Monster Hunter Wildsoffers a large variety of weapons and play styles, with 14 base weapon types and a multitude of crafting variations for each. Heavy Bowguns are one of three ranged-only weapon types, alongside the Light Bowgun and theBow. The Heavy Bowgun is a hard-hitting, slow-firing variant that relies on players being able to take their attack opportunities wisely.
Heavy Bowguns rely a lot on Ignition Mode to fire special ammo, which requires building the Ignition Gauge effectively. Different types of Heavy Bowguns have different effects on how the Ignition gauge will charge. On top of that, different Heavy Bowguns have access to different special ammo types, as well as different ammo mods. That means there’s a lot to consider when choosing the right Heavy Bowgun for a player’s build.
This topic focuses on the best Heavy Bowguns that are available throughout the campaign, to help with the player’s journey to High Rank, as well as the best Heavy Bowguns to take on the endgame. With that in mind, these are the best Heavy Bowguns inMonster Hunter Wilds.
Low Rank Bowgun Upgrade
Weapon Stats:
This low-rank Heavy Bowgun upgrade is one of the best all-around options that players can use early on inMonster Hunter Wilds. The inherent skillsGuard and Attack Boostprovide fairly minor benefits at this stage, but they’re useful to have.
Bone Shooter II
The Bone Shooter also has access to some useful special ammo types, and Spread and Pierce ammo as basic types, which can help players get used to different ammunition and how to get optimal damage with each early on.
6G. Veldian Tormentum I
Tetrad Shot is one of the best skills for Heavy Bowgun users, and theG Veldian Tormentum Iis an early option with the skill built in. Players will have to get to and defeatGuardian Arkveldbefore they can craft this weapon, but it’s a good option for mid-game thereafter.
Tetrad Shot empowers the fourth and sixth shots from a magazine, and this Bowgun’s ammo types have enough capacity to make use of it. This combines well with builds using Burst, as the sixth shot of consecutive hits will get both skills' bonuses and deal big damage.
Mid-Game Heavy Bowgun
As players move from mid-game to the early part of High Rank hunting inMonster Hunter Wilds, they’ll need a Heavy Bowgun that can carry them until better options become available. TheTankmage Ihas versatile uses with Cluster and Spread ammo at level two, and access to Poison and Exhaust asspecial ammo types.
The inherent skill of Guard level two isn’t the most useful weapon skill, but there are enough decoration slots to get three ranks in Tetrad Shot. The upgraded Ignition Mode on this weapon also gets players more use out of their Wyvernheart and Wyverncounter shots.
Early High Rank Artian Bowgun
The customizability of Artian weapons makes them arguably the best choice for manyweapon categoriesonce players can access them. The first Artian Heavy Bowgun is the Artian Sheller, and it’s a rarity six weapon that can be crafted relatively early in a player’s High Rank journey.
Players can build this weapon to suit their preferences, but a good option at this stage is to aim for attack and affinity infusions first, and use paralysis as the element/status. Pierce ammo should be the priority for ammo mods. Aim for capacity as reinforcements to boost the effectiveness of Tetrad Shot, which can be added with decorations.
Gore Magala Endgame Bowgun
Once players get tothe highest hunter ranks, they’re going to need a rarity eight weapon to take on the rank 36 and above monsters. The final upgrade in the Gore Magala tree, Ableben Abzug, is a good option if players want to go for high raw damage and affinity.
This weapon is great with a build focused on critical hits, and works well with skills like Weakness Exploit, Flayer, and Agitator built into the player’s armor. The weapon also comes with level three Pierce ammo, which is one of the stronger basic ammo types.
G. Arkveld Endgame Bowgun
The G. Aeternal Palamedes has the highest raw damage of any Heavy Bowgun (equal to the Gravios Gigahowl), and comes with Tetrad Shot level two built in. It has low affinity, so this weapon is best used withbuilds that focus on loading the damage up-frontwith attack buffs. Combining the attack bonuses from Burst, Agitator, and Tetrad Shot can work well for this.
The weapon comes with two level three decoration slots, so there’s plenty of ability to slot in multiple ranks of the player’s preferred weapon skills. This Bowgun can be a good raw damage option for the endgame if players don’t want to use an Artian weapon.
Artian Heavy Bowgun
The Greifen is the final upgrade in the Artian weapon tree, and it’s one of the most powerful Heavy Bowguns available forMonster Hunter Wilds' endgame, though some of that is dependent on rolling the desired infusions. As with the Artian Sheller, it’s a good idea to go for attack and affinity infusions first and use paralysis as the element/status.
Further reinforcement with attack, affinity, and capacity should be prioritized, and players can choose to use mods for Pierce or Spread ammo, depending on which they prefer at this point in the game. Being an Artian weapon, there’s plenty of room for weapon decorations to slot in Tetrad Shot, Ballistics, Opening Shot, or any other weapon skills players prefer.
