Everything you need to know about the Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds, including its basic combos, Focus Strike, and more.

The Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds is an incredibly powerful weapon, albeit under very specific circumstances. Much like the Lance, the Gunlance is a weapon type that’s designed around a defensive playstyle. However, instead of being relegated to ground-based melee strikes, the Gunlance mixes ranged attacks into the Lance’s regular combos.
It’s essentially a Lance with a massive Cannon attached to it. As such, it’s an incredibly versatile weapon that’s effective at both short and long range. However, the Gunlance isn’t nearly as easy to “pick up and use” as the Lance. Furthermore, while it does offer some melee combos for close-range encounters, it’s most effective at range.
The bulk of your damage using the Gunlance is going to come from its Explosive Shells. The weapon’s cannons can be fired at the end of a Thrust combo, which not only deals a ton of damage but also inflicts Stagger and Partbreak on monsters. However, to properly use the Gunlance, learning the timing of its combos is crucial. Here’s everything you need to know about the Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds.
How To Use the Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds?

The Gunlance employs roughly the same moveset as the regular Lance, albeit without its counterattack capabilities. Instead of the Shield or Leaping Thrust, the Gunlance relies on the Wyvern Gauge to counter monster attacks. The Wyvern Gauge is required to use the Gunlance’s most powerful attack – Wyvern’s Fire.
Furthermore, the Gunlance also employs different Shell types, which offer different uses. There are three different Shell types for the Gunlance – Normal, Wide, and Long. The Normal Shells are used for regular combos that build up the Wyvern Gauge, whereas the Wide Shells are used to deal damage to weak spots, preferably after a Leaping Thrust combo.
Lastly, the Long Shells are the real damage dealers. The Long Shell ammo type is required for the Gunlance’s Wyrmstake Cannon attacks. Suffice it to say, the Gunlance isn’t an easy weapon to master. Thankfully, its combos are fairly easy to learn. Here’s a look at the basic combos for the Gunlance in Monster Hunter Wilds:
Combos | Button Combinations (PlayStation/Xbox) |
---|---|
Lateral Thrust | Triangle/Y |
Lunging Thrust | LS+Triangle/LS+Y |
Overhead Smash | Triangle+Circle (after Lunging Thrust)/Y+B (after Lunging Thrust) |
Burst Fire | Circle (after Lunging Thrust)/B (after Lunging Thrust) |
Wide Sweep | Triangle (after Lunging Thrust)/Y (after Lunging Thrust) |
Wyrmstake Cannon | Triangle (after Wide Sweep)/Y (after Wide Sweep) |
Shelling | Triangle > LS+Circle (after using ammo)/Y > LS+B (after using ammo) |
Moving Wide Sweep | LS+Triangle (after Shelling)/LS+Y (after Shelling) |
Charged Shelling | Hold-Circle/Hold-B |
Rising Slash | Triangle+Circle/Y+B |
Guard | Hold-R2/Hold-RT |
Reload | R2+Circle/RT+B |
Wyvern’s Fire | R2 > Triangle+Circle/RT > Y+B |
Gunlance Offset and Focus Strikes in MH Wilds

The Gunlance, much like the Lance, doesn’t have a dedicated Offset skill. Instead, you can use Charged Shelling or Wyvern’s Fire to counter a monster’s attack. Although Gunlance is capable of countering monsters, it’s not the same as Lance in that department. Instead, the Gunlance is a more offensive version of the Lance, that’s mostly reliant on dishing out damage via attacks rather than counterattacks.
That said, the Gunlance does have a Focus Strike called Drake Augur. The Focus Strike is a thrusting drill attack that pierces the monster’s hide, inflicting damage to the wounds and finishing with a Wyrmstake Cannon attack. Here’s the combos for the Gunlance’s Focus Strike in Monster Hunter Wilds:
Combos | Button Combinations (PlayStation/Xbox) |
---|---|
Drake Augur | Hold-L2 > R1/Hold-LT > RB |
The Gunlance is an extremely powerful weapon that can be quite fun to use, albeit with a properly optimized build. The weapon is capable of dealing raw damage with its thrusting and sweeping attacks. However, the primary mode of dealing damage using the Gunlance is its Wyvern Gauge and its Shells.
Although the Gunlance doesn’t have complicated combos that require precise timing, a la Lance, it does have multiple gauges that you need to be mindful of during combat. Furthermore, the Gunlance, despite its focus on ranged combat, still suffers from the same mobility-related compromises as the Lance. As such, it’s not an ideal beginner weapon.
However, if you’re familiar with Lance’s moveset, transitioning to the Gunlance shouldn’t be much of a hassle. Furthermore, with “friendly fire” gone, Gunlance makes for an excellent secondary weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds.

We will update the article as we learn more in Monster Hunter Wilds or MHW. Meanwhile, you can check out the following Monster Hunter articles: