How To Change Weapons in Monster Hunter Now

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When you start your Monster Hunter Now adventure, you’ll realize your Hunter is automatically armed with a Sword and Shield. A veteran of the series or action RPG fans might instantly wonder how can they change into different weapon types. However, unlike in mainline Monster Hunter games, you need to complete several steps first before you can unlock and change your weapon in Now.

Monster Hunter Now: How Can You Unlock and Change New Weapons?

Image source: Niantic

To unlock new weapon types other than Sword and Shield in Monster Hunter Now, you need to complete two prerequisites:

Reach and clear the first part of “Chapter 2: Shimmering Swamp” Main Quest to unlock the Great Sword.
- You should unlock Chapter 2 once you reach Hunter Rank 11. However, it mostly depends on how much you have grind Hunter Rank before you complete the Main Quest objectives.
Finish Chapter 2 and reach at least Hunter Rank 15 to unlock the rest of the weapons available so far. The Long Sword, Hammer, Bow, and Light Bowgun.

Meanwhile, to change into new weapons, you can do so by opening the Equipment menu. Click your weapon icon from the main screen to access it. Then the game will show you a list of all weapons that you can currently equip and/or craft. The weapon and armor forging or crafting system in Monster Hunter Now is unlocked when you reach Hunter Rank 6.

Monster Hunter Now: All Available Weapon Types to Unlock

Image source: Niantic via The Nerd Stash

At the time of writing, Monster Hunter Now features only six weapons from the mainline titles. Nevertheless, developer Niantic and Capcom have promised to add the other eight weapons in future seasons. Here are all the weapons that you can use in Monster Hunter Now:

Sword and Shield
Great Sword
Long Sword
Hammer
Light Bowgun
Bow

It is a bit disappointing that you can instantly change to your favorite weapon in Monster Hunter Now. Still, this is not the first time that Capcom ended up not including all available weapon types in a release. Monster Hunter Tri for Wii was missing the Bow, Gunlance, Hunting Horn, and Dual Blades. The monster-collecting spin-off Monster Hunter Stories 2 also features only six weapons out of 14. Here’s hoping Niantic can add all of the iconic weapons sooner than later.