Demolishing Monsters with MHR Sunbreak‘s Best Heavy Bowgun Builds - 33rd Square (2024)

As a long-time Monster Hunter player with over 500 hours playing ranged weapons, I was eager to get my hands on the Sunbreak expansion. The heavy bowgun in particular has always been a favorite for its raw stopping power. Once the beta launched, I must have hunted Malzeno 20 times testing out new heavy bowgun builds.

This guide brings together my firsthand experience decimating monsters using Heavy Bowgun to create optimized setups for all stages of Sunbreak.

What Makes Heavy Bowguns Strong

While lighter bowguns win in terms of mobility, I love Heavy Bowguns because nothing else replicates that feeling of weight behind each shot. A well-placed charged pierce shot cuts through multiple hitzones, churning out damage numbers in the hundreds. Monsters flinch from the barrage while I calmly line up the next salvo.

In Sunbreak, new Switch Skills give heavy bowgun users defensive options to offset the limited movement. While nothing replaces not getting hit, Counter Shot and Silkbind Glide give experienced players ways to comlent their knowledge of monster attack patterns. Learning the timings take practice, but pull them off consistently in hunts to boost dps uptime.

Early Game Build – Skill Cannon

Just starting the Sunbreak expansion? This well-rounded build eases hunters into heavy bowguns while remaining effective into MR3 hunts.

Gale Crossbow+

My favorite early game heavy bowgun, the Gale Crossbow+ sports good general stats:

• 250 Raw – Enough to take out low and high rank monsters
• Average Recoil – Easy to handle even for beginners
• 10% Affinity – Decent crit rate from the start

Its Wyvern Snipe pierces targets for high burst damage, capable of 300+ per tick on long bodies.

I recommend running Pierce Ammo as the primary damage dealer. Pierce 3 calculated on a 55 HZV hitzone deals 24 damage per tick, increased further by the bonus +10% from skills and affinity. Paired with pierce up skill to boost shots by 10%, expect attacks around 26 damage per hit. Against large monsters, each pierce shot hits multiple times, rapidly adding up.

Armor Skills

Prioritize offensive skills for amplifying damage, then slot in comfort skills. The early game set balances both:

• Pierce Up – 10% pierce damage
• Attack Boost – Raw damage
• Critical Eye – Affinity
• Spare Shot – Ammo savings

As Heavy Bowgun mobility is limited, Evade Extender helps reposition more safely. Ballistics reduces deviation helping land more critical range shots for full damage.

Upgrade Path

The Gale Crossbow branches off the starter Kamura Tree into Great Izuchi parts eventually. Hunters short on materials can craft the equivalent Pukei Lineage path heavy bowgun as an alternative.

Gameplay Tips

Maximize damage by aiming for weak points with pierce ammo. Using the baseline 55 hitzone, expect 27 per tick. Pierce Up pushes that damage to 30. Trigger Wyvern Snipe on a downed monster to inflict a huge burst of damage.

Conserve shoots during non-vulnerable states with hard-hitting snipe shots. These single shots deal comparable damage to standard pierce rounds without excessive movement.

This well-rounded build eases players into Heavy Bowgun fundamentals. Once hunters gain more monster experience, they can attempt more specialized setups.

Mid Game Build – Spread Destruction

MR3 unlocks more challenging monsters with larger openings to punish. The mid game build leverages a high damage heavy bowgun focused on a single ammo type – spread.

Golm Cannon+

The Golm Cannon+ crafted from MR Garangolm parts hits incredibly hard in close range. Its stats lean towards raw damage rather than comfort:

• 380 Raw – Among the highest base damage in early Sunbreak
• Average Recoil + Slow Reload – High damage tradeoff
• 0% Affinity

The weapon excel at close range using Spread Ammo which sprays a wide shot pattern. Each spreads hot deals multiple instances of damage, adding up quickly.

