Monster Hunter Wilds is finally here and it’s already making a huge impact on Steam. If you’re one of the millions of players jumping in this weekend, we’ve got a lot of guides to get you started, including some basic tips and tricks. But there’s one significant choice that you’ll need to make on your own.
You see, the long-running series has a fantastic armory totaling 14 unique kinds of weapons. There are multiple kinds of blades, blunt instruments, and even guns to pick from, and I firmly believe that your signature weapon says a lot about you as a player and as a person. It’s sort of like a horoscope. What does your Monster Hunter Wilds weapon choice say about you? I’m here to help.
Great Sword
You won’t find much love from me for the greatsword in Monster Hunter Wilds. It’s a perfectly fine and reliable weapon, but that’s also why it’s the starting choice. It has the easiest of combos attached (mostly consisting of charged attacks) and there is no gimmick or unique feature about it. If you’ve landed on this as your weapon of choice, chances are you just defaulted to it after the tutorial because the anxiety of picking between all the other weapons caused you to freeze up. Call your therapist and get back on the Prozac, kid.
Long Sword
Some of the most iconic weapons in gaming, like Sephiroth’s Masamune, are long swords. They are the quintessential armament of the field: excessive, impractical, and remarkably flashy. If you find yourself gravitating towards the long sword in Monster Hunter Wilds, it’s because you — like Sephiroth over there — are probably a bit of a size queen who puts form over function every day. But that’s okay, we don’t judge around here and the long sword’s got all the glitz and glam you could want. Living up to its ostentatious reputation, this weapon is all about fast combos that build up a gauge that lets you amplify your damage and unleash some iconic moves, like sheathing your weapon before slashing at your foe. Just watch where you swing that thing.
Switch Axe
As you’re likely beginning to understand, Monster Hunter has an intimidating amount of really cool weapons, which makes it difficult to pick just one. I think that’s why the developers eventually made the greatest weapon of the lot for us indecisive baddies: one weapon that’s secretly two. The Switch Axe’s remarkably simple trick is it’s a big axe that can morph into a bigger blade. Straightforward combos build up a series of smaller gauges that let you whip out the latter form and unleash huge attacks. If you’re someone who struggles deciding on anything, know that the Switch Axe is here to make you look and feel better.
Light Bowgun
You picked the light bowgun because you thought that it would be a simple weapon and now it turns out that you were absolutely wrong. Idiot. The bowguns can be simple if you just want to aim and fire at monsters from a distance, but there’s actually a lot going on under the hood and you’ll feel cooler learning all their tricks. The light bowgun, for example, has two firing modes (a burst fire and an automatic mode) but you need to build a meter with the first one to be able to unload hell with the second one. That meter, which sits above the ammo counter, will slowly fill on its own but it goes faster when you fire the weapon, and can even be sped up by following up every burst with a chaser shot. You can also swap between ammo types (some of which are more limited than others), fire off charged focus shots that look and sound like a grenade launcher, and can even place down a charge that can be blown up multiple times when shot at. But if you’re going to do all of that and keep up with the action, you’ve got to keep an eye on the light bowgun’s multiple ammo counters, and that’s a pretty big challenge.
In short, welcome to Monster Hunter, where every weapon is actually homework.
Heavy Bowgun
The heavy bowgun is what I’ve dubbed the “dudes rock” weapon. While it is mostly similar to the light bowgun, it sacrifices mobility for some splashier tricks. If you’ve ever wanted to fire a gatling gun at a monster and rattle off a corny one liner or shout “Hell yeah, brother,” this is it for you. Like the light bowgun, the gatling gun firing mode is locked behind a gauge, but you can’t do chaser shots to speed it up with the heavy variant. The heavy bowgun makes up for that sacrifice in two ways: you can hunker down with a guard function while you wait and the gatling fire mode comes with a charged fire blast. So despite the fact that you’re much slower in exchange for that power, if your Roman Empire is the image of Mifune in The Matrix Revolutions making a last stand in his Gatling gun-strapped mech suit, this is where you need to be.
Insect Glaive
The insect glaive is a sick weapon. It’s also a scam. To love it is to be a masochist who truly hates themselves and never knows peace. To be entirely transparent, the insect glaive is my go-to weapon, and I love using it to pole vault over enemies and do a bunch of mid-air dashes and acrobatics. However, you will, as I have, become quite accustomed to spending as much time in the air as you spend face down on the ground after being knocked back by a monster in the middle of your attack. There’s also the “insect” of it all, where you need to use a large bug called a Kinsect to aim at specific points on a monster to extract and bring back certain colors of power to the player to unlock buffs and entirely new movesets, but this requires constant maintenance. Wilds cuts down on some of that upkeep, but it hasn’t completely erased it. This all sounds like a lot, I know, but if you’re drawn to this weapon like I am, you’ve never done things in life the easy way. Why start now?
