Either be a mobile gun platform or a mad status-slinging machine. Your pick. 

The Light Bowgun is usually treated as either the Heavy Bowgun’s less popular and heavily unloved sibling, or a ranged corner dooting Hunting Horn that should learn how to heal its teammates better. 

Well, I’m here to tell you that the Light Bowgun can offer so much more than either of those two sorry fates.

In this list, I’ll be focusing on how to break out of your support shell and do some damage with one of the most mobile weapons in the game.

Before we hop into the list, a few things to keep in mind for Light Bowgun builds.

There are many ways to build LBG. The builds I will talk about here will focus on damage. If you want to create your own build, make sure you take into account which ammo a LBG can use, what reload and recoil it has for each shot, and which shots it can rapid fire and auto-reload with. Weigh out your options, and figure out what you want to focus on. 

Since one of the Light Bowguns greatest strengths is its mobility, we’re going to take whatever mods we need in order to stay mobile while you reload and shoot. Ideally, you want to lower your recoil down to 1 or 2 so you can move and shoot at the same time. You also want to bring your reload speed to "normal" or "quick" so you can move and reload at the same time.

If you can’t get your reload speed down, mods can help since you can use evade reload or auto-reload to refill your ammo without going into a cumbersome reload animation. You can also get away with running a slow reload if your clip size is large enough. In these cases, I still recommend bringing Ammo Up and Spare Shot.

Alright, now that we’ve got that out of the way, let’s move on to the Top 5 best Light Bowguns.

Special note: All builds recommended here are thanks to the r/MonsterHunterMeta subreddit’s album.

5. Fulgurshot II

【MHWI】ネロミェール ライトボウガン（単発火炎弾） 4分52秒 Namielle LBG solo

Here's the build recommended for the Fulgur Shot II:

If you’re looking for a pretty comfy Fire build that can still deal out damage, then the Fulgurshot II is the gun you’re looking for. 

The Fulgurshot II, much like the other elemental bowguns that will be on this list, makes it here because it can hit quick reload, recoil 1, and a 5 shot clip size on its relevant ammo, allowing you to stay on the move and unload as many elemental shots as you possibly can. 

Compared to many of the other elemental builds, this build will be rather different since it won’t emphasize True Critical Element. Instead, thanks to the bowgun’s inherent -20% affinity, we will be focusing on just increasing our raw and elemental damage. The Affinity augment will be used just so we can get out of the -20% affinity.

What's Awesome About the Fulgurshot II:

• Quick reload, recoil 1, and a 5 shot clip size for fire bullets makes this a great run-and-gun elemental weapon. 
• Since you’re not focusing on weakness exploit or maximum might, this build can be pretty comfortable to shoot. 
• The armor needed to make this build isn’t too bad since it’s primarily Narga pieces, which can be built pretty early.

Fulgurshot II Stats

• Rarity: 10
• Shell Deviation: Very High
• Custom Mods: 4
• Raw Damage: 351 (270.75 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: -20%
• Element: None
• Slots: 
  • None
• Special Ammo: Wyvernblast

4. Beo Shooter II

MHWI: Shara Ishvalda | Solo LBG - 6'27"93 (TA Rules)

One of the best Ice elemental LBGs right now since it can Rapid Fire ice shots and has a higher base raw (338) compared to its next best competitor, the Blizzard Volley (312). 

The Beo Shooter II takes this spot since it can deal the most ice damage out there and it can use sleep 2 and para 2 in case you need the additional support shots in multiplayer hunts. 

With only 3 shots in its magazine, make sure you bring Ammo Up so you can hit a 4 shot magazine size. If you need an example of a build, this is the build I would recommend:

What's Awesome About the Beo Shooter II:

• Rapid Fire Ice shots and a decent raw makes this weapon do some solid damage.
• With Maximum Might, Critical Eye 7, and two Affinity augments, you get a lot of Affinity to play with.
• This gun and build has access to Sleep 2 and Para 2, just in case you need them.

Beo Shooter II Stats

• Rarity: 10
• Shell Deviation: Average
• Custom Mods: 4
• Raw Damage: 338 (288.75 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 0%
• Element: None
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 2
  • 1x Level 1
• Special Ammo: Wyvernblast

3. Black Actinula

【MHWI】MR3☆ Tigrex ティガレックス TA Rules Thunder LBG ¤4:14¤

The best Thunder Light Bowgun, the Black Actinula has solid raw and solid base affinity. It has a magazine size of 5 for Thunder shots, and has access to Para 2 and Sleep 1. 

I recommend this build if you’re going to try out this gun:

Thanks to its 15% base Affinity, you can get up to 100% affinity through Maximum Might and Agitator without the need for Weakness Exploit. As a result, you should run True Critical Element to maximize your damage.

What's Awesome About the Black Actinula:

• High thunder damage thanks to a clip size of 5, low recoil and a normal reload. 
• With Maximum Might, Critical Eye 7, Agitator, and a single  Affinity augment, you get 100% Affinity
• This gun has access to Sleep 1 and Para 2 which can help make some hunts easier.

