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In Monster Hunter Wilds, weapons can be categorized as either easy to use or complex. The more intricate weapons often come with a steep learning curve, but they also offer great potential for skilled players.
The Heavy Bowgun stands out in this classification. It is mechanically intricate yet surprisingly easy to grasp, perhaps second only to the Hammer in simplicity. The weapon’s complexity largely lies in its preparation, while the actual combat mechanics are quite straightforward.
Overview of the Heavy Bowgun
When using the Heavy Bowgun, there’s a lot to keep in mind regarding both the open-world environment and your target monster. Knowing how different types of ammunition interact with various creatures is crucial, especially when hunting more formidable foes. Thus, effective preparation and loading of your Heavy Bowgun are essential for success.
Once the battle begins, however, the Heavy Bowgun’s combat mechanics are quite simple. It does reduce your mobility significantly and has specific range limitations, but it allows you to deal substantial damage consistently, especially when teamed up with a melee Hunter who can distract the monster.
Keep in mind that using the Heavy Bowgun makes your dodging ability less effective, which is something to consider when evading monster attacks.
Guard and Auto-Guard
Your Heavy Bowgun has a Guard feature, allowing you to block some incoming damage. Additionally, the Heavy Bowgun can Auto-Guard when you’re not performing certain actions, though this is only effective from the front.
You cannot achieve a Perfect Guard using Auto-Guard; you have to manually activate the Guard just before a monster’s attack lands to execute a Perfect Guard, which will counterattack automatically.
Types of Heavy Bowgun Ammo
The Heavy Bowgun has a variety of ammunition types, all of which can be crafted from materials discovered across different environments. The available ammo types include:
| Ammo Type | Materials | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | N/A | N/A |
| Pierce Ammo | N/A | Pierces armor, impacting some creatures multiple times. |
| Spread Ammo | N/A | Low-range, high-damage ammo. |
| Slicing Ammo | Slashberry | Can sever tails. |
| Sticky Ammo | Blastnut or Bomb Arowana Scale + Normal Ammo | Sticks to monsters and explodes, stunning on headshots. |
| Cluster Bomb | Bomberry | Splits into multiple shells upon impact. |
| Wyvern Ammo | Dragonstrike Nut + Normal Ammo | Low-range, high-damage ammo. |
| Poison Ammo | Toadstool + Normal Ammo | Poisons monsters. |
| Paralysis Ammo | Parashroom + Normal Ammo | Paralyzes monsters. |
| Sleep Ammo | Sleep Herb + Normal Ammo | Puts monsters to sleep. |
| Flaming Ammo | Fire Herb + Normal Ammo | Deals increased damage to monsters weak to fire. |
| Water Ammo | Flowfern + Normal Ammo | Deals increased damage to monsters weak to water. |
| Freeze Ammo | Snow Herb + Normal Ammo | Deals increased damage to monsters weak to ice. |
| Thunder Ammo | Thunderbug Capacitor + Normal Ammo | Deals increased damage to monsters weak to thunder. |
| Dragon Ammo | Dragonfell Berry + Normal Ammo | Deals increased damage to monsters weak to dragon. |
| Recover Ammo | Blue Mushroom + Normal Ammo | Creates a healing cloud upon impact. |
| Demon Ammo | Might Seed + Normal Ammo | Creates an attack-strengthening cloud upon impact. |
| Armor Ammo | Adamant Seed + Normal Ammo | Creates a defense-strengthening cloud upon impact. |
| Exhaust Ammo | Exciteshroom + Normal Ammo | Depletes a monster’s stamina. |
| Tranq Ammo | Tranq Bomb + Normal Ammo | Used to capture monsters caught in traps. |
Each type of ammo is more effective in different situations. For example, Recover Ammo can be especially helpful when hunting with a team, allowing you to heal multiple players without consuming potions.
The more you engage with specific monsters, the better you’ll understand their weaknesses. Once you’ve taken one down, you can refer to your Monster Field Guide to determine which effects will work best against them and what they are immune to.
Customizing Your Heavy Bowgun
You can customize your Heavy Bowgun by visiting the Smithy, navigating to the Equipment Menu, and selecting Customize Bowgun. From this point, you can modify any Heavy or Light Bowgun you’ve built, including their mods and specialized ammo.
Mods mainly focus on increasing ammo capacity for specific magazine types like Elemental, Spread, etc., along with various enhancements that optimize the Ignition Mode.
Heavy Bowgun Tips and Combos
There aren’t many complex combos with the Heavy Bowgun; primarily, you are focused on shooting. However, where you position yourself while firing will depend heavily on the ammo type in use. Every type of ammo has a specific range where it performs best, and shooting from beyond that zone will result in noticeably decreased damage.
To determine if you’re within the ideal range for your ammo type, enter Focus Mode and check your reticle. If it changes to orange and reshapes slightly, you’re in the optimal range.
Basic Attacks
Basic attacking with your Heavy Bowgun fires whatever ammo you’ve selected. You can aim by using Focus Mode to ensure your shots hit their intended targets.
By default, this will fire the regular version of your Heavy Bowgun, using the ammo you’ve selected or crafted, without any Special Ammo. Your ammo count is displayed at the bottom right of your screen.
Once your magazine is empty, reload by pressing the fire button or the Basic Attack button.
You can switch the loaded ammo on the fly to adapt to changing situations, but keep track of your non-infinite ammo counts.
Understanding Ignition Mode
Switching to Ignition Mode means you will transition from using crafted/default ammo to Special Ammo. This Special Ammo is an unlimited resource, but it does not fire indefinitely; it requires you to deal damage and spend time in regular mode to recharge.
There are various Ignition Mode types, which can be customized on your Bowgun through the Bowgun Customization screen:
- Wyvernheart Ignition fires continuously, providing a steady stream of damage.
- Wyvernpiercer Ignition increases damage the longer your target is hit.
- Wyrverncounter Ignition unleashes a close-range blast that can unbalance enemy monsters.
- Wyrvernblast Ignition covers a larger area and is ideal for mid-range combat.
Generally, if you need to be defensive, remaining in regular mode is advisable. Conversely, if you’re being aggressive and have the capability, Ignition Mode is the way to go. There are exceptions, primarily when you have a specific plan involving your crafted ammo.
When firing in Ignition Mode, your Heavy Bowgun will experience recoil, so you’ll need to compensate for that to remain accurate.
Focus Blast: Wyvern Howl Shot
The Focus Blast for each weapon is intended to target a monster’s wound; hitting a wound results in significantly increased damage.
For the Heavy Bowgun, this attack can be performed at range, launching one of your three recharging charges. In normal mode, it will fire just one, still delivering impressive damage.
In Ignition Mode, you can charge this ability, allowing two or three charges to be fired at once, resulting in drastically higher damage. Just be careful that your shots hit, as those charges take time to replenish.
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