Long Wide or Normal? We got you covered here!

The Gunlance with three different types of Shell is now at the best state as ever. With the addition of Wyrmstake Blast, you now have a new move for one of the best DPS combos for Gunlance

If you are just looking for the Best Gunlances to pick in MHW Iceborne, check out my guide here

Iceborne Gunlance Guide

In MHW Iceborne, Gunlance got a new move – Wyrmstake Blast

• Wyrmstake Blast – Shoot out a projectile and stick to the monster, any shell attack that hit this projectile will trigger several small blasts.

This new move alone power up Gunlance damage to a new level. Don’t forget to use it!

MHW Iceborne Build Gunlance – Armor Skills

While this is a melee weapon, Gunlance does have some special mechanics that can be boosted with armor skills.

Gunlance specific Armor Skills

• Artillery – Powerup your shell attacks
• Artillery Secret – Bonus armor skill from Zorah armor set. This increase maximum armor skill to five
• Capacity Boosts – Increase the number of shells for Gunlance
• Focus – Used specifically for Long Shell Gunlance in case you love to charge for every shot.

Gunlance shell attacks used up the sharpness bar more than you thought and could be an obstacle if you are not used to Gunlance playstyle.

Because you already used up three slots of armor for Zorah, you don’t have the luxury of Master Touch from Teostra. This leads you to below armor skills

• Protective Polish – Weapon will not lose sharpness after sharpening.
• Razor Sharp – Halves Sharpness loss for melee weapons and not costing shells attack (10% Chance)
• Item Prolonger – Add duration to Protective Polish

Bonus for using Zorah Armor

• Tremor Resistance Level 3
• Maximum Artillery

MHW Iceborne Build – Gunlance Build Compilation

Before we start, take a quick look at the best combo for Gunlance depend on the Shelling Type

• Normal Shell – Full Burst Combo Lunging Upthrust >> Triangle/Y/LMB >> Circle/B/RMB
• Wide Shell – Alternating Shell Attack Normal Thrust >> Shell Attack >> Repeat.
• Long Shell – Alternating Shell Attack with full charge shell (Holding O/B/ RMB)

Need a quick refresh? Check out Gunlance guide here

Early Gunlance Build

For Gunlance, you can start off with Great Jagras tree and then the Blackveil Vaal, finally pick up the Gold Rathian Gunlance at MR 70

For armor set, the Nargacuga set (as seen in other weapons build guide) can be used during your journey in Master Rank until the end game.

Nargacuga set is featured heavily on my previous MHW Build guide

MHW Iceborne Build – Normal Gunlance (Queen’s Panoply)

This build relies on Magazine jewels to maximize Artillery. While it uses Razor Sharp, you can get this with the Razor Sharp Charm

Another variant of this build is using Sharp Jewel and switch out Damacus Hand for Kaiser Hand (Teostra Armor)

Protective Polish is also used with Item Prolonger (Hard Enduring Jewel 4)

But this variant is super hard to build for IMO as those two jewels are rare to find.

Hard to get jewel in this build

• Magazine Jewel
• Tenderizer Jewel

MHW Iceborne Build – Wide Gunlance (Royal Guard Striker)

For the playstyle of Gunlance – Check out my previous guide here and the best weapons list here

Royal Guard Striker is a weapon from the Guild Palace Set. These weapons are famous for it’s well-rounded stat and awesome designs.

I have featured this pretty heavily on my SnS Build and Great Sword build

For Gunlance Royal Guard Striker is used along with Elementless. You still use the Zorah Armor (Helm, Chest & Waist) for Artillery. Garuga Leg is used for Critical Eye and finally, the hand depends on your choice, Ruinous Vambraces give you both Agitator and Attack boosts.

The Royal Guard Striker is also the strongest Water Gunlance in the weapon tree, If you need to face the like of Teostra, You can use Free Element to add elemental attack to this Gunlance.

Hard to get jewel in this build

• Handicraft Jewel 4
• Challenger Jewel 4
• Tenderizer Jewel

Alternate Gunlance for this build: Ruinous Eradication (Nergigante – require MR 100)

MHW Iceborne Build – Safi’jiiva Gunlance

The full list of Safi’s Gunlance can be found here

Safi’s Shatterbuster Gunlance Build (Wide)

Similar to Lance Builds, the nature of the Gunlance Poking attack combine pretty well with Safi’jiiva armor set bonuses.

Awaken Skill

• Sharpness V
• Zorah Essence
• Shelling Wide II
• Attack V
• Attack VI

This build combines Safi’jiiva Dragonveil Awakening with Resentment for a huge damage boosts, but this will periodically drain your HP Bar pretty quick. Make sure you take care of it!

As you can use the Safi’s Gunlance with any of the Shelling type (via awakening skills) pick anything that is good to you.

Hard to get jewel in this build

• Furor Jewel 4
• Artillery Jewel
• Tenderizer Jewel
• Challenger Jewel 4
• Magazine Jewel 2

Safi’s Bindbuster Gunlance Build (Normal)

This build has the Rex Roar Chest (Brute Tigrex) for some Attack Boosts and weakness exploit. It is slightly easier to use than the Shatter one as this use Normal Shell

Awaken Skills

• Sharpness V
• Zorah Essence
• Attack VI
• Attack V
• Shelling Normal II

Safi’s Dreambuster Gunlance Build (Long)

This is used mainly to set up Sleep wake up attack

Why two pieces of Silver Sol? This is to power up the Wyrmstake Blast as the amount of Slinger Ammo affects the duration of the Wyrmstake Blast.

This Gunlance build is suitable for team play as you can be the main wake up member once the monster fell a sleep

Hard to get jewel in this build

• Charger Jewel 2
• Challenger Jewel 4
• Expert Jewel 4
• Magazine Jewel 2

MHW Gunlance best build?

In my opinion, there is no single best build for a weapon in this game. Some may argue that the damage – oriented is the best, but if you are not comfortable playing like that, it’s obviously not a suitable pick for you.

For Iceborne Gunlance, you have the option between three types of Shelling. If you prefer a quick and classic full burst after the Slam, Normal Gunlance like Queen’s Panoply is your choice.

For Wide Gunlance, Royal Guard Striker can be used as an Elementless weapon or switch to Stream mode when fighting monsters that are weak to Water.

Finally, Long Gunlance is viable now through MHW Iceborne upgrade to shorten the charge time.

Regardless of your choice, all Gunlance builds rely on the armor skill Artillery and you will stick to the Zorah Armor set during your entire journey in Master Rank.

If you pick any of the builds above and still find it’s hard to sustain, don’t hesitate to slot in Defense skill like Divine Blessing, Health Boost or any other skill that make your hunt easier!

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The builds above are based on the MHW Build Reddit community builds as well as some of my personal input.

Builder Link buttons are linked to HoneyHunter awesome MHW Builder tool. Be sure to check out his/ her Patron!

Check out my best weapons compilation here

MHW Iceborne Build Guide for all weapons