What you need to know
- Capcom has released a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds, showcasing the Heavy Bowgun.
- The Heavy Bowgun is one of the game's 14 weapon types, and its main gimmick is firing armor-piercing bullets and explosive projectiles at long-range to obliterate enemies with overwhelming firepower.
- Monster Hunter Wilds, the latest entry in the Monster Hunter series, is scheduled to launch in 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
One of the major selling points of Capcom's Monster Hunter series is the gigantic variety of weapon types for players to play with as they hunt monsters, and today, Capcom has given us a look at one of these weapon types.
Continuing from yesterday's showcase of Monster Hunter Wilds' take on the Great Sword, Capcom has revealed a new trailer for Monster Hunter Wilds' rendition of the Heavy Bowgun.
The Heavy Bowgun is a long-ranged weapon specializing in firing armor-piercing rounds that can shred through thick hides and explosive ammo that will eradicate even the largest of monsters. Depending on the type of Heavy Bowgun you can forge from monster parts, you can also fire off all kinds of ammunition that can deal major damage to enemies, inflict status ailments to weaken them, or even buff your teammates.
Monster Hunter Wilds' version of the Heavy Bowgun comes with a few tricks and reworks of mechanics introduced for the weapon in Monster Hunter World. For starters, Heavy Bowgun has a unique energy gauge meter that builds over time by itself and when you land shots on enemies (both of these gauge-building methods stack, by the way).
When the energy gauge is filled, players can then activate Ignition Mode and use special ammunition, depending on the Heavy Bowgun you're using. Ignition Mode's special ammo can either turn your Heavy Bowgun into a Gatling gun that never stops firing or an anti-tank rifle that fires armor-piercing that embeds itself into a monster's body before exploding from the inside.
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Ignition Mode is essentially a rework of the Wyvernheart and Wyvernsnipe mechanics from Monster Hunter World. However, in Monster Hunter Wilds, the speed at which you build the energy for Heavy Bowgun's Ignition Mode has been increased so you will be able to use Ignition Mode's special ammo a lot more often now.
Another big change for the Heavy Bowgun is its guarding capabilities. In Monster Hunter World and Monster Hunter Rise, you can install a shield modification to allow Heavy Bowguns to block enemy attacks. However, Heavy Bowguns only blocked attacks automatically whenever the player wasn't shooting, meaning players couldn't directly control the weapon's blocking abilities.
Thankfully, that flaw has now been fixed in Monster Hunter Wilds, as Heavy Bowguns can now let players manually block incoming attacks on top of the weapon's Auto-Block feature. This change will allow players to more reliably block enemy attacks compared to the Heavy Bowgun's auto-block feature while staying on the offensive, as being able to manually block means you don't have to stop shooting to activate the guard.
As for new moves, the Heavy Bowgun has a new Focus Strike attack, which can be activated in Monster Hunter Wilds' unique Focus Mode mechanic. Heavy Bowgun's Focus Strike fires deadly rockets that drill into a monster's weak spots and wounds, and then explode from the inside to deal significant damage.
Heavy Bowgun also has a brutal new attack where you shove your weapon into a monster's mouth and fire it to blow their brains out.
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When you need big guns, they don't come bigger than Heavy Bowguns
Even though I consider Monster Hunter World to be one of the best Xbox games and one of the best PC games, I will admit Heavy Bowgun was one of my least-used weapon types in that game. The old Wyvernheart and Wyvernsnipe mechanics took way too long to charge, which meant that I was forced to use regular ammo to deal optimal damage, which while effective was ultimately boring and not as exciting to use compared to the other weapon types.
Hopefully Monster Hunter Wilds' reworked Ignition Mode will change that, as the energy gauge charge speed does look noticeably faster than the Wyvernheart and Wyvernsnipe mechanic gauges did in Monster Hunter World.
Not to mention, the new explosive Focus Strike and the special move where you shove a Heavy Bowgun into a monster's mouth to blow its head off from the inside look so brutal and cool that I can't wait to try them on Monster Hunter Wilds' growing roster of monsters.
Will Monster Hunter Wilds' new take on the Heavy Bowgun make it more fun to play than in previous installments, and what other new tricks will the rest of the weapon types have in this game? Join in the hunt next year to find out when Monster Hunter Wilds launches on February 28, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and PC via Steam.
