This guide is the steam version of my original guide.
You can find it here: mhw bowgun guide[drive.google.com]

To visualize some of the data about distances, I’ll use meat, wyvernblast and shock trap to mark locations, but may not be 100% accurate.

Meat is placed right at where you are standing, but it doesn’t work on LBG, because when you sheath the LBG you will move a step forward, so wyvernblast is used instead. As for shock trap, it’s placed in front of you, and I tried my best to stand on the same spot for better results.










On top of that, for close range up, ranged attack up and effective range, their range actual starts at where the bullet is spawned (depends on bowgun’s model).











About how to read the test results:
For evade extender, shock trap is used to mark the starting point.
For close range up and ranged attack up, I used Stygian Humilitas, and keep shooting until the damage changes.
For effective range, I mark the locations where the crosshair changes, and results will only show difference between with and without Ballistics.

The most beginner unfriendly weapon in the game, filled with all kinds of mechanics, when not used properly you will deal no damage. Also, it is very resource hungry, out of ammo is very common.

Bowgun has 2 play styles, LBG is run and gun, HBG is souls-like.

They deal very low damage in early game due to ammo and custom mod’s limits (only have Lv1 ammo and 1 mod slot, will unlock higher level ammo and more mod slots as progress).

Similar to bow, some ammo types will get blocked by teammates, and that shot is wasted.

Bowguns don’t have element on the weapon, it is on the ammo instead. So the calculation will be a bit different than other weapons.

Range weapons reduce elemental damage instead of physical damage, you will take about 35% to 40% more damage than melee weapons (depends on the attack).

High mobility, low ammo capacity, a bit shorter range than HBG, have 4 mod slots, fast sheathing and tenderize speed.

Very low mobility, high ammo capacity, long range, have 5 mod slots, very slow sheathing and tenderize speed. Can use cluster and wyvern ammo, and can equip a shield.

Aiming kinda sucks in MHW. While aiming, the game will draw 2 lines to the point you are aiming at, one from the crosshair (green line), and another from the bowgun where the bullet will spawn (blue line). When you fire, the bullet will follow the blue line, causing the bullet to fly somewhere else instead of hitting the target sometimes.

Unlike melee, you switch to a different one you still use it the same way, bowguns have different specs and it will change how you use that bowgun.

There are many types of ammo, but they are situational, it will perform well on some monsters and poorly on others.

Normal: nothing special, very balanced.

Pierce: deals damage as it pierces through monsters’ body, damage ticks once every 0.05s (in theory), the first 9 ticks deal 100% damage and the rest deal 20%, only deals damage when the bullet is in the monster’s body.

Spread: shoot multiple bullets at a fan shape, and each bullet deals damage separately, basically have to fire point blank.




















Sticky: will stick on to monster for few seconds before exploding, or explode immediately when the bullet hits the terrain. Deal explosive damage.
Can stun monster if the explosion hits the head.

Cluster: will split into multiple bombs when landing on the ground or monster. Deal explosive damage.
Due to shot type, it will only be used when monster is under control.
Will send teammates flying.









Elemental: can pierce, 0.2s for Fire, Water, Thunder and Ice, 0.1s for Dragon. Fire, Water, Thunder and Ice flies in a straight line, Dragon flies at an arc and flies very slowly. Deal elemental damage.

Wyvern: wakeup call but for monsters. When firing you will stand still and start charging the shot. Have limited aiming angle when charging. Deal explosive damage.
Will send teammates flying.

Slicing: used to cut tails. Forget it.

Recover: it can heal teammates, but you need to shoot at teammate to heal that teammate, and it doesn’t heal much. Forget it, use Dust of Life instead.

Buff: Demon and Armor. It increases your teammate’s attack and defense, but you need to shoot at teammate to buff that teammate. Forget them, use Demon Powder and Hardshell Powder instead.

Debuff: Poison, Paralysis, Sleep and Exhaust. They are fine in singleplayer, but not in multiplayer as the tolerance scales with party size.

Tranq: same as tranq bomb.

