Monster Hunter Wilds Update Adds Biggest Weapon Changes to Date

Monster Hunter Wilds Update version 1.020 is slated to release on June 30 – the same day the Free Title Update 2 is scheduled. The patch update not only adds Lagiacrus and Seregios, but it also buffs numerous weapons, including but not limited to Dual Blades and Sword & Shield. 

Dual Blades received more control over movement options and various buffs to damage output. Sword & Shield’s invulnerability frames were decreased for its Sliding Swipe, but the weapon set received an overall net buff through an increase in damage ouput for specific moves. 

Here are all the direct gameplay-related changes, according to the official Patch Notes, with the weapon buffs listed below:

Player

• You now regain control of your character slightly faster after starting a quest.
• Player gathering actions have been adjusted to be more responsive overall.
• Crouched movement now also benefits from faster recovery time for the bleeding status effect.
• Fixed an issue where the effect of the skill Slicked Blade would not disappear when entering or exiting the training area.
• Fixed an issue where players could have multiple types of Large Barrel Bombs in their item pouch if they retrieved a previously placed Large Barrel Bomb while in possession of a Blossom Barrel Bomb.
• Fixed an issue where if the dash control had been switched to a single press, then dashing from a crouching position would result in the character starting a “run” motion instead of a “dash” when standing up.
• Fixed an issue where the webbed state would not be properly removed by Purewasp Delivery.
• Other minor fixes and related adjustments have been made for all weapon actions.

Sword & Shield

• Shield Attack, Shield Bash, and Hard Bash raw damage and stun values have been slightly increased.
• Perfect Rush’s finishing portion has had its raw damage slightly increased.
• Adjusted it to make it harder to consecutively chain the Guard Slash move into itself.
• Slightly shortened the invincibility time for Sliding Swipe.
• Chop and Side Slash raw damage have been slightly increased.
• Counter Slash raw damage has been decreased.
• Fixed an issue where Focus Strikes could be unintentionally performed on the same wounds more than once on certain monsters.

Dual Blades

• You can now change your movement direction mid-movement when entering Demon Mode right after a dodge.
• While in Demon Boost Mode (during Demon Mode), chaining a dodge into a Blade Dance now chains into a Blade Dance II instead. (However, this will default to a Blade Dance I if there is not enough Demon Gauge left.)
• Blade Dance II responsiveness has been improved.
• Movement speed during Demon Mode has been increased.
• Basic moves like Sixfold Demon Slash, Demon Flurry Rush, and Demon Flurry have had their raw damage increased.
• Screw Slicer raw damage, elemental scaling, and ailment scaling have been greatly increased.
• Focus Strike: Turning Tide raw damage has been increased.
• Heavenly Blade Dance raw damage has been increased.
• Blade Dance elemental scaling and ailment scaling have been slightly decreased, and raw damage has been increased.
• The raw damage boost from Demon Boost Mode has been slightly decreased, and the elemental scaling boost has been increased.
• Fixed an issue where the Power Prolonger skill was making the duration of Demon Boost Mode buffs last longer than intended.
• Fixed an issue where the camera would shake unintentionally during Demon Mode.

Long Sword

• Elemental scaling for Crimson Slash II has been significantly increased.
• Raw damage and elemental/ailment scaling for Crimson Slash III has been increased.
• Crimson Slash III now chains faster into Spirit Blade I.
• Spirit Release Slash raw damage has been slightly increased.
• Spirit Roundslash raw damage has been increased when the Spirit Gauge is red.
• Spinning Crimson Slash raw damage has been increased.
• Iai Spirit Slash raw damage has been increased when the Spirit Gauge is white and yellow.
• Elemental/ailment scaling for Crimson Slash I has been decreased.

Hammer

• You can now chain into a special follow-up move after a monster has been significantly staggered from a successful offset attack.
• You can now chain from a Focus Blow: Earthquake into a Charged Side Blow.
• Offset effects have been added to Charged Upswing and Mighty Charge Upswing.
• Charge levels now increase faster after chaining into a Charged Step from a dodge.
• Charged Big Bang raw damage has been increased.
• Mighty Charge Slam raw damage and elemental scaling have been increased.
• The hit boxes for certain attacks, such as Big Bang, have been adjusted.
• Fixed an issue where the damage display would appear twice for Big Bang IV.

Hunting Horn

• Performing Focus Strike: Reverb with precise timing now plays an additional note at the end of the attack.
• Performing Focus Strike: Reverb with precise timing now sets an Echo Bubble at the end of the attack. (You can prevent the Echo Bubble by holding R2 (PS5) / RT (Xbox) / R key (default, PC) at the end of the action.)
• Hitting a monster with a single hit of Resounding Melody now triggers a soundwave.
• Your Seikret no longer stops when performing while mounted.
• The damage hitbox for Echo Bubble has been significantly increased.
• The evade window for Offset Melody have been increased.
• Fixed an issue where switching from one hunting horn to another would incorrectly display melodies that had not been played as an Encore.
• Fixed an issue where connecting with Offset Melody would sometimes fail to successfully offset attacks.
• Fixed an issue where stocked notes would not properly reset when chaining into a Special Performance.

