MHW Meta Bow Build Guide [Pre Fatalis]

MHW Bow Build | Armor Set


Below are a list of current meta Armors (Pre & Post Fatalis)

Alatreon Armor Bonus

The Alatreon’s Armor comes with Element Conversion – this adds 5% of your elemental Resistance as Elemental Damage, which is a powerful boost for Bow, most build below using this bonus armor’s bonus to boost elemental damage.

Silver Sol Armor

Silver Rathalos Armor still provides a pretty decent entry point for the new Bow Player. However, if you are looking for more survivability, then this armor set may not make it as the current meta is pretty powerful.

Safi’jiiva’s Armor

Safi’jiiva Armor bonus Dragonvein Awakening sync perfectly with Bow aggresive playstyle. This can be used with any Elemental Bow and the jewels needed are mostly the same.

Combine Safi’jiiva HP drain with Resentment is also a good match up for damage boost.

Safi’jiiva + Raging Brachydios Armor

The mixed set that are used widely with Melee weapon can also be used for Bow build. If you prefer Agitator, this is an ideal armor set.

Azure Age Armor

Come with Fatalis update, this armor set specifically comes with a Water Bow. Azure Age Armor set can be combined with Silver sol armor to unlock True Critical element, making this a great alternative if you don’t like Silversol low defense.

Fatalis Armor

Do I need to explain why this armor set is good for Bow? This armor set is a must for all the weapon!

Fatalis Switch Axe Build

Fatalis Dual Blade Build

MHW Bow Builds Compilation


In the current meta of MHW, if you decide to play Bow, then prepare to grind for all the elemental Bow there is, there is no way around it. Elemental is the best option for MHW Bow at the moment.

Looking for elemental weapons in MHW? Check out Dual Blades Builds in this post!

You will always need the following jewel for Bow Build

  • Mighty Bow Jewel 2 – Increase Bow Charge Level >> increase DPS
  • Forceshot Jewel 3 – Increase your Normal Shot Damage
  • Stamina Surge/ Constitution– Bow can drain your stamina pretty quickly, a boost to Stamina recovery and usage is a must for optimal play.

Before Fatalis, Bow builds revolve around the balance of DPS and Comfy with Stamina management. You will always need Forceshot on your build for Damage, and Constitution & Stamina Surge is balanced base on your slots and builds.

With Fatalis Update, you got yourself all decorations slot for all the QoL skills you need for Bow. The 4 set bonus Transcendence increases your Stamina, HP as well as lets you shoot more arrow with Spare Shot.

All Elemental Bow & Anti Alatreon Bow Build (Pre – Fatalis Bow Builds)


For Elemental Bow (and Elemental Weapons in general) you are always at your best with Kjárr Bow.

If you don’t like to grind for these weapons, pick the best elemental bow on the tree for the job. However, you will need True Critical Element boost from Silversol armor to compensate for the loss from not using a Kjárr Bow

For Alatreon, depend it’s Active Form when starting the quest, you can pick either Fire or Ice bow build for the job.

Fire Bow Build


True Dragonvein Awakening boost both your Raw & Elemental Damage, combine this with Kjárr Critical Element, this build style has been the meta for quite some time (Before Fatalis)

This build can be used for Alatreon as well. Blight Resistance from Safi chest and Vambrace can let you deal elemental damage without the worry of Dragon Blight. This is one of the best build for Bow before Fatalis.

For other elemental, all you need is switch out the Elemental decoration, pick another Kjarr Bow.

An alternative to this build is the Silversol Armor Bow build. The Silversol Armor provides a bonus to Fire Attack with Silver Solmail Alpha & Silver Solgreaves Alpha. As Silversol Armor comes with True Critical Element, a decent Fire Bow is enough for the job.

  • Taroth Arrow “Fire” – 480 Fire Damage

Ice Bow Build

As mentioned above, you can just swap out the K jarr weapon, add in the Elemental decoration (in this case, Frost jewels) and you are all set.

