The Bow is a versatile ranged weapon, effective at both close and long distances while offering high mobility in Monster Hunter Wilds. See all the new moves for the Bow, its mechanics, controls, best combos, advanced tips, and how good it is!

Bow Guides
Weapon Guide	Builds	Tree

Bow Mechanics

List of All Bow Mechanics
Ranged Weapon That Relies on Stamina Can Fire Different Types of Arrows Can Use Spread Shots Up Close Charges Its Attacks to Power Up Manage and Use the Trick Arrow Gauge Track Monsters With Tracers Apply Coatings for Various Effects Focus Strike Homes in on Wounds

Ranged Weapon That Relies on Stamina

Monster Hunter Wilds' Bow is the only one of the three ranged weapons that consumes stamina to fire arrows at monsters in combat. Different attacks will cost different amounts of stamina, with stronger ones often taking more.

All Weapons and Guides

Can Fire Different Types of Arrows

The Bow can aim and fire several different types of attacks based on what input the player uses, such as spread shots, piercing arrows, exploding tracers, and Arc Shots.

It also has access to the Dragon Piercer, an attack that pierces the length of a monster for continuous damage, and the Thousand Dragons, a powerful, but very close-range volley that can deal a burst of damage.

Can Use Spread Shots Up Close

If forced into close quarters, the Bow can use this to its advantage by releasing Spread Shots, which fire a fan of arrows that can do significant damage at close range.

The Thousand Dragons, alongside Quick Shots, Power Shots, and Power Volleys all work excellently when fighting a monster up close.

Charges Its Attacks to Power Up

The Bow also has a charging mechanic that empowers its attacks. Charging attacks will drain your stamina, but will be more powerful than their non-charged inputs.

For example, Normal and Power Shots increase in arrow count and damage with Charge level, while charging the Arc Shot increases its AoE and duration.

Manage and Use the Trick Arrow Gauge

The Trick Arrow Gauge is an additional resource gauge for the Bow, and is spent to load Tracers and coatings. Landing attacks or performing Discerning Dodge will fill the gauge. Loading a Tracer or coating will consume the gauge.

This modifies the Bow's play pattern into a cycle of filling the Trick Arrow Gauge, then spending it to use coatings or unleash Tracers for more damage.

Track Monsters With Tracers

Using the Ready Tracer move will replace the next shot with an arrow that lodges itself into a monster, and it causes subsequent arrows to home in on it. These arrows will do boosted damage when hitting their target.

Use this to improve your damage, and also to focus your attacks on a specific part of the monster as arrows will prioritze where the Tracer has landed.

Apply Coatings for Various Effects

Coating	Effect
Power	Increases arrow damage
Close-Range	Reduces arrow range but increases their damage
Pierce	Allows arrow to pierce and hit multiple times
Poison	Arrows inflict Poison Buildup
Paralysis	Arrows inflict Paralysis Buildup
Sleep	Arrows inflict Sleep Buildup
Blast	Arrows inflict Blastblight Buildup
Exhaust	Arrows inflict Stun Damage and Exhaust Buildup

Coatings are an important aspect of the bow that can increase damage or apply status effects depending on the coating used. Each Bow can only use specific coatings, meaning that not all will be available for use somtimes.

Unlike previous games, coatings are no longer items that you need to craft and store in your pouch. Instead, it uses one bar of the Trick Arrow Gauge to refill your selected coating, applying it to your next few arrows.

Focus Strike Homes in on Wounds

Using the Bow's Focus Strike will make a special reticle appear. This reticle will automatically lock-on to wounds and Tracers one by one, and will fire guided arrows at them when the input is released.

The Focus Strike can be charged for more arrows, and if it hits a wound, the Hunter will follow up with a Dragon Piercer.

How to Use Focus Mode and Focus Strike

Bow Controls

Basic Bow Controls

Bow Best Combos

Bow Combos
Dash Dancing Combo Tracer Dash Dance Combo Low Stamina Cost Combo Trick Arrow Gauge Refill Combo

Dash Dancing Combo

Dash Dancing remains one of the strongest ways to play the Bow in Monster Hunter Wilds, allowing you to repeatedly fire a Charged Shot, Power Shot, and Power Volley for repeated bursts of damage in a very short while.

Do note however, that this combo is also the Bow's most stamina-intensive due to its spammable nature. Careful management or dodging is required to not get caught without Stamina to evade an attack.

Tracer Dash Dance Combo

Players can opt to use a Tracer Arrow to have their shots home in from a distance, allowing them to effectively use attacks like the Power Volley at further range than normal.

This can also be combined with Dash Dancing to essentially Dash Dance from range, as an option for when close-range combat isn't ideal.

Low Stamina Cost Combo

For situations wherein Stamina is low, the above combo still allows for damage output while minimizing Stamina consumption by using regular shots.

Open with a Tracer Arrow to boost the damage of the following shots, and end the combo by popping it with a quick Focus Fire: Hailstorm.

Trick Arrow Gauge Refill Combo

Holding your regular shots for a bit, as if to charge them, will refill the Trick Arrow gauge. As such, firing a few strings of Normal Shots and delaying each shot slightly will quickly fill up the Trick Arrow Gauge.

