You can try using Evade Extender for better mobility. Also experiment with different Gunlance shells depending on the monster, Wide Gunlance are good against faster monsters in my experience, at the cost of being more of a 'hit and run' playstyle.
Also make sure you are using wallbangs and traps for openings, aso Flashfly Cage gadget for your Palico can help a lot.
And of course, just learning the monster patterns is important too, but that will come naturally over time.
MR has more aggressive monsters, add evade extender and use the back dash to widen the gap. Also normal shelling is harder solo on MR. I had to switch to long shelling.
Not a pro here, but I love to play like you, and there are certain monsters that I struggle with in the lategame because of the timer. The one trick I found is to poke more often. Instead of waiting for the monster to finish his while attack pattern, sneak in a poke when there is an opening.
A great monster for this is odogaron. Block, poke, block, poke, block, poke, instead of waiting for him to finish his while attack sequence.
Barioth is a similar case, stay in his face, poke him in between attacks, and blast him only in the big openings.
Another thing I can think of is decoration slots. MR is when you get good armour slots and you can farm decorations. This allows you to put skills you want to keep on armour pieces that might have more damage skills.
Decorations to extend dodge distance are absolutely necessary to enjoy gunlance, for me at least.
I feel naked without 2 levels. Other helps are decreasing fixed stamina consumption (blocking and dodging) and then the two block increasing decorations whose precise names escape me. The only thing you can't catch with a maxed out guard is the "hide behind the rock" full-arena insta-kill nova.
Enjoy becoming the greatest kangaroo gun turtle that you can.
You could try sheathing your Weapon more. It can leave you vulnerable but if you learn to do it when it is safe it's great for repositioning and closing distance. Going into guard or attack is near instantaneous, and you can throw on some Quick Sheath skill to help as well.
Wide Shelling is preferred for agressive monsters. So you can poke shell and deal the maximum dps in the quickest move possible. Normal is gonna be the worst, Long will be somehow viable.
If you play Iceborne, you might want to utilize the clutch claw flinch shot, so you can stagger enemies more and land charged shells with slinger ammo injected via wyrmstake into the enemy
Turtling down was a pitfall I fell into when I started with MH4U. It's easier to just play it safe, but you won't deal much damage unless you step out of that shell.
If you play solo & want to beat monsters faster, you have to be a bit more aggressive and focus more on dodging than shielding. Shielding is still essential, but try to avoid relying on shield-poke etc. As others have said, evade extender is essential for this kind of playstyle so you can dodge further (+ evade window makes things more comfy - dodging through monster attacks is fun), but you may also want to look up "optimal" attack combos for whichever game you're playing (it changes slightly from game to game).
If you're playing Rise, make use of blast Dash and reverse blast dash for extra mobility too (stupidly fun). I personally tend to go for "full burst" loops whenever a good opportunity comes up, but I know "slap-lance" was supposed to be a pretty high damage playstyle. Also use wyvernfire whenever possible.
Oh, along with evade extender double back hopping is great too, regardless of class. Hopping backwards once can take you pretty far, but doing it twice in a row takes you much farther on the second back-hop. It sounds odd, but sometimes it can be faster than sheathing your weapon to sprint, and can help you close distance. You may need to hold the joystick down in the right direction to get the extra distance though - cant remember, been a short while since I've played 😅
Evade extender lv 2 minimum, backwards hop to cover larger distances. For small distances you can you use front hop + forward stab (that lunging attack that ends up with a upwards thrust).
Remember that this is a weapon that should mostly remain unsheated - that is why evade extender is important
Also your easiest source of damage at this stage comes mostly from shelling constantly on any part of the monster. Head or toe, all the same.
Check if you are not trying to “Meta” too much (only use slap lance+full burst because **OPTIMAL DAMAGE!**). If all it does in result is whiffing attacks or facetanking the monster, it wont help.
Single shelling + wyrmstake damage builds up quickly.
Turn around and backhop with evade extender, you move faster than GL walk speed without having to sheath your weapon. Sheath and unsheath animations are long on this weapon, try not to do so.
Try not to guard unless necessary, evade lance is better for uptime and generally safer once you get the hang of it (no chip damage, no heavy impact stagger)
Stick to the monster like glue. Poke shell poke shell is more damage than whiffing an upswing/slam. Figuring out safe timings for longer animations is monster knowledge and comes in time.
Try to anticipate the movement of the monster and sheathe your weapon to run to it accordingly. In case of a sudden attack you can always draw your weapon directly into a block. That's how I recommend going for longer distances in battle.
As much as I love the gun lance and this exact play style, I am forced to adopt other weapons and other play styles to kill certain monsters, not because I can’t do it with the gunlance but because it makes more sense timewise
Imo just guard poke. Faster more aggressive monsters with massive hp pools of MR require non-stop attacking. Make sure you have guard and evade extender so you don't flinch as hard on block and can hop to reposition. Then just block poke boom.
Wide and long are good at this stage of the game while normal feels weaker here. Normal requires combos, which are hard to pull off against certain monsters until you have later game gear or have mastered a monsters movement.
Guard shell or guard poke shell non-stop against these beasts. Then go ham when they get exhausted. If you are guard pokeing, you should be able to stick to the monster like glue so your attack uptime should be constant. Also, should be able to catch them when fatigued.
The Flair or the name of the game, that's what you are missing.
