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So I've been disappointed by the lack of Gunlance users I've seen on these forums, and in a bid to get more people started out with them, I've written this guide to help new users along with weapon and equipment choices. I won't be going over in detail on how to use the gunlance or specific monster strategies; Gunlance has the most variety of any weapon, finding and refining your style with it is half the fun. This is intended for people going through the village elder quests.
I. Introduction to Gunlance
II. Weapon Recommendations
III. Skill Explanations
IV. Armor Suggestions
I. Introduction to Gunlance
I'm assuming most of you have either read the instruction booklet or at least know the basic attacks. If so, you can pretty much skim this section.
There are 6 different attacks with the gunlance. For non-shelling attacks, you can chain them into each other up to 3 times, I'll be listing which attacks chain after each attack. Of course, you can always shell after any attack as long as you have ammo.
Basic Thrust - When you're standing still with your gunlance out and hit triangle, this is the attack you do.
It's the third strongest attack, and is the fastest to chain together. Interestingly, the third hit is marginally more powerful, tieing in power with the upswing. You can shell after any point in the combo, from which you'll only be able to do a basic thrust out of it.
To block out of it, the fastest way is to do a backhop or sidestep and hold R. From this move, you can combo into another basic thrust or an upswing.
Unsheathe Attack - Hit triangle while running to quickly take your weapon out and do a running upswing. There's two other ways to perform it, with your weapon out, you'll do this short charge if you're moving. If you do a shell after an upward thrust or upswing, hold forward and mash triangle and you'll transition to this attack.
It's the strongest of the gunlance attacks, although also the slowest.
Like the basic thrust, the fastest way to block is to backhop or sidestep and hold R. The only thing you can chain out of this is a basic thrust.
Upswing - Hit triangle and circle for an attack like the unsheathe, but in place.
Second in power, and surprisingly fast to cancel into other attacks and backhops, it's a versatile move that is great in after-guarding or shelling combos.
To block, backhopping or sidestepping is an option, but if you do an upstab you not only get another attack, but the time into block is roughly the same as backhopping. The only attack you can do out of upswing is the upwards stab.
Upward Stab - Attack out of blocking or after an upswing.
It's the weakest of the attacks, but still very useful since it's relatively quick, has instant blocking after it, and is perfect for precise attacks on weakpoints.
To block, just hold R after the attack, and you'll block immediately after. You can chain into an upswing or another upstab.
Shelling - Press circle after any normal attack or a previous shell. Obviously, you need ammo to do a shot. Reloading is done by pressing circle while blocking, or after a backhop or sidestep by holding circle.
The amount of ammunition you have is determined by shelling type, viewable above the weapon sharpness gauge. Normal has 5 shots, Long has 3 shots, and Spread has 2 shots.
To make up for this, the range and power increase from Normal, to Long, to Spread. As a downside, the amount of sharpness they destroy goes up as well. However, throwing these into your combos will greatly increase the damage over time that you do, just make sure you choose safe times so you can still evade or block. Besides that, whetstones are pretty cheap, so losing sharpness isn't a huge downside.
Wyvern's Fire - The reason you picked up Gunlance. Hold triangle and circle while blocking to start the 3 second charge and let loose this devastating attack. The power is determined by shelling level (viewable on page 2 of equipment detail) and how many times it hits.
You can hit up to 4 times, sort of observable by the different sections of fire that come out. It's pretty easy to hit with all of these though, just stand somewhat near it, aim into wherever the longest part is, and hope for a stagger.
Like shelling, this takes a big chunk of sharpness. After using it, you must wait 2 minutes before being able to use it again. A flap will pop open and smoke comes out of the gunlance while it's in cooldown.
Here's a couple tips on movement:
If you're hit or stuck in front of a monster and it's doing an unblockable attack (like khezu's lightning bolts) since you can't roll, use the running upswing as late as possible to give you a short burst of speed which might help you avoid the attack.
If you get knocked down but the monster will probably be doing a blockable attack, hold R and the direction of the attack to start blocking as soon as you get up. You're invincible as you stand and until you get into the block, making this a life-saving technique to stop combos. If your weapon is sheathed, you can still do it by holding R, triangle, and circle.
When backhopping, if you hold back, you'll do a hop that covers roughly twice as much ground. Very useful when you see something like a tailwhip coming and either can't get into a block fast enough or just don't want to spend the stamina.
