How to change slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

Even if you’re using melee weapons as your Primary and Secondary in Monster Hunter Wilds, you always have a ranged weapon in the form of your slinger. But there are a lot of different ammo types for your slinger, and changing from one to another can be a bit confusing.

There are two main types of slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds: the kind you can store in your pouch and the kind that you can’t. The game doesn’t formally acknowledge these two categories, but I’m going to call them “pouch ammo” and “found ammo” because they work differently. Things can get particularly confusing when you pick up a found ammo type when you have a pouch ammo type equipped at the time. But fear not, this guide to slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds will clarify everything.

How to equip and change pouch slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

If you try to fire your slinger with no ammo equipped, then your hunter opens and closes their left hand but shoots nothing. To fire your slinger, you need to equip some ammo. Do this by holding L1/LB and scrolling through your item bar with Square/X and Circle/B. This is the first confusing part—your slinger ammo is in the item bar along with practical items like your Camping Kit and Fishing Rod, which isn’t exactly intuitive. Highlight the slinger ammo you want and release L1/LB to equip it.

Any slinger ammo you have is represented by a bow-and-arrow icon. If you can’t see any of those icons in your item bar, then you don’t have any pouch slinger ammo. See below for a complete list of pouch ammo sources and effects.

To change pouch slinger ammo, select a different type from the item bar. There are also two ways to unequip pouch slinger ammo. You can either select a non-ammo item from the item bar or tap Square/X to (un)equip your selected ammo.

This makes more sense when you have both types.

How to equip and change found slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

To equip found slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds, pick it up from the environment, and that will automatically equip it. See below for a list of sources of found slinger ammo.

Found slinger ammo isn’t stored in your pouch, so you can only hold one type of found slinger ammo at any time, and you can’t change between two different found ammos. But you can quickly change between a found ammo and a pouch ammo.

If you’re holding a found ammo and have a pouch ammo selected in the item bar, then pressing Square/X will (un)equip the pouch ammo, effectively allowing you to switch between the two. Notice that the found ammo icon slots in behind the pouch ammo icon when the pouch ammo is equipped.

How to equip the Paint Pod and Throwing Knife slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

The throwing knife is a basic slinger ammo that does minimal damage and causes no status effects, and the Paint Pod is a special slinger ammo that you can use to mark and track monsters. Both are unlimited and equipped in yet another different way.

Equip them by holding L1/LB and selecting it on the essential items wheel—down on the D-pad, then down-right with the right stick for the Paint Pod or up-left for the Throwing Knife. If you do this with a found ammo equipped the Paint Pod or Throwing Knife will replace the found ammo temporarily, but you don’t lose the found ammo. Just press Square/X a couple of times to re-equip the found ammo.

All pouch slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

In the table below, you’ll find all of the pouch ammo types we’ve discovered so far.

All found slinger ammo in Monster Hunter Wilds

In the table below, you’ll find all of the pouch ammo types we’ve discovered so far.