What you need to know
- Capcom's next upcoming mainline entry in the Monster Hunter franchise, Monster Hunter Wilds, has just received its final weapon overview gameplay trailer.
- The trailer gives a glimpse of the Dual Blades, a fast weapon type that allows the player to charge at monsters and use a pair of short swords to chop up monsters with speedy combo attacks.
- Monster Hunter Wilds will be released in 2025 and the platforms it will launch on include Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
It's been a long journey but we've finally reached the end of Monster Hunter Wilds' weapon overview series as Capcom has just released its final gameplay trailer. The last of this upcoming Xbox title/upcoming PC title's fourteen weapon types to be showcased, along with the new moves and gameplay changes it will receive, is the Dual Blades.
The Dual Blades equips the player with a pair of short swords which they can use to let loose a never-ending series of slash attacks that can combo into each other.
Dual Blades have a special, unique gameplay mechanic Demon Mode. When Demon Mode is activated, the user's speed and attack power will increase and they gain access to new attacks and special evasive maneuvers. However, their Stamina gauge will slowly drain while in Demon Mode so players will need to be mindful of it while in this state.
Every attack you land while in Demon Mode, builds up a special gauge meter that when filled activates Archdemon Mode. Archdemon Mode grants the user a portion of Demon Mode's special attacks and stat boosts while they're not in Demon Mode. Archdemon Mode is mainly for helping maintain the Dual Blade user's attack power while they're recovering the Stamina gauge so they can get back into Demon Mode and continue their assault on an enemy monster.
In the latest Monster Hunter Wilds gameplay trailer, there don't seem to be many changes to Dual Blades' toolkit compared to how it functioned in previous Monster Hunter games like Monster Hunter World: Iceborne or Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak.
The following changes and new moves for Dual Blades seen thus far are:
- A new Archdemon Mode-exclusive evasive move that lets you hop backward during combos to avoid attacks or reposition yourself.
- The new Focus Strike attack for Dual Blades has you plunge both Dual Blades into a monster's weak spot or wound, leap backward off them into the air, and use the Slinger's grappling hook to latch back onto a monster to unleash a spinning attack where you fly across a monster's entire body to tear their back to shreds.
- A special dodge move in Demon Mode where if you perform a dodge roll at the last second before a monster hits you, you can completely negate the damage and attack a monster as you're dodging them.
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Could the Dual Blade user's armor set hint at the return of an old-school monster in Monster Hunter Wilds?
The Dual Blades in past games is a fun weapon that lets players go into a frenzied haze and just cut loose with non-stop attacks. One gameplay change that I really like from this trailer is that the awesome and stylish aerial spinning attack where you fly across the monster's body, is now a core part of the Dual Blade's move-set thanks to Monster Hunter Wilds' Focus Mode mechanic.
This move in previous games required players to slide down a hill and jump off it in Monster Hunter World or Wirebug super moves with a long recharge timer in Monster Hunter Rise. In Monster Hunter Wilds we can now use the aerial spinning attack whenever we want so long as we hit a weak spot or wound with the Focus Strike.
Aside from that and the new evasion moves, it is a little disappointing that Dual Blades isn't getting any major reworks or an abundance of crazy new attacks like the Bow, Gunlance, and Hunting Horn are getting. Of course, there is a possibility there may be some new hidden tricks up the Dual Blades' sleeve that Capcom is keeping a secret until the final game is released in 2025.
The biggest surprise for me from this trailer is surprisingly not the Dual Blades themselves, but rather the armor set the player is wearing. Longtime Monster Hunter fans may notice that the armor set looks remarkably similar to an armor set players would get from hunting a Congalala. Congalalas are giant, pink, monkey-like Fanged Beasts that haven't made an appearance in a traditional Monster Hunter game since 2017's Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch.
Could this be a sign that Congalala will be returning and become a part of Monster Hunter Wilds' ever-growing list of monsters to hunt? We will have to tune into Gamescom 2024 to find out as Capcom will premiere a new cinematic trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds during the opening night live stream on August 20, 2024, which will no doubt reveal new locales, new gear to collect, and new monsters to slay.
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.
