Pushing your way through Low Rank can be tremendously difficult for those new to the Monster Hunter series. All of your friends are likely off fighting the latest version of a cataclysm approaching a small village, and yet here you are still struggling to get off the ground against base level opponents. Worse still, your friends might have carried you through the early portions of the game, but when you’re taking things on alone, well, the same results are proving a great deal more difficult to come by. First of all we’d like to welcome you to the club; we’ve all been there, don’t beat yourself up. In many ways, hunting alone is the very best way to learn, and we encourage you to do so. That said, there are a few particular monsters that we tend to find come up in conversation more than others, often described as ‘walls’ that they cannot overcome, so we’ve decided to put together a few pieces of advice for those struggling to take down some of Low Ranks’ more awkward beasts.
Rathian
Trust us on this one: You are not the first person to come up against the big green wall that is Rathian. We can only speak to our experience, but this is often the first target that has such a wide radius to it’s attacks, whilst simultaneously being the first target that properly takes to the air. Plus, thanks to that tail flip attack, it’s likely to do much more damage than you’re used to taking up to this point. No doubt you will come up against quite a few more Flying Wyverns in your time with Monster Hunter, so grit your teeth with this one and you’ll find that the experience helps you to no end in the future.
The basic lesson to learn here is that it’s attacks will reach much further than others have that came before. A target like Royal Ludroth does have a tail swipe, for example, but it’s reach is paltry compared to that of a Rathian. To that end, you’re going to want to give it a wide berth at first, until you get used to some openings at least. In doing so however, you may struggle to deal any damage, so the real secret here is to learn the basic art of ‘Circling’ an opponent. By constantly strafing around a Rathian, you can eliminate most of its risks; you can rotate away from the direction of its tail swipe, you’ll automatically dodge it’s fire and bite attacks, and you’ll already be moving when it shouts prior to the tail flip. With this in your arsenal you can learn to take advantage of openings that present themselves, like the big gap between it landing from a tail flip and it’s next attack.
Tips For Hunting a Rathian
- Learn to ‘Circle’ a Rathian. By constantly moving around it, the opposite direction from the side which it tail begins the swipe animation in, you can dodge almost all of it’s attacks.
- It will leave big gaps in which to do damage when it lands after the tail flip attack.
- Similarly, the fire breath attack(s) can give you a big opening to deal damage to it’s weak spot, the head.
- If you can remove the tail then the swipe becomes much less deadly, however aiming for this may land newer hunters in a bit of trouble.
- Be careful; approximately half way through a fight the Rathian will ‘enrage’ and start to run at you over and over again. Do not worry about attempting damage at this point, just wait until it calms down.
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Magnamalo
Yes, we have also seen videos of expert hunters making mincemeat of the purple exploding lad, and we’re here to tell you that the particular video you watched was certainly not a ‘1 and done’ shoot. Likely there were tens of attempts, backed by hundreds of hunts against that particular target and likely thousands of hours of experience with the series as a whole. Comparing yourself against such is like beating yourself up for not being able to place the ball in the top corner of the goal exactly like Ronaldo. It’s silly really, but take it from us that comparisons like this make no sense, especially not for a new player. Hell, we have thousands of hours with the series and we can count maybe two or three monsters that we could hunt so smoothly.
To the target in hand then, Magnamalo is all about throwing flashy purple explosions your way, often followed up by it’s entire body. This can be very daunting at first, but it’s worth noting that the Low Rank version is also susceptible to the ‘Circle’ tactic we described with Rathian. You’ll have to be careful because this one is quicker, and you’ll have to take the occasional step back, but it has weak spots in the form of arm blades on its front legs, which makes dealing quick damage quite easy. When it heads up for the dive attack, we recommend you simply use your emergency dive (run directly away and dodge), since this makes you invulnerable for the duration. Other than this, do not rush to escape it’s purple clouds, and if you get inflicted by the blight you can roll three times to remove it.
Tips For Hunting a Magnamalo
- Circling works here too, but be ready to do a full Emergency Dive (run directly away and press dodge) to avoid it’s diving explosion attack.
- It’s front legs are the best area to attack, since the arm blades function as a weak spot.
- Take care when attempting a Block strategy with either of the Lance weapons – explosions often get behind your shield and damage you just fine.
- Whilst learning the monster, ignore any part breaks. At best, consider switching to it’s other arm blade to maximize possible breakage loot.
- A weapon with a longer range but quicker attack timing will do well whilst learning. The Long Sword or Insect Glaive can either slash from a distance or quickly hop in to get a hit or two on the arms, before rolling away.
- By contrast, trying to take it down with the Dual Blades or Sword and Shield is likely to be more difficult due to the proximity required.
- Ranged weapons can be used of course, however beware that your lower defense rating will mean that direct hits do a great deal of damage to you.
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Goss Harag
It’s rare that we love a new addition to the series quite as much as Goss Harag in Rise. This came as a bit of a surprise really, given that we’d been demolished by the massive fists of Redhelm Arzuros one too many times in ‘Generations Ultimate. It’s likely down to the novelty of those icicle arms and the frost beam, both of which add to what is a varied moveset for a monster that essentially shares a skeleton with prior entries in the Bestiary. Either way, we’ll admit to having struggled with this one quite a bit at first, mainly because of those icy projectiles, but this is until we learned one thing: Always be behind.
It sounds simpler than it actually is of course, but your aim should always be to get behind the beast, at least at first. You will do less damage there, and you must always be cognisant of a few attacks that can trump you, but it’s a very reliable way to keep doing damage whilst being relatively safe. If at any time Goss decides to either jump away, or winds up a big slicing melee attack with those icicle arms, then you should immediately circle away; it’ll miss the big slashes, and if it’s jumped away then you should expect a ground slam to come directly at you, hence the circling. As you get more and more used to the beast you can expand your repertoire into attacking its arms, which are especially weak when it’s in full ‘ice slash enrage mode’, but whilst learning you should follow it’s back end around as much as possible.
Tips For Hunting a Goss Harag
- Aim to be behind the beast as much as possible, especially when learning. This gives you enough time to react to anything whilst still dealing a little damage to it’s back.
- If it jumps away, make sure that you circle away from it. If you stay where you are, or run away in a direct line, then the ground slam will likely hit you.
- Contrary to our Magnamalo tip, shorter range weapons can do fine here. You can get some quick hits in and still rotate behind it, even working in some damage to the arms where possible.
- Unlike our other two choices, here it does make some sense to bring an element that it’s vulnerable to. Where they require you to dodge in and out to hit a weak point, here any boost to your damage will help greatly, since a lot of your attacks will not be against weak points until you get more experience.
- Most weapon choices are equal in difficulty, but we’d caveat that by saying that slow moving choices are likely to land you in trouble, at least until openings are learned. The same goes for ranged; it’s doable, but you’ll lose a lot of health if you’re hit with a physical attack, and Goss has methods of closing the distance fast.
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Categories: Monster Hunter Rise, Top 5