The subsections in this section cover the best craftable Bowgun options for each element. Decos are somewhat negotiable, but you should at a minimum be prioritizing:

• Element Attack 3
• Critical Element 3
• Opener 1

As of Title Update 2.5, status ammo now regens gauge. This introduces a new playstyle where Poison, and to a lesser extent Exhaust, ammo can be used to quickly refill Rapid Fire gauge.

As such, access to these status ammos is premium, to the point where Guardian Rathalos LBG is favored over Fire Artian. Hiramabi LBG did not surpass Artian in testing but is more comfortable due to its lack of reliance on committal elemental chasers to regen gauge. Zoh Shia and Blangonga bowguns are the best craftables if this playstyle is not used.

Fire

• Elemental Ammo Powder
• Elemental Boost Magazine

• Elemental Ammo Powder
• Elemental Boost Magazine

Water

• Rapid Fire Magazine
• Elemental Boost Magazine

Thunder

• Rapid Fire Magazine
• Elemental Boost Magazine

Ice

• Elemental Ammo Powder
• Rapid Fire Magazine

• Elemental Boost Magazine
• Rapid Fire Magazine

Artian weapons are among the strongest options currently available for elemental builds in Wilds due to their potential for high stats combined with unrivaled slot economy. Artian weapons have to be forged using Artian parts, and have an RNG element in the form of reinforcement. While this may seem daunting at first, there are strategies that can be applied to make this a fairly simple process. This section will explain how to gather the materials and efficiently craft optimal Artian LBGs for each element.

Crafting Artian Weapons

Figure 3.1.2A, the Artian Forging Interface

Artian weapons are forged at the smithy using parts obtained from hunting Tempered Monsters, of which there are four types:

• Tubes
• Devices
• Blades
• Discs

Artian LBGs are forged with one Tube and two Devices, and so Blades and Discs can be safely disregarded if you do not plan on forging Artian weapons of other weapon types.
Each Artian part consists of three properties:

• Rarity - 6, 7, or 8
• Element Type - Fire, Water, Thunder, Ice, Dragon, Paralysis, Poison, Sleep, or Blast
• Artian Bonus - Attack Infusion or Affinity Infusion

For the purposes of this guide, only rarity 8 Artian weapons will be considered. These can be forged only with Artian parts obtained melding or from 7★ and 8★ investigations.

When forging with two or more parts of the same element type, the resulting Artian LBG will be able to fire the corresponding elemental or status ammo. When three of the same type are used, the magazine capacity is increased. While using status parts does allow for use of the corresponding elemental ammo as well, Artian LBGs forged with elemental parts have a higher magazine capacity and are preferred for use in most builds.

Crafting using parts with the Attack Infusion gives the resulting weapon +5 Raw, and parts with the Affinity Infusion give the resulting weapon +5% Affinity. For LBGs, and most other weapon types, only Attack Infusion parts are used. In summary, when forging an Artian LBG for use, you should use three parts of the same desired element, all with the Attack Infusion, and all rarity 8.

Figure 3.1.2B, the Artian Reinforcement Interface

Forging an Artian weapon is only the first step of the process, after which the weapon needs to be reinforced. Reinforcing an Artian weapon raises its level up to a maximum of 5, adding a new bonus with each level. These bonuses are determined via random seed when the weapon is forged, and can be one of the following for each level:

• Attack Boost - +5 Raw
• Affinity Boost - +5% Affinity
• Capacity Boost - +1 Ammo Capacity (maximum 2)

The ideal rolls for an Artian LBG are 3 Attack Boosts and 2 Capacity Boosts, with the priority being Capacity Boost. Each Affinity Boost is just over a 1% damage loss compared to an Attack Boost, having one or two Affinity Boosts on an Artian will still outperform craftable elemental Bowguns.

Artian weapons are reinforced using materials obtained from Festival Shares through Nata or the Smelting Foundry in Azuz, or by converting monster materials into Oricalcite at the Smelting Foundry. Each Artian will require a total of 50 Oricalcite to fully reinforce. If the reinforcement bonuses aren’t desirable, the weapon can be Dismantled to return all materials used in reinforcing it while gaining +1 Argecite ore.

Figure 3.1.2C, "God Roll" Artian LBG

Because Artian reinforcements are determined when the weapon is forged and not when the weapon is reinforced, this allows for a simple strategy to maximize return of your time, Artian parts, and reinforcement materials:

• 1. Save the game.
• 2. Forge an Artian LBG using useless parts. These include status, Affinity infusion, or dragon parts.
• 3. Reinforce the Artian you crafted.
• 4.:

• a. If the reinforcement bonuses rolled aren’t usable, dismantle the weapon and repeat from Step 1.
• b. If the reinforcement bonuses rolled are usable for a build, return to the title menu without saving and then craft an Artian LBG using 3 parts with the desired Element plus Attack infusions, and then reinforce it.

