The new wound system in Monster Hunter Wilds introduces new attacks and mechanics for all weapons. One weapon seems to particularly benefit from this, making it one of the currently most powerful weapons.
Which weapon is it? Sword and Shield.
While the weapon type is currently in the middle of most tier lists, it is actually in our Tier List in the B-Tier.
However, during our hunting sessions, our editorial team noticed a peculiarity that many may have overlooked, which makes the weapon combo significantly more powerful and most likely elevates it to the top tier.
Into the Top Tier with a Peculiarity?
During my hunt with a buddy, I noticed something strange. Since I usually play dual blades, I wanted to team up with a friend with sword and shield this weekend to accompany him in the story. Although I had played other weapons in Wilds before, sword and shield had been left behind.
So we set off together and I showed my co-op partner how to use the new wound system in combination with the focus mode. During this, we noticed a peculiarity that I had not discovered with any other weapon before.
What peculiarity do sword and shield have? We noticed that
- the weapon type sword and shield can open and maximize a wound in the same spot again.
- multiple players can also break and maximize a wound simultaneously through a focus attack when armed with sword and shield. This allows for at least double the damage with just one wound.
We were able to verify within the editorial team that this is not a one-time phenomenon, as others in the team could also reopen the wounds with sword and shield. This seems to be limited to these weapons.
How does it work with the wounds exactly? With the new wound system, wounds can be inflicted and maximized at various body parts of monsters through repeated hits, causing increased damage and yielding monster materials. The focus mode can visually highlight breakable wounds and maximize them with a special focus attack from the weapon.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, wounds can generally only be opened once and are then “consumed” – unless they are weak points that are important for specific mechanics, such as the horns of Rey Dau after his lightning attack. These weak points can have wounds maximized multiple times with a focus attack.
Since reopening the wounds seems to only work with sword and shield, this could also be a bug.
This peculiarity would push sword and shield straight to the top of the weapon tier list. The damage caused by this is enormous.
The combination of focus mode and new wound system brings fresh air and a new flow to the hunts. Besides highlighting and breaking wounds, the focus mode also offers other advantages, making it an absolute must for some players: Optional feature in Monster Hunter Wilds makes fights easier, is already considered a must for players
