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Master the bow in Monster Hunter: World with this guide
The bow is great, but can be tricky to get to grips with. Our bow guide will help you out.
With 14 weapon types in Monster Hunter: World, it can be hard to pick and choose which to use. However, one that's incredibly versatile, fast, and always have huge damage potential is the Bow.
The Bow can be get hard to get your head around, especially since the game doesn’t exactly do a great job of telling you what to do with it. Luckily, we’re here with a guide on how to get the most out of the bow, whether you’re already using it as a primary weapon or want to pick up something new!
1. Use the right shot types
The bow is not like your run of the mill melee weapon – you’re going to be relying on different types of shots and coatings to deal real damage. Firstly, you should be able to charge your standard shot up to 3 levels, but with the fast pace of the normal shot, you may want to be using that for your standard DPS damage from a distance. Other than that, you’ll also want to be using your Special Shot, which is dependent on the type of bow you have equipped.
2. Bow Coatings
Remember when we said that the Bow can be incredibly versatile? Well, there are various coatings that you’ll be able to apply which deal different types of damage, such as abnormal status attacks and enhancing the innate element of your equipped bow. You’ll be able to craft most of these coatings by opening up the crafting screen and combining items that you find out in the field. Later on in the game, these coatings become available to purchase in Astera. Every Bow coating you can craft is listed below:
- Power
- Power 2 (Dependent on Bow Equipped)
- Elemental
- Elemental 2 (Dependent on Bow Equipped)
- Close Range
- Poison
- Paralysis
- Sleep
- Blast
- Exhaust
Coatings deal different types of damage
© Capcom
3. Utilise your Jump Attacks as much as possible
In a strategy that speedrunners have just discovered, getting close up to a monster and repeatedly hitting it with jumping attacks is incredibly potent, with a wide-spread shot dealing immense damage, especially when paired with the Close Range coating. You will be able to perform this while jumping off of a ledge, or even while sliding down a hill. This can prove useful, even when fighting against the most dangerous of Elder Dragons.
4. Stick With It
Working out how to do the most damage with any given weapon takes time. If you’re trying to use the bow and find yourself getting frustrated, it’s worth going down a few quests and getting accustomed to the weapon by taking down monsters that you already know the pattern and weaknesses of.
The Great Jagras makes for a wonderful punching bag if you’re after a monster to wholesale beat up with a new weapon. Additionally, if you’re still having trouble, go to the training area in your room in Astera. From there, you’ll be able to get a handy guide to all of your moves, and it's a great place to practise. Picking up a new weapon in Monster Hunter is just like learning a new character in any fighting game. Any weapon is viable and incredibly powerful in the right hands.
Gert used to weapons by using them on monsters you have batttled before
© Capcom
5. Key Upgrades in Low Rank
In the first half of Monster Hunter: World (everything prior to defeating Zorah Magdaros), you’ll be wanting to focus on upgrading your bows in the ore tree. The monsters that unlock in Low Rank tend to unlock the most potent bows for that rank, with some exceptions for monsters that have different subspecies in High Rank in addition to Elder Dragons. Keeping up to date with your weapons in Low Rank and crafting a range of weapons for different elemental damage purposes is also key to capitalising on any given monster’s weakness, too – so don’t ignore the Smithy!
