Yet Another Weapon Guide - Bow

Intro

Purpose

Guide Contents

At A Glance

How Do I Play Bow?

Hot Tips

Meta Stuff

Cool Stuff

Controls & Style Rundown

Guild Style

Striker Style

Aerial Style

Adept Style

Valor Style

Alchemy Style

Hunter Arts

Triple Volley

Haste Rain

Blade Wire

Tactical Retreat

Arrow Types

Standard Arrows

Arc Shot

Coating Compendium

What Bow To Use?

Progression Recommendations

Endgame Bow Recommendations

What Skills Should I Use?

Progression Armor Sets

Skill Recommendations

Final Thoughts

Intro

---

Bow lets you attack from mid-range and apply phial effects! Charge in order to boost your damage and change your shot type while sniping away at a monster’s weakspots! Stay mobile while charging, and roll through many attacks!

Please do not attempt to request edit access. Your request will be ignored.

If you have feedback or comments on this guide, please contact Awesomeosity#2516 on Discord. By no means will contact result in changes to the guide.

Please don’t claim any of this guide’s contents as your own. Be nice. 🙂

Purpose

        This guide is meant for new players of Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate (MHGU) or for players who haven’t played Gunner in the old-school games, and wish to play as Bow. Note that this guide will not assume any prior knowledge, regardless of games played before in the Monster Hunter series.

Guide Contents

        This guide will contain a comprehensive guide on Bow controls, details on arrow types and coatings, commentary on Bow styles and combinations, recommendations on progression Bows, and a final note on matchups against most monsters in the game.

When controls are discussed, this will assume Type 1, with X to charge and R to aim.

Video Guide
https://youtu.be/3w6eCIORzA8

At A Glance

How Do I Play Bow?

• To Charge, hold X down, and release to fire.

• To aim, press and hold R. This will generate a trajectory line, giving you a rough idea of how the arrows will travel. This is slightly misleading for Heavy, Spread, and Rapid-type arrows though, as those arrow types will be affected by gravity as they travel.

• The shot fired will depend on the level of charge you fire at and the Bow you’re using. For best results, use Rapid type for most situations.*

• Always try to fully charge your shots.

• Power Shots can be performed with A after you fire a shot in Guild Style, and under different conditions in other styles. When used, Power Shots will fire the shot type one level above your charge level, unless you don’t have access to it, in which case, the Power Shot will repeat the shot fired.

• Pressing A while you’re charging will fire an Arc Shot. Arc Shots will impact a specific area, and only differ for different Bows. Charging Arc Shots will make them go farther away and increase their damage.

• *Due to the Rapid Bow Bug, Heavy-type arrows, though different from the other shot types, are about as effective as Rapid type arrows on most matchups.

Hot Tips

1. Bow wants to be charging all of the time, or at least, as much as possible. Higher charge levels means higher damage. So always strive to be charging if you aren’t doing much else. Charge while on the move and you’ll be able to punish monsters by walking out of the way.

2. Try to learn and stay within Critical Distance for your attacks. Remember that Pierce has the longest Critical Distance, followed by Rapid, then by Heavy, then by Spread.

3. Aim for the monster weakspot. Learn and remember monster weakspots, so that you can adjust your shots. The difference between hitting a good weakspot and bad weakspots can save you quite a few coatings.

4. Take Coatings and Coating Combines for your Bow, so long as the Coatings can be used by your Bow. Power Coatings are the most valuable Coatings, followed by Elem. Coatings, then by Status-type Coatings.

5. Abuse monster openings by using Power Shots. As long as you have the time and safety, Power Shots effectively double (or more) your damage output. Well-timed and aimed Power Shots can make a great difference.

6. Watch your Stamina if you aren’t using Mega Dash Juices. Stamina management is key when playing Bow, as you can fail dodges if you don’t have enough Stamina. Remember that using a Power Shot or simply charging up a shot consumes Stamina, so if you’re about to run out of Stamina, think about canceling your charge with Y or B.

Meta Stuff

• Rapid-type arrows and Heavy-type arrows are usually about equal to each other. Following them up is the more niche but still usable Pierce-type arrow. Finally, Spread-type arrows bring up the rear.

• Try to pick Bows with a Rapid or Heavy-type shot on the final charge. Even better, if you’re running Valor Style, use a Bow which has the same shot type on Charge Levels 2 and 3.

• If your Bow cannot support Power Coatings, then that’s usually an indicator of a bad Bow. Exceptions do exist, but are few and far between.

• Try to always pick a Bow that supports at least Power C. Lvl 2. If you want more damage uptime, try to find a Power C+ talisman with at least +10 points on there, so you can get “Use Power C Lvl. 1”.

• Consider running Mega Dash Juices if you don’t have Focus so you can store your charge while walking to dodge monster attacks.

• Style-wise, Valor tends to be most used. Valor Bow, when it fills the Valor Gauge, can fire two Power Shots in a row, with the second having a damage bonus.

• Adept Bow is also good, since it lets you gain a large amount of charge post-dodge.

• Guild tends to be middle of the road with access to both Arc and Power Shots.

• Striker and Alchemy are less used because of their lack of access to Power Shot. Aerial Bow, while fun, tends to be on the worse side because you can’t fire Charge 3 shots mid-air, only Charge 2.

• Hunter Art-wise, Bow has okay HAs, with a few standouts. Haste Rain tends to be the best due to it enhancing your charge speed and walking speed.

• Tactical Retreat is like Absolute Readiness for Bow, since it also lets you charge a shot while you’re invincible.

