When you first enter the sprawling world of Wild Hearts filled with deadly Kemono, to slay, your main weapon to use at range is the bow. However, once you reach Chapter 2, you unlock three new weapons to forge, one of which is the Hand Cannon.
The Hand Cannon is a long-ranged, high-damage weapon that takes some time to build up for its most powerful attack, which is one of the most damaging in the entire game. You will be far away from the action and you do not have a lot of maneuverability, which can make you vulnerable if you aren't careful.
With the Hand Cannon, you have to keep an eye on a lot of things even though the moveset is pretty simple. You need to make sure you are hitting your shots, that you don't overheat your weapon, that you don't run out of ammo, and that you don't get knocked out by a Kemono running towards you whilst you charge up your Fortified Shot, which is the attack that will create a mini explosion on the Kemono.
How To Unlock
Around 4-5 hours through the main story, you will have to complete a siege-style mission where you hunt and kill the Earthbreaker. Doing this mission will bring you to Chapter 2, where you will then unlock the Claw Blade, Karakuri Staff, and, of course, the Hand Cannon.
Make sure that you forge the weapons, as you will not be able to equip them otherwise.
Basic Moves
When it comes to the different attacks and abilities, the Hand Cannon is one of the most limited.
- Your special attack (R2/RT) will fire your shots.
- Your light attack (Square/X) will create a Ki Base where you are standing.
- Your heavy attack (Triangle/Y) will shoot your Ki Base.
Every time you shoot, your Ammo Gauge will decrease, and your Heat Gauge will start to increase. If your Heat Gauge reaches its max, then the Ammo Gauge will immediately run out and you will have to wait for the weapon to cool down before you can shoot at a normal speed again.
When a Ki Base is on the ground, it creates a green ring which will keep your Ammo Gauge filled to the max.
You have five Ki Bases that you can spread out around the ground and shoot out, and you can press your special attack and light attack to reload all Ki Bases back into the weapon.
Aerial Combat
This weapon only has one attack that it can do when you jump and that is to simply fire the canon as you would on the ground using your special attack. It will do slightly more damage than shots on the ground and will push you backwards, which could come in useful if you need to reposition slightly.
As there is only one basic aerial attack, you will be spending almost all of your time fighting on the ground, at a distance.
Fortified Shot
Your Fortified Shot will be what you are always aiming for with the Hand Cannon.
There are several steps that you need to take so that you can perform the attack.
- Fill up your Heat Gauge so that it is in the red.
- Use your heavy attack to shoot your Ki Base at a Kemono.
- After the Ki Base explodes and hits the Kemono, it will fall back to the ground and there will be a red ring going around it.
- Doing a special attack and a heavy attack whilst in the red-ringed Ki Base will perform a Celestial Thread Charge which will make the Hand Cannon Glow green.
- With this absorbed power, you then want to do a special and heavy attack again to fire your Fortified Shot.
The Fortified Shot's duration is based on your Ammo Gauge, so make sure to stay in a Ki Base to deal more damage.
The Fortified Shot will hit with a beam of thread energy dealing damage several times and will then finish in one massive explosion which will do immense damage to the Kemono.
Hand Cannon Combat and Tips
You will be staying far away from Kemono whilst fighting and so it can be valuable to have another person join you on hunts to take away some of the aggression.
Make sure you aren't so far away that you aren't able to reach them with your Ki Base shot.
Torches are very useful for the Hand Cannon as it sets the weapon on fire and will then cause its Heat Gauge to fill up much faster, allowing you to get to your Fortified Shot a little quicker.
Unlike most other weapons, there isn't much value in jumping from crates with the Hand Cannon as the damage done isn't that much better than what you could do by just staying on the ground.
Gliders are very useful to use. They are a great way of escaping and repositioning, which is key with the hand cannon, and you can shoot your cannon whilst using the glider. Attacking on the glider will shoot much faster than on the ground, allowing for a quicker charge of your Heat Gauge.
If you jump from a Spring and attack, you will do a burst shot which heavily builds up your Heat Gauge. Just two attacks with the spring will be enough to fire your Ki Base.
You do not have to hit the shots with the spring for it to heat up the weapon, you can jump from anywhere and do the attack so that you are ready for when you get into a fight.
Make Sure You Can Hit Your Shot
It can take some time to get your Fortified Shot ready and you want to make sure that when you fire it the final massive explosion is going to hit the Kemono. This means that positioning is key, as you will not be able to roll or move whilst aiming the shot and whilst firing, which leaves you vulnerable for several seconds.
It can be worth it to leave your charged Ki Bases on the ground whilst you get the Kemono stunned so that you have ample time to charge the Hand Cannon and fire it without any trouble.
However, don't take too long waiting for the attack, as eventually, the Kemono will run away to another area and you then won't be able to fire the attack at all.
Several Fortified Shots
Your red-ringed Ki Bases will not disappear unless you reload them back into the weapon. This means that you can have several close together and create a small combo where you fire your Fortified Shot several times in a short period.
Make sure that you are standing in your Ki Bases whilst firing the Fortified Shot so that it lasts longer and you don't have to move to recharge the weapon.
This can be useful as the first Fortified Shot is often powerful enough to stagger a Kemono or even make it fall to the ground, allowing you to consistently get incredibly high amounts of damage.
Prepare For A Fight
As mentioned before, you can increase the charge of your Heat Gauge by simply shooting when jumping from a spring, but you can take this a step further by shooting your Ki Base at a small Kemono on the way to your main target, so that you can charge your weapon before the fight has even begun.
This will then allow you to initiate the fight with one of the strongest attacks in the entire game.