Certain weapons have a block mechanic which will let you mitigate a lot of the damage that the monsters throw at you in Monster Hunter Wilds.
A weapon block can often be timed right for a Perfect Guard and then followed up with a Power Clash to stagger the monster leaving them vulnerable to some follow-up attacks.
It’s one of the key mechanics in making hunts significantly easier with certain weapons in the RPG. Once you master the timing with monster attack patterns you will be able to breeze through some of the hardest hunts.
How to Guard and Block in Monster Hunter Wilds
To Guard in Monster Hunter Wilds, you will need to press the block button. For melee weapons, it is R/R2/RT and for the Heavy Bowgun, it is R+F/Trianlge+Circle/Y+B.
Based on the platform that you are playing Monster Hunter Wilds on, you will need to press and hold the button to negate the damage that is coming towards you. When you hold the button you will go into a defensive stance with the weapon.
If you are using a Heavy Bowgun, you will already be on Auto-Guard if you are not firing the weapon. However, you can manually guard when in attack animation by tapping the buttons mentioned above.
Which weapons can Guard in Monster Hunter Wilds?
Not all weapons are capable of performing a Guard in Monster Hunter Wilds. Outside of the weapons that visually carry a shield with them, there are only a few more who can take up a defensive stance. Here is a list of all the weapons that can Guard:
- Greatsword
- Sword and Shield
- Lance
- Gunlance
- Charge Blade
- Heavy Bowgun
Note: The Charge Blade in particular has a mechanic that is exclusive to it which is called Guard Points. The mechanism is built its its attack patterns where the CB’s attack animation brings up the shield part of the weapon in front of you. This acts as a guarding motion and is capable of blocking attacks.
How to Perfect Guard in Monster Hunter Wilds
You will be able to successfully perform a Perfect Guard by tapping the block button right before a Monster is about to land a hit on you. You know that you will have done it successfully when the screen flashes for a brief second followed by a sound queue.
Unlike normal blocks, a Perfect Guard will help you negate all incoming damage from a monster. When you are just normally blocking, you take a certain amount of chip damage, that is not the case with Perfect Guard. Moreover, the move will also negate other downsides of normal blocking like the decrease in sharpness for Greatswords.
Additionally, a Perfect Guard can also trigger the Power Clash mechanic which can stagger monsters.
Note: Perfect Guard will consume stamina like any normal guard. So be aware of this when looking to block monster attacks.
How to perform a Power Clash in Monster Hunter Wilds
Power Clash is a brand new defense mechanic introduced in Monster Hunter Wilds. It activates when you Perfect Guard specific monster attacks, and once you meet the required there will be a brief while glow and sparks from your shield or weapon.
You are then locked in an animation with the monster that leads to a “power clash” and if you win (by tapping the button that appears) you will be able to counter the monster’s move, staggering them and often knocking them down.
It’s one of the best defensive tools in the game for the weapons that have Guard. When done successfully it will be able to open up monsters for a good bit of follow-up attacks. Power Clashes will often do a lot of damage as well, and can create wounds on the monster.
However, do keep in mind that a Power Clash will not activate every time even if you do meet the requirements. The move comes with a brief cooldown so you cannot keep spamming it even if you are god-like with your Perfect Guards timings.
Moreover, the frequency of Power CLashes will Decrease over the course of a hunt. Much like Mounting the Guard amount requirement to perform the Power Clash will increase the more times you pull it off.
All Perfect Guard follow-up actions in Monster Hunter Wilds
When Power Clash is on a cooldown or you don’t trigger it because of a higher threshold, you will be able to tap into the following moves based on the weapon that you are using.
1) Great Sword
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Charged Slash | Press and hold M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Wide Slash | M2 Mouse button/Circle/B |
| Offset Rising Slash | Press and Hold M1+M2/Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
2) Sword and Shield
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Counter Slash | M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Lateral Slash | M2 Mouse button/Circle/B |
| Charged Chop | Press and Hold M1+M2/Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
| Shield Attack | W+M2 Mouse Click/Left Analog Forward+Circle/Left Analog Forward+B |
| Backstep | S+M2 Mouse Click/Left Analog Down+Circle/Left Analog Down+B |
3) Lance
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Return Thrust | M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Payback Thrust | M2 Mouse button/Circle/B |
| Follow-Up Dash Attack | M1+M2/Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
| Guard Dash | R+W+M1 Mouse button/R2+Left Analog Forward+Triangle/RT+Left Analog Forward+Y |
4) Gunlance
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Overhead Smash | M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Shelling or Charged Shelling | Press and Hold M1+M2/Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
| Wyvern’s Fire | R+M1+M2/R2 Triangle+Circle/RT Y+B |
5) Charge Blade
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Savage Axe Slash | M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Axe: Amped Element Discharge | M1+M2/Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
6) Heavy Bowgun
| Action | Input |
|---|---|
| Fire or Wyvernheart Ignition | M1 Mouse button/Triangle/Y |
| Focus Blast: Wyvern Howl Shot | M2 Mouse button+Shift/L2+R1/LT+RB |
| Reload | R/Triangle/Y |
| Wyverncounter Ignition | If in Ignition Mode R/Triangle/Y (Can be charged) |
| Sidestep | Space/X/A |
