For the past few days, Capcom has been showing off all the weapons that will be available in Monster Hunter X. All 14 weapons from Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will be returning and some of them have undergone a bit of change both as buffs and nerfs. Within each video for each weapon, there is a demonstration of the ‘guild’ style which is the normal and standard way to play and the ‘aerial’ style variant which allows for manually controlled aerial versatility to weapons, and they’re incredible! Furthermore, each ‘super skill’ for every weapon is shown off. Here is a playlist showing off all 14 weapons:
First is the Great Sword, tried and true, a power weapon that coupled together with the aerial style can create havoc especially with it’s fierce downward swing, knocking down monsters in a shot! This weapon’s super skill is called “Inner Beast [Lion]” and it’s an activated buff that skyrockets the amount of damage inflicted with the next sword strike. So make sure it counts!
The Long Sword is the next; an extremely fun weapon with great reach that builds ‘Spirit gauge’ as hits connect; becoming stronger. The aerial style benefits from this long reach especially if you want to launch yourself close enough to the monster but not close enough to get knocked down. The super skill on this class of weapon is called “Spirit Release Circular Slice” which fills the Spirit gauge and doesn’t reduce over time for a short while allowing users to go absolutely ham on monsters!
The classic Sword and Shield, with versatility up the wazoo, it’s nothing to scoff at still as it’s still a fast weapon and more than capable of taking down even the most frightening of monsters. The Sword and Shield has a new ‘special action’ that allows users to use a blade buff item to increase the battle capabilities of the sword. “Round Force” is the name of this one’s super skill; and by utilizing both sword and shield, does a rotating hit that grants invincibility frames during the duration of the skill, offering quick defensive saves from any hit.
Fans of the Dual (wielding) Swords will still enjoy the lightning fast demonic-infused dance attacks that power up damage output as they slice away monsters with combo after combo of sword slices. You can still activate the demon dance whilst in the air and land a few hits in the instances where you need that time to catch the monster off guard. Titled the ‘Spinning Top of Bloody Fury’ for this weapon’s super skill, it’s exactly as its name implies. Three viscious spins, dancing and slicing through everything in its way; within each spin you can change the trajectory and make another pass at the monster you just sped your way through and deal massive damage.
Enough swords! What about some piercing Lances? They’re there and they are way more impressive than before. The combo string has been changed with the 3rd strike and adds a major burst of damage at the end as it hits multiple times instead of just once, further it allows for countering potential which is a welcome change for most current Lancers. The super skill for the lance is the “Shield Assault” that just like the Sword and Shield, will grant immunity to damage as you shield thrust your way through the monster or follow it up with a big lance thrust.
If only we had gunblades; but a Gunlance isn’t too bad of an option if you are interested in that. A fantasy weapon that now has an implemented ‘heat system’ that trades off projectile damage for lance damage, making it imperative that users swap between the two styles of damage to force out an outstanding amount of damage. The aerial style for this weapon is nothing to sneer at either, a flashy shot in the back followed with a pummel down with the lance and then a follow up burst of damage to really put the fear of God in the poor monster. The “Supreme Mountain Wyvern Blast” is a focused blast at the tip of the lance with Wyvern powder, an extremely potent concoction sure to knock down the foe; if you can hit it in its fairly long startup animation.
The Hammer a knockout king of a weapon. This weapon is all about knocking the heck out of monsters with its heavy impact smash attacks. The aerial style is even greater exemplified especially to flying monsters as a good whack on the noggin’ will ground those suckers. The Hammer’s super skill is the “Spinning Meteor” which involves the user swinging the hammer with great speed and strength that it is sure to knock out any monster in one hit, or at least extremely close to!
The Hunting Horn’s a unique and underused weapon, providing amazing buffs for you and fellow hunters through the power of song, it’s not to say by itself its KO abilities give the Hammer a run for its money. A new mechanic is the “Double Note” which allows the user to gain a second ‘quaver note’ if the horn smashes into a monster; if the song is all in double note notation, both the new song and the last used song is used, making the horn’s amazing buff abilities even more prevalent. To add on to this amount of insanity, the super skill is called “Sound Shockwave” and as its name implies, the user produces an incredibly potent shockwave through the power of sound to knock away monsters!
The Switch Axe, whether it’s an axe or a great sword, as long as you have both, you’re golden. The Switch Axe has undergone a noticeable speed up to really push the strength capabilities of the axe. The super skill for this weapon is the “Translash” which is a transformation attack between the axe and sword components of the weapon, swinging with great weight and vigor until the final innate elemental discharge to blow away the monster.
My absolute favorite, the one and only Charge Blade. Similar to the Switch Axe, this weapon transforms between an Axe and a Sword and Shield. Build up those elemental/impact phials with sword and shield, focus all that power into the shield, transform the shield into the tip of the axe and unleash all your fury and power in one enormous and powerful swing. A weapon that needed no extra nerf or buff, but an added super skill like the “Energy Blade” is sure to solidify my weapon of choice again. The user tosses together all their collected phial charges and swings a giant sword made of the energy and light to obliterate the monster.
The Insect Glaive returns with more frighteningly powerful battle capabilities with its insect minion bringing in buffs and innate aerial prowess to take down monsters; it would seem then that the aerial style is useless. Far from it, the aerial style provides a huge forward momentum offering even more versatility when it comes to mounting! The super skill for this number is “Insect Swarm” and after a slow animation, a swarm of insects follow the user to protect and damage the monster, adding further damage output. The ultimate technology for attack and defence; insects.
Now we get to some zany long distance fighting; the Light Bowgun is exactly what you want when you want some firepower but speed. Changing between different ammo types will now enable some brand new types of shots. What’s even cooler now is the aerial style’s usage with the bowguns; the animation is amazing and damage output is incredible when you pole vault over the monster and unload 3 or 4 shots into their back as you sail past. The Light Bowgun’s super skill is the “Bullet Gazer” which is an incredibly powerful evasion move that drops a devastating explosive on the ground to blow up the abused monster. It’s also interesting to note that you can still mount monsters while pole vaulting and shooting the monster.
The Heavy Bowgun is the opposite answer to the Light Bowgun’s style, seeking to completely crush the monster with no fear of getting hit at all is this weapon’s MO. This super skill is called “Supernova” and as it’s amazing name is implies, it unleashes a devastating shot that decimates what it touches and does an absurdly amount of damage.
The trusty Bow; man’s primitive long range projectile weapon, and it’s still a very effective weapon. The new change for the bow is a seemingly quick draw shot to enable two very quick but potent hits. Furthermore, there appears to be numerous shell drops that pummel the monster when you do vertical shots. The aerial style is a lot more versatile with the Bow as it allows for arrow shots in mid air while also enabling the user to force their arrow into the monster’s hide as they slash away, again emphasizing the multi hit in quick succession so as to enable a very hit-and-run style of fighting. The super skill for the Bow is “Accel Rain” which gives a buff that increases movement speed and a much faster charge for the various types of shots.
For a subtitled look at the above trailers and some more analytical thoughts on what’s to come for MHX and these weapons, I can only whole heartedly suggest checking out Gaijin Hunter channel and this playlist of his!
I am so incredibly excited for Monster Hunter X, the game looks a lot better graphically than its predecessor and the amount of content and changes to really vary things up is very welcoming! Charge blade and Bow user for life! (Might delve into Light Bowgun… or everything.)
Monster Hunter X is due for release in Japan on the 28th of November, 2015 for the Nintendo 3DS. No word on a western release yet.