Read this Monster Hunter World: Iceborne guide to know the best & recommended armor skills for the melee weapon - Heavy Bowgun!!!
Table of Contents
Related Heavy Bowgun Articles
 How To Use | Best Builds |
| Recommended Skills | Endgame Tier List |
Heavy Bowgun Features & Overview
Long Range Weapon
The Heavy Bowgun is a ranged weapon that excels in damage per shot! Due to its ranged nature, it can deal damage to monster parts that are normally hard to reach for melee weapon users!
Has Two Unique Special Ammo Types
The Heavy Bowgun has two unique special ammo types which change up the way it's played.
Wyvernsnipe Ammo
The Wyvernsnipe turns your Heavy Bowgun into a long range sniper rifle, which uses piercing ammo to deal heavy damage to monsters!
Wyvernheart Ammo
On the other hand, the Wyvernheart will require your hunter to get up close to the monster, but fires a heavy barrage of bullets to deal massive amounts of damage!
Recommended Skill List For Heavy Bowgun
| 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 |
| Agitator | Attack & affinity increases when monster is enraged which lets your attacks hit harder than when monsters are calm |
| Normal Shots | Adds more attack damage to normal ammo & arrows |
| Piercing Shots | Adds more power to piercing ammo & the Dragon Piercer move |
| Spread/Power Shots | Increases damage of spread ammo & power shot arrows |
| Special Ammo Boost | Increases damage of bowgun special ammo |
| Maximum Might | Since this weapon doesn't readily consume stamina, you'll have increased affinity rates when your HP bar is full |
| Peak Performance | Attack power is increased when HP bar is full |
| Free Elem/Ammo Up | Increases the amount of ammo loading capacity, best when using rapid fire |
| Evade Extender | Extends evasion distance, giving you more breathing room against incoming attacks |
| Critical Eye | Increases affinity rate, allowing for more chances of making critical hits |
| Mind's Eye/Ballistics | Prevents attacks from being deflected, and shortens distance before ammos reach their max power |
Best Heavy Bowgun 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 Heavy Bowgun's reach to target weak spots & make for efficient hunts.
Alternative Heavy Bowgun 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.
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.
Normal Shots
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of normal ammo and normal arrows |
Essential For Normal Ammos
Since you will also be using normal type ammunition when fighting against monsters, it is essential to equip this skill in order to power up your normal shots and deal more damage!
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 Heavy Bowgun's spread ammo. Recommended for all Heavy Bowgun users. It's best paired with the Normal Shots skill.
Piercing Shots
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Increases the power of piercing ammo and Dragon Piercer |
This skill is useful when using piercing ammo as it boosts their attack power. However since there are only choice moments to use piercing ammo, this skill is at a lower priority.
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% |
Increase Special Ammo Damage
This skill is useful in increasing the attack power of the Heavy Bowgun's Wyvernblast, allowing it to deal vasts amount of damage to any monster it hits.
Maximum Might
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | While active, increases affinity by 10% |
| 2 | While active, increases affinity by 20% |
| 3 | While active, increases affinity by 30% |
Best For Weapons That Don't Consume Stamina
Since the Heavy Bowgun doesn't consume that much stamina except for dodging, this skill will help you increase your affinity rate. You'll be able to deal more damage when your stamina bar is full.
Peak Performance
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | While active, grants attack +5 |
| 2 | While active, grants attack +10 |
| 3 | While active, grants attack +20 |
Increase DPS At Max Health
This skill increases your attack damage when you are at full health. Despite the Heavy Bowgun's low mobility, it is useful for opening up encounters with a little extra damage to remove a chunk of the monster's health!
Free Elem/Ammo Up
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Draws out 33% of hidden element and expands clip size for some ammo |
| 2 | Draws out 66% of hidden element and expands clip size for some ammo |
| 3 | Draws out 100% of hidden element and expands clip size for some ammo |
Crucial For Rapid Fire Builds
This skill is highly important when you want to fully utilize the Heavy Bowgun's rapid fire feature. This increases your loading capacity, letting you shoot more ammo at your target.
Evade Extender
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Slightly extends evasion distance |
| 2 | Extends evasion distance |
| 3 | Greatly extends evasion distance |
Increase Weapon Mobility
The Heavy Bowgun is one if not, the slowest weapon in the game. It will be helpful to increase weapon mobility with this skill in order to be able to avoid incoming attacks faster!
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.
Mind's Eye / Ballistics
| Lvl | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | Prevents attacks from being deflected. Also shortens the distance before ammo and arrows reach maximum power |
Maintain Weapon Accuracy
Piercing bullets are excellent with this skill. Since it shortens the distance at which the bullet reaches its maximum power, you will be able to get more accurate shots at the monster, while still dealing a high amount of damage!