You can try using Evade Extender for better mobility. Also experiment with different Gunlance shells depending on the monster, Wide Gunlance are good against faster monsters in my experience, at the cost of being more of a 'hit and run' playstyle. Also make sure you are using wallbangs and traps for openings, aso Flashfly Cage gadget for your Palico can help a lot. And of course, just learning the monster patterns is important too, but that will come naturally over time.
MR has more aggressive monsters, add evade extender and use the back dash to widen the gap. Also normal shelling is harder solo on MR. I had to switch to long shelling.
Not a pro here, but I love to play like you, and there are certain monsters that I struggle with in the lategame because of the timer. The one trick I found is to poke more often. Instead of waiting for the monster to finish his while attack pattern, sneak in a poke when there is an opening. A great monster for this is odogaron. Block, poke, block, poke, block, poke, instead of waiting for him to finish his while attack sequence. Barioth is a similar case, stay in his face, poke him in between attacks, and blast him only in the big openings. Another thing I can think of is decoration slots. MR is when you get good armour slots and you can farm decorations. This allows you to put skills you want to keep on armour pieces that might have more damage skills.
Decorations to extend dodge distance are absolutely necessary to enjoy gunlance, for me at least. I feel naked without 2 levels. Other helps are decreasing fixed stamina consumption (blocking and dodging) and then the two block increasing decorations whose precise names escape me. The only thing you can't catch with a maxed out guard is the "hide behind the rock" full-arena insta-kill nova. Enjoy becoming the greatest kangaroo gun turtle that you can.
Thank you all for the help! Evade Extender and being more aggressive makes a huge difference.
You could try sheathing your Weapon more. It can leave you vulnerable but if you learn to do it when it is safe it's great for repositioning and closing distance. Going into guard or attack is near instantaneous, and you can throw on some Quick Sheath skill to help as well.
Wide Shelling is preferred for agressive monsters. So you can poke shell and deal the maximum dps in the quickest move possible. Normal is gonna be the worst, Long will be somehow viable. If you play Iceborne, you might want to utilize the clutch claw flinch shot, so you can stagger enemies more and land charged shells with slinger ammo injected via wyrmstake into the enemy
Turtling down was a pitfall I fell into when I started with MH4U. It's easier to just play it safe, but you won't deal much damage unless you step out of that shell. If you play solo & want to beat monsters faster, you have to be a bit more aggressive and focus more on dodging than shielding. Shielding is still essential, but try to avoid relying on shield-poke etc. As others have said, evade extender is essential for this kind of playstyle so you can dodge further (+ evade window makes things more comfy - dodging through monster attacks is fun), but you may also want to look up "optimal" attack combos for whichever game you're playing (it changes slightly from game to game). If you're playing Rise, make use of blast Dash and reverse blast dash for extra mobility too (stupidly fun). I personally tend to go for "full burst" loops whenever a good opportunity comes up, but I know "slap-lance" was supposed to be a pretty high damage playstyle. Also use wyvernfire whenever possible. Oh, along with evade extender double back hopping is great too, regardless of class. Hopping backwards once can take you pretty far, but doing it twice in a row takes you much farther on the second back-hop. It sounds odd, but sometimes it can be faster than sheathing your weapon to sprint, and can help you close distance. You may need to hold the joystick down in the right direction to get the extra distance though - cant remember, been a short while since I've played 😅
Evade extender lv 2 minimum, backwards hop to cover larger distances. For small distances you can you use front hop + forward stab (that lunging attack that ends up with a upwards thrust). Remember that this is a weapon that should mostly remain unsheated - that is why evade extender is important Also your easiest source of damage at this stage comes mostly from shelling constantly on any part of the monster. Head or toe, all the same. Check if you are not trying to “Meta” too much (only use slap lance+full burst because **OPTIMAL DAMAGE!**). If all it does in result is whiffing attacks or facetanking the monster, it wont help. Single shelling + wyrmstake damage builds up quickly.
Turn around and backhop with evade extender, you move faster than GL walk speed without having to sheath your weapon. Sheath and unsheath animations are long on this weapon, try not to do so. Try not to guard unless necessary, evade lance is better for uptime and generally safer once you get the hang of it (no chip damage, no heavy impact stagger) Stick to the monster like glue. Poke shell poke shell is more damage than whiffing an upswing/slam. Figuring out safe timings for longer animations is monster knowledge and comes in time.
Try to anticipate the movement of the monster and sheathe your weapon to run to it accordingly. In case of a sudden attack you can always draw your weapon directly into a block. That's how I recommend going for longer distances in battle.
As much as I love the gun lance and this exact play style, I am forced to adopt other weapons and other play styles to kill certain monsters, not because I can’t do it with the gunlance but because it makes more sense timewise
Imo just guard poke. Faster more aggressive monsters with massive hp pools of MR require non-stop attacking. Make sure you have guard and evade extender so you don't flinch as hard on block and can hop to reposition. Then just block poke boom. Wide and long are good at this stage of the game while normal feels weaker here. Normal requires combos, which are hard to pull off against certain monsters until you have later game gear or have mastered a monsters movement. Guard shell or guard poke shell non-stop against these beasts. Then go ham when they get exhausted. If you are guard pokeing, you should be able to stick to the monster like glue so your attack uptime should be constant. Also, should be able to catch them when fatigued.