Gunlance Guide
Gunlance combines severing lance attacks, a strong shield, and fixed-damage shelling. Shell type and level define a separate damage subsystem, so a skill can be essential to one Gunlance route and irrelevant to another.
Scope and Weapon Model
This article assumes final-patch Iceborne. Gunlance's displayed Attack multiplier is 2.3, so 690 displayed Attack represents 300 true raw. It is a heavy clutch weapon. The official manual: Hunter's Notes owns basic controls; this reference separates melee, shelling, stakes, guard, and skill scaling.
Shelling Formula and Types
Ordinary shell damage contains fixed raw plus a small fire component determined by shell type and shell level. The fixed component ignores raw and elemental hitzones, cannot crit, does not use weapon Attack, and is not multiplied by weapon sharpness. At yellow sharpness or lower, shell damage instead receives a 0.85x penalty; at red, shelling is unavailable. Each shell also consumes sharpness.
| Shell type | Base magazine | Favored shell interaction | Charged-shell fixed multiplier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | 5 | Full Burst uses the large magazine. | 1.60x |
| Long | 3 | Long reach and the largest charged-shell multiplier. | 2.35x |
| Wide | 2 | Strong individual shells and Wyvern's Fire. | 1.40x |
Artillery raises eligible shelling, stake explosions, and Wyvern's Fire damage and reduces Wyvern's Fire cooldown at specified levels. Capacity Boost adds one shell, changing Full Burst totals and reload cycles. Attack, affinity, Critical Boost, element attack, and sharpness color above green do not raise the fixed component.
Melee and Shelling Routes
- Overhead Smash can enter Full Burst, expending every loaded shell, then Wide Sweep and Wyrmstake Cannon.
- Charged Shelling holds one shell for its type-specific multiplier and part modifier. Focus shortens the charge.
- Poke-shell routes alternate a severing thrust with an individual shell; the two hits use different formulas and therefore value different skills.
- Slap-oriented routes emphasize Overhead Smash at 48 MV and Wide Sweep at 68 MV, so affinity, raw, hitzones, and sharpness remain important.
No one skill table describes all four models. The share of fixed shell damage versus direct melee damage must be stated before assigning offensive priorities.
Wyrmstake Blast
Iceborne's Wyrmstake Blast loads slinger ammunition into a stake that persists on the attached monster part. Gunlance fixed-damage attacks striking that stake trigger a second explosion. Its duration depends on the loaded ammunition and amount.
| Trigger | Wyrmstake Blast fixed multiplier |
|---|---|
| Ordinary shell | 1.00x |
| Charged shell | 3.00x |
| Full Burst | 1.65x per shell trigger |
| Wyvern's Fire | 3.00x per eligible trigger |
| Wyrmstake Cannon | 2.00x |
Fixed damage from another player triggers only 0.25x of the normal Wyrmstake Blast value. The stake does not wound the monster part and does not turn its physical hitzone into a weak point.
Core Offensive Priority
| Priority | Skill or system | Mechanical reason |
|---|---|---|
| 1 for shelling | Highest practical shell level | Shell level is a primary input to fixed damage and cannot be recovered through ordinary raw skills. |
| 1 for shelling | Artillery Lv 3 or Lv 5 | Directly raises the shell subsystem; Lv 5 requires Artillery Secret. |
| 1 for Full Burst | Capacity Boost Lv 1 | Adds another shell to the burst and changes reload economy. |
| 1 for melee-heavy routes | Weakness Exploit, affinity, Critical Boost, and sharpness support | Scale thrusts, smashes, and sweeps but not fixed shell damage. |
| 2 | Focus | Shortens charged shelling; little value when the selected route does not charge shells. |
| 2 | Slinger Capacity | Can increase the amount loaded into Wyrmstake Blast and therefore its duration. |
| 3 | Clutch Claw Boost Lv 1 | Gunlance already wounds in one heavy attack; the skill adds slinger-ammunition drops. |
Non-elemental Boost can strengthen eligible melee raw, but not shell fixed damage. Likewise, Partbreaker affects part damage while fixed shells already ignore the physical HZV; neither statement means direct monster-health damage is multiplied by Partbreaker.
Defensive and Utility Priority
| Priority | Skill or system | Gunlance interaction |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Health Boost Lv 3 and upgraded armor | Covers chip, delayed explosions, and attacks outside shield facing. |
| 1 or 2 | Enough Guard for the matchup | Reduces reactions that would otherwise break shelling or reload opportunities. |
| Conditional | Guard Up | Required only for planned blocks of specified normally unblockable attacks. |
| 2 | Evade Extender | Substantially changes hops and backhops, often the weapon's fastest drawn repositioning. |
| 2 | Protective Polish or other sharpness support | Preserves melee sharpness and delays the shelling penalty threshold. |
Settings and Mechanical Details
- Wyvern's Fire has guard during part of its preparation, but direction, cooldown, and long commitment remain separate risks.
- Shells never bounce, yet poor physical hitzones still reduce the thrusts and sweeps around them.
- Quick Reload restores shells but not the expended Wyrmstake Cannon; a full reload restores both systems.
- Guard direction follows shield facing. Shell aim and camera direction do not automatically protect the rear arc.