Gunlance Best Builds: Progression and Endgame - Monster Hunter Rise (MH Rise) | MHR

In this post, I will go through the complete Gunlance progression. Moreover, I will cover Endgame builds to maximize the effectiveness of the weapon.

General Skill recommendation

As there will not be many skill options available here are some skills that I think are mandatory:

• Artillery will increase your shelling damage, wyrmstake cannon, and wyvernfire damage. The best skill for Gunlance users.
• Load Shells - increases your shell capacity by one at level 2. Allows increasing your DPS by creating larger Full bursts or making reload intervals longer.
• Evade Extender - because you cannot roll and only hop, your moving distance is lower compared to other weapons. To solve this problem use Evade Extender. This way you won't need to sheath your weapon when traveling longer distances.
• Guard - this skill will give you an advantage when guarding. You will receive less chip damage, lose less stamina and have lesser knockback. However, it should not totally replace hopping with Evade Extender
• Attack Boost - although you will use your shells most of the time, in many cases you will still do physical attacks
• Weakness Exploit - will make your physical hits do criticals more often when attacking monster weak spots
• Critical Boost - will boost your critical damage
• Critical Eye - will increase your affinity
• Wirebug Whisperer - increases the length of your third wirebug. Moreover, makes them recharge faster.

Generally, I would recommend having at least Guard 1, Artillery, Load Shells, and Evade Extender 1-2. From then on, add skills that increase your physical damage.

Overview of playstyles

In this section, I will shortly overview a few different playstyles. The different gunlance builds will reflect them

Long Shell Wyrmstake spam

I would say this is recommended playstyle throughout most of the game. Why is that?

• Your main attack is a fairly short combo of: Charged Shell -> (Down + Shell) -> Dodge and reload
• You do not need a lot of offensive gear
• You will be able to maneuver easily
• Wyrmstake cannon has additional ticks compared to Normal shells.
• You need Long shells for this playstyle

Take a look at the main combo that you should be using:

It is important to dodge after the Wyrmstake Cannon as it has the lowest amount of frames while you are standing still

After the combo, you can either dodge more or reload.

Fullburst

As it sounds this playstyle concentrates on creating explosions. Your main combo is releasing all of the shells in the clip.

Here are the main things to have in mind:

• This playstyle works the best on most occasions with Normal shells
• It requires performing a long combo by itself: X+A (Rising Slash) -> X (Overhead Smash) -> A (Burst Fire) -> X (Wide Sweep) -> ZR + A (Quick Reload) -> Repeat from the start
• To maximize the damage you can use Wyrmstake at the end of the combo
• The shell explosions tear through sharpness fast.

Slaplance

This playstyle sounds silly, however, as you can guess you mainly concentrate on physical damage.

• You do not use any shelling
• Your main priority are weapons with either high Raw or affinity
• Can be applied against limited monsters
• Wyverfire can still be used as it deals significant damage and gives strong guard

Here is the main combo that is mostly used

Poke Shelling

This is an extremely versatile playstyle that uses Wide shelling. Your main move is:

X (Lateral Thrust) -> Hold A (Charged Shelling)

However, for it to work well you need to practice Charged Shelling. It requires you to hold A for a small amount of time just enough for it not to be a normal Shell attack. take a look at this example:

It requires some practice even for me :D But you can dodge after any of the Charged Shelling attacks. This makes it easy to avoid enemy attacks

However...

This is not all. Wide shells have a special Wyrmstake that deals impact damage and can stun enemies:

Some points on this playstyle:

• Safe option as combos are not long
• Works well with Charged Shelling and Guard Reload Switch Skills
• Wyrmstake Cannon deal impact damage and can stun enemies, however it deals overall lower damage.

Low Rank Builds

Early Low Rank - Village Quests 1★ - 3★

At the start of the game, not much is available with fancy stats. However, we will try to maximize what we get with the build

Weapon

We will use Long shelling gunlance. This means that your main attack is this:

This way you will release a Wyrmstake Cannon at the of the move. Moreover, due to this being a short combo, you can easily avoid monsters.

Weapon	Rampage Skills	Switch Skills
Bone Gunlance II	Attack Boost II	Any skill

Armors

By getting Rhenoplos armor pieces we use artillery to maximize our shell damage. Barroth Coil is also extremely useful by giving Guard 1. You will now have less knockdown.

Item	Skills
Izuchi Helm	Critical Eye Lv 1
Rhenoplos Mail	Artillery Lv 1 Stun Resistance Lv 1
Rhenoplos Braces	Artillery Lv 1
Barroth Coil	Guard Lv 1
Lagombi Greaves	Critical Eye Lv 1

Mid to End of Low Rank - Village Quests 4★ - 6★

Weapon

The Wyvern Bone Gunlance will have level 2 Long shelling, extremely powerful at this point in the game

Weapon	Rampage Skills	Switch Skills
Wyvern Bone Gunlance	Attack Boost II	Charged Shelling

Armors

With the sacrifice of some offensive skills, you get Evade Extender Lv2. With this, you can jump forward and backward longer distances. It allows you to evade monster attacks and get back to them faster.

