How to Build Karakuri Structures in Wild Hearts

Wild Hearts is a monster hunting game by Omega Force, the same development team behind the Toukiden series. In this feudal Japan-inspired action RPG, building structures and objects called Karakuri is just as crucial to the game as hunting the monsters. If you’re just starting out with Wild Hearts, here is how to build Karakuri structures and take full advantage of your strategic options.

Here’s How to Build the Different Types of Karakuri Structures in Wild Hearts

First things first, you’ll need the core ingredient used for all Karakuri buildings, called thread. If you make your way out into the map and hold down your left trigger, you’ll send out a pulse that will highlight notable resources around you. Look for things like highlighted trees to chop or rocks to mine, then run up to them and hold your left trigger to extract the thread. Once you’re loaded up on thread, you have all you need to begin building.

If you hold down your left bumper (or L1) while you’re out in the wild, you’ll bring up the quick build menu, and you’ll be able to use these options as you unlock them to quickly place down some key Karakuri that are all very useful in battle in Wild Hearts. Pressing X on Xbox or “square” on PlayStation will see you placing down a crate. These are stackable, and you can climb them and quickly spring off the top, which is useful for both combat as well as navigating through areas you can’t otherwise reach.

Pressing Y on Xbox or “triangle” on PlayStation from the quick build options will allow you to build a torch. Running at the torch will make you draw your weapon, ignite it in flame, and swing it as you go. You’ll then have a flaming weapon that will help you deal extra damage temporarily while it’s ignited.

Pressing B on Xbox or “circle” on PlayStation from the quick build options will let you place down jump pads in Wild Hearts. Run at the jump pad and look in the direction you want to go, and it will launch you quite quickly in that direction. This is extremely useful for avoiding attacks that are hard to roll out of or have a wide area of effect you wouldn’t be able to otherwise avoid.

The last one is A on Xbox or X on PlayStation, and when you place it down it looks like a lantern. If you run at it, however, you’ll quickly discover that your character will pick it up and proceed to helicopter away with it. It’s very useful for traversing heights or repositioning against monsters.

That’s not all there is to build with Karakuri structures in Wild Hearts. if you open up the quick build menu but then press a direction on the D-pad, you’ll open up a menu of larger structures. These include things like lanterns, campfires for starting missions with, tents you can rest in, forges for creating and upgrading gear, towers that can search for nearby Kemono and track them for you, and the flying vine, which is like a ballista you can shoot in to a surface to use as a rope line to traverse distances. There is a limit to how many of these structures you can build based on the Dragon Pits that you have unlocked and how far you’ve upgraded them. Comparatively, you can put down a lot more of the quick-build objects.

That’s the core of how to build Karakuri structures in Wild Hearts. Now you can get to building all the useful things that will help improve your time both in and out of hunts!