Don't walk around with it out. If a monster runs to the other side of the zone, or just jumps pretty far away, go ahead and sheathe the gunlance and run or sprint after it. If you're worried about getting hit, make use of the instant block, done by holding R and hitting triangle and circle at the same time.
And some info about blocking:
While standing still and blocking, you don't recover stamina or the red part of your health. However, if you move while blocking you'll still block any attacks, but won't get the negative penalties of stationary blocking. So, if stamina is a comcern, either spin in circles or just walk into the monster.
Remember that blocking won't stop many status effects, even if it blocks the attack that inflicts them. You can still get poisoned, the defense down status, and Chameleos's fatique status while in a block. Guard Inc is necessary to block both the attack and the effect.
If you have your weapon away and are chasing after a monster, be wary of your stamina. Always try to keep it above half or so in case you need to quickly go into an instant block.
Why use gunlance?
There are a few key reasons. Gunlances are able to attack fairly continuously, have high damage output, and have the most variety of attacks.
Combining the game's best blocking capability with the best post-guard attacks, against most monsters you rarely need to stop attacking. Because of the reach and different attacks, precisely hitting weakspots becomes second nature, add in shelling and consistent hits and gunlances can deal out a huge amount of damage in a short amount of time.
Between the different regular attacks and how they all chain together with or without shelling, and it's already leagues above the monotony that is other weapons.
However, you probably won't be amazing the first time you take out a gunlance, or even feel like you're amazing, which is different from a lot of other weapon classes.
At first, they feel slow and not being able to roll seems like a pretty costly downside. Bouncing off of a monster with them is annoying and means you can't block or really do anything for a large amount of time, which often means death, since gunlance is all about getting in as many hits as possible and guarding at the last possible second.
Is Gunlance good on every monster?
While I'd like to say yes, at the start of the game, there are some monsters that are just way easier to bow than try to gunlance.
There aren't too many of them though, the only ones I can think of are Plesioth, Basarios, and Gravios. Plesioth just because the hip check is a pain to deal with, as is getting damaged from his feet. Basarios and Gravios because without ESP, you'll bounce endlessly, making for a terible fight. Do yourself a favor and make a bow to deal with these guys and you'll be set.
II. Weapon Recommendations
I'll be listing what the best gunlance you can get for raw and each element for the 1*-9* village quests. Somewhat disappointingly, the selection of gunlances doesn't really open up until the 5* village quests.
To make knowing how to create it easier, after the name I'll list the upgrade branches to take. For nearly all of them though, you can either create them straight from the weaponsmith, or at one of the later stages of the weapon line.
1* - Not much here, just two options, perfect for mountain herb gathering.
Raw: Iron Gunlance+ > Iron Gunlance
253 Attack
Normal shelling Lv 1
A hint of green sharpness, respectable yellow
Ice: Snow Gunlance > Iron Lance
207 Attack 100 Ice
Normal shelling lv 1
Only yellow sharpness
2* - Just the upgrades of the 1* gunlances.
Raw: Steel Gunlance > Iron Gunlance+
276 Attack
Normal shelling Lv 2
A decent amount of green, more yellow
Ice: Snow Gunlance MK. II > Snow Gunlance
253 Attack 120 Ice
Normal shelling Lv 2
A hint of green, good yellow
Steel gunlance will probably be the weapon of choice for almost every 2* quest, but the ice attribute might deal a bit more damage on Kut-ku. Worth getting the Snow Gunlance in preparation for 3*.
3* - Finally a new weapon line! But that's all that changes.
Raw/Water: Marine Fisher > Snow Gunlance MK. II
299 Attack 100 Water
Long shelling Lv 1
Good green and yellow sharpness
Ice: Same as 2*
Go ahead and upgrade the Snow Gunlance into this, that weapon line doesn't branch off into any other useful paths. This is a tough point since you won't have any of the wyvern's weaknesses, and Plesioth is a pain to kill. The Average Hitter isn't worth getting, you'll be bouncing constantly and there's not enough element to really poison very often.
4* - Weapon trees begin to open up a bit more.