• Triple Volley can dish out damage but it takes a while to execute and you’re vulnerable for the entire time you’re using it.

• Blade Wire is pretty bad and works like Pierce-type arrows, but you can’t use phials with it. If you need to sever tails, I suggest using a Bowgun with Slicing S or a Cut-type weapon instead.

• If you must use Bow on certain bad matchups, consider Evasion +1 or Evade Extender in order to mitigate the monster’s attacks. Or… Adept and Valor.

• The Rapid Bow Bug is a critical bug discovered and confirmed back when GU was still unlocalized, and was still called XX. Essentially, the game ignores one or more hits that occur on the same frame, which happens a lot of the time when you use Rapid-type Arrows. This can translate into up to 10% damage loss, and is the prime reason why Heavy is as used as often as Rapid. Furthermore, this bug also impacts sleep and bomb strategies.

Cool Stuff

• Need to sheath quickly? Standing still and sheathing is much faster than sheathing while moving. Let go of the control stick and sheath in order to perform the faster sheath.

• Need to load coatings and the monster’s about to roar? Cancel your loading animation by starting to load the coating. The monster’s roar will stop your animation early, and you’ll have coatings loaded quickly.

• Once you start combining, nothing can interrupt you. Use this to combine extra phials while the monster roars.

• Once you fire, you can’t readjust your shot for Power Shotting under most circumstances. Make sure you’ve got a good line of fire before you Power Shot, and keep in mind the monster’s stagger tendencies.

• Aiming with Bow is as easy as 1-2-3: First, move your hunter in the monster’s direction, then aim, then aim up and down to adjust for weakspots. Then fire!

• Try fiddling around with the options to make your aiming experience easier on yourself.

Controls & Style Rundown

Guild Style

Two Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art). Unlimited access to Power and Arc Shot.

• X (Type 2) Aim (hold), or (Type 1) Charge (hold)
• While Charging, Y or B - Backstep
• While Charging, A - Arc Shot
• While Charging, release - Fire Shot
• After Fire Shot, A - Power Shot
• A - Arrow Swipe

• 10% damage, Green Sharpness.
• Can sever tails.

• After Arrow Swipe, A - Arrow Swipe 2

• 25% damage, Green Sharpness.
• Can sever tails.
• High endlag.

• X + A - Apply Coating
• B (no direction) - Backstep
• After Backstep, B - Backroll
• After Backroll, X - Insta-Charge

• Instantly grants enough charge to get to Level 3 normally.

• R (Type 2) Charge (hold), or (Type 1) Aim (hold)
• In midair, X - Jumping Shot
• In midair, A - Jumping Swipe

Guild Style is generally a solid choice, though it pales in comparison to the “press button and win” styles, Valor and Adept. Make sure to use the backstep and backroll to your advantage, but be careful in using it -- they take a lot of stamina to execute. Used effectively, the backstep and backroll can be a powerful spacing tool, used both for closing gaps and for dodging away from monsters, but in practice they’re not overly useful.

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Haste Rain III
• Tactical Retreat III / Absolute Readiness

Striker Style

3 Hunter Art slots (1 SP Art), only Arc Shot available.

• Cannot perform Power Shot.

Striker Style is simply underwhelming, due to the lack of Power Shots. Power Shots can easily make up to 30% or more of a Bow’s damage per second, so losing access to that in exchange for Bow’s generally underwhelming Hunter Arts just feels bad. You do still have access to the insta-charge, so you can use that to close in on monsters relatively well.

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Haste Rain III
• Tactical Retreat III
• Absolute Readiness

Aerial Style

1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the Aerial Hop to jump off of monsters and fire two shots directly downwards.

• Cannot perform Power Shot.
• Cannot perform Arc Shot.
• Forward + B - Aerial Hop
• Boost Jump, X - Fire Forward

• Fires Charge Lv. 2.
• Ends your mid-air combo.

• Boost Jump, A - Fire Downwards

• Fires Charge Lv. 2.
• Automatically hits in Critical Distance.
• Fires a ‘bundle’ of arrows that has the same properties as the base shot type, including damage and hit count, rather than firing the exact same type of shot.

• After Firing Downwards, A - Fire Second Shot Downwards

• Fires Charge Lv. 2.
• Does not count as a Power Shot, because Capcom hates you.

Aerial Style is absolute trash, and if I see you using it ever you will never be a real Bow user. Something worth noting though is that you can use up to 3 shots in mid-air, by doing X, A, A. It’s not going to make up for the poor damage output, but you can pretend like you’re helping?

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Tactical Retreat III

Adept Style

1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the Adept Dodge to roll through monster attacks and Insta-Charge.

• Cannot perform Arc Shot.
• Cannot perform Backstep.
• B - Adept Dodge (Forward Roll)
• While Charging, Y - Adept Dodge (Forward Roll)
• While Charging, A - Power Shot
• Adept Dodge, X - Insta-Charge

• Instantly grants enough charge to get to Level 3 normally.

• Adept Dodge, A - Arrow Lunge

Adept Style is fairly solid, with the ability to perform Insta-charges after dodging attacks, and without the sacrifices needed to charge regularly, like some other Adept-style weapons. Since you rarely use Arc Shots anyway, Adept can be seen as an additional safety net to using Bow, which is great for some matchups.

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Haste Rain III

Valor Style

1 Hunter Art slot (1 SP Art). Use the new Valor Arc Shots to charge your Valor Gauge and enter Valor State to fire off two Power Shots, with the second dealing more damage.

