While not every weapon appeared at launch forMonster Hunter Now, theGunlancewas introduced not too long afterward. A mix between defense and offense, these weapons are best suited to those who love to be up close to monsters but also need to have some firepower to augment their power, and this build guide takes advantage of all of these traits.
Having said that, there are so manyMonster Hunter Nowmonster partsthat you need to get in order to put together the very best Gunlance build, and it’s not just for the main weapon. Some of the monsters featured here are high-value targets, but this build is catered toward targets that are more commonly found outside of special events. Therefore, while Magnamalo and Coral Pukei-Pukei might be rarer hunts, you’ll also be hunting Diablos and Banbaro to complete this set. Here is thebest high-damage Gunlance build, complete with options for all the available Driftsmelt slots.
Best Monster Hunter Now Gunlance Build
The best weapon for aMonster Hunter NowGunlance build is theSinister Gunlance. This is a long shelling Blast-element weapon with the Partbreaker ability available at Grade 8, which helps increase the part damage it deals to breakable parts. The Blast-element slowly builds up over time, before erupting to deal a huge amount of damage all at once to the monster, reducing its health significantly, and thus making tougher hunts a little easier. The downside of this build is that it does require you tohunt many Magnamalos for the weapon, and several other armor parts also require tracking downMonster Hunter Rise’s flagship beast multiple times. Thankfully, you can track this monster via the Paintball Tracker.
Since we’ve already got a point inPartbreaker, we might as well increase it as far as we can, along withWeakness Exploitto make triggering an explosion with your Blast element more likely whenever you hit a monster’s weak spot.Lock Onwill ensure that you can target a specific weak spot more easily, thus guaranteeing the aforementioned affinity synergy.
The other skills generally appear a bit sooner than the Weakness Exploit ability thisMonster Hunter NowGunlance build is centered around. For example, a couple of points inBlast Attackfrom the Vambraces speeds up the rate at which the Blast effect builds up.Sneak Attack,Offensive Guard,andConcentrationare all nice to have, as they add more options to deal damage, build up your affinity in various conditions, or build your Special meter quickly.
Best Gunlance Build Driftsmelt Slots
The good thing about this build is that several Driftsmelt Slots are open at relatively low weapon ranks, meaning you may take advantage of this often-overlooked mechanic early on. All the recommended skills here are featured in the main build, so the intention is to elevate their levels further via Driftsmelt Slots.
Even though Concentration, Offensive Guard, and Sneak Attack were merely abilities accompanying more important ones in the base build, extra points for them via Driftsmelt Slots make the whole build come together nicely. The exception here isCritical Eye, which is an ability that gives you a flat increase to your affinity, but without the need to hit a weak spot. Here are our recommendations for Driftsmelt Slots for the bestMonster Hunter NowGunlance build:
