Common Controls
Here are the common uses for every input on the DualShock 2 gamepad.
| During Quests | In Village/Town | In Menus |
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Cross Button | Dodge roll (while not sprinting); Dive (while sprinting away from a monster); Crouch/stand up (while standing still) | Progress/skip NPC Dialogue | Cancel |
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Circle Button | Gather items (if no tool is required); Open the Item Box, Supply Box, and Delivery Box; sheathe your weapon; accept an item from | Talk to NPCs; Progress/skip NPC Dialogue | Confirm |
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Square Button | Use the highlighted item on the carousel (if your weapon is sheathed); sheathe your weapon | Enter/exit a given area in village/town (your house, the tavern, etc.); begin the accepted quest (when at the village/town exit) | View item/equipment details.; show armor skill menu (if an armor piece is highlighted) |
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Triangle Button | Open the chat menu (when online;) Open the Chief's Wisdom menu (when in some village quests) | |
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Select Button | Toggle minimap size | | Automatically sort inventory/item box |
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Start Button | Open/close menu |
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L1 Button | Snap the camera in the direction the hunter is facing | | Go to previous page in item/equipment box |
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L2 Button | Hold to open the item carousel, and press Square Button and Circle Button to cycle the active item | | Go to previous page in equipment menu |
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R1 Button | (see weapon-specific controls) | | Show materials required to craft highlighted equipment (at a blacksmith);) Go to next page in item/equipment box |
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R2 Button | Hold to sprint | Go to next page in equipment menu |
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Left Analog Stick | Move your hunter. Move fully in a direction to jog, move lightly to walk or tip-toe. | Rotate your hunter when accessing your item box |
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L3 Button | Ping your position to all hunters on the map | | |
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Right Analog Stick | Draw your weapon; attack while your weapon is drawn (see below for controls per weapon) | | Move the camera when accessing your item box |
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R3 Button | Kick while weapon is sheathed (see weapon-specific controls) | | |
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Direction Pad | Move the camera | Change which NPC or player to interact with (if multiple NPCs or players are in front of you) | Navigate menus |
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Dodging
Dodging works the same with all weapon classes while the weapon is sheathed. Press the while moving to dodge roll in a given direction. Dodge rolling will provide a small number of invulnerability frames (i-frames.) If you press while sprinting away from a monster that has seen you, you will dive instead, which has a longer recovery time but covers more distance and provides many more i-frames.
With your weapon drawn you cannot dive (since you cannot sprint.) While attacking with a Great Sword, Hammer, or Sword and Shield, or Dual Swords you can dodge roll to cancel the attack animation early; you can dodge forward or dodge roll left or right. The left and right dodge roll cancels are slower than dodging forward. While wielding a Lance, you will backhop when you hit instead of dodge rolling. If you dodge cancel a Lance attack, you can hop left, right, or back. Hold down on the left analog stick to hop back a greater distance. You cannot dodge cancel while firing a Bowgun.
Great Sword Controls
Right Analog Stick Up or Down | Chop: the Great Sword's strongest attack; an overhead chop that puts the full weight of your weapon to bear; moves your hunter forward a step; this is also the Great Sword's Drawing Attack. |
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Right Analog Stick Left | Slash: the Great Sword's fastest attack; a horizontal slash from left to right; moves your hunter forward a step. |
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Right Analog Stick Right | Upswing: a high-reaching attack that can also hit monsters behind you; a vertical slash starting from the lower right up and over your hunter's left shoulder; moves your hunter backward a step. Can send other hunters airborne, which will break Paralysis. |
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The Great Sword has three attacks that can chain into each other: the Chop (and Drawing Chop,) Slash, and Upswing. You can chain any one of these attacks into either of the other two indefinitely. Since the Upswing is the only attack that moves you backwards, you can alternate it with either of the other two attacks and avoid moving too far away from your starting point. This is an excellent way to focus one part of a monster, especially if that monster is locked down in some way (paralyzed, trapped, etc.)
Guarding against a monster's attack with the Great Sword will reduce its sharpness. You move more slowly with the Great Sword drawn. Drawing and Sheathing the Great Sword is slower than other weapons.
