There is a great selection of different weapons to forge and master in Wild Hearts. From katanas to massive hammers, and, of course, the more long-range option of the bow. The bow is unlocked from the very start of the game and you are able to forge it as soon as you want, progressing it through its unique skill tree as you learn its mobile and fantastic burst damage possibilities.
The main way to use the bow is to set up for one massive burst of damage. This setup involves sticking as many of your arrows into a Kemono as possible and then detonating them all at once.
The Bow
As this weapon is a bow, you will be keeping your distance from the Kemonos while still being close enough. That way, it isn't a challenge to hit your arrows into specific parts of their massive bodies. You will be changing between different arrow types to best suit your environment and allow the best opportunity for maximum damage without taking any yourself.
Basic Moves
There are three basic moves for the bow.
- Your special attack (R2/RT) will fire your arrow.
- Your normal light attack (Square/X) will switch you between your horizontal and vertical stance, which will shoot out two different sets of arrows. Your horizontal attacks will be your rapid-fire arrows that lodge themselves into the target, and your vertical stance will be your heavy charged shots that detonate the other arrows.
- Your heavy attack (Triangle/Y) acts as your bolster. This is how you change the moveset of your horizontal attacks and how you increase the power for your vertical stance shot.
Arrows lodged in a Kemono will disappear after a short time duration, so make sure you are acting quickly for your final shot to maximize damage.
Aerial Combat
Your basic aerial combat is very limited.
- You can jump before shooting and it will allow you to do a jump shot. If you jump and then use your light attack, you will do a Spring, which is your basic melee hit.
- Neither of these attacks will do all that much damage and aren't all that effective to use in a fight.
Bolster
You can bolster twice with each stance, and if you bolster your bow, causing it to glow, you are able to switch between your two stances without it losing its charge.
Your horizontal stance without any bolstering will shoot out a 3-hit combo, with each attack shooting three arrows at once.
With one charge of a bolster, your horizontal stance will then become a burst shot where you keep on firing arrows at the target for a few seconds. Although the attack will be draining your stamina, you can choose to dodge if you need to reposition or move out of the way of an attack.
With two charges of a bolster, your horizontal stance will create a volley of arrows, shooting in an arc in the sky that then falls down to the chosen area decided by a large circular marker on the floor — you can control this marker, by the way. It can be tricky to land hits with this attack, but it is one of the best ways to lodge a lot of arrows into a Kemono.
Your best opportunity to hit the volley of arrows will be when a Kemono is stunned on the floor.
When it comes to the vertical stance, your normal attack will simply fire a single heavy arrow.
With a single bolster, your vertical stance shot will become more powerful, shooting out a Piercing Shot that will hit the Kemono several times as long as you line up your shot to make the arrow go through the body.
If you fully charge your vertical stance by bolstering twice, you will perform your Resonant Shot. This is your most powerful shot and will require you to be stationary for a short time whilst you draw your bow more than normal. You cannot roll out of this attack, so make sure you are somewhere safe when doing it.
Your Resonant Shot along with all your other vertical shots will detonate every arrow lodged into a Kemono.
Bow Combat And Tips
Keep an eye on your stamina whilst fighting, as a lot of your attacks will be draining it. As you are usually a good distance away from the Kemono, it's easy to forget about any attacks that might spring your way, and you don't want to be caught off guard without any stamina to roll away.
When using your different Karakuri, the move you perform will always be the same no matter what stance you are in, and it will automatically put you back in the stance you started in before you did your attack.
Jumping off of a single crate and inputting any attack will perform a Shockwave shot that will also detonate all arrows stuck into the Kemono, dealing decent damage.
If you jump off of a stack of two crates, you will do the exact same attack. However, when you land your shot, the bow will automatically be at the first level of a bolster charge.
Unsurprisingly, jumping off a stack of three crates will then fully bolster your bow after you have completed the attack.
Jumping off of the spring Karakuri will allow you to do an arc shot that will shoot five arrows at once into a Kemono. Upon landing, you will also gain a level in bolster charge.
As with all weapons, using a torch will set your weapon ablaze, but if you stack two torches on top of each other, you can jump off of them and perform the same Shockwave attack that you could with a crate.
Similar to the effects of the other Karakuri doing any attack whilst having jumped from a glider, you will perform a Shockwave shot, and it will also fully bolster your bow to allow for an immediate follow-up.
Position Yourself Effectively
Using crates to jump off is effective in combat, but don't underestimate the value of simply having the high ground. You can build a full wall or just stack the crates on top of each other to get a good vantage point on a Kemono which you can rain down fire on.
Gliders are especially effective at getting to a higher point or for quickly backing away and, as mentioned before, will fully bolster your weapon if you land a hit. This will give you a wonderful opportunity to get to the high ground and immediately shoot out a volley.
Lodging Arrows Into A Kemono
Attacks with the glider can also be turned into a very effective combo if you use the glider to get the Shockwave shot, land, and perform the volley attack. Once you have finished the move, the glider lands back next to you, and you can use it to do another Shockwave shot. This will detonate the volley arrows, which you can rinse and repeat.
One of your fastest combos to get a lot of arrows lodged into a Kemono is by jumping off of a spring, which will shoot five arrows directly into the target. It will then give you the level one bolster, which you can use in the horizontal form to shoot out the burst, sticking in at least ten total arrows for you to then detonate.