I thought it would be a good idea to put all my thoughts/advice/observations on using the Bow in case others were curious in using the weapon. I am by no means an expert as I only have about 70 hours using it so far.
Bow is sort of a mid-range weapon. You spend most of your fights circling monsters about 2-3 dodge rolls distance away. It has great mobility when unsheathed which is why I recommend keeping it out and learning how to walk/dodge around most monster attacks. You optimally want to be in a constant cycle of charging, shooting that charge asap, and then immediately charging again while circling the monster.
What I’ve grown to really like about bow is how removed it makes you from danger. I am just an average player yet nowadays I am doing entire hunts without having to use a single healing potion, way more than I could say for my LS days. You are out of range for most of the thrashing that monsters do and as long as you’re not too attack-greedy, you can see charge attacks and fireballs coming.
Bows standard shot can be done by hitting the X button. If you hold it you will begin to charge for a more powerful and different type of shot. A uncharged shot is considered a lv 1 shot, while charging up two flashes is lv 3.
Hitting the A button when unsheathed does a weak melee attack. Supposedly this can be used to cut off monster tails but I find it so incredibly weak and cumbersome to use I don't bother.
Distance
Shots have an optimal distance to do full damage at. It’s generally the 2-3 dodge rolls away I mentioned earlier. It’s not an exact science and sometimes it can’t be helped. I think of it as a guideline rather than an absolute rule as there are many situations where the monster won’t get out of your face or jumps away. I think in those situations it’s still better to fire off your charge and try to move back to that optimal distance, rather than wait until every shot you make is the perfect distance.
Charge Levels
Though some charge levels fire different level/kinds of shots, always charge to level 3 every time. The time saved by not charging to full does not offset the lost damage. Even if you are trying to apply a quick status using coatings, the amount of coating applied at lv1 is only 50% compared to the 125% at lv 3.
While you are charging the bow you can use the Y button to do a dodge roll. Since you optimally want to always be in a charge state this becomes invaluable
Shot Types
There are three different kinds of shot types, Rapid, Scatter and Pierce. Rapid shoots out a giant concentrated chunk of arrows, Scatter shoots out a horizontal fan of arrows, and Pierce shoots one arrow that hits multiple times. Rapid is great for smaller monsters like Great Jaggi or Lagombi and friends. It’s also really nice for hitting a specific part of the monsters like their head. Scatter is an alright type and can be more powerful than Rapid if you hit with all arrows. I find it’s still flexible enough to nail most monsters in the face with its full load. Pierce only works well on medium or large sized monsters. If you can see your pierce arrow spark 4-5 times through the monster then it’s ok, however once or twice is really limiting your damage.
When selecting a bow to use the shot type is one of the most important aspects. As stated above, it’s always best to charge to level 3 so when looking at bows check to see what kind of shot it has for that charge level. There are a lot of bows that look good stat wise but do a lot less damage in practice because they only have a lv 1 or 2 shot type. For example, if a bow has a lv 3 Scatter shot it will shoot five arrows whereas a bow with only lv 2 Scatter will shoot three arrows. If the damage numbers were the same on each bow, doing the math you would have to shoot the lv 2 bow five times just to equal three shots with the lv 3 bow (not exactly but give or take). Over the course of a long fight that’s a whole lot of extra shots just to get the same damage output.
I’ve found that for such a useful part of the Bow’s skillset it isn’t talked about a lot. It’s done by charging to level 3 (two charge blinks) then hitting the A button. It will rain down arrows a good distance from the direction you are facing.
Types
There are three types of Arrow rain: Spread, Focus and Blast. Spread drops down a bunch of arrows over a wide area, Focus same thing but a narrow area, and Blast drops down one arrow that explodes. After using all three for a while I’ve found that Focus is the best type in general. All three types seem to do as much damage as a level 3 charge shot, but due to the slow animation it’s not the fastest way to deal damage.
Blast is the biggest mystery to me as I still don’t feel I know everything about it. It doesn’t explode when it hits a monster, instead it travels through them and explodes on the ground. I believe this means that you can’t “bomb” the upper parts of big monsters like Duramboros. I’m not sure how strong the explosion is although my quest times didn’t seem any quicker or slower compared to Spread/Focus bows.
Aiming
I’ve found that if you are taking more than a second to enter aim mode and line up arrow rain, then it’s not worth using. It takes practice but in my opinion in order to really use this skill effectively you need to develop a feel for judging it’s distance and position without aim mode. I’ve gotten to the point where I rarely enter aim mode and when I do it’s only to make a split second adjustment to pinpoint a monsters head. Plus it’s very satisfying when you unload an entire focused arrow rain on a monsters head by just feeling out where you think it will land.
