... guess what game I'm hooked on right now?

I've been playing this game for a while now, and it doesn't cease to impress, with it's varied gameplay, complex combat systems, and of course it's large plethora of monsters (plethora is a fun word :3). And on the other hand I'm not doing anything on Vizzed sooooooo... here's my first guide for fighting monsters in this game? This guide will help anyone who just got the game and wants tips on each of the monsters they will face. If you don't want to know about this... well you clicked on the thread bruh. :l

Now you can't just pick up the game and fight an elder dragon... except you can. The Dah'ren Mohran A.K.A. Sand Whale is an elder dragon and you fought it off in the opening of the game. But that was just a couple cannon balls, a real D. Mohran fight is even CRAZIER. But I'm getting ahead of myself, when you become a monster hunter you start off with the most basic armor and weapons. Fortunately for you, this means you can test all 14 epic forms of weaponry for yourself free of charge. What do all of them do? Beats me, I used the Heavy Bowgun for a while, but that was wreaking havoc on my budget so I went with the bow for like 2 missions before accepting the ownership of the all mighty HAMMER. Note: weapon types are a good show of personality. So yeah, I won't go into specifics of every weapon, besides, they fall into the same categories. Gunner weapons you use lighter armor with and use from afar, blunt and sharp weapons, and slow and quick weapons. If you stick to one weapon type, some monsters are easy and others suck the big one. So I'll say what kinds of weapons do what to each monster. With all that out of the way, what are some notable basic monsters a beginner will face? Let's see now!

The first two monsters you have the option of fighting are the Great Jaggi and Seltas:


You've probably been pestered by Jaggi and Jaggia by now, the velociraptor looking guys in the first area of the game, well guess what... most of them are babies. When one male Jaggi goes away from the colony, he comes back bigger, better, stronger, and challenges the alpha. That alpha, is of course, the Great Jaggi. To understand it's attacks, imagine a Jaggi... only bigger. This monster fights in a very basic form, it has no kind of fire, ice, or electricity, and it pretty much just jumps around and charges at you. It's attacks are easy to avoid or block and counter, and it has no real major issue you'll have to deal with, aside from the possibility of pouncing on you and grabbing you, but many monsters do that anyways. And it does a lot of occasional stalling, giving you plenty of time to heal, sharpen your weapons, reload/charge weapons, eat a steak, grill a steak, meet the love of your life, settle down, and have a family. Hey, it's the first main monster based off the first passive-aggressive lesser monster, what do you expect? The Velocidrome, Gendrome, and Iodrome are similar to the Great Jaggi, but are more powerful, and Gendromes have paralysis while Iodromes have poison. When it begins to limp away it will either find something to eat or sleep at it's nest like many other monsters, which is your opportunity to ambush it and finish it off.

The Seltas is much the same, though probably a lot more common. Seriously, when you first start doing expeditions these things will show up all the time, and you'd probably be busy fighting another monster when you have to deal with one. The Seltas, much like the Great Jaggi, is predictable and vulnerable. Some attacks are quicker then others, and I do have one attack I'd like to point out. Occasionally the Seltas will flip back and point it's horn at you, clearly indicating it will ram into you. This attack does a lot [of damage and it can attack twice in a row, but it can be avoided by simply rolling left or right of it's path. Another attack is it's gross goo stuff from it's bum. Being hit by these also lower your defenses, which may not be very good when you have no developed armor yet. While usually in the air, they occasionally land, being even easier to hit.

Now we'll take a moment to check one of our first threatening fights, the Yian Kut-ku.