Lance

• You can now chain into a Charge Counter from Focus Strike: Victory Thrust.
• Adjusted the hitbox of Focus Strike: Victory Thrust to make it easier to land.
• Fixed an issue where certain shield attacks during Focus Strike: Resolve could unintentionally break monster wounds.

Gunlance

• Fixed an issue where, when a critical hit occurs during multiple hits of certain actions, such as Multi Wyrmstake Full Blast, there was an unintended high chance that subsequent hits would also be critical hits.

Switch Axe

• It is now easier to adjust your distance to monsters when using Unbridled Slash and Full Release Slash while in Focus Mode.
• The backward movement triggered by Element Discharge Finisher can now be reduced slightly by tilting the left stick in the player character’s direction.
• Significantly increased the elemental scaling of follow-up explosions from sword attacks when using Element Phials.
• Significantly increased the elemental scaling of follow-up explosions from Unbridled Slash, Full Release Slash, and Axe: Follow-up Morph Slash when using Element Phials.
• Axe: Follow-up Heavy Slam and Axe: Follow-up Morph Slash raw damage has been decreased.
• The amount of Switch Gauge recovered when performing basic attacks in Axe Mode has been increased.
• Increased the raw damage and Amp Gauge recovery of Axe: Morph Rising Double Slash, and reduced its Switch Gauge consumption.
• Sword: Triple Slash raw damage and amp gauge recovery amount have been increased.
• The amount of Switch Gauge consumed when performing Sword: Overhead Slash has been decreased.
• Fixed an issue where the damage scaling from the Rapid Morph skill was not being applied to Jumping Morph Slash when performed upon landing.

Charge Blade

• Guard points now have Perfect Guard detection, and you can now chain into Savage Axe Slash upon a successful Perfect Guard from a guard point.
• Explosive phial raw damage from chaining into Super Amped Element Discharge from certain attacks (such as Amped Element Discharge) has been increased.
• Raw damage for Amped Element Discharge and Super Amped Element Discharge has been increased.
• Weak Slash, Return Stroke, and Shield Thrust raw damage have been slightly increased.
• Explosive phial raw damage for Axe: Element Discharge, Axe: Amped Element Discharge, and Axe: Super Amped Element Discharge have been increased.
• Impact Phial explosion raw damage has been increased while in Sword Boost Mode.
• Axe: Element Discharge now chains more quickly into other basic axe moves like Axe: Dash Slam or Axe: Lateral Fade Slash.
• The raw damage for multi-hit attacks while in Power Axe Mode has been decreased.
• Fixed an issue where the phial explosion damage boost would not be applied when performing Element Discharge I or similar attacks with an Impact Phial while phials were enhanced.
• Fixed an issue where sharpness would decrease more than normal when performing a guard point while Elemental Boost was activated.
• Fixed an issue where the damage scaling from the Rapid Morph skill was being incorrectly applied to certain jumping attacks in axe mode.

Heavy Bowgun

• Increased the amount of rapid fire gauge recovered when firing Spread Ammo 1 and Spread Ammo 2.
• Fixed an issue where it was difficult to evade after firing Slicing Ammo.
• Fixed an issue where the Burst skill would activate with fewer hits than intended when using Cluster Bombs or Wyvernblast Ignition.

Bowguns

• Fixed an issue where the skill Airborne would not activate correctly for spread ammo.

Bow

• Fixed an issue where bow coatings would unintentionally switch to “Unequip” under certain conditions.

Support Hunters

• Fixed an issue where Support Hunters mounted on Seikret would leave cover earlier than intended during Jin Dahaad’s large area-of-effect attack, causing them to take damage.
• Increased the attack power of Support Hunters for when the quest leader is at HR 100 or higher.
• Adjusted the behavior of Support Hunters when mounting a monster.
• Added a follow-up move for when Olivia successfully performs an offset attack.

Seikret

• Improved the speed of response when calling your Seikret.
• Improved the response speed for controlling your Seikret after mounting from a Seikret call.
• Fixed an issue where, while riding your Seikret in auto-move, they would circle around the area if you arrived before the large monster.
• Item use input priority and cancel timing while mounted on a Seikret have been adjusted in the following situations:
  • After switching weapons while mounted
  • When using an item after closing the map
  • When using an item immediately after another item
• It is now possible to dismount from the Seikret while drifting.

Palico

• Fixed an issue where Palicoes would stop using Vigorwasp Delivery under certain conditions.

For the full Monster Hunter Wilds Patch notes, players can read the official update blog.

It includes the various bug fixes alongside other minor changes added to the game. At the time of writing, Monster Hunter Wilds has “Overwhelmingly Negative” recent Steam reviews, with many criticizing the lack of promised optimization updates alongside the overall lack of content. The overall reviews are “Mixed.” Despite criticism, the game reached more than 1 million concurrent users on Steam and sold more than 10 million copies just a month after its release.