By repeating this process, you can quickly craft Artian weapons for each element.

Open image in new tab Fig. 3.2.1A - Craftable Pierce Ammo Build

Open image in new tab Figure 3.2.1B, God Charm Pierce Ammo Build

One of the first ammo types anyone should try using is pierce ammo. Although overshadowed by Spread with the addition of Seregios’s LBG in TU2, Pierce ammo is still a comfortable 2nd place against Arkveld, while also being solid against many other monsters. The gun mods used here are Pierce Ammo Magazine and Rapid Fire Mod. The Mantle used is Corrupted Mantle.

Open image in new tab Fig. 3.2.2A - Craftable Spread Ammo Build

Open image in new tab Figure 3.2.2B, God Charm Spread Ammo Build

Spread is the strongest raw ammo type. However, due to the high recoil, it is also the most dangerous to play. It outdamages pierce in nearly every matchup and beats it by a considerable margin on smaller monsters when pierce won’t get as many ticks. The gun mods used here are Spread Ammo Magazine and Rapid Fire Mod. The Mantle used is Corrupted Mantle or Evasion Mantle.

The build can pick up a point of Weakness Exploit and a 2nd point of Adrenaline Rush if eating for Tumbler Meal Hi (Azuz Meal), at the cost of Moxie. Replace the boots with Regios Greaves.

Rathalos boots are 1:1 interchangeable with Omega boots.

Open image in new tab Fig. 3.2.3A - Craftable Elemental Ammo Build

Open image in new tab Figure 3.2.3B, God Charm Elemental Ammo Build

Elemental ammo boasts the highest damage output of any of LBG’s ammos in all but 3 matchups (Arkveld, Zoh Shia, and Jin Dahaad) while also being incredibly easy to use. The gun mods and decorations used can be found in Section 3.1.1 Craftable Bowguns. The Mantle used is Corrupted Mantle.

Element	Gun 1	Gun 2
	Fire Artian	Guardian Rathalos
	Water Artian	Poison Artian
	Thunder Artian OR Lagiacrus	Thunder Artian
	Ice Artian	Hirabami OR Ice Artian
3.2.3C - Best Bowguns per Element

Figure 3.2.3C shows the optimal bowguns for each element. Note that this assumes the player will bring two bowguns of the same element to a hunt, opening the hunt with Gun 1, swapping to Gun 2 after gauge is spent (staying on it for the majority of the hunt), and swapping back to Gun 1 only to close out a hunt. Guardian Rathalos, Poison Artian, and Hirabami bowguns assume the use of poison or exhaust ammo to recharge gauge. This requires crafting up to 20 additional status ammo mid-hunt.

When running Artians for gun 1, decorations should be adjusted to Rapid Fire Up + Element Attack/Opener + Critical Element/Precise, and the other with the decorations shown in the build images above (or in Section 2.1 for craftables). Decorations on Gun 1 change to Element Attack/Precise + Opener/Precise + Critical Element/Precise if using a Rapid Fire Up god charm. If you do not have Artian guns made, the craftables are solid alternatives that will still effortlessly out-damage raw ammos (save for the 3 aforementioned monsters). If you do not have the exact combo decorations outlined in the build, use Element Attack 3, Critical Element 3, and Opener 3. Focus is the lowest priority of the skills on the weapon. Many craftable options will not be able to fit all this, but they should still be able to fit Element Attack 3, Critical Element 3, and Opener 1.

Artian weapons can also be created with Artian status parts. These give the elemental guns a status on top of their element at the cost of 1 less elemental ammo capacity. Although the lower magazine size amounts to a 3% DPS loss, having Paralysis or Sleep ammo for a guaranteed CC is useful. Poison ammo is particularly useful to regenerate rapid-fire gauge extremely quickly.

If using the Lagiacrus LBG, replace the empty lvl 1 slots and the point of Latent Power with 3 points of Thunder Resistance. A minor build optimization with Lagi A chest and Zoh waist is possible to gain 1 extra lvl 1 slot.

Open image in new tab Fig. 3.2.4A - Craftable Guardian Rathalos Build

Open image in new tab Figure 3.2.4B, God Charm Guardian Rathalos Build

White Rathling Phoenix’s higher affinity warrants a slightly different build, as it frequently overcaps affinity with the 2pc Lagi metagolem element build.

Note that the build can gain an extra lvl1 slot if Rapid Fire up + Maximum Might 1 + Antivirus 1 (all base skills) is used on the talisman instead, but it could not be shown due to the limitations of the set builder.