Monster Hunter Wilds weapons guide: A list for every weapon type and every new move and improvement (so far)

The Forbidden Lands of Monster Hunter Wilds is a dangerous and volatile ecosystem. The weather patterns can shift from peaceful to chaotic in a matter of seconds, and it is populated with some of the most vicious, bloodthirsty monsters you will ever have the misfortune of encountering.

To survive exploring this uncharted landscape, you will need powerful weapons to help down the Forbidden Lands’ apex predators. Fortunately, Monster Hunter Wilds has you covered as this game has fourteen different weapon types to choose from, each with unique playstyles, strengths, and weaknesses. What’s more, Monster Hunter Wilds will be introducing new special techniques, gameplay mechanics, and quality-of-life improvements not seen in previous Monster Hunter games.

Since there are so many weapons to pick, we have put together an overview of every weapon type in Monster Hunter Wilds to help you decide which suits your playstyle the best so you can conquer the beasties of the Forbidden Lands with gusto.

Just to note, some of the entries on this list will show footage of weapon types from previous Monster Hunter games, as they haven’t been officially revealed yet in Monster Hunter Wilds. It has been confirmed that all of the previous staple weapon types are set to return, though. We will update these sections with the relevant media once Capcom shows footage of Monster Hunter Wilds' weapon types in action.

Monster Hunter Wilds is launching in 2025 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: General changes for every weapon

Every weapon will gain the ability to inflict wounds on a monster if you continually attack specific parts of their body. Once the wounds appear, you can inflict extra damage on a monster if you attack their open wounds.

In Monster Hunter Wilds, every weapon type will gain access to a new gameplay mechanic called Focus Mode. Focus Mode allows players to activate an aiming reticule which will help them aim their attacks more accurately on a monster’s body by regardless of whether they’re using a melee or ranged weapon. This mechanic will help players land their attacks on a monster’s weak spots more easily and keep the camera locked on the monster, so they don’t lose sight of it during the heat of battle.

In addition, Focus Mode will grant every weapon type called a Focus Strike. Focus Strikes are special attacks designed to exploit a monster’s weak points or wounds to deal significant damage to them.

Also, in Monster Hunter Wilds, players will be able to take two weapons that they can switch between in the heat of battle. This is thanks to the new Seikret mount, which the player uses to transport them across the game’s gigantic hunting grounds. Seikret can carry a secondary weapon in its carrier pack that you can switch your main weapon with if the situation calls for it.

This means you won’t have to return to a campsite in the middle of a fight to switch to a different one in case your current weapon isn’t suited for a specific monster you’re hunting.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Great Sword

The Great Sword is a mighty weapon that has the power to cleave monsters in twain with its heavy attacks. While this weapon cripples the user's movement speed due to its hefty weight, the trade-off is that each attack can be charged by holding down the attack to boost its power when it lands.

You can get around the weapon type’s low mobility by sheathing the weapon, running up to a monster to hit with a charged-slash combo, and then putting the Great Sword away to reposition yourself or avoid incoming attacks, making this weapon a great choice for players who prefer hit-and-run tactics.

Great Swords also have some defensive capabilities such as using the weapon like a shield to block enemy attacks due to how large they are and allowing players to shrug off attacks to continue their combos by using the Shoulder Tackle technique.

Great Sword gameplay additions and changes

Monster Hunter Wilds will feature a slew of moves and mechanics that will help players overcome its mobility issues and improve its defensive properties:

• A new counterattack where the player does a reserve overhead slash to send the flying on their backside, then run up to them to continue their assault with a cross-slash attack.
• A Focus Strike where the player embeds the Great Sword onto a monster’s body, then dragging it across to rip its body a part. This attack will deal extra damage if it hits a weak spot or wound.
• A parry mechanic where if you block an enemy attack at the right time, you will engage in a power struggle with the monster where you will attempt to overpower them with your strength.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Long Sword

The Long Sword is a technical weapon that specializes in clean and precise cutting attacks to chop off monster tails, evading enemy attacks with evasive maneuvers, and risky counterattacks to negate incoming enemy blows and hit back twice as hard with style.

The Long Sword has a unique gimmick called Spirit Gauge that fills up when you perform regular attacks. You can then spirit energy from the Spirit Gauge to unleash Spirit Slash combo attacks, which are twice as deadly as the regular ones. Performing Spirit Slash combo finishers will level up Spirit Gauge (they go from White, Yellow, to Red) and depending on the level, will provide a significant boost to your weapon’s overall attack power and drastically increase the damage of the Long Sword’s ultimate technique – the Spirit Helm Breaker.

