This is a guide about the best skills for Heavy Bowguns. Read on to know which skills to look out for when making a Heavy Bowgun build and why.

Offensive Skills

General Recommendations
Affinity Skills	Agitator	Partbreaker
Piercing Shots	Spread/Power Shots	Normal Shots
Special Ammo Boost
Sticky Ammo and Cluster Bomb Recommendations
Attack Boost	Slugger	Artillery

General Offensive Skills

Critical Eye, Critical Boost, Weakness Exploit

Most Heavy Bowgun ammo types benefit from having high affinity. Hunters are advised to invest in Affinity Skills such as Critical Eye, Critical Boost, and Weakness Exploit to see significant improvements to ammo damage when firing from critical range.

Agitator

The introduction of the Clutch Claw made the Agitator Skill a community staple when making builds. When active, Agitator grants hunters +20 attack and affinity by 10% at level five. (levels six and seven are unlocked via the Agitator Secret Skill.)

The Clutch Claw, specifically its Flinch Shot Attack, gave hunters the ability to enrage the monster whenever the opportunity presents itself. This gave hunters a way to maintain their Agitator's up-time.

Partbreaker

Bowguns in general are amazing ranged weapons that can break even the hardest to reach parts of a monster with ease.

Partbreaker increases Part Damage by 30% at level three and will compliment this weapon well.

Partbreaker's damage increase does NOT reflect in floating damage numbers.

Piercing Shots

Catered to hunters who prefer using Piercing Ammo, Piercing Shots greatly increases the damage of all Piercing Ammo at level two.

Spread/Power Shots

Spread/Power Shots is recommended for Hunters that prefer to get up close and personal with Spread Ammo. This skill greatly increases the damage of all Spread Ammo at level two

Normal Shots

Normal Shots greatly increases the damage of all Normal Ammo at level two and is catered to Hunters who prefer to use Level two and three Normal Ammo.

Special Ammo Boost

Want to maximize your Heavy Bowgun's Special Ammo? Special Ammo Boost increases the damage of all Bowgun Special Ammo by 20% at level two and is definitely worth considering.

Sticky Ammo/Cluster Bomb Offensive Skills

Attack Boost

Sticky Ammo and Cluster Bombs do NOT crit. They do, however, ignore a monster's hide defense.

Bolstering your Heavy Bowgun's base damage with Attack Boost is definitely recommended for Sticky Ammo/Cluster Bomb hunters.

Slugger

Sticky Ammo and Cluster Bombs are known for their high KO damage. Slugger increases Stun Power by 40% at level three and is definitely worth adding to Sticky/Cluster builds.

Levels four and five are unlocked via the Slugger Secret Skill.

Artillery

Artillery is the MOST important skill in a Sticky Ammo Hunter's build. Artillery increases the damage of all Sticky Ammo by 30% at level three.

Levels four and five are unlocked via the Artillery Secret Skill.

Defensive Skills

Recommendations
Guard	Guard Up	Divine Blessing
Earplugs	Health Boost	Evasion Skills

Guard

Unlike Light Bowguns, Heavy Bowguns can be modded with a shield that can block frontal attacks when aiming to compensate for their slow movement when unsheathed. Hunters who only use one shield mod for their Heavy Bowguns may consider adding Guard to their builds.

Guard bolsters a weapon's blocking efficiency, massively reducing the impact of monster attacks and stamina cost of blocking by 50% at level five.

It is recommended that hunters use at least THREE points in Guard when including it into their builds.

Guard Up

Guard Up is a blocker's favorite skill. It allows hunters to block otherwise unblockable attacks from monsters.

Divine Blessing

Hunters looking for an extra layer of protection on top of shield mods may consider using Divine Blessing. Divine Blessing, when triggered, reduces the incoming damage by 50% at level three from the attack that triggered it.

Levels four and five are unlocked via the Divine Blessing Secret Skill.

Earplugs

Tired of being roared out of your Wyvernheart attack?

