Heavy Bow Gun
Low Rank

Bowguns are easy to use when you get into a hunt, but you’ll have a lot of statistics thrown at you when you look at the weapon information. Different ammunition types, rates of fire, reloading speed, recoil, and a slew of information that is daunting for a novice.

A brief over view of ammo: Normal Shots are just standard single bullets that deal reasonable damage.

Pierce Shots, will continually deal damage while going through monsters. These are best used on monsters that are long and narrow, mostly applying to Brute Wyverns like Barroth and Anjanath or Diablos where you can line up a shot to maximize the number of hits you can get through the body. It doesn’t work nearly as well broadside, and you won’t get as many hits on weakpoints. Pierce will be a much better option for heavy bowgun as you have high loading options.

Spread is basically a shotgun. You have to be extremely close to get maximum damage. It’s actually quite strong, and easy to use, but does put you at higher risk than normal shots or pierce due to your close proximity with the monster. When you tie that with the reduced mobility of heavy bowguns, it’s much riskier.

Sticky Shots are essentially bombs you can fire onto targets that blow up after a certain timeframe. The actual damage output is fairly low considering the timer and reload speed is usually slow. They do deal concussive damage and can be used to KO monsters, as well as break troublesome parts. These are good to utilize on occasion.

Slicing Shot used to be the big boy, but it was nerfed pretty heavily. It’s still a decent option on several heavy bowguns, and can be utilized effectively.

Elemental Shots aren’t great on Heavy Bowgun because they cannot be rapid fired.

There are also status shots. These are all low damage but obviously inflict status. Paralysis, and Poison are great for general purpose hunting. A few of the guns will have sleep shots, which can be used to sleep bomb.

Cluster is a heavy bowgun exclusive. It turns your gun into a mortar. It does a huge amount of damage but is difficult to land, and locks you down. It can be used with some of the highest tier bowguns effectively, but it’s unreliable

Bowguns also have mods you can take. There are reload speed increases, damage at close range, damage at long range, and deviation reduction. Heavy Bowguns also get the ability to equip shields, which will automatically guard if you’re standing still and not shooting. Your mileage will vary based on playstyle, and your ability to position and dodge attacks. Shields might be a great option for you.

Heavy Bowguns have 2 types of special ammo: Wyvernsnipe, and Wyvernheart.

Wyvern Snipe is a longer ranged single shot that deals a ton of damage if you can get it along the entire length of a monster.. The recharge rate on wyvernsnipe is short, but you can miss your shot which hurts a lot.

Wyvernheart turns your heavy bowgun into a mini-gun. You’ll want to try out both and see which you prefer using in practice. Wyvernheart is a lot easier to use, and less punishing if you miss your shots.

Make sure you harvest whatever you can get your hands on for ammunition later. Gunner is inherently more expensive than blademaster because you’re spending cash every hunt on ammunition. You can mitigate this by crafting your own ammunition from harvesting nuts, plants and bugs.

Now that that’s out of the way:

The Short Answer is, well there isn’t really a short answer Big Shooter. A lot of this is going to come down to preference.

Stick with the Ore path, until you can build Tobi-Kadachi’s weapon if you like Slicing and Pierce, then pick up Legiana’s Shattercyst for Pierce, and Diablos’ weapon for Normal Shots. Then you can pick up Teostra and Zorah Magdaros’ end game weapons if you like to roll the dice with Cluster Rounds.

Now for the long answer:

The ore path and bone path start out roughly equivalent. Bone has more damage, but Ore has lower deviation and better ammo loading. This is really your preference, I prefer the lower deviation of the Ore Path. Both will be able to fire Normal 1, 2, 3 and Slicing, which will be your main source of damage in this early stage of the game. Ore tree has Wyvernheart as special ammo, which functions as a machine gun, and Bone tree has Wyvernsnipe as special ammo, which functions as a long range blast. Ore is easier to use overall, as missing a Wyvernsnipe is pretty unforgiving. Both of these are actually capable of getting you through to the end of the game. The Iron Assault Path is actually what I used, but there will be several better, and more specialized options. Slicing is still OK to use, Normal, and Pierce shots will be the main focus.

Pick whichever you prefer, and upgrade it to the next tier.

Upgrade your original Iron Assault 1 into an Iron Assault 2 by using 2 iron ore.

Or

Make a Bone Shooter 1 and upgrade to a Bone Shooter 2 by using 3 Monster Bone S total.

Use these to take on the Great Jagras.

If you’re using the Ore Path, you’ll see that Jagras has an upgrade. This is a trap, just like with Light Bowgun. The damage is higher yes, but you lose loading a lot of ammunition types for Cluster 2. The unreliable nature of cluster makes it a hard sell.

Stick with your Iron Assault 2 or Bone Shooter 2 to take out the Kulu Ya Ku and the Pukei Pukei.

