Convert Element is a powerful armor skill found on Arkveld armor in Monster Hunter Wilds. This skill grants extra Dragon element damage for a limited time after you take elemental damage. Its description may seem straightforward enough, just pair it with a Dragon weapon, right? Well, as it turns out, its effect is actually rather complicated — but extremely potent even on non-Dragon weapons.
Monster Hunter Wilds: Convert Element Explanation
Convert Element: After taking elemental damage, temporarily grants you dragon element effects. (Cooldown after effect ends.)
| Level | Explanation |
|---|---|
| 1 | While active, deals extra dragon damage after dealing enough elemental damage. Slightly increases dragon attack. |
| 2 | Increases additional dragon damage and increases dragon attack. |
| 3 | Further increases additional dragon damage and greatly increases dragon attack. |
As written in the skill description, Convert Element activates after you’ve received enough elemental damage. You should see the “Convert Element has activated” notification and your weapon glows red once triggered. The skill lasts for 2 minutes and after that, a 1.5 minutes cooldown prevents it from reactivating immediately.
However, what’s interesting is that the aforementioned “additional dragon damage” seems to work just like Status weapons such as Poison, Blast, and Paralysis. Yes, aside from Dragon element buff, you’ll also build up some sort of ‘invisible’ status damage!
Simply put, while active, Convert Element seems to gives you around:
- Level 1: +80 Dragon element buff for 2 minutes with flat 150 damage and +600 Dragon element when proc.
- Level 2: +120 Dragon element buff for 2 minutes with flat 200 damage and +800 Dragon element when proc.
- Level 3: +180 Dragon element buff for 2 minutes with flat 280 damage and +1,000 Dragon element when proc.
Moreover, Convert Element bonus can even trigger on non-Dragon or raw weapons, making the skill usable across builds. Critical damage bonuses from Critical Eye will also increase the proc’d damage even more.
Also, remember that the skill description mentioned you need to ‘receive’ elemental damage to activate it? Yup, you don’t have to get hit; blocking or even perfect evading an elemental attack will still turn the skill on.
Nevertheless, Convert Element does come with its quirks. For example, the status build up relies entirely on how much raw damage you deal. That means, unintuitively, it’s better on hard-hitting weapons like Great Sword instead of faster ones like Dual Blades or Sword and Shield. Some attacks, such as Long Sword‘s Spirit Slashes, also won’t trigger the build up.
Lastly, Convert Element in Monster Hunter Wilds doesn’t scale with the Dragon Attack skill. You can run both, but it won’t have any effect on the skill’s activation or bonus damage.
That’s pretty much the gist of it. Combined with Arkveld armor’s Hasten Recovery and other healing skills, you can easily balance offense and defense just by using the full set. Ditch the Odogaron Burst or Gore Magala Frenzy meta and try it yourself!
