The Boost Bracer is the headline hunting action for Monster Hunter Wilds: Ascendance, and Capcom has now shown how it changes every weapon in the game. Across a run of short breakdown videos, each of the 14 weapon types got its own demonstration of Boosted Actions, capped off with a single recap reel covering all of them.
Quick answer: Build Boost Bracer energy by attacking aggressively, then activate Boost with a Boost Driver attack or a weapon-specific action. While boosted, you get new combos, enhanced attacks, and stronger guarding.
How Boost Bracer energy and Boost Drivers work
The Boost Bracer is a piece of gear that every hunter carries in Master Rank. It holds energy that you fill by staying on the offensive rather than by consuming items, so the system rewards pressure instead of retreating. Once you have energy banked, you spend it to enter a temporary Boost state.
Entry happens through a Boost Driver, a dedicated attack that both damages the monster and switches Boost on. Some weapons have their own alternate entries, and Boost can also be triggered partway through certain actions, which means you do not always have to stop a combo to turn it on.
Build Boost Bracer energy by staying aggressive with your attacks, then activate Boost with a special Boost Driver attack, or other unique actions per weapon.
What Boost changes in combat
Boost is a timed state, not a permanent upgrade. While it is active, specific moves in your kit are swapped out or strengthened, and the differences are shown as direct side-by-side comparisons of the normal move against the boosted version.
- New combos, including faster strings that do not exist outside Boost.
- Enhanced attacks that trade normal swings for higher-damage versions with red energy effects.
- Enhanced guarding, which holds up better against attacks like a monster’s fire breath.
- Mid-action activation, letting you flip into Boost during certain moves.
Footage shown in the breakdowns comes from a game still in development, so individual move properties may change before release.
Boosted Actions for all 14 weapon types
Every weapon gets three headline additions. Below they are grouped by how the weapons actually play, rather than by the order the videos landed in.
Great Sword and Long Sword
- Great Sword: flings forward with the Boost Driver, unleashes explosive charged slashes, and chains offset attacks together.
- Long Sword: builds Spirit Gauge while slashing, gains enhanced combos and counters, and improves offset and stagger potential.
Sword & Shield and Dual Blades
- Sword & Shield: empowered combos, coating application through the Bladecoating Slash, and the ability to clutch onto wounds from a distance.
- Dual Blades: an unrelenting demonic barrage, pinpoint combo control, and increased melee range.
Hammer, Hunting Horn, Lance, and Gunlance
- Hammer: aerial assaults that reach high heads, erupting movement, and bigger impact hits.
- Hunting Horn: monster-dropping beats, aerial and multi-hit strikes, and more aggressive Echo Bubble play.
- Lance: a slam-and-charge Boost Driver, high-velocity thrusts, and counters that return hits with greater force.
- Gunlance: a Boost Driver charge-in, more explosions, and the option to defend and reload at the same time.
Switch Axe, Charge Blade, and Insect Glaive
- Switch Axe: blasts that build the Switch and Amp Gauge, a forward burst with element discharge, and new combos and follow-ups.
- Charge Blade: earth-shattering elemental discharge, energy-enhanced sword blows, and instantaneous phial charges.
- Insect Glaive: acrobatic onslaught combos, an empowered Kinsect, and new offset attacks.
Bow, Light Bowgun, and Heavy Bowgun
- Bow: close-range blasts, boosted arrow firepower, and coverage at every distance.
- Light Bowgun: run-and-gun movement, gunslinging counters, and a storm of bullets.
- Heavy Bowgun: the Boosted Compression Cannon, overcharged rounds you load and fire, and reduced recoil.
How the weapon breakdown videos were released
Capcom opened the run with a general Boosted Action overview that introduced the Boost Bracer, followed immediately by the Great Sword breakdown. From there, one weapon video went out per day until all 14 had been covered, closing with a recap compilation that strings every breakdown together in a single video.
Each weapon clip follows the same template. You see the weapon’s normal moveset, the Boost Driver or alternate activation, a side-by-side of standard versus boosted moves, and a finisher using the Boost Bracer. If you only watch one, the recap covers the same ground in roughly 15 minutes.
Ascendance release window, platforms, and what you need to play
Ascendance is a paid expansion, not a standalone release, so the base game is required. Monster Hunter Wilds is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam, with a Switch 2 version in development.
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Release window | 2027 |
| Platforms | PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Switch 2 |
| Requirement | Monster Hunter Wilds base game |
| Progression tier | Master Rank |
Beyond the Boost Bracer, the expansion adds new monsters, a new locale, and the next part of the Expedition Team’s story, with Master Rank as the difficulty tier the boosted movesets are built around. No specific day or month within 2027 has been confirmed.
