Spread is best for HBG, how viable are the others?

[x Princess Leliana x]

So getting to the point now where I have to invest heavily. I like pierce heavy bowgun, but im not good at using it, im always hitting the leg of the monster and only getting a few hits. Not great. I like sticky, but not sure what to do with it or how good it is at higher levels.

I like the idea of the spread guns at high level with the ultra tank build, but i tried the spread on the jagras gun and just did not enjoy it, felt weird being right next to the monster and not melee. Idk. Help?

[SushiJaguar]

Sticky ammo is best paired with the Artillery skill, and the Slugger skill. You might not even need the Slugger skill, since there's some stuff to do with breakpoints, and monster resistances increasing per application of a status effect.

But those are the two "intended" combinations of skills.

Spread is indeed meant to be up in the monster's face, and there is an armourskill that boosts Normal, Spread, and Pierce each. They tend to be a little lacklustre without that skill, so snag that and see how you feel. You can also use the Impact Mantle with Spread ammo to give it some oomph and trigger staggers on monsters more.

Sticky is almost always the best, though, on certain bowguns it is a very spammable ammo type and the monster's status resistance becomes pretty irrelevant as it tends to die before the build-up loses returns.

Personally I don't like bowguns and find them incredibly boring, but YMMV!

[Mr. September]

We also got Pierce 3 for HBG. Especially effective against long monsters. Nergigante is an example, since I think the spikes are weak to Shot damage and he's fairly large.

It's not very good against short, small or fast monsters, though. Pierce hits are determined by how long the bullet stays in the target. Shorter means less damage.

[Loxly]

Bowguns are boring in MHW tbh, if you like shotgun you're in for a ride cuz Spread ammo is BiS for LBG, HBG, and Bow. You can definitely play around other ammo variations but keep in mind the difference is quite significant in terms of dps.

[x Princess Leliana x]

Wasn't asking if they were boring guys, lmao. General recc is sticky though or?

[Mr. September]

Originally posted by x Princess Leliana x:

Wasn't asking if they were boring guys, lmao. General recc is sticky though or?

Sticky is good for both HBG and LBG, but it shines best when you are in a party and chain-topple a monster for your buddies to bully. Not everyone likes that, however. Makes things too easy.

[jscjml]

Have you tried the Zinogre or Safi HBG? You can use a shield and spam Spread 3. The Jagras HBG is meant to use Spread 2 which sucks in comparison.

For the Zinogre/Safi HBG, use 3x shield, 1x close range, 1x special scope. Imo Spread is my general rec, with the shield you dont need to worry about dodging anything. Just block hits and do 200-500 damage per shot.

For armor skills you just want Guard 5 & Guard Up, then get typical skills like Weakness Exploit, Crit Eye, Crit Boost, Spare Shot, Ammo Up etc.

[Dust]

They're all viable. Unless you're speedrunning, just try stuff out and use what you like. I like using elemental slow weapons even though they're extremely suboptimal.

[jscjml]

Yeah Dust and Mr. September bring up good points too. Sticky is pretty good too imo especially online. And Pierce can be good as well, its just more situational than the other two ammo types. You obviously wouldnt want to use Pierce ammo on a small monster, cause you wouldnt be able to get alot of procs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiMtcKCeSMk

Here's a video of Pierce ammo ripping Alatreon to shreds lol

[Mr. September]

Originally posted by Dust:

They're all viable. Unless you're speedrunning, just try stuff out and use what you like. I like using elemental slow weapons even though they're extremely suboptimal.

Rapidfire elemental LBG is actually very powerful.

Edit: Oh wait, I misread.

[ominumi]

Take the Spread HBG against Greatest Jagras see how it performs. Or better yet, use it against Savage Deviljho.

[jscjml]

Originally posted by ominumi:

Take the Spread HBG against Greatest Jagras see how it performs. Or better yet, use it against Savage Deviljho.

Yeah that's true. Furious Rajang is tricky too, if you get caught in a pin he just oneshots you even with maxed out fatalis gear. Fatalis will oneshot you with its fire carpet as well.

[x Princess Leliana x]

Originally posted by jscjml:

Have you tried the Zinogre or Safi HBG? You can use a shield and spam Spread 3. The Jagras HBG is meant to use Spread 2 which sucks in comparison.

For the Zinogre/Safi HBG, use 3x shield, 1x close range, 1x special scope. Imo Spread is my general rec, with the shield you dont need to worry about dodging anything. Just block hits and do 200-500 damage per shot.

For armor skills you just want Guard 5 & Guard Up, then get typical skills like Weakness Exploit, Crit Eye, Crit Boost, Spare Shot, Ammo Up etc.

I havent even beaten base game world yet, nowhere near that.

Originally posted by jscjml:

Yeah Dust and Mr. September bring up good points too. Sticky is pretty good too imo especially online. And Pierce can be good as well, its just more situational than the other two ammo types. You obviously wouldnt want to use Pierce ammo on a small monster, cause you wouldnt be able to get alot of procs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiMtcKCeSMk

Here's a video of Pierce ammo ripping Alatreon to shreds lol

Sticky seems the best overall then? I want a good all rounder to take me far before i build specialised builds for individual monsters. Sticky is good for toppling yes, but what about just damage? I dont want to be *only* toppling i want to be helping in raw numbers too!

[askoth]

Originally posted by x Princess Leliana x:

Sticky seems the best overall then? I want a good all rounder to take me far before i build specialised builds for individual monsters. Sticky is good for toppling yes, but what about just damage? I dont want to be *only* toppling i want to be helping in raw numbers too!

It’s really hard to answer this because while the weapon is easy (point and shoot) choose the right bowgun for the job is hard.

Talking about meta sets, sticky will not do as good damage as pierce (on right situations) or spread. It’s still a good option nonetheless due to cc capabilities and fixed damage.

Since you didn’t beat the game yet, I guess it depends on what you have available. Recoil, deviation, reload time, clip size all will affect the damage you can do.

Artillery skill and Felyne Bombardier will also affect your damage of sticky.

Sticky will ignore monster part weakness and doesn’t crit. That can be an advantage against monsters that’s hard to find the weakspot. (Only hits on head count to stun)

[overmage]

Spread is strongest in general, but much harder to use than pierce. Pierce is stronger than Spread against long monsters (e.g. Kulve, Bazelgeuse) and slightly weaker against the others, however it is much easier to use than Spread and in the hands of a beginner will typically outdamage spread.

Sticky is the easier to use among the three, but will do less dps than both spread and pierce. It is very easy since it doesn't use crit, ignores hitzones, ignores critical distance and stuns if aimed at the head.

[DocBockNstein]

My recommendation is to use pierce and learn the soft spots even if spread is better at end game you are still putting monsters down faster then most other weapons do by a long shot. Sticky is good but requires more precision to get the most out of it. With pierce your also at a range where you can see EXACTLY what the monster is doing or about to do and react in kind. It really helps with learning other weapons down the road.