In any state:

• Cannot perform Arc Shot.
• Cannot perform Backstep with Y.
• While charging, A - Backstep
• Cannot perform Insta-Charge from Backroll.
• Y - Valor Sheathe
• Valor Sheathe, then X - Charge Valor Arc Shot

• Charges up to Level 3, ignoring base Charge Levels.

Outside of Valor State:

• Cannot perform Power Shot.
• Cannot perform Backroll.
• Standing still grants +25% charge rate.
• Moving while charging grants -33% charge rate .

While Valor State is active:

• Standing still grants +70% charge rate.
• No penalty for moving around while charging.
• Backstep, B - Backroll
• After firing a shot, A - Power Shot
• After firing a Power Shot, A - Valor Power Shot

• Deals +30% damage.
• Does not fire a shot one level above the previous Power Shot!
• Instead, it repeats the same level.

• After firing a Valor Arc Shot, A - Power Arc Shot
• Valor Arc Shots may be charged to Level 4, ignoring base Charge Levels.

Valor Style on Bow is easy to charge up, but remember the type of your Arc Shot, as that does matter when positioning to fire those Valor Arc Shots. Once charged, you gain massive charge rate boosts and a 2nd Power Shot to play with that does 30% more damage. Needless to say, TrueShot Up is very valuable on Valor Bow, and even without it Valor Bow performs astronomically well in most matchups. Make sure you aim those Power Shots well and you’ll see great returns.

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Haste Rain III / Tactical Retreat III / Absolute Readiness

Alchemy Style

3 Hunter Art slots (3 SP Arts). Charge the Alchemy Barrel to give you and your teammates useful items and increase your SP Level. Equip the Alchemy Coatings to charge HAs faster.

• Cannot Power Shot.
• Cannot Insta-Charge from a Backroll.
• Natural Reload Speed +1.

• Loads all coatings more quickly.

• After a forward roll, R + Y - Alchemy Barrel
• To Charge the Alchemy Barrel faster, land shots in Critical Distance.

Alchemy Style on Bow, like most other Alchemy style combos, is fairly underwhelming for the cost of Power Shots. Alchemy Coatings don’t actually increase your damage, so solo play can’t really get a lot out of this style. Loading Coatings faster may seem good on the Status Bows, but then you realize that Status Bow isn’t really super-great. If you must play this however, focus on outputting damage with Power Coatings, then use the stocked-up Alchemy Coatings to provide constant SP-state support to your teammates.

Recommended Hunter Arts:

• Haste Rain III
• Tactical Retreat III (SP)
• Absolute Readiness (SP)

The style hierarchy goes Valor > Adept > Guild > Striker/Alchemy > Aerial. Valor’s Double Power Shots are very powerful if abused, while Adept provides a great safety net. Guild has all the basics that Bow provides. Striker and Alchemy lose their Power Shots while not providing much else of value, and Aerial… forces you to use Charge Lv. 2s constantly.

Hunter Arts

Triple Volley

After a brief windup, your hunter launches two piercing shots in the direction you were facing, then charges a third piercing shot for slightly longer.

This HA has a Critical Distance. The first two shots are fired in the direction your hunter was facing when the HA was activated, but the third can be aimed by holding the R button while you’re charging up.

This being the sole damage HA for Bow, Triple Volley is unfortunately not worth running most of the time. This is due to the high execution time, which forces you to stand in one place for quite a while. Unless you somehow manage to trip the monster as Bow, running this HA in solo play is questionable. It’s a bit better in multiplayer because you can wait for your buddies to trip the monster then you unload this on the head, but then it’s taking up an HA slot for some other better art.

Haste Rain

Fires an arrow above your head, which increases your charge rate as well as your unsheathed walking speed.

Charge thresholds decrease by 20%. Walking speed increases by 50%.

The main reason why this is ran is because it’s an additional source of charge rate increase. This and Focus stack additively, which means you can get up to 50% charge rate if you’re not running Valor, and if you are, well…

The walk speed increase is also very nice for getting out of attacks and repositioning more easily. 50% increase in speed makes you walk really fast.

Note that sources that cause you to flinch or take damage will take precedence over the casting animation and will make you lose your charge, like all HAs with cast times. If this happens, Haste Rain will be canceled and the charge depleted. Make sure you’re safe to apply this HA while it casts.

Blade Wire

After a short cast animation, convert your arrows into special shots that can sever tails. The wires are shot horizontally, but shot vertically if fired from mid-air.

If you perform a Power Shot, then you’ll fire a normal shot rather than a cutting one. All Elemental and Status damage is also negated on all altered shots for the duration of this HA. Blade Wire arrows cannot bounce back at you if deflected through special effects. The equipped coating is unequipped, and you cannot apply other coatings for the duration of this HA.

Blade Wire sucks less than it did in Gen, because it actually has decent MVs. It prevents you from loading coatings though, and it works like Pierce, so it’s still sorta bad. Use some other weapon if you need tails.

Tactical Retreat

After a brief hopping animation, perform a high-speed, high-distance backroll in the direction that the hunter was facing when the HA was used. While you’re in the backroll animation, you’re completely invincible, and during it, you automatically fire a shot in the opposite direction. You can press and hold X in order to save the shot instead.

The arrow swing that occurs in the animation can deal 30% damage, and can sever tails. The shot fired from this HA will automatically land in Critical Distance. When charged, shot starts off at the listed Charge Level, ignoring Charge threshold modifiers (Focus, Haste Rain).

