Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin weapon guide

The Monster Hunter franchise is known for its diverse cast of creatures and large armory of weapons. Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin simplifies its combat formula with a suite of six weapons that cover three different styles of combat. Knowing the difference between the three attack types will give you an edge against all the monsters you come across in this role-playing game.

Polygon’s Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin weapons guide explains how to use each of the game’s six weapons: Great Sword, Sword and Shield, Hammer, Hunting Horn, Bow, and Gunlance. We’ll break down how each weapon falls under the game’s three different attack types and show you how to use each weapon’s equipment skills.

How to choose the right weapon

Each of the game’s weapons can deal damage to enemies, however, they all have their own unique properties. In addition to their attack types, all the tools in your arsenal have their own special attack gauges worth being aware of. Learning what your weapons can do and how they affect each monster is essential to mastering them.

Image: Capcom via Polygon

• Slash weapons include the Great Sword and the Sword and Shield. The heavy Great Sword allows you to deal devasting combo moves over several turns by using your special ability gauge. The Sword and Shield have some special attacks of their own but also let you guard attacks.
• Blunt weapons include the Hammer and Hunting Horn. The Hammer deals big damage with its strikes. Those attacks let you build up a special attack meter that gives you access to even more powerful blows. The Hunting Horn can also crush monsters with big hits, plus it can play music that buffs your party. Each horn plays different melodies, so check out each weapon’s Equipment Skills in the Smithy’s shop or Equipment menu.
• Piercing weapons include the Bow and the Gunlance. The Bow’s special abilities allow you to coat your arrows and inflict status effects like sleep or poison. You can even spend a turn to charge your Bow, allowing you to do a much stronger attack the next turn. The Gunlance gains ammo each time you attack with its lance. After a few turns, you can fire bullets for powerful attacks. You can also guard with this weapon.

Image: Capcom via Polygon

You can carry three weapons at a time, so you should always carry one weapon from each category. Players can swap between their carried weapons by entering the Skills menu during combat. Making use of that flexibility is key in combat. To make the best use of weapons, learn which of the three weapon types monsters are weak against.

When you target a monster, you will see which weapon type hurts them the most. If a creature is weak to a weapon, that weapon type icon will be highlighted in blue after you attack it with that weapon. If a weapon type is ineffective against a monster, it will have a red slash through it.

If you attack a monster with a weapon type it’s weak against, you’ll stand a better chance to break the body part you’re targeting. Breaking body parts will get you better monster materials to craft new armor and weapons.

Equipment skills

Each of the six weapons in Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has unique Equipment Skills that act like special attacks. To use any of these abilities, you must first build up your Kinship Gauge by attacking. When you want to use an Equipment Skill, select the Skills command from the Battle menu.

Image: Capcom via Polygon

While most of these abilities use up varying amounts of your Kinship Gauge, different weapons also have special gauges that must be filled up. Like the Kinship Gauge, weapon-specific gauges fill when you attack.

When you have a weapon equipped, you’ll see a gauge and its charges above your health. Each weapon has a different style of gauge.

• Great Swords build up a charge gauge that lets you perform more powerful attacks, like an extended combo. By using different Charge attacks, you will fill up your weapon gauge one block at a time. Those built-up charges can then be used to perform Charged attacks.
• The Sword and Shield don’t have any special gauges, but they do have two special commands: Guard and Counter Stance. Guard allows you to enter a defensive stance that reduces damage. Counter Stance lets you also reduce damage while allowing you to counterattack when hit.
• Hammers build up their charge gauge by attacking. Different hammers have different skills you can use to further damage your opponent by using a charge.
• Hunting Horns have different abilities that use up your Kinship Gauge. This weapon’s special abilities focus on protecting or buffing your party.
• Bows use the Kinship Gauge to coat arrows in special materials that deal different types of damage like poison or sleep. You can also use a turn to charge your bow. On the next turn, your normal attack will deal extra damage.
• Gunlances build up a bullet meter with each attack. Shooting abilities consume different amounts of bullets and don’t cost any Kinship gauge points. However, the powerful Wyvern Blast attacks consume the entire Kinship gauge but doesn’t use bullets. The Gunlance can also use the Guard command.

When attacking enemies, making sure you’re either using a normal attack or equipment skill of the right type to win Head-to-Head battles. As long as your attack or equipment skill beats out their attack type, you’ll win the one-on-one confrontation and do much more damage.