Karakuri Staff Weapon Guide And Combos For Wild Hearts

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The Karakuri Staff

Karakuri Staff Tips And Tricks

In Wild Hearts, you will use a variety of weapons to fight massive monsters that have fused with their natural environments. These monsters, known as Kemono, have powerful abilities that can devastate the landscape, wreaking havoc on the lives of the people of Minato.

To hunt these creatures and return the land of Azuma to balance, you'll need an equally as powerful weapon. The Karakuri Staff is a special weapon that can rapidly change between five different forms, granting unmatched combat variety for taking on a range of foes. Below, we'll take a look at everything you need to know about using this weapon.

The Karakuri Staff

karakuri staff sheathed on the hunter's back

The Karakuri Staff is a Slash-damage weapon that can rapidly change between five different forms; the Staff, Double Blades, Shuriken, Polearm, and the Juggernaut Blade. You will change between these forms quickly through your combos, building up the mutation gauge by morphing the weapon at just the right moment, which then allows you to unleash your Juggernaut Blade for massive damage.

The Karakuri Staff is one of the most complex weapons in Wild Hearts, and requires a deep understanding of each form's attacks to do well with. Unlike other weapons, the Karakuri Staff is unlocked upon completing the first chapter and defeating the Earthbreaker.

Basic Moves

As mentioned above, there are five different weapon mutations for the Karakuri Staff, each with its own string of attacks. The Juggernaut Blade is a unique case, as this weapon is only used when your mutation gauge is full, and doesn't have normal attacks.

Each mutation has a string of either one, two, or three Light Attacks, and a single Heavy Attack. These are described in detail below.

Light Attack (Left Click, Square, or X)
Heavy Attack (Middle Mouse Button, Triangle, or Y)

Using these attacks, you will unleash a chain of attacks, the number depending on the current form your Staff is in. At the end of each chain, the weapon will flash, indicating your mutation gauge will increase by one if you transform the weapon now. The first sequence of attacks is detailed in the table below.

Mode	Attack Button	Description
Staff	Light Attack (x2)	Swing your staff twice to your front, dealing damage. A mutation flash occurs after the second swing.
Staff	Heavy Attack (x1)	Leap into the air using your staff to propel yourself before raising it overhead and slashing down on the Kemono. A mutation flash occurs as you land. This attack can chain into a normal attack.
Dual Blades	Light Attack (x3)	Strike forward with both blades, dealing damage in a series of consecutive attacks. A mutation flash occurs after executing the final slash in the sequence.
Dual Blades	Heavy Attack (x1)	Leap forward, spinning the Dual Blades in your hands as you advance, dealing low damage multiple times while in the air. A mutation flash occurs as you land.
Shuriken	Light Attack (x1)	Slash forward with the Shuriken, dealing damage three times with a single slash. A mutation flash occurs at the end of this attack.
Shuriken	Heavy Attack (x1)	Throw the Shuriken forward, causing it to deal damage multiple times in a row as it travels through its target and then back toward you. A mutation flash occurs as you catch the Shuriken upon its return.
Polearm	Light Attack (x1)	Bring the Polearm high above your head before slamming it downward, dealing high damage. A mutation flash occurs as the Polearm strikes the ground.
Polearm	Heavy Attack (x1)	Sping the Polearm in your hand as you thrust it forward, dealing multiple instances of damage. A mutation flash occurs after the third thrust.

At this point, if you continue mutating the weapon at the mutation flash, you will move into the next sequence, detailed below. This sequence can only be performed after the previous one, and these attacks do not have a different Heavy Attack associated with them; only the Light Attacks change.