HBG have Wyvernheart or Wyvernsnipe, and LBG have Wyvernblast. Don’t cost ammo but need to recharge after use.

Wyvernheart: full auto machine gun with 50 rounds, damage will slowly increase (up to a degree), but the buff will reset when you miss or stop firing.
Deals lots of damage but takes forever to use, usually use when monster is under control.
Takes 180s to recharge.

Wyvernsnipe: an explosive piercing round, first 7 ticks of damage will plant a delay bomb (2 small 2 medium 3 large) onto the monster, explosion deals blunt damage (can’t crit).
You will lie on the ground when aiming and before firing. Have limited aiming angle. You can dodge cancel the ‘lying down’ action. Can’t move, guard and dodge while aiming.
Takes 80s to recharge.

Wyvernblast: a landmine. Have 3 charges, consume 1 charge each use. Damage depends on how hard it gets hit, can explode 2 to 5 times. Will despawn after exploding or 60s have passed. Deals explosive damage.
Each charge takes 60s to recharge.

Affects how the bullet is fired.

Normal: shoots 1 bullet.

Follow-up: shoots 1 bullet at an arc. Can’t move, guard and dodge while aiming.

Rapid Fire: shoots 2 to 3 rounds (depends on ammo type) but only costs 1 ammo. The first bullet deal 100% damage, the second and third bullet deal 50% damage.

Auto Reload: reload immediately after firing. Have fixed recoil and reload speed.

Affects bowgun’s performance. For normal and rapid fire, you can move while shooting when recoil is +1 or +2, you will get knocked back by recoil when recoil is +3 or +4. Recoil +4 rapid fire has the same animation as recoil +3 rapid fire but only shoots 2 rounds.

Recoil affects fire rate, but not as important as recoil. Also, frame rate affects animation speed, so you can ignore that.

Affects bowgun’s performance. You can move while reloading when reload speed is fast or normal, and you will have to sit down to reload when reload speed is slow or very slow. The full animation takes seconds to finish, but the actual time to reload is not that long.

The magazine size.
Can be increased with Free Elem/Ammo Up, +1 if capacity is 1 to 4, +2 if capacity is 5 or more. Different level affects different ammo types.














For normal, pierce and spread, it can also be ‘increased’ by using both Lv2 and Lv3 ammo at the same time.

Changes how bowgun performs.

Recoil Suppressor: reduce recoil for some ammo types.

Reload Assist: reduce reload time for some ammo types.

Deviation Suppressor: reduce deviation.

Close Range Up: increase physical damage when shooting close to target.










Ranged Attack Up: increase physical damage when shooting far away.










Shield: can auto block attacks when not attacking and reloading.

Special Scope: increase physical damage by 30% when within Critical Range (adjustable), will change your FOV when use. You need to attach it manually.















Different ammo types have different active range.






















Evading Reload: dodge 2 times right after you fire, you will spin and reload your bowgun during the second dodge. You can choose which ammo to reload before the reload animation starts.

Wyvernheart Mod: buff actives sooner and have a higher ceiling.

Wyvernsnipe Mod: becomes 1 big boom, will stick on to monster for few seconds before exploding.

Wyvernblast Mod: you shoot the mine forward and get knocked back by the recoil.

Power Barrel: decrease bullet velocity, shorten effective range and max range for some ammo types. Increase stun buildup by 10%.

Long Barrel: increase bullet velocity, extend effective range and max range for some ammo types.

Bullets will deal different amounts of damage at different distances. Effective range can be extended by Ballistics, and stack with barrel mods.












Normal:



















Pierce: because it pierces, you need to make sure entire monster body part is inside the effective range, and line up your shot before firing.
























Spread: each bullet has its own effective range.



















Elemental: only affects physical damage. Have the same problem as Pierce.








Wyvernheart:













Wyvernsnipe: from Teostra’s face to the edge of the map. Have the same problem as Pierce.











Sticky, Cluster, Slicing, Wyvern and Wyvernblast don’t have effective range.

Affects the bowgun’s handling. Like recoil irl, it kicks the bowgun everytime you fire, somewhere between 45 degrees left and right.

