Monster Hunter Wilds Investigations Guide: Which Difficulty Tiers Drop Gems, Artian Parts, and Rarity 8 Materials

Investigations are Monster Hunter Wilds’ primary endgame farming system, and the game explains them poorly. The tutorial tells you that you can save field surveys and replay them up to three times. It doesn’t explain that bonus rewards — the separate loot pool that appears after each successful hunt — contain items that are not available from optional quests at all. Or that the investigation difficulty tier you choose determines whether those bonus rewards include decorations, monster gems, or the Artian parts needed to craft the game’s strongest weapons.

This guide covers exactly that: which difficulty tiers unlock which rewards, which tempered monsters to target for each Artian material type, and how to stack Lucky Vouchers with Great Hunt investigations to maximize drops per session. If you’re still working through story progression, our Monster Hunter Wilds Beginner’s Guide covers the core systems to tackle first.

Verified against Monster Hunter Wilds content as of June 2026. Values may change with future updates.

Quick Start: Getting Your First Investigation Running

1. Reach HR 9 and complete the Chapter 4 High Rank capture quest (Yian Kut-Ku).
2. Track any roaming monster on the open-world map until the prompt appears.
3. Select Save as Investigation rather than hunting immediately.
4. Manage saved investigations through Alma (quest handler) under Post/Join Quest.
5. Complete all three hunt attempts per investigation — each attempt draws from the bonus reward pool.
6. Use a Lucky Voucher immediately before posting the quest for doubled rewards.
7. At HR 31+, target Tempered Apex monsters (Gore Magala, Arkveld) specifically for Rarity 8 Artian materials.

What Investigations Actually Get You (vs Optional Quests)

Standard optional quests produce carve rewards, target rewards, and any subquest bonuses. That’s the complete loot table. Investigations add a separate bonus rewards pool on top — and this pool contains items that do not appear in optional quest drops at all.

Items exclusive to the investigation bonus pool include:

• Monster gems (Wyvern Gems, Beast Gems, Bird Wyvern Gems) — very low carve rates in standard quests, reliably present in the investigation bonus pool
• Artian weapon parts (Broken Blades, Crushed Tubes, Cracked Discs, Rusted Devices) — only obtainable from tempered monster investigations
• High-rarity decorations — significantly better drop rates at ★6+ difficulty than any optional quest equivalent

Each investigation can be completed three times before it expires. Finishing all three attempts guarantees at least three bonus reward drops total. A monster gem with a sub-5% carve rate becomes consistently farmable across an investigation’s lifespan because you’re drawing from the bonus pool three separate times rather than relying on a single carve roll.

Coming from Monster Hunter World? Wilds doesn’t use the World-era lure material system where you spent tempered monster materials to attract specific investigations. In Wilds, investigation quality is controlled entirely by monster difficulty tier and your Hunter Rank — not by materials you consume to generate them. The bonus reward system also replaces World’s bronze/silver/gold reward slot framework with a single randomised pool whose quality scales with quest difficulty.

Unlocking Investigations: The HR Roadmap

Investigations unlock after capturing a High Rank Yian Kut-Ku in Chapter 4, at roughly HR 9. Investigation quality improves in discrete jumps tied to Hunter Rank thresholds:

HR 31 is the threshold that matters most. Before it, investigations are a reliable gem and decoration farm. After it, they become your primary — and for Rarity 8 materials, your only — source of the crafting components behind the game’s strongest weapons. See our Monster Hunter Wilds Endgame Guide for the full Hunter Rank progression context.

Difficulty Tier and Bonus Reward Quality: The Full Breakdown

The investigation’s difficulty star rating sets the ceiling on what can appear in the bonus reward pool. Running a ★3 investigation when you need Artian parts produces nothing — the pool literally doesn’t contain them at that tier.

Two thresholds are worth memorising. ★6 is confirmed as the point where high-rarity decoration drop rates improve measurably — running ★4 investigations for decoration farming is inefficient. And Rarity 8 Artian materials are locked behind Tempered Apex monsters specifically: a standard tempered Uth Duna investigation will not produce Rarity 8 parts regardless of how many times you complete it. Gore Magala and Arkveld are the only sources.

Artian Material Farming: Which Monster for Your Weapon

Artian weapon materials come in four types, each tied to specific weapon classes. Knowing which type your weapon needs before you start farming saves significant time:

Note that several weapon classes appear across multiple material types — you’ll need to check your specific weapon’s upgrade path for the exact combination required. Our weapon upgrade paths guide lists material requirements per weapon and tier.

