http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Characters/MonsterHunterFifthGenerationMonstersWorld

Monsters that premiered in Monster Hunter: World and Monster Hunter World: Iceborne as part of the fifth generation of games. Japanese names are noted in italics; if the English name is identical to the Japanese or is an accurate translation, the Japanese will not be listed.

open/close all folders

Herbivores

Kestodon

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Monster Hunter Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Pachycephalosaurus-like monsters that thrive in jungles and deserts. Males of the species are bright orange and have large head crests used for head-butting rivals, and females are bronze and lack these head crests.

Blade Below the Shoulder: The gauntlets you make from their parts include what looks like a punch dagger over your hand.
Headbutting Pachy: They closely resemble pachycephalosaurs, and their main method of attack is head-butting foes.
Herbivores Are Friendly: Zig-Zagged. Females won't directly attack(though they will do so if the males are killed), but they do alert the males of would-be intruders. Staying too close to them will make them turn hostile. That being said, they'll generally leave you alone if you walk past them, and they won't attack you if you're fighting a large monster.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: For Rhenoplos, another herbivore that will viciously headbutt anyone who invades its territory. Averted in Rise however, as both species make an appearance, and in the same map no less.

Gastodon

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Monsters that are similar to Kestodon, Gastodon are Herbivores that prefer volcanic environments. They have large, round manes growing from their heads.

Evil Counterpart: While not evil, they're significantly more aggressive than Kestodon.
Headbutting Pachy: Like Kestodon, their main tactic is to headbutt anyone who gets too close.
Herbivores Are Friendly: Definitely not the case. They're much more aggressive than Kestodon and will even continue bothering you as a large monster tosses you around.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Combine traits of pachycephalosaurs and bisons, up to and including fur and horns.
Moveset Clone: They use the same skeleton and animations as Kestodon.
Red Is Violent: They're red in color and very ill-tempered. After getting injured, a Gastodon's body literally glows red, likely to indicate that the monster is getting angrier.

Fish

Gajau

Gajau (Garaiba)

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Catfish-like monsters that dwell in large bodies of water. They will aggressively fight unaware hunters who get too close.

Fiendish Fish: They are very territorial as they will charge you the moment they spot you in their turf. They’ll attack you even if you’re in the middle of fighting a large monster.
Graceful in Their Element: They are powerful swimmers, but pretty clumsy on land. Whenever one of them charge at its target, it would sometimes hit dry land by accident, prompting it to wriggle itself back to the water.
Retcon: Were classified as Fish when they went by the label of Catfish in the Third Generation, before being accidentally labelled Piscine Wyverns in World. As of the version 3 update, it would be reclassified as Fish once again.

Lynians

Grimalkyne

Grimalkyne (Tetol)

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Caracal-like Lynians with a body structure and society similar to Felynes and Melynxes.

Cats Are Mean: Averted, as they'd rather flee than cause trouble when approached outside their camp. A group of Grimalkynes do attack you unprovoked in the Coral Highlands, but it turns out to have been a misunderstanding.
Cute Kitten: A little more feral, but still adorable.
Guest-Star Party Member: When playing offline, you can recruit a friendly Grimalkyne with your Palico for an extra hand. They will only stay around for one Quest though and you can't customise their look or equipment. Their main ability is randomly selected from the clans unlocked up to this point.
Meaningful Name: Grimalkin is an archaic term for a cat.
Sidequest: Each Grimalkyne Clans have a sidquest that if completed, will grant a Palico Gadget specific to that Clan that your Palico can use, as well as teaching your Palico monster language, allowing your Palico to befriend Jagras, Kestodon, Shamos, Girros and Gastodon.
Trap Master: They often set net traps to catch monsters. Hunters can take advantage of this, though Elder Dragons are of course immune. Tailriders from the Bugtrappers such as the Trap Whiz are able to set Shock Traps free of charge.

Gajalaka

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Mask-wearing Lynians highly reminiscent of the Old World Shakalakas. They reside in the Elder Recess and only appear in other zones in High Rank quests, Master Rank quests and expeditions.

Background Music Override: Actually inverted; their theme gets overriden if a larger monster is around.
Bling of War: Gold Tribe Gajalaka wear gold-colored variants of the standard outfit. Those who steal loot from Kulve Taroth become increasingly blinged out in solid-gold armor.
By the Lights of Their Eyes: Their glowing golden eyes, and nothing else, are visible through the large mouths of their masks.
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The color of their masks' markings determine what status effects they'll inflict: those with purple markings will inflict Poison, those with yellow markings will inflict Paralysis, and those with blue markings will inflict Sleep.
Combat Pragmatist: Will gladly lay siege on any large monsters that get downed, flinging knives and bombs at them.
Cycle of Hurting: Can inflict numerous status ailments on their target with their weapons and unwary Hunters can easily find themselves getting paralysed, poisoned, put to sleep, or blown up before they have a chance to recover.
Elite Mook: These guys are surprisingly deadly for small monsters, able to trap you in a Cycle of Hurting between their many statuses and constant bomb-throwing. Then again, they live in the Elder's Recess, they kinda have to be tough to survive.
Enemy Mine: If a large monster is in front of them, they'll attack the monster before the hunter. All bets are off if the monster leaves, however.
Glass Cannon: Don't have much health compared to other monsters of High Rank, but have the damage output that can easily take out an overconfident Hunter.
Griping About Gremlins: Gajalakas have gremlin-like heads underneath their masks, and unlike the other clans, they will attack any Hunter that gets too close. Even after befriending one of their senior members, any encountered outside their camp will remain hostile.
Guest-Star Party Member: After befriending them, a Gajalaka can be recruited much like the Grimalkyne. However this can only be done from their camp or randomly spawned parties in the various maps; the static spawn groups remain hostile.
Helpful Mook:
- If a Hunter downs a monster near a group of Gajalakas they'll take the opportunity to unload their throwing knives and bombs on the monster. They also sometimes set traps for monsters and will unleash a storm of tiny rockets on any they capture.
- When driven off, either by monsters or Hunter, Gajalakas leave behind supply drops. This includes first aid kits, rations, and the various status effect throwing knives.
Killer Rabbit: Don't underestimate them due to their small size and cuteness; they can down new High Rank Hunters in two or three hits and even well-geared players run the risk of being stuck in a downed state due to their many debuff abilities.
Leitmotif: "The Savage Gajalaka", a fast-paced song consisting of a dueling string instrument and woodwind to the backdrop of drums.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: In High and Master Rank, their throwing knives can shave off the same amoun from a Hunter's health bar as a large monster, plus they inflict poison, sleep or paralysis depending on the color of their mask. Who knew such tiny creatures could do such serious damage?!
Pokémon Speak: Their language appears to consist entirely of the syllables "gaja" and "laka".
Rage Helm: Their masks are clearly designed to intimidate.
Screaming Warrior: Once they turn hostile, they will shout quite loudly in their native tongue before attacking.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Gajalaka are never actually killed. After taking enough damage from a Hunter or monster, it will run away by burrowing into the ground.
- Gajalaka will burrow temporarily if a Hunter is fighting a monster nearby. They will only emerge once the monster has move away or if it's downed.
- Even in large numbers, they know better than to try to fight a Nergigante, as a cutscene involves them running away from the Elder Dragon.
Sticky Fingers: The Golden Tribe in the Caverns of El Dorado will steal drops from the boss and use it to buff themselves.
Stuff Blowing Up:
- They can throw explosive cocktails that are quite slow, but pack a powerful punch.
- After ranking up their relationship, the Gajalaka will rarely set a trap for monsters. If triggered the trapper will hurl a bomb that knocks the monster prone and a horde of Gajalaka will erupt from the ground to unleash a hail of bottle rockets on it.
Trap Master: Unlike the Grimalkyne who used nets and require a Hunter to mount the monster near their traps, Gajalaka use explosives on any hostile monster that moves close to their trapper. Because their trap actually knocks a monster prone rather than snaring it, these traps work on Elder Dragons.
Tunnel King: They have a series of tunnels in the lower parts of the Elder Recess, allowing quick travel between the various regions and their camp. Once befriended, Hunters can use the tunnels as well.

Boaboa

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Mask-wearing Lynians that reside in Hoarfrost Reach.

Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: They resemble little yetis underneath their helmets◊
Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Like their Gajalaka brethren the color of the tips of their horns and the eyes on their masks determine what status effects they'll inflict: those with purple will inflict Poison, those with yellow will inflict Paralysis, and those with blue will inflict Sleep.
Cultured Warrior: Unlike the other tribes, the Boaboa treasure hunts are framed as tests of intelligence for prospective warriors.
Enemy Mine: If a large monster is the vicinity of them, they'll attack the monster before the hunter. Just try not to be between a Boaboa and a Large monster though.
Foil: To Gajalaka. Like them, they are a unique Lynian clan and can inflict ailments upon hunters and large monsters. Unlike the Gajalaka, they are easier to recruit and won't be hostile to you if you have one of their numbers in your party.
Guest-Star Party Member: After befriending them, a Boaboa can be recruited much like the Grimalkyne and Gajalaka before them. However this can only be done from their camp or randomly spawned parties in the various maps; the static spawn groups remain hostile unless you have another Boaboa with you.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: A interesting example; Normally the Boaboa are hostile towards hunters. However, by completing their questline^note and having a Boaboa with you as a Tailraider, other Boaboa out in the field will not be hostile towards you. All bets are off should you not have a Boaboa with you or you go and attack them.
Javelin Thrower: Their weapon of choice is massive harpoons.
Killer Rabbit: Like the Gajalaka before them you shouldn't underestimate them because of how cute they are; they can down Master Rank Hunters in two or three hits and even well-geared players run the risk of being stuck in a downed state due to their many debuff abilities.
Pokémon Speak: Much like the Gajalaka, Boaboa language is simply "boa" repeated ad nauseam.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here:
- Like the Gajalaka before them Boaboa are never actually killed. After taking enough damage from either a Hunter or monster, they will run away by burrowing into the ground.
- Boaboa will burrow temporarily if a Hunter is fighting a monster nearby. They will only emerge once the monster has move away or if it's downed.
Trap Master: Their trap involves them jumping from the ground and tossing spears at the monster.

Wingdrakes

Barnos

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Aggressive Wingdrakes that inhabit volcanic fields. They are not afraid of attacking anyone who stands too close to them, including large monsters. Their acidic spits can weaken their enemies' defenses.

Damage-Increasing Debuff: They can spit out acid that inflicts the Defense Down ailment.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Well, not exactly dinosaurs, but they are the only Wingdrakes with two crests, giving the traditional appearance of a dragon's head.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Unlike most Wingdrakes, Barnos are very territorial, attacking others(even large monsters) on sight. The only exception is Zorah Magdaros.
Helpful Mook: Hunters can use Barnos to carry them to different areas, though this can be tricky and dangerous since, unlike most Wingdrakes, Barnos are quite aggressive. They are particularly useful for getting on Zorah Magdaros.
Shout-Out: Design-wise, their double-crested heads, thorny hides, and overall pterosaur design seems to be closely based on Rodan.

Mernos

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Passive Wingdrakes that thrive in forests. Hunters can use them as a means of transportation by using their grappling hooks on their foot. The Research Commission have domesticated several of these monsters and they function as the primary means of transport and travel for hunters in the New World.

Big Damn Heroes: With the use of a farcaster, a Mernos can bail a hunter out of a potentially sticky situation.
Helpful Mook: Apart from the domesticated ones, hunters can also use Mernos found in the wild to traverse areas by grabbing their foot with their grappling hooks.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When starting a High or Master Rank quest, the Mernos that is transporting you may sometimes be spooked by a large monster on the map and drop you in panic in another area of the map instead of a campsite. Fortunately, said area has a mining outcrop consisting of armor spheres that you can collect to upgrade your armor. Inverted sometimes if the Mernos decides to drop you in the area with said monster.

Noios

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Wingdrakes that inhabit deserts. They let out loud screeches when they feel threatened. If a Diablos is nearby, these screeches can summon it to come.

Helpful Mook: With the assistance of Diablos. Apart from the typical trait where Wingdrakes can carry hunters around, Noios can summon a Diablos to fight for it. This can be quite helpful to hunters who are fighting another large monster. When Diablos shows up, it does so by jumping out of the sand, creating a large hole that the other large monster will fall into. The monster will be knocked down as it hits the ground, giving hunters the opportunity to hit hard.
Summon Bigger Fish: Noios won't fight directly if they're provoked but they do have a trick up their sleeves. The mighty Diablos dislike loud noise since it startles and annoys them. When Noios feel provoked, their loud screeches attract a Diablos to its area, getting the monster to fight its aggressor for it.

Raphinos

^{Click here to see Raphinos in the Rotten Vale}

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Wingdrakes that thrive in the Coral Highlands and the Rotten Vale. While normally timid and preyed upon by larger monsters, they become aggressive when exposed to the miasma vapor in the Rotten Vale.

The Corruption: Raphinos are docile and often hunted by other monsters as a food source in Coral Highland, but the ones exposed to the effluvium of the Rotten Vale becomes extremely hostile, attacking hunters on sight and looking possessed.
Helpful Mook: Hunters can use them to traverse areas by grabbing their foot with their grappling hooks.

Cortos

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

Wingdrakes that inhabit cold tundras. they would fly down to feed on monster carcasses.

Damage-Increasing Debuff: They can spit out a ball of saliva that inflicts the Elemental Resistance Down ailment.
Helpful Mook: As with the other Wingdrakes, hunters can grapple on to them to traverse areas.
Non-Malicious Monster: Unlike most Wingdrakes, Cortos are willing to fight, but they only do so if they feel provoked.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Remobras. They resemble flying snakes, immediately start eating any monster corpse in their vicinity and tend to stick around when Elder Dragons are in the area.

Bird Wyverns

Theropod Bird Wyverns

Kulu-Ya-Ku

Scratching Bird, Ovivore Outlaw

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

A moment of peace, soon to be disturbed
A threat approaches, its hunger uncurbed
It rakes up its lunch, chows down without grace
But inside this nest, for thieves there's no place
It needs to escape or get egg on its face.

An Oviraptor-like Bird Wyvern with a scaly hide, feathered limbs, and a dodo-like beak. It can pick up and use large rocks to defend itself or attack, and has been known to raid monster nests so it can eat the eggs found within them.

Achilles' Heel:
- In World, the Slinger can knock rocks out of its hands, leaving it vulnerable. The Kulu-Ya-Ku fought in the Special Assignment in the Behemoth update that stole the Aetheryte Crystal is immune to this tactic and will keep holding on to the Crystal until it is slain.
- Rise changes the nature of this weakness due to the Slinger not existing. Instead of knocking the rocks out of its hands, hunters now have to directly break them, which still leaves Kulu vulnerable as it did before. It also causes a shiny pickup to drop. Hunters can also use a Flash Bomb to blind the Kulu-Ya-Ku, which will cause it to instantly drop whatever it was carrying.
Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: The special crystal thief Kulu-Ya-Ku will continuously grow in size throughout the Behemoth Special Assignment, eventually dwarfing the Anjanath that's on the map with it.
Bedlah Babe: The female armor made from this monsters parts. Even the male armor has a notable Arabic flavor while Palico armor makes it look like a comical depiction of a sultan.
Beware the Silly Ones: Let's face it, it looks ridiculous, but it doesn't change the fact that the funny dodo raptor will brain you with a large rock, and that's not even getting into the one that steals the Final Fantasy crystal.
Contractual Boss Immunity: The special crystal thief Kulu-Ya-Ku found in the Final Fantasy XIV Crossover Update is completely immune to all status effects except Blast and can't be mounted. It will also destroy any traps set like other Elder Dragons.
Dishing Out Dirt: It digs up rocks to dish out damage and block attacks.
Doofy Dodo: It has the head of a dodo and is a very comical wyvern. In World, it would often pay no attention to hunters or herbivores as it makes its way to the nest for egg raiding. And when it's attacked, its first instinct is to flee (only fighting back when it becomes clear the hunter will not give up).
Evil Egg Eater: It's depicted as an egg-stealer and, unlike most large monsters, a cowardly bird wyvern that prefers to run than fight. In Monster Hunter: Rise, the Kulu-Ya-Ku is seen stealing an egg from a Rhenoplos and is given the title Ovivore Outlaw.
Feathered Dragons: A flightless, birdlike wyvern with tufts of feathers on its arms and head.
Feathered Fiend: Its head and part of its arms are covered in feathers.
Fragile Speedster: It's fast and agile, but not very sturdy (notwithstanding using a rock as a shield).
It Can Think:
- Intelligence is probably not its strongest attribute, but the ecological researcher points out that using tools is a rare thing in nature, so Kulu-Ya-Ku's use of rocks as shields or bludgeons is academically significant.
- In its Rise intro cutscene while stealing eggs, upon being charged at by the parents, Kulu-Ya-Ku's instinctive response to avoiding the first one is to jump up into the air, leading the herbivore to crash into a wall. Then when faced with the other two, Kulu-Ya-Ku charges forward and skillfully weaves through them before making its getaway.
Killer Rabbit: They're not the most physically imposing monsters, and are kind of adorable in a dopey way, but they will brain you with a rock if you mess with them. This is especially the case of the crystal thief Kulu-Ya-Ku, who can potentially one shot HR endgame players.
Kill It with Water: Its main weakness is Water.
Leeroy Jenkins: Normally pretty docile unless bothered, it will throw caution to the wind upon picking up a rock and will attack the nearest bigger monsters, like Barroth, Jyuratodus, and even Diablos!
Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: The rocks it carries act as shields, deflecting attacks that hit them.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Has the body of an Oviraptor, the head (and overall brains) of a dodo bird, and the coloration and head crest of a cockatoo.
Nerf: In Iceborne's Master Rank, Kulu-Ya-Ku gained the ability to dig up explosive rocks. In Rise and Sunbreak, this ability is completely left out.
Non-Malicious Monster: Kulu-Ya-Ku would rather go on with its business than attack a hunter, though the ones encountered in Rise will attack on sight, just like every other monster in the game.
Raptor Attack: A raptor with a dodo-esque head, but a raptor nonetheless.
Rare Random Drop: Bird Wyvern Gems in High Rank and Fey Wyvern Gem in Master Rank.
Stuff Blowing Up:
- In Iceborne, the Master Rank version will occasionally dig up an explosive rock (similar to the one Bomb Beetles roll up) and throw it.
- In Stories 2, it gets the Kinship attack, aptly named, 'Eggsplosion', where, while the Rider and Kulu charge at the opponent, Navirou throws the latter a bomb disguised as an egg, fuse and all for it to catch. Cue the "Oh, Crap!" face once it realizes what it's actually holding as it tosses the bomb towards the opponent, to predicatable results.
Suicidal Overconfidence: Suffers this when holding a rock, attacking other far bigger and stronger monsters without thought to its own safety
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: While it can't pick up and spit Konchu at you, the Kulu-Ya-Ku is one to the Yian Kut-Ku, being one of the early-game monsters that you must take a little more seriously despite its goofy appearance.
Took a Level in Badass: The Crystal Kulu-Ya-Ku from the Behemoth Special Assignment. Upon stealing the Aetheryte crystal its eyes turn entirely blue and it periodically grows in both size and strength. It's unknown if it's consciously doing this, but it certainly seems to consider the crystal worth holding onto since it is entirely incapable of dropping it.
Trademark Favorite Food: Eggs of other monsters.
Truth in Television: The species’ use of rocks as a bludgeon is likely a reference to the Egyptian vulture, a real-world egg-eater that uses rocks to break open eggshells.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Normally averted, but the Special Assignment one in the Behemoth update plays it straight, hitting a lot harder and is a great deal more durable than the usual Kulu-Ya-Ku.
Warm-Up Boss: Downplayed in World. It puts up a more challenging fight that the Great Jagras but the Kulu-Ya-Ku can be found in the Wildspire Waste while the Great Jagras can't. This makes the Kulu-Ya-Ku the weakest large monster in the Wildspire Waste by default.
The Worf Effect:
- Deviljho can easily grab it and use it as a bludgeon, or just hurl the poor thing away like a ragdoll.
- In Rise it also gets easily ragdolled when it goes up against Anjanath or Rathalos.

