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Set in the fictional world of Azuma, the latest monster-hunting RPG from Koei Tecmo might be more streamlined than Capcom’s Monster Hunter, but there’s still an awful lot to learn in Wild Hearts. Azuma is filled with dangerous and untamed Kemono brimmed with nature’s fury, but have no fear—I’m here to help. From combos and weapons to the vast open-world region to explore and skill trees to navigate, it’s easy to feel small when you’re only starting your journey.

In this guide, I’ll show you a handful of tips that will make any budding Kemono slayer bloom. It’s easy to fall prey to some major pitfalls early in the game, but if you utilize our guide, you may get the upper hand. Click here to figure out how to unlock every weapon in Wild Hearts. This Wild Hearts Beginner's Guide offers 8 essential tips for players to get started.

1. Build As Many Hunting Towers As You Can

You can place down Karakuris. These are giant contraptions that can assemble themselves into various useful things. One of these “useful things” is the Hunting Tower. The Hunting Tower helps you locate and track giant Kemonos in the wild, and they’re mostly what you’ll be hunting in Wild Hearts.

I recommend placing as many Hunting Towers near your Dragon Pit stations. By placing multiple towers in a region, you’ll have an automatic radar that can track Kemonos. Interacting with one Hunting Tower activates all the other Towers in the region, so you’ll have x-ray vision in the area! This tactic is helpful if you don’t want to spend half of your playthrough tracking down Kemonos. Why go down the biomes and get your hands dirty when you can do it all in the comfort of your Dragon Karakuri?

2. Take Advantage of the Dragon Karakuri

Speaking of the Dragon Karakuri, use it to your advantage. Dragon Karakuris are larger, permanent structures that can be powered up if placed near Dragon Pits. Unlike Basic Karakuri, which can be placed anywhere (provided you have enough Karakuri Threads), Dragon Karakuri gives you long-term benefits, like having camps to fast travel to.

If you’re still starting, the Dragon Karakuri is easy to ignore, but don’t let that fool you—they’ll become nifty tools later on when you’re about to travel the wide-open areas of the map. As such, you better get used to seeking out Dragon Pits and unlocking them. There’s a limit to how many Dragon Karakuri you can place in an area, but it’s possible to raise that cap by upgrading the local Dragon Pits and demolishing structures you no longer need.

Find the best location for you and set up a fast travel network that you can take advantage of—that’s the whole point of plotting your Dragon Karakuris. For example, if you’ve set up a Dragon Karakuri on high terrain, you can quickly add Flying Vines to zipline from one place to another.

3. Farm Specific Parts

Battling a Kemono is more than just whacking your target randomly. Like in the Monster Hunter games, you can prioritize certain parts of the target to get specific materials. Say you’ve been hunting a Kemono several times and still haven’t got the material you need to craft new gear. Well, the solution to getting what you want is simple: whack off specific parts of a Kemono.

As a rule of thumb, I recommend slicing off the head or tail (if it has one) of a Kemono. The greatsword mains in the MH game have no problem following this rule, but if you’re still new to the monster-hunting genre, you better get used to it fast. If you deal enough damage, you’ll see the parts break off; interact with the said parts to collect the dropped materials.

Since you can only obtain specific crafting components through certain parts of a Kemono, you must chip away at the Kemono piece by piece if you want to get the materials. The rarer materials in Wild Hearts are even more challenging to acquire, requiring you to have the Kemono in an enraged state before breaking the body part.

4. Master the Basics

All the trouble of learning all the tips I’ve shared will be for naught if you don’t master the basics first. To excel as a hunter in Wild Hearts, you’ll have to embrace the Karakuri. And that means working on summoning Basic Karakuris while fighting. You can use/create Crates to deflect attacks of a weaker Kemono—like a Ragetail—and stun them. When they’re stunned, you can use the chance to climb on the crates and jump off to make a powerful midair plunge attack.

Another Basic Karakuri you should always use is the Spring, which can catapult you in a short distance of where you’re facing. Since Springs are cheap and can be placed down immediately, they’re an excellent way to save yourself from death’s clutches if you use them right.

Then there’s Fusion Karakuri, which are stronger and made out of smaller Karakuri. A prime example of a Fusion Karakuri is the Bulwark. It’s a beefier version of the Crates, but this time, you’ll be using six Crates in a 2x3 formation. That should stop an attack that would normally obliterate a simple Crate.

5. Nourish Your Soul

Food is of utmost importance in life—the same can be said in Wild Hearts. As with any hunting expedition, food is a crucial part of the preparation phase to ensure that you stay alive when the going gets tough. There’s a lot of food you can harvest and cook in the game, each giving you various benefits after consumption.

You can also improve your food by using tools that enhance them, like the Pickling Jar Karakuri and Drying Rack. These tools combine and enhance your food, making them considerably more powerful than basic ingredients. You’ll unlock new areas as you progress, which means more new foodstuff to try! Looking for new food can be tedious, but trust me when I say it’s well worth it in the long run.

6. Tsukumos Are Your Friend

If you’ve got Palicoes and Palamutes in Monster Hunter Rise, then you’ve got Tsukumos in Wild Hearts. Granted, they’re not as cute as what MHR offers, they more than make up for it with their usefulness. You can find dozens of Tsukumos hidden around Azuma, and by doing so, you’ll earn Old Cogs, which you can use to upgrade your spherical companion.

Your Tsukumo can support you in a plethora of ways. Create a healing mist when you’re almost down for the count? Check. Distract the Kemono? Easy. Generate threads to make Basic Karakuris on the fly? Count on it. While a Tsukumo’s influence may be subtle, you’ll appreciate its helping hand—especially when they become more powerful.

7. Hone Your Craft

You can’t breeze through Wild Heart’s story mode as if you’re doing a speedrun. The game has a habit of giving you Kemonos to chase that you’re not ready for yet, so don’t rush into your death. Otherwise, you’ll end up frustrated because of how underequipped you are. If you’re at this point in the game, I’d recommend you queue up for a previous hunt you’ve already done through the campfire.

Slaying Kemono you’ve already had experience with, is a great way to get more materials and practice time. After all, learning a monster’s weak spots and attack patterns is a key part of honing your craft in these types of games. There’s also another reason for farming Kemono: Awakenings. You’ll see random flashes of inspiration during certain fights, allowing you to unlock new Fusion Karakuris. While you’ll get your first “Awakening” during your encounter with the story’s Kingtusk (where you’ll learn Bulwark), opportunities for other Awakenings are found all over. Thankfully, finding them isn’t that difficult; you can consult your Karakuri development tree to find hints on unlocking them.

8. Take Time to Appreciate Minato

Minato is where you’ll spend the most downtime in Wild Hearts. Like any other village, you’ll find several characters, quest givers, and vendors who will play an essential role as you progress as a hunter. There’s Natsume, the blacksmith responsible for forging your weapons and armor. Then you have Kogyoku, a vendor with a handful of items at her emporium you can purchase. Meanwhile, Nobumitsu from the Fisherman Guild will reward you if you complete his achievement-like challenges. Finally, when Minato’s bathhouse has been repaired, you can talk to Tamakazura about using the training area. It’s the perfect place to practice your Karakuri techniques and new weapons.

We hope these tips have brought new information to light on your end! There’s so much to learn in Wild Hearts, and as you expand your knowledge about the Karakuris and advanced crafting, you’ll find a great deal of experience within the game that’s sure to sate your desire for hunting monsters. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with the readers besides the ones we’ve discussed? Let us and the readers know all about it in the comments!