The big thing to keep in mind when using this HA is that, unlike Absolute Readiness, the initial hop backward does not have invincibility associated with it. So you’ll have to preemptively use it instead. Otherwise, this is exactly like an Absolute Evasion for Bow specifically. If you still prefer the instant pop-ability of Absolute Readiness though, you can use that instead.

If you don’t mind charging for a bit afterwards and your setup grants 100% Affinity already, you can just use the Rank I version constantly instead, for a faster charge time.

Arrow Types

Before we talk about arrow types, we’ll briefly talk about Charge Modifiers and Critical Distance.

Charge Modifiers are as follows:

What charge modifiers generally mean is that the higher your level of charge, the higher damage you’ll deal with the shot. This is really important because just spamming shots doesn’t deal much damage, and this also explains why we focus on the last level of charge of a Bow, instead of all of the other levels of charge.

Now, Critical Distance is something common to all Gunners. Critical Distance prevents Gunners from sitting at the end of the map and sniping at monsters at the other end. Critical Distance is as follows:

Being in Critical Distance is very important for all Gunner weapons, as it is a skill-free 50% damage boost. Constantly being in Critical Distance takes time, effort, and experience to learn but knowing when you’re hitting in Critical Distance goes a long way.

Here’s a chart from the official MHXX Guidebook which I translated, showing approximate Critical Distance:

Standard Arrows

Rapid-type

• Arrows that fire straight towards the monster and disappear on impact.
• Spreads vertically.
• Higher levels mean more arrows are shot at the monster, with less damage on additional arrows.
• Great at dealing both raw and elemental damage to specific monster spots.
• Critical Distance is about 2-3 backsteps from the monster.

Pierce-type

• Arrows that pierce through the monster’s body and are unaffected by gravity.
• Higher levels means longer Critical Distance and more hits.
• Great at dealing elemental damage at a greater distance than other arrow types, though is weaker at raw. Relies on good shot angles to be effective.
• Critical Distance starts from 3 backsteps and continues for a while.
• Longest Critical Distance of all arrow types.

Spread-type

• Arrows that spread horizontally.
• Higher levels means more hits and higher MV.
• Great at dealing elemental damage and status damage, though suffers at hitting specific areas due to the nature of the shot.
• Critical Distance starts from one backstep and continues for about one more backstep.
• Shortest Critical Distance of all arrow types.

Arrow damage is shown as left-to-right, with the left-most value corresponding to the left-most arrow shot from the hunter’s point of view.

Heavy-type

• Arrows that are heavily affected by gravity.
• Higher levels means higher MV.
• Incredible at dealing raw damage and hitting hard-to-hit areas due to the nature of the shot, though is weak at dealing elemental or status damage due to the low hit count.
• Critical Distance starts from the highest point of the arc and never stops.
• This arrow type is very different from other types to use, due to the gravity affecting the arc of the shot.
• Heavy-type arrows have a special property that negates any projectile-nullifying effect, such as Stonefist’s large pincer or Teostra’s heat aura.

Arc Shot

Note that all Arc Shots ignore the base charge of the Bow, always defaulting to 3 levels of charge. They also have Critical Distance.

Arc Shot: Focus

• Lands in a small area, dealing 5 hits, as well as KO and Exhaust damage.
• Good at targeting a monster’s head specifically.

Valor Arc: Focus

• Only available in Valor.
• When fired, it travels forward then explodes at a very short distance. Critical Distance is approximately 3 backhops.
• Chargeable.

Arc Shot: Wide

• Lands in a wider area, dealing 5 hits and KO and Exhaust damage.
• Good at pelting a monster’s back.

Valor Arc: Wide

• Only available in Valor.
• When fired, launches an arrow that explodes on contact, dealing up to 6 more hits on impact. Critical Distance is approximately 4 backhops.
• Chargeable.

Arc Shot: Blast

• When the arrow connects with the ground, causes an explosion, dealing a buncha KO and Exhaust damage.
• Will knock away ally hunters.

Valor Arc: Blast

• Only available in Valor.
• When fired, launches 3 arrows that each cause an explosion when they connect with the ground. Connect the explosions to the monster’s body to maximize Valor Gauge gain. No Critical Distance.
• Will knock away ally hunters.
• Chargeable.

Coating Compendium

Power Coating Lv. 1

• +35% raw when applied.
• 50 Capacity.
• +20 from combines (Fire Herb + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

A basic coating that nearly all beginning Bows should have access to. On late-game or end-game Bows, consider getting the skill “Use Power C. Lv 1” in order to get access to an extended supply of coatings, which means more damage output over time.

Power Coating Lv. 2

• +50% raw when applied.
• 50 Capacity.
• +20 from combines (Nitroshroom + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

A coating that should be on every useful Bow through High and G-Rank. If a Bow doesn’t have access to these coatings, then it very quickly falls behind Bows that can use these. Unlike Power 1 Coatings, getting “Use All Power Phials” requires a pretty good talisman and additional Decoration support, so it generally isn’t worth it.

Elem Coating Lv. 1

• +35% Element when applied.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Bitterbug + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

New coatings introduced in MHGen which increase a Bow’s elemental damage. More useful with Rapid or Spread-type Bows with decent Elemental damage.

Elem Coating Lv. 2

• +50% Element when applied.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Gloamgrass Root + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Coatings which significantly boost your Elemental damage output. For maximum effect, pair with appropriate Bows and monster weaknesses.