Black Actinula Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Shell Deviation: High
• Custom Mods: 4
• Raw Damage: 364 (306.06 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 15%
• Element: None
• Slots: 
  • None
• Special Ammo: Wyvernblast

2. Royal Surefire Shot

MHW: Iceborne - Royal Surefire Shot vs Uragaan!

One of the newest guns to join Monster Hunter World, The Royal Surefire Shot is the current best water Light Bowgun right now. 

It has a solid base 20% Affinity and decent raw. With Water Ammo and two recoil mods, this weapon hits recoil 1, and with a single reload mod, it hits a fast reload speed. 

If you’re looking for a build, I’d recommend this one:

Just like with the previous Light Bowgun, with Max Might, Agitator, a single Affinity augment, and Critical Eye, you can hit 100% affinity and still have room for Critical Boost. Thanks to the high Affinity rate, you should be using True Critical Element to take advantage of the elemental damage boost.

What's Awesome About the Royal Surefire Shot:

• High Water damage thanks to a clip size of 5, low recoil and a normal reload. 
• With Maximum Might, Critical Eye 7, Agitator, and a single  Affinity augment, you get 100% Affinity
• This gun has access to Sleep 1 and Para 2 which can help make some hunts easier.

Royal Surefire Shot Stats

• Rarity: 12
• Shell Deviation: Average
• Custom Mods: 4
• Raw Damage: 351 (299.25 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 20%
• Element: None
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 3
• Special Ammo: Wyvernblast

1. Blackwing Bowgun II

MHW Iceborne: Garuga LBG, good or great?

Our number 1 Bowgun is the Blackwing Bowgun II. 

Not only is this gun one of the best for speedruns, but it’s also great just to build with. 

Why you may ask? The Blackwing Bowgun II is able to rapid-fire both pierce 2 and sticky 2, and it has access to spread shot 3. Because of those options, you can create a build that can focus on any of those shots and still come out ahead of other guns as far as damage is concerned. 

If you decide to go for a build with Spread 3, I recommend using this:

This build can output a ton of damage and get around the 2 shot clip size of Spread 3 with evade reload. 

In comparison, if you’re planning on building this weapon as a rapid firing, sticky machine, then give this build a shot:

An important note, Spare Shot is necessary for sticky builds to make sure you are making the most of the ammo you have.

What's Awesome About the Blackwing Bowgun II:

• Rapid-fire Pierce 2 and rapid-fire Sticky 2 allows you to be flexible with your build and the bullets you can fire. 
• This gun is one of the strongest Spread 3 guns in the game thanks to decent base raw, affinity, and custom mods. 
• Since these sets are all raw damage focused, you have more build flexibility since you don’t need True Critical Element anymore.

Blackwing Bowgun Shot Stats

• Rarity: 11
• Shell Deviation: Average
• Custom Mods: 4
• Raw Damage: 351 (302.81 Effective Raw)
• Affinity: 25%
• Element: None
• Slots: 
  • 1x Level 3
• Special Ammo: Wyvernblast

Special Mention: Fading Blossom

If you don’t have the Blackwing Bowgun II, then that’s alright. You can use the Fading Blossom to create less damaging versions of the Blackwing Bowgun II. The Fading Blossom also has access to a bunch of CC bullets so you can even build it support if you want to. 

The reason why it’s not on the Top 5 list is just cause it’s out-damaged by the Blackwing, and the Elemental builds were a little bit more important to talk about. But make no mistake, this gun is still amazing and if you need a budget version of the Blackwing then run the Fading Blossom. 

If you want to inspect more of these builds for PC, please visit this link for Raw builds and this link for elemental builds.

What about Safi Weapons?

When this article was written, Safi'Jiiva weapons weren't introduced to PC Iceborne just yet. 

Out of all the weapons, Light Bowgun's meta probably got one of the larger shakeups thanks to the Safi weapons. Different ammo types will either do more damage or just be comfier if you compare the Safi bowguns to the Bowguns on this list. For example, if you're looking for a Spread 3 Light Bowgun, you could run the Garuga Light Bowgun if you prefer Evade Reload over Slow Reload. But if you don't mind the Slow Reload, then Safi's Drakshot is the highest damage for Spread 3. 

However, I would recommend you pick up each of the elemental Safi Bowguns since those will usually outdamage their non-Safi counterparts. If you want to find the specifics for damage or which one is best for which ammo, then I highly recommend you give this album a read through and find which guns work best for which ammo.  

Also be sure to check out these articles:

• Top 5 Best MHW Builds (MHW Strongest Builds Ever)
• The 10 Best Monster Hunter World Mods (That Give You a Winning Edge)
• Top 15 Games Like Monster Hunter World (With Awesome Boss Fights)
• 10 Things We Love About Monster Hunter World
• Monster Hunter World Guide: 50 Tips and Tricks
• Best Monster Hunter World Tips, Tricks and Secrets
• Monster Hunter Live Action Movie Release Date, Cast, Trailer, Story, News
• Monster Hunter World Large Monsters List: Weaknesses, How To Kill, and Location
• MHW Tier List Iceborne (MHW Best Weapons)