Bow Coatings and Wound Targeting Explained in Monster Hunter Wilds

The Bow is a surprisingly fun weapon in Monster Hunter Wilds thanks to some of its unique targeting and coating mechanics. If you want to learn how to target wounds with the Bow or how the coatings work, here’s a quick breakdown of everything you need to know.

How to Target Wounds With Bow in Monster Hunter Wilds

Targeting wounds with Focus Strikes is a bit different when using the Bow compared to melee weapons. You can’t just attack it with regular arrows. For the Bow, you need to take aim with LT/L1 on your controller, and then hold RB/R1 to bring up a large circular reticle. Keep the wound in sight of the large circular reticle for 3 seconds and let the three orange arrow-shaped symbols build around it.

If you release it too early, it won’t deal as much damage as a fully charged shot but will still stun the monster. Targeting a wound successfully will launch an initial explosive shot followed by a small barrage of shots to pop the explosive.

Even if your small barrage of shots misses, you’re guaranteed to do damage as long as you targeted the wound after fully focusing on it for three seconds. It’s a great way to get guaranteed damage and the hitbox is quite generous. It also immediately stuns the monster, making it a good tool to pull out when you’ve exhausted your stamina.

Also, note that you do have to remain within a certain range of the monster. Your reticle will glow orange when you’re at the perfect range, which means your attacks will deal bonus damage.

Bow Coatings in Monster Hunter Wilds, Explained

Coatings are a powerful tool for ranged weapons like the Bow and Crossbow. You can apply a coating to your next 10 shots by pressing the Y/Triangle button on your controller. However, you need to build up your Trick Gauge to apply coatings. You build up the Trick Gauge by shooting regular arrows, and each arrow gives you one charge of coatings.

As long as you can build up the Trick Gauge, you have an infinite source of coatings. Previously, these had to be crafted but now you have access to a wide variety of powerful arrow enhancements. Make sure you’re always using these coatings.

There are 8 different types of Bow coatings in Monster Hunter Wilds:

• Close-Range Coating: Your arrows deal more damage, but your effective range is reduced.
• Exhaust Coating: Builds up Stun and Exhaustion on a monster.
• Power Coating: Increases your damage.
• Pierce Coating: The Dragon Piercer ability will pierce through monsters.
• Paralysis Coating: Applies Paralysis buildup on monsters with every shot.
• Poison Coating: Applies Poison buildup on monsters with every shot, dealing damage over time.
• Sleep Coating: Applies Sleep buildup on monsters with every shot, putting the monster to sleep when full.
• Blast Coating: Causes a build-up of Blast, which triggers an explosion after enough shots.

You can hold the LB/L1 on your controller and swap through the coating you want to apply depending on the monster you’re fighting. Pick your coating wisely based on the situation. You won’t always have access to every coating as every Bow is unique and has its own set to choose from. You can check which are available on each bow in the Equipment menu.

That’s all you need to know about all Bow coatings and how to target wounds with the Bow in Monster Hunter Wilds. For more guides, check out how to find the Black Flame, and how to catch the Sandstar.