Close Range Coating

• Increase Arrow Swipe sharpness rating from Blue to White.
• Provides Critical Distance at Close Range, similar to Spread’s Critical Distance.
• 20 Capacity.
• +20 from combines (Whetfish + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Worth noting that Seregios Bows and Bladescale Polish armor skill make C. Range Coatings provide an additional +50% raw boost, effectively duplicating Power Coatings Lv. 2, for up to 40 more Power Coatings. Stacking the aforementioned effect with Bladescale Hone will increase the effect by 15%, to 65% extra damage.

Poison Coating

• When applied, deals Poison damage instead of the normal alternate damage type on the Bow. Poison damage applied differs per shot type.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Toadstools + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Note that the charge modifier for Poison is different from the charge modifier for the other status damage types, making Poison slightly better to apply onto Bows.

Paralysis Coating

• When applied, deals Paralysis damage instead of the normal alternate damage type on the Bow. Paralysis damage applied differs per shot type.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Parashrooms + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Certain Bows provide a Coating Boost to this phial and other status phials. When applied, coating boosts deal an additional +20% Status damage.

Sleep Coating

• When applied, deals Sleep damage instead of the normal alternate damage type on the Bow. Sleep damage applied differs per shot type.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Sleep Herb + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Remember that a monster’s status buildup will deplete over time if you do not reapply the status. Bow is particularly good at maintaining Status damage despite the low carrying capacity of the Status Phials.

Exhaust Coating

• When applied, deals Exhaust and KO damage instead of the normal alternate damage type on the Bow.
• Exhaust: 8 per arrow.
• KO: 4 per arrow.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 from combines (Mopeshroom + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Regardless of hitzone, Exhaust damage dealt will always be 8 per arrow. KO damage can only be dealt to a large monster’s head (for small monsters, anywhere will work), and does depend on the monster’s KO hitzone. The only notable exception that comes to mind is (Furious) Rajang’s head hitzone, which is 50 rather than the usual 100.

Blast Coating

• When applied, deals Blast damage instead of the normal alternate damage type on the Bow.
• 20 Capacity.
• +10 - 30 from combines (Bomb Arowana + Empty Phial, 90% base rate).

Blast Coatings can be quite effective at dealing damage when you’re out of Power Phials. You can even have up to 50 total Blast Coatings, so long as you have Mass Combiner. Just note that not many of the good late-game Bows will not pack Blast Coatings naturally.

Paint Coating

• When applied, arrows will apply the Paint status onto the monster, like Paintballs. Note that this will remove the alternate damage type of the Bow while the coating is equipped.
• 99 Capacity.
• +99 from combines (Paintberry + Empty Phials, 90% base rate).

Always nice to have in the back of your pocket in case you’re about to lose the monster. Simply apply once at the beginning of the hunt and every time the monster switches areas.

What Bow To Use?

Generally you want to look at the monster’s hitzones and attack patterns and decide what type of shot is best to use. For most cases, Rapid or Heavy is best, followed by Pierce in certain unique situations, and Spread is very rarely used, if at all. The monster’s elemental hitzones should then be considered, with higher priority given to shots that fire more arrows. Otherwise, sticking to high raw is great. As mentioned earlier in the guide, having more access to Power Phials is better, and having natural access to at least Power 2 Coatings is very important. Power 1 Coatings are nice. Elemental or Status Phials are less important and should be treated as bonuses.

Progression Recommendations

Low Rank (Hub 1-3*, Village 1-6*)

• Petrified Bow

The default Bow that you’re given at the start of the game packs Rapid-type arrows and access to Power 1 Phials, which should be good enough for most situations at that point.

• Hunter’s Stoutbow

An alternate version of the starting Bows that you’re given at the start of the game. This Bow packs Heavy arrows instead of Rapid, but also upgrades slightly faster at the beginning of the game, letting you have slightly higher raw. It also packs Power 1 Phials.

• Sonic Bow

Early Thunder/Rapid option for some monsters. Falls off later, due to its refusal to get any sort of Power 2 Coating at all, but works fine enough through High Rank.

• Type 64 Multibow

Similarly early Water/Rapid option. Scales better than Blessed Rain, but competes with it often until the middle of G-Rank, where Blessed Rain falls off.

• Blango Fur Bow

Early Ice/Rapid option, helpful if you hate Nibelsnarf early on. Scales oddly well through progression, being early to the Power 2 party as early as level 3.

• Blessed Rain

Bow created from Mizutsune materials, packs Rapid arrows and Water damage to boot. At this point, the starting Bows will start to fall behind a bit, and Blessed Rain will start to outdamage them at this point. It’ll be more effective on monsters weaker to Water as well. Packs Power 1 Phials.

• Yekla Arc

Upgrades from the Hunter’s Stoutbow, and works as a fantastic all-rounder Heavy progression option. Also coincidentally upgrades into the best Bow in the game.

• Ashen Wrath

The Glavenus Bow. Uses Rapid arrows and also has accompanying Fire damage, as well as Power 1 Phials. An overall solid Bow for late Low Rank, it also upgrades fairly early on in High Rank as well, beating out other early High Rank options.

High Rank (Hub 4-8*, Village 7-10*)

• Ashen Wrath

As mentioned previously, the Ashen Wrath upgrades fairly early on in comparison to other Bows in High Rank, reaching 200 raw and being the first Bow to do so when you gain access to Lavasioth. It also scales fairly well into G-Rank, despite it losing usage to the Teostra Bow in early G-Rank.

• Petrified Bow

Continues to be fantastic throughout the midgame as well, so it’s worth it to keep around. Also is useful for a blip in G-Rank progression.

