Heavy Bowgun - Which ammo should I use?

[David Baguetta]

Hey there,

first time MH player and still switching weapons to see what suits me best.
However, I am currently playing with the Heavy Bowgun, but I'm not sure, which ammo I should and which I shouldn't use.
Sure, might also depend on the enemy itself, but are there certain ammo types that suck so hard, one should never use them or others, that stand out?

Tyvm

[Falconash]

Legiana HBG for piercing, easy to craft and you erase anything.

[Komarimaru]

Depends on how the monster and you are postioned. Piercings if facing them head on or behind them, to fire along the length of their body. Spread for Close range high damage/Part breaking. Slice for cutting off tails. Your special depends on what HBG tree you chose, I stick to the Wyrmheart specials due to preference.

[Vanessa]

There are three main ammo types: Normal, Spread and Pierce.

All three of these have use, even Normal, and the one you use is entirely dependant on which bowgun you have in hand.

Generally you use the one that has a higher level - if your Shattercryst has access to Piece 1, 2 and 3 but only Normal 1 and 2 and no Spread, then you're clearly using a bowgun specced for Pierce.

Explosive ammo includes things like Sticky, Cluster, and Wyvern. You should be using Cluster and Wyvern whenever you get the chance to safely do so, as they have high damage, but be careful about staggering your teammates with them.

Status ailments - sleep, exhaust, paralyze - are useful to keep enemies still but you shouldn't rely on them too much as its at the cost of effective damage.

Slicing ammo doesn't do all that much damage anymore, but it can slice tails if you need to.

Elemental ammo deals damage based on the target's weakness, but honestly it's not worth it most of the time over raw damage. HBG's aren't generally specced for elemental damage.

Then there's support ammo - recovery, armour, demon. Recovery can be great for keeping somebody alive at a distance. If one of your teammates is stunned or paralyzed, on low health and about to get reamed they can safe their life; other than that I wouldn't waste effective damage trying to be a 'healer' role as HBG. Armour and Demon are rarely worth it, but if you want to buff everyone up while waiting to trap a sleeping elder, then sure.

Tranq ammo is your go-to for capturing. They do the same thing as a tranq bomb - two shots in the head and a trapped monster is captured.

[gachi is manly]

Vanessa and Komarimaru summed it up quite nicely above.

I also found elemental ammo quite underwhelming even when used against something that's very weak to said element. At the very least against monsters that are weak to it, it will be a bit more effective than normal ammo 2, so it's got that going for it at least.