Mode	Attack Button	Details
Staff	Light Attack (x2)	Swing the Staff around twice in two attacks, for a total of four slashes. A mutation flash occurs after the second attack.
Shuriken	Light Attack (x2)	Swing the Shuriken up, then bring it back down on the second strike. A mutation flash occurs after the second attack.
Dual Blades	Light Attack (x1)	Jump up, raising the Dual Blades over your head before slashing them down, dealing high damage. A mutation flash occurs as you land.
Polearm	Light Attack (x3)	A series of three thrusting and sweeping attacks, moving you forward slightly as you attack. A mutation flash occurs near the middle of the third strike.
Shuriken	Light Attack (x1)	Morphing back into the Shuriken again, you will leap into the air before slashing down vertically with the weapon. A mutation flash occurs at the end of this attack, and will morph you back into the normal Staff mode.

As you successfully perform mutation flash attacks, you will build the mutation gauge, which will increase the power of your next Juggernaut Blade attack. This attack can be performed by pressing F+Middle Mouse Button, RT+Triangle, or RT+Y. The damage and number of slashes with the Juggernaut Blade increase at certain intervals.

Gauge levels 1-3: Swing the Juggernaut Blade horizontally.
Gauge levels 4-7: Swing the Juggernaut Blade horizontally, followed by an overhead strike.
Gauge level 8: Swing the Juggernaut Blade horizontally, overhead, then perform a rolling overhead slash.

Draw Attacks

The Karakuri Staff has three different attacks that you can use while drawing the weapon. These are as follows

Light Attack while not moving: Draw the weapon normally without attacking.
Light Attack while running: Draw the Staff and slash twice while running forward, with a mutation flash occurring after the second strike.
Heavy Attack while not moving: Draw the Polearm and stab forward. A mutation flash occurs after the stab.
Heavy Attack while running: Draw the Shuriken and perform its normal Heavy Attack, throwing the weapon forward before it returns to you. A mutation flash occurs when you catch the Shuriken.

Karakuri Attacks

Using the various Karakuri devices, you can attack in several different ways. These are detailed below.

Karakuri	Attack
Crate	After jumping off a Crate and attacking, morph into the Polearm to stab downward, dealing damage several times. A mutation flash occurs after you land.
Crate	After jumping off a Crate, use the Juggernaut Blade to slam it down as you descend, dealing damage twice.
Spring	Leap off the Spring, drawing the Dual Blades, spinning them in your hands to deal damage several times as you travel forward. A mutation flash occurs when you land.
Torch	Move near the Torch to draw the Shuriken, performing its boomerang attack while igniting it. A mutation flash occurs when you catch the Shuriken.
Glider	While gliding, draw the Staff and perform a series of spinning cut attacks as you descend. A mutation flash occurs as you land.

Karakuri Staff Tips And Tricks

the massive juggernaut blade swinging, final transformation of the karakuri staff weapon

The Karakuri Staff is a weapon that seems complicated and difficult to use at first, but gets easier as you practice. Below are some tips and tricks to keep in mind as you learn this weapon.

Although the main objective of the Karakuri Staff is to utilize mutation flashes to rapidly change the weapon's form, staying in one weapon without switching can be beneficial. For example, the Dual Blades have much higher mobility and faster attacks than the other forms, allowing you to get a few hits in before dodging away. This is especially useful against Kemono that have shorter attack windows.

Additionally, when fighting Kemono that have little room to attack, it may be better to use the second form of the Juggernaut Blade instead of the third. The second attack animation is much shorter than the third, the mutation gauge requirement can be reached much faster.

Use the Chain Trap Fusion Karakuri when your mutation gauge is full to immobilize the Kemono, allowing you to execute a fully powered Juggernaut Blade attack without the Kemono moving away. You'll unlock the Chain Trap by bringing the Stake and Crate Karakuri to the Deathstalker hunt.

The Juggernaut Blade can be activated more quickly when morphing from certain weapons. This aspect of the Karakuri Staff takes a bit of practice to use well, so try different things and see what works. Additionally, the Karakuri Staff has several different draw attacks that morph into different forms. Use these to your advantage to start attacking in a form that is more beneficial to the situation, like drawing the Shuriken to deal multiple hits of damage against an immobile Kemono.

Next: Wild Hearts: Complete Bladed Wagasa Weapon Guide