• Type 64 Multibow

Still fighting with Mizutsune as a progression option here. Relevant much faster though thanks to its early access to Power 2s over Blessed Rain.

• Plume Bow

Pierce Bows tend to be recommended as a solution for specific problems. In this case, the problem starts with “P” and ends with “lesioth”. The Plume Bow, from Great Maccao, is the answer.

• Yekla Arc

Yup, still here. Hits the 200 raw benchmark at Village 8, which is huge. Also is great for fighting Astalos ‘round this time while also gaining Power 2s. Still a great Heavy option.

• Blessed Rain

Starts to fall a little behind Ashen Wrath, especially since Mizutsune weapons in general tend towards lesser raw. Still solid enough to use against Water-weak monsters, especially when it gains access to Power 2 Phials.

• Sonic Bow

This one’s also still hanging around here as a Thunder/Rapid Bow. This is the last point at which it remains useful, so enjoy it while it lasts!

• Blango Fur Bow

Gains Power 1 & 2 access in Village 10, which is rare amongst pre-G-Rank Bows. Fares well as a solid Ice/Rapid option.

• Beast Thunderbow

Rajang’s Bow. Though not quite as powerful as Alatreon’s Bow it still has a niche: Destroying Plesioth… and Deviljho. Probably. Oh, and don’t upgrade it into the Furious Rajang version. Keep it at normal Rajang.

• Bow of Hope & Valor

The Teostra Bow. Uses Rapid-type arrows, Power 2 phials, and has big Blast damage. It alone defined a new meme and for good reason -- in late High Rank, this has great stats, eclipsing all other Bows in late High Rank. However, it’s only really worth using when it reaches the first full upgrade as it is slightly underwhelming otherwise. It’s so good that it even scales through to G3, despite not gaining access to G-Rank tost until endgame.

G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)

• Bow of Light & Courage

The Teostra Bow still scales abnormally well into G3, mostly due to lack of other good options. You’ll have to put up with it until at least G2, where you can get Nerscylla materials to gain access to Scylla Fist’s better forms, and even then it still competes. Once you get past G2 and gain access to Seltas Queen, you can drop this bow like a sack of hot rocks.

• Herald’s Battlebow

The meta Heavy Bow of choice with natural access to Power 2 and Power 1 phials. Upgrades relatively early into G-Rank as well, making this a great Heavy choice.

• Yukumo Spiritbow

Gains relevance in G2 with its access to Power 1 & 2s. The negative Affinity is a bit of a bummer, but it can last longer than the other Bows if you decide to take on the G2 Hyper monsters.

• Nershock

The lesser form of what was once the second-best Rapid Bow in the game. Pretty usable as early as G2 and has high Affinity. Kind of a bummer that it only has Power 1s, but it’s fine. Probably.

• Night Flight

Nargacuga’s Bow comes in clutch for those specific Pierce matchups at this point in G-Rank. Packs both Power 1 & 2s with a great +40% Affinity. It also upgrades into your Anti-Ahtal-Ka option, so be on the lookout for that.

• Dragonstar Hubar

The Anti-Lao choice. Packs a punch against it specifically, and nothing else really. When fighting Lao, shoot its crotch and Big Gulp:™: your Mega Dash Juices.

• Scholarly Bow

It’s back! In G3, you can gain an upgrade that makes this Bow pack one helluva punch with 290 raw and Power 2 / 1 access. Also has triple slots.

• Scorpion Zinger

The Nibelsnarf Bow finally comes out on top in G3 with 270 raw and 23 Water. It’s a fine Bow for Water-weak monsters, also packing 3 slots.

• Ashen Pride

The last major showing of the Glavenus Bow, the only Fire/Rapid Bow in the game. Has a solid amount of raw at 280 and 26 Fire.

• Tigrex Whisker

The Tigrex Bow crests in G4 with a massive 340 raw before Ahtal! The -25% Affinity is a bummer, but you’ll be able to patch that up with Weakness Exploit. It also has access to all of the Status Coats as well.

• Avidya Bow

Your main Anti-Ahtal-Ka Bow of choice, since you can only fight it with Pierce Bows. Pepehands. Packs both Power 1 and 2s with a great +40% natural Affinity. It’s also useful for taking on the monsters that are weak to Pierce, such as Duramboros.

Endgame Bow Recommendations

Main Recommendations:

        (Heavy)

• Harbinger’s Battlebow

The Heavy Bow of choice and also the current best bow of the game with natural access to Power 2 and Power 1 phials. Has no slots and no affinity, but has a good 350 raw to compensate. Stick some Affinity onto this weapon as well as some practice with Heavy Bow and you’ll see faster times than with Rapid in the majority of cases. It’s also really easy to make, only requiring some random ore materials.

• Beyond the Firmaments

At first glance this seems to be a weaker Harbinger’s Battlebow, and it sorta is. It does have Water damage, which can compensate for the slight loss of raw and loss of Power 1s. Important to note: some sets use Load Up in conjunction with Valor Bow to make use of this Bow’s hidden Heavy Lv. 5 shots on Charge 4.

• Cthonic Maelstrom

Drilltusk Tetsucabra’s Bow. It mainly serves as a Load Up-compatible version of Harbinger’s if you wanted to play around with that.

• Snowdrift

Blangonga’s Bow. This guy’s main draw is that it has triple slots. Yup. The Ice is nice, but uh… you’re mainly picking this if you need the slots.