In short, this thing is a rabid fire breathing chicken-bat. Here's something I don't like in monsters. When they run at you for no reason. You'd think that it would hit you when it reaches you, maybe bite, scratch, anything, but no, it just runs past you like a bull. Except it has no horns and it's even MORE effective somehow. I can't tell you how many times a Rathian got me by surprise by running forward at nothing when I was whacking it's face and then I get knocked down and as SOON as I get up, it runs me over again and repeats five times. Well five was the record anyways, that's basically what this thing does over and over and over. It may be easy to avoid like the Seltas charge, but A you can get caught off guard by it's lack of indication, B it can spam the attack on you, and C it occasionally shoots fire balls all over the place while doing this, making it even harder to dodge. If you get hit by fire attacks, you can just roll over and over again to put yourself out. Speaking of which, sometimes monsters may be unable to use attacks like fire breath and poison shots. They may still try to use these attacks but can't. If this happens, they may be hungry, which can also be indicated by their mouths slobbering. They will try to leave soon to find food, and they'll be good to go again. As for the Kut-ku, it will just randomly smell out a Konchu in the ground, dig it out, and eat it on the spot. Sucks to be you when fighting this thing, even more powerful players could get frustrated. However, the Kut-Ku has those sensitive bat ears, and is prone to loud noises, so use that to your advantage when you need to land a few strong hits.

Finally, we'll check the Kecha Wacha, a lemur-like monster that also has big ears.


The Kecha, biologically speaking, is pretty advanced. It has armored ears to cover it's face, a long snout to shoot mucus similar to Seltas goo, it has powerful clawed arms, and wing flaps like a flying squirrel. First of all, it's snot gives off an effect that damages your stamina regeneration, and since this guy moves a lot, that can be a problem. It isn't shy to use it's projectiles in it's first phase, and it will also climb from vines if there are any above. This can be annoying, but a resourceful hunter can take advantage of certain times to climb up and jump attack onto the monster, possibly knocking-down or clinging onto it. It can be a bit rough as it still moves a lot, but you haven't heard of it's second phase. Once the Kecha gets mad it will use it's ears to protect it's face and will become more physically aggressive. Every now and then in this state it will pound the ground around it, slowly turning around hitting anything in front of it. A quicker weapon can be used to take advantage of this, and in general you should still be aiming for it's back anyways. If you hit it's ears enough they may break, leaving the Kecha more vulnerable. It's imperative you mark it with paint to not lose track of it if it moves to another area, as it can jump up and glide away very quickly. I'm also pretty sure they are weak to fire, which may be a good time for gunners to take their mark.

Well, those 4 monsters are relatively simple, but trust me, it only gets crazier as the list goes on. I'll see if this series get's continued if you want to see it go on and if I actually have the patience for it. Seriously, where's Majora's Mask theory finale?

Thanks for reading! See ya!

Great job. Nice amount of detail, without being bogged down with numbers and stats.

   My friend bought me this game, and I've played it quite a bit. I used to use Heavy Blades exclusively, but when I played online, I kept tripping my allies, so now I use them solo. First time I fought a Basarios, I had a Heavy Blade. Every attack bounced off his hide... So freaking annoying. I found out that his belly is softer, so I could get a couple of attacks off, before he's whip around and smash me. I still beat him, but it was the most frustrating fight I've had so far.

    I hated Greatswords at first, they were just so slow, I'd charge an attack, and the monster would get bored and leave. Then I kept using them, and used right, they are amazing. My favorite is when a monster sleeps, you just charge up your attack and murder it. It's the best feeling I've gotten in the game! XD

   Then I started using the Charge Blade. It's versatility is amazing, and I love the charge vial system. Makes it takes some getting used to, but it's a great weapon, with decent speed, and I'm at the point in the game, where it's almost suicide for me to fight monsters without some sort of shield.

   Oh, and I love the Gun Lance. I prefer to use the normal type, because my main strategy is just to unload every round whenever possible. XD

   And bombs... So awesome. I'll set them up if we have a Gunner in the party, and the monster is focused on me. Even if we don't, I always carry throwing knives. Bombs are so great when monsters go to sleep.

   Also, if you needed some help, or want to learn some new stuff, I'd recommend going on Youtube and watching Gaijin Hunter's videos. He has the most detailed tutorial videos about every weapon and just a ton of other awesome stuff to know. Like, I was using the Heavy Blade for most of my game, over 30 hours, and I watched his video about Heavy Blades and learned a lot of new stuff. It's definitely worth checking out.
 
   Well, great... Review? What was that... Like a... Yeah, I suppose it was like a review. Well, it was nice.