Gunlance: The Tips Most Miss

This is the third and final installment of my Gunlance guide "series". This guide will go over tips and certain actions Gunlancers should be using in their hunts that most others sometimes forget. Like the other two guides, this guide is NOT a comprehensive guide on how to use Gunlance in general. There are many videos and tutorials out there on the internet that do a much better job than I could. With that said, let's get into this!

Oh right, I should probably say that this guide will be a lot shorter than my other two. Most of the stuff said here have already been said although this guide will have heavier emphasis on such.

General Tips

These tips are for every type of Gunlance. Using these can overall improve your ability to use the weapon and slowly adapt to which of the three types you find yourself enjoying more often than not.

- Sharpness is important! -

Like any other melee based weapon, the Gunlance has sharpness levels that you need to keep an eye on. "But Zade, this is the most basic garbage any hunter learns! How does this help me!?"

Well, it's important to note this: Gunlance has shelling attacks that cost DOUBLE the sharpness compared to normal attacks from other weapons.

With that in mind, you will find yourself often needing to sharpen your weapon by the time a monster retreats. But fear not! If you are using shelling attacks more than your actual lance attacks, your shelling damage will not decrease with sharpness until you go below green level!

I highly recommend that you carry Whetfish Fins and Whetfish Fins+ in your item pouch as they make sharpening not only faster, but far more effective in terms of restoring overall sharpness compared to your basic Whetstone.

- You have a big boi sheild. USE IT! -

Blocking attacks is good... like, it's REALLY good. Gunlance has the second best guarding capabilities in the game for a reason. This means you should definitely invest in skills such as:
1. Guard
2. Guard Up
(And for those who use lance attacks more often than their shelling attacks)
3. Offensive Guard

Gunlance is much like the Lance in terms of holding your ground and dealing damage consistently. The difference being that Gunlance has more consistent DPS (damage per second) potential than Lance does as shelling attacks are fixed but always do true damage. This means, you don't have to worry about critical hits affecting your dps, or having your attack bounce off more often than not.

- Be mindful of your recovery frames! -

Gunlance has short and quick attacks, but executing these actions still leave you vulnerable to attack. You should always consider "Is this a good time to attack" if the monster is focused on you. Some of your harder hitting attacks also have long animations and if you're performing them while a monster is not struggling on the ground, you're most likely going to get a serious case of the ouchies. Some of the longer attacks include:
1. The heavy combo (Rising slash, heavy slam, wide sweep)
2. Initiating the Wyrmstake Cannon/Blast
3. Charging a Wyvern's Fire
4. Doing a Full Reload
5. Burst Fire after a heavy slam

Most of these attacks should be executed under safer conditions when the monster is either sleeping, stunned, trapped, etc.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: The following information beyond this point assumes that you have either already read my previous two guides, have a decent understanding of how the three different types of shelling work, and/or you are a very quick study and can afford to jump around a bit in terms of information.

Wide

So... Wide. Uhhh...

Just freakin... Poke em and shell em.

What? You thought there was some underlying, mind boggling, 200 IQ seeming, Big brain play you could do with a Wide Gunlance? The only tip I can give is remember to quick reload often.

Well... okay, I guess if you have the Lightbreak Gunlance (Raging Brachydios), remember to used Charged Shelling with your Wyrmstake blast (and only with Wyrmstake blast), and you can effectively slapstick with it as it has 690 base damage.

Unless you don't even know Gunlance has a "gun" installed into it and have only been using melee attacks, this is literally the easiest playstyle anyone with two brain cells (like me) can learn and use to an effective level.

Normal

Okay, NOW we are getting somewhere. Normal Gunlances are usually the first kinds of Gunlance newer players are exposed to, so this can be somewhat useful for those trying to pick up Gunlance in the first place.