Hammer Controls
Right Analog Stick Up | Slam 1: bring the Hammer overhead and pound the ground. |
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Right Analog Stick Up (after Slam 1) | Slam 2: pound the ground again after Slam 1. |
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Right Analog Stick Up (after Slam 2) | Slam 3: weaker version of Slam 1 and 2Golf Swing: the Hammer's strongest attack, and the single strongest attack motion in the game; swing the Hammer upward on your right side, like a right-handed golfer. Can send other hunters airborne, which will break Paralysis. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | Side Swing: the Hammer's fastest attack; swing the Hammer horizontally on your right side; this is also the Hammer's Drawing Attack. |
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R1 Button | Charged Swing 1: a short downward swing; hold and release R1 Button before the first charging pulse sound; if the Hammer is sheathed, this will draw it and begin charging. |
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R1 Button | Charged Swing 2: the same attack as Charged Swing 1 with second upward swing; hold and release R1 Button after the first charging pulse sound, but before the second. The second swing can send other hunters airborne, which will break Paralysis. |
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R1 Button | Superpound: quickly swing the Hammer upward and bring it crashing down; hold and release R1 Button after the second charging pulse sound while standing still. |
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R1 Button | Spin: begin to spin out of control for up to five total spins; hold and release R1 Button after the second charging pulse sound while moving. |
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Right Analog Stick (while spinning) | Golf Swing: the Hammer's strongest attack, and the single strongest attack motion in the game; swing the Hammer upward on your right side, like a right-handed golfer; move the Right Analog Stick in any direction while spinning. Can send other hunters airborne, which will break Paralysis. |
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While weak, the Side Swing does chain into Slam 1. The only weapon that exclusively deals blunt damage. Charging with R1 Button consumes stamina, and can be dodge canceled.
Lance Controls
Right Analog Stick Up, Left, or Right | Level Thrust: thrust the Lance forward, level with the ground; this is also the Lance's Drawing Attack. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | Upward Thrust: thrust the Lance upward. |
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Right Analog Stick | Charge Attack: begin charging forward, dealing damage as the Lance collides with monsters; press Circle Button or Square Button to cancel the Charge. |
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Right Analog Stick (while charging) | Charge Attack Thrust: the Lance's single strongest attack; thrust the Lance forward while charging, ending the charge. Can send other hunters flying, which will break Paralysis. |
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Right Analog Stick movement (while guarding) | Guarding Thrust: thrust the Lance forward while guarding. |
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The Level and Upward Thrust can be chained together in any combination, up to three times (E.G. three Levels, Level→Up→Up, etc.) It is common to use hopping to reposition, and keep focusing on the part of the monster you want to hit. You can thrust cancel out of a hop to chain together three-thrust combos very quickly. The Charge Attack Thrust can be hop cancelled.
You move more slowly with the Lance drawn. Drawing and Sheathing the Lance is slower than other weapons.
Sword and Shield Controls
Right Analog Stick Up #1 | Slice 1: swing the Sword overhead. |
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Right Analog Stick Up #2 | Slice 2: swing the Sword from left to right; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Slice 1. |
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Right Analog Stick Up #3 | Slice 3: bash with the Shield and swing the Sword overhead; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Slice 2. Can send other hunters flying, which will break Paralysis. |
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Right Analog Stick Left or Right | Revolving Slice: the Sword and Shield's strongest attack; spin while stepping forward and slicing horizontally in front of you. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | Jumping Slice: leap forward, slicing your Sword downward; this is also the Sword and Shield's Drawing Attack. |
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Right Analog Stick | Rising Slice: swing the Sword upward; move the Right Analog Stick in any direction after a Jumping Slice. |
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Right Analog Stick | Rolling Slice: swing the Sword upward; move the Right Analog Stick in any direction after a dodge roll. |
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Right Analog Stick | Guard Attack: swing the Sword from right to left with your Shield up; move the Right Analog Stick while guarding. |
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Any of the three Slices, the Jumping Slice, the Rising Slice, and the Rolling Slice can chain into the Revolving Slice. The Jumping Slice-Rising Slice combo can chain into Slice 1.