So far we haven’t seen much of the Long Sword in action aside from the split-second glimpse of it in the Focus Mode overview trailer where the player performed an overhead Focus Strike. I’m willing to bet that the Long Sword will revert to how it played in Monster Hunter World with an emphasis on evasive actions and Spirit Helm Breaker being performed on the ground instead of mid-air like in Monster Hunter Rise for example.

As for changes, I think Capcom will introduce quality-of-life improvements for the Spirit Gauge so it will be easier to manage and stop from deteriorating in battle. The developers may also a couple of extra new moves designed around countering attacks to make up for the fact Long Swords can’t guard against enemy attacks like its brutish cousin, the Great Sword, can.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Sword & Shield

The Sword & Shield is a short sword paired with a small shield designed around performing quick strikes on a monster’s blind spots while providing players a means to block incoming attacks in an emergency. However, the shield should be used as a last resort as it's mainly for blocking light attacks and falters under a monster’s deadly, heavy-hitting attacks.

Players can also attack enemies with the shield which, when used on the head, can knock them out and leave them vulnerable for a few seconds. The Sword & Shield also has a unique trait that allows players to consume healing items or use fire projectiles like the slinger without needing to sheath the weapon away.

Not much footage has been shown of the Sword & Shield in Monster Hunter Wilds outside of the Focus Mode trailer, which showed the player using a new slide attack to duck underneath an incoming attack and using the Focus Mode to stay on target.

I’m guessing the Sword & Shield in Monster Hunter Wilds will see some techniques to give more evasive options in battle and perhaps a Focus Strike which involves stabbing the weak spot of a monster repeatedly before quickly disengaging.

I’m personally hoping Monster Hunter Wilds introduces new attacks for the shield part of the weapon type, as punching monsters in the face with a shield was one of my favorite uses of the weapon in Monster Hunter Rise.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Dual Blades

Dual Blades lets players brandish a pair of daggers and go on a rampage, slicing and dicing enemies to ribbons while bobbing and weaving through incoming strikes. Players can take the violent nature of Dual Blades further by activating Demon Mode, which increases their attack and movement speeds to ludicrous degrees and unlocks new special moves that rip and tear your enemies.

However, it's best not to stay in Demon Mode as it drains your stamina while in use, so use it sparingly, otherwise you will tire out and be left vulnerable. Attacking in Demon Mode fills a special gauge that, when filled, activates Archdemon Mode. Being in Archdemon Mode grants you some of the attacks of Demon Mode without draining your stamina gauge.

So the gameplan of Dual Blade is a balancing between switching back and forth between Demon Mode and Archdemon to deal optimal damage to monsters while making sure you don’t exhaust yourself in the process.

Dual Blades have not been officially shown off yet in Monster Hunter Wilds. I’m willing to bet that Dual Blades will receive a couple of quality-of-life improvements to help make managing the Demon Mode and Archdemon Mode easier.

Also, I’m guessing that the Dual Blades’ Focus Strike will involve the player diving into a monster’s weak point and wounds and then spinning in mid-air to drill the weapons into openings to deal extra damage similar to the Dual Blades’ Spiral Slash technique in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Hammer

If you need a weapon purely to knock monsters out cold or break their skulls for rare parts, then the Hammer is for you. The hammer is a massive blunt weapon designed for dealing stun-build-up and tons of damage when used on an enemy’s skull. The hammer’s attacks can be charged to deal extra damage like the Great Sword, except you can move around while charging instead of standing still, allowing players mobility while staying on the offensive.

So far, Hammers have only been seen right at the end of Monster Hunter Wild’s debut trailer which showed a player getting ready to bash a Doshaguma in the head. I suspect the weapon will play like how it did in Monster Hunter World, where it has a special charge-up mode which changed the properties of the Hammer’s attacks so long as you don’t get hit before landing it.

One addition I would like to see for Hammer in Monster Hunter Wilds is keeping some of the counterattacks it had in Monster Hunter Rise to increase the player’s survivability in battle as it had no defensive abilities prior to that game.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Hunting Horn

The Hunting Horn is a musical instrument that doubles as a hammer. By performing specific attack combos, you will activate songs that provide passive buffs to your party, heal their wounds, and even protect them from status ailments. Some Hunting Horn songs can even damage enemies via deafening soundwave attacks.

