Q5: Is there anything else you’d like to share about the hunter’s abilities? Any interesting hints, tips, or features you’d like to tell us about?

A5: I was only going to pick a handful, but then you told me you wanted something for every weapon, so that’s what you’re going to get. (Shibata: Since this is a special occasion, let’s have a look at all the weapon types. Thanks, Mr. Mori!)

Great sword: The Leaping Wide Slash gains extra hits with each charge stage (so does the Plunging Thrust). We added a lot of attacks that work well with elemental weapons.

Long sword: If you successfully land an Iai Spirit Slash, you can follow up with several other moves, like a Special Sheathe, for example. And, if you press the Y Button, you can do a regular sheathe regardless of whether the counter was successful or not.

Sword & shield: If you land a hit using Falling Shadow, you’ll follow up with a Scaling Slash. But you can actually do another Falling Shadow after the Scaling Slash while you’re still airborne. Performing another takes you further up, so it’s a handy evasion technique if you managed to jump off an enemy but it looks like you might get knocked out of the air.

Dual blades: The amount of damage and number of hits dealt by Shrouded Vault changes depending on whether you’re in Demon Mode or not.

Hammer: The Charge Switch animation when going from blue to yellow doesn’t only max out your charge, but it also provides a window of invincibility during startup.

Hunting horn: You can adjust your direction 360 degrees during Crush and Double Swing.

Lance: If you keep attacking after doing a Wide Sweep, you’ll be prevented from flinching for a while.

Gunlance: Aerial Burst is tied to Charged Shelling, and can be performed by pressing the ZR button and the A Button at the same time.

Switch axe: Depending on the type of phial you’re using, it can be easier to enter the Amped State. The demo used Power Phials, which charge up the most slowly.

Charge blade: The Fade Slash in sword mode can be used in 4 directions, but you can adjust the direction 180 degrees in front of you while swinging the sword.

Insect glaive: Aerial attacks performed while bouncing up after using a Jumping Advancing Slash are now more powerful. They will keep getting more powerful as long as you repeatedly hit the enemy without landing.

Light bowgun: You can easily fire shots with a lot of recoil if you fire during a Fanning Vault.

Heavy bowgun: If you have a shield, the start of a melee attack will be able to block attacks.

Bow: The Arc Shot used in the demo was a recovery type, but there are several other effects depending on which bow you use.