For monster targeting at each HR threshold:

• Uth Duna, Rey Dau, Nu Udra, Jin Dahaad — Tempered T1, HR 20+. All four material types available. Uth Duna and Rey Dau are typically the fastest kills, making them efficient volume farms for Artian Tier 1 parts.
• Gore Magala, Arkveld — Tempered Apex, HR 31+. The only sources of Rarity 8 materials. Gore Magala generally has a lower health pool than Arkveld, making it the preferred target when running volume; Arkveld is the better choice if you need Arkveld-specific parts alongside Rarity 8 shards.

Practical implication: if your weapon only needs Tier 1 Artian parts (not Rarity 8), farming T1 tempered monsters is more time-efficient than Apex investigations. Arkveld’s substantially larger health pool doesn’t justify the longer hunt time unless the Rarity 8 upgrade is your specific goal.

Multiplying Your Haul: Lucky Vouchers and Great Hunt Investigations

Two stacking mechanics significantly increase investigation efficiency once you understand how they interact.

Lucky Vouchers double all rewards from a single investigation — carve rewards, target rewards, and every item in the bonus pool. The mechanics: activate immediately before posting the quest through Alma’s menu. In multiplayer, only the player who activates the voucher receives doubled rewards; other party members get standard drops. Reserve Lucky Vouchers exclusively for ★6+ tempered investigations — using one on a ★3 hunt wastes the entire multiplier.

Great Hunt Investigations feature two tempered monster targets in a single quest. The efficiency advantage: you receive bonus reward drops from both targets after completing the hunt. Two sequential solo investigations against the same monster take roughly the same total time as one Great Hunt, but the Great Hunt delivers bonus drops from two separate pools — effectively doubling Artian fragment output without doubling your session time.

The optimal stack: a Lucky Voucher applied to a Great Hunt tempered investigation. This delivers doubled bonus rewards from two monster targets in a single quest — the highest Artian parts-per-hour output available in the current content. Save vouchers specifically for this combination when Artian farming is your priority. For pure decoration farming, apply vouchers to the highest available ★6+ investigation regardless of Great Hunt status — the decoration pool doesn’t scale as dramatically with monster count.

Which Strategy Fits Your Playstyle

Investigation efficiency looks different depending on where you are in progression and what you’re farming for. Identical advice across all playstyles would miss the actual trade-offs:

For casuals: the fastest path to a functional Artian weapon is a series of T1 tempered solo investigations with a Lucky Voucher on the final attempt of each set. The grind is real but not punishing — Uth Duna at HR 20 hunts quickly, and completing three investigations with vouchers on each final run produces enough fragments to craft a full Artian weapon in a few sessions.

For hardcore farmers: once at HR 31+ running Gore Magala Great Hunts, the Suja melding mechanic adds a secondary fragment source. Meld Relics and Old Weapon Shards both cost 120 Melding Points per shard — prioritise Meld Relics since they accumulate faster through normal investigation play.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I get the same investigation back after using all three attempts?

No. Once all three hunts are consumed, the investigation expires permanently. To farm the same monster again, track it in the open world and convert a new field survey. The bonus reward pool is re-randomised for each new investigation, so there’s no advantage to targeting the same prior investigation over a fresh one — fresh investigations are equivalent in terms of reward potential.

Do investigations have the same time limits as standard quests?

Yes, with one caveat: multi-target (Great Hunt) investigations received extended time limits in a post-launch patch, making them significantly more forgiving than at release. Solo investigations run on the same timer as optional quests — typically 50 minutes for High Rank content. If you were struggling with Great Hunt time pressure at launch, that specific constraint has been addressed.

Is it worth running non-tempered investigations at endgame?

Yes, for gem farming. If a specific monster gem is your bottleneck and that monster’s tempered variant is locked behind HR 31, a ★5+ non-tempered investigation is still more efficient than relying on optional quest carves — you’re drawing from the bonus pool three times instead of once. Non-tempered investigations don’t drop Artian materials under any circumstances. For pure decoration farming, ★6+ is the minimum worthwhile tier regardless of tempered status, as the decoration pool improvement is tied to star rating rather than tempered classification.

Sources

• Investigations — Monster Hunter Wilds Wiki (Fextralife)
• Investigation Quests Guide — Game8
• How Do Quest Rewards Work — Game8
• How to Use Lucky Vouchers — Game8
• Best Ways to Farm Rarity 8 Artian Parts — Game8
• Monster Hunter Wilds Endgame Explained — RPG Site

Michael R.

I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.