The problem with Bow lies in the decoration and the grinding process to get all the best elemental bows for all the monsters

Dragon Bow Build

The current best Dragon Bow is Alatreon Commandment (not including Fatalis Bow, as it is more like a Raw Damage bow) which is crafted from the Elemental Dragon himself. This Bow comes with the biggest number in Dragon element to date 600.

As you don’t need the Fire Attack Boost any more, the Silver Sol Beta version will be used to maximize your Slots.

Dragon Jewel 4 is picked to get the most out of the build. Dragon Attack + 4 in Escadora Sheat Alpha is also a welcome addition for this build

Before beating (Or fail enough time to get enough materials) Alatreon, you can use Kjárr Bow “Decay” for a generally lower damage build

Blast Bow Build


Use this Before Alatreon & Fatalis only!

This build is considered useless against monsters like Alatreon or Fatalis, the only usable scenario is for general hunting in Guiding Land, where you spend most of the time solo monsters.

Despite my comment at the beginning, you can still use Blast Bow in some situations, although it is generally less fun to play compare to Elemental Bow Build.

Another problem with Blast build is Blast is harder to proc when you play online (Due to higher Blast threshold) which make it weaker to Elemental Bow build. These builds are great for solo player though.

The current most powerful Blast Bow is the Lightbreak Bow – which comes with Purple Sharpness and (obviously) Blast Coating, you don’t need to equip a jewel for using Blast coating.

Second to that is Safi’s Shatterbow – which has been already on the meta for too long!

The typical Blast Bow Build will look as below

This is the Brachydium + Safi’jiiva Armor set I mentioned in the beginning. This build gives you both Agitator and Dragonvein Awakening.

Both Lightbreak Bow and Safi’s Shatterbow can be switched depending on your liking. Safi’s Shatterbow does require some grinding to make it more powerful.

Fatalis Bow Build


While Fatalis Bow (Bow of Vice & Violence) is a Dragon bow, the Fatalis Armor bonus and the USJ updates made Fatalis worthy of a single section just to check what can be achieved with these god like armor skills and decoration slots.

Fatalis update also lets you create Forceshot, Mighty Bow jewel (and other interesting Bow jewels) from the Melder, making these builds a little easy to get (if you not counting beating Fatalis!)

Elemental Bow Build (Fatalis Armor)

A full Fatalis Armor set provides you enough decoration slots for almost anything you can think of. You can now max out both Stamina Surge and Constitution if you want, or simply add more DPS with Agitator level 7 and Peak Performance.

A typical elemental bow build with Fatalis armor is as below

Ice Kjárr Bow Build w Fatalis Armor

You still need Elemental Jewel to boost your DPS, as well as maxing out Element Augmentation on the bow.

Kjárr Bow is still the king for these builds as you will need Critical Element on those bows.

For other elemental, you can swap out elemental decoration and Kjarr variant.

Fire Bow Build w/ Silver Sol & Azure Age Armor

Still loves Silversol Armor? You now get the Azure Age Armor – the latest USJ event armors that sync with Rathalos armor bonuses.

Azure Age Geta is often picked thanks to Weakness Exploit and Constitution

Silversol Armor still provide a big boost to Fire Attack and come with True Critical Element.

Bow of Vice & Violence Build [Raw Damage Bow Build]

Fatalis Bow Build Best

Despite the main element of Fatalis Bow is Dragon, the high base damage makes this weapon a beast when it comes to Raw Damage.

This build is all about Comfy with both Constitution and Stamina Surge maxed out, however, you can swap out the Physique Jewel+ 4 for Dragon Jewel 4 for monster that weak to Dragon element.

With Fatalis Update, Jewels like Spread, Forceshot and Mighty Bow can now be created via the Melder, your only job is to grind for those double skills Jewels

  • Refresh/ Expert
  • Flawless/ Physique
  • Critical/ Physique

Looking for more technical discussion?

The above builds are listed in an easier to understand ways compare to the typical min max discussion of vets.

If you prefer a super detailed guide (including calculation on min-maxing) on Bow Builds, check out mhwbowbuilds – There are some other unique builds for Bow (Like the Safi + Velkhana build for Bow) that you may want to try out.

MHW Iceborne Fatalis Meta Guide & Builds

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