aren't displayed. So that monster only provides 6, and NOT 10, monsters hunted towards the 3 achievements.
Tempered monsters will become available during chapter 4 and simply refer to buffed up versions of normal monsters, outlined in purple on the minimap and quest target icons. Not to be confused with Frenzied monsters, which do NOT count toward this achievement.
Apex monsters are lore related and refer specifically to:

• Rey Dau
• Uth Duna
• Nu Udra
• Jin Dahaad
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  A True Hunter is Never SatisfiedCompleted 50 quests
  
  Someone Worth FollowingCompleted 100 quests with your Palico deployed
  Just about self-explanatory.
  Your Palico will follow you per default, unless you specifically disabled it from doing so at camp.
  It will also withdraw, once there's 3 or 4 hunters in a multiplayer or SOS signaled quest.
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  Burgeois HunterPossessed 1,000,000 zenny
  You need to have 1,000,000 zenny on hand, all at once.
  This one is basically guaranteed along the way to all other achievements, especially if you just sell some stuff you have in abundance at the end.
  You can grind this relatively effectively in more or less an hour though.
  Find the camp hidden behind the waterfall in area 8 of the Scarlet Forest. Right next to the camp is a fishing spot, with a second one hidden behind a dive in that same cave.
  These two spots spawn up to a dozen Golden- / Platinum Fish rather regularly, which drop their scales on getting captured with the Capture Net. These sell for 1,000 (gold) / 2,000 (platinum) zenny a piece. With up to 3 scales on a single fish, that's an easy 6,000 zenny. So a rough estimate of ~50,000 zenny in total for ~2 minutes of fish capturing per visit.
  Just do a quick trip after each quest, or spam rest in the pop-up camp, or just fast travel to a different map and return a minute later.

Forge / Obtain Rarity 6+ Items

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Power is EverythingForged five different weapons with Rarity 7 or higher.

Impregnable DefenseForged five different pieces of armor with Rarity 7 or higher.
Craft weapons and armor pieces from late game materials. Upgrading through the tree works.
Haven't tested, if rarity 7+ artian weapons (for the achievement just below) work for this.

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A Legacy RestoredObtained an Artian Weapon of Rarity 8.
More weapon crafting. You'll unlock artian weapons during chapter 4, where the game will take over further explanations upon talking to Gemma. For rarity 8 materials, you'll need to hunt the tempered versions of the monsters with rarity 7 armor pieces.
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Explorer of the EastlandsObtained 10 different special items of Rarity 6.

"Special items" are intended exclusively for trade with NPCs and can usually be obtained at gathering spots marked with this icon ->
Let's start with the 2 exceptions.
The first one is the "Large Goldenscale Vase". While inifinitely obtainable through the "Remarkable Relic Emergence", like the items further below, it's also a guaranteed reward for completing Alma's side mission. In order to unlock that mission, you need to have encountered a Blangonga on a field trip through the High-Rank Cliffs.
The second is is the "Wyvernsprout". Thanks to saebias for telling me about this item in the comments:
Any carcasses of a Ceratonoth (and likely other small monsters) may get covered in a white mold and grow the rare "Carrion Mushroom" gathering spot, which drops the Wyvernsprout:

The remaining 9 are found at rare gathering spots.
At chapter 4, you'll unlock an extensive "Environment Overview". Within that overview, you need to check for the "Emergence" notifications, as the final 6 special items will only be available in those specific timeframes.

Once one of the Emergence events is active, fast travel to that region, open your map and navigate to the "Filter icons" option. Further put the filter on "Gathering", mark the gathering spots mentioned below and have your Seikret carry you to the exact location.

