The Gunner

My journey through MH3 has been throughly enjoyable and i've found out the weapon I originally decided not to become my weapon of choice, the bowgun, has become my go-to favorite.

At first, it seemed clunky, it really slowed down movement. It didn't seem like you could avoid enemies when they came into melee range. And it didn't do too much damage. Not to mention, only the initial bullet type was unlimited and the rest of the ammo could be carried only in small quantities. I didn't understand the ammo system, how there were 3 different parts of the weapon that needed to be assembled, deviation, recoil, numbers for different types of ammo, highlights for certain weapons and what each ammo did.

So I went on to use favor sword&shield and the two-handed hammer. They both provided high mobility, decent damage and eventually relatively good sharpness (see: why are you bouncing off the monster). I don't exactly remember what prompted me to try the bowg again, possibly seeing an experience bgunner, and possibly having an excess of money. Doing some of the easiest quests to learn the basics, I found it was a totally different game experience. Sure it was weaker, but it had range and special abilities. I found that monsters will come within biting distance especially in boss fights but the trick was timing healing, reload, dodging and knowing which button was for which. How many times did I lose huge chunks of health or worse die, because I pressed the zoom button instead of dodging? Many.

Another practice a new bowgunner must learn is how to aim without aiming through the scope/zoom. Unless there is deviation going left or right, a bgunner can plant themselves and shoot, being able to see around themselves as well as be ready with a quick tap of a button to dodge.

Coupled with two very good gunner armor, I could either reload much faster (bhanahara armor), or never run out of stamina (bone armor), with unique ammo, my utility in groups increased exponentially. With high range, I was able to stay out of the monster's line of sight and decrease agro. I would be able to fight longer without needed to carry extra stamina recovery items. I could put monsters to sleep, paralyze them, and heal my party.

If you like being more of a commander and more useful to the group, go with the bowgunner, its a fun experience, just make sure you have the money for the ammo which may become costly.