Raw: Special Ops Gunlance > Steel Gunlance
322 Attack
Normal shelling Lv 3
Great green sharpness
Ice: Hellsting > Bone Gunlance > Wyvern Bone Gunlance
322 Attack 250 Ice
Spread shelling Lv 1
Decent green, small amount of yellow
Water: Same as 3*
Both of these are worth making. There's beginning to be a bit more variety in monsters, so you should be getting ample use of all three recommended. I listed the Special Ops ahead of the Hellsting for raw damage just because the sharpness is so much better. If something has a little weakness to Ice (check the monster's armor) then the Hellsting would probably be a better choice if you don't mind a lot of sharpening.
5* - Acquiring these new ones will be tough, but definitely worth it.
Raw: White Cannon > Steel Gunlance > White Gunlance
414 Attack Def +8
Long shelling Lv 2
Great green sharpness
Fire: Luna's Howl > Steel Gunlance
345 Attack 350 Fire
Spread shelling Lv 1
Good green sharpness
Water: Deep Fisher > Marine Fisher
368 Attack 200 Water
Long shelling Lv 1
Great green sharpness
Ice: Hellsting+ > Hellsting
345 Attack 270 Ice
Spread shelling Lv 2
Decent Green sharpness
Dragon: Black Smoke Gunlance > Create from weaponsmith
345 Attack 250 Dragon
Spread shelling Lv 1
Good green and yellow sharpness
Beating Lunastra for the Luna's Howl may be incredibly tough at this point, but just remember that even if you fail, damage will carry over, so probably after an hour or so you'll be able to kill it.
To get the Black Smoke Gunlance, you must first renovate your farm witht he Legendary Sword Cave. Then clear some Elder Dragon quests in order to get Elder Dragon Bones. Take these to the cat inside of the cave to mine the Dark Stones and Dark Pieces needed to create it.
6* - Only one change, but the first you'll see of blue sharpness.
Fire: Luna's Roar > Luna's Howl
368 Attack 400 Fire
Spread shelling Lv 2
A bit of blue, great green
Raw/Water/Ice: Same as 5*
Not too much to say, the upgrade is worth it, but if you don't feel up to hunting more Lunastra and a couple Teostra, then it's acceptable to return to it later.
7* - High ranked parts yields a new elemental path.
Raw/Thunder: Full Voltage > Just create as is at the weaponsmith
460 Attack 180 Thunder
Long shelling Lv 2
Good green sharpness
Fire/Water/Ice: Same as 6*
Not too much to say, it's definitely worth making.
8* - A trio of worthwhile upgrades.
Raw/Thunder: Same as 7*
Fire: Luna's Flare > Luna's Roar
414 Attack 480 Fire
Spread shelling Lv 3
Good blue and green sharpness
Water: Sea King Gunlance > Deep Fisher
437 Attack 350 Water
Long shelling Lv 3
Some blue sharpness, lots of green
Ice: Hellstinger > Hellsting+
414 Attack 320 Ice
Spread shelling Lv 3
Good blue and green sharpness
9* - Now you should have a wide variety of good gunlances to tackle the Guild Hall.
Raw: Hidden Gunlance > Rex Blast
437 Attack 50% Affinity
Normal shelling Lv 3
Decent white and blue sharpness
Dragon: Gun Chariot > Special Ops Gunlance
437 Attack 320 Dragon
Long Shelling Lv 3
A hint of blue, but amazing green sharpness
Fire/Water/Ice/Thunder: Same as 8*
There's a couple other choices for Raw, but I think that Hidden Gunlance works with the widest variety of equipment. The Gun Chariot should make elder dragons like Lunastra and Teostra much easier now, as it can break their horns and stop the fire aura.
Tto acquire better gunlances, after this point, you'll have to go through the guild hall and get to G Rank. Refer to the Hunter Rank Up FAQ here: www.capcom-unity.com/monster_hunter/go/t...
Why didn't I include X gunlance?
The main gunlances I didn't include were the poison/paralysis gunlances, which not only have bad sharpness, but don't have enough status damage on them to really make them worth getting or using. Otherwise it's just because there was a better gunlance available at the same level.
III. Skill Explanations
When I think of skills I want while Gunlancing, there's a select few that immediately spring to mind.
ESP (Fencing +10)
Evade +1/2 (Evade +10/20)
Evade Distance Up (Evade Dist +10)
Guard +1/2 (Guard +10/20)
Guard Inc (Guard Inc +10)
Gunnery King (Gunnery +15)
Sharpness +1 (Artisan +10)
Sharp Sword (Sharpness +10)
Obviously, it's somewhat impossible to get all of those on one armor set, you'll probably end up wanting to make a few armor sets that suit the monster you're fighting. Here's a brief rundown of the skills.