        (Rapid)

• Wepwawet

Ahtal-Ka’s Bow. In line with other Ahtal-Ka weapons, it usually lacks something in order to compensate for its high Raw, and in the Bow’s case, it has relatively crappy shot types. You’ll need to have Load Up in order to gain access to the Rapid 5 shot, but when you do, this Bow is an absolute house. That is, if you can afford the charge time to charge to Level 4 consistently.

• Sacred Bow G

The first Legend of Zelda Bow, introduced as a DLC weapon. Has decent raw and access to many phial types, as well as 3 slots. Requires Load Up to gain access to the Rapid 5 shot, but is a good alternative to Wepwawet as an option that doesn’t need to charge up to Charge 4 every single time. In exchange, this Bow has a slightly lower power ceiling, but it’s more flexible to use.

• Scylla Webdart

The former second-best Bow in the game. It’s lost its luster over the years, but it still has about average raw, natural Affinity, and access to Power 2 Phials. The lack of Power 1 Phials means that this Bow may not have as much damage upkeep as other Bows, making it favor shorter hunts.

• Deadeye Tragedy

Deadeye’s Bow features both Power 2 and Power 1 access, along with slightly lower Raw and half as much Affinity to compensate. A fantastic Bow with lots of longevity, perfect for those that aren’t using Valor. Consider this a good alternative to the Scylla Webdart, as long as you can stand farming Deadeye for 15 levels.

(Nicher Rapid choices)

• Orcus Sagittus

Zinogre’s G-Rank Bow gains Rapid, and in effect, becomes the only Thunder/Rapid Bow worth using. Average raw combined with one slot and decent Thunder means that this Bow has a bit of potential against Thunder-weak monsters.

• Triumph and Testament

White Fatalis’s Bow, the initial lack of phials can be seen as troublesome as well as the slightly below-average Raw. The great 35 Dragon it has compensates for that, so all you need is access to “Use All Power Phials” to let this Bow do something useful.

• Tigrex Vibrissa

Has a fantastic 360 raw, but with a crippling -25% Affinity downside. Packs all the status coatings though.

• Grimclaw Roar

Has an absolutely crazy 360 raw with minimal negative Affinity as well as access to Power 2 phials. It also has access to a multitude of Status phials as well, to extend support capabilities. This in conjunction with the Deviant boost makes this Bow stand out, and is yet another alternative to the Scylla Webdart. Just hope you can stand doing Grimclaw 15 times.

• Sedition Piercer

Seregios’s Bow. Lifted directly from MH4U, in the time between this game and that, the Bow roster has mainly caught up to it. Still retains its useful C. Range C. Boost, making C. Range Coats hit as hard as Power Phial Lv. 2s, though. Requires Load Up.

(Pierce)

• Sunlight Gale

Silverwind Nargacuga’s Bow. A fantastic Pierce option that packs both Power 1 & 2s with a great +35% natural Affinity. Devours Ahtal-Ka if you need to farm her, but also can stand its own against the typical Pierce matchups. Load Up is optional on this Bow, mostly dependent on the charge windows on monsters you fight.

• Rustrazor Striker

Unfortunately, you won’t be using this with the actual Striker style, because its bad. Still, Rustrazor Ceanataur’s Bow is a good alternative to Sunlight Gale, giving up the natural Affinity in exchange for boosted raw attack power.

        (Spread. These are mainly off-meta recommendations.)

• Ethereal Ediacca

The Obsidian Bow. It’s mostly non-descript, but its non-descript-ness allowed it to slip past the bunch at Capcom who took a firing squad to most of the Spread Bows in the game. :( Suitable for longer hunts with its access to Power 1 & 2s.

• Devil’s Counsel

The Chameleos Bow. Its lack of Power 1 access means that it’s more useful on shorter hunts, and it also has triple slots and Poison Coating boosts! Yup.

What Skills Should I Use?

We’ll go over skills and armor sets for progression in this section. Due to the nature of Gunning in G-Rank, I can’t formally mention any particular full set, due to the near-universal higher quality of mixed sets at pretty much any point past late High Rank. I will provide some ideas, however.

Progression Armor Sets

Low Rank (Village 1-6*, Hub 1-3*)

• BuJaBu

The classic early-game progression set, it provides an early Attack Up (L) for Blademasters. Because you’re a Gunner though, you’ll only have Attack Up (M) until you get more slots on your weapon. Composed of alternating Bulldrome and Jaggi armor pieces.

• Rathalos/Mosgharl

Combining Rathalos and Mosgharl parts (the latter of which you can get by trading plants) will yield some form of Focus, and Weakness Exploit. Focus is really great, especially if you’re learning Bow, as it’ll speed up your hunts dramatically. You can make this set by using Rathalos Cap/Helm, Rathalos Vest, Mosgharl Guards, Rathalos Coat, and Mosgharl Leggings along with a decent slotted charms.

• Rathalos

Otherwise, if you’re spamming Adept/Valor, then consider just going full Rathalos.

High Rank (Village 7-10*, Hub 4-8*)

• Rathalos/Mosgharl S

Replacing the Low Rank Mosgharl parts with High Rank Mosgharl parts also works a little bit, though you might need to have better gem-ins due to the different skill point distributions on the High Rank parts.

• Rathalos S/Mosgharl S

This set replaces all of the Low Rank pieces from Rath/Mosgharl with their High Rank equivalents, boosting defense and giving you more leniency on the skill point distribution. Really nice for the mid-game of High Rank.

