Charge Blade Hunter | Journal #15 | Monster Hunter World: The Board Game
So, we have our second Wildspire Waste hunter!
Like the hunters of the Ancient Forest, each one of these hunters has a distinctive playstyle based on their weapon. In this case, the charge blade.
But, as you may have noticed in the insect glaive journal, the Wildspire Waste hunters have a little something extra up their sleeves, too.
They all have a unique special rules card, the charge blade hunter included.
Why?
We're glad you asked!
Luckily, Jamie Perkins is here to explain...
Charge Blade Hunter
From the journal of Jamie Perkins, Lead Developer
You may be wondering why some hunters have special rules.
During the making of Monster Hunter World: The Board Game, we tried to stick to the core mechanics we’d created.
For example, all the weapon mechanics for the Ancient Forest hunters can be found on their weapon cards, with no extra cards needed.
However, things weren’t so simple when it came to the Wildspire Waste set.
As you might remember from the video game, the weapons in this set come with some pretty unique features. To really squeeze the juice from that Divineapple (and give you guys the best tabletop experience), we realised we’d have to break our own rule to stick to core mechanics, and add in special rules cards for those hunters to represent those features.
Ah, the things we do to make accurate board games.
TL;DR - Unlike the hunters of the Ancient Forest, the Wildspire Waste hunters — and possibly some others who may or may not make an appearance later — come with special rules cards.
Okay, that’s enough background for now. Let’s check out the charge blade hunter’s special rules card!
Special Rules Card
The charge blade hunter’s special rule does exactly that: charges up their blade.
Just like in the video game, this hunter uses sword & shield attacks featuring phial symbols, known as ‘phial attacks’, to build up a charge.
When that charge is high enough, their blade morphs into a giant axe ready to unleash a punishing phial discharge attack!
Of course, you’ll need to maintain that charge ready for the big finish. To do that, you’ll need to keep those phial attack cards on your stamina board until you’re ready — so think carefully about which cards you clear from your board as you play.
Whenever you decide to unleash a phial discharge attack, every face up phial attack card that’s on your stamina board will add an extra damage card to that discharge attack.
If you play your cards right, you can do some serious damage!
Weapon Upgrades
Just like the Ancient Forest hunters, the charge blade hunter starts with a unique attack deck based on their weapon, and upgrade options you can craft from bone and ore.
The more monster loot you claim, the better your weapon choices become.
Fighting Style
Outside of building and discharging phials, the charge blade hunter has a pretty defensive playstyle. Take Shield Block, for example:
You’ve seen cards like this before in the sword & shield hunter’s journal entry, so we won’t dwell too long on this.
The main thing to note is that even though the cards are similar, the bonus armour from Shield Block is less than the bonus armour the sword & shield hunter gets from Guard Up.
Still, the sword & shield hunter doesn’t have a fancy chargeable weapon. Speaking of which...
Not only does Shield Thrust help to build up your phial charge, it also hits the monster with a stun token — which, depending on the monster’s resistance and how many stun tokens you’ve already stacked, could stun the monster and make avoiding their next attack a little easier.
Shield Thrust is the charge blade hunter’s only starting deck stun card, so if you draw it, use it!
And speaking of using things, we might as well make use of the small phial charge we just built up:
Amped Element Discharge is a phial discharge attack and one of your big finishing moves.
Because it comes with a bonus 1 node movement before you inflict damage, you can position yourself right where you want to be before landing that crippling blow!
On its own, this attack only draws one damage card, but you’ll draw one extra damage card for every phial attack on your stamina board.
If you’ve filled your other stamina slots with phial attack cards before playing Amped Element Discharge, you’ll be drawing a massive FIVE damage cards in one hit!
Tactical Tips
The charge blade hunter is a team player, ready to fill the role required for the group to succeed.
Need to take one for the team? Hunker down behind the increased armour given by Shield Block.
Or maybe they need you to crank out damage? Then start stacking phial attack cards and unleash the fury with Amped Element Discharge!
~ Journal Ends ~
So, Will You Be Charging Ahead?
We've got two Wildspire Waste hunters left to meet.
Join the Gathering Hub to choose which one comes next!
