Monster Hunter WildsGunlance Guide

KABOOM! A technological marvel of a weapon that can dispense close-range blank shellfire on an unsuspecting monster. Hunters are able to dish out constant barrages of shellfire and an even bigger shell shot with Wyvern's Fire.

With different shells to play with and top notch defense, brave hunters can blast away any fears and monsters with this weapon in hand.

If you enjoy the Gunlance, be sure to check out the Lance as well. While not exactly the same, they are both quite similar. (As expected)

For more details on every weapon, be sure to check our "Choose a Weapon" guide to find the best fit for you.

This article was written by @JourneyFar.

Strengths

• Different shelling types for different play styles:
• • Normal, Wide, and Long shelling types are all types of shells used in Gunlances. Each shell type has its benefits to use in the form of increased damage with certain moves. Normal boosts combo damage, Wide boosts regular shelling, while Long boosts charged shelling, Wyvern's Fire and Wyrmstake Cannon.
• Shelling is unaffected by armor:
• • All forms of shell attacks cannot be deflected by monsters. Gunlances excel in breaking hard monster parts due to this trait.
• Robust shield means robust defense:
• • With a big shield, monster attacks can be blocked. Stab attacks can be used between blocks, too. It also covers a wider area in front of you.

Weaknesses

• Slow limited movement:
• • The Gunlance has one move to offer in terms of mobility, but covers little distance and is still slow. When faced with a faster monster, some hunters will find trouble catching up to them.
• Linear attacks, shell reloads, and quick Sharpness deterioration leaves many openings:
• • Gunlances do not have many AOE attacks. With just one wide sweep move, hunters have to be careful to not be surrounded. This also means they have to manage their shells or risk damage reloading at a bad time. Being too offensive and gungho with shelling eats up the Sharpness gauge. All of these traits leave hunters wide open for damage.
• Shelling type affects damage and number of shells:
• • Just as the shell types affect damage to a certain degree, some hunters may feel restricted due to the damage loss in some moves. Also, some Gunlances cannot use shells as frequently as other types before having to reload.

• A major change to Charged Shelling has occurred. Now, Charged Shelling expends more shells according to how long the input is held down. In World, it used to just use up one shell.
• Wyvern’s Fire can now be used twice before going on cooldown.
• Gunlance Shells now scale with Raw damage, similar to Impact Phials from Charge Blade.
• New Perfect Guard move.
• Wyvern Fire is now longer and narrow rather than short and wide.

Move Combos will be displayed with Bullet Points

Lateral Thrust (△) - A quick thrust

• Lateral Thrust (△) - A quick thrust
• • Wide Sweep (△) - An AOE sweep of the lance in a lateral arc in front of the hunter 
  • • Wyrmstake Cannon (△) - Launches a bomb that clamps on to the target; deals slight damage as it ticks down then explodes
    • Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - A full combo that plunges a wyrmstake into the monster while expending all shells 
    • • Multi Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - Fully Reloads Gunlance to perform another full combo that release a wrymstake and expends all shells into the monster
      • • Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯) - A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back

Lunging Upthrust (LS + △) - forward lunge into a thrust that combos

• Lateral Thrust (△) - A quick thrust
• Shelling (◯) - A quick shot of shellfire
• Charged Shelling (Hold ◯) - Charged shot of shellfire and can adjust firing angle
• Overhead Smash (△ + ◯) - Brings the lance down towards the ground from overhead
• • Burst Fire (◯) - Shoots all shells in an upward motion
  • Wide Sweep (△) - An AOE sweep of the lance in a diagonal arc in front of the hunter 
  • • Wyrmstake Cannon (△) - Launches a bomb that clamps on to the target; deals slight damage as it ticks down then explodes
    • Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - A full combo that plunges a wyrmstake into the monster while expending all shells 
    • • Multi Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - Fully Reloads Gunlance to perform another full combo that release a wrymstake and expends all shells into the monster
      • • Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯) - A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back

Shelling (◯) - A quick shot of shellfire

• Charged shelling (hold ◯) - Charged shot of shellfire and can adjust firing angle

