The Karakuri Staff has to be one of the more creative weapon additions thatWild Heartsadds to the monster-hunting sub-genre.
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This weapon, unlike all others in the game, can transform between 4 different weapons, with a 5th used an as ‘ultimate attack’ of sorts. When used properly, the Karakuri Staff can unleash some of the highest DPSWild Heartshas to offer, all while looking as stylish as possible. So, to help hunters who may be thinking this weapon is too complicated to use, let’s go over it in-depth.
Karakuri Staff Overview
Out of the 8 playable weapons inWild Hearts, all of whichhave their own unique gimmicks,the Karakuri Staff has to be the most deceptive one.Memorizing the attacks of 5 different weapons sounds complicated, and it looks like it requires a lot of input timing when players watch others use it, but the weapon is actually pretty simple. To start,it’d be best not to mistakenly thinkof the Karakuri Staff as 5 separate weapons, but rather as one weapon that switches between different ‘forms’ throughout a combo. When players manage to properly use theWeapon Shiftmechanic, they build a bar towards using the full unleashedJuggernaut Bladecombo, and this rotation is the core gameplay loop of the weapon.
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With that in mind,the Karakuri Staff is a weapon that rewards players for proper input timing, like the Maul,but isn’t quite as simple as the Maul. While players can absolutely just spam theirAttack 1input and randomly use theSpecial Attack Weapon Shift to rotate between the weapon lineup, they’re not going to build much of theirJuggernaut Blademeter that way.
Basic Karakuri Staff Mechanics, Systems, & Combos
Now, just like every other weapon (including the other twounlocked after Chapter 1), the Karakuri Staff has anAttack 1, anAttack 2, and aSpecial Attackinput. But, because bothAttack 1andAttack 2are dependent on the weapon currently out, the only constant mechanic between all of them is theSpecial Attackwhich is calledWeapon Mutation.
And, because the Karakuri staff has attack patterns with each of the 5 weapons, and these attack patterns can actually vary widely based on how long a player keeps the Mutate combo going, the list of ‘basic’ attacks can look bloated. Still, remember that the intention of this weapon is to be constantly cycling through them,so players won’t need to worry so much about each individual input:
Attack 1 (x2)
Attack 1 (x3)
Nimble Lunge
Aerial Downswing
Now, outside of the general attack patterns for each weapon form, the Karakuri Staff also has all the standard unique attacks, such asa running attack, attack after a sliding dodge,andall the attacks with Basic Karakuri.The Basic Karakuri ones are a bit advanced, so let’s save those for later, but in the meantime here arethe unique attack names as well as each weapon used during them:
And finally for basic info, let’s discussthe Karakuri Staff’s meter and weapon based around this meter, the Juggernaut Blade.This is the main incentive for players to be using the Weapon Mutations with the proper timing (during the orange flash). Doing this builds the meter above the player’s health bar, and at different points in the meter, the hunter can pressSpecial Attack + Attack 2to pull out theJuggernaut Bladefor one to three hits. To elaborate a bit more:
Advanced Mechanics & Combos
This next aspect of the Karakuri Staff is one that barely anyone has been seemingly talking about, and it’s the fact thatthe attacks, number of inputs, and even attack names themselves change if depending on how far along a player is in the Weapon Mutation combo without missing the proper timingand without interruption.
While theAttack 2’sdon’t change at any point, if a player were to stop attacking after getting to the second variation of theGiant Shuriken, they’d find theirAttack 1is completely different until they stow their Karakuri Staff. For those who are wondering how long this Weapon Mutation combo and weapon variation go before circling back around, the full version is:Staff, Fangs, Shuriken, Pike, Staff, Shuriken, Fangs, Pike, Shuriken.After that, it cycles back around to the default rotation and moveset.
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The important thing to note here is that when this happens, the number ofAttack 1sneeded for the Mutation combo’s orange flash to appear changes, with the firstGiant Shurikenvariation needing twoAttack 1inputs instead of a single one and so on. More often than not, players won’t get to this state during a Kemono fight, and even if they do it’s pretty easy to just keep pressingAttack 1until the flash appears.But, it’s a mechanic that’s absolutely still worth knowing about.
Outside of this, the actual ‘advanced’ combos of the Karakuri Staffconsist of its attacks using Basic Karakuri, asthere really isn’t much variation players can add to the basic Weapon Muttation comboother than throwing in anAttack 2input every once in a while before starting it back up again. With that in mind, let’s go over each Basic Karakuri attack and weapon used during it:
How To Properly Use The Karakuri Staff In A Hunt
Here’s the most important section for the Karakuri Staff, how to use it in a Hunt. While it’s nice that the weapon can chain infinitely if players keep nailing the Mutation combo inputs,Kemono aren’t exactly going to sit there, wait, and tank all the hits without moving.So, which attacks, combos, or general strategies seem to be the most useful in a battle against Kemono? Here are some general thoughtsand other pro tips:
Which Archetypes Are Drawn To The Karakuri Staff & Why?
But, what reason is there to pick the Karakuri Staff over the other options? Is it worthwaiting until the end of Chapter 1? Well, that depends on each individual player. But, for the most part, these are the types of players who are drawn to the Karakuri Staff:
And that’s about it for the Karakuri Staff guide. It’s a relatively simple weapon masquerading as something much more complicated. It’s not for everyone, but for the people who are on the fence about this weapon or need just a bit more convincing:
Wild Heartsis available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