Hunting Horn
If you’ve decided to rock the Hunting Horn, thank you for your service. You’re obviously a people pleaser and fellow support main who wound up in that position because everyone else on your team instalocked the DPS characters and there was no healing. You take out the frustration brought on by that situation by wielding the Hunting Horn, which can be swung at enemies for damage, all the while stocking up notes and melodies, which you then perform to buff yourself and allies. Along the way, you realized that your friends really are your power, but you don’t say that aloud for fear of being mocked. You’re obviously a current or retired band kid, and it shows. You know your role in the group, and execute on it a high level to make everyone around you look and feel better. You’re also clinically insane for undertaking such a complex role and bearing it with a grin. Please look out for yourself, but play that funky horn before you do.
Charge Blade
You probably shouldn’t pick up the charge blade first thing, but you’re likely going to. How do I know that? Because it’s got a move that turns it into the whirligig saw from Bloodborne. The Charge Blade is very similar to the Switch Axe in that they’re both transforming weapons, but the Charge Blade has significantly more going on. For one, there are three components rather than two, and having to learn what a phial is, let alone the best possible use of these phials, like elemental discharges, is way more involved than you probably care for. But something tells me you’ve likely never shied away from a challenge, even though you always fail at them, and then bemoan the fact that “no one told you not to do it.” This is me trying to help you.
Sword and Shield
Let me paint you a picture. You’ve just downloaded the latest RPG you’re going to devote the next 100 hours of your life to. You excitedly boot it up, stare in awe at the incredibly hype opening of the game, and you jump right in. That excitement dissipates the second you hit a character creator though, and because you want to get to the game as quickly as possible, you make the most plain character ever. Your Mass Effect Shepard is the default guy, and you always pick a warrior type in every single one of these games. This is the life of a sword and shield player in Monster Hunter Wilds and I can begrudgingly respect it.
Dual Blades
If you’re leaning towards the dual blades, you’ve done the math and figured two swords are better than one. There’s a pretty good chance you instalock Wolverine in Marvel Rivals and your favorite fictional character is noted speed demon Sonic the Hedgehog. The dual blades, as is common in fantasy RPGs, are for roguish warriors who want to get in, do a lot of damage, and quickly get back out. Monster Hunter‘s dual blades fulfill that very urge, and even encourage you to go wild with a Demon Mode that buffs the speed and damage of your attacks. So yeah man, go nuts.
Hammer
The hammer is as blunt a weapon as you’re gonna find in the whole set and because of that, it’s actually one of the best weapons you could possibly bring on a hunt. All that blunt weapon damage means that the hammer excels at stunning enemies, knocking those giants down and opening them up to a slew of attacks. It also has an unbelievably funny charge attack that involves wildly swinging the hammer to wind up a powerful finishing blow. The hammer is a very domineering weapon, and it needs a really deft hand and a will strong enough to kill God in order to get the most out of it. You’ve got to view everything and everyone as a problem (or nail) to be solved (hammered), which might make you a bit of a thorny person to be around. You find it hard to relate to and connect with others, but your presence inevitably brings up the competence of the group. You are Asuka Langley Soryu from Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Lance
There’s a lot to learn about the lance, which has a number of charge attacks and guard mechanics that come with the territory. After all, the kit consists of a giant lance and a similarly huge shield, you know what you’re getting into here. But you’re really only into this weapon because you want to run enemies through with the biggest weapon possible. Your lifelong fantasy has been to joust, and now that you have a reliable mount in the form of a Seikret and can don some fancy armor carved from the skin of your foes, the last part of your 12-step plan has locked into place.
Gunlance
I know what you are. You’re one of these freaks that loves the critically acclaimed (or reviled, depending on who you’re talking to) RPG Final Fantasy VIII. You experienced the high of swinging the gunblade at an unsuspecting enemy and pulling the trigger at the right time to fire it at the same time, multiplying your damage. You’ve been chasing that high ever since, and now Monster Hunter Wilds has got your back. The Gunlance (as the name might give away) allows you to poke and prod enemies while also letting off explosive blasts. Fortunately, you can “shell” enemies at almost any given point in a combo,
Bow
The bow is one of the most well worn fantasy tropes out there. From Artemis to Hawkeye, there’s no shortage of fictional characters who have come to define what it means to be a archer in tremendous style. They shoot with flair, as well as a few trick arrows, and they always nail their mark. If you’re picking the bow in Monster Hunter Wilds, chances are you’re trying to replicate the style of these very same marksmen, and if I were a betting man, I’d wager it’s Legolas. What the bow lacks in dynamism, it makes up for with style, specifically the sauce of the famous elven ranger going band for band with Gimli at the Battle of Helm’s Deep.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
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