It’s complicated.

Because you are very crispy, you need to be extra careful and pay attention to monster’s moves.

Dodge for your life.
LBG has 3 dodge types. The first one is the standard roll, the second and third one is evade reload’s small hop and slide. HBG has a very slow roll.







When dodging attacks, you can i-frame it or out space it.

I-Frame: you take no damage during i-frame, at 60fps you have 13 frames and can be increased to 30 at max, may cause trouble when you have more than 60fps.

Out space: run away before it hits you, it also helps repositioning, dodge distance can be extended with evade extender, you will also move faster as it takes the same time to dodge.

Using more shields allows you to block stronger attacks. Emergency only, don’t rely on it. Beware of multi-hit attacks, your health and stamina will get deleted in no time. If you really need that much shield to survive, you should play lance instead.

When blocking a directional attack, you need to face the shield to the attack. And for non-directional attack, you only need to make sure the shield is within range.










Position of the shield doesn’t matter, the actual hitbox is somewhere next to your left hand.

Your best friend, smol and helpful, provides all kinds of support and keeps you safe. And Shieldspire is the game changer for bowguns.

Shieldspire: the goat. Make your palico become even more tankier and draw monster's attention away from you for more than half of the time. Keeping you safe and creating openings for you at the same time. A very powerful gadget in both defensive and offensive.

Evasion Mantle and Impact Mantle synergize well with bowguns.

Evasion Mantle: more i-frames and attack +20% for 20s after a successful dodge. Pairs very well with elemental builds as you need to avoid getting hit when using safi armor, and it increases your damage by a lot.

Impact Mantle: stun buildup +30% if attack already has stun buildup, and if attack doesn’t have stun buildup, it will add stun buildup to that attack. It makes sticky stun monsters much easier, and allows normal and spread deal damage and stun monsters at the same time.

Bowgun have skill issue, each ammo types require different skills, and the game did a bad job at telling you what the skill actually does.

Skills that are commonly used.

Skills for each ammo type.
























Normal Shots, Piercing Shots, Spread Shots and Special Ammo Boost: each level increase attack by 10% for that ammo type.

Remember, always eat before quest.

Feline Moxie: prevent you from getting one shoted when you have at least this much health. Has the same effect as Guts and they stack.





Feline Safeguard: increase the number of carts by 1. Has the same effect as Felyne Insurance and they stack.

Feline Sharpshooter: increase normal ammo attack by 10%.

Feline Bombardier: increase sticky and wyvern ammo attack by 15%.

Feline Slugger: increase stun buildup by 10%.

Some augments perform differently on bowgun.

Health Regen: have a 0.2s cd between each heal, performs poorly on some ammo types.

Element/Status Effect Up: due to how element damage calculates on bowguns, it increases ammo’s MV instead. Doesn’t increase stun buildup.

Bowgun have its own formulas.
It has 3 sections: pre-cap, MV and post-cap. It usually looks like this: damage = <pre-cap> x MV x post-cap
The <pre-cap> section is affected by damage cap, it limits how much raw power you can have. MV is Motion Value, it means how much power you are using. Post-cap is just buffs.

Physical damage = < (Attack + Attack Up Skills) > x MV x Crit x Custom Mods
Physical damage cap = Attack x 2

Elemental damage = < (Attack + Attack Up Skills) > x < Elemental MV > x Critical Element or True Critical Element
Elemental MV = [(Ammo MV + Augment) + Elemental Attack Up Skills + Safi Armor Set Bonus] x Dragonproof Mantle (1.2 but only for dragon)
Elemental MV cap = (Ammo MV + Augment) x 1.57 {1.8 for 3 safi armor, and 2.35 for 5 safi armor}

Explosive damage = < (Attack + Attack Up Skills) > x MV
Explosive damage cap = Attack x 2

Stun buildup = < stun buildup x Slugger x Felyne Slugger x Power Barrel x Impact Mantle >
Stun buildup cap = stun buildup x 2 {2.2 for 3 safi armor}

Examples:
Physical damage:

























Elemental damage:

Bowgunning is about using the right tools for the right job.

