Karakuri are a unique mechanic that set Wild Hearts apart from its contemporaries. They are wooden structures that can be built using thread or certain other resources, and provide a myriad of uses for the player.
Karakuri can be divided into basic, fusion, and dragon karakuri. Basic karakuri are the easiest to craft on the fly, and they can be combined to make more powerful fusion karakuri. Fusion karakuri require certain basic karakuri to be placed in a certain order, but they have much stronger effects. Dragon karakuri have several uses, mostly out of battle. While there are a ton of karakuri to unlock in Wild Hearts, some are so useful that they’re worth prioritizing during progression.
8 Glider Karakuri
The glider is a basic karakuri that players can equip. It creates a hand-glider that can be used to hover down from high places, akin to the paraglider from Breath of The Wild. Once fusion karakuri are unlocked, it’s also part of the recipe for building the healing mist and repeater crossbow karakuri.
It’s obtainable fairly early in the game, specifically from the fight with Spineglider, so most players will get it fairly quickly. While the fusions it is needed for aren’t the best in the game, the glider has very good general utility.
7 Stake Karakuri
The stake is another basic karakuri. It launches itself forward when placed, and can help give players a boost to help with wall climbing. While this use is limited on its own, the stake recipe for the harpoon and chain trap karakuri, 2 vital tools that can help make difficult kemono more manageable.
The stake is obtainable fairly early in the game, but it has to be acquired through the karakuri upgrade tree, meaning it will take some item investment. However, its uses later in Wild Hearts make it more than worth it.
6 Celestial Tsukumo Shrine
As a dragon karakuri, the celestial tsukumo shrine isn’t directly helpful in battle but can provide players with excellent utility if placed in a camp. The shrine requires 30 wood resources to construct, and several of them can be placed in the same area.
When active, interacting with the shrine will increase the maximum thread count and give more thread on top of that before going on cooldown. As karakuri are vital in all fights, having extra thread is a massive buff to the player’s abilities.
5 Chain Trap Karakuri
In other monster hunting games, the chain trap might come as an item, but in Wild Hearts, it appears as a karakuri. It functions similarly to pitfall traps in Monster Hunter, temporarily holding kemono in one spot to allow players to deal free damage.
The usefulness of this karakuri can’t be understated, especially to newer players who need extra downtime to handle kemono they’re unfamiliar with. It is first obtained in a fight with Deathstalker, as long as the stake and crate karakuri are equipped.
4 Field Forge
As another dragon karakuri, the field forge can be placed in camps just like the celestial tsukumo shrine, but functions very differently. As the name might imply, the field forge gives Wild Hearts players access to weapon and armor crafting even while out on a hunt.
It also allows equipment to be changed mid-hunt, which can save time that would have otherwise been used returning to town. Each forge requires 15 water resources to build. It’s actually worth it to destroy the forge after use, so it can be built back when it is needed without permanently spending the necessary resources.
3 Celestial Thread Karakuri
The celestial thread is the hardest of the basic karakuri to unlock. While it is pretty far into the karakuri upgrade tree, it is more than worth speeding to. By itself, it ties players to an anchor, around which they can jump multiple times, even allowing for fast traversal if used right.
However, its true strength is in the fusion karakuri that use it. The celestial shield and celestial cannon karakuri are some of the best fusion options in the game, and both require the thread to be unlocked first. This means that getting the thread early can ensure they can be unlocked as fast as possible.
2 The Roller
This is easily one of the most unique dragon karakuri available in Wild Hearts. While the others tend to be stationary, the dragon roller is anything but. When built, it creates a single-wheeled vehicle, reminiscent of some vehicles from Star Wars. Players can then hop into it and use it to ride around the environment.
Wild Hearts has a lot of great mobility options, and this is one of the most straightforward. It costs a hefty 40 fire resources to build, but it is quite fun to roll around in and can later be upgraded to increase its speed.
1 Hunting Tower
Before a given kemono can be fought, it must first be located. That’s where the hunting tower shines. It’s a dragon karakuri that requires 15 water resources to build each time. Once built though, interacting with it sends out a radar pulse that reveals nearby kemono.
As the game continues, upgrading the tower can enable it to also find tsukumo and some collectibles as well. And once a network of them is set up, they can scan a whole map at once. This network will take a while to develop though, which is why it’s best to get started as soon as possible.
Wild Hearts is out now on PC, PS5, Xbox Series X, and Xbox Series S