• Special Item Emergence Gathering Spot Location Nightflower Pollen      none Ephemeral Blossom Plains, Forest (full moon*) Queensbloom Pollen      none Queen Rafflesia Forest (during "Plenty") Time-honed Wylk Gem           --->> Wylky Crystal Outcrop Plains (always)         Emergence required: Great Windward Aloe <<--- Great Windward Succulent Plains Thundering Fulgurite <<--- Fulgurite Vein Plains Genesis Opal           --->> Magnificent Fossil Plains, Basin, Wyveria Bulky Treasure           --->> Bountiful Treasure Forest Eternal Scarlet Amber           --->> Colossal Amber Forest Antimite Mass           --->> Giant Hopper Crystal Basin *Regarding Nightflower Pollen, thanks to svolder and Froggy for pointing out the full moon requirement, as well as QualitY for these more thorough instructions:
  The search for these items can be sped up significantly by resting in your tent or through the BBQ grill, as that rerolls the environment. Though I also recommend checking the environment overview upon joining other people's field surveys and investigations through SOS signals, as these quests have entirely different environments from yours.
  You can check your currently owned special items by entering your camp, clicking View / Sell Items and navigating to the rightmost tab for "Special Items / Other".
  There you'll find your trade-in materials, meal ingredients, and lastly special items.
  Also, as has been pointed by KPuddi in the comments:

Exploring

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Was It a Meal to Remember?Cooked over the BBQ Grill for the first time

Mmm, So Tasty!Successfully cooked a well-done steak for the first time
Use the BBQ Grill from your item bar (unless disabled in camp) and you're gonna have to choose between:

• " Grill a meal ": Uses a Ration from within your chest and will always unlock the achievement.
  
• " Grill meat ": Uses a Raw Meat from your inventory / field pouch and requires you to complete the ensuing minigame successfully.
  Press the confirm button when the meat looks nice and tasty ->
  Then slice it in rhythm to the soundtrack.
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  CampmasterEstablished Pop-up Camps in 10 places.
  
  GlamperCustomized a Pop-up Camp for the first time.
  Specifically travel around the edges of the maps and suitable spots will be pointed out to you:

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Ride-or-die CompanionCustomized your Seikret or changed its decorations for the first time
Enter your tent, navigate to the Appearance Menu and choose to customize your Seikret.
Only available after the first handful of assignments.
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A Step Toward Mutual UnderstandingCompleted your first side mission

East to West, A Hunter Never RestsCompleted 30 different side missions

Side Missions refer specifically to NPC requests and are not to be confused with Alma's Optional Quests. The vast majority of these unlock during chapter 4.
You can find a list of all your currently available side missions in menu -> Missions & Quests tab -> Mission Info.
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Angling for a BiteSuccessfully fished for the first time

A-fish-ionadoReeled in 30 whoppers while fishing.

Monster (Squid) HunterCaught a giant squid while fishing
Go to the base camp in the forest map and talk to Kanya, the NPC illustrated in the screenshot for the achievement just above. She has a questline of 5 side missions about fishing.
Once you've done so, approach a suitable fishing spot (like the one just to her left), and the game will throw a number of tutorials about this minigame on your screen.
The Goldenfish for mission #2 can be found easily in the cave behind the waterfall of area 8 in the forest.
The Gravid Bowfin for mission #3 can be found to Kanya's right during the "Plenty" period.
The whoppers are her 4th mission and explained once accepted, alongside giving you the required bait.
The giant squid is one such whopper and can be found in Scarlet Forest - Area 17.
Here's a more thorough steam guide about everything related to fishing:

• https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3438935955
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  A Prize Held HighCaught a creature that bears an ancient wyvern coin
  
  I Caught a Shooting Star!Caught a creature in the desert that shines like a shooting star
  Capture 2 of the rare endemic life by launching your Capture Net at them from your item bar (unless disabled at camp).
  If you've played World or Rise, you'll know what these are about.
  
  The shooting star one is located in the Windward Plains - Area 11 at night.
  So far, I found it immediately next to these 2 gathering spots ->
  Big thanks to Toruma for this tip in the comments:
  Look for a Baunos flying around near the spots in the screenshot, focus mode them and grab the "Echo Feathers" with your grappling hook, which will equip Screamer Pods to your Slinger.
  The wyvern coin one can be found in multiple locations across all maps, almost always in tight and narrow dead ends of somewhat hidden areas; many of them near safe camps.
  Alma will point them out to you by asking: "Is that creature holding something?".
  If you loot an "Ancient Wyvern Coin", you've found one of the many locations this fella can spawn.

Monster Ph.D. & Gold Crowns

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A Keen-eyed ObservationUsed the bino