Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun Guide – Monster Hunter Wilds features 14 different weaponsthe same as the previous installments with the Light Bowgun being one of them. In this MHWilds Light Bowgun Guide, we will be taking a look at how to use the Light Bowgun, Chaser Shots, and all the changes and additions. Whether you’re a new hunter looking to join the hunt or veterans looking for a quick refresher to help with the weapon, this Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun Guide is here to help you.
Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun Guide & Changes
If you like to play shooters and are looking to try out Monster Hunter, the Light Bowgun is the weapon for you. The Light Bowgun is a very agile ranged weapon that excels at hitting the monster multiple times rapidly and will help keep you on your toes and away from harm’s way. If you are a hunter who likes the aggressive and dodge-heavy “run and gun” playstyle, this weapon is tailor-made for you.
Basic Attacks & Combos
The Bowgun weapons are unique from other weapons in the Monster Hunter franchise by the fact that they don’t have combos but the type of damage you do, the range of your attacks, and the pattern of your shots are determined by the ammo you are using at the moment.
Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun vs Heavy Bowgun
| Combat Details | Light Bowgun | Heavy Bowgun |
| Mobility | More agile playstyle | Slower, clunkier playstyle |
| Effective Range | Close-to-mid | Mid-to-long range, (ineffective at close range) |
| Defensive Option | Relies only on dodges and positioning | Has an auto guard and can perform perfect guards. Has a counter move that can deal Offset damage. |
| Customizable Slots | 2 mods slots and 1 special ammo slot | 2 mods slots and 2 special ammo slots |
| Standard Mode | Fixed Standard Mode for all Light Bowguns | Have a variable standard mode that can be upgraded using a mod slot. |
| Base Ammo Type | Normal, Spread and Pierce ammo types | Normal, Spread and Pierce ammo types |
| Special Ammo Type | different special ammo types that can be used by the specific gun you are using | different special ammo types that can be used by the specific gun you are using |
| Alternate Fire Mode (uses a special gauge) | Rapid Fire mode | Ignition Mode |
Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun Changes
Light Bowgun Mods & Special Ammo
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the mod system for the Bowguns also received some changes compared to previous entries. There are now two customizable categories for each Bowgun, Mods and Special Ammo slots. The Light Bowgun will have 2 slots for mods and a single slot for Special ammo.
The mod slot will allow you to choose which ammo type you are using and will have more shots per magazine. Another thing to note is that the two mod slots will offer different Magazines and mods. Generally, the upper one being exclusive to magazines and the lower one having access to Upgrades.
For the special ammo for the Light Bowgun you will be able to choose between the Wyvernblast Mine and the Adhesive Ammo.
The Wyvernblast special ammo will put down a mine on the ground that will explode after a short time and functions similar to the Wyvernblast in the previous games. The Adhesive ammo option will allow you to fire a shot that will stick to a monster for a certain amount of time before blowing up. We will go into how these work in detail later.
Rapid Fire Mode
In Monster Hunter Wilds, the biggest addition to the Light Bowgun is the Rapid-Fire Mode: B (Xbox) or Circle (Playstation). By going into the Rapid-Fire Mode, you attach an ammo drum to your Bowgun, very much like a tommy gun, and allow you to use the brand new Gauge system, the Rapid-Fire Gauge to increase the rate of fire of your shots. This only works with specific ammo types and what ammo can be used with the rapid-fire mode will differ depending on the Light Bowgun you are using.
You can see this in the equipment menu when you are choosing the Light Bowgun. Each ammo type works differently with the rapid-fire mode and with the “Hope Rifle”, the normal shot increases from 3 shots to 5 shots, albeit at a slightly lower damage per shot. The Spread and Thunder ammo shoots two consecutive volleys for rapid-fire, doubling the damage per shot. Shooting in this mode will drain the Rapid-Fire Gauge which will fill up slowly or by hitting the monster with shots.
Burst Step
The Rapid-Fire Mode will allow players to be even more aggressive when using the Light Bowgun as it allows players to use the Burst Step: A (Xbox) or X (Playstation). The Burst Step allows you to shoot while dodging and can be performed by pressing the evade button after you fire a shot. The Burst Step dodge also seems to vary from ammo to ammo ranging from a quick hop to a slower dive. Doing a dodge step while out of ammo will lead to a long-distance dodge move called the Side-Step Reload.
