Heavy Bow Gun for endgame?

[Xamantul]

Greetings! I am at the guiding lands and recently I got into wanting to try this weapon. I have defeated most of the monster but Alastron and Fatalis, which set and weapon should I do before going fatalis?

[CookedMeat]

Safi Burstcannon for Spread 3. Since it is a raw build there aren't many requirements on build. If you are feeling unsafe, try 2 piece Brachi + 2 piece Gold Rathian for a decent affinity + Divine Blessing Secret
Demonlord Beastbuster for sticky + cluster. It's quite a relaxing build to play since you don't need to aim for specific hitzones and it can create many stuns for openings. However this don't work well for monster like Fatalis due to its massive health pool.

[Mander]

Yeah, Safi Burstcannon is the best alternative before Fatalis for HBG with Spread 3.
Alatreon offers a very good LBG for elemental builds, but his HBG is terrible.

The other possible alternative if you want to build an HBG "with utility" (so not focused on spread 3 / pierce 3/ normal 3) is the Magda Gemitus Vulcan, HBG from Zorah Magdaros evolved in Master Rank and further modded with Guiding Lands loot, which is still the strongest contender for a sticky / status build.
It is an uncommon build for HBG (normally, sticky status is an LBG niche), but having sleep /paralysis / sticky AND wyvern snipe in a single package is tremendously powerful.
The downside is that the top armour for this HBG build, is 4 pieces of Fatalis armour beta + Velkhana gamma helmet. And a Challenger Charm V...
Still, it's one of those builds you can carry with you after endgame.

[Xamantul]

Safi burstcannon for spread 3? Btw I should hve mentioned but I am like totally newbie with this weapon so if you can explain a bit more the spread, normal and pierce do I'd be grateful.

[Mander]

Oh! NP.
In a nutshell, HBG being the obese big brother of the Lightbowgun, has access to some of the most damaging options regarding ammos.

“Spread 3” simply means “ammo type: spread” (as opposed to normal or pierce), while 3 means the level of sophistication (3 is the most powerful level, with maxed out damage or potency). A “poison 3 ammo” for instance, is a poison bullets that proc the status of poison faster than a “poison 2” . Same for sleep / paralysis ecc.

Sticky 3, in a similar way, is a sticky bomb with delayed explosion, that deal more damage than a sticky 2 ammos, but at the same time, stun the monster more quickly (ideal to break a monster head and stun it at the same time).

The “standard” package deal, regarding ammo (and this is true for Light and Heavy bowguns) are:
- Spread: short range /shotgun like. Extreme damage at short range, fall off quickly. Optimal option against compact monsters (Teostra), especially if you can aim at a weak point and stay there. Coupled with antiflinch (rocksteady mantle) or a shield, allow to stagger the monster and keep him down until it dies. Glass cannon builds are the way to go here (if ofc you can manage the edge required). Regardless, Spread 3 builds in general are the highest dealing damage options of them all: you can kill tempered elder dragons in master rank in less than 3 minutes, with an optimized spread 3 build (and a full team geared just like you).
- Pierce: long range. Ideal vs long monsters (Kulve Taroth / Xeno’Jiva), pierce ammos traverse monsters dealing damage to every hitboxes they hit. Therefore, the longer the monster, the higher the damage (you just have to stay in front of them).
- Normal: no penetration whatsoever, but they remain in the middle ground between pierce and spread, although their damage is lower than both (having no penetration nor buckshot).

On top of this ammo options, you can have status (poison, paralysis, sleep ecc) and stun option (sticky/cluster), which do exactly what it says on the tin. There are others type, like Wyvern Ammo, which is a point-blank grenade, but they are more situational, and I invite you to experiment with them.

Example: what is the main weakness of Xeno’Jiva? He’s looong and weak to poison. So, a heavybowgun with pierce and poison is your best friend to farm its AT version (if you care about it).

Fortunately (because variety is the spice of life), not every bowgun can do everything: at the smith, you can see what ammo type every bowgun can shoot and choose therefore what is the best option for you. And of course, a bigger cartridge for your favourite ammo is always the better option (you can also use jewels to enlarge them further).
Personally, I found love with the Heavy Bowgun both in Spread 3 (the sheer damage of it) and in the status / sticky builds (for utility and for “relaxing” hunts).

Another aspect of the bowguns, is that they can be modified by the smith, adding mods, which can modify how fast you shoot a single type of ammo, or adding a shield to parry monster roars.

Finally, HBG are split in 2 categories for their special attack: wyvernsnipe and wyverheart, both a “limit burst” kind of ability.
Wyversnipe is a long range, high piercing and explosive ammo, with a long CD. It also deals a massive amount of damage, and works like a pierce ammo. Therefore, it can delete a vast amount of life points from long monster, especially if you managed to put them in the ground or put them to sleep first.
Wyvernheart is a gatling gun, with shorter CD (and you can also use it during the CD but with a shorter duration).

I’ll explain the “Safi burst 3” in another post, because this one is long enough XD.

[Mander]

Now that I've bored you enough with some trite information regarding the bowgun, the next step will be: what is the “Best” HBG?

As said above, heavybowguns with spread 3 and large cartridge are the highest damage option of them all in MHW, but they demand a lot to be used. Therefore, sticky or sticky /status can be a viable alternative as starting options.
I remember I begun using HBG while hunting tempered kirin back in high rank, using the HBG of the Deviljho (status/sticky and spread 3 in a single package). In time, I transitioned to full spread 3 in master rank, going back to a sticky status for the pleasure of it.
For master rank, the “best” sticky /status HBG is the Magda Gemitus Vulcan from Zorah Magdaros, which has Wyversnipe. Being an “utility” build, it works well to understand how to hunt with your HBG and the damage is really really good if you can put all the sticky ammos in the face of the monster.
IF instead you’re looking for the Pure Damage, the HBG obtained from Safi’Jiva are your best bet until Fatalis.
Safi’jiva’s Burstcannon (for spread 3) and Snipecannon (for pierce 3) will remain your bread and butter until you defeat the blackest dragon of the all, Fatalis. Fatalis Vor Buster is a disgusting monster of an HBG, that can be build for Spread, Pierce or Normal with no particular problem: it’s just a matter of changing the mods attached to it.

EDIT: ok, I checked old screenshots... I transitioned to spread 3 well before Iceborne XD
Especially vs tempered Deviljho/Elder Dragons thanks to the Taroth Assault Glutton. Ye old spread 3 meta...
Still, IG rules them all for me. The aerial battles vs Velkhana AT... bullying Flying Wyverns with paralisys and dragon element...
Or just pwning Lunastras with the pogo stick... good times.