After Pukei-Pukei you’ll be able to upgrade the bone path again.

Upgrade your Bone Shooter 2 into a Bone Shooter 3 by using 2 Monster Bone M, and 1 Ancient Bone.

Now you’ll be forced into an expedition in Wildspire Wastes, mine for Earth Crystals here. Upgrade your Iron Assault 2 into an Iron Assault 3 by using 2 earth crystals, 2 machalite ore, and 5 iron ore.

Continue with your mandatory story hunt of Barroth, followed by Jyuratodus.

Jyuratodus has an upgrade you can take, but it’s primarily a bridge to get you to Legiana’s Shattercyst later. You can build it by making a new Iron Assault 1, and upgrading it to an Iron Assault 2 by using 3 Iron Ore total. Then upgrade it to an Aqua Assault 1 by using 3 Earth Crystal, 1 Jyuratodus Shell, 3 Jyuratodus Scale, and 1 Aqua Sac. The ammo loads aren’t great, and you lose out on some ammo types, so build it, but probably don’t use it.

Follow up by Hunting Tobi-Kadachi as part of the story.

Tobi Kadachi has a decent upgrade you can take. It’s primarily a pierce and slicing shot gun, just like the Iron Assault. You’re trading Wyvernheart on Iron Assault to Wyvernsnipe on Tobi’s. It’s your preference.

Build it by making a new Bone Shooter 1 and upgrading it into a Bone Shooter 2 by using 3 Monster Bone S total. Then upgrade it to a Pulsar Shooter 1 by using 1 Tobi-Kadachi Claw, 3 Tobi-Kadachi Scale, and 2 Tobi-Kadachi Pelt.

Tobi’s gun has 10% affinity and similar loading options to the Iron Assault path, with some variances to capacity and recoil. It will be a reasonable option for getting through the game.

Next up is Anjanath.

Anjanath has a good upgrade you can take. It has insanely high damage but negative affinity and high deviation. It’s a good candidate for shooting Normal 3, as well as being a very strong Shotgun with Spread 1 2 and 3 available with high damage, as well as cluster bomb 1 and 2 for luck based damage. This will be one of the best options through Low and High Rank, but again, it will depend on your preferences. The Iron Assault is still a strong candidate.

Build it by making a new Iron Assault, and upgrading it into an Iron Assault 2 by using 3 Iron Ore. Then upgrade to a Jagras Assault 1 by using 1 Great Jagras Claw, 1 Great Jagras Hide, 3 Great Jagras Scale and 1 Sharp Claw. Then upgrade it to a Blazing Assault 1 by using 2 Anjanath Fang, 3 Anjanath Scale, and 1 Flame Sac.

Afterwards it’s Zorah Magdaros…. Setpeice… etc.

In the Coral Highlands, you’re forced into an expedition to explore.

You can mine here for Dragonite Ore and Coral Crystal.

Upgrade your Iron Assault 3 into a Steel Assault 1 by using 2 Dragonite Ore, 5 Machalite Ore, and 2 Monster Bone M.


Upgrade your Pulsar Shooter 1 into a Pulsar Shooter 2 by using 2 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode, 3 Tobi-kadachi claw, 2 Electro Sac and 3 Coral Crystal.

Continue progressing by hunting Paolumu, but you can deviate and take out Tzitzi Ya Ku to upgrade your Aqua Assault 1 into a Luminous Assault 1 by using 2 Tzitzi Ya Ku Claw, 1 Tzitzi Ya Ku Photophore and 3 Tzitzi Ya Ku Scale. This again, is mostly a bridge into Legiana’s Shattercyst and isn’t remarkable.

Afterwards, finish off Radobaan in the Rotten Vale, then return to the Coral Highlands to take out Legiana

After Legiana you’ll hopefully get Monster Bone+ as well as Legiana Materials.

Upgrade your Steel Assault 1 into a Steel Assault 2 by using 2 Monster Bone+, 5 Dragonite Ore, 2 Coral Crystal, and 10 Machalite Ore.

If you’ve been using Tobi’s Gun, you can upgrade the Pulsar Shooter 2 into a Pulsar Shooter 3 by using 2 Monster Bone+, 2 Tobi Kadachi Electrode, 2 Tobi Kadachi Membrane, and 2 Warped Bones.

Finally, you can upgrade your Luminous Assault 1 into a Shattercyst by using 3 Legaina Claw, 4 Legiana Scale and 2 Frost Sac. Shattercyst is a primarily a pierce gun.

It has high loading for pierce ammo and lower recoil than the Pulsar Shooter, and Steel Assault. It’s more of a one-trick pony than either of those, but it does it’s job extremely well and will be one of the best heavy bow guns for pierce.

Aterwards you’ll descend further into the Rotten Vale and have to fight Odogaron.