• Hayasol Derivative

Bow users benefit from a slightly-modified version of Hayasol, so long as they don’t mind giving up Focus. Simply replace the Razor Sharp for the Shot Type Up skill of your choice.

G-Rank (Hub G1-G4*)

Disclaimer: I heavily advise using mixed sets throughout G-Rank progression, since many full sets will provide an inadequate set of skills. The following listed sets are rough suggestions, as the sets you can actually build will be dependent on your charms.

• Hayasol Derivative/Esurient R

Unfortunately, due to the relative crappiness of early G-Rank full sets, I recommend that you stick to either these mixed sets or make new mixed sets of your own during this time. Commonly-used pieces are True Chaos Brigandine, for the triple slots on the chest, Volvidon Vest X for the 4 points in FastCharge and one slot, or Kut-Ku Leggings X for the 6 points in Attack and two slots.

• Rathalos X/Mosgharl X

Pretty self-explanatory mixed set, it provides the bareboned basics of a Bow user. Slightly underwhelming though, due to the flat Attack boosts this late in the game, where things like Critical Eye are more valuable.

Skill Recommendations

• Normal/Rapid Up, Heavy/Heavy Up, Pierce/Pierce Up, Pellet/Spread Up

This skill should be in almost every Bow set. It’s a very good 10% increase in damage for Rapid-type, Heavy-type, and Pierce-type arrows, as well as being a 30% increase in damage for Spread-type arrows. It’s a sizable damage boost for essentially doing nothing.

• Weakness Exploit

Though dependent on matchup, Weakness Exploit is a sizable increase in damage. Because you’re a Gunner, you should be able to strike weakspots fairly comfortably on most monsters. Watch your Affinity, lest you overload and waste Affinity though.

• Focus

Near-required on Guild, Striker, or Alchemy Bow, not really required on the other styles of Bow. A -20% reduction in charge time is huge and it lets you exploit more openings than you normally would. It also decreases the amount of Stamina used for charging up a shot fully, so long as you fire soon after you charge up. Note that if the fight or your hunting style has you holding a charge for a significant amount of time, then Focus will actually not be worth it.

• TrueShot Up

On other Gunner weapons this would be a nice +20% damage on all Internal Shots. Since you’re Bow however, this is a great +20% damage on all of your Power Shots! Adept and Valor should prioritize this skill highly, as their playstyles practically revolve around shooting Power Shots. Other styles, less so because they can’t maximize this skill’s benefits.

• Critical Boost

A skill that only gets better the more Affinity you have. Since you usually have Weakness Exploit already, this is a great 7.5% increase in damage by itself! Stack with Bows that have naturally high Affinity to maximize this skill’s effectiveness.

• Repeat Offender

Do you have a monster with hard-to-hit or even non-existent weakspots? Repeat Offender can solve that problem somewhat, as long as you’re using a shot which hits frequently. Even if you don’t, this is effectively a free 25% Affinity boost.

• Ammo Saver

It’s an okay skill, but only as a bonus. Enabling more Power Phials tends to work better than Ammo Saver, but if you can’t fit anything else in, this is an okay skill.

• Elemental Attack Up & [Element] Attack +1/2

These are okay skills if you use the right bow and exploit the monster’s elemental zones well, but in practice these skills add only a few points of resulting damage to your damage output. In general, more underwhelming than adding more crit, but okay skills if you know the matchup and monster.

• Evasion +1 & Evade Extender

Nice to have if you’re going up against certain monsters that constantly are in your grill and you’re Guild. Though you really can’t beat Adept or Valor if you’re going up against those monsters.

• Load Up

Very useful on certain Bows in order to enable a particularly strong shot on that level. The Ahtal, Akantor, and Seregios Bows are the most prominent examples of this. However, this shouldn’t be used on all Bows, because sometimes you just won’t unlock a useful shot. For example, using Load Up on the Scylla Bow unlocks a Spread-type shot.

• Use Power Coat Lvl 1

Specifically this level of the skill can be quite useful on some Bows who don’t have Power Coatings Lvl 1 naturally unlocked. It effectively adds an additional 70 phials of pure damage onto your Bow, which can really extend your time of usefulness over the hunt.

• Challenger +1/2

Very good on monsters which enrage a lot or are enraged for a long time, though the level 2 version of this skill is expensive.

Final Thoughts

Bow matchups in GU are mostly favorable, with a few standouts that really hate Gunners that stand within a few steps of the monster. Despite the power behind Valor and Adept Bow, in longer hunts, Bow really suffers from a lack of damage upkeep with the coating restrictions, but it really shines in the matchups where it isn’t immediately shit on by being within arm’s length of the monster but not under it. The Bow HAs vary from good to bad but are otherwise solid with the exception of Blade Wire, which just sucks. Bow is a fine weapon to use in this game, but is sometimes slow.

Looking for more guides?

Beginner’s Guide To MHGU

Great Sword

Long Sword
Sword and Shield

Dual Blades

Hammer

Hunting Horn

Lance

Gunlance

Switch Axe

Charge Blade

Insect Glaive

Light Bowgun

Heavy Bowgun

Prowler

Google Drive Folder for MHGU Data and Guides

Or a damage calculator? Try Yet Another Damage Calculator Unite!

Love the guide? Then consider donating! YAWG and the Yet Another series of Guides and Tools will always be free to use.

Github Mirror for my guides, in case they’re taken down:
https://github.com/Awesomeosity/YAWGs

Discord Server? Try discord.gg/GUJ; it’s pretty active and people are down to hunt practically every day. I’ll be there too, maybe. Say hi!