The way Wild Hearts maximizes the usage of its maps is honestly something Monster Hunter should take note of. While the MH games absolutely have more locations with more complexity and visual acuity to them, Wild Hearts is able to have those same locations hold all the materials needed for low, mid, and high-rank gear simply by using a 'Chapter' system.
By separating the story into Chapters, players can then select which Chapter they want the map they spawn into to be on. And, different maps have different resources, with one of the most highly sought-after ones being the Large Piece of Ore. So, let's go over where to find these things in Wild Hearts, what they look like, and the best method for farming them.
What Large Pieces Of Ore Look Like & What They Are Exactly
First off, let's talk about Wild Hearts' multi-tiered system for its materials. Each map in Wild Hearts has its own ecology, just like different biomes in reality. In-game this translates to each one having their own Forging Materials, Food, Creatures, and Small Kemono to interact with. For Forging Materials, in particular, there are two 'types', a general pool of 'basic' Forging Materials and a color-coded map-specific Forging Materials. To go over the general Forging Materials, from least to most rare, there are:
- Corestones
- Ores
- Large Pieces of Ore
- Lumps of Ore
- Spirit Stones
Meanwhile, the map-specific materials usually have two tiers with one being used in low-rank gear (Chapters 1 and 2) and the other being used in high-rank gear (Chapters 3 onward). For example, players will find Small Crystal Ore in the red geodes around Harugasumi Way in the first two Chapters, but after that those same geodes will instead hold Sakura Stone 100 percent of the time if that player is on Harugasumi Way in Chapter 3 or more.
On the other hand, the general Forging Materials look a bit different. Players will understand when they see them, but it looks like an outcropping of long crystals clumped together, with the color varying between maps (Red for Harugasumi Way, Yellow for Akikure Canyon, and Blue for Fuyufusagi Fort). These outcroppings all have a 'pool' of what will be obtained when the player interacts with them, with the only barrier for some Forging Materials being the current Chapter. In Chapters 1 and 2, players will only ever get Corestone or Ore from these, but after Chapter 3 Large Pieces of Ore are available to obtain from this pool of options.
This Chapter-based mechanic, in general, is poorly explained by the game so it's no wonder many players are still unclear on how it works exactly. Now as far as what Large Pieces of Ore are used for, it's typically for mid to late-game weapon upgrades. But, there are also a few armor pieces that require them as well.
How To Get Large Pieces Of Ore
With players understanding now how the material system works in Wild Hearts, let's go over exactly where to find Large Pieces of Ore in-game. In general, spawn locations for geodes and crystal outcroppings stay the same on each map, so players can rely on running a similar route with each map reload and encountering about the same number of interactables.
All that said, like Sakura Stone, Demon Rock, and Golden Hematite, Large Pieces of Ore are found in caves and along rocky outcroppings. Basically, as long as the terrain is almost entirely rock, there's a chance for either the geodes or outcroppings to spawn. And, because Large Pieces of Ore are part of the 'general' Forging Materials, they can be collected on each map, it just depends on which one players feel is the best map for farming whatever Material is needed.
Some players will enjoy running through the winding Buddha Caves in the top left of the Akikure Canyon map, while others will love the reliability of finding these interactables along the Nanohana Hill climb and within the caves leading to and from the Great Sakura Clearing in Harugasumi Way.
Two Great Ways To Farm Large Pieces Of Ore
There are two main methods of farming different types of Forging Materials in Wild Hearts. One is a bit more of a 'luck of the draw' method but, in exchange, requires much less work. And the other method is a lot more tedious but is also a lot more reliable.
Using Tsukumo Ore Shrines
This first method is the luck-based one, and it's the Tsukumo Ore Shrines. These Shrines are one of the best Dragon Karakuri in general and can also be unlocked rather early in the game. And, when placed, these Shrines will send out Tsukumo to gather ore at random that spawns on the map they're placed on. Each one can hold 5 materials at a time before they need to be emptied, and usually fill themselves every half hour to hour.
The only downside is that what the Tsukumo picked up is random, so players can have moments where they get nothing but Corestone or they can have times where they're buried in Sakura Stone thanks to these Shrines. In general, the least intrusive and overall best time-efficient method of farming Large Pieces of Ore involves placing as many of these Shrines as possible at one Camp location on each map, playing the game and hunting like usual, and then coming back to check on/empty these Shrines every now and then.
Using Route-Based Gathering
The second method is obviously the more tedious one, and it involves players figuring out a 'route' to run through a map where they'll pass by a lot of different mineral interactables before reloading the map and running the route again. Thankfully, the Detailed Map within each Region has a materials filter that shows little green dots to represent spawn locations for Food, Forging Materials, and more. So, players can use this map and their understanding of what tends to spawn where (AKA the green dots near rocky areas are likely Forging Materials) to plan out a route ahead of time.
Then, after the route is all planned, verified, and worth using, players just load into the map, run it, grab everything they can, and use either a specific Hunt Icon or a different Chapter's Free Hunt Icon for the map to reload it and reset all those mineral spawn locations. Frankly, players don't even need to stick to one of these methods or the other, they can just do them both. Place Tsukumo Shrines and also run routes to maximize gathering efficiency. Then, once the player crafts what they need by using the Large Piece of Ore, they can decide what to do with the extras whether that means holding on to them or selling them to the Crimson Treasury for money.
Wild Hearts is available now for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.