Item	Skills
Wroggi Helm	Evade Extender Lv 1
Rhenoplos Mail	Artillery Lv 1 Stun Resistance Lv 1
Rhenoplos Braces	Artillery Lv 1
Nargacuga Coil	Evade Extender Lv 1
Diablos Greaves	Guard Lv 1 Offensive Guard Lv 1
Talisman	Constitution 1 Wirebug Whisperer 1

There are two options for talismans at this stage of the game.

• Constitution - allows hopping with gunlance to drain less stamina.
• Wirebug Whisperer - allows this gunlance build to have a third wirebug for a longer period of time.

High Rank: HR 4 - 6

Wyrmstake spam gunlance build

I suggest taking any armors that you can craft at the start of High Rank. The monsters will hit much harder and have more aggressive attack rotations. So I recommend dropping previous equipment that you have used.

Weapon

We continue using Long Shelling gunlance.

Weapon	Rampage Skills	Switch Skills
Golem Gunlance II with an upgrade to Behemoth Gunlance	Affinity Boost II	Charged Shelling Ground Splitter

These gunlances are easily accessible and you do not need to farm, specific materials for them. Although they can be a bit boring.

Armors

I recommend getting Rhenoplos armors as soon as possible for Artillery Lv 3

Item	Skills
Izuchi Helm S	Critical Eye Lv 1
Rhenoplos Mail S	Artillery Lv 1 Stun Resistance Lv 2
Rhenoplos Braces S	Artillery Lv 2
Chainmail Belt S	Botanist Lv 1 Guard Lv 1
Wroggi Greaves S	Evade Extender Lv 1 Ammo Up Lv 1
Talisman	Constitution 1 Wirebug Whisperer 1

With these items, you will lose some of the mobility that you previously had. However, you will have much higher survivability until you get used to the aggressiveness of High Rank monsters.

High Rank: HR: 6 - 7

As you progress through High Rank switch to this equipment when available. Here is the best loadout

Wyrmstake spam gunlance build

Weapon

Howlitzer is extremely strong gunlance at this stage of the game. You get Level 5 Long shells that can last till the end of the game.

Once you are able to unlock Guard Reload. This will make your fights much easier after Wyrmstake Cannon. You will be able to Guard and at the same time ready up Wyrmstake for the next attack

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Howlitzer	Buddy Rally/Defense Boost 3	Charged Shelling Ground Splitter Guard Reload

Armors

Item	Skills
Jyuratodus Helm	Offensive Guard Lv 1 Evade Extender Lv 1
Basarios Mail S	Guard Lv 1 Load Shells Lv 1
Rhenoplos Braces S	Artillery Lv 2
Nargacuga Coil S	Evade Extender Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 1
Basarios Greaves S	Load Shells Lv 1 Defense Boost Lv 1
Talisman	Constitution 1 Wirebug Whisperer 1

High Rank: HR 7 - 40 (Patch 2.0)

After you defeat Narwa, you will unlock higher ranks. This will cover the progress after this boss.

Long shelling - Wyrmstake Cannon

Probably the easiest build to utilize. Long shells allow for further distance, the only offensive skill that matters is Artillery.

This build aims to use charged shelling + wyrmstake cannon. In rare cases you may also do a full burst after these moves:

• Guard edge
• Ground Splitter

Weapon

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Howlitzer	Buddy Rally/Defense Boost 3	Charged Shelling Ground Splitter Guard Reload

Armors

Bazelgeuse set covers all Gunlance need for this type of build. Moreover, you will have a lot of free slots for elemental resistances

Item	Decorations
Bazelgeuse Helm	Artillery Lv 1 Guard Lv 1
Diablos Mail S	Guard Lv 2 Offensive Guard Lv 1
Rakna Armguards	Constitution Lv 2 Stamina Surge Lv 1
Nargacuga Coil S	Evade Extender Lv 2 Critical Eye Lv 1
Bazelgeuse Greaves	Artillery Lv 2 Guard Lv 1

Talismans and decorations

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Any skill	Wirebug Jewel 2 x3 Jumping Jewel 2 x1 Ironwall Jewel 2 x1 Shield Jewel 2 x1	We maximize the utility skills for better guarding, evading, and wirebug usage.

Fullburst Orthilde Gunlance build

This build will use a different playstyle and rely more on physical damage in addition to explosions

Weapons

The main weapon that will be used is Ortlinde. It has Normal shells, which means that we will use combos that create explosions by using up all shells in the magazine.