Rising Slash (△ + ◯) - Swings Gunlance upward toward the sky

• Overhead Smash (△ + ◯) - Brings the lance down towards the ground from overhead
• • Burst Fire (△, ◯)- Shoots all shells in an upward motion
  • • Wide Sweep (△) - An AOE sweep of the lance in a diagonal arc in front of the hunter 
    • • Wyrmstake Cannon (△) - Launches a bomb that clamps on to the target; deals slight damage as it ticks down then explodes
      • Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - A full combo that plunges a wyrmstake into the monster while expending all shells 
      • • Multi Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - Fully Reloads Gunlance to perform another full combo that release a wrymstake and expends all shells into the monster
        • • Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯) - A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back
  • Wide Sweep (△) - An AOE sweep of the lance in a diagonal arc in front of the hunter 
  • • Wyrmstake Cannon (△) - Launches a bomb that clamps on to the target; deals slight damage as it ticks down then explodes
    • Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - A full combo that plunges a wyrmstake into the monster while expending all shells 
    • • Multi Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - Fully Reloads Gunlance to perform another full combo that release a wrymstake and expends all shells into the monster
      • • Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯) - A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back

Guard (R2)

Throws up shield in front to block attacks; blocking enough attacks can lead to a Power Clash with a monster but only certain monster attacks can make this happen.

• Reload (R2 + ◯) - Very lengthy action that reloads shells and wrymstake
• Quick Reload (after any attack, R2 + ◯) - Quick action that only reloads shells
• Guard Thrust I (△) - A simple thrust pointed high
• • Guard Thrust II (△) - A simple thrust pointed high
  • • Guard Thrust III (△) - A simple thrust pointed high
    • • Wide Sweep (△) - An AOE sweep of the lance in a diagonal arc in front of the hunter 
      • • Wyrmstake Cannon (△) - Launches a bomb that clamps on to the target; deals slight damage as it ticks down then explodes
        • Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - A full combo that plunges a wyrmstake into the monster while expending all shells 
        • • Multi Wrymstake Full Blast (△+◯) - Fully Reloads Gunlance to perform another full combo that release a wrymstake and expends all shells into the monster
          • Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯) - A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back

Wyvern's Fire (R2 + △ + ◯)

A charged up shelling move that explodes and causes extensive recoil to the user knocking them back

Sidestep (X)

A backstep to avoid damage or reposition

Focus Mode (L2, can be held)

Mode shift that allows visible Wounds on a monster to be shown

Focus Mode Strike: Drake Augur (L2 Held down, R1)

Can only be done on a Wound; thrusts the Gunlance’s reload mechanism into the monster’s Wound and grinds it up, then finishes it up with putting a Wyrmstake into it.

Disgusting Combo - △, △, △, △+◯, △+◯, R2+△+◯

A disgustingly high damaging combo that should be used when there’s an opening. Do not use the Wyvern’s Fire combo ender if the opening does not last long enough.

Burst Fire Combo - △ + ◯, △, ◯

A somewhat fast combo that uses up all shells quickly.

Poke Shell △, ◯, △, ◯, △, ◯, etc...

A very straightforward combo that focuses on quick Shelling and pokes. Can keep going for as long as there are single Shells to use. Use Quick Reload in between when shells run low to keep this combo going indefinitely.

• According to the shell type a hunter has on their current weapon, it would be better to use the moves that the Gunlance excels with to maximize their damage numbers. 
• • Normal shells - Burst Fire combos
  • Wide shells - thrust, shell, thrust, etc. and Wyvern’s Fire
  • Long shells - Charged shells and Wyrmstake Cannon
• Since a lot of Gunlance moves require some start up and are very linear, utilizing Focus Mode to aim your attacks is essential.
• Guarding is an essential part of this weapon, it will be better to guard then to try and evade.
• Wyvern’s Fire can now be used twice before going on cooldown. However, it recharges automatically so no need to expend it all for it to start the cooldown process.
• Having more shell capacity means Charged Shelling will take longer to dispense all shells. It can be better to just charge a little and release the shells instead of waiting the whole duration and use up all shells.

Depending on your Gunlance build, here are the sort of skills you'll often see GL players using.