Tzitzi-Ya-Ku

Bright Bird

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

A blue Dilophosaurus-like Bird Wyvern that has a pair of antenna-like appendages on its head. These appendages unfold into giant fan-like frills containing a specialized organ that can produce a bright flashing light used to stun both prey and opponent.

The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Like with other flash users, looking away from its blinding lights won't stop them from stunning you. Slightly downplayed that the flash attack is really telegraphed and you can also see the range of the flash before it is performed, so you can run out of the flash's range, prepare to block it, or get within range to get some free hits (if you're immune to stun and/or close enough). Iceborne makes the latter slightly more difficult in Master Rank, as Tzitzi-Ya-Ku can now hop in place while preparing the flash animation, allowing it to turn toward anyone trying to sidestep it.
Crippling Overspecialization: It's not exactly a hard creature to fight against to begin with, but should you negate its stunning capability, then taking it down will become a near-trivial matter.
Dirty Coward: Unlike Kulu and its bouts of Suicidal Overconfidence, Tzitzi's primary offence to any and every threat—from legitimately threatening wyverns like Legiana, ineffectual threats like the Shamos, and hunters themselves—is "flashbang and run away." Might veer into Lovable Coward during the times its flashbang get another monster and not the hunter.
Enemy Mine: It can occasionally show up when you are fighting another large monster and use its flash attack to blind it before running away, allowing you to get free hits on the stunned large monster. Since Tzitzi-Ya-Ku is the weakest predator monster in the food chain of the Coral Highlands, this behaviour could be it attempting to get rid of the competition by helping you take out its bigger and stronger rivals.
Fragile Speedster: While it isn't particularly durable, the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku is able to move around and strike very quickly as its direct attacks have extremely short windups. The monster doesn't hit really hard but attempting to avoid getting hit by it at all will fighting up close isn't really easy.
Helpful Mook: Tzitzi-Ya-Kus are more a threat to other monsters than they are to hunters; they're entirely docile toward the player unless provoked, and they're able to use their flashbang to stun larger monsters, often bringing flying ones right out of the sky.
In My Language, That Sounds Like...: Tzitzi somewhat sounds like a vulgar Bulgarian Word of nipples or breasts. It flashes you.
It Can Think:
- The Tzitzi-Ya-Ku's lair has objects on its surrounding walls that can reflect the Bird Wyvern's flashing ability. This makes the monster's blinding attack much more efficient if combat takes place in this area. It's left ambiguous if the Bird Wyvern placed these objects there or they were always there to begin with. Either way, it's still smart of the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku to utilize these objects as a way of home-field advantage.
- In Master Rank, the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku is a bit more clever when it comes to using its flashing ability. Rather than simply standing in one place as it charges up its frills, the Bird Wyvern will repeatedly hop around as a method to adjust its aim and keep a good distance from its opponent.
Light 'em Up: It uses its frills to emit bright flashes in order to blind its prey, making hunts much easier. It can also use them to stun or blind enemies, giving Tzitzi-Ya-Ku a chance to either run away or fight back. Breaking its frills will quickly disable Tzitzi's ability to perform its flash attack.
Ninja: Though not to the same extent as the female Odogaron armor, male Tzitzi armor has a notable assassin-like look with a mask and a Badass Longcoat. The dual blade showcase even features the armor.
Non-Malicious Monster: Like its cousin Kulu, Tzitzi is not an inherently aggressive creature; it doesn't attack a hunter unless provoked first and its initial response to most any threat is usually to simply flashbang and get as far away from dodge as it can. Notably, it's one of the perishingly few monsters that doesn't attack the hunter after its introductory cutscene, something even other otherwise docile monsters (like the Dodogama) indulge in.
Raptor Attack: It is a raptor with large fins that release blinding lights.
Rare Random Drop: Bird Wyvern Gems in High Rank and Fey Wyvern Gem in Master Rank.
Rule of Three: Whenever Tzitzi uses his flash attack, he performs two "warm-up" flashes before the third one that actually blinds.
Skippable Boss: You're required to find a Tzitzi-Ya-Ku during an expedition to make story progress in Low Rank, but fighting one is optional. However, you need to fight two in a special sidequest to unlock the Grimalkynes of the region.
Stock Sound Effects: The Tzitzi-Ya-Ku's snarls and screeches are around the range of what you'd expect from Jurassic Park raptors, but whenever it gets distressed, whether it's by getting stunned or mounted, it uncharacteristically lets out a chicken bawk.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Gypceros, the Bird Wyvern that can produces a bright flash to stun its enemies via an organ on its head that can be broken to prevent it from performing its flash again.
Troll: They love to jump into fights between hunters and monsters so they can flash and stun both parties before hightailing it out of there, for no real reason other than to mess with them.
Warm-Up Boss: The weakest large monster in the Coral Highlands.
The Worf Effect:
- Is defeated in Turf Wars against Odogaron; it manages to flash Odogaron who easily endures the blinding attack and counter attack Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, knocking it down. It is theorized that the Odogaron has very poor eyesight to begin with, so blinding it has little to no effect.
- It's also one of the many monsters Deviljho uses as a bludgeon.
You Will Not Evade Me: If you try to escape it by hitching a ride on a Raphinos, it will repeatedly flash your ride out of the sky.

True Bird Wyverns

Pukei-Pukei

Pukei-Pukei (variant: Coral Pukei-Pukei)

Poison Bewitching Bird / Water Bewitching Bird (Coral Pukei-Pukei), Gluttonous Gullet

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_pukei_pukei_render_001.png

^{Coral Pukei-Pukei}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Coral subspecies:
World: Iceborne

An evening stroll
Looking for a snack to swallow whole
Never mind the taste, satiety is the goal
Not enough, not enough! The beast growls for more
Anything is game for a true omnivore.

A strange Bird Wyvern with gecko-like features. It spews poisonous gas which gains additional effects depending on what food it has eaten. An even more brightly-colored subspecies — with water attacks instead of poison — lives in the Coral Highlands.

Achilles' Heel:
- Dropping a Scatternut on it will prevent it from eating nuts, which keeps its poison attacks from gaining additional effects.
- The Coral Pukei-Pukei loses a good half of its moveset if its tail is severed, including most of its more powerful and annoying attacks. Averted for Pukei-Pukei in Rise, as even after its tail is severed, it will continue to spray poison out of its tail stump (albeit, far less potently than before).
Androcles' Lion: In the Witcher 3 collaboration, if you free one from the Leshen's roots, it will appear in the final location to assist Geralt in the fight.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Its only Turf War in World is against Rajang, which goes about as well as you'd expect. This ridiculously one-sided matchup continued to Rise where Rajang is once again Pukei-Pukei's only Turf War opponent. It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor lizard.
Didn't Need Those Anyway!: In Rise, Pukei can still pump its tail even when it’s been severed. Don’t look at the stump when it does that.
Dirty Coward: Not around a hunter, but one around other monsters. It picks fights with smaller ones that can't fight back, but flees around bigger ones that would easily trounce it. However, this is not the case with the one who helps Geralt in the collaboration. Averted altogether with the Coral Subspecies, which attacks hunters out of fear.
Fartillery: Coral Pukei-Pukei can shoot water out of its tail, giving it this effect.
Feathered Fiend: Its neck and sections of the wings are covered in vibrant feathers. Temperament-wise, the nominate species are known to bully smaller monsters despite not competing with them for food or territory.
Forest Ranger: The armor sets crafted from their parts for both male and female, as well as for Palicos, have this as their primary aesthetic.
Gasshole: Has a large pucker on the end of its fat tail that spews poisonous gas.
Glass Cannon: Coral Pukei-Pukei is much more aggressive than the standard species and has noticeably more powerful attacks, but it isn't very durable.
Gold-Colored Superiority: Coral Pukei-Pukei has various shades of yellow, orange, and red, and is much stronger than the nominate species. Prior to the introduction of Yian Garuga, is also the strongest Bird Wyvern in Iceborne.
It Can Think: During the Witcher crossover mission, if you save the Pukei-Pukei along with the Gajalaka chief (and keep the former alive throughout the fight), said Pukei-Pukei tries to thank Geralt with a Felyne's help after the Leshen is dead. And to a lesser extent, its Coral subspecies is fairly creative with its water beams, including how to use its tongue to split a front-facing beam into two 45-degree angle ones.
Kaizo Trap: The Coral subspecies has a water cannon attack that it splits into two separate streams, catching hunters who carelessly dodge to one side unawares.
Making a Splash: The Coral Pukei-Pukei trades its poison for water attacks, even being able to use its tail like a high pressure water cannon.
Mix-and-Match Critters: A reptilian wyvern with a gecko-like face, wings that resemble enlarged gecko digits, the feet, tongue and neck fringe of a chameleon, and patches of bright green, parrot-like feathers.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In spite of being a cowardly bully that runs away from bigger monsters, it goes back to help Geralt fight the Leshen despite nearly being killed by it if saved.
Poisonous Person: Spits globs of clearly venomous purple saliva and releases poisonous gas from its tail.
Power-Up Food: Its poison attacks gain additional properties depending on what it has eaten. If it eats a Scatternut, its spit is more likely to stun, if it eats a Sporepuff, its spit becomes giant clouds, and if it eats from a Poisoncup, its poison spit leaves giant pools.
Rare Random Drop: Bird Wyvern Gems in High Rank and Fey Wyvern Gem in Master Rank. in Master Rank. Coral only have Fey Wyvern Gem since it's a Master Rank-exclusive.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: It will flee if a larger monster is in the same area as it.
Shout-Out: Like the Tobi-Kadachi low rank/high rank armor set, the master rank Pukei-Pukei and Coral Pukei-Pukei armor sets are inspired by the Caped Hunter Set from Bloodborne.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Its gimmick of gaining new attacks based on what it eats is essentially lifted from Congalala, albeit with nuts instead of mushrooms.
Took a Level in Badass:
- The Pukei-Pukei is one of the earliest monsters to be fought in the game and is not that threatening compared to other large monsters like Anjanath and Rathalos. Once you repel Zorah Magdaros for good, a Pukei-Pukei is spotted in the Wildspire Waste, not the usual habitat for one. Unwary Hunters who dismiss this Pukei-Pukei are in for a shock, since this individual is a High Rank version, meaning it has more health and hits harder. Defeating it will allow Hunters to reach High Rank and begin hunting stronger versions of existing monsters.
- Similarly, the Coral Pukei-Pukei subspecies, while not a whole lot stronger, has a wider variety of attacks than the original which are likely to catch hunters off-guard when they first fight it.
Unfortunate Names: 'Pukei' is just one letter away from the Malay slang for vagina.
Video Game Caring Potential: As part of a side quest in the Witcher 3 collaboration, Geralt can save a Pukei-Pukei from some roots controlled by the Leshen. If you do this, it will reappear in the final phase of the battle to help you out of gratitude. If you keep it alive during the fight, you get an Attack boosting decoration.
Wake-Up Call Boss: A Pukei-Pukei is the first High Rank monster encountered in World; while still paling in comparison to stronger monsters, its greatly increased strength may provide a rude awakening to an unsuspecting hunter.
The Worf Effect:
- All but one that are in the map are effortlessly killed by the Leshen in the Witcher crossover.
- Also, it's defeated easily by Rajang in turf wars.

Flying Wyverns

Paolumu

Paolumu (variant: Nightshade Paolumu)

Floating Sky Wyvern / Floating Sleep Wyvern (Nightshade Paolumu)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_paolumu_render_001.png

^{Nightshade Paolumu}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne
Nightshade subspecies:
World: Iceborne

This white-furred Flying Wyvern inhabits the Coral Highlands. It dines on coral eggs and has the ability to inflate its neck to float in the air, essentially turning itself into a living balloon. When threatened, it blows air at its foes to stagger them and attacks with its hard-scaled tail.

Iceborne introduces the black-furred Nightshade subspecies, which inhabits deserts and typical jungles, and can put its enemies to sleep with the air it blows out.

Achilles' Heel: While not strictly unique to this Flying Wyvern, a Flash Pod will bring it down while puffed. Attacking its inflated neck enough times when it is puffed will knock out its air supply and send it crashing back to the ground.
Bat Out of Hell: Heavily resembles a giant bat, a particularly unpleasant one once angered.
Blow You Away: Will periodically suck in air into its neck ruff when fighting and once enough air is collected, its neck will swell up in size and Paolumu can perform aerial attacks. It can also shoot mini-tornadoes that can stagger Hunters and leave them wide open for followup attacks.
- The Nightshade Subspecies combines this with Forced Sleep gas, then using its tail to spread it around the battlefield.
Butt-Monkey: Paolumu gets little to no respect from the NPCs due to its odd appearance, and it gets thrashed around easily by the larger monsters found within the Coral Highlands. Even the one monster weaker than it has a way to drop it to the dirt.
Third Fleet Master: ...I'm sorry, I just retched thinking about that monster's face. Seriously, you'll be doing it a favor...
Chief Ecologist: This is sort of an odd request, but there is a birthday party coming up this weekend, and we're in desperate need of balloons.
Force and Finesse: The regular Paolumu is the Force while the Nightshade Paolumu is the Finesse. Regular Paolumu's tail is hard enough that it can deflect attacks from melee weapons at blue sharpness. When in combat, regular Paolumu relies quite a bit on ground slam attacks, taking advantage of its tough tail to deal heavy damage. Nightshade Paolumu's tail is softer as it cannot deflect attacks. This subspecies does not utilize any ground slam attacks. Instead, it uses its tail by swinging it to either hit its target or push its sleeping gas to spread it around the area. When in combat, Nightshade Paolumu spends more time in the air than regular Paolumu, making the black furred subspecies more graceful when fighting.
Forced Sleep: If you don't have strong enough resistance to the Sleep Ailment, be particularly vigilant when fighting Nightshade Paolumu. The air that this subspecies shoots can cause you to be drowsy and eventually put you to sleep. This leaves you almost entirely helpless to any attack unless your comrade knocks you awake. The cloud of sleeping gas can remain for quite some time, making the area that Nightshade Paolumu is fighting at tricky for you to move around in.
Game Face: Calm Paolumu are downright cute. Less so when they get riled up.
Graceful in Their Element: The Paolumu is not suited at fighting on land, tripping at the end of a charge and having a limited movesets. However, once it sucks in enough air to inflate its neck ruff and float, it becomes much more mobile, can attack much more frequently, and uses more powerful attacks.
Killer Rabbit: Visually cute, at least compared to the other monsters, but still a large monster that can put up a decent fight. As a mid-tier monster, its threat level is roughly the same as Rathian or Anjanath.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Paolumu mainly resembles a bat, albeit one with a long neck. It has buck teeth and a flat tail like a beaver. Its ability to inflate its neck in order to float in the air brings to mind the walrus, an animal that can inflate the air sac in its neck to float in the water. Nightshade Paolumu's bright patches on its inflated neck resemble those seen on the tail of a peacock.
Moveset Clone: Shares a skeleton and animations with Pukei-Pukei.
Non-Malicious Monster: It's incredibly docile and just likely to simply leave hunters alone even if they're within poking distance - moreso than most of the other monsters that occasionally display the same behavior. Even the much scarier looking subspecies will just mind its business provided it isn't provoked.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Compared to the other monsters introduced in this generation, this one is downright adorable! Until a hunter chooses to attack it that is...
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Paolumu armor is aesthetically similar to the Lagombi armor, both resembling thick, white winter coats.
Tail Slap: Its tail is surprisingly hard compared to the rest of its body and is Paolumu's main form of offence once it is floating, slapping Hunters and slamming right onto them with its hard tail.
The Worf Effect:
- Is easily defeated in Turf Wars against Legiana and Odogaron.
- The subspecies gets wrecked by Rajang in turf wars.

