The new Monster Hunter Wilds update is a make-or-break moment, and its first Elder Dragon isn't the biggest threat

Capcom has showcased Monster Hunter Wilds Free Title Update 4 in full, and the patch is set to be a real do-or-die moment for PC players. I've been playing again recently, and now that the event quest roster has been fleshed out alongside further additions like the spectacular Omega Planetes fight, it's been a good reminder that it deserves to rank among the best RPGs of this year. But when many hunters across a wide range of setups are struggling to run the game to a satisfactory level, it doesn't matter how much the battles slap. After far too long waiting, the first set of fixes has been confirmed, with more planned in the coming months.

The headliner for the new Monster Hunter Wilds update is, of course, returning favorite Gogmazios. This giant, tar-slicked beast is the first Elder Dragon to appear in Wilds, and only furthers the game's status as a spiritual sequel to Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, where it featured at the climax of the G-Rank story. The quest we're getting here has special restrictions, allowing you to bring up to a total of four player-controlled hunters and four support hunters for a full party of eight.

Accompanying us is Fabius, the Ace Lancer from the main Wilds campaign, who's joined by another of MH4U's Ace Hunters, gunner expert Nadia. Along with the story battle, there will also be a replayable event quest version of Gogmazios that's permanently available. The materials you earn can be used on fresh armor sets along with upgrading max-rarity Artian Weapons into new 'Gogma' variants, which gain one bonus skill and one group skill (chosen at random). You can choose to retain their pre-existing reinforcement stats, or reroll them, and they'll get a boost either way.

There's another serious threat to watch out for; Arch-Tempered Jin Dahaad. Already one of the best fights in base Wilds, this ultra-powered iteration arrives on Wednesday December 24, and it'll be staying around permanently. Then we've got new nine-star optional quests where you can earn nameplates for taking on a terrifying trio. Events to farm Heavy Armor spheres combined with the new Armor Transcendence upgrades should help get your gear up to scratch. On top of this, there are more challenge quests that will arrive from Wednesday January 7, 2026, although these are sticking around for a limited time only (at least until the next festival kicks off, when they'll come back).

Speaking of festivals, the Monster Hunter Wilds Festival of Accord: Lumenhymn runs from Friday December 19, 2025 until Wednesday January 14, 2026. That means a seasonal overhaul to the Grand Hub, unique equipment and gestures to earn, a fresh meal at the canteen, and more decorations for your pop-up camp. All event quests will be back for the duration, and both Fabius and Nadia will be available during the festivities as extra support hunters.

The biggest threat to Monster Hunter's continued success, however, will be the long-promised PC performance patch. "We have received feedback from many players regarding the performance and stability of the Steam version," series producer Ryozo Tsujimoto remarks. "The development team has been looking closely at this to help inform our ongoing work in this area." He adds, "the team is in the final stages of checks to ensure these changes improve the overall experience without adversely affecting some existing hardware configurations."

While this 'stability improvements plan' starts with Title Update 4, it's actually going to be rolling out over the coming months. Alongside TU4 is CPU and GPU optimization, which Capcom says will lower the load on both "by reducing unnecessary processes." While it doesn't go into detail, this sounds a lot like the fixes that were implemented for Monster Hunter World following community feedback. There are also "more than 100 processing improvements" across players, monsters, companions, menus, and environmental features.

Following this, a PC-specific patch will be released in January 2026. This will include further optimization for PC-only processes, improve the shader compilation to reduce stuttering, lower VRAM usage, and boost texture-streaming speeds for the high-resolution texture pack. It'll also add more graphics and CPU settings to give you more ways to reduce the stress on your machine. Additional optimizations such as level-of-detail tweaks are currently scheduled for February 2026. "We apologize for the time it has taken to address these issues," Tsujimoto says, "but we ask that you wait just a little longer."

Wrapping up the Gogmazios patch are four free photo-mode poses, a character edit voucher and palico edit voucher (you'll get this regardless of whether you used the last one that was handed out or not), and a paid Cosmetic DLC pack. This includes stickers, poses, and some futuristic white-and-gold designs that remind me of the old Calus gear from Destiny 2, but Capcom warns that this particular bundle isn't included in the Premium Deluxe Edition or the Cosmetic DLC Pass.

The Monster Hunter Wilds Free Title Update 4 release date is Tuesday December 16. You can study a full set of gear and reward previews courtesy of Capcom.

Next on the list after this is an update currently planned for Wednesday February 18, 2026. It'll include the long-anticipated fight with Arch-Tempered Arkveld, a special collaboration with Monster Hunter Stories 3, and the Great Sword and Pendant that came out victorious in the community design contest. I just hope that, by the time we roll into the new year, as many people as possible are able to enjoy Monster Hunter Wilds to the extent that I have without all the performance-related frustrations that have overshadowed it since launch.