Heavy Bowgun

Weapon Overview
The Heavy Bowgun is the range weapon of choice for those who wish to have as much firepower as they can, while still

maintaining range. While much slower than their Light Bowgun cousins, they're the only ranged weapon that allows a

shield to be attached, giving them guard, but for an experienced gunner, this is more of a restraint, since you can only

attach a power barrel OR a shield. Heavy Bowguns usually do not support elements as their counterpart, the Light Bowgun.

Like a Great Sword, they mainly support raw damage shots, like Crag, Pellet, Pierce, Clust, and other power shots.

 	Notable Skills (Monster Hunter Frontier 6.0 and on allows a Heat Tank to be attached, allowing a powerful Heat Beam attack.) Key Differences between Heavy and Light Bowguns
 * Auto Re-Load - With this skill, once you load the ammo, you keep using it until you run out of it in your inventory.
 * Loading - With this skill, you can load an extra bullet into your gun. This allows more attacks and more opportunities.
 * Bomber - Your bomb power will go way up! My recommendation is (if your bowgun holds it) use Sleep S to put your monster to sleep and place all the bombs you can. Then you place a Small Barrel-Bomb and run away. You can literally blast your enemies away!!!
 * +High Power
 * -Poor Mobility
 * +Shield attachement provides a Guard for novice hunters
 * -Long unsheath and sheathing animation requires weapon to be out at all times.
 * +Larger clip sizes in general*
 * -Slower reload speeds in general*

* Does not necessarily refer to ALL heavy bowguns.

Weapon Traits and Strategy

 * A powerful ranged weapon.
 * Bullets allow for flexable gameplay, such as hitting elemental weakpoints, or piercing damage.
 * Shield attachment can block weak blows, and help protect against some roars and flashes.

Evasion skills in your armor really shine, as they help improve your poor mobility. Guard Inc. can also improve your shield.

Due to the long unsheathing and sheathing animations, and the fact that bowguns do not have an unsheath attack, you should pull this weapon out in advance, and circle your target, using your rolls when you need a burst of speed, or just to get out of the way. You should always remember to keep a "bubble" around your target where you don't go in, generally a roll or two away from the wyvern, depending on the shot you're using. You should always bring materials to combine and create more ammo, as you will likely run out if you're going to be using one certain type of shot.

You should also plan your ammo wisely. With small monsters like Velocidrome or Kirin, Pierce Shots are not suggested, as they cannot do as much damage. Pellet Shots can help hit smaller, faster monsters due to their wide spread, but watch out for that short range, also, be cautious if you are hunting in groups, as pellet shot could also hit your team mates and prevent them from dodging. For fast monsters, such as the kirin, an effective elemental shot would be recommended. Also, if you plan on using recovery shot to support your team, be cautious, as if the recovery shot hits the monster, it will heal it.

Controls
Sheathed = Unsheath + + R = Unsheath and Reload

Monster hunter portable 3 Controls

Unsheathed = Reload = Fire = Roll R (tap) = First-person Aiming R (Hold) + D-Pad = Third-person Aiming (Default setting) + = Melee Attack

Unsheathed = Reload = Fire = Roll R (tap) = Full First-person Aiming R (Hold) + D-Pad = Third-person Aiming (Walk Able) + = Activate "Shoot Squatting"

Videos
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Khezu Training with Heavy Bowgun.

Links

 * Ammo List
 * MHF2 and MHFU: Heavy Bowgun List
 * MHF2 and MHFU: Combination List