While close-range weapons are great, the bow is also an amazing choice in Monster Hunter Wilds. However, it has quite a steep learning curve, so new players need to understand how it works.
Monster Hunter Wilds Bow Weapon Guide
Unlike other weapons in Monster Hunter Wilds, the bow requires you to pay attention to your stamina bar. Each attack you perform consumes some stamina. Light attacks don’t use much, but charged attacks take a significant chunk out of your stamina bar.
To perform a simple attack, you can left-click on your mouse or press the R2/RT button on your controller. There are also some combos you can try, such as Dragon Piercer or Thousand Dragons. Here are the controls that you can use while using a bow:
| Combo | PC | PlayStation | Xbox |
|---|---|---|---|
| Regular Attack | Left-click | R2 | RT |
| Charged | Hold left-click | Hold R2 | Hold RT |
| Aim / Focus | Hold right-click | Hold L2 | Hold LT |
| Quick Shot | F | O | B |
| Power Shot | F + F | O + O | B + B |
| Arc Shot | Right-click + Left-click + F | L2 + R2 + O | LT + RT + B |
| Charging Sidestep | Right-click + R | L2 + X | LT + A |
| Dragon Piercer | R + F | Triagle + O | B + Y |
| Thousand Dragons | Right-click + R + F | R2 + Triangle + O | RT + Y + B |
| Select Coating | Ctrl + arrow up or down | L1 + Triangle or X | LB + Y or A |
| Apply Coating | R | Triangle | Y |
| Ready Tracer | Left-click + E | L2 + R2 + Square | LT + RT + X |
| Focus Fire: Hailstorm | Right-click + Shift | L2 + Hold R1 | LT + Hold RB |
It would be best to visit the training ground if this is your first time handling a bow in Monster Hunter Wilds. There, you can test out combos and get used to the controls. I don’t recommend heading into a fight with a monster if you don’t know what you’re doing.
Attack Monster’s Weak Spots
One great thing about using the bow is that you can more easily hit a monster’s weak points. You can use Focus Fire: Hailstorm to shoot arrows that automatically lock onto these vulnerable spots. After focusing your sight, you’ll see red spots on the enemy. Just hold down Shift or R1/RB to lock onto these targets.
Use Coatings
Another important aspect of the bow in Monster Hunter Wilds is coatings. Basically, you can lather your arrows with these special concoctions. Don’t worry, you don’t need to craft anything—your character will gradually generate coatings whenever you hit an enemy with regular arrows. Just pay attention to the blue bar in the bottom right corner.
So, what you want to do is dish out regular attacks until the gauge is full. Once that’s done, you can press R, Triangle, or Y to coat your arrows with coatings. There are numerous coatings available in the game, but each bow can only use two types. Here’s the list:
- Power Coating – Increases the overall damage of your arrows.
- Pierce Coating – Lets you pierce through armor using the Dragon Piercer ability.
- Close-Range Coating – Increases your close-range damage.
- Paralysis Coating – Slowly inflicts Paralysis.
- Exhaust Coating – Slowly inflicts Stun and Exhaustion.
- Sleep Coating – Slowly inflicts Sleep.
- Poison Coating – Slowly inflicts Poison.
- Blast Coating – Slowly inflicts Blast.
Use Tracer Arrow
Another useful arrow you can use with the bow in Monster Hunter Wilds is the Tracer Arrow. This special arrow sticks to a monster for a limited time. During that period, any arrows you unleash will home in on the tracer. It’s especially useful for creating weak spots on a monster. Unfortunately, creating a Tracer Arrow consumes some coating points, so you can’t spam it endlessly.
Monster Hunter Wilds is available now on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC.