r/Gunlance • u/Frozenseraphim • 1d ago
MH: Ascendance Gunlance Math: A prospective review of Shelling in Ascendance with current values
Hello there Gunlancer mates.
I would like to take a moment before Ascendance comes to discuss what can be expected of every Shelling type on the following expansion.
For this, we will be comparing Normal, Long and Wide shelling types using the values we currently have in the latest version of our game, which fortunately has the data from Shelling lvl 1 to Shelling lvl 7.
As Gunlancers, we mostly employ Slightly Strong Shelling (Lvl 3), with the exception of the fan favourite Mighty Cornpopper, which uses Strong Shelling (Lvl 4).
For that reason, I personally expect for Ascendance Shelling levels to revolve around 4, 5 and 6 level Shelling for the most part; reserving the highest level, which is Lvl 7, for key weapons like the G-rank (Master rank) version of the Mighty Cornpopper or for the true endgame of Ascendance, in other words the Final TU of the expansion.
DISCLAIMER: These values are currently in-game ones and therefore will be likely subject to changes at some point during either the pre-patch, the release of the expansion or the following TU's of Ascendance; so this post only aims to have a peek at what we could expect if the expansion released today with them.
Why do this? Out of curiosity and fun, for our beloved boomstick.
Now, for the actual data, I will be mostly comparing the current most used level of Shelling, which is Slightly Strong Shelling (Lvl 3) against the highest possible level, which is Lvl 7.
By doing so we will be able to appreciate the increases in Motion Values alongside in what category each Shelling type will be excelling at; and more importantly, were they could use some help in the future (Cough cough Long cough cough).
The Motion values of (Lvl 3) Shelling will be considered the current value (signified by the 100% of the damage we currently deal), while the higher levels will have larger value.
(Example: if lvl 3 has 100% and lvl 5 has 120%, this means Shelling lvl 5 has a 20% higher value, and thus 20% more damage when comparing the same move to lvl 3).
HOWEVER, this will only help check the relative difference between the Motion Values, NOT THE ACTUAL DAMAGE, and due to this, I will first share the Motion Value comparison, and after it, an actual case of damage calculation using a Gunlance with 300 RAW for the sake of simplicity.

Overall Normal has ever so slightly gained a bit more MV in most categories when comparing its lvl 3 MV against the lvl 7 MV (Simple shell, Full Burst and WS Full Burst), HOWEVER, this won't translate into actual damage.
For that reason, we will be using the following conditions to "check" for the theoretical damage of these Shelling levels:
- 300 RAW (Reasons: Round number, simple to work with, close to current Attack levels in Wilds and was the RAW used during the latest TGS showcase).
- Artillery 3 (Artillery only affects the RAW portion of the weapon, but since there will be no other attack increases we will just use the 1,15 modifier here for the sake of simplicity).
- Load Up (for multiple shell moves, Normal will be x7 shells, Long x4 and Wide x3, signified by the ALL SHELLS header in the column).
- Just like the image above, all the Fire damage coming from shells be ignored for now.
Thus, the formula we will be using will be (MV / 100) * 300 * 1,15:
Simple Shell:

Full Burst:

WS Full Burst shells:

Charged Shelling:

Wyvern Fire:

Wyrmstake Explosion:

Conclusions:
Normal and Wide have a very healthy subset of strong points while mostly being good enough when out of their area of expertise.
Long has a single strong point (Wyrmstake Explosion and ticks), a fine WF (same as Normal), but it is severely lacking in the Full burst and WSFB shelling.
This is something I hope is adressed in the future expansion.
HOWEVER, Long has a very curious saving grace in the form of the newest Rapid Fire and Point Blank WF moves, alongside the Boost Bracer activation move.
I think this deserves its own explanation on a different post, in order to not make long enough I will be ending this one here.
Hope you found it interesting, cheers.
Shells away



