It turns out monsters aren’t the only ones who got upgrades in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne — your slinger got one as well and it’s a doozy.
Now introducing: the Clutch Claw.
What Is The Clutch Claw?
The Clutch Claw is an attachment for your slinger that allows you to mount a monster from any position.
Here are the key controls:
- Circle or B to use the Clutch Claw after bring out your Slinger
- Control Stick to move
- Triangle or Y to do a Weapon Attack
- Circle or B to use a Claw Attack
- R2 or RT to do a Flinch Shot
- X or A to Drop Down
Needless to say, you have a good number of options at your disposal once you’ve latched onto a monster. However, you need to keep in mind that your stamina will deplete rapidly while mounted, you’ll take damage if you’re on the wrong body part when a monster attacks, and the claw itself has reduced effectiveness on enraged monsters.
Beyond that, you’re free to use the Clutch Claw whenever you have the opportunity. And while it’s fun to repeatedly hop onto monsters at any given moment, there are ways to make each mount as effective as they are fun.
Mastering The Clutch Claw
Though you do have the option of using any action you want while using the Clutch Claw to mount, each one has a specific use and an optimal time to use it.
Weapon Attack
Simply using your weapon attack can be surprisingly damaging depending on which weapon you’re using, but there are two main reasons why you should consider using the Weapon Attack:
- Successful attacks weaken the body part you were attached to, making it more susceptible to damage.
- Slinger Ammo drops regardless of which body is hit
As you can see, Weapon Attack is great for when you need Slinger Ammo for whatever reason, or if you really want to break a vital body part. In my case, I often used it on the head as a monster was recovering from a knock down. In doing so, I was able to maintain DPS while the monster was immobilized, while also ensuring that I was doing increased DPS while it was moving around.
Claw Attack
There isn’t much to say about the Claw Attack since all it does is a minimal amount of damage and force the monster to change direction. However, it becomes quite potent when used with another certain action…
Flinch Shot
Some may disagree, but I firmly believe that Flinch Shot is the single greatest addition in Iceborne. All you have to do is latch on to a monster’s face, unload all your remaining slinger ammo, and watch as it goes careening in the direction it was facing. Just the mere sight of this is great as is, but the potential benefits it has are even greater:
- If a monster who was affected by Flinch Shot falls off a ledge, hits a wall or another monster, it will receive a sizable amount of damage and be momentarily stunned. This isn’t random either, as you can use the Claw Attack to force it to face whatever direction you want it to go in.
- When a monster is flying, Flinch Shot can be used to ground it. This is particularly useful in Master Rank since many monsters who have the capacity to fly will rarely stay on the ground, and Flash Pods quickly lose effectiveness.
- Regardless of how it happens, when a monster receives damage after a successful Flinch Shot, you’ll be rewarded with an account item or crafting material.
I’m basically shilling for it at this point, but I really can’t stress enough how satisfying it feels when Flinch Shot is used correctly. For instance, I used it in conjunction with a hammer and the poor Pink Rathian I was fighting barely had a chance to respond since I kept stunning it. Really, the only limitation is the availability of slinger ammo.
That’s it for the Clutch Claw in Monster Hunter World: Iceborne. It doesn’t seem like much at first glance, but it will revolutionize the way you hunt once you get the hang of it.