Uses
One of the less mentioned benefits of this skill is that it has a pretty decent range and is not affected by distance penalties like standard shots. You can use this to your advantage if you want to keep your distance and play things safe. I find I use it mostly to hit obnoxious monsters who like to play tag and won’t stop charging around. When a monster charges at me and I dodge out of the way, it’s so much easier (and quicker) to turn around and lob off an arrow rain rather than chase them to close the distance.
Arrow Rain has exhaust and KO properties to it. I like to start most fights off lobbing as many of these off as I can until the monster is exhausted. I find an exhausted monster makes the whole fight go so much easier. This skill also does KO damage just like impact weapons so if you can hit the monster enough times in the head it will get KO’d. However doing this with anything other than focus type is really difficult.
Spread and focus are also a great way to apply status coatings, especially if your bow doesn’t have a very high level shot type (therefore does not shoot many arrows).
Multiplayer
People say don’t use this skill online but I disagree. It’s far too useful of a skill to shun away when playing in a group. The key is to know your skill level and be courteous to the rest of the team. If you aren’t comfortable with your aim to blindly shoot an arrow rain off without aim mode, then take a second to adjust it. Focus is the optimal type for groups as you have to miss pretty badly to hit another player with it. Spread you have to be more careful with and should only be spammed if the monster is large enough to soak up all the arrows. When I use spread bows in groups I tend to only shoot them if I can pinpoint the center of a monster or when the monster separates itself from the group.
Bomb is the big no-no I don’t know how to properly use multiplayer yet. I’m actually debating if it even can be due to the way it explodes on the ground right where Blademasters usually are attacking. Accidents are going to happen regardless of how good you are, but getting launched and tumbled is a lot worse than a quick flinch.
Coatings are one of the most fun aspects of using a bow. They are items that you can apply to your weapon giving it the ability to induce status effects or increase damage. To use them cycle through them like you would items (Holding L) and use X&B. Once selected with your bow unsheathed hit X&A together and it will apply the coating. It will remain active until you switch to a different selection in that menu so keep that in mind while fighting. If you finally paralyze a monster with coatings, you want to quickly switch off so you don’t waste them while continuing your attack.
Every bow only has certain kinds of coatings it can use so always check that before going on a hunt. They are nice to take advantage of but it’s never been a deal breaker for me choosing one bow over the other. Just a nice bonus. Note too that contrary to what I’ve read a few times online, C.Range coatings do increase your shot damage at close range, not just the manual arrow swipe attack.
Carry Limit/Combining
You can only carry 20 coatings of each type, with the exception of 50 Power coatings. Remember that a monsters tolerance for status effects raises every time they are affected by them. So if it took 5 coatings to apply it the first time and 10 the second time then don’t waste coatings by trying a third because you won’t have enough (unless you get/make more). Coating can be a big drain on your money so if you can afford it stock up when there are sales. I find combining coatings for your main supply is a big waste of time/resources and should only be done if you need more in the middle of a hunt. Otherwise your time is better spent doing missions and earning money to buy them.
Coating Boosts
Some bows have coating boosts, which means when you use the boosted type it will apply even more of that status. You can also slot in coating boosts with the right jewels. My bow with poison boost only takes three charged shots to poison a monster the first time.
Armor
I tend to prioritize skills in armor over defense ratings. If you find yourself still getting hit a lot and can’t live without high defense then do what you need to do.
As far as Skills go, my biggest recommendation for low rank quests is the Marathon Runner skill. I made a Royal Ludroth set as early as possible, upgraded it as much as I could, and have been wearing it ever since just for that skill (I’m at village Ceadus). It slows down stamina drain by a considerable amount so you can keep your bow charged longer. Without it you may find yourself having to stop attacking and wait for it to refill, but with this skill that should never be a problem. Unfortunately I don’t have much other advice when it comes to skills. Nothing I’ve seen of low rank armors has been worth giving up marathon runner for. Once I get to high rank and have access to some of the more awesome sounding bow skills I can comment more.
Weapons
From the start I upgraded the Hunter Bow 1 to 2, then created the Queens Blaster 1 (Rathian bow) as soon as I could. Up to this point it has been my go to bow for everything. According to the damage formulas I’ve found online, it beats just about every other low rank bow you can create when you consider everything. 180 damage, Scatter lv 3, Focus rain, and boosted poison coating. There are a few other bows with some big elemental damage, but according to my calculations their raw damage is so much lower than the Queens Blaster that they do just about the same damage.
Overall I am having a lot of fun using Bow. I’m still only on low rank quests so I’m sure I will learn a lot more as I progress. If anyone has any questions I’d be happy to help.