As shown in the gameplay trailer, Monster Hunter Wilds' iteration of the Hunting Horn will be akin to how it played in Monster Hunter Rise , where it emphasized using soundwave attacks to defeat enemies. It will even bring back some of the new moves Hunting Horn got from Monster Hunter Rise into Monster Hunter Wilds like the Earthshaker technique.

Earthshaker was an amazing super move where you plug the hunting horn into a monster’s skull and then perform a guitar solo that literally blows their minds with the power of Rock and Roll. Now it has returned in Monster Hunter Wilds as a Focus Strike and has been slightly reworked to have a longer guitar solo to deal even more damage.

Hunting Horn gameplay additions and changes

The rest of Hunting Horn's new tools and changes will include new soundwave-based attacks and quality-of-life improvements so players can perform songs faster to deal more damage and strengthen teammates more often:

• A new melee attack where you quickly smack a monster in the face in the middle of melee combos to generate instantly musical notes to help you perform melodies faster.
• A new soundwave technique called Echo Buddles. This technique has the player place multiple area-of-effect puddles that when a Hunting Horn user activates Melodies near them, cause the puddles to damage enemies standing in them.
• A new evasive dodge move where the player jumps backward to avoid incoming attacks and then runs up to them to deliver a devastating close-range soundwave attack.
• A new powerful attack that launches a gigantic soundwave projectile to damage enemies at long ranges.
• The speed at which you perform Melodies has been greatly increased compared to previous games.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Lance

The Lance is the ultimate defensive melee weapon of Monster Hunter where the player wields a gigantic lance, and a tower shield capable of blocking the most lethal attacks a monster can throw at you. The general move-set of Lance involves stabbing at weak spots, charging like a knight jousting to chase after fleeing monsters, and performing special guard techniques to block attacks then counterattacking with the lance.

No official Monster Hunter Wilds footage of Lance in action has been spotted yet. I'm guessing Lance will function similarly to Monster Hunter World, with an emphasis on countering attacks and poking at weak spots.

One change I would like to see for Lance in Monster Hunter Wilds is a proper aggro mechanic to divert the monster’s attention away from the Lance user’s party while in multiplayer, so it focuses on them. Lance did a technique that sort of did this in Monster Hunter Rise called Twin Vines, but the effect was temporary and was overshadowed by more powerful defensive techniques in that game.

Not only will this help solidify the weapon type’s tank-based playstyle it would also be a great boon in multiplayer that will help players survive the game’s more difficult hunts.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Gunlance

If the Lance is an immovable object, then the Gunlance is an unstoppable force. The Gunlance is a lance outfitted with a giant cannon that fires short-range explosions that bypass a monster’s defenses to deal fixed amounts of damage.

This weapon also features the Wyrmstake Cannon, an armor-piercing stake that when fired, drills into a monster’s armor-plated hide and explodes from within to inflict grievous damages. On top of that, the Gunlance also possesses a powerful super move called Wyvern’s Fire which fires a gigantic explosion that will send monsters reeling if they get caught in the blast radius.

There are multiple kinds of Gunlances with special Shelling types that alter the properties of the Gunlance’s explosion attacks:

• Normal Shelling-type Gunlance has five shells, which synergizes with the Gunlance’s Full-Burst attack which involves the player slamming the weapon into a monster before unloading all shells to deal massive burst damage.
• Long Shelling-type Gunlances have three shells and have increased range and damage when using the weapon’s Charged Shot attack.
• Wide-Shelling-type Gunlances have two shells and the shortest range of shelling explosions attacks but each shell does significant damage and can stagger enemies.

Gunlance gameplay additions and changes

The Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds has received a ton of new moves that expand on its Shelling attacks while providing players more defensive options to help them survive in battle:

• If you block enemy attacks at the last second, their knockback will be reduced and allow you to follow up with a Full-Burst Slam attack.
• New side-step maneuvers that utilize the recoil of Shelling shots to help players dodge enemy attacks damaging them.
• New Flamethrower attacks that can combo into the Wyrmstake Cannon.
• Charged-Shelling shots can now be charged even further than previous games to unleash miniature Wyvern’s Fire-esque blasts, but the recoil will send players flying backward.
• Thanks to the new flamethrower attack, the Gunlance has new combo paths where you can perform multiple Wyrmstake Cannon attacks in a single combo.
• Gunlance’s Focus Strike converts the lance part of the weapon into a drill that can skewer a monster’s weak spots and wounds.
• A new technique where you ram the Gunlance into a monster's jaw and fire a Charged-Shelling shot at point-blank range to blow their heads off.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Switch Axe

The Switch Axe is one of Monster Hunter’s more crazy weapon types. Its main draw is the ability to transform back and forth between being an oversized axe that granted players extra mobility while performing wild-swinging attacks to a Great Sword-sized blade that dealt slow but savagely dangerous damage to foes.

