Good Bow Skills

I've been bowing for a while now, and atm im aiming for a all purpose bow set. I intend to use the lucent bow. Atm I'm using an armor set that gives norm/rapid up, weakness exploit and focus. I was just wondering if weakness exploit is still worth it, damage output wise say versus AUL. I was aiming for AUL, weakness exploit,normal/rapid up but I gave up on that. Also focus seems decent enough as it allows me to squeeze in attacks in tight time-frames. Also, any other noteworthy skills I should be aware of? Or possibly a better armor set? Thanks in advance.

Narga Z with barrage earring.

I think Focus is a critical skill imo, I also like having stamina rec up and in some cases load up depending on the bow. I am only recently starting to bow more, but those are the skills I always try to have. Currently i mainly use Narga Z, Gigginox for Kelbi bow and the Deadeye set for fun and looks.

Well gents, this is what it came out as after 2 days of plotting.

eclipse bow- no slots
narga z cap- evasion jewel 2
zinogre x vest-charger jewel 3
wroggi x guards-forceshot jewel 1
lagi x coat-forceshot jewel 3
lagi x leggings-charger jewel 1, tenderizer jewel 1
evasion+5 oo tali-2x tenderizer jewel 1


ends up giving:
evasion+2
normal/rapid up
weakness exploit
focus

Good general purpose bow set. I also have a variant that gives load up/eva+1 with the rest of the skills, but I've no need because I like the Eclipse bow ^.^

Question for bow users/experts: What bow do you reccomend with each element, specific type of arrows (scatter, pierce etc.). Right now i have Black blos bow, ala bow and kelbi bow. I have speedrun set for kelbi, but also considering making load up, normal/rapid up and focus on lv4 charges and status. I have one set for pierce arrows and those two bows, but really have no idea what are other good bows in this game.

inb4 use bow that looks best
inb4 use kelbi bow spam strategy

This, Antari, is a list of all of the best bows.

Fire-The Ryssurection 

Ice- Amber Arc Valanga 

Dragon- Stygian Patientia (When the g-rank alatreon event comes out the alatreon bow will be 500,000% better)

Lightning- Acrus Whitebolt (Abyssal Bow is a gargantuan piece of shit/let down)

Water- Aquasteed Harp (You absolutely MUST have load up with this bow, also, all the other water bows blow)

Raw- Cera Cyclord with this set is absolutely monstrous

Spoiler:

But if you don't have the necessary talisman just use the eclipse bow

Slime-Kelbi bow, because the brachy bow is a shitty weapon regardless of how much you hate the kelbi bow

Will wrote:

This, Antari, is a list of all of the best bows.

Fire-The Ryssurection 

Ice- Amber Arc Valanga 

Dragon- Stygian Patientia (When the g-rank alatreon event comes out the alatreon bow will be 500,000% better)

Lightning- Acrus Whitebolt (Abyssal Bow is a gargantuan piece of shit/let down)

Water- Aquasteed Harp (You absolutely MUST have load up with this bow, also, all the other water bows blow)

Raw- Cera Cyclord with this set is absolutely monstrous

Spoiler:

But if you don't have the necessary talisman just use the eclipse bow

Slime-Kelbi bow, because the brachy bow is a shitty weapon regardless of how much you hate the kelbi bow

I rather liked the nether emprestador O.o load up makes it suck though, I will agree there. Also, that is a pretty beastly set for the cera cyclord.

"BEST"

Is always a relative term. it realy depends on the monster and the hit zones as well as the skill of the player. Damage on the bow does not always mean it will do the most damage over all, also have to take into acount the type of arrows it uses and the levels it has. as higher level arrows will do more damage and some arrows are more benificial than others on some monsters.

So when you are looking at element vs monster and what bow to use you really have to be specific on what monster it is and if you want to really get dow to it you also have to look at the player. You may have 3 players (in this example we will use myself, Haru and will) we all have different bows different skills and different play styles. In the end however we all 3 take down the same monster in the same amount of time.. Now we switch our weapons and skills with each other.. the resaults are not the same because the bows and skills don't match our play style....

Now.. for a basic answer, yes there is an all around base bow and skill set that would work on a basic level for everyone but... it will never be as powerful IMO as finding the one that matched your overall skill level and style.

I forgot to add inb4 best bow is relative term...

Well it's kinda obvious. I was aiming for specific answer with bows which are often seen online/popular among experienced players. I'm noob when it comes to bows but if you ask me about GS, swax i can give you few examples what imho is worth using and why. I'd do that rather than say "it depends".

I will say "It depends" a lot... mostly because i really don't go for quick kills but casual kills. I have a firm belief that you should have fun playing MH and "FUN" for each person is different. For some yes it is quick kills for others it's the style you add to the kill... but for a best text book answer here ya go..
 
In a group of 4 hunters the bow to go with and the skill to have for it would be the Kelbi bow with awaken... Though looked down upon a lot by many people (and for good and misunderstood reasons) the kelbi bow in a group where all 4 players are using it with fast charge as well can be a very devistating weapon. It of course should be fully upgraded and if posible additional slime coatings should be added but not needed (powercoatings for extra damage preffered) and all together... well you have a group that can take down most G rank monsters (I said most) in a very very short amount of time.
 
