Let’s be honest, I’m abit of a Monster Hunter nerd. Sorry New Zealand but today I am dedicating this time to Capcom and their shiny new toy, offering a small beginner guide into the world of Monster Hunter.
Monster Hunter Wilds is the long awaited sequel to Monster Hunter World, and is releasing on February 28 2025 on PS5, Xbox and PC. Wilds is the first title in the series to include crossplay. Before the release, we were able to experience sections of the game in an open beta and we were very impressed!
Capcom presented an overview of the game last week at Tokyo Game Show, so if you prefer watching, take a look at this video.
What is Monster Hunter?
Monster Hunter is one of the most popular video game franchises in Japan. Developed by Capcom and produced by the incomparable Ryozo Tsujimoto, it is the premiere action RPG series and is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Monster Hunter World sold 20+ million copies, and shifted the title from being popular in Japan to being a world-wide hit.
What makes Monster Hunter stand out from other popular action RPGs is the gameplay loop. Hunt a monster, carve it for loot and make stronger gear (while avoiding death aka “carting”). You can join other players online (up to 3 others) and enjoy success as a group, or learn the agony of wasting 25 minutes in a hunt just for our fearless leader, Jayden to eat a cart and force us to restart (just kidding, lots of love).
Monster Hunter has no leveling up mechanic, instead crafting equipment like armour or talismans to add new skills to your set. As you progress further in the game, more customization becomes available, such as the ability to add decorations (which add more skills or improve skills already equipped) or augment your weapons and armour. Because of this there is no handicap or need to restart if you want to try new weapon types – just craft a new toy and run into the field.
Hunts against monsters are not as simple as hitting the attack button and dodging occasionally. Monster Hunter includes massive and complicated environments, full of endemic life to capture and use during the hunt. You can craft traps, bombs, or extra healing items to assist during a hunt. There is even environmental traps that let you control the momentum of the hunt – if you need time to heal or regroup, use the environments to your advantage.
What are the types of weapons in Monster Hunter?
Wilds has 14 weapon types to choose from, which will probably be a little daunting for beginners. Life was easier back in the old days of Monster Hunter Freedom on the PSP, we only had 7 to choose from.
As long as you don’t use Longsword, we can be friends. Just kidding. To keep this article simple, we’ll split the weapon types up into 3 groups: Big Damage, Fast Damage & Complicated combos that give me a headache/Other.
Big Damage
Great Sword is a gigantic and slow sword. It deals the highest damage per hit, can block incoming hits but suffers from limited mobility.
Hammer deals less damage than the Great Sword, but enjoys much better mobility. You can’t block with the hammer so have fun learning to dodge roll.
Heavy Bowgun is a large slow gun that deals a ton of damage. Nothing fancy to it. The ability to use different ammo types at a long distance is invaluable for more difficult hunts.
Hunting Horn is hammers cool cousin. You can enjoy almost the same damage and mobility as hammer, but while buffing or healing yourself and team mates.
Fast Damage
Sword and Shield is a great choice for beginners as it has great mobility, you can heal while the weapon is drawn and you can block.
Dual Blades is the Sword and Shield’s cooler cousin. No blocking or healing while drawn, but you attack with swords in both hands for crazy fast combos.
Light Bowgun is a fast long-range option, with different ammo types to easily exploit monsters weaknesses.
Longsword is probably the easiest weapon for beginners. Great damage, fluid movements that combo easily and even offers a counter-attack. Due to the high number of newbies who enter a hunt with this weapon and cart straight away, the community often poke fun at longsword users. Jayden used one lol.
Bow lets you dart around quickly while continuously firing off arrows. It looks cool and lets you change arrow coatings for extra damage.
Insect Glaive lets you hunt with a pet insect at your side who buffs you. Did I mention you fly around to attack?
Complicated/Other
Charge Blade is probably the most complicated weapon to use. Your sword combines with the shield to make a huge axe, or you can consume phials to unleash a huge energy wave.
Switch Axe is a mix of longsword and charge blade. It can change modes and create explosions, but is much easier to use and perform basic combos with.
Gunlance looks cool, and lets you shoot fire out the end of a lance. It looks cool, but it’s still a lance.. which leads us to..
Lance.. its just a boring stick and I didn’t know what else to say about it. I’m not even sorry.
The best way to approach these weapons is by trying them all! Although the first thing you need to know about me is I am a huge hypocrite and only use Hammer. I will not sully my perfect 100% hammer usage rate on my Guild Card by trying others.
Still unsure which weapon type you want to try? say no mo’ fam, Capcom has you covered. They have released preview videos for each weapon type, and combined them all into one helpful video below.
Or if you are repulsed by the sight of a Longsword as much as I am, you can just load up a specific weapons video from the playlist below.
Our team is covering this title as we get closer to launch including recommended settings and what to change first!
You need a Warcraft section!