Finish up your mandatory hunts of Rathalos and Diablos in whatever order you choose.

If you’re using the Blazing Assault 1, upgrade it after taking out Rathalos and gaining marrow. Upgrade your Blazing Assault 1 into a Blazing Assault 2 by using 1 Rathalos Marrow, 4 Anjanath Fang, 1 Anjanath Nosebone, and 1 Anjanath Tail.

After Diablos you can build it’s gun. It has really high damage, but negative affinity and high deviation. It has low loading, so it’s something you’ll have to decide yourself if you can put up with. It will be one of the strongest per hit Heavy Bowguns in the game.

After beating the Zorah Magdaros setpeice, and killing a deceptively strong Pukei-Pukei, you’ll gain access to High Rank quests. Congratulations, the baby gloves are coming off.

High Rank

Our immediate goal in High Rank is a weapon upgrade to compensate for the increased health of monsters. Thankfully, gun’s don’t need to worry about sharpness, but in high rank we will gain a 3rd mod slot, which will be extremely beneficial. Your ammo loadouts won’t be changing from low to high rank, so it’s just about the damage.

You have a few options once you hit High Rank, depending on what guns you prefer.

You can immediately mine for Carbalite Ore and Dragonvein Crystal. Use them to upgrade your Steel Assault 2 into a Steel Assault 3 by using 8 Carablite Ore, 5 Dragonite Ore, and 2 Dragonvein Crystals.

You can hunt Tobi Kadachi to upgrade your Pulsar Shooter 3 into a Kadachi Lion 1 by using 3 Tobi-Kadachi Claw+, 4 Tobi-Kadachi Scale+, 3 Tobi-Kadachi Pelt+ and 3 Dragonvein Crystals.

You can also hunt Anjanath to upgrade your Blazing Assault 2 into a Flammenkanone by using 4 Anjanath Fang+, 5 Anjanath Scale+, 3 Inferno Sac and 1 Anjanath Plate.

Then you can hunt Legiana to upgrade your Shattercyst into a Shattercyst+ by using 3 Legiana Claw+, 5 Legiana Scale+, 3 Legiana Wing and 2 Freezer Sac.

Finally if you really like the Diablos Gun you can upgrade it all the way to it’s second last tier here by hunting Diablos and Black Diablos. It’s not my favorite gun, but it’s extremely strong, and will be a reasonable candidate. If you hunt Diablos, you can actually upgrade your Kadachi LIon a second time to a Kadachi Lion 2 by using 2 Majestic Horn, 2 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode+, 4 Tobi-Kadachi Claw+ and 3 Thunder Sac.

All of these will have to tide you over until you beat Pink Rathian and reach the Elder’s Recess.

After Pink Rathian you can upgrade again.

In the Elder’s Recess, you can mine for Fucium Ore. Upgrade your Steel Assault 3 into a Chrome Assault 1 by using 8 Fucium Ore, 5 Carbalite Ore, 10 Dragonite Ore, and 3 Dragonvein Crystal.


Your next mandatory hunt is going to be Nergigante. Any of these weapons will be viable choices. Use what you choose, but I stuck with the Chrome Assault 1.

After your hunt, if you got 2 Nergigante Talon, you can upgrade to the final tier of the Kadachi Lion. Upgrade to a Kadachi Lion 3 by using 2 Nergigante Talon, 4 Tobi-Kadachi Electrode+, 6 Tobi-Kadachi Claw+ and 1 Wyvern Gem.

If you got 2 Elder Dragon Blood, you can upgrade to the final tier of the Ore tree by using 2 Elder Dragon Blood, 13 Fucium Ore, 20 Carbalite ore and 1 Firecell Stone.

For once, Nergigante’s Heavy Bowgun isn’t an obvious pickup. It’s focus is spread, which is inherently more risky than Pierce.

Congratulations, you now have a weapon that’s completely capable of getting you through the rest of the game. Any of these will be sufficient for taking out the remaining Elder Dragons.

For final targets, after beating Kushala Dao-ra you’ll be able to upgrade your Shattercyst+ into a Legia Shattercyst by using 2 Daora Claw+, 5 Legiana Claw+, 3 Legiana Hide+ and 1 Legiana Gem.

After taking out Xeno’jiva, you can upgrade the Diablos Path to the last tier, the Griffon Blazooka by using 2 Xeno’Jiva Tail, 3 Black Spiral Horn+, 6 Black Diablos Carapace, and 2 Dragonbone Relics.

You can also pick up Zorah Magdaros’ Magda Gemitus 2 and Teostra’s Flame’s if you want to do the cluster bomb memes and troll your team mates.

The Gems will make all of these difficult. Pick your favorite, and use that, and then pick up the remaining guns at your leisure, as they’re extremely similar.