basic strategies for maximizing light bow gun damage?

[kudo]

hello, been playing melee for a while, basically been playing melee weapons religiously up till now. kind of want to branch out and try some light bow gun for a change since my friends say its the closest ranged weapon to melee.

so i already know about weakspots and critical distance. took me longer to figure it out than id like to admit. anyway i would just like to know some basic tips for playing light bow gun and how to improve damage output... since it does seem very low and im probably playing it wrong....

anyway i am using the Karma with a focus on Normal Shot 2 and Spread Shot 1.

thank you

[Chaos]

u can see my build, i run normal 2 raw damage.
does great with 130+ damge per ammo used, and of course since lbg is the only ranged weapon where health augment is viable, it feels really great like melee.

In terms of maximizing damage, you need use wyvern mines as much as possible, also stay close like at melee range and use close range damage boost for both normal and spread shots.

Of course bombs, sleep exists but they also exist for any other weapon.

[kudo]

looks like i can put a health augment on my Karma. i really like Normal 2 bullets, its quite good but although i have Attack Boost 7, Critical Boost 3, Weakness Exploit 3, and Normal Shot... i only do about 45 per bullet from my Karma. where can i find your build?

[Corrodias]

I like to use Spread shots (deviljho gun with 2 recoil mods and 1 close range mod); Normal just doesn't excite me, but if it could do that kind of damage, maybe I'd get excited. I expect this is a communication thing: it's inflicting 130+ damage, which is being reduced by monster armor to 45. The Shot damage type often has a low percentage of damage inflicted per hit zone.

[Stationary Traveller]

First of all, you shouldn't be using lv1 ammo in any situation. If you run out of lv2/3 ammo, just craft more. With Karma your main ammo should be the RF normal 2 and the secondary one your status ammo. That's it.

Now, the two main skills to improve damage output on bowguns in general are
- Free Elem/Ammo Up: increases the clip size of your ammo = less reload times = more dps
- Razor Sharp/Spare Shot: gives you a 25% chance of not using your ammo = less reload times = more dps
The first one is pretty much mandatory, while the second one can be skipped if the clip size of your main ammo is large enough (I'd say >6) or if you can get the fast reload on it.

Once you have these two down you use all the usual skills to boost your damage output depending on the ammo type: Max Might+WEX+Crit Boost for raw ammo that can crit, Att Boost+Peak Performance for explosive ammo, Crit Eye for piercing and elemental ammo, Special Ammo Boost+Focus if you want to focus on wyvernblasts, etc.

Unfortunately Karma is really overshadowed by later bowguns (namely the Kulve ones), so you can't hope to pump up the damage too much. You might want to try elemental bowguns until you get a good normal 2 LBG off Katie.

P.S. health augment really isn't good unless you're using normal 3 or sticky. On anything with multiple bullets (including rapid fire) it will only heal you for the first bullet.

[Venusgate]

-Don't forget to always be recharging wyvernblast mines, or about to go/para/sleep. All three mines plus two melee hits is around 800 damage in 5 seconds.

-non-elemental skill works for normal shot, but ONLY if the bowgun can't fire any elemental ammo

-forceshot is a direct damage boost to normal ammo.

-lbg don't really take chip damage. It's either most/all your health, or 3-4 minutes untouched, so you should consider affinity over hp Regen augs

-felyne sharpshooter is a direct damage boost to normal

-felyne temper food skill is a damage boost to elemental ammo

-elemental damage up caps at 3 point for ammo

-You want to customize your bowguns to do recoil 2-3 and reload normal if possible before you do damage mods. Don't bother with deviation

[Raldavar]

Get rid of Karma and change to Nerggigante LBG. It not only does more damage with rapid normal 2, but also has access to level 2 para and sleep. Adding to this wyvern blast does a lot more damage because of higher natural raw.

Karma's higher affinity does not make up for having exceedingly low raw, especially since affinity is so easy to build for but raw isn't. 3 Weakness exploits and max might is 80% affinity right there. The last 20% you can build off anything. It takes 7 attack skills to give you 21 raw, so go with 4 since it comes with an extra 5% affinity. Peak performance is easy to build for with empress body since you'll be augmenting for health regen above anything else. That's 20 raw at full health for 3 skills.

