The karakuri in Wild Hearts are important for hunting, but which ones should be used first?
Karakuri are a unique part of Wild Hearts that set it apart from other games of its time. They are wooden structures that can be built with thread or other materials, and they can be used in many different ways by the player.
Karakuri can be divided into basic, fusion, and dragon karakuri. Basic karakuri are the easiest to make on the spot, and you can combine them to make fusion karakuri that are stronger. Fusion karakuri are stronger than basic karakuri, but they need to be put together in a certain order. Dragon karakuri can be used in many ways, most of which are not in battle. Even though there are a lot of karakuri to unlock in Wild Hearts, some of them are so useful that you should try to get them first.
Glider Karakuri
The glider is a simple karakuri that can be used by players. It makes a hand-glider like the one in Breath of the Wild that can be used to glide down from high places. Once fusion karakuri are unlocked, it is also part of the recipe for making the healing mist and repeater crossbow karakuri.
It can be gotten early in the game, especially during the fight with Spineglider, so most players will get it pretty quickly. Even though it is needed for fusions that aren’t the best in the game, the glider is very useful in general.
Stake Karakuri
Another simple karakuri is the stake. It moves forward when it’s put down and can give players a boost to help them climb walls. Even though this use is limited, the stake is part of the recipe for the harpoon and chain trap karakuri, which are important tools that can make difficult kemono easier to handle.
You can get the stake fairly early in the game, but you have to go through the karakuri upgrade tree to get it, which will cost you some items. But Wild Hearts uses it in ways that more than make up for it.
Celestial Tsukumo Shrine
As a dragon karakuri, the celestial tsukumo shrine doesn’t help directly in battle, but if it’s put in a camp, it can be very useful. The shrine needs 30 pieces of wood to build, and more than one can be put in the same spot.
When the shrine is active, interacting with it will raise the maximum number of threads and give more threads on top of that before the effect goes away. As karakuri are important in every fight, having more thread is a huge ability boost for the player.
Chain Trap Karakuri
In other monster hunting games, the chain trap might be an item, but in Wild Hearts, it’s a karakuri. It works like the pitfall traps in Monster Hunter, holding kemono in one place for a short time so that players can do free damage.
This karakuri is very useful, especially for newer players who need more downtime to deal with kemono they don’t know how to use. The first time you get it is when you fight Deathstalker with the stake and crate karakuri.
Field Forge
The field forge is also a dragon karakuri that can be put in camps, just like the celestial tsukumo shrine. But it has a very different purpose. As the name might suggest, the field forge lets Wild Hearts players make weapons and armor even when they are out hunting.
It also lets you change your gear in the middle of a hunt. Which can save you time you would have spent going back to town. To build a forge, you need 15 water resources. It’s better to destroy the forge after using it so that it can be built back up when needed without having to keep spending the resources needed to do so.
Celestial Thread Karakuri
The most difficult of the basic karakuri to open is the celestial thread. Even though it is pretty far down the upgrade tree for the karakuri, it is well worth speeding to. By itself, it ties players to an anchor that they can jump around multiple times. If used correctly, it can be used to move quickly from one place to another.
But the fusion karakuri that use it are what give it its real power. Some of the best fusion options in the game are the celestial shield and the celestial cannon karakuri. Both of these need the thread to be unlocked before they can be used. This means that if you get the threads early, they can be unlocked as quickly as possible.
The Roller
This dragon karakuri is easily one of the most unique ones in Wild Hearts. The dragon roller moves around a lot, while most of the others stay still. When put together, it makes a one-wheeled vehicle that looks like some Star Wars vehicles. Then, players can hop on it and ride it to get around the world.
There are a lot of great ways to move around in Wild Hearts, and this is one of the easiest. It costs a lot to build (40 fire resources). But it’s fun to roll around in and can be upgraded later to go faster.
Hunting Tower
Before you can fight a certain kemono, you must first find it. This is where the hunting tower really stands out. It’s a dragon karakuri that needs 15 water resources to build each time. Once it’s built, though, interacting with it sends out a radar pulse that shows kemono that are close by.
As Happy Wheels game goes on, you can improve the tower so that it can also find tsukumo and other collectibles. Once there is a network of them, they can scan the whole map at once. It will take some time for this network to grow, so it’s best to get started as soon as possible.
Wild Hearts is now available on PC, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox One X, and Xbox One S.