Quick Links
- Hearts And How To Recover Health
- Attack Types and Head-to-Heads
- Monsties and Battle Buddies
- Weapon Types
- Breaking Monster Parts
- Showdowns
- Kinship Gauge, Skills, And Riding
- Battle Rankings
- Quick Finish and Retreats
Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin features turn-based battle rather than the traditional action-RPG style of the main titles, however, there are a number of series staples that remain that fans should recognize. Notably, the biggest change for the Stories spin-off games is that you are accompanied by your monstie buddy in battle and can hatch new monsties to create your perfect party.
RELATED: Monster Hunter Stories 2: Beginner Tips To Get You Started
For those of you just starting out in Monster Hunter Stories 2 who are looking to get to grips with the battle mechanics, we've got everything you need to know about the basics right here.
Hearts And How To Recover Health
Both you and your monstie partner have three hearts representing three health bars. Each time your health is fully depleted, you lose a heart, and once all three hearts are gone you will lose the battle. If your monstie loses all three hearts, the battle will also be over, so don't expect to just be able to swap them out for another, you need to take care of their health just as you would your own. When you lose a heart, the Kinship Gauge charges a little faster for a few rounds to give you a much-needed boost.
There a number of ways to recover health luckily; you can use restorative items, skills, or use the "Ride" function when the Kinship Gauge is full (we'll get to that further down). Additionally, there are special items that can restore hearts too, but they're a lot rarer to come by so we recommend saving them for particularly hard monster battles.
When out of battle, you can use the Quick Heal function to recover health if you have donuts in your inventory. Visiting towns/villages will completely recover your health and hearts if you don't want to waste your consumables.
Attack Types and Head-to-Heads
There are three different types of attack in the game — Power, Technical, and Speed. Each one is stronger than the next and weaker than the last, so a Power move will win against a Technical attack, but Power would lose against a Speed attack. You will be able to choose which type of attack to use each turn, so you should aim to use whichever is strongest against the attack type favored by the enemy.
Each monster enemy you face generally uses the same attack type, though it will often switch it up when it is enraged, so make sure you change and adapt your own battle style to suit this. Your own monsties also favor a particular attack type, which is indicated by the icon next to their current level. It's useful to have at least one monster that favors each kind of attack in your party so that you can switch them out in battle as needed.
When you attack a monster that has targeted you, you will go into a Head-to-Head to see who is victorious. This is based on whether you have chosen Power, Technical, or Speed and whether your opponent's attack is the stronger or weaker of the two. Winning a Head-to-Head means you will take less damage, your enemy takes far greater damage, and your Kinship Gauge will fill considerably.
If both you and your monster/battle buddy use the same winning attack type, it will result in a Double Attack, which deals even more damage, cancels your opponent's attack, and also considerably fills your Kinship Gauge.
Monsties and Battle Buddies
You will always be accompanied by your lead monstie when a battle is initiated, but you can swap out your monstie for another in your party during the battle. Your monstie will take care of its own actions in battle, however, you can order your monstie to use certain skills using the "Monsties" submenu in battle, providing that you have enough of your Kinship Gauge filled to do so.
Throughout the story, you'll meet other story characters who will temporarily join your party and also help you in battle — these are called Battle Buddies. Your Battle Buddies will also have three hearts, and should their hearts all be depleted, you will lose the battle regardless of whether your own hearts are still intact. Make sure you take care of your buddies to avoid this, and they'll often return the favor by healing you and your monstie too.
Weapon Types
There are three different types of weapons in the game, Slashing, Blunt, and Piercing. There are six different kinds of weapons that you can equip; Sword and shield and greatswords create Slashing damage, hammers and hunting horn are Blunt damage, while bows and gunlances are Piercing Damage. You can equip three weapons to your character and change between them during battle, so it's worth having one of each weapon type on hand.
As you progress through the game, you'll find that monsters begin to have different health bars relating to different parts of their body or additional items, such as rocks. Each individual part can have a different weakness, so being able to change your weapon to maximize the damage dealt is important.
Breaking Monster Parts
When you do encounter monsters that have various body parts/items, each has its own health bar. Depleting the health bar entirely will break that monster part/item. Breaking monster parts can knock the monster down, cancel its attack, and also earn you some extra loot at the end of the battle.
However, none of the materials obtained by breaking monster parts and exclusive to breaking, so you can still obtain all of the items as regular drops regardless of whether you break parts or not (this is handy for when using Quick Finish).
Showdowns
During a battle, your monstie might enter into a showdown with the enemy monster. You will be prompted to tap different buttons repeatedly to win the showdown, with the buttons differing depending on what kind of Showdown it is. Winning the Showdown will deal extra damage to your opponent and fill the Kinship Gauge considerably, while losing will see your monstie taking substantial damage.
Kinship Gauge, Skills, And Riding
Your Kinship Gauge is displayed at the bottom of your screen it will gradually fill throughout the battle, with certain actions causing it to fill quicker than others. You can use the charge in your Kinship Gauge to use various skills.
Once your Kingship Gauge is full, you can ride your monstie in battle. Doing so fully restores your own health, and replenishes your monstie's HP by the amount of your own HP too. While riding your monstie, your attack and defense are boosted, and you can increase your Kinship Skill level by successfully winning Head-to-Heads, which will make your Kinship Skill even stronger when used.
Your Kinship Skill unleashes a powerful attack on your enemy and each monstie type has its own different skill. Should your battle buddy use their Kinship Skill at the same time, you'll pull off a powerful Double Kinship Skill. Once you have used a Kinship Skill, your Kinship Gauge depletes and you will automatically dismount. You will also be knocked off your monstie if your HP reaches 0 or you lose two Head-to-Head encounters.
Battle Rankings
Throughout a battle, you'll earn points for different things, such as using certain skills, not being beaten in a head-to-head clash, breaking monster parts, and more. The more points you end on, the better your battle score will be, and this directly affects how much loot you get from the battle.
Quick Finish and Retreats
If you are a lot higher in level than the monsters you are facing, you will be given the option to "Quick Finish" the battle at the press of a button, which will be displayed on the bottom left of the screen. You will automatically earn an S Rank in the battle for a Quick Finish, as well as still receiving plenty of monster material loot. Quick Finish does not work in certain battles, such as bosses or subquest minibosses.
You can retreat from battle by using the "Run Away" option in the battle menu. If you do this, you will not earn any items, regardless of whether you have broken monster parts prior to fleeing. Additionally, some battles you cannot run away from, such as boss battles.
Next: Monster Hunter Stories 2 Complete Guide And Walkthrough