- You have basic shelling attacks. USE EM! -

Yes, yes. You've seen the oh so typical "Normal Gunlance playstyles focus on using Full Burst" statement. While that is indeed very, VERY true, you're going to be using the heavy combo more often than not, leaving you more vulnerable than a sitting duck. Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many Normal type Gunlancers think they HAVE to use their Full Burst all the time.

It's okay to use your normal shelling attacks on the monster. Sure, you won't be doing as much damage as a Wide Gunlance would, but you're still dealing damage that's safe and consistent. When it comes to using your Full Burst, always make sure the monster is stunned, trapped, or whatever, to start using your heavy combo safely, or alternatively, you can go for well positioned, aerial bursts.

I'll say it one more time and even bolden it for you: IT IS OKAY TO USE YOUR NORMAL SHELLING ATTACKS!

Just... don't fully neglect Full Burst either. You gotta find the balance and know "when" you can use it.

- Full Burst eats your sharpness quicker than Alatreon deleting an unprepared hunter. -

Because of this, you're probably going to need to sharpen your weapon while the monster is still attacking you and your palico/party.

You can easily hide from the monster real quick, sharpen while the monster switches its attention to something other than you, or when a good opportunity presents itself.

Long

This is a lot like Wide in terms of playstyle... you're just charging your shells instead, but there is one very important tip I can give with this.

- Positioning -

Long Gunlances care (arguably), the MOST about positioning. Why? Because their shells have more range to them when charged. This means you can use your attacks on breakable parts at a much safer distance and can break them quite effectively. Horns? Never knew they were there. Legs? Have fun tripping that Flying Wyvern like you do your younger brother/sister. Backs? Give a violent back scratch dollar store pieces of wood would be jealous of.

Seriously, there's a reason Long used to be the Gunlance meta (as far as I know from prior knowledge) before Iceborne. Royal Burst was a thing, yeah, but damn, Long Gunlances were nice.

Meta/Conclusion

Gunlance Meta is something much of the common hunters have forgotten about. It's not really talked about often anymore, and most of the opinions on it are largely reliant on specific builds and playstyles. So, there can never be one firm answer on what Gunlance works best. However, I can indeed recommend one Gunlance above all others.

(This does require you to have the Iceborne DLC... sorry.)

The Lightbreak Gunlance. Courtesy of our favorite non-elder dragon monster with a unique theme, Raging Brachydios.

The stats you need to pay attention to are:

1. It's Wide level 7. Level 7 is the highest shelling level and is obtainable only by Normal and Wide.
2. It has the SECOND highest base damage of all the Gunlances in the game coming in at 690, and the highest base damage of any Wide Gunlance. This means you can use your physical attacks reliably in combination with your already powerful shelling attacks.
3. Because it has level 7 shelling, your charged shells can out DPS a Long gunlance assuming you're using your Wyrmstake blast with it, making Long gunlances "obsolete" assuming you're going for damage above all else.
4. It has a level 4 decoration slot. That's good.
5. It can be obtained at a reasonably low MR (master rank). Just get carried a few times in the hunt, obtain an immortal reactor either through luck or a Celestial Wyverian Print at the Melder, and boom! This Gunlance can carry you through the rest of your endeavors!

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With all of that said, it's time I bring these guides to a close. Everything I've learned through hours of watching Gunlance videos in my spare time, and the 300+ hours I have on the weapon in-game, have been shared. I hope through the journey, you have learned, or at least enjoyed something from these guides! Hell, if these guides alone helped you decide "Yes! I'm going to use the Gunlance now!" then I've done more than I could have hoped for by making these.

Have a good day/afternoon/night Hunters and Huntresses!

[Wowawald]

nice

[Paul Bunyom]

FBchads represent cause if I'm gonna slap a gun on a lance I'm gonna use that gun to its full extent whether or not it lands dammit.

[RedCity]

。

[Asedora]

Don't you dare teach me,old man.I can kill Great Jaggi,Wroggi or Baggi in 30 mins easily without breaking a sweat,I know what I'm doing!
Thanks for the guide,always nice to see some attention given to Gunlance.