Earplugs offer complete protection from monster roars at level five, ensuring that a hunter's Wyvernheart attack remains uninterrupted no matter how loud a monster is!

Health Boost

It never hurts to pump up one's HP! Health Boost increases a hunter's Health by 50 at level three, making it a solid addition to any build - especially early on in the game.

Evasion Skills

Heavy Bowguns are notorious for their insanely slow and clunky dodge rolls when unsheathed. Hunters who find this an issue may invest in these Evasion Skills.

Evade Window massively increases the invulnerability window of dodge rolls at level five. This is a much needed buff to the Heavy Bowgun's short invulnerability window when dodging, despite its excellent dodge distance.

Evade Extender greatly increases the distanced covered by dodges at level three, increasing the Bowgun's far-reaching dodge roll even further!

Utility Skills

Recommendations
Quick Sheath	Free Elem/Ammo Up	Razor Sharp/Spare Shot

Quick Sheath

Hunters who find the Heavy Bowgun's slow sheathing speed an issue may consider using Quick Sheath. This skill greatly improves sheathing speed at level three.

Free Elem/Ammo Up

Hunters who take issue with their bowgun's magazine sizes may consider investing in Free Elem/Ammo Up. This skill expands the clip size of most ammo types at level three.

Free Elem/Ammo Up is particularly useful for Sticky Ammo and Cluster Bomb builds since their magazine sizes are often small compared to other ammo types.

Razor Sharp/Spare Shot

Razor Sharp/Spare Shot is a special skill that when triggered, refunds the ammo fired by the hunter. This indirectly bolsters a hunter's overall damage per clip as the refund mechanic could potentially allow the hunter to shoot significantly more shots before reloading.

True Razor Sharp/Spare Shot is an upgraded version of Razor Sharp/Spare Shot that hosts a better proc chance.

There are currently no jewels that provide these skills. Below is a table of where to acquire them:

Razor Sharp/Spare Shot	Razor Sharp Charm
	Xeno'jiiva Gamma Set 3 piece set bonus
True Razor Sharp/Spare Sharp	Nargacuga Alpha+ Set 3 piece set bonus
	Nargacuga Beta+ Set 3 piece set bonus
	Fatalis Alpha+ Set 4 piece set bonus
	Fatalis Beta+ Set 4 piece set bonus

Related Monster Hunter World (MHW) Guides

All Skills

List of All Skills

Best Skills for Each Weapon

Recommendations for Other Weapons
Charge Blade	Dual Blades	Long Sword	Sword & Shield
Switch Axe	Insect Glaive	Hunting Horn	Great Sword
Lance	Gunlance	Hammer	Bow
Heavy Bowgun		Light Bowgun

Weapon Related Guides

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	Overall Best List	Best Skills
	Layered Weapon Augments
	Best Great Sword for Each Element
	Best Great Sword for Iceborne
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	Overall Best List	Best Skills
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	Best Long Sword for Each Element
	Best Long Sword for Iceborne
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Dual Blades	Trees & Full List	How to Use
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	Best Dual Blades for Each Element
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	Best Hammer for Each Element
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	Overall Best List	Best Skills
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	Best Hunting Horn for Each Element
	Best Hunting Horn for Iceborne
	Hunting Horn Notes and Effects
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	Layered Weapon Augments
	Best Lance for Each Element
	Best Lance for Iceborne
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Charge Blade	Trees & Full List	How to Use
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Insect Glaive	Trees & Full List	How to Use
	Overall Best List	Best Skills
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Kinsects
Kinsects	Kinsect Tree and Complete Kinsect List	Best and Recommended Kinsects

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Bows	Trees & Full List	How to Use
	Overall Best List	Best Skills
	Layered Weapon Augments
	Best Bow for Each Element
Light Bowguns	Trees & Full List	How to Use
	Overall Best List	Best Skills
	Layered Weapon Augments
	Best Light Bowgun for Each Element
Heavy Bowguns	Trees & Full List	How to Use
	Overall Best List	Best Skills
	Layered Weapon Augments
	Best Heavy Bowgun for Each Element