ESP - Makes bouncing on monsters not interrupt your combo. An invaluable skill and one you almost always want unless you're using Sharpness +1 and have white or purple sharpness. You still lose the same amount of sharpness when you bounce, but, again, sharpening isn't as big of a deal as not being able to smoothly transition from combos into a block.
Evade +1/2 - Increases your invincibility time during evasive maneuvers. Most useful on the backhop/sidestep, as you'll pretty much be able to dodge every tail whip and even some unexpected charges. For the gunlancer that likes to do mobile combos instead of squatting in front of the monster's face the whole fight.
Evade Distance Up - As the name implies, increases the distance you cover with backhops and sidesteps. It's a very noticable increase, and goes great with Evade.
Guard +1/2 - Prevents being pushed back and taking damage from blocked attacks. Also reduces stamina used by guarding. Great for those who like to stay close to a wyvern and relentlessly go for a weakspot. Another skill that I never leave the village without.
Guard Inc - Makes the normally unblockable attacks blockable. Since most wyverns don't have unblockable attacks, this skill will probably be on an alternate set of armor that you'll take against monsters like Gravios, Rajang, and Khezu.
Gunnery King - Increases the damage of shelling and Wyvern's Fire, also reduces the cooldown time on Wyvern's Fire to 90 seconds. If you use a lot of shells and wyvern's fires, this is the skill for you, probably try to get Sharp Sword along with it though.
Sharpness +1 - Increases the weapon's base sharpness gauge. For everything but the Akantor gunlance, it gives them the next step up in sharpness. Great for endgame gunlances and if you can't get ESP.
Sharp Sword - Halves the sharpness loss on all attacks, including shelling and Wyvern's Fire. It's a very addicting skill to have and vastly cuts down on sharpening.
IV. Armor Suggestions
As I said before, finding your own style with the gunlance is a big part of the fun, so you really don't have to strictly follow these recommendations. Especially at the beginning, the gunlance-specific skills I listed aren't vitally important. In fact, many of the skills aren't even available until at least midgame.
Like before, I'll list the armors according to the rank of the quests and give a description of each. I'm only listing up to 6*, because after that, there's a large enough selection where you should know which skills you like and be able to mix and match effectively enough to create your own sets. That said, I may update 7*-9* sets that you guys post.
1* - There really isn't anything to make at this level. Even if you wanted to grind and make something, you'll be done with this so fast that it won't be worth it.
2* - One armor set comes to mind, although it's pretty mining intensive.
Helm: Protection Piercing - 12 Def
Auto-Guard +10
Plate: Steel Mail - 24 Def
Guard +4
Gaunlets: Steel Vambraces - 24 Def
Guard +2
Waist: Steel Belt - 24 Def
Guard +2
Leggings: Giaprey Greaves - 16 Def
Guard +2
Skills: Auto-Guard, Guard +1, and Map
Defense: 100
A good set for learning how to mix offense and defense. Guard+1 means you can block without fear of taking damage or running out of stamina (watch out against Kut-ku's peck attack though). The auto-guard is nice since you might not always know which direction to face to block certain attacks.
3* - With Khezu now available, getting a Guard +1 set is highly recommended.
However, your 2* armor set could still work for 3* quests. If you don't feel like you need auto-guard anymore, but want some more defense for those times when blocking isn't an option, then making two changes to the set will do the trick.
Helm: Hermitaur Helm - 32 Def
Guard +2
Plate: Hermitaur Mail - 32 Def
Guard +2
Gauntlets/Waist/Leggings: Same as 2*
Skills: Guard +1
Defense: 128
Additionally, if you are using the Steel Gunlance, you can make 6 Defense Jewels, add them to the slot on each piece of armor and your weapon, and get a defense boost of 20.
4* - Yian Garuga and Ceanataur armor is now available, providing an option for those who want offense over defense.
