What is the best Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun build? The Light Bowgun is one of the best beginner friendly weapons in the game, and though it comes with a few tweaks and changes from previous iterations of the weapon, it largely plays the same.
The Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun is, as you guessed it, a lighter version of the Heavy Bowgun. Unlike the normal Monster Hunter Wilds weapons below.
Best Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun build
The best build for the Light Bowgun is:
- Primary Weapon: Wahnschleuder
- Secondary Weapon: Hungerklauen (Dual Blades)
- Armor: Arkvulcan Helm A (Head), Arkvulcan Mail A (Chest), G. Arkveld Vambraces A (Arms), Arkvulcan Coil A (Waist), Arkvulcan Greaves A (Legs)
- Decorations: Expert Jewel (Primary & Secondary), Critical Jewel (Primary & Secondary), Magazine Jewel (Primary), Dragon Jewel (Secondary), Trueshot Jewel (Armor), Bandolier Jewel (Armor), Dragon Res Jewel (Armor)
- Talisman: Earplugs Charm (Lv. 3)
- Mantle: Corrupted Mantle
- Equipment Skills: Critical Element (Lv. 3), Elemental Absorption (Lv. 3), Convert Element (Lv. 2), Weakness Exploit (Lv. 5), Blight Resistance (Lv. 1), Recovery Speed (Lv. 2), Quick Sheathe (Lv. 2)
This is a late game build that you need to work towards, as the Wahnschleuder and Arkveld-themed armor are difficult to obtain. When you do get all the pieces, the 20% affinity afforded by the Wahschleuder and the Hungerklauen deal huge amounts of Critical Damage, while taking advantage of the strength of the Dragon element. We went with the MH Wilds Dual Blades as they're great alternative weapons for the Light Bowgun to take on fast, in-your-face enemies, and to exploit both wounds and critical damage.
Everything in this build leans into doing more critical damage. The Wahnscleuder and Hungerklauen come with the Critical Element skill, which increases all elemental damage when landing critical hits – including Dragon damage. As such, most of the Arkveld set grants skills like Elemental Absorption and Convert Element, to further increase elemental damage output. Most of the set also comes with Weakness Exploit, increasing damage and affinity against wounds, but we take the G. Arkveld Vambraces A instead to make sure Weakness Exploit is maxed out.
For decorations, affinity and critical damage is the way to go using Expert Jewels and Critical Jewels, along with the Magazine Jewel to give you more ammo for your elemental shots. Finally, some basic jewels for ranged weaponry balances the build, as well as the Dragon Res Jewel, as the Arkveld armor is hit by that elemental type.
To tie this build together, the Earplugs Charm ensures monster roars don't stun you for too long, while the Corrupted Mantle provides a great damage boost at the cost of defense; use it when a monster is down and you're ready to unload on any available wounds.
How to use the Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun
The Light Bowgun is a pretty simple weapon to master. It's all about timed dodges, utilizing different ammo types, aggressive playstyle, and making the most of the rapid fire mode.
The rapid fire mode is a more intense attack, which you can enter by filling up a rapid fire gauge, this then attaching an extra ammo drum, which allows you to fire in quick succession. Though the damage is slightly lower, the shots increase, and it's easy to replenish the gauge by using the bowgun normally.
Though you can use normal ammo in rapid fire mode, you can also use specific elemental ammo, indicated by the double arrow symbol in your inventory. The Light Bowgun also has a Burst Step, which while in rapid fire mode, means you can fire while dodging, and also quickly recharge if you run out of ammo, this also puts a bit of distance between you and the enemy.
With that distance, you can use Chaser Shots, especially if an enemy is wounded or you have an opening, as it deals a lot of damage, but makes you immobile when using them. To further increase damage, Focus Blast fires grenades and charged up grenades at enemy weak points and wounds. Focus Blast can even be used from your mount, as well as normal attacks and specific types of ammo.
Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun moveset
Here are all the moves and combos for the Light Bowgun:
- Fire: A simple attack to fire loaded ammo
- Aim/Focus: Ready the bowgun and aim at an enemy
- Focus Blast: Fires at grenade destroying enemy wounds
- Chaser Shot: A powerful shot that fixes you to the spot while firing
- Select/Special Ammo: Change your ammo type
- Rapid Fire Mode: Switch into a mode once the gauge is full to fire rapid ammo
There you have it for the Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun. If you're keen to try out other weapons, the Monster Hunter Wilds monsters in the Forbidden Lands.