Monster Hunter Wilds certainly loves to hide things for players to discover. From exclusive weapon mechanics to unmapped areas, there is always something you’ve yet to learn about. The recently added Grand Hub is no exception, as the discovery of a humongous Downy Crake made waves across the community. Here’s how to find the oversized bird and how you can benefit from it.
Where is the Giant Downy Crake
The Giant Downy Crake, lovingly nicknamed Gigacrake by the community, has a nest that’s hidden behind a waterfall. The good news is that the Grand Hub isn’t that big, and the path to find this unique bird is pretty close to the entrance. Reaching this area will only take a quick bit of platforming.
You’ll first want to climb up the side of the giant skeleton that envelops the Grand Hub. From the entrance, run over the wooden bridge to the right and up the dirt path. On your left and next to a torch will be a wall of vines you can climb to reach the top of some uncomfortably large bones. Once you’re at the top, run to the right and use the tip of the bone as a ramped jumping off point. There is no consequence for missing the elevated platform we’re shooting for, although aiming more towards the right can help if you keep missing.
Head left and jump across the chasm in front of the waterfall. Keep moving forward and you’ll come across a second waterfall. The mountainside gives in a little bit to reveal a narrow pathway that runs right behind it. Jump down and turn into the small alcove to find a small flock of downy crakes and their far larger parent.
How to Earn More Nest Trinkets
Your incentive for finding this massively fluffy bird isn’t just to take some funny screenshots. You might sometimes find a special item called Nest Trinkets in front of it. Picking this up will reward you with one to multiple items that the little Downy Crakes have seemingly gathered. I’ve received a variety of seeds, eggs, and even treasures from gathering Nest Trinkets.
From my own testing, these seemed to respawn after a full day/night cycle inside the Grand Hub. That’s around a full 50 minutes you can’t skip because the rest mechanic doesn’t work for this area. However, whether I stayed exclusively in the Grand Hub or spent the time grinding out some Arena Quests, this only provided me with a single item. Going on back-to-back hunts would make Nest Trinkets respawn faster and provide more items. This functions similarly to the Cohoot Nests in Monster Hunter Rise. Basically, return after some good ol’ hunting and the birds will reward you handsomely.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows PCs.