What you need to know
- The 12th video in Monster Hunter Wilds' weapon overview trailer series has just been revealed by Capcom.
- The latest installment focuses on the Bow, a classic ranged weapon that allows the player to fire a hail of arrows at enemies while swiftly dodging attacks.
- Monster Hunter Wilds is the next big mainline entry in Capcom's Monster Hunter franchise, and it will be released sometime later in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
It's nearly been two weeks since Capcom began releasing weapon overview trailers every day for Monster Hunter Wilds, the next big installment of the popular Monster Hunter franchise. However, we are now reaching the end of this series as there are only three out of fourteen weapon types left to cover, and the gameplay changes this upcoming Xbox title/upcoming PC title will bring to them.
So let's begin the last stretch of this journey with the twelfth weapon overview trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, which gives players a demonstration of the franchise's most iconic ranged weapon type - the Bow.
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The Bow is a ranged weapon that allows the player to fire a volley of arrows at monsters. You can rapid-fire arrows to dish a never-ending wave of damage or charge up single shots to deal large amounts of burst damage. The most powerful attack in the Bow's move-set is the Dragon Piercer, which has you attach a rocket to an arrow, then let it fly to inflict a ton of damage as it pierces through the monster's entire body.
The Bow also includes a special resource mechanic called Coatings, which you obtain by crafting them or buying them at shops. Coatings will allow the player to augment the Bow's arrows with all kinds of passive effects, including dealing more damage or inflicting status ailments on enemies.
On top of all that, the Bow offers a great degree of mobility for the user. It has one of the fastest walking speeds out of all the fourteen weapon types, and it has special dodge moves that allow you to evade incoming attacks quickly and then immediately shoot back at the monster you're hunting.
However, the major drawback of the Bow is that its attacks and evasive maneuvers require the most stamina out of any weapon type. So, you will need to pay extra attention to the Stamina bar while firing and dodging to ensure you don't run out of stamina during a fight. If the stamina gauge runs out, your character will become exhausted and be left vulnerable to being picked off by an enemy monster.
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the Bow will receive some massive gameplay changes that will not only add more variety to its move-set but also improve some techniques that were underutilized in previous games. These changes include but are not limited to:
- A new special dodge technique where if you time it just as a monster is about to hit you, you will evade the incoming attack entirely, reposition far out of harm's reach, and then be allowed to fire back at a monster.
- A new jump attack where you hop in the air to dodge a low-reaching attack and fire arrows at a monster at the apex of your jump.
- A brand new mechanic called the Tracer. The Tracer is a special explosive arrow that sticks onto a monster's body if you successfully land the shot. While the Tracer is in place, every arrow you fire will automatically home in on the spot where the Tracer is planted (including the Dragon Piercer attack) and trigger small explosions that deal additional damage. Once enough arrows have shot at the Tracer or enough time has passed, the Traver will self-destruct and cause significant damage to the monster.
- The Dragon Piercer attack introduced in Monster Hunter World has had its charge time significantly decreased in Monster Hunter Wilds so you can fire it much faster than ever before.
- The Arc Shot attack from Monster Hunter World has been reworked so that it no longer fires a rain of rocks from the sky, but a rain of arrows that deals a moderate amount of damage over time when a monster is standing in it.
- The new Focus Strike for Bow has you activate homing target reticles on all of a monster's weak spots and wounds and fire a barrage of homing arrows that will attempt to damage them all at once. Afterward this move, you can then follow up with a quick Dragon Piercer.
- A new attack where you leap backward high into the air and quickly fire an arrow into a monster's hide.
- The Thousand Dragons technique from Monster Hunter World: Iceborne has returned and it has been reworked. Instead of requiring Slinger ammo to augment its damage output, it now only requires normal arrows to unleash a massive spread shot attack that will severely damage a monster.
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Monster Hunter Wilds has done the impossible and has convinced me to give the Bow another shot
I have a controversial confession to make: out of all the weapon types I have ever used in all my years playing Monster Hunter, Bow is probably the weapon type I used the least in any of the games.
My reasons for not liking the Bow in past games are plentiful. For one, I never really liked the Bow's core move-set as I felt it was too simplistic. While I admit the Bow's core move-set dealt consistently high DPS (damage-per-second), I was somewhat bored by it because it ultimately boiled down to spamming the same one or two attacks over and over again for the entire hunt.
Not to mention, the cool new moves they introduced for the Bow in Monster Hunter World, like the Dragon Piercer and Thousand Dragons, felt so underpowered compared to the Bow's regular move-set because they required too much set-up for little reward.
On top of that, I much preferred the explosive spectacle of the Bow's gunpowder-based counterparts, the Light Bowgun and Heavy Bowgun.
With this in mind, I didn't have much expectations for Bow and what gameplay changes it will get in Monster Hunter Wilds. So I watched the weapon overview trailer for the Bow, my jaw hit the floor with how impressed I was.
Not only has Capcom significantly improved the Dragon Piercer, Arc Shot, and Thousand Dragons techniques so that they're viable to use, but they also incorporated a ton of new moves that have a high chance of completely changing how the Bow is played.
The new Tracer technique (which looks like it was inspired by the Bow mechanics from the Monster Hunter-like Wild Hearts) is such a cool idea that will help players aim their shots and reward aggressive play. And the new Focus attack (which looks like a move ripped from the Magick Archer Vocation in Capcom's Dragon Dogma 2) looks so cool when you pull it off after inflicting enough wounds on a monster, and you get to fire a quicken Dragon Piercer immediately afterward.
The new additions and gameplay changes Monster Hunter Wilds has shown so far for the Bow have now made it one of my most anticipated weapon types to try out alongside the revamped Gunlance and Hunting Horn. If these drastic and exciting reworks are what I can expect for the rest of Monster Hunter Wilds' weapon types, then I have a strong feeling that this game is going to be one of the best entries in the entire Monster Hunter franchise.
Monster Hunter Wilds, the next-gen successor to one of Capcom's best Xbox games and best PC games, Monster Hunter World, is scheduled to launch on February 28, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