Legiana

Legiana (Leigiena) (variant: Shrieking Legiana)

Wind Drifting Wyvern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_legiana_render_001.png

^{Shrieking Legiana}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne
Shrieking variant:
World: Iceborne

A large monster that lives in areas of high altitude, such as the upper strata of the Coral Highlands. Its shrieking roar echoes throughout the sky and its body can shoot out a chilling wind that forms ice on its target upon contact, hindering them. With its enormous wings, lightweight body and large fins on its tail, Legiana is a highly skilled flyer. Graceful yet aggressive, Legiana is a fierce mountain-dweller that would freeze and strike anyone that gets in its way.

Iceborne introduces the Shrieking Legiana, a variant that lives in the tundra and has even deadlier Ice elemental attacks.

Achilles' Heel: Shrieking Legiana is one of the most vulnerable monsters when afflicted by poison. But its ice attacks are also completely nullified by it, pretty much cutting down its difficulty by a huge margin.
Animal Motif: Hawks. From its wings resembling hawk wings to its screech resembling a hawk's cry, the resemblance can get a bit uncanny. The helmets on the lower ranked armor sets even look like hawk's heads.
Badass Cape: The Alpha form armors crafted from the Legiana for both genders feature a slick cape bearing the Legiana's district cross-like marking.
Big Eater: Inverted. To maintain its light frame for flying, Legiana normally only eats once a day. This changes when it's under duress, such as in a battle, wherein it will go chow down on a small monster to restore its stamina.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: Both species of Legiana become disoriented and woozy when poisoned, greatly crimping their flying abilities. However, the upper reaches of the Coral Highlands the nominate subspecies likes to frequent has several Poisoncups in it, which can be activated and subsequently clip the Legiana's wings for a time.
Catch-22 Dilemma: Legiana was the only monster in vanilla World that dealt Ice damage, so its armor's ice resistance was of rather limited use. Iceborne's introduction of numerous ice-elemental monsters, including the flagship Elder Dragon, Velkhana, alleviated the problem.
Composite Character: While Kushala Daora is already in World, Legiana inherits its weakness of having its powers completely disabled by being poisoned. Kushala Daora is still very vulnerable to poison, though.
Dual Boss: When a Shrieking Legiana and a normal Legiana are both in the Hoarfrost Reach, the Shrieker will often call their cousin to fight by their side.
Foil: Invoked by the Smart Biologist when commenting on a captured Legiana, comparing it to Rathalos, although he never goes into detail. Something they do have in common are that both are airborne Flying Wyverns that are the apex predators of their region, albeit with opposite elements (Fire in Rathalos' case, Ice in Legiana's) and colors (Red and Blue). They also have a predatory animal as the basis of their respective Animal Motifs (lions for Rathalos, hawks for Legiana).
Force and Finesse: Legiana's graceful aerial combat contrasts Rathalos' straightforward charges.
Graceful in Their Element: In a different way from Paolumu. On land Legiana fights more or less like the majority of Flying Wyverns across the series (Rathalos, Rathian, etc.), but while airborne it gracefully dances around the air delivering its attacks with a certain refinement instead of outright force. This is acknowledged in-game, where the story quest to fight it is titled "Embodiment of Elegance".
Hair-Trigger Temper: An extremely territorial monster, standing near one for around 10 seconds is enough to make it hostile and attack you. Upon first entering Coral Highlands, the player Hunter and the Handler are immediately attacked by a Legiana for just stepping into its territory and it is also the monster responsible for stranding the Third Fleet in Coral Highlands, attacking their airship and sending them crashing down and stranded for years.
An Ice Person: Is capable of generating ice clouds when fighting enemies and is the only monster in the base game that uses the Ice element. Shrieking Legiana has even more powerful ice attacks, such as the ability to generate bursts of icy spikes on the ground.
Irony: Although Legiana beats Paolumu in turf wars, the Iceproof mantle, which can be used to make hunting Legiana easier, is made from Paolumu parts. Paolumu armor also helps when hunting it.
Mix-and-Match Critters: It's your usual draconic Monster Hunter wyvern with characteristics of a bird of prey and the motifs of a blue sea slug.
Moveset Clone: Downplayed; it has the same skeleton as Rathalos as well most of the same moves while grounded, it gets an almost wholly unique moveset once airborne however.
Noble Bird of Prey: It's a Flying Wyvern that somewhat resembles a bird of prey. While just as aggressive as other monsters of its type, it's notably more graceful and beautiful while retaining the majesty of monsters such as Rathalos.
Our Dragons Are Different: Legiana's appearance and form recall birds and aquatic creatures moreso than draconic ones. Its armor even carries elements more often seen on the series' water based monsters. Considering its habitat being a terrestrial coral reef, this is likely intentional.
Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Dead Legianas occasionally fall into the Rotten Vale (which happens to be located beneath the Coral Highlands). These can be carved for materials or taken away by monsters such as Odogaron.
Rare Random Drop: Legiana Plates in Low Rank, Legiana Gems in High Rank, and Legiana Mantles in Master Rank.
Spin Attack: Its aerial attacks involve a lot of front-flips.
Trademark Favourite Food: Recovers stamina by hunting and eating the local Raphinos.
The Worf Effect: Is easily defeated in Turf Wars against Deviljho and Rajang.

Bazelgeuse

Bazelgeuse (variant: Seething Bazelgeuse)

Explosive Scale Wyvern, Bomber Wyvern, Party Crasher / Death from Above (Seething Bazelgeuse)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bazelgeuse.png

^{Seething Bazelgeuse}

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Seething variant:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Rise: Sunbreak

Nature is a battlefield, steeped in crimson dust
And the smoke of combat summons those who lust
For blood and fiery violence, and something to combust
Raining down destruction, pandemonium galore
Friend or foe, irrelevant - it hungers for hot war.

A destructive Flying Wyvern that flies throughout the world in search of prey and battle. It is an opportunistic predator that generates and drops specialized hardened secretions from its ventral side that resemble large scales(often referred to as such despite technically not being scales). This secretion responds explosively to hard impacts, enabling the "scales" to act like firebombs so it can eat whatever is caught in the blast. With a large bulky body, regenerative supply of fiery explosives and desire for brawls, Bazelgeuse nefariously wreaks absolute havoc in its wake.

Iceborne adds a variant known as the Seething Bazelgeuse, that appears to be an older, more easily enraged Bazelgeuse whose unstable scales have a much higher volatility and wider blast radius.

Animal Motifs: Bazelgeuse armor set has a distinctive lion motif, alluding to the large number of scales on the monster's bloated neck. This is more pronounced and easily noticed in the male versions of the set as well as the Palico armor. Notably, the Seething Bazelgeuse's armor and a number of the species' final weapon forms also feature the word "pride", a word often associated with the lion. Its scales and long tail also significantly resemble those of a pangolin.
Background Music Override: Just like Deviljho, Bazelgeuse's theme will override any and all other songs playing in the background, telling you that it has sighted you and is probably on its way to ruin your day. Though if both Bazelgeuse and Deviljho show up at once, Deviljho's theme will override.
Black Knight: The Seething Bazelgeuse armor set exudes this motif for its aesthetic, though it doesn't completely drop the lion motif of its original version either thanks to an increased use of fur trim.
Blood Knight: Bazelgeuse evidently lives for the fight. If it senses a battle going on in the distance, it will instinctively go there to join in. Its poem in Rise indicates that Bazelgeuse enjoys carnage and destruction as the reason it appears when other monsters are fighting is because it thirsts for violence.
Composite Character:
- Has Deviljho's durability and damage while being as methodical as Seregios in combat. Fittingly, even though it has the body frame of the latter, it's big and bulky like the former.
- Becomes this to Seething Bazelgeuse in Iceborne, gaining the ability to create bombs that cling to whatever terrain they hit.
Combat Pragmatist: They prefer to hunt while their prey are unsuspecting or distracted.
Cool Plane: Invoked. It's a draconic B-52 bomber, and its attacks involve carpet bombing you.
Curb-Stomp Cushion: Bazelgeuse isn't an Elder Dragon, but it is a powerful apex monster that can be just as dangerous as one. As a result, Bazelgeuse is able to fight off some particularly tough creatures, even though Bazelgeuse gets injured in the process.
- Unlike other large monsters who get swiftly owned to hell and back by Deviljho, Bazelgeuse is able to deal some considerable damage to the Brute Wyvern despite being slightly physically outmatched. Deviljho attacks first by grabbing Bazelgeuse by the neck with its mouth, then lifting it in the air. Bazelgeuse manages to break free from Deviljho's mouth through physical force, making it the first being in World (the only one in base World) to achieve that. Deviljho doesn't give up, so it grabs Bazelgeuse again before pinning it to the ground. Bazelgeuse gets fed up and detonates its neck bombs, injuring Deviljho's mouth and forcing it to let go.
- Its nominate variant is intercepted by the terrifying Ruiner Nergigante during your first trip to the Guiding Lands, but puts up quite the fight itself. The two monsters wrestle each other in the air, and at first, Bazelgeuse is at a disadvantage since Ruiner Nergigante can keep using its wings to fly while it uses its forelimbs and mouth to grab, claw and bite while Bazelgeuse isn't much of a biter and its wings are its forelimbs, so it has less options during the fight, but then Bazelgeuse gets desperate and starts detonating its explosives, damaging Ruiner Nergigante. The two monsters lose momentum in the air and crash-land in the distance, while still beating each other up. You don't see them immediately afterwards, so it is left ambiguous about who won the fight.
- Much like Deviljho, Rajang generally beats the crap out every non-Elder Dragon monsters with ease, but then Bazelgeuse shows up to give it a proper challenge. Rajang grabs Bazelgeuse by the tail and violently slams it around the same way it normally does to other large flying non-Elder Dragon monsters, but then Bazelgeuse escapes Rajang's grasp by detonating the explosives on its tail, hurting Rajang and knocking it down. The Flying Wyvern then retaliates even more by swiftly dive-bombing at the Fanged Beast.
Death from Above: Bazelgeuse's bombing runs involve it flying around the area and dropping explosive scales onto the ground(similar to a bomber aircraft) before dive bombing towards its target and exploding all the scales in range. Becomes even more dangerous when the monster is enraged, since the scales will explode instantly upon hitting the ground. Seething Bazelgeuse's explosive dive involves it causing extremely high damage on its target by dropping itself from the sky. Sunbreak even gives Seething Bazelgeuse the title 'Death from Above'.
Demoted to Extra:
- In Iceborne, Seething Bazelgeuse is not an invasive monster, being only found in the Elder's Recess.
- In Rise, Bazelgeuse is still a very powerful endgame monster but it was introduced in the 2.0 update and takes a backseat to Rajang as far as invasive monsters go.
The Dreaded: Word of God confirmed that Bazelgeuse is an Elder Dragon-level threat.
- The Handler's first reaction is to tell you to run once you first encounter this monster, or at least be prepared to take some serious damage.
- In its Rise introductory cutscene, Tigrex actually gets a bit frightened by hearing the roar of a Bazelgeuse in the distance as well as by the explosive scales.
- In a Sunbreak cutscene, Volvidon and Tetranadon are wrestling each other until they notice an explosive scale dropping between them. They realize what the scale came from and immediately run for their lives.
Drop-In Nemesis: Bazelgeuse is an invasive monster^note. A very assaultive one, in fact. When it senses a fight happening, it will fly in and attack whoever it finds. Rise gives it the rather fitting title 'Party Crasher'.
Dynamic Entry: Bazelgeuse loves to make its appearance by dropping bombs, then crash landing right on top of you and whatever you're hunting. Their introductory cutscenes in Iceborne and Rise/Sunbreak even show them with this behavior. Although, the monster doesn't really have this behavior much during Rise gameplay.
Early-Bird Boss: In World, Bazelgeuse is pretty much ready the moment you're in High Rank. Using Low Rank equipment while taking it on is unreasonably difficult as you will be dealing low damage to Bazelgeuse and getting taken out by just one of its attacks. Spend some time farming High Rank equipment and the fight is much more manageable. Averted with Seething Bazelgeuse, who is unlocked after you defeat Velkhana (an Elder Dragon) in Iceborne's main story.
Easy Level Trick: The quest "Beyond the Blasting Scales" has you fight two tempered Bazelgeuse. An effective strategy is drawing the other one out when you located the first one, then stand aside and let the two beat each other up.
Foil: To Seregios. Both are invasive Flying Wyverns that can generate and detach small body pieces as a form of attack. However, Bazelgeuse is large, stocky, and relies on its body's bulk while Seregios is average-sized, slender, and uses its claws much more. Additionally, Bazelgeuse drops fire bombs while Seregios flings sharp scales. In fact, it's even implied that Bazelgeuse evolved from Seregios, or at least one that figured out a way to make its scales explosive.
Giant Flyer: Among the Flying Wyverns that frequently flies, Bazelgeuse is one of the largest. It is the second largest Flying Wyvern in World as Diablos is slightly bigger, but out of the two, Bazelgeuse is the one that flies. Bazelgeuse is quite capable of flying for extended periods of time, which is made more impressive by the fact that its bombs should be weighing it down by a significant amount.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: It can (and will) randomly show up during High Rank in World and Rise to give you a hard time. If it's in the same habitat as hunters, it will make a beeline for them when they fight other large monsters, no matter its respective distance to the hunters in question.
Glass Cannon: Seething Bazelgeuse is more aggressive and far more damaging than its normal counterpart, especially when it's utilizing its purple bombs, since the damage and blast radius go up even more. The monster also pulls off its nuclear dive move with these purple bombs. However, these purple bombs are also more sensitive. If the player attacks the bombs on the monster's body enough times, the bombs will explode, causing massive damage and a guaranteed knockdown.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Part of its reason for being a Blood Knight. Aside from hunting down preys, Bazelgeuse is assaultive in general to fight off potential rivals. The Quest "Beyond the Blasting Scales" shows that Bazelgeuse generally don't like even each other. Seething Bazelgeuse takes it a step slightly further by being much more aggressive, and having the regular Bazelgeuse's superheated state as its default state.
Hoist by His Own Petard: The Seething variant's purple bombs are more volatile and gain a wider blast radius, but if the player is aggressive enough, they can topple it by damaging the bombs on its body, prematurely detonating the bombs.
Hopeless Boss Fight: As mentioned before, Bazelgeuse can be found early in High Rank, but the odds of you defeating this monster while you're using Low Rank gear are roughly none. Even weak High Rank gear might not improve the odds much, which is unsurprising since Bazelgeuse is considered to be just as tough as an Elder Dragon. To successfully hunt Bazelgeuse, you need to grind out better gear. Even the Handler will tell you to run when it first shows up. Less of a problem in Rise, where it wasn't added until the first major update and doesn't show up immediately in High Rank, giving players enough time to build up some good armor and weapons.
Leitmotif: "The Invading Tyrant - Bazelgeuse", a bombastic orchestral piece that really feels like a World War II propaganda theme; fitting, considering the thing is often compared to a bomber plane.
Meaningful Name: Although amusing, it's not a coincidence that its name sounds like Betelgeuse, a massive star, for not only is it rather huge, it's very explosive, both in temperament and in combat. The name takes even greater meaning when you consider the Arabic roots of "Betelgeuse". The word comes from Ibt al-Jauza or Yad al-Jauza, meaning underarm or hand of al-Jauza, the Arabic name of the constellation Orion (which Betelgeuse is part of). Baz on the other hand is a word for falcon in Arabic. This means that Bazelgeuse can be read as Falcon of Orion (Baz al-Jauza). Fitting, considering that Orion is a hunter in Greek mythology.
Mighty Glacier: Bazelgeuse isn't particularly fast, but it's highly resilient and its attacks pack a punch, with its explosive scales capable of taking down a Low Rank hunter in one hit. With how well it can launch its explosive scales on the ground, it doesn't even need to be close to a careless hunter to take them out.
Mighty Roar: Its very loud and distinctive roar will leave you stunned for a very long time if you don't have a sufficient enough Earplugs skill. Fittingly, its alpha armor set has five levels of the Earplugs skill, making the hunter immune to even the loudest roars.
Orchestral Bombing: Its theme is a bombastic piece evocative of old warplane and bombing propaganda videos. Considering its main method of attack, this fits all too well.
Playing with Fire: Its explosive scales deal Fire damage. It can also breath fire, though it has a very short range better suited to igniting old scales than being an attack on its own.
Purple Is Powerful: When Seething Bazelgeuse spends enough time in its superheated state, its explosive scales will glow bright purple. When detached, these purple bombs will pressurize before causing larger explosions than normal.
Rare Random Drop: Bazelgeuse Gems in High Rank, and Bazelgeuse Mantles in Master Rank.
Recurring Element: It's another invasive monster introduced in the franchise (other examples include Deviljho and Seregios). Invasive monsters are monsters who randomly show up in any habitat to mess up your hunt. Deviljho joins Bazelgeuse in World as its Rival. Bazelgeuse also returns in Rise and Seregios joins in the Sunbreak expansion.
Remember the New Guy?: It has apparently been observed in the Old World before, despite its first appearance being in World, which is set in the New World.
The Rival: In World, Deviljho is an incredibly powerful invasive monster whose presence has gone uncontested, but then comes the equally invasive Bazelgeuse, who proves to be capable of fighting Deviljho to a draw in turf wars. In Iceborne, Seething Bazelgeuse is not an invasive monster, but it is still one of the very few monsters capable of fighting Savage Deviljho to a draw.
Roar Before Beating: When the Seething variant begins its Signature Move, it makes a noise similar to an airplane propeller starting up. If you hear that noise, it's time to RUN.
Schmuck Bait: Seething Bazelgeuse's explosive dive involves it scattering a large ring of explosive scales as it takes to the air. While it would seem logical to just stand in the center to avoid them, this is just what the monster is counting on, crashing down a second later and detonating all of its scales like a draconic warhead.
Signature Move:
- Bazelgeuse's bombing runs. It flies into the air and does two to three passes over its target, raining down explosive scales as it goes. It then purposefully crash-lands directly at its target, detonating nearby scales that have yet to explode.
- Seething Bazelgeuse's explosive dive(a deadly maneuver that's more akin to Teostra's iconic supernova). It launches into the sky while spinning, resulting in it spreading explosive scales everywhere in a huge radius, then lets them all explode before diving back down on its original launch point and detonating every scale on its body all at once for a massive explosion.
Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Despite being reintroduced in Rise's Version 2.0, Bazelgeuse does not appear in the trailer promoting the update, which instead showcases the trio of second generation Elder Dragons (Chameleos, Kushala Daora and Teostra).
Sticky Bomb: Seething Bazelgeuse's purple bombs will stick to whatever surface they're flung onto. This is notable since, when the monster is utilizing these purple bombs, it often throws them rather far, and keeping track of all of them and Bazelgeuse itself can be quite challenging. In Rise, nominate Bazelgeuse gains this ability by default.
Strong and Skilled: Bazelgeuse might come across as a wild brute that happens to throw around bombs, but it is actually quite clever when it comes to using its explosive scales. Bazelgeuse instinctively knows that its body is incredibly durable, so it's not afraid at all to crash-land or detonate bombs by slamming it with its own body. Before doing many of its attacks, it shakes off several bombs to make them more effective. In one attack, Bazelgeuse shakes off bombs while walking backwards before detonating them with its fire breath. Bazelgeuse also shows how skilled it is as a bomber when confronting other monsters in turf wars. When Deviljho pins Bazelgeuse by the neck, Bazelgeuse detonates its neck bombs, injuring Deviljho's mouth as retaliation. When Rajang grabs Bazelgeuse by the tail and slams it like a rag doll, Bazelgeuse detonates its tail bombs, allowing it to escape while injuring Rajang and knocking it down. Bazelgeuse then injures Rajang even more by dive-bombing at it.
- Conversely, the trope is Averted with Bazelgeuse weapons, which are Unskilled, but Strong. They have high raw damage and Blast damage, but the drawback is an affinity penalty (specifically -10%).
Stuff Blowing Up: Bazelgeuse(sometimes known as the Bomber Wyvern) hunts by flying over its prey and scattering its explosive scales over the ground below, swooping down afterwards to prey on whatever died in the blast. It prefers to open fights with its bombing runs before landing. Additionally, Bazelgeuse weapons cause Blast damage.
Turns Red:
- Bazelgeuse can go into a superheated state, signified by its body glowing red-hot. In this state, its bombs will explode almost instantly upon touching the ground, making the fight more dangerous for hunters when they are trying to get close to the monster or evade its attacks.
- Seething Bazelgeuse's default state is generally normal Bazelgeuse's superheated state. As a result, Seething Bazelgeuse has its own more powerful superheated state, signified by its body glowing white-hot. In its superheated state, Seething Bazelgeuse drops more bombs than usual, and at the same time, powers up its bombs to be even deadlier. When the bombs are powered up enough, they glow purple and explode with a much wider radius. The bombs can also be lodged into surfaces before exploding.
The Worf Effect:
- Downplayed when fighting Deviljho or Rajang. As mentioned before, Bazelgeuse certainly gets injured by either of them but it hits them back roughly as hard. Deviljho pins Bazelgeuse to the ground but Bazelgeuse injures Deviljho's face with bombs. Rajang slams Bazelgeuse around but Bazelgeuse breaks free and purposefully crash-lands at Rajang.
- In Rise, Magnamalo battles Bazelgeuse in turf wars and wins. Magnamalo fights it the same way it does against many other large flying monsters, by grabbing and damaging it while it is flying in the air, then forcing it to crash-land, preferably on hunters. All Bazelgeuse is able to do to it in return is give it fireblight, though it does manage to push the Fanged Wyvern off itself and recover fairly quickly.
- In a Sunbreak cutscene, Bazelgeuse gets into a fight against Silver Rathalos, but the battle doesn't end well for the Party Crasher. Silver Rathalos flies under Bazelgeuse and gets closer, dodging Bazelgeuse's bombs in the process. When Silver Rathalos is close enough, the two wrestle each other in the sky, leading to them crashing on the ground. Bazelgeuse is severely injured but Silver Rathalos quickly flies back up and uses his extremely hot fire breath to BURN Bazelgeuse alive.

