That Banuk Powershot Bow with %51 increased damage modifiers, is the absolute truth. That, along with their ability to charge shots for added damage makes it almost overpowered. The special weapons for me at least, are meant to be used in concert with the bows/slings. They induce weakened states in enemies and trivialize a lot of encounters. Fireclaws are easy prey for the Improved Icerail coupled with the Powershot.
Yeah when I played the base game I used the elemental weapons a lot to afflict statuses on the robots and it was fun but for some reason this time around I barely touched anything else. I do want to do a NG+ with all the new weapons and try it them out more. I think it will be fun.