Bowgun Recommendations?

[Tyler McRae]

So, I just entered High Rank, and I'm using a few weapons, including the Shattercryst, the Tobi-Kadachi heavy, and the Radobaan heavy. Anybody have any suggestions on some Heavy Bowguns I should focus on, while in high-rank? Or, one that I can craft early on that are fairly strong or use certain ammo types well?

[Vanessa]

Shattercryst is unparalleled for Pierce.

[Mereoleona, Fister of Fury]

if youre going for sos play, then id suggest sticky/cluster bomb stuff. as it can easily outdamage other weapons if played right. i personally use a HBG that uses slicing ammo, as all groups i have never go for the tails. then i work around whether i want status ammo or burst damage ammo, like wyvern/dragon/cluster bomb ammo. i personally dont like spread as majority of the time slicing ammo seems to outdamage it against most enemies, radobaan and uragaan being the only two slicing is meh against. 15x5 damage is sexy when it adds up. as soon as a monster hits the ground swap to cluster and unload them mortars.

[lolschrauber]

I don't have a good overview, but the Zohra Magdaros has a decent choice of strong ammo if I remember correctly. has negative affinity though.

[Mereoleona, Fister of Fury]

once youve got to teostra, it has an amazing HBG and it looks sexy as ♥♥♥♥ too.

[HeliumHe]

Not many experience with Heavy (I mained LBG on Ps4) but I've heard good things about spread 3 build for HBG. For now since Deviljho isn't here yet, you can try Spread 3 with Vaal Hazak's HBG. If you wanna play Pierce, yeah, what Vanessa suggested (Shattercryst) is good.

Later patch the BIS will change to something else, but for now these are good choices you can start.

PS. If you solo a lot, Teostra HBG for Double Wywern to the face is also good, IIRC.

[Katitoff]

Shattercryst for pierce, NErgigante one for spread 3(was it jagras one for spread 2?) and zorah for cluster.

All other ammo types are completely irrelevant for HBG.

[DarkFenix]

Normal - Diablos. Spread - Nergi. Pierce - Legiana. Explosive - Zorah.

Those are the four preset builds I have with HBGs. Needless to say the normal/spread/pierce should take armour piece that boosts their ammo type (at least until you get a jewel to replace it). Normal, spread, and explosive need ammo up.

I'm going to go contrary to what Moxxi said and say cluster bombs not something to use in SOS play, at least not at first. Until you're accustomed to playing with cluster bombs you're going to do as much harm as good, sending your teammates flying. They're great damage, but not if you're preventing three others from doing theirs.

And slicing ammo sucks. If you can ever outdamage other types with slicing, you're using the other type wrong. It has tiny mags, low damage, and a small ammo supply.

My personal favourite is Diablos' HBG, the Griffon Blazooka. Spread requires you to get a bit too close, pierce is rather reliant on the monster angling itself conveniently, explosive is a bit fiddly with all the mid-battle ammo crafting (good fun though). Normal ammo is the happy medium, it does great damage, isn't situational, has a colossal ammo pool, and doesn't need you to get too close. My every mag will deal 4x 60-80 damage depending on whether I crit, once I have the HBG properly augmented it should be both more reliable and a bit stronger.

[Tyler McRae]

Originally posted by DarkFenix:

Normal - Diablos. Spread - Nergi. Pierce - Legiana. Explosive - Zorah.

Those are the four preset builds I have with HBGs. Needless to say the normal/spread/pierce should take armour piece that boosts their ammo type (at least until you get a jewel to replace it). Normal, spread, and explosive need ammo up.

I'm going to go contrary to what Moxxi said and say cluster bombs not something to use in SOS play, at least not at first. Until you're accustomed to playing with cluster bombs you're going to do as much harm as good, sending your teammates flying. They're great damage, but not if you're preventing three others from doing theirs.

And slicing ammo sucks. If you can ever outdamage other types with slicing, you're using the other type wrong. It has tiny mags, low damage, and a small ammo supply.

My personal favourite is Diablos' HBG, the Griffon Blazooka. Spread requires you to get a bit too close, pierce is rather reliant on the monster angling itself conveniently, explosive is a bit fiddly with all the mid-battle ammo crafting (good fun though). Normal ammo is the happy medium, it does great damage, isn't situational, has a colossal ammo pool, and doesn't need you to get too close. My every mag will deal 4x 60-80 damage depending on whether I crit, once I have the HBG properly augmented it should be both more reliable and a bit stronger.

Interesting... Nice! I admit, I'm upset I need to farm Zorah more, but I can dig it. Thanks, mate! Any thoughts on what weapons use elemental ammo well? I love how elemental ammo pierces in this game, making it... actually possibly viable.

[DarkFenix]

Originally posted by Tyler McRae:

Originally posted by DarkFenix:

Normal - Diablos. Spread - Nergi. Pierce - Legiana. Explosive - Zorah.

Those are the four preset builds I have with HBGs. Needless to say the normal/spread/pierce should take armour piece that boosts their ammo type (at least until you get a jewel to replace it). Normal, spread, and explosive need ammo up.

I'm going to go contrary to what Moxxi said and say cluster bombs not something to use in SOS play, at least not at first. Until you're accustomed to playing with cluster bombs you're going to do as much harm as good, sending your teammates flying. They're great damage, but not if you're preventing three others from doing theirs.

And slicing ammo sucks. If you can ever outdamage other types with slicing, you're using the other type wrong. It has tiny mags, low damage, and a small ammo supply.

My personal favourite is Diablos' HBG, the Griffon Blazooka. Spread requires you to get a bit too close, pierce is rather reliant on the monster angling itself conveniently, explosive is a bit fiddly with all the mid-battle ammo crafting (good fun though). Normal ammo is the happy medium, it does great damage, isn't situational, has a colossal ammo pool, and doesn't need you to get too close. My every mag will deal 4x 60-80 damage depending on whether I crit, once I have the HBG properly augmented it should be both more reliable and a bit stronger.

Interesting... Nice! I admit, I'm upset I need to farm Zorah more, but I can dig it. Thanks, mate! Any thoughts on what weapons use elemental ammo well? I love how elemental ammo pierces in this game, making it... actually possibly viable.

If you're going elemental, run an LBG instead, grab one that has rapid fire on the element in question. Fire - Rathalos, Water - Jyarutodus, Ice - Kushala, Thunder - Tobi-Kadachi. Then you get elemental crit from the two piece Rathalos/Rath Soul set bonus, ammo up, boost the relevant element (I believe lvl 3 caps it out, so more is unnecessary), et voila.