Weapon

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Ortlinde	Attack Boost II	Blast Dash Ground Splitter Quick Reload

As you can see we also use different Switch skills. Blast Dash gives very large mobility and quick reload allows us to reload magazines instantly

Armors

Bazelgeuse set covers all Gunlance need for this type of build. Moreover, you will have a lot of free slots for elemental resistances

Item	Decorations
Barroth Helm S	Attack Boost Lv 1 Defense Boost Lv 1 Offensive Guard Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Tigrex Braces S	Bludgeoner Lv 2 Mind's Eye Lv 1
Anjanath Coil S	Attack Boost Lv 2
Bazelgeuse Greaves	Artillery Lv 2 Guard Lv 1

Talismans and decorations

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Any skill	Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Vemon jewel 1 x3 Magazine Jewel 2 x2 Blunt Jewel 2 x1 Artillery Jewel 2 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1	Quite demanding decorations at this stage of the game, but gives higher overall damage
Any skill	Attack Jewel 2 x4 Vemon jewel 1 x3 Magazine Jewel 2 x2 Blunt Jewel 2 x1 Artillery Jewel 2 x1	Budget option, where you get Attack Boost Lv 7

High Rank: HR 40-99

Now after you have defeated the three elder dragons, you are ready for the big grind till HR 100. Here are my suggestions

For Long Shelling build there is nothing new to offer. Unfortunately, it starts to lose ground in terms of DPS to other gunlances. However, it is still a fairly safe playstyle

So let's move.

Fullburst Araknalance build

This is an amazing build, thanks to the materials that you obtain from Teostra.

Weapons

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Araknalance	Attack Boost II	Blast Dash Ground Splitter Quick Reload

Armors

Item	Decorations
Kaiser Crown	Critical Eye Lv 3 Critical Boost Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Kaiser Vambraces	Teostra Blessing Lv 1 Critical Eye Lv 1 Critical Boost Lv 1
Bazelgeuse Coil	Load Shell Lv 1 Guard Lv 1
Bazelgeuse Greaves	Artillery Lv 2 Guard Lv 1

Talismans and decorations

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Any skill	Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Artillery Jewel 2 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Razor Jewel 2 x1 Magazine Jewel 2 x1	Razor Sharp option for longer White Sharpness. You will need to equip Almudron Plate S. The result is less sharpening required. Use the empty level 1 slots for Blaze, Steadfast, Brace, Grinder jewels.
Any skill	Tenderizer Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Artillery Jewel 2 x1 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Expert Jewel 2 x1 Sharp Jewel 2 x2 Magazine Jewel 2 x1	This is the Protective Polish option with a bit more damage. Because we can slot 3 Grinder Jewels easily we take Sharp Jewel 2 instead of Razor or Mastery Jewels

Endgame: High Rank 100+ (3.0 patch)

This is currently the endgame content. Here is what builds I suggest.

Fullburst and Poke shell gunlance build

This build can be used in two different playstyles: fullburst and poke shelling. This makes it extremely versatile for different enemy encounters.

Weapons

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Rampage Gunlance S	Attack Boost IV Non-elemental Boost Shelling: Normal III	Blast Dash Ground Splitter Quick Reload

Armors

Item	Decorations
Kaiser Crown	Critical Eye Lv 3 Critical Boost Lv 1
Vaik Mail S	-
Valstrax Braces	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 2
Bazelgeuse Coil	Load Shell Lv 1 Guard Lv 1
Bazelgeuse Greaves	Artillery Lv 2 Guard Lv 1

Talismans and decorations

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Any skill	Handicraft Jewel 3 x1 Grinder Jewel 1 x2 Artillery Jewel 2 x1 Tenderizer Jewel 2 1 Sharp Jewel 2 x2 Critical Jewel 2 x2 Magazine Jewel 2 x1	This is a white sharpness option. You need to change Rampage skill to Sharpness Type I or IV. It does have higher damage.
Any skill	Grinder Jewel 1 x2 Artillery Jewel 2 x1 Tenderizer Jewel 2 1 Attack Jewel 2 x3 Critical Jewel 2 x2 Magazine Jewel 2 x1	This is quite a comfortable build, although you will have blue sharpness. In case you want to sustain the sharpness for longer switch Attack Jewels 2 with Razor Jewels 2

Slaplance gunlance build

This option is for those that want to try something exotic. This build relies on only dealing physical damage and not using any shelling for combos. Of course, feel free to use Wyvern Fire.

Weapons

Name	Rampage Skill	Switch Skills
Tigrex Gunlance	Attack Boost III	Blast Dash Ground Splitter Quick Reload

Armors

Item	Decorations
Valstrax Helm	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 1
Valstrax Mail	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resuscitate Lv 2
Valstrax Braces	Dragonheart Lv 1 Weakness Exploit Lv 2
Valstrax Coil	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resuscitate Lv 1 Resentment Lv 2
Valstrax Greaves	Dragonheart Lv 1 Resentment Lv 1

Talismans and decorations

Talisman skills + slots	Decorations	Notes
Critical Boost 1	Expert Jewel 2 x5 Critical Jewel 2 x2 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Brace Jewel 1 x1	Having Critical Boost on talisman allows for additional Expert Jewel that gives higher EFR than Attack Jewel
Wirebug Whisperer 1+	Expert Jewel 2 x4 Critical Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Brace Jewel 1 x1	Although you can use Attack Jewels instead of Expert Jewels, the result is lower effective raw. We also take Wirebug Whisperer which will allow for longer third wirebug
Attack Boost 1	Expert Jewel 2 x4 Critical Jewel 2 x3 Grinder Jewel 1 x3 Brace Jewel 1 x1	Attack Boost does not change much

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this best gunlance build guide. It should cover all that you need to finish the game and to craft the best equipment.

Feel free to leave feedback below!