Single player with it, just like with most slime weapons is not as effective however. Though still a decent weapon when using slime on both shakas... it's not the best. Pierce, though a lot less powerful then in previous games is still really good but for the solo bowHunter go for gigginox x armor and I prefer the Arca Insantia.. The Arca Insantia has a natural LVL4 charge and Explosive Arc which is really good for breaking parts, it does decent damage, is fairly easy to upgrade early on and has a good variety of arrow types to use.

Hope that helps... but of course it helping "depends" on how you take it. ;)

Actually i saw few ppl using kelbi bow differently. The set contains normal/rapis up (or other buffing skills, sometimes hero + unlucky cat), bombardier, focus, load up and they focus on lv4 charges with power/slime coating and status. I think it's kinda cool and requires some skill. I wanna make that set but as for now i don't have proper tali to make it.

^ Yup that's the basic kelbi set... but still for the most part it's a group weapon just keep that in mind.

I've noticed that allot of people say that Slime Coatings are better than just using the slime that the kelbi bow has normally. They never mention that they're only better if you haven't inflicted very much/any slime. Because from my personal experience, it takes at LEAST 10 fully charged shots to get it to explode if you have inflicted allot of Slime. I do, however using both pyro and bombardier which is one reason using the plain kelbi bow slime can work better for me.

I think Marathon Runner is a good alternative to Stamina Recover Up. It definitely can be frustrating if you don't have either, since your stamina runs out so easily. Focus really is the best skill overall for bows, though, since not only do you get more shots off, but you don't burn your stamina as quickly either (assuming you know when to hold off from knocking another arrow in lieu of repositioning yourself).

[Element] Attack Up +2 is fantastic. I like having an armor set for each element, since it helps keep the experience feeling fresh if you have a lot of different armors to use. Personally, I like to use...

Silver Sol for fire: the other fire attack armors either have few slots or unappealing auxillery skills. Rathalos X has almost no slots, but is good, imo. Agnaktor X seems great, except no fire bows use rapid arrows except Selene Moonbroken with Load Up. Silver Sol looks awesome, too, and isn't hard to get the materials for. Pierce Up goes great with The Ryserrection for fast, powerful Level 2 shots.

Helios/Selene Z for water: Definitely the best. Ludroth X is the only other candidate, but is inferior; less Earplug points, less slots... And a free Load Up is great, since both Arken Victrene and Aquasteed Harp want/NEED it.

Barroth Z for ice: Some people might like the Barioth X better, and that's fine. Neither armor is clearly better than the other. I prefer the much higher defense to the increased evasion, and not having to spend slots or talismans on Ice Attack points (or gemming out Stamina Recover Down, which is the worst thing for bows possible).

Dober X for dragon: Stygian Patentia and the Alatreon bow (when it becomes available) both don't do well with Load Up, since they drop down a shot power level at charge level 4. Worldseer's Bounty doesn't mind Load Up, though, and for that bow perhaps Zinogre Z is better. But for the other two, Dober X.

Damascus X, Ingot X or Zinogre X for thunder: Zinogre X is probably the obvious choice, as Gloves Off +2 is pretty cool, and it has points in lots of good skills, but it only has 10 in Thunder Attack. It's not really excellent in any one thing. Damascus X has Load Up and 13 points of Thunder Attack, which is perfect for Arcus Whitebolt. Ingot X is an oddball, but it had Thunder Attack +2, Scatter Up, 5 points of Loading, and 3 points of Tenderizer. With the right talisman, this could be the best for Arcus Whitebolt. Oppressor's Answer and Nether bow are better off with other armor, though.

Sorry for the double post, but I got to thinking about Thunder Attack armor sets. I think for Oppressor's Answer or Arcus Whitebolt, Gigginox Z armor is another strong contender alongside the others. Thunder Attack +2, Stamina Taker, and Focus are all great, and it has a lot of slots (though no 3-slot pieces).

Speaking of i made two bow sets past days. One for general use and one specific. When it comes to the former, in the end i decided to give up shot buffing skills (Spread/Pierce/Rapid up) for Challenger+2, Weakness exploit, evasion+1 and Focus. That way i can pretty much choose every bow in the game and have some good results.

The specific set which i mention earlier is pretty much what you said. It got Thunder atk+2, Stamina Thief, Focus, Load up and Use Power coating. The weapon is Arko Tri (Y). The trick in this set is to only use lv4 Arc shots and aim for the head. That way all skills becomes insanely usefull. The power coating really makes difference and fighting/KO'ing Jho is huge fun I tested it on Jho, Narga, Stygian and it turns out to be great set!

Did you use barrage earring? Or do you have one of those coveted power coat +10 charms?

Yeah, power coating on the thunder or ice Bnahabra bows really makes them awesome. The Barioth bow is pretty meh anyway, and Arko Tri W can get 300 + 60 element; and for thunder, 390 + 78 element on Arko Tri Y is no joke! Definitely difficult to justify using them without the power coat skill, though the paralysis coating boost is fantastic!

They look like they ought to be crappy, low tier weapons, but really only the fire one is (but only because there are a lot of good fire bows).

I definitely appreciate raw damage bows, too, like Cera Cyclord, Midnight Farflight, or Eclipse Bow, but because element damage isn't effected by range, I find myself killing and breaking parts much faster with big gobs of elemental damage. Of course, not all monsters have glaring elemental weaknesses, so for those were you're only doing 10% of your elemental damage most of the time, it doesn't matter as much.