Piscine Wyverns

Jyuratodus

Mud Fish Wyvern, Sinister Swamp Shadow

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

A cursed marsh
Said to be haunted, hostile and harsh
A place of deep peril, a true quagmire
For those who get stuck face a fate most dire.

A relative of the Lavasioth, the Jyuratodus is a coelacanth-like monster that dwells in the swamp. This Piscine Wyvern swims around in mud and water, covering itself in mud and spitting watery sludge at its enemies.

Barrier Change Boss: Normally immune to Water element, but becomes weak to it once covered in mud. In return, its normal weakness to Thunder is nullified and is now just resistant to Fire rather than being immune.
Covered in Mud: The Jyuratodus routinely covers itself in mud to keep moist.
Dishing Out Dirt: Its muddy armor gives it extra protection. It can also repeatedly spit out a muddy sludge at its opponents, temporarily trapping them.
Fire/Water Juxtaposition: The water to Lavasioth's fire. More specifically, Jyuratodus uses mud while Lavasioth uses magma.
Geo Effects: Jyuratodus leaves behind piles of dirt for hunters to walk on when it swims or performs certain attacks.
Gladiator Games: Its Master Rank armor has this design going for both genders, and to the Palico armor as well.
Making a Splash: Its watery sludge attacks inflict Water damage.
Mighty Glacier: Isn't particularly fast(especially whenever it is moving on its legs), but has good power and defenses for its rank.
Mighty Roar: In Rise, its roar now flinches hunters.
Moveset Clone: Jyuratodus uses the same skeleton (and thus many of the same animations) as Lavasioth.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Lavasioth's red. Fire/Water Juxtaposition aside, Jyuratodus don't immediately attack unless provoked while Lavasioth are aggressive and hostile on sight.
The Rival: Jyuratodus isn't the only monster that uses mud as the Barroth also covers itself in it. The two monsters tend to fight each other over mud territory.
Took a Level in Badass: Unlike in World, where Jyuratodus was labeled as an easy fight and served mostly as a stepping stone in Low Rank to give way to stronger monsters, Rise gave Jyuratodus quite the bump in difficulty, having new moves, more damage and a roar that can flinch hunters. It also requires having made it to High Rank hub quests to fight it as well.
The Worf Effect: Downplayed. It gets injured by Barroth during turf wars, though the Piscine Wyvern delivers some damage to it in the process as well.

Beotodus

Beotodus (Brantodus)

Frozen Fish Wyvern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/beotodus.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

A Piscine Wyvern that lives in the snowy tundra. It resembles a shark and its wedge-shaped head helps the monster swim through snow with ease.

Breaking Old Trends: It's the first Ice-themed Piscine Wyvern in the main series - the only prior instance of Ice-wielding Piscine Wyverns were restricted to Frontier.
Crutch Character: Beotodus armor doesn't hold up in the long term due to its low defense value, but its abilities(Health Boost, Aquatic/Snow Mobility, and Earplugs) are very useful as you ease into Master Rank and explore the Hoarfrost Reach.
Fragile Speedster: Downplayed. Out of the three Piscine Wyverns in Iceborne, Beotodus has the lowest health pool, but also the most agility. It can swim and turn around very quickly in the snow and one of its attacks is similar to Radobaan's Spin Attack, but shorter and much faster.
Horn Attack: One of the most distinct features about the Beotodus is the large horn on its head. This Piscine Wyvern will swing its head around, slam it to the ground and leap out to ram with it in order to make good use of its horn.
An Ice Person: It lives in snow filled areas such as the Hoarfrost Reach. While the Beotodus doesn't have any form of spitting attack like the muddy Jyuratodus or the fiery Lavasioth, it makes up for it by being the most agile of the three. By taking advantage of its flexible body, the Beotodus swims around the snow, pushing and hurling snow at its opponent. Those struck by the snow will be inflicted with iceblight(if Ice or Blight resistance isn't strong enough).
Land Shark: Snow shark, rather, but the properties have the same effect.
Mighty Roar: The first Piscine Wyvern in the series to have one, in fact! Beotodus' roar will flinch hunters, unlike any other member of its class.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Zamtrios, as an amphibious shark-like monster that swims in the snowy tundra.
Warm-Up Boss: The weakest large monster in the Hoarfrost Reach. It's also your first Master Rank hunt, and while it can take a beating, it has fairly simple attack patterns.
The Worf Effect: Downplayed. Is injured by Banbaro during turf wars(using the same animation as the Barroth-Jyuratodus war), though it does deal some damage back.

Brute Wyverns

Anjanath

Anjanath (Anjanaff) (variant: Fulgur Anjanath)

Fierce Jaw Wyvern / Thunder Jaw Wyvern (Fulgur Anjanath), Relentless Ruffian

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/png_anjanath_1.png

^{Fulgur Anjanath}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak, Monster Hunter Stories 2
Fulgur subspecies:
World: Iceborne

Tremors in the night
A Felyne runs in fright, hiding out of sight
But soon it is found, shivering in fear
And when it looks around, its foe's already here
Run, young Felyne, run! You have to get away!
For this beast is never done until it snags its prey.

An aggressive Tyrannosaurus rex-like creature with a feathered body, movable wing-like fins near its posterior, an inflatable proboscis that provides it with a strong sense of smell, and the ability to breathe fire. When enraged, it will relentlessly follow hunters into different areas in order to reduce their chances of escaping.

Iceborne introduces the Fulgur Anjanath, a subspecies that can adapt in almost any habitat and uses electric attacks instead of fire.

'80s Hair: The Anjanath Master Rank beta helmet in Iceborne is essentially a big bouffant wig, particularly for female hunters.
Achilles' Heel:
- Similar to Glavenus, attacking its throat sac while it's glowing will make it fall over, leaving it vulnerable to attacks until it recovers.
- From the monsters' perspective, Anjanath tends to be at a major disadvantage if its enemy can fly. Rathalos easily defeats Anjanath by lifting it up in the air and dropping it down. In Rise, Rathian can do the same.
Barbarian Tribe: According to the armors' descriptions, there is a tribe of fearless warriors who worship Anjanath. The monster's armors are fashioned after that of the tribe and much of the design, most notably the Master Rank beta armor, certainly evoke the aesthetic of a mighty barbarian. The fact that the armor is made from Anjanath suggests that these warriors still hunt them, possibly as a form of ritual. These Anjanath devotees are never shown on-screen, so it is left ambiguous whether they are friendly or hostile toward others.
Breath Weapon: Nominate Anjanath becomes a deadly fire breather when enraged. It is unable to shoot fireballs, so it can't snipe its target from a distance, but its fiery spray attacks still have fairly good range.
The Bully: The quest-giver for one Anjanath hunting quest in Rise's Gathering Hub theorizes that Anjanath as a whole are this, and postulates that they attack smaller monsters out of anger for being picked on by Rathalos and Rathian. This even shows in the turf wars it wins, which basically have it grab the other monster by the neck, throw it around like a ragdoll, then slam it into the ground. Said monsters tend to be lower on the food chain, like Great Jagras or Kulu-Ya-Ku.
Butt-Monkey: Downplayed. Despite the monster's formidability, it was not dealt the best hand in Rise, as the game gives it ten turf wars^note but has it win in only four^note. In addition, it tends to fare particularly badly in cutscenes. After Malzeno is defeated, the Qurio threat re-introduces itself by draining a poor Anjanath completely dry in front of you.
Chainmail Bikini: Female Anjanath armor looks like the blacksmith did the helmet and limbs first, then ran out of material when the time came for the torso piece. Downplayed with the female Master Rank armor, which covers a bit more.
Dinosaurs Are Dragons: It's modeled after a T. rex, and is a fire-breathing Brute Wyvern. When it unfurls its nose horn and "wings", it looks even more draconic.
Drop-In Nemesis: Fulgur Anjanath can adapt well in any land biome, including cold tundra and volcanic field. So be on your guard when you're out in the wild if you notice its presence, especially since Fulgur Anjanath is tougher than nominate Anjanath.
Fake Ultimate Mook: Downplayed. Anjanath is presented as a huge threat early in the game, and can be very difficult for beginners or unprepared hunters to take down, which is reinforced by its massive size and resemblance to the King of Dinosaurs. However, while by no means weak, it later turns out to be a mid-tier monster within its food chain (similar to Rathian and Radobaan) and consistently loses turf wars to the actual apex monster of its biome, Rathalos. Averted for Fulgur Anjanath, which is an apex-level monster in its own right.
Hitbox Dissonance: Many of its attacks have deceptively large hitboxes. The digging charge is a big offender, as even an insect glaive user who has vaulted well above it will still get hit. And that's not counting many of the fire attacks that go straight through the terrain.
Hopeless Boss Fight: One shows up early in Stories 2 while on a simple bottle cap hunt while you're fighting a Bulldrome. It quickly proceeds to wipe the the floor with you and your Monstie with its powerful Area of Effect attacks before Kayna tosses a flash bomb so you can escape in time.
In a Single Bound: Don't think for a second that distance will save you. Anjanath can use its strong legs to leap at an impressive distance in an attempt to Goomba Stomp you.
Kill It with Water: Its primary weakness is Water element.
Lightning Bruiser: It is big, resilient and agile. In the event that you put a lot of distance between it and yourself, it will leap across the battlefield to catch up to you. These perks are part of what makes Anjanath the first monster in World that puts up a major challenge. The trope is also taken literally with its Fulgur subspecies, which is not only much stronger but can crackle with electricity.
Lightning/Fire Juxtaposition: Fulgur Anjanath uses lighting while nominate Anjanath sticks with fire.
Mascot: It's essentially the tertiary mascot of World, for reasons opposite to Nergigante: Anjanath is the first Wake-Up Call Boss that most players face, making its role akin to a Starter Villain, and is also Rathalos' designated rival. For a monster encountered this early on, being a badass T. rex only makes it more encouraging for newcomers to face and conquer.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Its main model is Tyrannosaurus rex, but elements were drawn from the vulture as well: note the bald, pink head and the black feathers lining its body from the shoulders down, which is also likely based on the modern understanding of feathered dinosaurs. Its head and arms, as well as the sails on its back and their apparent cooling function, basically make it halfway between a Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus. The appearance and function of its nostril sac are pretty unique, but it has similarities to that of the hooded seal.
Ms. Fanservice: Female Anjanath armor is more on the skimpy side, being a revealing Chainmail Bikini straight out of an old-school role-playing game.
Playing with Fire: When enraged, nominate Anjanath can unleash sprays of fire from its nose and mouth. It can also keep fire burning in its mouth to add fireblight to its bite attacks.
Purple Is Powerful: The Fulgur subspecies has more of a purple coloration than the main species, and it's a more powerful monster. Likewise, the armor you craft from it is also purple.
Rare Random Drop: Anjanath Plates in Low Rank, Anjanath Gems in High Rank, and Anjanath Mantles in Master Rank. Fulgur has Fulgur Anjanath Mantles.
Real Men Wear Pink:
- Normal Anjanath armor sets are pink, regardless of gender.
- Normal Anjanath itself is pink and is considered a nasty wall for newcomers in World.
Recurring Element: Anjanath is another designated rival for Rathalos. However, unlike Astalos from the previous generation, regular Anjanath is at a disadvantage and gets duly wrecked.
The Rival: Due to its aggressive nature, Anjanath gets into turf wars against quite a few monsters but the two that it fights the most are Great Jagras and Rathalos. This is because the three monsters are carnivores that live in forests, and therefore compete against each other for prey and territory. In turf wars, regular Anjanath easily defeats Great Jagras but loses badly to Rathalos.
Signature Move:
- Anjanath's digging charge. This Brute Wyvern will dig its jaw into the ground and run straight towards its enemy. It will bring its head up before slamming it back down during the charge. This charge causes high damage, is unpredictable as Anjanath can pull it out at any time and the windup before it is less than a second.
- Fulgur Anjanath's thunder lunge. After having enough electricity within, Fulgur Anjanath will jump straight towards its target headfirst, causing a large burst of the electricity out of its body. This attack also works as a Limit Break as it uses up all the electricity in the Brute Wyvern's body, prompting Fulgur Anjanath to build up electricity again.
Shock and Awe: The Fulgur Anjanath. This subspecies doesn't breath fire like the nominate Anjanath. Instead, it can build up electricity within its body. Once it has enough, Fulgur Anjanath's attacks become electrified and the more electricity it has, the more potent its attacks become. With enough electricity, the monster's own mucus also become electrified as Fulgur Anjanath sneezes them out as a method of range attack.
Super-Persistent Predator: When a large monster gets enraged, it will chase down hunters, even following them into other areas. Some monsters are faster than others but when it comes to speed and aggression, ones like Anjanath really take the cake. With its good speed and relentless behavior, an enraged Anjanath can and will keep up with a fleeing hunter in an attempt to get them. Its intro cutscene and poem in Rise showcase this behavior as the monster chases after a Lynian throughout the desert and the only reason the Lynian escapes is that it is lucky enough to reach a hole too small for Anjanath to fit through.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It's very similar to Glavenus in many areas, being a fire-breathing, jungle-and-desert-dwelling Brute Wyvern whose throat sac acts as an Achilles' Heel. Eventually downplayed as the latter would return in Iceborne.
Throat Light: The Fulgur subspecies, once it becomes enraged, literally begins crackling and glowing with electricity in several places. The most prominent are its fins, but the entire inside of the head (including its throat) visibly shows the power this Brute Wyvern is harnessing. Normal Anjanath's throat also glows with heat when it's enraged, but it's less pronounced than Fulgur.
Token Motivational Nemesis: Certainly one in World. The first mission is capstoned with its first appearance, and you will spend a good number of quests doing your best to avoid drawing its attention since you lack weapons or armor strong enough for you to be a serious threat to it, all while it trounces every low-tier monster that tries to fight it. The first half of Low Rank wraps up with you finally hunting it though, only to afterwards fight more powerful creatures ranked as apex monsters, including one that trounces Anjanath in turf wars. There are also Elder Dragons, who are so far beyond Anjanath that there's no point in comparison. Averted by the Fulgur subspecies, as while it's gotten a serious jump in power beyond its normal self, it's not treated as any kind of nemesis.
Took a Level in Badass:
- Vanilla Anjanath, while by no means a weakling, is only a mid-tier monster who gets completely trounced in a fight with Rathalos, an apex monster. By contrast, Fulgur Anjanath earns its rank as an apex-level monster as it can fight Diablos, Barioth, Nargacuga, Tigrex or Zinogre to a draw.
- Vanilla Anjanath also gets bumped up a few notches in Rise compared to its World counterpart. It's now considered to be on the same level as monsters like Zinogre, whereas before its threat level was relatively low, and while it still gets stomped by the Raths in turf wars, it's now able to hold its own against the likes of Nargacuga and Diablos. On a gameplay level, Anjanath's flamethrower attack used to end its rage mode in World, but not in Rise, where it keeps attacking you with it until its rage mode ends.
Turns Red: When enraged, it will flash its nostrils and back fins. Nominate Anjanath may power itself up even further by setting its mouth on fire, adding Fireblight to its biting attacks. In World, it will return to its normal state by unleashing a powerful flamethrower attack.
T. Rexpy: It resembles a monstrous, haggard tyrannosaur, with feathering closely resembling a vulture.
Vile Vulture: Its fleshy pink hide and black feathers covering everything but the head bring vultures to mind. In fact, it was originally going to have a more bird-like head, making its ties to vultures that much stronger.
Unskilled, but Strong: Anjanath weapons tend to have high raw damage, with a respectable Fire elemental damage, and are easier to access early on compared to Rathalos and Lavasioth weapons; the downside is that it comes at the expense of affinity (it gets a -20% to -30% hit).
Wake-Up Call Boss:
- Anjanath is the first large monster in World that utilizes good speed, massive physical damage, deadly element(Fire in this case) and a particularly nasty enraged mode. It is strong enough that it could potentially one-shot newcomers.
- Its Fulgur subspecies can throw off overconfident players who would scoff at a monster they are now accustomed to, as while its moveset isn't too different, it hits much harder and is far more durable.
The Worf Effect:
- It is easily trounced by Rathalos in a turf war. Anjanath doesn't even get a chance to hit as Rathalos quickly pushes it to the ground, sprays fire at it, lifts it in the air, then drops it. In Rise, it's easily trounced by Rathian as well.
- In Iceborne, a member of the nominate species is frozen to death by Velkhana.
- In a Rise cutscene, Anjanath is beating up Barroth in a desert, but before Anjanath could finish the fight, the two Brute Wyverns suddenly sense someone else coming. Said someone is Diablos, breaking up the fight by jumping out of the sand between the two, injuring both Brute Wyverns. Barroth limps away while Diablos deals with Anjanath by charging at it, lifting it up, and then throwing it over. Downplayed in turf wars as Anjanath can fight Diablos to a draw. Nominate Anjanath is able to fight the same way Fulgur Anjanath did in Iceborne, by dodging Diablos's charge, then beating it around before Diablos throws the Brute Wyvern over.
- In Sunbreak, the nasty Brute Wyvern stumbles over and falls dead after getting sucked dry by a brood of Qurio.

Radobaan

Radobaan (Radobalkin)

Bone Hammer Wyvern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_radobaan_render_001.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

A relative of the Uragaan, The Radobaan is a huge Brute Wyvern that scavenges for bones in the Rotten Vale. Apart from eating bones, This Brute Wyvern also wears them on its body for protection with the help of sticky tars covering its skin. While downed, its back can be mined for bones.

Acrofatic: Don't let its rotund physique fool you. Radobaan's ability to curl into a ball helps it to roll around surprisingly fast. It's even more agile than Uragaan as Radobaan can come at its target by getting on its side and spinning around.
Attack Its Weak Point: An interesting variation as most of its body is fairly soft. You just have to break through the much tougher bones on it first.
Fake Ultimate Mook: Much like the Anjanath, The Radobaan has an imposing size and intimidating appearance, but is only a mid-tier monster within its habitat. It loses badly to Odogaron which, in spite of being much smaller than Radobaan, is an apex monster.
Force and Finesse: The Finesse to the Uragaan's Force; while Uragaan is heavily reliant on brute force, utilizing multiple chin slams, body checks, and straightforward rolls, Radobaan is much more acrobatic in comparison, utilizing chin swipes, chin drags followed up with quick rolls, and spinning around like a top.
Fragile Speedster: It's pretty fast for a creature its size, but its body is soft when unarmoured, its bony armour is fairly easy to knock off, and breaking its parts will reduce its offensive capabilities (for example, breaking the hips may cause it to lose momentum when rolling, and breaking the back will prevent it from flinging bones when it rolls).
Gonk: It's a close relative of the Uragaan and is every bit as ugly.
Kill It with Ice: It's vulnerable to the Ice element.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: Like its close relative Uragaan, it has a massive chin. Unlike Uragaan, it won't deflect attacks.
Moveset Clone: Of Uragaan, fitting as the two species are likely cousins.
Non-Malicious Monster: It’s quite passive as it doesn’t mind hunters standing near it at all. The Radobaan favors scavenging for bones over hunting live preys so it makes sense that it won't be aggressive unless provoked.
Rolling Attack: Uses them frequently, both to attack and to move around.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Radobaan not only likes to eat bones, it also wears them for protection. The tar on its body helps keep its bony armor in place. If much of the armor is destroyed, the Brute Wyvern can refresh them by rolling around in a massive pile of bones.
Spin Attack: One of its attacks involves it laying on its side and spinning in circles.
Status Effects: It can release a bluish-white gas though its pores that inflicts Sleep.
Warm-Up Boss: Downplayed. The Radobaan is tougher than the Great Girros but this Brute Wyvern can get the player used to fighting in the Rotten Vale. Radobaan prefers to stay in the effluvium-free upper areas and has to be hunted once before the more dangerous lower areas open up.
The Worf Effect:
- It's easily defeated by Odogaron in turf wars. Radobaan tries to hit Odogaron with its huge jaw, but the Fanged Wyvern dodges before getting on top its head and viciously tearing into it, resulting in much of Radobaan's bone armor on its head being broken.
- It rolls at full speed into Tigrex in the latter's introduction cutscene, only for Tigrex to catch Radobaan, stop it, wrestle it to ground and kill the Brute Wyvern with one, well-placed bite.

Banbaro

Banbaro (Buffbaro)

Ferocious Bull Wyvern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_banbaro.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

A hulking, herbivorous, moose-like Brute Wyvern that inhabits the tundra. Its massive antler-like horns are perfect for scooping up snow, rocks or fallen trees during charge attacks.

Bullfight Boss: They call it the Ferocious Bull Wyvern for a reason. Banbaro's powerful charging move is distinct as the monster would dig its horns into the ground before charging. Thanks to the shape of its antler-like horns, Banbaro can dig out objects such as trees or rocks, then ram at its target with them to make the attack more effective.
Drop-In Nemesis: It's an invasive monster for... some reason (perhaps it's out raiding for Valhalla?), even though it's hilariously ill-suited to the Wildspire Waste, Elder's Recess or Rotten Vale.
Geo Effects: The location of the fight can alter Banbaro's charge attacks. It may pick up fallen trees for a wider hitbox in the Hoarfrost Reach and Ancient Forest, or chunks of heated rocks that cause Fire damage in the Elder's Recess.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Downplayed. It's docile until attacked, but if it so much as comes near another agitated monster, it will flip out.
Hammerspace: Banbaro can use its great horns to dig up boulders or a dead tree for both charging and throwing attacks... no matter what terrain its fighting on. This makes it look silly when digging up an infinite supply of trees in the Arena.
Herbivores Are Friendly: Zig-Zagged. By itself, it's placid until attacked. Once it runs into another monster, it becomes ill-tempered.
Hime Cut: The female Banbaro helmet resembles a wig of this type.
Horn Attack: More than half of its attacks involve using its horns. If Banbaro is not charging, it would use its horns to swing to its sides or stab the ground to strike anyone near it.
Horny Vikings: The male armor evokes this aesthetic very much so. On top of that, it has the Mushroomancer skill, in reference to their use of mushrooms to induce the Berserker state (though in this case, it allows you to get more potions from mushrooms depending on the level).
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: In two ways: Mechanically to the Jade Barroth, as an arctic Brute Wyvern that uses charging attacks. Visually to the Duramboros with its similar facial features, unique horns, and general body shape (sans the Duramboros' hump).
Truth in Television: Moose in real life are gigantic and highly territorial, which be seen in the Banbaro's behavior when provoked.
The Worf Effect: It's easily beaten by Barioth during turf wars. Banbaro charges at Barioth, only for the Flying Wyvern to dodge before tackling the Brute Wyvern to the ground. Barioth then sinks its fangs into Banbaro's neck before tossing it aside.

Fanged Wyverns

Jagras / Great Jagras

Jagras / Great Jagras (Dosjagras)

Thief Wyvern

Jagras

Great Jagras

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise (Jagras only)

Iguana-like monsters led by a larger alpha male with a ravenous appetite. The Great Jagras is notable for being hungry enough to swallow its prey whole, and it can use this to its advantage, using the immense weight it gains to crush attackers.

Always Male: All the Great Jagras. Jagras packs consist of males and females, however, mature males leave the pack to live solitary lives for some time. Those that survive this grow into Great Jagras and seek out a pack to lead.
Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Jagras can be distracted with raw meat.
Background Music Override: Normally the Great Jagras' battle theme is overridden by Deviljho's or Bazelgeuse's if either monster makes an appearance, but in the "Greatest Jagras" event, when Deviljho appears, "Savage of the Ancient Forest" overrides Jho's theme instead!
Balloon Belly: Their stomachs can elastically stretch to accommodate large prey.
Big Eater: Great Jagras has a huge appetite for a monster of its size. When it eats, the Great Jagras leaves no carcass behind as it would swallow its meal whole. Although, when it returns to its pack, it will vomit out some of its food for them to eat.
Boring, but Practical: Its weapons' base stats are unimpressive, but they possess multiple level 2 or 3 gem slots, hidden elements (this allows the weapon to benefit from Non-Elemental Boost skill), and a low rarity (which allows for the most augments possible). As a result, they deal some of the most raw damage in the game if set up properly.
Breaking Old Trends: Great Jagras is the first introductory monster to not be a Bird Wyvern.
Butt-Monkey: They're prone to getting mauled by larger monsters, such as Anjanath, Rathalos, and Deviljho. Even Capcom got in on this with the weapon showcases with the Great Jagras being the punching bag.
Disc-One Nuke: Great Jagras weapons are much easier to complete than other weapons in Master Rank, and can carry the player up till they begin to fight Elder Dragons. Its Master Rank armor also gives Attack Boost skill and Speed Eating skill.
Effective Knockoff: Knockoff isn't quite the word, but the Greatest Jagras is not considered a tempered monster, yet its strong and big enough to push Deviljho around.
From Nobody to Nightmare: Goes from being a poor schmuck of a monster to a powerful Elder Dragon threat as the Greatest Jagras. Even the Deviljho that spawns in that quest usually comes out worse for wear when they clash.
Giant Mook: A giant version appears in an event quest, along with a Fun Size variant and a third, normal-sized Great Jagras. The tiny one is the size of a Kelbi, while the big one's around the same size as Anjanath. The latter is played much straighter with the Greatest Jagras, which is comparable in size to the Deviljho roaming the map in the same quest.
Glass Cannon: When Great Jagras' stomach is full, its attacks deal more damage, but it also gains a massive weak point in the form of said stomach, making it easier to take out.
It Can Think: The Jagras show a decent amount of intelligence in the wild. They will fight hunters but are quick to retreat if the hunter kills two of them, indicating that the Jagras are smart enough to know that confronting a skilled hunter is suicide. Jagras also avoid confronting large monsters head-on but will often stalk them from a safe distance. If they see a large monster getting knocked down, the Jagras pack will come in and repeatedly strike at it(the Jagras are either trying to kill their target while it temporarily can’t fight back or trying to bite off some meat for them to eat). Once the large monster gets back up, the Jagras pack would fall back and continue to stalk.
Jack of All Stats: For an early-game monster, its stats are roughly even, having mediocre speed, power, health, and defenses overall.
Kill It with Fire: They're weak to the Fire element.
King Mook: The Great Jagras rules over the small monster Jagras.
Know When to Fold 'Em: The Jagras pack will attack hunters on sight but if the hunter kills at least two of them, the pack will retreat. This shows that the Jagras are smart enough to know not to confront something that can take them out very easily. The trope does get subverted on several occasions. Effluvium infected Jagras will not retreat as they are more aggressive. Jagras who are befriended by Palicoes will stick by their side and even let the Palicoes ride on them during combat. The Leshen can mind-control Jagras to fight for it.
Kryptonite Is Everywhere: It's not a particularly hard boss to begin with, but it's vulnerable to every ailment.
Lethal Joke Character: Basically the whole point of the Greatest Jagras, which, physically speaking, is no different from the normal Great Jagras aside from it being much bigger, but is a far stronger monster.
Piñata Enemy: The anniversary event Greatest Jagras leaves behind a bunch of feystones (even warped feystones if you're lucky) whenever it uses its spit attack or you force it to regurgitate its meal. It's not uncommon to finish a hunt with 20 or more decorations, making even a failed quest potentially profitable.
Recurring Element: They're the Fifth Generation's equivalent of the Velociprey/Jaggi/Maccao lines, being weak, common enemies without any special abilities, with the alpha male being a King Mook. though the Great Jagras does possess a non-elemental spit attack, as well as its Stance System.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Jagras are pretty aggressive as they will attack hunters if they see one and will also swarm a monster that has been incapacitated. Averted with Great Jagras, who will only attack hunters if it feels provoked.
The Rival: Great Jagras competes with Anjanath for food, and will attack it on sight. Although, Anjanath easily beats up Great Jagras every time.
Stance System: Great Jagras has two different phases: one where it's hungry, and one where it's full. When it's hungry, its stat spread is roughly balanced, and when it's full, its attacks become stronger and have greater range, but its speed and durability decrease. It starts out in its hungry phase, but will go into its full phase after eating a smaller monster, and hunters can revert it back into its hungry phase by attacking its inflated stomach, which forces it to regurgitate its meal.
Swallowed Whole: Great Jagras does this to smaller monsters such as Aptonoth when it's hungry.
Took a Level in Badass: The normal Great Jagras is considered a Warm-Up Boss, but then there's the Greatest Jagras which was added for the Appreciation Fest. This Jagras has health comparable to a tempered Elder Dragon and deals damage that makes Nergigante look tame by comparison, and the Greatest Jagras gains one of the flagship's nastiest attacks in its hungry phase, where it rises up on its hind legs before slamming down a claw to knock you prone. It's even capable of manhandling Deviljho.
Warm-Up Boss: The Great Jagras is the weakest large monster in the Ancient Forest. In fact, it is the weakest large monster in World. This Fanged Wyvern isn't much of a threat to even the most inexperienced hunters.
Who's Laughing Now?: The idea behind The Greatest Jagras quest, which is described as Great Jagras buffing up and taking revenge for all the abuse it's taken from both hunters and Deviljho.
The Worf Effect:
- Great Jagras is beaten by Anjanath in turf wars. The Brute Wyvern quickly grabs Great Jagras with its mouth and proceeds to aggressively beat it around. It really looks less like a Curb-Stomp Battle and more like a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Deviljho can pick up the poor schmuck and use it as a bludgeon against you. However, this gets Inverted with the Greatest Jagras who can make Deviljho actively flee from it.
Zerg Rush: Ancient Leshen can sic huge numbers of Jagras on a single hunter. While small monsters are generally about as threatening as a dust mite to a highly experienced hunter, the sheer volume of bodies can make it almost impossible to maneuver or escape as you're slowly worn down by the relentless pack.
Zombie Puke Attack: When Great Jagras is full, he can literally projectile vomit his dinner at his enemies. Naturally, Greatest Jagras' version is not only incredibly powerful, but he chain-vomits a spread of 7 or 8 chunks, each of which leaves behind a decoration gem.

Girros / Great Girros

Girros / Great Girros (Dosgirros)

Paralyzing Thief Wyvern

Girros

Great Girros

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Snake-headed Fanged Wyverns who sport paralyzing bites. These monsters make their home at the Rotten Vale and they are led by a large alpha, the Great Girros, who has a much more pronounced cobra hood.

