How to use Wild Hearts’ Dragon Pits to build the best camp you can

Wild Hearts doesn’t have predetermined hunting camps that you stumble across out in the wilds like other games in the monster hunting genre. Instead, there are Dragon Pits where you can build Dragon Karakuri and create a customizable hunting camp — we’ll explain all of those words below. Each Dragon Pit is different, though; you can’t, for example, build a fast travel tent at every one.

Our Wild Hearts camp guide will explain everything you need to know about Dragon Pits, Dragon Karakuri, what you can build and where, and what every Dragon Karakuri does.

How camps work in Wild Hearts

There aren’t really camps in Wild Hearts, per se — at least not the way you’d expect camps (and sub-camps) to work if you’re a fan of Monster Hunter games. Instead, there are Dragon Pits where you can construct Dragon Karakuri that serve all the same functions as a “camp” — they allow you to do things like fast travel, cook food, and forge weapons.

But you can’t build every Dragon Karakuri at every Dragon Pit, so your camps are going to have different functions depending on the characteristics of each Dragon Pit.

The difference between Basic Karakuri and Dragon Karakuri

Karakuri is the magic you’ll use to conjure devices and structures. There are two kinds of Karakuri: temporary Basic Karakuri you throw together while exploring or hunting (like crates and springs) and Dragon Karakuri that are permanent fixtures (like tents and campfires).

Image: Omega Force/Koei Tecmo/Electronic Arts via Polygon

You’ll learn new Karakuri of both kinds as you play through Wild Hearts’ story. You’ll also upgrade and unlock additional Karakuri through the Karakuri menu tab. There, you’ll spend Kemono Orbs that you get from hunting and killing Kemono to unlock nodes along the Karakuri tree.

Basic Karakuri use the thread you collect from trees and rocks. Dragon Karakuri draw energy from Dragon Pits.

Where Dragon Pits are on Wild Hearts’ map

Each area you visit in Wild Hearts will have Dragon Pits scattered around. These are underground fonts of energy you’ll use to build Dragon Karakuri constructions (the permanent ones).

Image: Omega Force/Koei Tecmo/Electronic Arts via Polygon

You’ll need to unblock a Dragon Pit once you discover it — which requires a few local resources to do. Continuing to upgrade (unblock) a Dragon Pit costs increasingly rare items like Large Mist Crystals and Giant Spring Dust Crystals, but unlocks even more energy from the Dragon Pit (more on this in a second).

Image: Omega Force/Koei Tecmo/Electronic Arts via Polygon

Once you’ve visited a Dragon Pit, its map icon will go from gray to red or yellow. Yellow means you have the material to unblock that pit further, while red means you don’t. You don’t have to travel to those locations, though. You can unblock and upgrade Dragon Pits directly from the map — like in the image above.

Image: Omega Force/Koei Tecmo/Electronic Arts via Polygon

Each Dragon Pit has a unique name and a range with borders, but you can’t see those borders on the map. The only indication you have for which Dragon Pit is closest to you is the name in the lower right corner of the HUD.

What and how many Dragon Karakuri you can build in a Dragon Pit’s region of the map depends on that pit’s energy resources, so let’s talk about those.

How Dragon Pit energies work

Image: Omega Force/Koei Tecmo/Electronic Arts via Polygon

Every Dragon Pit has a set of stats that represent its reserves of earth, fire, water, wind, and wood energy. Each Dragon Kurakuri you build has an associated type that matches those stats — represented by the little crystal, flame, droplet, swirl, and leaf (respectively to the elements) symbols in the upper right of the Karakuri icons.

Each level you unblock at a Dragon Pit unlocks more energy, but it’s not evenly distributed. This means that not every Dragon Pit will have the energy for every kind of Dragon Karakuri. For example, very few Dragon Pits (in our experience) have enough earth energy to build a tent for fast travel, but almost all of them have the juice to build a hunting tower to track Kemono.

For more help with Wild Hearts, read our beginners guide and explainers on multiplayer, fast travel, stamina, and building camps.