How to unlock new weapons in Wild Hearts

The weapons in Wild Hearts are packed with extensive movesets and a lot of depth. Each weapon has its mechanics and uses a special meter to grant that weapon-specific buffs or unique traits. When Wild Hearts begins, you only have access to the Katana, and the rest must be unlocked. This guide will explain how to unlock new weapons in Wild Hearts.

Related: How the Hunters Arm works in Wild Hearts

How to get all weapon types in Wild Hearts

Wild Hearts has eight distinct weapon types, each featuring a large upgrade tree that transforms the weapon with potent traits and visual changes. The first weapon, the Katakuri Katana, is given to you at the start of the game. After defeating the first Ragetail and rescuing Natsume, the tutorial will explain how to use a Forge. This Forge will let you build the Bladed Wagasa, Nodachi, Bow, and Maul.

This will still leave three empty spaces featuring some of Wild Hearts’ best weapons, as these require much more story progress and work to unlock.

How to unlock the Hand Cannon, Claw Blade, and Karakuri Staff

The final three weapon types in Wild Hearts are the Hand Cannon, Claw Blade, and Karakuri Staff. These weapons are extremely powerful but complex and require advanced mechanics to utilize in a hunt fully. These weapons are locked until you complete the “Hunt the Earthbreaker” mission. This is a scripted boss fight, but you can still fail it if you aren’t careful. We suggest eating food that grants extra health and defense boosts and using the Maul to break the Earthbreaker’s rock-covered limbs.

After completing this intense mission, a long cutscene will play out, and you will end up back in Minato. Speak with your allies to complete the quest and unlock the ability to craft these three powerful weapons. Each weapon will require Corestone to be crafted.

As these weapons are complex, we suggest you build a training dummy and practice their moves and abilities. The Karakuri Staff is incredibly versatile, as it can transform into five weapons for various flashy attacks.