Bow

From Monster Hunter - Wiki on Neoseeker

Bows are ranged weapons, first introduced in Monster Hunter Freedom 2 (PSP), and differing from Light and Heavy Bowguns due to the fact that they carry unlimited ammunition, as well as never having to reload clips. Bows are light weapons, meaning the player can move with relative speed while having the weapon at the ready. Bows have a charge system, where an arrow is drawn, then held for a length of time, charging the shot along the way. The longer the arrow is held, the higher the charge, and the greater the damage dealt by the arrow/s fired. This charging drains stamina, so Rations, Well-Done Steak or Power Juices are recommended for maximum stamina. Bows also use a unique system of 'Arrow Coatings', where arrows fired can be dipped in bottles which give different effects. For example, increased attack power, or sleep effect. These bottles are limited, so it is advised to use them intelligently.

Bows have three different shot types, some Bows specialize in one shot type while others have all three.

The different shot types are:

Scatter: Arrows spread out in a horizontal arc, good for damaging wide/large monsters, or groups of small prey. The center arrow does the most damage, while the sides do less correspondingly. The sweet spot of max damage is 20 ft in front of the hunter.

Rapid: Arrows fired spread out in a vertical motion, with each arrow reaching a different length. Good for hitting flying enemies, or enemies that can cover a lot of ground quickly. The sweet spot is closer to 40 ft in front of the hunter.

Pierce: Good for long-distance attacks, Pierce rounds travel further than Scatter or Rapid rounds. They travel through monsters, making them ideal for hitting weak points that are blocked by another part of a monster's body, head, wing etc. The sweet spot is 60ft in front of the hunter.

Bow Controls: Triangle: Notch arrow. Hold down to charge arrows. A flash will appear in the centre of the Bow when the arrow has charged one level.

Circle: Arrow Swipe. This is a melee move, though it does little damage and is fairly cumbersome. Can be linked twice.

Cross: Backstep. Can be used for evasion, or to quickly get rid of the wait at the end of the second melee swipe.

L button: brings up the menu. Instead of pressing Square and Circle to swap items, the Triangle and Cross can be used to switch between different available Coatings.

Circle+Triangle: Apply Coating. Release the L button, then press Triangle and Circle to apply the coating. The player will stop, and attach the selected coating bottle. All arrows shot from this point onward will have the coating's effect, until the coating runs out.

R Button: Fine Aiming. Holding down this button lets you aim up and down, from a view behind the hunter. Allows for pinpoint targeting.

With R button held down:

Directional Pad (Not analogue stick): Aim Bow. Note that the player can still run while fine aiming. When the player stops, fine aiming will resume.

Triangle. Fire arrows. The same principle applies as without fine aiming.

Circle: Performs a melee attack.

Cross: Backstep.

Coatings:

In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, there were four coatings- Power, Paralysis, Poison, and Sleep. Monster Hunter Portable 2ndG added two new coatings, Razor and Paint. When an arrow is fired with a coating applied, each hit from a single arrow deals the coating's damage. For example, a player with a Poison coating applied fires an arrow with a Scatter Level 5 shot, five arrows will be fired from the bow in a horizontal spread. Each of those arrows will carry a poison value, meaning multiple poison hits from one coating are achieved.

Most Bows can't use all coatings, only a selection.

Power Coating- Raises the attack power of fired arrows.

Paralysis Coating- Gives every arrow a small Paralysis effect. Usually takes multiple hits to paralyse a monster. There's only a slight chance of paralysing the target with the

Poison Coating- Gives every arrow a small Poison effect. Takes multiple hits to poison an enemy, but the player can usually poison the target monster twice with the twenty maximum coatings.

Sleep Coating- Gives every arrow a tiny, tiny chance of inflicting sleep. Good for capturing monsters or delivering super-massive amounts of damage. Though, most of the time the monster is too agitated to be sent to sleep.

Razor Coating- Radically increases the power of melee attacks, as well as very short range arrow shots. The effect is reduced at longer ranges though.

Paint coating- Targets hit with Paint coating show up on the map, like an arrow version of Paintballs.