Fangs Are Evil: They have large fangs that can inflict paralysis. Subverted in that they're not evil (they're animals, after all), just aggressive.
Fragile Speedster: They move quickly, but can't take much punishment.
Helpful Mook: You really want to run into a pack of Girros(or even better, the Great Girros itself) while fighting other monsters in the Rotten Vale, as they will attack them on sight and potentially paralyze them, making fights much easier. However, you must still be cautious when fighting a Deviljho, since that's just asking for the Great Girros to be used as a bludgeon against you.
Kill It with Water: Great Girros is weak to the Water element. Weirdly, the smaller Girros are immune to it.
King Mook: The Great Girros is the alpha male.
Mix-and-Match Critter: Monitor lizards with the heads of snakes and the pack-tactics of wolves. Great Girros has a distinct hood similar to that of cobras.
The Paralyzer: Can inflict Paralysis through their bites. In addition, Great Girros can inflict Paralysis from a distance by spitting at its target.
Plague Doctor: The armor set made from it resembles the standard attire and look of one. Fittingly, one of the skills of the armor set is immunity to the health-reducing effluvium of the Rotten Vale.
Scavengers Are Scum: Girros are able and willing to hunt but they often prefer to scavenge for monster carcasses, which are plentiful in the Rotten Vale. They are viciously nasty monsters that would attack others on sight. Averted with Great Girros, who only fights if it feels provoked.
Skippable Boss: Like the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, Great Girros only needs to be spotted during an investigation to make story progress in Low Rank, and can otherwise be ignored.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Genprey line, as the lesser carnivores who paralyze with their bites.
Warm-Up Boss: Zig-Zagged. The Great Girros is technically the weakest large monster in the Rotten Vale but there are aspects that make hunting it rather challenging. For starters, the Girros reside almost entirely in areas that are filled with the hazardous effluvium, which slowly drain away the hunter's health, so you constantly have to rely on either torch pods for clean air or healing items for restoring lost health. Secondly, the Great Girros is always backed up by its pack. Taking out a Girros is not hard but the Great Girros calls for help rather frequently, so it always feel like a mad party when you're simply trying to hunt this particular Fanged Wyvern.
The Worf Effect:
- Great Girros is one of the many monsters Deviljho can use as a bludgeon.
- The Acidic Glavenus is introduced swiftly curb-stomping the Great Girros and its pack. Great Girros does its best during the fight but Acidic Glavenus is clearly the bigger and tougher monster, so Great Girros calls its entire pack to come in and help. The Brute Wyvern is outnumbered but it sharpens its tail and proceeds to wipe the floor with the Girros pack. The Great Girros is now on its own once again, but to its credit, it refuses to retreat, in spite of the odds. The two monsters advance toward each other, both about to attack. Acidic Glavenus wins by striking Great Girros with its tail.
Wrestler in All of Us: One of its moves is a running cannonball senton.

Shamos

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

Lizard-like monsters with a red hide and wide yellow eyes. They dislike being around light as they usually remain in shaded areas during the day.

Blinded by the Light: They hate light and will scatter if fire is thrown at them. Due to this, they have a strong dislike for the Tzitzi-Ya-Ku.
Catlike Dragons: Their pointed ear-like crests, wide eyes with slitted pupils, and stance as they prowl around give them a bit of feline flair.
Cool Shades: The goggles you can craft from their parts resemble these.
Uniformity Exception: Their body shape and movements are similar to those of the Jagras, suggesting they have similar lifestyles and are possibly distant relatives, yet Shamos don't have large versions of themselves contributing as alphas.
Vocal Dissonance: They're no less reptilian than their Jagras and Girros cousins, but they make noises that bafflingly sound like the whinnying of a horse.

Tobi-Kadachi

Tobi-Kadachi (Tobikagachi) (variant: Viper Tobi-Kadachi)

Flying Thunder Wyvern / Flying Poison Wyvern (Viper Tobi-Kadachi), Flying Sparks

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/png_tobi_kadachi_1.png

^{Viper Tobi-Kadachi}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Viper subspecies:
World: Iceborne

A flying shadow, stalking through the night
Silent as the wind, with eyes shining bright
Always craving blood, lightning running through its fur
When it swoops down on its prey, all becomes a blur.

A snake-headed monster that lives deep in the forest. It glides among the trees by using membranes stretching between its limbs. It also rubs itself against the environment to build up and store static electricity in special spines hidden in its fur. Tobi-Kadachi would use the electricity to strike its target.

Iceborne introduces the Viper subspecies, which combines a paralyzing bite with venomous spines and it lives in caves.

Composite Character: Tobi in Rise is this to its own subspecies from Iceborne. It gains the ability to do Viper's aerial sweep as its called-out-by-the-hunter attack, and it can now fling quills at the hunter from a distance like Viper could, save that these quills can Thunderblight when Tobi's charged up rather than poisoning them.
Cycle of Hurting: A solid hit will knock it off a tree and leave it prone on the ground, and there's a good chance its first action once it gets up will be to get onto the same tree, while the hunter is still standing right under it. This can happen three of four times before Tobi-Kadachi will think to try something else, if it doesn't die from the repeated mauling in the meantime.
Decomposite Character: Inherits Zinogre's Thunder element and being an animal with reptilian and mammalian traits, while the canine parts are transferred to Odogaron.
Defiant to the End: In a Rise cinematic, one opts to go down fighting against the Magnamalo hunting it once it realizes it can't escape. The poem accompanying the scene even refers to it as "a hero's death".
Fragile Speedster: It doesn't have as much health or hit nearly as hard as the Anjanath or Rathalos it shares a habitat with. It makes up for this by jumping around on the trees and using quick hit-and-run attacks, making actually hitting it more challenging and gradually buffing itself up with static electricity to increases its attack power. Its agility is such that it can stand up to monsters considerably stronger than it since they often just can't manage to hit it.
Gold-Colored Superiority: The Viper subspecies is a much deadlier monster, and has an orangish-gold tint.
Kill It with Water: It's vulnerable to the Water element.
Logical Weakness: Its stronger attacks depend on built up static electricity; if you hit it with watermoss, its electrical aura will dissipate and it'll go back to simple melee attacks.
Meaningful Name: Its name is derived from tobu, meaning "to fly", and kagachi, an old-fashioned name for a snake.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Has the head of a snake, the body of a marten, and the webbing of a flying squirrel. Its elongated tail scales also resemble the feathers of a bird.
Nerf: In Iceborne Master Rank, Tobi-Kadachi could enter a secondary "super charged" state on top of its normal charged state where its attacks hit harder. In Rise, this mode is nowhere to be seen.
Not Quite Flight: Its World ecology and all of its titles might indicate that Tobi-Kadachi flies, but this is technically not the case. The webbing stretching between its limbs grants it the ability to glide. Viper Tobi-Kadachi takes it a step further, using its gliding to flank and reposition mid-combat.
The Paralyzer: Viper Tobi-Kadachi can inflict paralysis with its mouth. This comes in handy for the monster when it hunts.
Poisonous Person: In Iceborne, Viper Tobi-Kadachi tends to inflict poison more frequently than any other monster. This is because its tail is covered in venomous barbs that inflict deadly poison with even a single strike, and more than half of its attacks are tail attacks. The monster can even inflict poison from a distance by flinging the barbs as a projectile. Unlike Rathian and Yian Garuga, the tail of a Viper Tobi-Kadachi cannot be severed, meaning the danger of being poisoned will remain throughout the fight. To top it all off, Viper Tobi-Kadachi inflicts Noxious Poison, which depletes more health than regular Poison. Strong poison resistance is highly recommended to negate the poison effects altogether.
Shock and Awe: After rubbing itself against the environment enough times, its fur courses with static electricity, allowing all of its attacks to be electrified.
Shout-Out: The Low and High Rank Tobi-Kadachi male helmet resembles Djura's hat from Bloodborne.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Tobi-Kadachi was one to Zinogre, being a blue reptilian Thunder element Fanged Wyvern. Downplayed as Zinogre would return in Iceborne.
- The Viper subspecies is this to Gigginox, being a poisonous cave-dweller in the tundra. A hint of its existence in a magazine article was even mistaken for the latter.
Tail Slap: Uses its large tail for offense, swiping and slamming down on hunters much like the Nargacuga does. It's noted that it prefers to attack with its tail or mouth to avoid risking damage to its claws, since they are so vital to its arboreal lifestyle. The larger its tail, the stronger the attacks it can use and the more electricity it can build up.
Took a Level in Badass:
- Normal Tobi-Kadachi is only a low-tier monster, but Viper Tobi-Kadachi ranks more as mid-tier thanks to its use of both Paralysis and Noxious Poison. Additionally, normal Tobi needs to jump from a tree to utilize its better glide attack while Viper Tobi can simply jump off the ground and remain gliding before it attacks without needing to leap from a high spot.
- Its appearance in Rise not only gives it the Viper subspecies' moves, but it hits much harder and moves much faster to the point that its threat level ranks it closer to monsters such as Barioth, Anjanath and Rathalos.
Wall Jump: Technically, 'tree glide' in this case but the trope still applies. Thanks to its marten and squirrel traits, The Tobi-Kadachi can utilize the environment to its advantage by jumping and gliding from tree to tree. This Fanged Wyvern usually does this to brush itself against the tree in order to build up electricity, attack its opponent from behind, or at least come at them with an effective tail attack.
Weak, but Skilled: Viper Tobi isn't the strongest of the monsters, but its deadly poison and paralysis make up for its lack of physical strength. It is also more clever in using its gliding ability in combat than normal Tobi.
The Worf Effect:
- Is defeated by Anjanath during turf wars. Tobi-Kadachi staggers Anjanath for a few seconds with its electricity(poison if it is Viper Tobi-Kadachi) to bite its torso, but Anjanath doesn't take any damage at all. The Brute Wyvern grabs Tobi and slams it to the ground.
- It's also one of the many monsters Deviljho can use as a bludgeon.
- In Rise, it is shown being stalked and killed by Magnamalo with ease. To Tobi's credit, it eventually tries to stand its ground and fight, but Magnamalo just takes it down with its tail. Tobi-Kadachi is then eaten offscreen.
- In Rise, it also loses in turf wars against Rathalos. He defeats Tobi the same way he defeats Anjanath(by pushing it to the ground, spraying fire at it, lifting it into the air, then dropping it).

Odogaron

Odogaron (variant: Ebony Odogaron)

Cruel Claw Wyvern / Wicked Claw Wyvern (Ebony Odogaron)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mh_odo.png

^{Ebony Odogaron}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne
Ebony subspecies
World: Iceborne

A fierce Fanged Wyvern distinguished by its blood-red coloration, protruding fangs and a second set of sharp claws that protrude from its feet. It can sometimes be seen dragging corpses back to its lair. Violently fast, Odogaron is a bloodthirsty creature that will relentlessly claw and bite both prey and foe.

Iceborne introduces the Ebony subspecies, which is even more aggressive, can be found in almost any habitat and has powerful Dragon-element attacks.

Absurdly Sharp Claws: Its claws are sharp enough that they can cause hunters to bleed if Odogaron lands a hit. If you don't have resistance to the Bleed ailment or items to remove it, you have to crouch in order to patch yourself up, a task easier said than done if Odogaron is still coming after you.
Achilles' Heel: Like Tigrex and Deviljho, Odogaron will eat any meat(including drugged meat) placed on the ground due to tiring easily.
Anti-Magic: The Ebony subspecies's Dragon attacks can inflict Dragonblight on the hunter, removing the elemental effects from their weapons. Which is good for the monster, since elemental attacks to its head can knock it out of its frenzy. Similarly, its weapons have a high Elderseal value.
The Berserker: Absolutely relentless in its attacks, often stringing at least two together. When enraged, it will string up to four attacks giving you very little room to breathe. Even when flinched, it falls down only to sometimes recover and strike back at you.
Blood Knight: This thing is incredibly hostile as it gets into turf wars with a lot of monsters. When it spots a hunter, it will give a warning roar, and will quickly turn hostile if the hunter doesn't go away. With its incredible speed and sheer brutality in combat, Odogaron is an extremely vicious monster.
Bloody Horror: It looks like a skinned wolf as its glistening red skin resembles muscle tissue and it is the first monster in World that inflicts Bleed status.
Body Horror: It has a second set of claws that protrude on top of its primary set. Its hide also gives the impression of being skinless. It's also notable for lacking eyelids of any sort.
Boring, but Practical: Wearing multiple High or Master Rank Odogaron armor pieces activates the Protective Polish skill, which prevents melee weapons from losing sharpness for a certain amount of time after the weapon is sharpened. This helps to reduce the need of the Handicraft skill and the frequent use of the whetstone.
Burning with Anger: When it goes into berserk mode, it'll start glowing red with rage, and it is naturally strong against the Fire element. Regular Odogaron weapons even have hidden Fire elements.
Composite Character: Has traits of Tigrex, Nargacuga, and Zinogre, as Suspiciously Similar Substitute explains.
Counter-Attack: Sometimes when it would have been flinched or toppled, it fakes the "topple" animation and then bounces back quickly, punishing anyone who was trying to go in for the kill.
Critical Hit Class: Much of the armor made from Odogaron provide the Critical Eye skill. Additionally, many of the weapons made from Odogaron parts have high affinity percentages as well.
Death Glare: Has a constant one. Other monsters when not agitated can look docile, even if with a fierce expression. Odogaron's default expression is "DO NOT FUCK WITH ME" even when sleeping. Perhaps it looks like this because it lacks eyelids or a nictitating membrane entirely.
Decomposite Character: Inherits Zinogre's canine-reptile hybrid structure with a savage fighting style while Tobi-Kadachi takes the elemental aspects in vanilla World.
Dogs Are Dumb: Odogaron is a canine monster and, as shown by its rather cavalier attitude toward safety, it is dumb as a whole forest of posts.
- Its offensive hitboxes are also extremely generous towards the player and it tracks very early on in many of its attacks, leading it to miss a lot. A player who knows this can often avoid many of Odogaron's moves by simply walking out of the way.
Dragons Are Demonic: Like the Stygian Zinogre, the Ebony Odogaron has a darker skin coloration, a reddish lightning aura around it thanks to its Dragon element, and is generally shown as far more aggressive than its nominate species.
Drop-In Nemesis: Ebony Odogaron. It doesn't matter if it's tropical forest, snowy tundra or scorching desert. The Ebony subspecies instinctively roams throughout the land, any land. On some occasions, this Fanged Wyvern would come to a habitat only to remain there for a much shorter amount of time compared to other large monsters before it leaves, showcasing Ebony Odogaron's nomadic lifestyle.
Dumb Muscle: Yeah, yeah, it looks like a muscle and it’s an idiot. The point stands; Odogaron is about as intelligent as a two-week-old bale of spinach, but it lives in an environment where it doesn’t have to be smart: just savage, violent and relentless.
Early-Bird Boss: Odogaron sometimes wanders up into the Coral Highlands, quite possibly before the player even knows the Rotten Vale exists. Players who recently struggled fighting mid-tier monsters like Anjanath would likely not stand a chance against Odogaron.
Evil Is Visceral: As mentioned before, it looks like an animal with its skin ripped off. Additionally, its lair has walls of putrid flesh and tendons that it can tear through. The Master Rank armor even goes for this aesthetic, making the hunter look like a flayed samurai demon.
Fangs Are Evil: Has a pair of protruding canines on its lower and upper jaw. While not actually evil, it is highly aggressive and will readily attack monsters larger than itself. If it turf wars with Radobaan, it'll jump on Radobaan and start tearing chunks of it off with its teeth.
Fearless Fool: Vicious, but has no grasp of when it's out of its league, attacking Vaal Hazak(the Rotten Vale's resident Elder Dragon) and even Deviljho on sight.
Fragile Speedster: Odogaron moves quickly to compensate for its lack of defense.
Fun Size: The "Rush of Blood" event quest features two Odogaron. One is normal size, but the other is only the size of a Jagras. That is a very, very tiny muscle puppy.
Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: Ebony Odogaron is an invasive monster in the same vein as Deviljho, showing up in locations outside of the normal Odogaron's hunting grounds.
Glass Cannon: It has a fairly small health pool, but its speed and aggression help it strike a lot within a short amount of time. Ebony Odogaron fits the trope even better as its Dragon element attacks can cause high damage.
Hellhound: It certainly has the look, being a huge, vicious, and vaguely-reptilian dog-like creature. Ebony Odogaron takes this up another level due to its glowing red eyes and Dragon element abilities.
It Can Think: While it's not the sharpest set of dual blades, it does seem to have a brain cell or two. It knows that hunters will try to kick it while it's down, so it sometimes fakes being toppled so that it can lunge back at any hunters who take the bait.
Irony: Ebony Odogaron is weak to the Water element, yet its introductory cutscene is in the ocean-like Coral Highlands.
Kamaitachi: Despite popular opinion saying it's a canine, it has more in common with weasels since it has a long tail compared to the rest of its body, lithe build, and chattering call instead of a bark. Combine that with its sickle claws, speed, and overabundance of attacks that cause the Bleed ailment, and it could be a dead ringer for a kamaitachi.
Kill It with Ice: The regular Odogaron is vulnerable to the Ice element.
Laser-Guided Karma: Whenever Deviljho(another mean-tempered and violent carnivore) confronts Odogaron, it swings the Fanged Wyvern around like a chew toy.
Moveset Clone: Uses the same skeleton and animations as Tobi-Kadachi.
Ms. Fanservice:
- The female armor made from its parts doesn't look too bad from the front, but it shows quite a bit of backside and thighs, on a skin-tight armor set.
- The female Master Rank alpha armor is even skimpier, showing more skin.
- Inverted with the female Master Rank beta armor as the chest armor is covered with a poncho.
Ninja:
- Female armor resembles one with a much slimmer and skin-tight outfit than its male counterpart, which resembles a Samurai instead. The helmet is a mask that either covers the mouth and nose, or it is one that's hanging over the face. The armor also includes a Socialite style ponytail wig.
- Female Master Rank alpha armor also has the aesthetic of a ninja, albeit a much skimpier one. The mask covers only one third of the face(specifically the left eye) and the wig features a Rattail style ponytail. Downplayed with the female Master Rank beta armor as it partly resembles a Rōnin, complete with a hat that resembles a kasa.
No-Sell:
- The regular Odogaron is immune to the Dragon element.
- Tzitzi-Ya-Ku's flashing ability usually blinds other monsters for a few seconds. However, during turf wars, its blinding attack only startles Odogaron for a very brief moment. Odogaron quickly retaliates by attacking Tzitzi-Ya-Ku, knocking the Bird Wyvern down. It is often theorized that Odogaron already has extremely poor eyesight, which would explain why blinding it doesn't have much effect.
- In its introductory cutscene in Iceborne, the Ebony Odogaron gets slashed in the face by a normal Odogaron. The Ebony subspecies doesn't even react much to the slash, acting more annoyed than hurt, complete with a look afterwards that expresses "Really?".
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Note how Odogaron doesn't immediately attack a Deviljho, and instead is stuck there, trying to scare it off, but has a much higher than usual pitched roar. This is the same monster who will willingly mount an Elder Dragon without hesitation.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: It is rather small compared to some of the other large monsters. In World, it is the smallest apex monster. However, this Fanged Wyvern still earns its status as an apex monster for a good reason. It can tear apart the much bigger Radobaan without much trouble. In addition, the "Rush of Blood" event quest features a Fun Size Odogaron who hits just as hard as the full-sized specimen. However, the trope is Deconstructed since not only does its smaller size mean it goes down quicker than the other apex monsters, the much bigger Deviljho can just manhandle it with ease.
Power-Up Food: Odogaron can sometimes be seen carrying a lump of meat in its mouth. If the meat is eaten, it will gain a second form of rage mode, where it will literally Turn Red (red markings appearing on its body and steam rising from its mouth).
Purple Is Powerful: The Ebony subspecies has a slight purple coloration and a stronger array of attacks than the nominate species thanks to its Dragon-based breath attacks.
Rare Random Drop: Odogaron Plates in Low Rank, Odogaron Gems in High Rank, and Odogaron Mantles in Master Rank. Ebony has Ebony Odogaron Mantles.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Ebony Odogaron has black skin, blood-red eyes, a crimson aura, and is even more vicious than the regular species.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: The Ebony subspecies has these, and when you see it coming, you should take warning.
Red Is Violent: The nominate Odogaron is as red as blood and its level of aggression surpasses almost every other monster in World. Ebony Odogaron is even more vicious but its skin color consists of black, blue and purple. That being said, Ebony does have red claws, glowing red eyes, and can use the red colored Dragon element.
Samurai: The male armor set evokes Samurai-esque armor in design, complete with hakama style pants and a menpo mask designed after Oni. Its set bonus even gives the Punishing Draw skill which enourages Iaijutsu-like attacks. The male Master Rank armor also resembles a samurai.
Savage Wolves: The most vicious monster in the New World is an angry red lizard-wolf.
Serrated Blade of Pain: A closer look, and its concept art◊ reveals that its larger claws are ribbed and have two rows of serrated teeth on the bottom going nearly to the tip.
Sinister Scythe: High and Master Rank Odogaron dual blades are a pair of attached kama with chains.
Status Effects: Its claws are so sharp that they can inflict Bleed ailment.
Super-Speed: Odogaron is scary fast, able to cross an entire habitat in seconds. When in combat, it can strike and dodge around the battlefield at frightening speed.
Suppressed Rage: When it has food in its mouth, it won't attack immediately, but it won't hesitate in showing its displeasure at you if you get close.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: This trope was played straight in vanilla World, but is now downplayed as all three monsters mentioned below would return in Iceborne:
- Much like Tigrex, it's highly aggressive and will attack anything in sight to sate its hunger, going as far as to eat drugged meat.
- The armor set is a Stripperiffic ninja-like set that provides similar critical damage bonuses, similar to the Nargacuga.
- While Tobi-Kadachi has the elemental aspect, Odogaron is very much closer to Zinogre in terms of threat level, and is also a nasty canine monster.
Tail Slap: Its tail is a mass of scales and mache-shaped bone ridges it will gladly bludgeon you with.
Theme Naming: Four out of five weapons that have Odogaron upgrade trees culminate in rare level 8 weapons with one word titles that represent immorality or the consequences thereof: Sin, Vice, Odium and Karma.
Throw the Dog a Bone:
- Despite losing its turf war against Vaal Hazak, it has a chance of fighting back and putting the latter in a cycle of stun-locking if it doesn't flee.
- In World, it may be the only apex monster that Deviljho beats by simply pinning it in its mouth and would smash the Fanged Wyvern around several times(a habit Deviljho normally does to very low-tier monsters like Great Jagras and Tzitzi-Ya-Ku), but Odogaron is able to completely win in a turf war against another apex monster(Uragaan in this case^note).
Too Dumb to Live: Odogaron is one of the very few monsters, such as Deviljho, brave enough to confront an Elder Dragon and fight it. However, unlike Deviljho, Odogaron does not have the might to back it up in such a fight, resulting in the foolish Fanged Wyvern being outmatched and beaten. Odogaron would also confront Deviljho itself, and while Jho isn't even an Elder Dragon, it could be argued that Deviljho beats up Odogaron even more brutally than an Elder Dragon would! That being said, the way Odogaron reacts when encountering Deviljho implies that the Fanged Wyvern knows it is screwed.
Wall Jump: Odogaron's decent strength and extraordinary speed helps it to occasionally jump onto the side of a nearby wall to get at its opponent from above.
Wolverine Claws: This vicious monster has ten claws on each foot. Four of the claws mainly help Odogaron move around while the other six claws remain folded. When in combat, Odogaron unfolds the six claws in order to make its clawing attacks even deadlier. A single strike from these claws can inflict damage and bleeding.
The Worf Effect:
- It does not stand a chance in a turf war against Vaal Hazak, an Elder Dragon. Odogaron instinctively gets on Vaal Hazak's back and attacks it like it does with Radobaan, but Vaal's effluvium retaliate as they overwhelm Odogaron until it falls off.
- It has even less of a chance against Deviljho; whereas other apex monsters at least try to fight back in a turf war(they still lose), Odogaron just gets manhandled and thrown around as if it is Great Jagras. Even the stronger Ebony subspecies can't put up a fight.
- Ebony Odogaron's introductory cutscene shows it killing a regular Odogaron. Both of them are evenly matched in speed and agility, but as the fight continues, it becomes clear that Ebony Odogaron has more strength and durability. After easily enduring a slash to the face, Ebony Odogaron pins regular Odogaron to the ground and breaks its neck.
You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Odogaron isn't the deadliest monster in World but it is the most aggressive, and if ticked off, it'll hound you until either you or it is dead. The only moment in which it's "docile" is when it has a meal in its mouth, and even then, it'll growl at you menacingly to make you keep your distance.
Zombie Puke Attack: Ebony Odogaron can spit chunks of meat charged with the Dragon element at the player as it jumps around. This gives it a way to counteract its rather significant elemental weaknesses.