Dual Swords Controls
Right Analog Stick Up | Slice 1: swing your right-hand Sword. |
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Right Analog Stick Up | Slice 2: swing once with each Sword; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Slice 1. |
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Right Analog Stick Up Up | Slice 3: alternate three swings between each Sword; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Slice 2. |
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Right Analog Stick Left or Right | Revolving Slice: spin three times, swinging your Swords outward. Move the Right Analog Stick Left to spin toward the left, Right to spin right. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | Charging Slice: rush forward with both Swords and swing them out to either side. This is also the Dual Swords' Drawing Attack. |
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Right Analog Stick | Rolling Slice: swing your right-handed Sword upward; move the Right Analog Stick movement in any direction after a dodge roll. |
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R1 Button | Demon Mode: enter or leave Demon Mode, in which all attacks are altered (per the table below.) |
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Demon Mode Attacks |
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Right Analog Stick Up | Demon Slice 1: swing your right-hand Sword. |
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Right Analog Stick Up | Demon Slice 2: swing once with each Sword; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Demon Slice 1. |
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Right Analog Stick Up | Demon Slice 3: alternate three swings between each Sword; move the Right Analog Stick Up after Demon Slice 2. |
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Right Analog Stick Left or Right | Demon Revolving Slice: spin six times, swinging your Swords outward. Move the to spin toward the left, to spin right. |
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Right Analog Stick | Demon Rolling Slice: swing your right-handed Sword upward; move the in any direction after a dodge roll. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | Fury Combo: the Dual Swords' strongest combo; unleash a flurry of Sword swings while standing in place. |
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The Charging Slice can combo into Slice 1 and the Revolving Slice.
While in Demon Mode, attacks will not bounce, though they will make the bouncing sound if the hitzone is hard enough, and deplete as much sharpness as bouncing would. You also will be immune to Wind Pressure. Demon Mode will constantly consume Stamina while active, and will automatically deactivate when your Stamina runs out. If you deplete all your Stamina during a Demon attack, the attack will continue as normal, and Demon Mode will deactivate afterward. If you are attacked, sent flying, etc. when Demon Mode depletes your Stamina, you will not exit Demon Mode (and not recover any Stamina) until you begin to stand back up.
Bowgun Controls
R3 Button | Fire Bowgun: fire the currently loaded ammo. |
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Right Analog Stick Up | Melee: swing the bowgun in front of you. |
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Right Analog Stick Down | (Re)load: load the currently selected ammo. Reload time is the same regardless of the chamber size, whether you are loading a different type of ammo, or reloading ammo you already have some of in the chamber. |
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L1 Button | Third-person Reticle: hold to show the aiming reticle; move the reticle with the Direction Pad while standing still; moving the will snap the reticle in the direction your hunter is facing. |
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L2 Button | Cycle Ammo: hold to highlight your available ammo; press the to cycle upward and the to cycle downward. |
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R1 Button | First-person Aiming: toggle First-person Aiming; use the or the Direction Pad to aim, and the to zoom in and out (if you have a Zoom Scope installed.) |
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Light and Heavy Bowguns have the same controls, and only differ in two ways: drawing and sheathing takes much longer with Heavy Bowguns, and you will move faster with a Light Bowgun drawn. Light Bowguns typically have less Attack, faster reload time, and can load a smaller variety of damaging shots than Heavy Bowguns. You will begin a quest with no ammo loaded. When you cycle ammo types, if you release the L2 Button on a different ammo type, any ammo you had loaded will be unloaded.
Normal Shot and Pierce Shot are subject to Critical Range: if you fire too close or too far away from the monster, your shots will deal less damage. See the Bowguns section of the Weapons page for more details.
Bowguns can also have several attachments installed by a blacksmith: the Zoom Scope, Long Barrel, and Silencer. The Zoom Scope allows you to zoom in and out while in First-person Aiming (the lowest zoom has a wider field of view than normal.) The Long Barrel and Silencer are mutually exclusive: the Long Barrel increases the Bowgun's Range stat by 1 (see the Bowguns section of the Weapons page for more details) and reduces Shot deviation, while the Silencer reduces the likelihood that a monster will spot you when you fire the Bowgun.
Reload (ルーコー) Glitch
The Japanese version of Monster Hunter features a peculiar bowgun glitch: the "Reload Glitch" (also known as "Li-Lo" from a rough translation of the term used on Japanese forums.) This glitch allows you to either fire Shots without needing to reload, fire Shots without consuming ammo, or fire Shots with less recoil. You can find a detailed breakdown by Rune at the mholdschool forums here.
The result is dependent on whether you are the current Host of the Zone in which you are fighting. In order to execute the Reload Glitch effectively, you must understand how some aspects of online play work.