Note, however, that the most efficient way to restore the Trick Arrow Gauge is through using Discerning Dodge, or by laying down an Arc Shot when the monster is immobile.

Bow Advanced Tips

Bow Tips and Tricks
Take Note of Critical Distance Manage Stamina With Skills and Buffs Use Dragon Piercer or Thousand Dragons Dash to Charge Attacks Dash Perfectly to Regain Trick Arrow Gauge Arc Shots Apply Tracers and Stun Mount Monsters With the Bow

Take Note of Critical Distance

Critical Distance is the effective range from your target where you deal the most damage. You can determine you're at Critical Distance when the reticle glows orange when aiming, but this can change depending on the Coating you've applied.

If the reticle isn't orange, it means that you're out of range and will do less damage to the monster with your arrows.

Critical Distance isn't an Indicator of Max Damage

Even if the reticle is orange, you may not be maximizing the damage of your attacks. For example, if you're using Power Shot or Thousand Dragons, you will want to be up close to the monster so that all your arrows hit, even if the reticle is orange when you're further away.

Manage Stamina With Skills and Buffs

Mastering Stamina management is crucial when wielding a Bow, as rapidly firing arrows and constantly dashing around can quickly drain your stamina if you're not careful.

Make use of skills and external buffs, like Stamina Surge, or the Black Belt Meal, to mitigate your Stamina consumption and regain it faster.

How to Restore and Increase Stamina

Use Dragon Piercer or Thousand Dragons on Low Stamina

When you're low on Stamina but have a window to do damage, consider ending your combo with either Dragon Piercer or Thousand Dragons, as these can be fired so long as you have any amount of Stamina remaining.

Thousand Dragons is effective as an up-close attack, while Dragon Piercer works best when aiming down the monster's body or across it.

Dash to Charge Attacks

Instead of standing still and attacking, it's recommended to use a Charging Sidestep to increase your Bow's Charge Levels. This helps you constantly reposition and swiftly charge your attacks at the same time.

Just be mindful of your Stamina when doing this since you can quickly get exhausted and get hit by an attack if you're not careful.

Dodge Perfectly to Regain Trick Arrow Gauge

Using Charging Sidestep right before an attack hits you will cause the hunter to perform Discerning Dodge, which is an evasive move that fills up one segment of the Trick Arrow Gauge.

This is by far the fastest way to get Trick Arrow Gauge for coatings and Tracers, and the move itself provides lots of invincibility frames to keep you safe. It can also restore Stamina, upping its usefulness even more.

Arc Shots Apply Tracers and Stun

A new mechanic added to Arc Shots in this game is that it will now apply Tracers onto a target. You can use this as an opener or when a monster is staying still to detonate multiple Tracers with a Focus Fire: Hailstorm.

They also still stack up stun damage, and if used enough on a monster's head, will cause them to get knocked over for a brief period. Additionally, they are great for restoring the Trick Arrow Gauge.

Mount Monsters With the Bow

All weapons have the ability to mount, including the bow. Players can take advantage of this by attacking off a Seikret dismount, or attacking after jumping off a ledge.

These can both lead to mounts, which can in turn lead to avenues of opportunity for more attacks as you can inflict Wounds on monsters while mounted.

How to Mount Monsters

How Good Is the Bow?

Tier List Ranking

Weapon Ranking
Damage Type	Entry Barrier	Difficulty to Master
Shot	Medium	★★★★☆
Pros and Cons
Consistently Outputs Damage Good Mobility and Evasion Allows for Safe Spacing Utility via Coatings Requires Constant Stamina Management Now Also Needs Trick Arrow Gauge Management

Entry Barrier pertains to how easy it is to learn the weapon from scratch, while Difficulty to Master is a rating on how difficult it is to perfectly execute the weapon mechanics.

The bow is an SS Tier weapon in Monster Hunter: Wilds. Its ability to remain at a safe range, and consistently output damage while remaining mobile with its Charging Sidestep makes it very safe and easy to learn.

It has little damage downtime when played correctly, allowing for constant offense with its considerable damage output when using Power Shots. Discerning Dodge is also an excellent defensive skill, providing safety in combat.

However, many of its actions require Stamina to perform, and the new Trick Arrow Gauge is another resource to manage. Learning to maximize the Bow's damage will come from juggling both of these resources in tandem.

Best Weapon Type Tier List

Monster Hunter Wilds Related Guides

All Weapons and Guides

All Weapon Guides

All Weapon Tutorials
Great Sword		Long Sword		Sword & Shield
Dual Blades		Hammer		Hunting Horn
Lance		Gunlance		Switch Axe
Charge Blade		Insect Glaive		Light Bowgun
Heavy Bowgun			Bow

All Weapon Trees

All Weapon Trees
Great Sword		Long Sword		Sword & Shield
Dual Blades		Hammer		Hunting Horn
Lance		Gunlance		Switch Axe
Charge Blade		Insect Glaive		Kinsects
Light Bowgun		Heavy Bowgun		Bow