Good site for meta sets?

[River Victor]

Topic. I need LBG/HBG sets. I'm not just looking for sticky and cluster sets, as I've been told it's kinda OP and boring to play with, so the more variation the better. Is there a site for it? Jinx and Tuna used to do it for World, and they moved on, but I wish they would still do it for Rise.

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by River Victor:

Topic. I need LBG/HBG sets. I'm not just looking for sticky and cluster sets, as I've been told it's kinda OP and boring to play with, so the more variation the better. Is there a site for it? Jinx and Tuna used to do it for World, and they moved on, but I wish they would still do it for Rise.

Are you not contradicting yourself there? On the one hand you do not want something overpowered and boring and on the other hand you want still "meta" builds?

Why so little trust in yourself of making your own set?
That is an essential part of the fun of the game.

[♋Phenex]

Join the official MH discord and you can check the pins for the meta sets of each weapon according to the corresponding weapon channel.

[Plumber]

there is nothing oxymoronic about wanting something “normally” overpowered and interesting instead of gamebreaking and one-note

[アンジェル]

Originally posted by Plumber:

there is nothing oxymoronic about wanting something “normally” overpowered and interesting instead of gamebreaking and one-note

Then I guess we have a different understanding of "meta". Making the word itself questionable at the matter at hand, since I cannot see anything else as "meta" aside of a fully optimised build. It seems especially weird since there are not that many good combinations to begin with unless, which circles us back, you adapt the build entirely to your personal gameplay, which makes a "meta" build unnecessary to begin with.

[Plumber]

yes, read the spirit of what OP is saying and not his literal phrasing
Man’s just asking for optimized sets that don’t incorporate sticky spam; it’s not “meta” in the literal sense that it’s not the absolute fastest TA way to play but it’s still a request for “meta” in terms of making some other beefy setup

It’s no different from asking how to optimize Spread on Bow even though rapid/pierce completely mog it because of how precisely you have to space it in this game, or powder bugs on IG instead of hitting the monster until it dies with an assist bug, or insert weaker switch skill here e.g. GS guard tackle

“What is the meta for this off-meta option” still has its own little numbers game to juggle and figure out, so the vocabulary works fine here and even if you strongly believe it’s a misnomer he clarified what he wanted in his opening post anyway

[Plumber]

Anyway, sorry but my computer’s still dead and I can’t bring up my own sets, but there should be some decent build videos on YT even if it’s not your preferred authors; also here’s some spitballing to actually answer the question instead of debating colloquialisms

speaking generally, LBG wants rapid/type/ammo up/spare shot and minimal recoil/reload alongside WEX/CB/CE as much as you can fit them, standout guns being Narga for rapid pierce2 and Zin for rapid slicing; there’s some good gun that has rapid for normals too but I forget
HBG - same deal, just no need for rapid+ and a great and terrible thirst for evade extender; try Shrapnel HBG in rampages, it’s a very funny amount of aoe spam even outside of counter gong/signal time

Teo/Vaik/Val/Anja/Rajang gives a bunch of the skills and slots you need, but when it comes to minmaxing the ranged weapons, it really depends on what ammo type and what talismans you have on hand to spot the skills you need

[Pook and Pie]

Honestly, your best bet is going to be checking what charms you have and going here:

https://mhrise.wiki-db.com/sim/?hl=en

Input your charms, set the skills you want, and then see which armor pieces you need. Due to how charms work in Rise it's a bit easier to customize your set this way, because you might get away with squeezing 1-5 more skills into your set depending on your charms.

What kind of LBG/HBG set do you want to use? Raw ammo types basically all use the same skills:

Shot Type Up (like Pierce Up 3)
Rapid Fire Up 3 if using a Rapid Fire ammo from an LBG, like Pierce 2 on Nargacuga's.
Spare Shot (not extremely important with Pierce, but can is invaluable for Sticky and Slicing)
Weakness Exploit/Critical Eye
Critical Boost
Enough Reload Speed and Recoil Down to make your primary shot lowest recoil and fastest reload. For Nargacuga Pierce 2, for example, the minimum is 2 Recoil, 1 Reload, I believe.

If you have a talisman with any of those skills, a set with all of these becomes possible.

For non-Sticky ammo types, you basically want the crit meta skills: Weakness Exploit, Critical Boost (if possible), Critical Eye, et al. Critical Eye > Weakness Exploit on Pierce since a lot of Pierce damage ticks will happen outside of weak spots on tons of monsters (like Rakna-Kadaki), but Weakness Exploit > Critical Eye on most other ammo types simply because Crit Eye requires too much investment nowadays.

Always pack your Shot Type Up 3 skill, and if using rapid fire ammo, use Rapid Fire Up 3. Those are both 20% boosts to your damage, so prioritize those over even crit meta skills if you can (Weakness Exploit 3, for example, is a 12.5% effective damage boost assuming every single hit crits, and even at 100% affinity, Critical Boost is a 15% effective damage boost. Ergo, Spread Up 3, Pierce Up 3, et al, are higher damage boosts at 20%, so prioritize them first).

For bowguns, I'd recommend the following, though there are others worth using:
Pierce LBG: Nargacuga
Pierce HBG: Kushala Daora (Daora Soul ramp up)
Normal LBG: Kushala Daora (Daora Soul ramp up)
Normal HBG: Kushala Daora (same)
Spread LBG: Magnamalo
Spread HBG: Tigrex or Pukei, depending on how much you value moving and shooting

Rapid Fire Slicing: Zinogre. You can use Dragonheart or just jam as many crit meta skills in as you can.

Which armor pieces you use to achieve your final set are inherently dependent on which charms you have, so definitely check out the set builder linked above. Hopefully this helps you. Also, if you're having trouble getting used to bowgunning, a level or two of Evade Extender can help you dodge attacks with relative ease.