Wild Hearts Claw Blades weapon guide for beginners

The Wild Hearts Claw Blades are weapons based on speed, agility, and landing numerous quick hits that add up to significant damage combined. By anchoring themselves with a line to the enemy, a player can control their positioning and move about with ridiculous speed, pulling themselves in for a barrage of strikes before dashing away in an instant. The Claw Blades are one of Wild Hearts best weapons, but they take some getting used to, so we'll lay out the details for them below, with movesets, technical details and more besides.

How to use the Wild Hearts Claw Blades

The Claw Blades in Wild Hearts are based around speed and using the tether for unrivalled acrobatics. Basically, you run in, stick the end of your line in the Kemono's flank, and use it as an anchor point to swing around and do crazy flips and combos, staying out of the monster's reach before diving in for a barrage of quick strikes that outpace even the Wild Hearts katana. It takes some getting used to, as controlling it can feel a little unnatural and the wide range of combos can send you flying in different directions, but it's arguably one of the most exhilarating Wild Hearts weapons out there.

Claw Blades moveset and attacks

Though with dozens of combos and variations, the Claw Blades basic moveset and controls are thus:

• X/A (after attacking): Improved jump
• Square/X: Light attack
• Triangle/Y: Heavy attack
• R2/RT: Claw Plunge (embeds tether in enemy)
• R2/RT (when tethered): Pull yourself rapidly towards tether point
• Circle/B (when tethered): Rapidly orbit/dodge around tether point

Though you have the basics, the tether and claw anchor is the fundamental core of this weapon, so let's explain that now.

Weapon gauge, Claw Plunge and Claw Gauge explained

The Claw Blades already being complex isn't helped by Wild Hearts giving it both a weapon gauge AND a claw gauge to keep in mind, but we'll explain them and how they relate to each other here.

Firstly, you have the weapon gauge - the little blue bar above your health. This increases as you rapidly damage enemies with light and heavy attacks, but won't do anything right now - at least until you use the Claw Plunge attack to stick your tether in the enemy.

At this point, the weapon gauge empties, and all the progress there gets transferred to the claw gauge; the little circular meter that appears once you're tethered. Now you're anchored to the monster, and the claw gauge measures how long that anchor will hold! It doesn't deplete if you stand still, but depletes much faster when you do attacks and rapid motion - anything that would shake it loose, basically. 

Having a claw tether anchored in a Kemono's body gives you more combos and manoeuvrability options, but more importantly, it boosts all the damage you do. The higher the weapon gauge was when you anchored the tether, the more impact your attacks will have while it's still stuck there! So for the best result, both in anchor time and damage, you want to completely max out the weapon gauge before going for the Claw Plunge attack.

Claw Blades tips and tricks

The Claw Blades take some getting used to, as getting thrown around is understandably disorientating. Here's some tidbits to help ground you, even as you're flung through the air.

• Try to stick your tether in a Kemono's weak spot to max out the damage it'll do.
• Doing Claw Plunges off the Karakuri crates and springs will significantly increase the amount of Claw gauge you get, so use those when possible.
• If the monster flings you away and you're tethered, use R2/RT to yank yourself back and set up for a mid-air combo.
• Use R1/RB to untether yourself early, if you need it.
• The Claw Plunge is always followed by moments where the animation pushes you away from the monster. If your plan is to go aggressive, immediately press it again to drag yourself back up close.
• As you damage a monster while tethered, your character will start to glow, going from yellow to orange and finally red. While red, press R2/RT+Triangle/Y to do a deadly Wingblade Crescent Slash, the Claw Blades' most powerful move.