Dodogama

Dodogama (Dodogamaru)

Rock Thief Wyvern

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dodogama.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

A salamander-like Fanged Wyvern that uses its massive lower jaw to pull rocks out of the ground, which it uses as a food source and a method of fighting off enemies. Its saliva is volatile, and when it mixes rocks with it, they will become explosive projectiles.

Acrofatic: For such a portly creature, Dodogama has a surpringly fast sprint attack as it charges at its target at quick speed, while it digs its mouth into the ground, no less.
Beware the Silly Ones: It looks like a goofy salamander that needs to go on a diet and it is generally a low-tier monster, but getting hit by its explosive spit hurts. Dodogama's explosive attacks are so deadly that they can knock down and stun-lock stronger monsters like Bazelgeuse and Rathalos.
Dishing Out Dirt: It mainly attacks by spitting explosive molten rocks at enemies.
Eat Dirt, Cheap: Dodogama loves to eat rocks, and can coat them in volatile saliva to make them explosive.
Fangs Are Evil: Has a pair of protruding fangs on its bottom jaw. Subverted in that it's not evil, just aggressive once provoked.
Glass Cannon: Out of all the local large monsters in the Elder's Recess, Dodogama has the lowest health pool but all of its explosive rock attacks are quite dangerous. Its explosive rock barrages are especially destructive and they occur when the rocks have fully dissolved, signified by its jaw glowing. However, its mouth becomes a major weak point in the process.
Having a Blast: The saliva-coated rocks it spits inflict Blastblight.
- Dodogama weapons cause Blast damage, and its armor sets favor a build that focuses on dealing it.
Hoist by His Own Petard: If you attack Dodogama's jaw at the right time when it's got a mouthful of rocks, you can detonate the rocks, doing serious damage and briefly stunning the monster. Attacks from any weapon does the job. Even a well-timed shot with a bomb pod, torch pod, or crystalburst from your slinger works fine.
Lantern Jaw of Justice: It has a massive round jaw. Subverted in that it's not particularly just (it's an animal, after all).
Magma Man: Will spit molten rock at its enemies once the rocks in its mouth completely dissolve. However, it doesn't deal Fire damage. Nope, it's Blast.
Mighty Roar: Some of Dodogama's roars sound like whale calls.
Non-Malicious Monster: The only one in the Elder's Recess, in fact. Dodogama would rather sleep and eat rocks all day than fight, but it will defend itself if it feels provoked.
Ridiculously Cute Critter: Its tubby body, friendly face, and gentle nature have won it plenty of admirers both in-and-out of universe. You're even given a mission to hunt one because the other hunters think it's too cute to hurt.
Stout Strength: It's far from the strongest monster in the Elder's Recess, but this plump fella is not to be underestimated: those explosive rocks it can spit at you cause a lot of damage.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To the Berserk Tetsucabra, being a monster with a large bottom jaw that uses explosive rocks as weapons.
Token Good Teammate: Of the Elder's Recess locals. In the Elder's Recess, all the inhabitants are generally territorial and aggressive toward each other and anyone else^note. Even small monsters(Gastodon, Barnos and Vespoid) would attack on sight and the place is also the main home of the Gajalaka, the most aggressive Lynians in World. Yet Dodogama stands out from them by being the only one who is passive, only choosing to fight if it feels threatened.^note
Warm-Up Boss: The weakest large monster in the Elder's Recess.
The Worf Effect:
- One of the many monsters Deviljho can use as a bludgeon.
- Behemoth's intro shows Dodogama getting killed by it before being tossed away like a ragdoll.

Wulg

Ice Jackal Wolf

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

These small furry Fanged Wyverns inhabit the tundra. They are opportunistic predators and attack both hunters and large monsters alike when they get the chance.

Elite Mook: Wulg are a good deal more threatening than World's other small Fanged Wyverns. Unlike the Jagras, Wulg don't back out of a fight if they are outmatched. They have a distinct ability where they can coil around hunters. They can also dig through deep snow with ease, allowing them to quickly traverse around most of their habitats.
Helpful Mook: Should a large monster be immobilized with a trap or knocked down close to a Wulg pack, they'll start attacking it while it's disabled for some small damage. Notably, one of the Wulg will jump on the monster's back and ride it as it does so.
Mix-and-Match Critters: They look like a cross between a wolf and a badger.^note Their front feet are armed with long, raptor-like blue claws.
Personal Space Invader: Very fond of this trope. A Wulg can strike a hunter with its raptor-like claws and if the Fanged Wyvern successfully lands a hit, the hunter will stagger, giving the Wulg the opportunity to coil around them.
Savage Wolves: They'll stalk hunters over surprisingly long distances, and will happily sic their entire pack on them when they move in for the kill.
Uniformity Exception: Much like the Shamos, Wulg also don't have large versions of themselves contributing as alphas.

Relicts

Leshen

^{Ancient Leshen}

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World ver. 6-, World: Iceborne

A powerful and ancient forest spirit from a different universe. It is the source of the strange disturbances in the Ancient Forest.

Attack Its Weak Point: Breaking its body parts will temporarily depower the Leshen and desummon its flock of Revoltures and pack of Jagras, providing a window of opportunity to attack.
Battle Aura: The Revoltures flocking about the Leshen's body functions akin to Teostra/Lunastra's flame aura or Val Hazaak's effluvia, doing constant tick damage that can really chip away at a Hunter's health if they're not careful. When enough Revoltures accumulate, the Leshen begins to pull out some really dangerous attacks. Breaking a body part or setting it alight will temporarily scatter the birds and render the Leshen helpless for the most part.
Barrier Change Boss: Will occasionally create cover using walls of roots that are immune to physical attacks, then snipe at Geralt from long range. Geralt must either wait for the walls to collapse on their own, get around them, or use Igni to burn them down.
Berserk Button: Destroying its totem will anger it enough to drive it out of hiding to deal with the culprit personally.
Blinded by the Light: Flash Pods are guaranteed to stop an Ancient Leshen and its Jagras flunkies in their tracks. The wood spirit recovers very quickly, but this tactic is always effective against it.
Botanical Abomination: A tree monstrosity that sticks out like a sore thumb in both Monster Hunter and The Witcher.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: The Ancient Leshen and its pack of Jagras will always be standing beneath some hanging boulders in the beginning of the hunt. It is considered imperative to drop these rocks on the Leshen before it teleports away to significantly expedite the first stage.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Immune to Traps, Water element and Sleep Status Ailment.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Ancient Leshen sports an absolutely titanic 67,500HP, eclipsing even Extreme Behemoth and Fatalis in solo play, though it does not scale up in multiplayer like every other monster does. Even with four endgame Hunters, expect this fight to take a while.
Death by a Thousand Cuts: None of its attacks hit particularly hard, but between its flock of Revoltures, its bleeding-inducing claws, the pack of Jagras hounding you, and its root attacks, your health will almost constantly be draining with little room to heal. Luckily for Geralt, witchers have incredible recovery. Averted with Ancient Leshen, which hits like a ton of bricks & has several move that can even oneshot unwary Hunters on top of the constant damage ticks.
The Dreaded: The Leshen's ability to manipulate smaller monsters and use the jungle as its weapon makes it treated as an Elder Dragon-level monster.
Field Power Effect: The Leshen is actually even more dangerous in the Monster Hunter universe than it is in its homeworld, thanks to the Ancient Forest being such a vast wealth of energy and foliage.
Flunky Boss:
- The Leshen is protected by a flock of Revoltures that will attack Geralt at close range. It will also summon a pack of Jagras for assistance in later phases of the fight.
- Ancient Leshen spawns with a pack of Jagras, and when it summons more later on, it can point at a random hunter to 'mark' them and make all the Jagras target that hunter.
Foil:
- To Behemoth, the other Guest Monster. The Behemoth is close enough to the Commission's usual fare that they feel comfortable shoehorning into the "Elder Dragon" classification, while the Leshen has a unique classification. Also, while Behemoth isn't considered an abomination back in Final Fantasy XIV just so much as it is The Dreaded, the Leshen is very much one back in The Witcher.
- To virtually every other monster in the entire series. The beasts of Monster Hunter, even the enigmatic Elder Dragons, can at least be expected to make full use of their intelligence and physiology, whether that means flexing their powerful muscles, swinging their tails, belching fire and thunder, calling its pack for backup, navigating the environment, and etc. In other words, the monsters are effective combatants thanks to a combination of tactics and individual prowess. Even the series' Flunky Bosses can be reasonably dangerous by themselves. Meanwhile, the Leshen is an otherwise slow and mediocre fighter, so it prefers to enthrall the flora and fauna to do most of the work while it teleports around.
Four Is Death: Just like Behemoth and Kulve Taroth, its fight is divided into four stages. The final stage is noted by many players to be the most dangerous because that's when the Leshen decides to jack the difficulty up to near-unreasonable levels.
"Get Back Here!" Boss: The Leshen's slow movement speed at both attacking and moving means it doesn't present a great threat at close range, but it can cover this weakness by rapidly teleporting around the arena and using long-range attacks.
Green Thumb: Its main form of offense, Leshen can summon giant roots to attack or to act as barriers. They're strong enough to restrain and strangle a Pukei-Pukei to death or simply launch Geralt into the air.
Guest Fighter: The second monster that hails from a different series, after Behemoth.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Highly territorial, it will deal with any intruders in its territory violently, as several Pukei-Pukei and the Chief Botanist find out the hard way.
Humanoid Abomination: Already one of these in its home series, it's even moreso here—it's the first humanoid large monster since King Shakalaka, and its powers, behavior, and appearance are out-of-place in the Monster Hunter universe.
It Can Think: It is smart enough to cover for its slow movement speed by teleporting around, denying Geralt opportunities to attack and sniping at him from a distance away. As the fight progresses, it will summon a pack of Jagras to both attack and distract Geralt as it uses its slower, but more powerful attacks. The Ancient Leshen, being an older and stronger specimen, is even smarter to the point of marking a specific Hunter, unleashing the pack of Jagras it summoned to hound the Hunter down while it also aim for that particular Hunter with several powerful attacks, including its root pin attack. Without the support of other Hunters, that Hunter is as good as dead and one step closer to the Quest falling.
Knockback: The key to winning a fight against both variants of Leshen is taking advantage of a hunter's standard-issue slinger; the Leshen is incredibly susceptible to flinching from virtually all types of slinger ammo, though the best results come from lobbing Dragon Pods, Flash Pods, and Bomb Pods at it. A well-timed shot can stagger the Leshen out of whatever it's doing and provide an opening for attack.
Leitmotif:
- "The Trail", from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, plays during its fight.
- "The Hunt Begins", from the same game, plays during the fight against the Ancient Leshen.
Limit Break: In the latter half of the fight, the Ancient Leshen begins to accumulate Revoltures before releasing them into a massive swarm, similar to Teostra's supernova. The birds do enough damage to drop the health of a Vitality 3 hunter down to nil, scatter towards every hunter in the vicinity, and have homing capabilities on top of that. Either superman dive or fire a Flash Pod at it if you don't want a Total Party Kill.
Long-Range Fighter: The Leshen prefers to fight at a distance, summoning a flock of Revoltures or giant roots to attack. Should Geralt get close enough for melee attacks, it can swipe at him with its claws but it prefers to just teleport away to attack again from a distance.
Marathon Boss: At the final stage, the battle becomes less of a hunt and more of a grueling endurance test where you have to deal with the Ancient Leshen's now-perpetual Teleport Spam and hyper-aggressive attacks. Players risk depleting their supplies and making small mistakes that snowball into whole cock-up cascades as the clock keeps ticking.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Rather than quickly kill Geralt, it opts to slowly whittle down his health with the revoltures as a means to goad him to charging, then countering by throwing out a powerful hit with roots.
Mighty Glacier: The Leshen moves and attacks very slowly, but it is durable and its attacks will hurt if they connect.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Not that the Leshen is considered weak back in its homeworld, but it was enough of a threat that it escalated to being an upper-tier Elder Dragon hunt in the same vein as Gogmazios and Athal-Ka. Geralt notes that the massive amounts of life and nutrients in the ancient forest have made it much stronger than it would normally be back in his world.
No-Sell: It's immune to the Water element and to Sleep. And while it's not an Elder Dragon, it's completely immune to traps, meaning it can't be captured.
One-Hit Kill: The Ancient Leshen have two of these attacks. First is the root pin atttack, where it attempt to ensnare a careless hunter within a tangle of roots. The victim is completely helpless and unable to free themselves if caught, which means they must rely on their partners to either stun the monster or burn the roots to free them. If they don't, then the Leshen is free to sic a flock of Revoltures on the hunter, rapidly chipping their health down before creating a vine explosion to finish them off. Second is the bird explosion that it only uses in the last two phases. The Leshen takes a moment to gather a massive flock of Revoltures to its body before unleashing them in a massive explosion that scatters them away toward the Hunters. It can easily one shot a Hunter with Vitality 3 on and it cannot be guarded, even with the Guard Up skill, and can easily result in a Total Party Kill, falling the Quest instantly.
Outside-Context Problem: It's a supernatural entity that hails from a different franchise. This is why the Research Commission decides to let Geralt handle the task on his lonesome while they make sure to provide all the support he needs.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Far smaller than most monsters its threat level, but dangerous enough that the Commission hires Geralt to deal with it.
Sadist: It is very defensive of its territory—not too out-of-place in a series about fantasy animal ecology—but instead of simply chasing off intruders, it subjects them to rather cruel deaths. It causes Revoltures to chase the local Aptonoth until they collapse from exhaustion and blood loss, and it uses roots to strangle several Pukei-Pukei to death.
Stronger with Age: The Ancient Leshen, as its name implies, is an older and more powerful variant of the creature. It hits harder than an ordinary Leshen and has more attacks at its disposal while being much more resistant to Igni.
Teleport Spam: Leshen is fond of warping all over the place.
Temporary Online Content: Ancient Leshen only appears in an Event Quest, so it sporadically disappears from the questboard for weeks at a time.
Took a Level in Badass: As mentioned above, Geralt notes that the Leshen has gained a massive boost in power by drawing on the life and nutrients of the Ancient Forest.
Turn Red: Once it reaches the final phase, the Leshen will power up with a distinct roar animation and is surrounded by a massive flock of Revoltures around its body, with Geralt even noting that it's angry now. The Leshen now attack much faster and more aggressively while teleporting constantly, chaining right into an attack as soon as it teleport in and instead of teleporting away to attack, it will sometimes teleport right in front or back of Geralt to hit him with a double claw attack that is guaranteed to inflict Bleeding. The Ancient Leshen will also power up for its final phase, which is considered by many to be the hardest phase since it will now teleport almost constantly, attacking with attacks that have massive range as soon as it reappears, all while the Hunters is hounded by massive numbers of Jagras that do considerable damage while also staggering Hunters. To top it off, it will unleash its powerful bird explosion attack much more often which can easily lead to the Quest falling if the Hunters are distracted and unable to stop or dodge the attack.
Weak to Fire: The Igni sign will remove the roots Leshen creates and set it on fire for a short while which staggers it for a moment. Repeated casting of Igni will eventually weaken the Leshen enough for it to lose its balance and dispel its flock of Revoltures. In the case of the Ancient Leshen however, staggering and weakening it with Igni will require multiple castings.
When Trees Attack: It's a wood spirit that summons vines to ensnare and choke out hapless victims.
Wrong Context Magic: Just like its fellow invader Behemoth, one of the Leshen's distinguishing qualities is its downright supernatural nature. It bewitches the local wildlife into serving as its attack dogs, and its ability to invoke tree roots with explosive force has the Chief Botanist calling foul.

