The Best High-Damage Gunlance Build for Monster Hunter Now

While not every weapon appeared at launch for Monster Hunter Now, the Gunlance was 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 many Monster Hunter Now monster parts that 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 the best high-damage Gunlance build, complete with options for all the available Driftsmelt slots.

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Every option for the best Hammer in Monster Hunter Now, along with armor with relevant perks and skills via the Driftstones to craft.

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By Dave Irwin

Best Monster Hunter Now Gunlance Build

Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build: a hunter is shooting with his Gunlance. — A hunter is shooting with his Gunlance.

The best weapon for a Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build is the Sinister 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 to hunt many Magnamalos for the weapon, and several other armor parts also require tracking down Monster Hunter Rise's flagship beast multiple times. Thankfully, you can track this monster via the Paintball Tracker.

Since we've already got a point in Partbreaker, we might as well increase it as far as we can, along with Weakness Exploit to make triggering an explosion with your Blast element more likely whenever you hit a monster's weak spot. Lock On will 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 this Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build is centered around. For example, a couple of points in Blast Attack from the Vambraces speeds up the rate at which the Blast effect builds up. Sneak Attack, Offensive Guard, and Concentration are 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.

	Item	Effect
Weapon	Sinister Gunlance	Element: Blast Shelling Type: Long Partbreaker I (Grade 8)
Helm	Coral Pukei-Pukei Helm	Weakness Exploit I (Grade 5) Weakness Exploit II (Grade 8) Lock On I (Grade 6) Driftsmelt Slot (Grade 8)
Mail	Banbaro Mail	Concentration I (Grade 3) Partbreaker I (Grade 6) Driftsmelt Slot (Grade 5)
Vambrace	Magnamalo Vambraces	Blast Attack I (Grade 4) Blast Attack II (Grade 6) Driftsmelt Slot (Grade 8)
Coil	Diablos Coil	Partbreaker I (Grade 5) Offensive Guard I (Grade 6) Driftsmelt Slot (Grade 5)
Greaves	Magnamalo Greaves	Blast Attack I (Grade 4) Sneak Attack I (Grade 6) Driftsmelt Slot (Grade 6)

Best Gunlance Build Driftsmelt Slots

Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build: Materials and Ore being shown next to a Driftsmelt. — Materials and Ore being shown next to a Driftsmelt.

The good thing about this build is that several Driftsmelt Slots are open at relatively low weapon ranks, meaning you can 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 is Critical 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 best Monster Hunter Now Gunlance build:

Offensive Guard - Increases attack power for 10 seconds after executing a well-timed guard. Increases by 10% at rank 1 and 40% at rank 5 (Amber only)
Concentration - Increases the Special Gauge fill rate. Increases by 5% at rank 1 and 30% at rank 5. (Azure only)
Critical Eye - Increases your affinity. Increases by 10 at rank 1 and 50% at rank 5. (Cyan only)
Weakness Exploit - Increases your affinity when attacking a monster's weak spot. Increases by 20% at rank 1 and 50% at rank 5. (Pale only)
Sneak Attack - Increases damage when attacking a monster from behind. Increases by 10% at rank 1 and 30% at rank 5. (Pale only)