Wild Hearts Goldshard guide: How to beat, weaknesses, material drops, and more

Each kemono in Wild Hearts has a different approach you should take while combating it. This huge porcupine can fire off volleys of crystal shards from its back. This means you will want to play defensively and have some karakuri in place to either take the shots for you or hide behind.

At first, it can feel tough due to how much AOE damage it can potentially deal to Wild Hearts players. Thankfully, this particular kemono is not without its weaknesses and tactics to deal with it. After a bit of work, the Goldshard can be quite easy to fight. Here's what you need to know to tackle this foe.

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What do you need to know about the Goldshard kemono in Wild Hearts?

Strengths and weaknesses of Goldshard

• Attribute: Earth
• Soft/Weak Spots: Head
• Attribute Weaknesses: Wood, Wind
• Attribute Resistances: Fire, Earth
• Ailment Resistances: Ablaze
• Physical Attack Effectiveness: Pummel, Lunge
• Habitat: Akikure Canyon (Silverglass Plains, Winter Solstice Cavern)

Those above stats show Wild Hearts players where they need to focus their attacks. Use Pummel and Lunge weapons, focusing primarily on the beast's head. It takes much less damage to its body, which makes sense, given all the crystal shards that grow from its back. You can, however, strike its tail, but be careful.

When Goldshard starts to turn, that means you're in danger. At this point, it'll start firing off volleys of shards at the player. You should certainly dodge them, but there are karakuri that can help you stay safe as well.

Speaking of these bosses' attacks, what can you expect?

• Goldshard Bite: Lunges forward and bites
• Goldshard Charge: Quickly runs to tackle the player
• Spinning Hop: Hops forward and spins, which unloads a wave of spines behind it
• Tail Slam: Lifts its tail and slams it down; knocks down players too close
• Laying Spine Thrust: Lays down and thrusts spined back at the player
• Swipe and Slam: Performs two paw slams, then slams its body down and fires spines
• Spine Volley: Launches huge gold spines from its back
• Rolling Attack: Rolls at the player to try and crush them and stab with spines
• Furious Spine Quake: When enraged, it makes enormous spines erupt from the ground nearby itself

If you're going to use a defensive karakuri - which you should - you should use Shield Wall Karakuri. It takes less thread than Bulwark Karakuri and less time to implement. If you know you'll need the Bulwark, it's okay, but Shield Wall is ultimately far more useful.

Spring Karakuri is beneficial for dodging charge attacks, like the Goldshard Charge and Laying Spine Thrust in Wild Hearts. If you need to stand somewhere, the beast's side is a safe place to be.

Players will see the Furious Spine Quake when it enrages, and some of its attacks will start hitting harder or have new effects. For example, the Rolling Attack now charges up before striking, so you have time to create a Shield Wall.

While enraged, attacks trigger faster, and attacks that fire volleys of spines will cast a second time, so be on the move in the later phases of this Wild Hearts fight. Defeating this boss grants materials that build towards the Veteran armor set, alongside Sporetail materials. You can also be granted Earth attribute weapon upgrades from this boss.

• Goldshard Incisor
• Goldshard Tail
• Goldshard Claw
• Goldshard Spine
• Rare Goldshard Calculus
• Veteran Teardrops
• Veteran Kemono Blood
• Small Harvest Crystal

It's not an incredibly complex kemono in Wild Hearts, but he does become far more threatening in the enraged mode. Be careful of his aggressive movements, and set up some springs and karakuri to defend/evade his attacks.