Weapon: Gathering Jewel
Helm: Yian Garuga Helm - 36 Def
Sharpness +1, Expert +3, Hear Protect +1
OO- (Earplug Jewel x2)
Plate: Yian Garuga Mail - 36 Def
Sharpness +2, Expert +2, Hear Protect +1
O-- (Earplug Jewel)
Gauntlets: Garuga Vambraces - 36 Def
Sharpness +3, Expert +2, Hear Protect +2
O-- (Expert Jewel)
Waist: Garuga Tasset - 36 Def
Sharpness +2, Expert +2, Hear Protect +1
OO- (Expert Jewel x2)
Leggings: Garuga Greaves - 36 Def
Sharpness +3, Expert +2, Hear Protect +2
O-- (Expert Jewel)
Skills: Sharp Sword, Reckless Abandon +2, Earplug
Defense: 180
Helm: Yian Garuga Helm - 36 Def
Sharpness +1
OO- (Artisan Jewel x2)
Plate: Yian Garuga Mail - 37 Def
Sharpness +2
O-- (Artisan Jewel)
Gaunlets: Ceanataur Braces - 37 def
Artisan +1, Sharpness +3
O-- (Artisan Jewel)
Waist: Ceanataur Tasset - 37 Def
Artisan +1, Sharpness +2
OO- (Artisan Jewel x2)
Leggings: Ceanataur Greaves - 37 Def
Artisan +1, Sharpness +2
OO- (Artisan Jewel)
Skills: Sharpness +1, Sharp Sword
Defense: 183
Both tough armor sets to make, so make sure you won't be missing Guard +1 before you pursue making them.
5* - With Gravios available, a new Guard armor, although a pain to make, becomes available.
Weapon: Hard Wall Jewel
Helm: Gravios Helm - 40 Def
Guard +2
O-- (Hard Wall Jewel)
Plate: Gravios Mail D - 38 Def
Guard Up +2
OO- (Stone Wall Jewel x2)
Gauntlets: Gravios Vambraces D - 38 Def
Guard Up +2
OO- (Stone Wall x2)
Waist: Gravios Tasset D - 38 Def
Guard Up +2
OO- (Stone Wall Jewel x2)
Leggings: Gravios Greaves - 40 Def
Guard +2
OO- (Hard Wall Jewel x2)
Skills: Guard +1, Guard Inc, Flat Footed
Defense:194
Having Flat Footed is undesirable, but since it doesn't affect stamina usage while blocking, it doesn't really affect gunlance users much. You probably won't notice any difference with it even while sprinting.
6* - A couple of new sets, but they allow for swapping of pieces pretty easily.
Helm: Guardian Spirit Mask - 44 Def
Fencing +2
OO- (Protection Jewel x2)
Plate: Guardian Spirit Raiment - 44 Def
Fencing +2
O-- (Protection Jewel)
Gauntlets: Guardian Spirit Vambraces - 44 Def
Fencing +2
O- (Protection Jewel)
Waist: Guardian Spirit Coil - 44 Def
Fencing +2
O-- (Danger Jewel)
Guardian Spirit Boots - 44 Def
Fencing +2
O--
Skills: ESP, Divine Protection, All Res +5
Def: 220
You can substitute in any piece of Death Stench anywhere on this set and still get Fencing, although you lose the other two and will have to watch the negative on health. Also, if you have a weapon with two slots, you can use 2 Iron Curtain Jewels (2 slots, Guard +3) and 4 Stone Wall Jewels to get Fencing, Guard +1, All Res +5, and Worry.
Worry makes it so your Defense and Attack go down when your health is below 40%, but as long as you keep it above that it won't have an effect.
Helm: Borealis Crown - 44 Def
Guard +3
O-- (Psychic Jewel)
Plate: Borealis Chest - 44 Def
Guard +3
O-- (Psychic Jewel)
Gauntlets: Borealis Gaunlets - 44 Def
Guard +3
OO- (Iron Curtain Jewel)
Waist: Borealis Tasset - 44 Def
Guard +3
O-- (Psychic Jewel)
Leggings: Borealis Pants - 44 Def
Guard +3
OO- (Iron Curtain Jewel)
Skills: Guard +2, Damage Rec Speed +1, and Auto Tracker
Defense: 220
On this one, you can sub in any piece of Shen Gaoren armor (Indra) and still get Guard +2. If you don't care about the extra skills, it might be advisable since this set has really low dragon resistance. If you do full Shen Gaoren, make sure to have a weapon with a slot so you can get rid of Slow life (-10 on Cooking) which makes you use items slower.
That pretty much concludes this guide, hopefully at least some part of it was useful to you. Happy hunting and enjoy ruling the village of Pokke with your gunlances.
Oh hi there.
MoisesL10:20 AM CST