User blog:BannedLagiacrus/Discussion of the Week: Gunlances

Hello and welcome to back the Discussion of the Week!

This week we look at the Lance's superior cousin, the Gunlance!



Overview
Gunlances (ガンランス Ganransu), also known as GL, are long, piercing weapons with a mechanism inside which can fire an explosive round. This is called Shelling. Unlike Bowguns, the Gunlance cannot fire over distances. The Shelling ability can only be used from close range and reduces the weapon's sharpness with each use. The use of the weapon is largely similar to the original Lance. Unlike ranged weapons, Gunlances come with preset, unlimited ammo. They are able to charge up, indicated by the radiating energy at the tip of the lance, and dish out a strong explosive attack referred to as Wyvern's Fire.

2nd Generation
This is the generation where the Gunlance first appeared in. Though I never mastered the weapon in this generation, it was a powerful force against some monsters!

3rd Generation
Though forgotten in Monster Hunter Hunter Tri, the Gunlance returned in Monster Hunter Portable 3rd with a few changes, along with other classic weapon classes! Eventually, it was given the ability to hunt underwater in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

4th Generation
Dear god, what the hell happened to it in this generation?! It went from being weak to being an almighty god weapon in Monster Hunter XX! Anyway, it was fairly balanced in Monster Hunter 4 and Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate before Monster Hunter Generations nerfed it like crazy. However, with Brave Style, Gunlance becomes a god damn killing machine!

Frontier Generation
Frontier is constantly evolving! Though not to me like this series of Monster Hunter, I still find it amazing what they do with certain weapons and their styles.


 * Earth Style is the base style that is same as the 2nd Gen. Gunlance, but quicker. It has Roaring Cannon Wyvernfire, along with a side slash into a burst and quick reloads.
 * Heaven Style lacks a Wyvernfire, however, has Heat Blade, deals additional damage to an enemy by burning a foe at the cost of sharpness, and a overhead slam.
 * Storm Style is the same as Heaven Style, but has elemental shells instead once you charge the Heat Blade. They have to charge though so it takes a little longer to fire, but bursts are still the same speed. Raw/Status Gunlances stick to raw shells, but they do KO damage now.
 * Extreme Style is mostly like Earth Style going back to Wyvernfire use, with the Extreme Wyvernfire on top now. It is able to dash, reload while dashing, can also shoot yourself, in the same way as Blast Dash does, and follow it up with the side sweep into a burst. It counts as an evasion move as well, since the move originated in 2013 on GL as a 2nd evade were you shoot yourself further after a side or backstep.

Gunlance Exclusive Hunter Arts

 * AA Flare (Japanese AAフレア): A Hunter Art that specializes in knocking monsters out of the air. Hunters will fire of their shots in the air before performing a powerful wyvernfire in the air.

Questions

 * Do you love/hate using Gunlance? Why?
 * What makes this weapon so special to you?
 * Do you think this weapon is superior to Lance? Why or why not?
 * Which incarnation of Gunlance do you like the most?
 * Which incarnation of Gunlance do you dislike the most?
 * Do you hate being blasted away by a Gunlance user?
 * How do you think the Gunlance can be improved in the future?
 * What if you could custom the bullets of your Gunlance in a future game?
 * What is your favorite Gunlance in the series?
 * What is your least favorite Gunlance in the series?
 * Are you happy Brave Style made Gunlance strong again? Why?
 * If you could add one aspect of Frontier's Gunlance to Main's Gunlance, what would it be?

Credits
- MHCaboose -: Thanks for the information on Frontier's Styles for Gunlance.