Based on my tests, Spread 3 hits dealt around 18 damage per tick normally. Against shot weak zones of 45+, this jumps to 23 damage or more per hit. Used in close quarters, expect massive damage, easily 100+ per well-places salvo.

Armor Skills

To further improve Spread Ammo capabilities, armor skills boost critical damage and exploit weak points:

• Critical Boost – Improves damage on critical hits
• Weakness Exploit – 50% affinity on weakspots
• Attack Boost 4 – 5% raw damage increase

As a gunner, I don‘t rely on defensive skills as much, rather preventing damage through positioning. Evade Extender 3 grants the mobility needed to keep critical distance while avoiding monster attacks.

Decorations

besides boosting damage, extra skills improve quality of life:

• Shield – Guard against normally unblockable attacks
• Reload Speed – Faster reloads to increase dps uptime

Both help play more aggressively to counter the limited mobility weakness of heavy bowguns.

Gameplay Tips

The spread ammo type depends heavily on keeping close to the monster. This exposes hunters to more danger, making careful positioning important.

Aim to fire at zones with 45+ shot damage to inflict weakness exploit‘s 50% affinity bonus for big damage. Consistently hitting weak areas also helps stagger monsters faster from the dps.

Use the Shield mod to block deadly attacks at the last moment. Time the extended i-frames during Silkbind Evade to slide through breath attacks unharmed before re-engaging safely.

End Game Build – Pierce HBG

Concluded the Sunbreak story? This end game setup fully optimizes the Heavy Bowgun‘s signature move – Wyvern Snipe. With the right skills, this single shot can crit for over 1k damage!

Bordeaux Candle Stick+

Meet my favorite endgame Heavy Bowgun, the Bordeaux Candlestick+. While stats seem average at first glance, it completely transforms with the right build:

• 360 Raw Damage
• No Deviation – Perfect accuracy
• Average Recoil / Fast Reload – Great handling
• Arc Shot Special Ammo

Its pearl dragon explosions easily inflict 300+ per hit. Meanwhile, Wyvern Snipe‘s piercing damage hits the damage cap of 999 per tick with the skills active in this setup.

Armor Skills

To hit 999 per Wyvern Snipe tick, the key skill combo needed is:

• Critical Eye 7 – Reach 100% affinity
• Critical Boost 3 – 40% more crit damage
• Resentment 5 – 15 true raw when wounded
• Coalescence 3 – 18 true raw after Blight recovery

Stacked together, these take a 360 true raw gun to nearly 500 temporary raw damage when enraged, wounded, afflicted, and recovering all at once!

Decorations

Besides offense, quality of life skills improve the feel of gameplay:

• Spareshot 3 – 60% to not expend ammo
• Reload Speed 3 – Faster empower reloads
• Ballistics 3 – No damage falloff in critical range

Max spare shot lets you fire off deadly Wyoming Snipe shots practically for free! Paired with fast reloads and pinpoint accuracy from Ballistics 3 to keep uptime high.

Gameplay Tips

Abuse the massive damage potential of Wyvern Snipe, capable of hitting nearly 5K damage total on impact adjusted hunter values:

• 999 Pierce Damage * 5 Hits = ~5000 Damage!

Time the release when a monster downs or traps expire. Ideally aim through a long weak hitzone like Diablos‘ torso to maximize hits.

Conserve with normal and pierce ammo during non-vulnerable states. Proc offensive trigger skills by purposefully taking hits using Silkbind Evade iframes then follow up with the condensed payload.

Let loose artillery shots when the monster rage charges predictably for huge burst openers. Just be wary of over committing as stationary combos leave you vulnerable!

Conclusion

I absolutely shredded through Sunbreak using these optimized Heavy Bowgun setups tailored to each stage of the game. Let me know if these builds help you hunt down Sunbreak‘s toughest monsters! What‘s been your best weapon type in the expansion so far? I‘m always looking to improve my bowgun skills and learn new strategies from other experienced hunters.

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