Also keep in mind that range weapons have naturally lower defense modifiers than melee weapons. Always slot in at least 2 VIT jewel when going against tempered elders.

[gachi is manly]

One of my best LBG tips for dealing damage: Mighty Jewels/Maximum Might. Since your attacks don't use stamina, you'll spend a lot of your time at full stamina shooting away. May as well get a large chunk of extra affinity while you do so. Maximum Might level 3 + Weakness Exploit 3 is 80% crit chance against weak spots.

So far my best LBG setups have been:

Lunastra's Styx setup for lightning/water weak creatures. Very effective against 1-3 phase Kulve and Kushala because you can constantly put out consistent damage against them with lightning ammo. I use two pieces from the new USJ quest set for rathalos crit element bonus and stack up as much affiinity and crit boosting power as I can + free ammo up 3 and even squeeze in some bolt gems.

Kulve Taroth's Blitz Shot or Support for normal setups. Support is probably a bit better for my normal 2 build. I stack up a lot of affinity/crit boost on this setup as well. Normal jewel helps a lot otherwise your stuck with BDblos legs to get that skill.

Wide Range LBG setup. Bit of a gimmicky setup I use since I like to support occasionally but get bored of S&S. Sacrifices my affinity/crit for the ability to help my teammates out. Recovery ammo is pretty fun, too. I've found it to be pretty effective since LBG has a pretty quick sheath time and often I'm safe to give people clutch heals when needed thanks to the decent range and good mobility.

[Stationary Traveller]

Originally posted by Venusgate:

-Don't forget to always be recharging wyvernblast mines, or about to go/para/sleep. All three mines plus two melee hits is around 800 damage in 5 seconds.

You do more damage overall if you detonate the mines by shooting on them.

[Venusgate]

Originally posted by Moonmadness:

Originally posted by Venusgate:

-Don't forget to always be recharging wyvernblast mines, or about to go/para/sleep. All three mines plus two melee hits is around 800 damage in 5 seconds.

You do more damage overall if you detonate the mines by shooting on them.

Assuming you have time to finish all 5 detonations before they get up, sure

[G-sai]

LBG is useless.

Just one of the F tier weapon in this game.

Switch axe \ LBG - F tier.

Just watch some AT rushes or arena rush on youtube. You never find a LBG or SA kills.
Its always the same weapons from S tier

Long sword \ HBG \ Bow \ Charge blade - S tier weapons.

[Stationary Traveller]

Originally posted by G-sai:

LBG is useless.

Just one of the F tier weapon in this game.

Switch axe \ LBG - F tier.

Only for people who are bad at the game.

[G-sai]

Originally posted by Moonmadness:

Originally posted by G-sai:

LBG is useless.

Just one of the F tier weapon in this game.

Switch axe \ LBG - F tier.

Only for people who are bad at the game.

Link on youtube pls where LBG user kill any of AT monsters or rush arena with LBG faster than charge blade or HBG. This weapon even with meta mathematically max damage potential is lowest than any weapon in this game.

you can't argue with math.

Here the link for all meta builds.
https://www.reddit.com/r/MonsterHunterWorld/comments/a7xijr/pc_behemoth_meta_build_compilation_for_all/

True raw of LBG is pathetic
https://imgur.com/a/RAVCkGM

[Venusgate]

Originally posted by G-sai:

LBG is useless.

Just one of the F tier weapon in this game.

Switch axe \ LBG - F tier.

Just watch some AT rushes or arena rush on youtube. You never find a LBG or SA kills.
Its always the same weapons from S tier

Long sword \ HBG \ Bow \ Charge blade - S tier weapons.

If you're trying to play the game as little as possible, you're playing golf, not MHW.

[Hammer Of Evil]

what's it like having a normal shot decoration? T_T

[G-sai]

Originally posted by Hammer of Evil:

what's it like having a normal shot decoration? T_T

+3 damage per shot. Lmao

Or u can just build artillery on Charge blade and rise up from 100x6 to 125x6. The balance in this game xD