Wild Hearts Karakuri Staff guide: Weapon combos, transformations, builds, and more

Like Capcom's Monster Hunter titles, Koei Tecmo's latest action role-playing game, Wild Hearts, features various fascinating weapon types. Each is designed with a certain playstyle in mind. Weapon types in monster-hunting games usually define the player's class and dictate playstyle depending on the skill and attributes of the weapon.

Each weapon type in Koei Tecmo's latest action role-playing game is geared towards a certain playstyle, which players can further enhance by mastering the weapon combos. Every weapon type in Wild Hearts is equally viable against the Kemono (monsters) you will face in the game.

However, if you want a weapon that works well with the game's "Karakuri" system, then the Karakuri Staff is your go-to weapon type. The Karakuri Staff is the most versatile weapon type in Wild Hearts and can dish out a lot of damage thanks to its elaborate set of weapon skills. The following is a comprehensive guide on the Karakuri Staff, its movesets, viable builds, and more.

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All Karakrui Staff weapon transformations and abilities in Wild Hearts

The Karakuri Staff is easily one of the best weapons to use in Wild Hearts simply because of its ability to transform itself into different weapons mid-combo. The weapon has different mutations that allow you to change the shape of the Karakuri Staff mid-attack, opening up more options for combo chaining.

The Karakuri Staff has four different forms you can change between via certain combos that allow you to use melee attacks associated with the weapon form.

You can mutate the Karakuri Staff into five different forms mid-combo:

• Long Staff: Blunt Staff with a long reach, best used to target the monsters' weak points.
• Twin Fang: Short Twin Blades, capable of dealing damage at a high-speed rate, best used with elemental buffs to reduce the Kemono's defenses.
• War Pike: Much like the Long Staff, War Pike is a long-reach weapon but deals with pierce damage instead of blunt. This form is best used to target weak spots like the head and torso of a Kemono, which can be hard to reach using regular weapon types.
• Giant Shuriken: A versatile weapon form that can be used as both a ranged option and a close-range melee weapon. Best used with elemental buffs or in tandem with Basic Karakuri.
• Juggernaut Blade: The Juggernaut Blade is essentially the "Greatsword" or "Nodachi" form of the Karakuri Staff, best used to deal massive damage to weak spots and in aerial combos via Basic Karakuri.

The Karakuri Staff in Wild Hearts is a close-range melee weapon you can use to deal massive damage using its light attack combo. However, to maximize the potential of the weapon's attack power and abilities, using it in conjunction with the Karakuri abilities, you can deal almost twice its base damage using the weapon.

When using the, you should focus your transformation (mutation) attacks at close range to maximize Karakuri Staff's damage output. Synchronizing your attacks with the Karakuri abilities is the best way to use the Karakuri Staff.

For instance, you can use the Basic Karakuri ability, Crates, to execute aerial attacks using the weapon's Juggernaut Blade mutation. This can deal significantly more damage than using the mutation at the end of a combo string.

As for the build to go along with the Karakuri Staff, you can choose any high-defense armor that will give you enough defensive stats to trade a few blows with the Kemono. Given that the transformations of the weapon are tied to combo strings, you will be exchanging a few hits with the monster you are hunting for.

Having a high-defense armor set to increase your survivability on the battlefield is a great choice. The best early game armors with high defensive stats in Wild Heart are:

• Fresh Fern Set
• Young Samurai Set
• Roaming Bard Set

The Karakuri Staff is easily one of the most fascinating weapon types in Wild Hearts. While the transformation gimmick of the weapon can be a tad intimidating for newcomers, it is relatively easy to master if you are well-versed with the Kararkuri abilities, especially the Basic Karakuri.