Chaser Shots
Another great addition is Chaser Shots: B (Xbox) or Circle (Playstation) after firing a shot. Chaser shots are follow-up shots that you can fire after firing a normal shot and they are more powerful than normal shots. Chaser Shots do take away your mobility while you are firing, so they are best used when you have a good opening. Chaser Shots can also be used in Rapid-Fire mode and the shots can be chained into the Rapid Chaser Shots. It is a quick-fire attack that ends with a particularly powerful shot. After either the Chaser Shot or the Rapid Chaser Shot, you can change into either a Burst Step or a Sidestep Reload if you don’t have ammo loaded.
Ammo
Ammo also received some changes in Monster Hunter Wilds. Even though there are no new ammo types added to the game, some of the ammo now functions differently when compared to the previous games in the franchise. The normal ammo is now the rapid-fire variant from the previous iterations and both the Spread and Piercing shots now have unlimited ammo.
These changes mean that you will be spending fewer resources to craft these ammo types. The ammo level has also been moved to Bowgun specifically with each Bowgun determining what level a particular type of ammo will be. Note that the higher level an Ammo is, the more effective it will be. Also, the Recovery shot and the Demon shot have also been changed into a mine that is put down in an area, making it much easier to buff teammates.
Special Ammo
The Wyvernblast special ammo puts down a mine at your feet on pressing (Y + B or Triangle +Circle) . This mine will explode by itself after a certain amount of time or if your shots damage or pass near the mine, the mine will send up an explosion up to three times before disappearing completely. This ammo is a great way to damage monsters that are toppled or stunned as it requires the monster to be near the mine for maximum damage.
The Adhesive Ammo option will load up the adhesive ammo on pressing (Y + B or Triangle +Circle). You can then fire this at the monster where it will stick for a certain amount of time before exploding similar to the Wyvernblast. Also similarly, if your bullets hit the adhesive ammo while it is on the monster, it will deal even more damage when it blows up. You will notice when it’s about to blow by the sizzling sound it makes and the small multi-hit damage will start ticking before it goes off with a boom. This option is great for destroying targeted monster parts such as tails or claws when you are looking for specific drops.
Focus Blast: Eagle Strike
For the Focus Blast: Eagle Strike, the attack will shoot out a grenade that explodes on impact destroying all wounds in the explosion’s radius. Holding down the attack button will let you charge up the shot dealing even more damage.
Even though there are no special riding attacks with the Seikret for the Light Bowgun, it is special in that you can use all the regular ammo types while you are mounted and attack the monster for even more mobility although you cannot use the rapid-fire mode or the special ammo while you are mounted. The Seikret also offers an excellent option for mounting with the ability to perform a jumping reload.
Final Tips
The Bowguns offer a very different way to fight as opposed to other weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds. The Light Bowgun being agile, you can play hyper aggressive being constantly on the move and keeping up the pressure with all the added different ways to fire your shots.
It is important to keep your eyes on the Rapid Fire Gauge, the Special Ammo Gauge and the Focus Shot Counts and use them effectively whenever they are available to you to maximize your damage output when hunting with the Light Bowgun.
Knowing how long the reload time is for each different types of ammo will also help you as different ammo have different reload times with the longer ones keeping you stuck in animation.
Also, being familiar with how different types of ammo function and what element and status the monsters you are hunting is weak to, will go a long way in helping you become a master monster hunter using the Light Bowgun.
The two different special ammo types offer the Light Bowgun users the option to choose between going for maximum damage using the Wyvernblast Mine or for targeted damage to parts using the Adhesive Ammo. Using the appropriate special ammo depending on what you are doing will help you succeed when using the Light Bowgun.
For Secondary Weapons
The Light Bowgun users already have a versatile weapon in their hands but if you are looking for even more firepower to dish out during the huge windows, the Heavy Bowgun is an excellent option as it will allow you access to powerful alternate fire modes that can deal massive damage in a short amount of time
That wraps up our Monster Hunter Wilds Light Bowgun Guide, and I hope you found it helpful, and be sure to check out our other Monster Hunter Wilds Guides. If you have questions you can leave them in the comments or drop by our Discord and ask. We also have a Monster Hunter Wilds Wiki with all the information you could possibly need about the game.
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