Attacking in axe form will build up energy for a gauge meter that will allow you to perform attacks in sword form. Whenever you deal damage in its sword form, the Switch Axe builds up a secondary gauge meter. When it fills, the Switch Axe will activate its Amped State which will cause minor explosions with every hit in swordform and unlock a powerful finishing move called the Zero Sum Discharge.

The Zero Sum Discharge has you stab a monster in the gut in sword form and fire a massive explosion from inside its body to inflict insane amounts of damage, but it spends all the energy in sword and reverts to Axe form.

As the name implies, the general game plan around Switch Axe is to switch back and forth between axe and sword forms depending on the monster you’re fighting and finish them off with the Zero Sum Discharge.

Switch Axe has not been officially shown off as of yet in Monster Hunter Wilds. I suspect that Monster Hunter Wilds will introduce some quality-of-life improvements to make building energy for each form easier and its Focus Strike could be a miniature Zero Sum Discharge designed to target weak points and wounds.

I would like to see Monster Hunter Wilds add some new attacks for the axe form as that’s my preferred form of Switch Axe due to its fast-movement speed and barbaric attacks where you swing the axe around like a maniac.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Charge Blade

Charge Blade is quite possibly the most complicated weapon to use in Monster Hunter due to its wide variety of mechanics to master. Similar to Switch Axe, the Charge Blade is a transformation weapon capable of shifting forms from a large sword & shield to a gigantic battle axe.

How Charge Blade works is that you start off in sword & shield mode and use that form’s attack to build energy for the weapon’s unique resource mechanic called Phials. Once the Phials are filled with enough energy, you load them from the sword into the shield to power it up so it can block attacks more easily.

Once the shield is powered and you have more Phials filled in sword & shield mode, transform into axe mode to unleash its true power. While in axe mode, your Phials will cause every hit to be augmented with small explosions dealing extra damage. If you have the shield powered up while in axe mode, you can perform the Charge Blade’s ultimate attack called the Ultra Elemental Discharge.

Ultra Elemental Discharge will have the player slam the Charge Blade into the ground and fire every available Phial to cause an extravagant explosion capable of taking out multiple large monsters in a wide radius. After spending all your Phials, you will need to switch back into sword & shield mode to recharge your Phials, then transform back into axe mode to let loose another Ultra Elemental Discharge, thus forming the core gameplay loop of Charge Blade.

Charge Blade has not been spotted in Monster Hunter Wilds’ official trailers yet. I would imagine that Monster Hunter Wilds’ planned changes for the Charge Blade will include quality-of-life improvements to make Phial build-up speed faster. One change I would like to see for Charge Blade in Monster Hunter Wilds is perhaps some new offensive techniques for the sword & shield mode so it can potentially be more effective when hunting certain monsters that the axe mode is not fast enough to keep up with.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Insect Glaive

The Insect Glaive is a mobile, acrobatic weapon that allows the player to perform elaborate and agile ground-based attacks and jump in the air to unleash deadly aerial attacks and dive bombs that can clip the wings of flying monsters. Additionally, the Insect Glaive has a secondary weapon paired with it that can grant the player extra strength called the Kinsect.

The Kinsect is a large insect that the player can command to attack monsters and drain their fluids to harvest special ‘extracts’ from their body parts. The Kinsect can then pass these extracts onto the player to boost their stats and unlock new moves depending on the extract type.

• Orange extract : increases a player’s physical defense stats and reduces the amount of knockback from enemy attacks.
• White extract : increases a player’s movement speed and gives them the ability to air-dash while jumping.
• Red extract : increases attack power and unlocks new special moves.

Insect Glaive gameplay additions and changes

From what has been seen thus far, the Insect Glaive will getting a few new attacks and even a quality-of-life improvement for gathering extracts:

• The aiming reticule for aiming the Kinsect will display which extract type is hiding on a monster’s body part when aiming it on them.
• A grab attack where you jump in air and air-dash towards a monster to latch on their body so you can start stabbing it with the Insect Glaive.
• An aerial divebomb performed while airborne where upon successfully landing on a monster, it will impale them. The player will then swing on the weapon so it can drill the Insect Glaive into a monster’s hide.
• A combo attack finisher where you leap backwards and fire the Kinsect from your arm like a cannon to stagger the enemy, damage them severely, and harvest an extract in the process.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Light Bowgun

The Light Bowgun is a ranged weapon specialized in firing rapid-fire projectiles at medium ranges while offering special evasive maneuvers for its users to dodge incoming attacks. While the Light Bowgun may not have the sheer firepower of its Heavy Bowgun counterpart, it features the compatibility for a wider variety of ammo types that are designed to debilitate the enemy monsters with status effects, power up fellow players, or take advantage of a monster’s elemental weaknesses.

