Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise boasts one of the simplest yet most addictive gameplay loops in the industry. All it boils down to is this: the player's hunter avatar is charged with taking down monsters, the spoils from which allow them to upgrade their weapons and armor so as to take on bigger, angrier, toothier monsters.

Different armor sets and weapons will require different materials to forge and upgrade, but there's one item that is central to creating all kinds of gear: the Wyvern Gem. Here are some handy tips for getting your hands on them in Monster Hunter: World. Note that this only pertains to the standard Wyvern Gem, not the Bird Wyvern Gem or Large Wyvern Gem (the latter of which is exclusive to Iceborne's Master Rank).

10 Identify Why They're Important

As all old Monster Hunter hands will tell you, the series revolves around farming. To encourage that, weapon trees can be quite complicated, often requiring the player to craft the same run-of-the-mill starting weapon several times over in order to obtain all the different final upgrades of it.

Whether you favor the Hammer, Longsword, Bow or something else, you'll find that lots of later upgrades will require Wyvern Gems. Whichever build you're going with, it's all but inevitable that you're going to need to hunt for this valuable item at some point or another.

9 Choose Which Gear You Want To Use Them For

So, we've established that you're almost certainly going to be seeking out a Wyvern Gem (or several) during the course of your Monster Hunter: World career. With that in mind, your next goal should be to prioritize how you're going to use them.

Many Monster Hunter players make the mistake of upgrading their gear willy-nilly, as soon as they have the opportunity to do so. While that's completely fine, you want to be sure that you're going to get the use out of said gear, especially if it requires something valuable with a very low drop rate. Dedicated Monster Hunter players like to plan out their final builds well in advance, so why not check out a resource like the Monster Hunter: World Wiki, which will show you every gear upgrade that requires a Wyvern Gem?

8 Don't Worry Too Much About Them Too Early

It might sound as though we're contradicting our last point, so let's take a closer look at exactly what we mean here. Wyvern Gems are required for a lot of more high-end gear forging, and as such, they don't become available until a bit later in the game.

Before they start dropping at all, the player must prove themselves as a worthy hunter. More specifically, Wyvern Gems start to appear in High Rank quests. The very first opportunity to nab them, in fact, comes in the shape of a High Rank Tobi-Kadachi.

7 Learn Which Monsters Drop Them

So, finally, here you are in High Rank, which the basic mechanics of the game firmly under your belt and some decent mastery of a favorite weapon type or two. The thing about High Rank, though, is that it's the time to start setting yourself up for the endgame. The best way to do this is through efficient farming.

If there's a particular armor set you're shooting for, you'll want to be repeatedly taking on that monster's quests. At the same time, it's also handy if you've got a reasonable chance for a Wyvern Gem or two to drop. So, which monsters drop them in High Rank? That would be (in the rough order in which you'll encounter them) Tobi-Kadachi, Paolumu, Jyuratodus, Diablos, Barroth, Radobaan and Lavasioth.

6 Capture Or Carve?

The constant dilemma all Monster Hunter veterans are used to facing: should we capture or carve the monster? When you trap the monster, you capture instead of killing it, meaning that you forego the opportunity to carve materials from its body. In exchange, you get extra rewards to compensate.

For the most part, this means that things largely even out, but certain items are more commonly founds as rewards, and others can only be carved from the body (or the latter simply gives you another chance or two to get it). Carving from a Diablos' body, for instance, gives you a 3% shot at getting a Wyvern Gem each time. Which is the better approach? It depends on what you're fighting.

5 Part Breaks

If you've mastered the game and you're teasing out all the secrets of the Iceborne expansion, you'll probably have become quite accomplished at targeting and breaking a monster's parts. Severing a tail with your blade, destroying a heavy faceplate with your hammer and all of these grim-yet-necessary jobs a hunter must do.

Why is this more important than simply spamming combos anywhere on your opponent's body until it dies? Not only are some parts more susceptible to damage than others, but these breaks can give you an extra chance (or the only chance) to get certain drops. In the case of Diablos, a tail carve gives you an extra 3% chance, so while that's a tricky tail to slice, it's certainly worth the effort.

4 Good Quests To Farm

As we've seen, then, the key to Monster Hunter is to try and be as efficient as possible. Farming is the name of the game, and it can be incredibly frustrating not to get that low-percentage drop if it's all you're repeatedly running the quest for. If you want something else from the monster at the same time, it helps.

Which is the best quest to run for a Wyvern Gem, then? Well, that depends on the player's situation. In terms of quest rewards alone, the optional A Fiery Convergence quest gives you the best chance (still a meager 3%), while carving a Diablos' body and severed tail offers several chances at the same odds.

3 Be Prepared For Low Chances And Frustration

On that note, it's important to delve a little deeper into that 3% drop rate thing. Monster Hunter is indeed a franchise all about grinding and farming, but often, the player can make smart choices and even avoid certain upgrade paths entirely if an item seems out of their reach. If things seem entirely out of reach, it's important that the game doesn't become a chore.

That's the issue with Wyvern Gems, though. They're so generally useful that you can't really avoid trying to collect them. As such, you've got to make peace with the fact that they can be a huge pain to get your hands on. The drop rate for carving a High Rank Tobi-Kadachi, Paolumu, Barroth, or Jyuratodus's body is 2%, so you might well be in it for the long haul. At the same time, though, don't despair, because gold rewards and melding (which we're about to get into) could be your saving grace.

2 Give Melding A Try

Monster Hunter: World introduced several new elements to the well-established franchise. Not only did monstrous foes like Xeno'jiiva make debuts, but mechanics were added to ensure that players who were new to Monster Hunter found things a little more accessible.

We've only mentioned carves and rewards so far, and prior to World, these were the only possible ways to get a Wyvern Gem. In this title, however, players with the resources can visit the Elder Melder and meld a Wyvern Gem. At 100 meld points and 300 resource points, it can be quite costly, but it's a very welcome option if you're tired of the grind.

1 Gold Rewards Are The Key

Another new way of trying to obtain a Wyvern Gem is through Investigations. These special quests task you with defeating specific opponents and give you rewards of various tiers for doing so. Bronze, silver and gold tier rewards are available (depending on the quest), and as you'd expect, it's the gold rewards that you really want.

With a High Rank Tobi-Kadachi, the chances of obtaining a Wyvern Gem as a gold reward are 8%. For a Paolumu or Diablos, it's 16%, the highest so far. Silver offers a fair chance too, and while gold rewards are rare and you get limited chances at them, this could be your best bet.

NEXT: 10 Facts Casual Fans Never Knew About Monster Hunter