Bring a trap and tranquilizers
Pack a Shock Trap or Pitfall Trap, plus Tranq Bombs. Gunners can use suitable Tranq Ammo. Ordinary paralysis or sleep does not replace a trap and capture tranquilizers.
To craft one Tranq Bomb, combine Sleep Herb + Parashroom in the Crafting List.
Capture steps
- Fight a capturable large monster until its icon shows the blue weakness marker.
- Place a trap that works on that monster in its current state and lead it into the trap.
- Use two Tranq Bombs close enough to affect it while it is trapped, or apply the appropriate Tranq Ammo.
- Look for the capture result or quest completion. If it fails, check the monster’s health, whether the trap is working, and whether your tranquilizers reached it.
The blue marker is a useful safe signal; time spent fighting alone is not a reliable test. Some monster states prevent particular traps from working.
Monsters you cannot capture
- Elder Dragons
- Apex monsters
- Afflicted Monsters in Sunbreak
Capture or carve?
A captured monster cannot be carved. Capture rewards and carve rewards have different material pools and probabilities, so capturing is not automatically the best choice for every material.