First, a brief explanation of Zone Hosting. Online play in Monster Hunter is driven by one player's game sending updates to the others'. The first player to load in to a Zone will be designated the Host. When multiple players enter a Zone at the same time (such as loading into Castle Schrade in the Fatalis quests) the Host will be determined based on a priority with the quest poster at the top and each other player in the order they joined (this order is indicated in-game with the colors assigned to each player: Red is the poster, followed by Blue, Yellow, and Green.) If the current Zone Host leaves the Zone, a new Host will be chosen based on this priority. The Host's game is effectively the "true" state of the Zone, and has the final say on things such as the location of a Large Monster, what state a Large Monster is currently in, and what Bowgun ammo has been fired (as well as several other things.) (Also, the positions of Small Monsters are not shared with other players, although their health is.) The Host's game periodically sends this information via the game server to other players in the game, and the other players' games will use rollback logic to keep their games up-to-date; this can cause monsters to appear to teleport, and other aberrations such as the Reload Glitch.
With this in mind, here's how the Reload Glitch works: you load Shot A, fire a shot, and cycle to Shot B without releasing the L2 Button; in your game you will fire Shot B, consuming one shot from your inventory, but experience the recoil of Shot A. If Shot A and Shot B have a different load count, the Shot icons will change to the load count for Shot B (which is a useful indication that you performed the glitch correctly.) When you switch back to Shot A and release the L2 Button you will have an extended load count, equal to the total number of Shot B in your inventory.
When playing online, there can be a different effect: if you are the Zone Host, the Reload Glitch will behave exactly as above (and the same as if you execute it offline,) except for other the players in the zone: since you are the Zone Host, Shot B will appear in your game, and Shot B is what will actually hit any Monsters you fire at. If you are not the Zone Host, you will fire Shot B in your game, but a Large Monster will get hit by Shot A. In both cases your fellow players will see you fire Shot A, and feel its effects, if any (like Recovery Shot, Cluster Bomblets, etc.) It is important to understand how the Zone Host is chosen in order to know what outcome the Reload Glitch will have on any Large Monsters you fire at.
This behavior can be exploited in a number of ways, typically using Normal Shot Lv1: this has the least recoil of any Shot, and comes in an unlimited quantity, you can use it in tandem with any other shot to do one of the following three things:
- Normal Shot Lv1 is Shot B, execute once: this will glitch the load count for Shot A to a very large number, and load all the Shot A from your inventory into the Bowgun: this will allow you to fire Shot A without having to reload. The Bowgun will remain loaded this way, even if you sheathe it, until you load a different Shot. This is the easiest use of this glitch, and does not depend on who is the Zone Host.
- Normal Shot Lv1 is Shot B, you are not the Zone Host: every time you execute the glitch, you will fire Shot A without consuming Shot A in your inventory (the game would consume one of Shot B, but since this is Normal Shot Lv1, you will never run out.) This is ideal for Shot types that are expensive, like Dragon Shot, or that you cannot normally carry or combine in abundance, like Crag Shot (or if you're too poor to afford lots of Genprey Claws.)
- Normal Shot Lv1 is Shot A, you are the Zone Host: fire Shot B with minimal recoil. This is ideal for heavy ammo like Stun Shot Lv2 and Cluster Shot, and will also bypass the need to reload. Many monsters can be Paralysis locked by this method as long as you don't run out of combination materials.
Finally, the technique itself. Organize your inventory so Shot A and Shot B are next to each other, and be sure to load Shot A before performing the glitch. When you have your target Monster in your sites, execute the following commands in quick succession:
- Press the R3 Button to fire Shot A.
- Allow the shortest possible pause (only one or two frames, 16~33ms.)
- Press and hold the L2 Button and at the same time (or within a frame or two) press the Cross Button or the Triangle Button to cycle to Shot B.
- Wait a few frames while the shot fires.
- Cycle your ammo in the opposite direction (to your original ammo.)
- Release the L2 Button.
This technique requires precise execution (especially on emulator,) and can take some time to execute reliably. Shots A and B must be adjacent in your ammo queue: the timing is too precise to cycle more than one slot. Practicing offline can help, since you can safely abandon to recover any lost Shots. Use two Shot types with different load counts, like Normal Shot Lv1 and Para Shot Lv2, so you know for certain when you execute the glitch properly.