Hit Zone Value, it affects how much damage you can deal to that body part, the higher the better. Physical HZV affects physical damage, elemental HZV affects elemental damage, explosive damage ignores HZV.

Special Ammo affects tenderize speed.

Wyvernheart: 4.33s.
Wyvernsnipe: 2.57s.
Wyvernblast: 2.17s, but need 2 times to fully tenderize, can reduce to 1 with Clutch Claw Boost.

You use different build for different situation.
For ammo type, it depends on what monster you are going to fight.












As for bowgun, you can use any bowgun you like. High performance bowguns usually have these characteristics:

Because pierce and element can hit multiple body parts, you will need to fire at different angles depending on your and monster’s position.

Singleplayer: the monster will be facing you and attack you most of the time, usually you aim head to tail, and the head is usually the weakest body part.

Multiplayer: the monster will run around attacking everyone, and the best firing angle won’t always be available, so you need to shoot at other body parts to deal damage. Such as head to arm/ leg/ wing, wing to wing/ arm/ leg, and tail to wing/ leg/ head.

Usually you stick with 1 ammo type at a time, but sometimes you want to keep firing. Here are some common firing orders.

LBG normal, pierce and spread:






LBG elemental:






LBG sticky, HBG normal and spread:





HBG pierce:







HBG sticky and cluster:

There are 3 ways to sheath the weapon.

Normal: you sheath while standing or moving.








Animation cancel: you will instantly sheath your bowgun as the sheathing animation gets replaced by another animation, such as stunned by roar, knocked back by wind pressure, walking off a cliff and getting hit.

Map: you will instantly sheath your bowgun when you open the map.

There are 2 types of jumping attack, 1 for firing and 1 for reloading.

Jump Fire: you fire while in midair. Ignores recoil stat, can only fire once per jump, only works for normal and rapid fire shot type, and you will get knocked back by the recoil. You can aim while in midair, but you can’t use special scope.

Jump Reload: you will swing your bowgun to attack, then you reload your bowgun. You draw your bowgun instantly if it is sheathed. Ignores reload stat, if the fall is long enough you will finish the reload before landing, but if the fall is too short the reload animation will restart after you land on the ground. You can dodge cancel the reload animation when on the ground.
Can be used to mount monster.

Yes, there is a melee attack, you swing your bowgun and smack something. Usually for LBG to trigger their mines.

Other important things

Max it out asap, you need it to farm ammo materials. Nobody wants to spend days going out collecting materials just to spend them all in 1 quest, or spend all the money on buying ammo.

You will run out of ammo mid-fight, and you need to craft them mid-fight.

Affects your game experience, if something feels off, change the settings.

All ammo types have carry limit and some ammo types craft multiple ammo at once, if you craft too much, the excess ammo will be wasted.













Craft ammo mid-fight, you can’t craft while attacking or using item.






















It will make your life much easier.
















Become a true gunner.








If teammate is stunned, sleeping or paralyzed, you can melee or shoot them, or blow them up if they have Flinch Free.

0. don’t use guardian/defender set.
1. you have no ammo. Start a quest, open the blue box and rob all the ammo. Explore the map and collect everything. And pet your palico.
2. practice. Take your time no need to rush, learn how to use the bowgun, learn about the monster, learn how to dodge, learn about the environment. And pet your palico.
3. upgrade botanical research and start farming ammo. And pet your palico.
4. start farming decos after iceborne story quests and prepare for the future. And pet your palico.
5. don’t fight Alatreon and Fatalis before mr150. Upgrade your build until you can’t put more skills into it. And pet your palico.
6. defeat Alatreon and Fatalis. And pet your palico.
7. pet your palico.

Frame Rate affects your fire rate, to a degree
Bowguns and Ammunition info dump
MHW Motion Value Table[docs.google.com]
MHW Genral Data Sheet[docs.google.com]
Effects of FPS[docs.google.com]

Tic Rate Fix
No Blur Special Scope
Better Input Detection
Critical Effect Intensity Reduced
True weapon damage values
Reduce or Remove Bloom