In addition, the Light Bowgun features special landmines that can be placed on the ground to damage any monster that steps on them.

No official footage of Light Bowgun in action has been revealed as of yet for Monster Hunter Wilds. I’m willing to guess Monster Hunter Wilds will introduce improvements for Light Bowgun’s special dodge moves so they’re easier to pull off and a Focus Strike where they fire special ammunition that staggers monsters and deals bonus damage to weak spots and wounds.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Heavy Bowgun

The Heavy Bowgun is a long-ranged weapon designed to blow up enemies from a distance with explosive ammo and armor-piercing rounds. You can also modify the Heavy Bowgun with a shield so it can block incoming attacks.

In addition, the Heavy Bowgun has a special energy gauge which when filled, will let you activate Ignition Mode. Ignition Mode will allow the player to load special ammunition that will blast even the biggest monsters into smouldering with their extreme firepower.

Heavy Bowgun gameplay additions and changes

The Heavy Bowgun in Monster Hunter Wilds will feature a few quality-of-improvements to its guarding capabilities and Ignition Mode charge, as well as other new additions:

• Guarding with the Heavy Bowgun can be done manually on top of the weapon being able to block automatically.
• The automatic charge-up time of the Heavy Bowgun’s energy gauge has been increased and land shots on enemies will charge faster.
• A Focus Strike where you load armor-piercing bullets that dig into a monster’s thick hide before exploding. This attack will deal extra damage if you manage to shoot the Focus Strike on weak spots and wounds.
• A new attack where you shove the Heavy Bowgun into a monster’s jaw and fire the weapon at point-blank range to blow their brains out.

Monster Hunter Wilds Weapon list: Bow

The Bow is a classic ranged weapon that allows players to dart across the battlefield at tremendous speeds and let loose a volley of arrows from long distances into a monster’s hide. Players can also augment the arrows they fire with special coatings that increase their damage output or give them the ability to inflict status ailments to slow enemies down.

In addition, the Bow has a special Arc Shot attack where the player fires a bag of rocks into the air that comes raining down on a monster’s head to stun them. The Bow's most devastating attack however is the Dragon Piercer, which involves attaching rockets onto an arrow and firing a lightning-fast shot that pierces through a monster’s entire body to deal serious damage.

However, performing actions with the Bow costs a tremendous amount of stamina so players should take heed of their stamina gauge when using this weapon lest they wish to tire themselves out and be left helpless before a rampaging monster.

No official footage of Bow has been shown thus far in Monster Hunter Wilds. I predict Monster Hunter Wilds will introduce some quality-of-life improvements to make stamina management easier with the Bow and a new Focus Strike where the player fires multiple arrows at once at a weak point or wound to deal lots of burst damage.

One aspect I would like to see Bow improved upon in Monster Hunter Wilds is being able to fire the Dragon Piercer faster. In Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise, the Dragon Piercer took way too long to fire, making its damage output nowhere near as consistently viable compared to the Bow’s Normal Shots and Power Shots.

Have you decided which weapon will be your favorite in Monster Hunter Wilds?

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There you have every weapon available at your disposal in Monster Hunter Wilds and all the new mechanics and improvements announced for them thus far. As you can see, this game has all kinds of weapons that cater to almost everyone, whether they prefer fighting monsters up close with melee weapons or sniping enemies with long-ranged projectiles they’re safely out of harm’s way.

RELATED: Monster Hunter Wilds preview

What’s even more exciting is that players won’t have to just stick to one weapon during a hunt like in previous games as the new Seikret mount will allow them to switch to a different weapon mid-fight, giving players the ability to switch between melee and ranged combat at will.

What other new surprises will Monster Hunter Wilds bring for the weapon types as we edge closer to its release date? Stay tuned to find out as we will continually update this list with new mechanics and attacks announced for every weapon type that will help you conquer Monster Hunter Wilds’ ever-growing bestiary of monsters .

Monster Hunter Wilds, the next-gen successor to one of Capcom's best Xbox games and best PC games , Monster Hunter World, is scheduled to launch in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S , PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.