Read this Monster Hunter World: Iceborne guide to know the best and recommended armor skills for the melee weapon - Bow!!!
Table of Contents
Related Article On Bow
Related Article On Bow
 How To Use | Best Builds |
| Best Skills | Endgame Tier List |
Bow Features & Overview
Has 2 Types Of Ranged Attacks
The Bow has 2 types of ranged attacks - normal arrows that pierce through enemy hide & powered up arrows called Charged Shots. Fix your build according to the type of ranged attack damage you want to deal to the monster you're facing.
Consumes Stamina Fast
The Bow can bring down your stamina bar pretty fast when doing Charged Shots or Charged Steps. Skills that increase stamina or speed up stamina recovery are highly recommended in every build for Bow users.
Highly Compatible With Elemental Attacks
:P: The Bow is very compatible with weapons with elemental attributes since their damage isn't affected by motion value. It's also good to augment these weapons with Attack Increase to add more firepower.Recommended Skill List For Bow
| Skill | Recommendation Criteria |
|---|---|
| Attack Boost | Increases attack power and affinity at later level, allowing you to deal more damage to the monster |
| Weakness Exploit | You'll deal more damage and have increased affinity rate when landing hits on monster weak spots |
| Critical Boost | Damage of critical hits is increased, letting you deal more damage to monster's health when landing critical hits |
| Critical Element | Increases elemental damage dealt with critical hits, exploiting the weapon's affinity to different elemental attributes |
| Agitator | Attack & affinity increases when monster is enraged which lets your attacks hit harder than when monsters are calm |
| Special Ammo Boost | Increases damage of Dragon Piercer move |
| Piercing Shots | Adds more power to piercing ammo & the Dragon Piercer move |
| Spread/Power Shots | Increases damage of spread ammo & power shot arrows |
| Normal Shots | Adds more attack damage to normal ammo & arrows |
| Constitution | Reduces stamina consumption of dodging, etc, allowing you conserve your stamina bar |
| Bow Charge Plus | Adds another level to max bow charge, increasing the power of your shots |
| Stamina Surge | Stamina recovery is sped up, allowing you to do more evading or Charged Shots |
Best Bow Skills To Equip
Attack Boost
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Attack +3 |
| 2 | Attack +6 |
| 3 | Attack +9 |
| 4 | Attack +12 and Affinity +5% |
| 5 | Attack +15 and Affinity +5% |
| 6 | Attack +18 and Affinity +5% |
| 7 | Attack +21 and Affinity +5% |
Critical Skill To Have For Any Weapon
Since this skill increases a weapon's raw physical damage and then increases affinity rate at later levels, it's a very important basic skill to have in any loadout or build.
Weakness Exploit
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Attacks that hit weak spots have 15% increased affinity |
| 2 | Attacks that hit weak spots have 30% increased affinity |
| 3 | Attacks that hit weak spots have 50% increased affinity |
Allows For Efficient Hunting
Weakness Exploit gives you bigger chances to deal more damage to monster weak spots, making it easier for you to break monster parts or lower monster health. Utilize the Bow's reach to target weak spots & make for efficient hunts.
Constitution
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reduces fixed stamina depletion by 10% |
| 2 | Reduces fixed stamina depletion by 20% |
| 3 | Reduces fixed stamina depletion by 30% |
| 4 | Reduces fixed stamina depletion by 40% |
| 5 | Reduces fixed stamina depletion by 50% |
Essential When Doing Charging Steps
Charging Steps are essential in the process of making bigger Bow damage but consume a lot of stamina. Constitution lessens the stamina consumption of evading, etc., allowing you to charge up your bow faster.
Critical Draw
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Draw attack affinity +30% |
| 2 | Draw attack affinity +60% |
| 3 | Draw attack affinity +100% |
Adds Crit Bonus When Bow Is First Drawn
When you draw the Bow and aim, this adds a critical bonus until you let go of the string. Be sure to level it up to maximum to receive the highest critical hit bonus.
Alternative Sword And Shield Skill List
Critical Boost
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases damage dealt by critical hits by 30% |
| 2 | Increases damage dealt by critical hits by 35% |
| 3 | Increases damage dealt by critical hits by 40% |
Combine With Attack Boost & Weakness Exploit
When you combine this skill with Attack Boost, Weakness Exploit, and Critical Eye, you'll be dealing a whole lot of damage to any monster you encounter in any hunt.
Critical Eye
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Affinity +3% |
| 2 | Affinity +6% |
| 3 | Affinity +10% |
| 4 | Affinity +15% |
| 5 | Affinity +20% |
| 6 | Affinity +25% |
| 7 | Affinity +30% |
Skill To Increase Damage
Critical Eye essentially increases your affinity rate. Having a higher affinity rate allows you to deal more damage with weapons, letting you kill monsters faster.
Critical Element
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases elemental damage (fire, water, thunder, ice, dragon) when landing critical hits |
Useful In Exploiting Monster Element Weaknesses
The Bow is very effective in dealing elemental damage and abnormal status effects. If you utilize elemental attributes in the game, you'll be able to do increased damage to any target monster.
Agitator
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | While active, grants attack +4 and increases affinity by 3% |
| 2 | While active, grants attack +8 and increases affinity by 6% |
| 3 | While active, grants attack +12 and increases affinity by 9% |
| 4 | While active, grants attack +16 and increases affinity by 12% |
| 5 | While active, grants attack +20 and increases affinity by 15% |
Deal More Damage When Monster Is Enraged
The Agitator skill boosts your attack and affinity rate when the monster is enraged. Since monsters enrage multiple times during a fight, you'll be able to do more damage to it and defeat it more easily.
Special Ammo Boost
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of bowgun special ammo and Dragon Piercer by 10% |
| 2 | Increases the power of bowgun special ammo and Dragon Piercer by 20% |
This skill is useful when using the Dragon Piercer move as it boosts its attack power. It's best combined with the Piercing Shots skill for the ultimate attack boost of the Dragon Piercer.
Piercing Shots
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of piercing ammo and Dragon Piercer |
This skill is useful when using the Dragon Piercer move as it boosts its attack power. It's best combined with the Special Ammo Boost skill for the ultimate attack boost of the Dragon Piercer.
Spread/Power Shots
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of spread ammo and power shot arrows |
A useful skill to increase the damage of your Bow's Power Shots. Recommended for all Bow users. It's best in tandem with the Spread/Power Shots skill.
Normal Shots
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of normal ammo and normal arrows |
A recommended skill to equip for Bow users as it powers up your Bow's normal arrows. It's best in tandem with the Spread/Power Shots skill.
Bow Charge Plus
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases max bow charge level by one |
Increases your Bow's charge levels by one, allowing you to deal more damage with your Charging Shots. It's a very good skill to have when hunting with a Bow.
Stamina Surge
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Stamina recovery speed +10% |
| 2 | Stamina recovery speed +20% |
| 3 | Stamina recovery speed +30% |
Increases the speed of your stamina recovery and is an essential skill to equip when using the Bow. This lets you do Charging Steps & Shots more often, to deal more damage with your shots.
