[Top 5] Monster Hunter World Best Heavy Bowguns (2020)

Monster Hunter World, Iceborne, Top 5, Best, Heavy Bowgun

Updated:

10 Mar 2020

Dakka Dakka Dakka.

Sometimes, after a frustrating day of stabbing monsters, you just want to sit back, relax, and blast an entire species into extinction, you know?

The Heavy Bowgun is the perfect fit for days like that. Unlike it’s smaller cousin, the Light Bowgun, the Heavy Bowgun carves out its own niche by giving up some mobility for even more firepower.

If you’re looking for the many builds and many ways you can play with mods, then please visit this link. Trust me, there’s a lot to Heavy Bowguns, and that guide will help you figure out which bowgun playstyle is right for you.

In the meantime, this article is here to show you the top 5 Heavy Bowguns you should build.

5) Ruinous Destruction

MHW:I MR4レウス亜種ヘビィ通常弾04'46"90 TAwiki rules+claw

The first bowgun in our list is the Nergigante Heavy Bowgun. It’s one of the best Normal Level 3 Bowguns in the game and, with the new Rajang armor, building it got much easier.

If you’re looking to leave a trail of dead monsters while you leisurely stroll through the Guiding Lands, then the Ruinous Destruction with a Health Augment is the route you’ll want to take.

For mods, you’ll want to take two recoil mods so you can bring Normal 3 down from Normal +2 to Normal +1, and a single reload mod to bring your reload speed up to Normal.

What's Awesome About the Ruinous Destruction:

Great for Normal 3 shots.
Pretty relaxed gameplay since you don’t have to be too close to the monster to make Normal 3 effective.
The new Rajang armor gives free Ballistics so this build gets a bit more efficient.

Ruinous Destruction Stats

Rarity: 12
Shell Deviation: Average
Custom Mods: 5
Raw Damage: 465 (325 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 0%
Element: None
Slots:
- 1x Level 1
Special Ammo: Wyvernheart.

4) Crimson Kadachi Lion II

[MHWI PC]　アンイシュワルダ　HBG　4'02"63　TA Wiki Rules　｜　Shara Ishvalda

The best piercing bowgun because it can hit some great effective raw damage after Custom Mods, I recommend using this against big-bodied monsters with great hitzones like Deviljho, Shara, and Bazelgeuse. For all of those monsters, each shot will do some crazy damage as it pierces from their head all the way to their tails. You can look at the speedrun above to see how effective this can be against Shara.

For custom upgrades, you’re going to want to run full attack if you’re running Weakness Exploit. If you’re fighting something without good hitzones, then you’ll want to ditch Weakness Exploit and instead focus your Custom Upgrades toward full Affinity.

What's Awesome About the Crimson Kadachi Lion II:

Best used for Piercing shots.
You can start building this weapon pretty early since you fight Crimson Kadachi pretty early in the story.
Rarity 10 weapons can get very competitive with their damage numbers after Custom Mods.
Best against monsters with huge bodies so you can get the maximum number of piercing hits.

Crimson Kadachi Lion II Stats

Rarity: 10
Shell Deviation: None
Custom Mods: 5
Raw Damage: 390 (285.31 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 15%
Element: None
Slots:
- 1x Level 1
Special Ammo: Wyvernsnipe.

3) Magda Gemitus Vulcan

MHW:I MR6レウス希少種ヘビィ通常弾 04'18"16 TAwiki rules ver11.50

The Zorah Magderos Heavy Bowgun is in our 3rd place slot since there are two primary ways you can build this gun - with or without Spareshot.

Without Spareshot, you’ll focus more on making sure Poison makes up the damage difference between this bowgun and the Rajang one, which will do more damage with Wyvern shots and Cluster shots. True Spareshot builds will instead focus on just making the most of ammo like Sticky.

Finally, you could also just build True Spareshot with CC. While this is a bit more support heavy, it’s also pretty comfortable if you want to sit and stunlock the monster as often as possible. True Spareshot in this build will help you launch more status effect bullets.

For most of these builds, I would recommend at least 2 Recoil mods to let you shoot most of your ammo and still move.

What's Awesome About the Magda Gemitus Vulcan:

Great for SWC (Sticky, Wyvern, Cluster) and Poison.
Useful to get you through the game until you get to Rajang.
Even after Rajang, this weapon can pull ahead through just Sticky damage and Poison procs.
Lots of different builds to try with this gun.

Magda Gemitus Vulcan Stats

Rarity: 11
Shell Deviation: High
Custom Mods: 5
Raw Damage: 450 (299.25 Effective Raw)
Affinity: -20%
Element: None
Slots:
1x Level 2
Special Ammo: Wyvernsnipe.

2) Rajang Destroyer

[MHW: Iceborne] Rajang Solo (TA + Clutch) | Sticky HBG | 7'32"

The Rajang Bowgun has some of the highest damage in the game with SWC. While the Magda Bowgun can compete, if you find yourself using Wyvern and Cluster shots far more, then the Rajang Destroyer will pull miles ahead.

Across all the builds, you’ll want to build some form of Spare shot into it. Since you’re more reliant on Stickies, Wyvern Shots, and Clusters to do damage, you’ll want to get as many shots with them as possible.

What's Awesome About the Rajang Destroyer:

Great for SWC (Sticky, Wyvern, Cluster) without the need for Poison shots.
Auto-reload on stickies makes hunts with sticky shots that much smoother.
Builds with this gun will use some form of Spare Shot, so if you like that playstyle (or if you’re a gambling addict) then builds for this gun are for you.

Rajang Destroyer Stats

Rarity: 12
Shell Deviation: High
Custom Mods: 5
Raw Damage: 495 (332.06 Effective Raw)
Affinity: -15%
Element: None
Slots:
- 1x Level 4
Special Ammo: Wyvernheart.

1. Loyal Thunder

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne | Gold Rathian Special Arena - 2:33 HBG

Our number 1 Heavy Bowgun goes to the Zinogre Heavy Bowgun, the Loyal Thunder.

This bowgun has some of the best damage output in the game thanks to how, with one recoil mod, you can get to Normal +1 with Spread shot 3, and because of just how effective spread shots are for damage. On top of that, you can hit some crazy high comfort levels with Shield mods and a health Augment. With both of those, you can block almost anything the monster can throw at you, and every shot will heal any chip damage you take.

In fact, if you’re looking to just hop into the Guiding Lands and do some mindless killing, I would recommend this build with 4 shield mods, Guard 5, and Guard up. That way you can put on some smooth jazz in the background, hop into the Guiding Lands, sit, block, shoot, and relax. There are very few things - like Rajang - in the Guiding Lands that can make your life miserable if you go with that build. But let’s be fair, Rajang makes everyone’s life miserable.

What's Awesome About the Loyal Thunder:

Best Spread shot Bowgun in the game.
High raw and Normal + 1 recoil for Spread 3 means you can move and shoot this angry punt gun the way god intended.
You can roll with either big damage or big comfort - either way works for this gun.

Loyal Thunder Stats

Rarity: 12
Shell Deviation: Low.
Custom Mods: 5
Raw Damage: 420 (295 Effective Raw)
Affinity: 0%
Element: None
Slots:
- 1x Level 2
Special Ammo: Wyvernheart.

What about Safi Weapons?

At the time of this article's writing, Safi weapons haven't been released on PC yet. However, if you want to build a Safi Heavy Bowgun, then I recommend you get Safi's Burstcannon if you want a Spread build, Safi's Snipercannon for Pierce, and Safi's Rapid Cannon for normal.

If you want more information on the Safi Jiiva meta, then I suggest going to this link.

Thanks for reading!

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