Elder Dragons

Nergigante

Nergigante (variant: Ruiner Nergigante)

Extinction Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_nergigante.png

^{Ruiner Nergigante}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Stories 2: Wings of Ruin
Ruiner variant:
World: Iceborne

An Elder Dragon and the flagship monster of World. It is notable for its massive horns and the many spikes that line its body, which will multiply with its injuries and give it a power boost if they are allowed to harden. The player first encounters this monster during a mission to capture Zorah Magdaros, and more senior members of the expedition reveal that Nergigante has been sighted before, but only during the Elder Crossing.

Iceborne introduces a battle-hardened variant called Ruiner Nergigante, armed with even tougher metallic spikes in addition to the ones found on the nominate species. It becomes a pivotal character in the closing chapters of the expansion's main storyline as well as the start of the endgame content.

Achilles' Heel: If Nergigante's white spikes are allowed to harden, it will gain a boost in attack power and hits much harder. However, this strength is also a weakness. Attacking and breaking the white spikes before they harden has a chance to stagger and knock down Nergigante and leave it exposed for Hunters to deal considerable damage to it or to break its other white spikes before they harden. Not the case with Ruiner Nergigante, though, as its spikes cannot be broken like base Nergigante's and can only be destroyed via parts break.
Always a Bigger Fish: It shows up when you're trying to capture Zorah Magdaros, and it's considered a more active threat. Hilarious in that Zorah is actually a great deal larger.
Animal Motifs: Porcupines. Much like the real life animal with its quills, Nergigante thorns grow back, and its the main part of it physically.
Anti-Magic: Weapons made from Nergigante parts have very high Elderseal values, allowing them to seal off an Elder Dragon's more dangerous abilities for a time. A very useful power to have when your diet often includes Elder Dragons.
Background Music Override: If Nergigante invades a hunt, expect its theme to override whichever other Elder Dragon you were fighting.
Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: When Shara Ishvalda gets up after seemingly being slain, Ruiner Nergigante flies in to finish the job, finally allowing the "Eater of Elders" to live up to its title and kill another Elder Dragon.
- It's also discussed in the ending cutscene that the Nergigante may be a balancing force in the ecosystem, killing off Elder Dragons that cause too much damage.
- As the Hunter and Handler travel to Guiding Lands for the first time, it comes in to save them from Bazelgeuse.
Barbarian Hero: Female Nergigante armor is quite revealing, but the hunter herself would look more at home in a Conan-inspired story rather than at a club.
The Berserker: Is so ferocious in attacking that it can actually break its own body parts when attacking. This is not a good thing, though, since its Healing Factor means it has the potential to become stronger. The Ruiner variant is strong enough to force good ol' Savage Jho to lift it up with is jaw just to put up a fight.
Black Knight: Nergigante fits many of the trope's characteristics even as a monster. It's a violent Elder Dragon clad in spikes that eventually become jet-black, and it's known to be a fearsome Elder Dragon hunter. It shows up out of nowhere to prey on Zorah Magdaros, thwarting the Commission's efforts to stop Zorah, and its reason for doing so is not made clear until the Commission investigates the exodus of additional Elder Dragons, deducing that whatever phenomenon is attracting Elder Dragons to Elder's Recess makes for a great buffet in Nergigante's eyes. Even the armor crafted from its parts completely covers a male hunter in black armor, making it an apt look for Big Bad Zellard in Stories 2: Wings of Ruin.
Boring, but Practical: Compared to other Elder Dragons, which have abilities that range from breathing fire hot enough to melt anything to controlling the weather to hosting a swarm of Hate Plague parasites, Nergigante... shoots spikes. And punches stuff. While that sounds boring on paper, said spikes can turn even the normally insanely durable head of a Barroth into Swiss cheese. Plus, its still an Elder Dragon, meaning those punches are going to hurt.
Chainmail Bikini: Base female Nergigante armor instead does this, giving female Kirin armor a run for its money in this department.
Chekhov's Gunman: In both the base game and Iceborne, Nergigante spines are discovered and speculated on early in the story. There are a few other signs throughout, and a few proper appearances in the base game. Eventually their nature is finally revealed in High Rank (base game) or at the end of the story (Iceborne).
Curb-Stomp Cushion: Bests Teostra, Lunastra, and Kushala Daora in turf wars, but receives some damage itself in the process. Its Ruiner variant ties with Savage Deviljho, with both slamming each other to the ground and dealing roughly the same damage. It also ties with Rajang, though it's made clear that Rajang has to fully power itself up just to score a spectacular shoryuken on Ruiner Nergigante, only for the latter to unceremoniously slap Rajang aside and instantly bring it out of its powered mode.
Damage Over Time: Ruiner Nergigantes inflict the hunters with the Bleed effect, killing them as they move or forcing them to stand still long enough for the dragon to beat them up some more.
Dark Is Evil: Has a shade of black, and is very aggressive. In gameplay, if the thorns are black and massive, time to run.
Dark Is Not Evil: The gamma armor is visually the alpha variant with the horns and spikes in full black, similar to the Elder Dragon when it reaches its limit. Iceborne reveals that despite its penchant for destruction, Nergigante isn't really evil and more about maintaining balance in the ecosystem seeing as Ruiner Nergigante hunted down Shara Ishvalda due to the threat the latter poses to everything in general.
Death from Above: Its most powerful attack: when Nergigante is sufficiently covered in black spikes, it will take to the air and recklessly smash its body into the ground hard enough to break off all those spikes except for the Ruiner variant's spikes. Needless to say, being hit by such large, heavy, sharp objects moving at speed is an instant kill to most Hunters.
Desperation Attack: When low on health, Nergigante will start using its airborne divebombs as part of its regular attacks (which turns its headbutt into a One-Hit Kill if it has black spikes), spray spikes much more often, and intentionally plow through the walls of its nest to wound its entire body and start growing spikes everywhere at once.
Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Normally the Cthulhu in question, its Turf War with Rajang involves it bitch-slapping the Fanged Beast into a wall and depowering it; Rajang is known to take on several other species of Elder Dragons in a Turf War and win.
Dragons Are Demonic: It has a dark hide, an aggressive disposition, and looks literally like a demon.
The Dreaded: Everyone's immediate reaction is an "Oh Shit!" look once it invades the first Zorah Magdaros mission. In the assigned quest to slay him, there is a scene where Gajalakas are swarming out of a cave in the opposite direction to escape his ire. After it is slain for the first time, three more Elder Dragons can be unlocked specifically because his presence forced them into hiding.
Early-Bird Boss: Nergigante's quest becomes available after a brief expedition following the Pink Rathian special investigation, but taking it on at that point is unreasonably difficult. Fortunately, the newly-opened Elder's Recess contains many of the checkpoint materials needed to make better weapons and armor to level the field.
Evil Sounds Deep: Has a very low and throaty roar. Ruiner's roar is even deeper and more menacing.
Faking the Dead: During the climax of Iceborne's assigned questline, you travel to Origin Isle in order to find the true source of the disturbance in the ecosystem, only to find a Ruiner Nergigante who immediately attacks you. You seemingly get to slay it, but Shara Ishvalda soon shows up, burying Nergigante's motionless body beneath the rubble and engaging you as the expansion's Final Boss. Once Shara is defeated, it tries to get back up to fight the Commission once more, but then Ruiner Nergigante emerges from the rubble alive and well, and proceeds to kill Shara Ishvalda for good. What's more impressive is that the game actually fools you into thinking you slayed Ruiner Nergigante before the fight with Shara, victory fanfare and ability to carve the corpse included; the only real clue that lets you know that Nergigante isn't truly dead is that your carves do not net actual Nergigante parts.
Fearless Fool: Nergigante will attack anything on sight, regardless of any possible risk to itself or how pointless launching an attack is at the time. Fortunately for it, it's generally powerful enough to overpower or at least draw with anything it decides to pick a fight with, but this also blinds it to anything that can actually harm or even kill it until it's either suffered heavy damage or outright paid with its life. Averted with the Ruiner variant: it's still aggressive, but it's also smart enough to both pick its fights carefully and know when to lay low or retreat.
Fights Like a Normal: Is capable of fighting other Elder Dragons like Teostra, Lunastra, and Kushala Daora and winning through brute strength despite not having any obvious elemental abilities. Nergigante’s fighting style against other monsters is reminiscent of real-world predators; it grapples its prey, bullies it to the ground with superior strength, and immediately goes for the killing blow.
Final Boss Preview: It’s not the final boss, but he does show up during both of Zorah Magdaros' missions, much earlier than when you meet it in a straight fight. Ruiner Nergigante shows up just before Shara, but its not treated as slain once defeated.
Foil: To fellow invader Deviljho; Deviljho is a Brute Wyvern with Elder Dragon traits, such as Dragon Damage, while Nergigante is an Elder Dragon that fights more like an non-elemental Brute Wyvern/Flying Wyvern. Coincidentally, they share the same elemental weakness to Dragon and Thunder. That said, they differ in the effect they have on nature. While Deviljho is considered to be a living environmental hazard that threatens to wipe out most if not all animals in an ecosystem, Nergigante serves as more of a force of balance, hunting down and killing Elder Dragons that are causing excessive destruction in the natural world.
Force and Finesse: The force to Velkhana's finesse when it comes to their weapon lines. Velkhana weapons look elegant and sleek, even normally crude weapons like the Great Sword and Hammer. While their base damage is lower than Nergigante's, all of its weapons have access to purple sharpness, even in their penultimate R11 forms. Nergigante weapons on the other hand look as unsubtle and brutal as the elder dragon itself, with high base damage but limited to blue sharpness for its R8 weapons and white for its R12 weapons.
Gaia's Vengeance: An interesting example where instead of taking revenge on man, it’s nature keeping itself in check. Nergigante is theorized in-universe to help maintain the balance of nature because of its specialization in hunting Elder Dragons, which are recognized as ecological threats even by monsters themselves. Nergi fights and hunts Elder Dragons fearlessly and doggedly, even when it’s seemingly or definitely outclassed, such as against Shara Ishvalda or Oltura, respectively.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Although considered an invader monster in the same vein as Seregios, Nergigante does not invade maps in gameplay, only doing so in certain event quests. Averted as of Iceborne with the Ruiner variant showing up in other maps and can get in turf wars against Deviljho and Rajang, the other invasive monsters.
Glass Cannon: Nergigante can be slain faster than most other Elder Dragons, but it can triple cart you just as easily. For reference, Nergigante has the second lowest health pool of all the Elder Dragons, only Kirin has less. Ruiner Nergigante slightly closes the gap by about 4,000 HP less than the average Elder Dragon (which isn't that much of a difference in Master Rank, unlike High Rank), but it's still prone to stunning and starving, making it full of openings that other Elder Dragons don't readily offer.
Harder Than Hard: Arch-Tempered Nergigante is this. Take the fact that the normal and tempered versions are already fast and hits hard. Arch-Tempered Nergigante takes it to new extremes by having almost four times the health of the normal version and does eight times the damage.
Healing Factor: Is able to grow soft, white spikes on fresh wounds, and if given enough time to heal, the spikes will harden to black and Nergigante will gain a boost in attack power. It however, can't regenerate its horns and tail if they are broken and chopped off respectively (at least not in the time it takes for the hunt to occur). Breaking its own spikes and regrowing them is even part of its routine life since if too many of them grow and/or become too hard then its movements become inhibited. Its healing capabilities have a substantial energy cost, however, hence why while it considers other monsters in general to be potential prey, it likes to feed on Elder Dragons due to how much energy they provide it. In Stories 2 it notably has the highest "Recovery" stat in the game, meaning it heals the most of all monsters whenever using a skill that regenerates HP.
Hitbox Dissonance: Some of its attacks, such as its spike-breaking dive, have deceptively large hitboxes because they include any shrapnel created by the attack.
Hoist by His Own Petard: When it retreats to his nest, it can make the stalactites on the ceiling fall on you. However, these can damage and possibly kill it as well.
Hunter of His Own Kind: Its favorite prey is other Elder Dragons. Finally seen in Iceborne where Ruiner Nergigante kills Shara Ishvalda by ripping its throat out then slamming its head on the ground.
Immune to Flinching: Whereas most monsters flinch upon being hit with certain slinger ammo - Slinger Bomb, Piercing Pod, etc - Ruiner Nergigante does not.
Implacable Man: Ruiner Nergigante. After being beaten to the point it was presumed dead, dragged off a cliff by Shara Ishvalda and buried under solid rock, it bursts out with still enough stamina to kill Ishvalda, which had similarly just recovered from seeming death. However, it opts to leave after landing the killing strike, rather than try to get in a rematch with the hunters.
In a Single Bound: Don't think Nergigante lacking a ranged attack means you are safe at a distance. It can close the distance surprisingly quick with its jumping claw smash attack.
Increasingly Lethal Enemy: As Nergigante's spikes harden, its attack power increases, and so do the chances of it taking out a Hunter with a single powerful attack.
Informed Attribute: Although slightly justified due to its role in nature being mostly speculation by the Admiral, Nergigante's role is supposed to a "balancing force" for nature, yet it never showed up in response to any of the ecological disasters in prior games. Its first major appearances in World involves it interfering with the attempts to prevent Zorah Magdaros from entering the Everstream and subsequently blowing up the entire New World... the exact sort of thing you'd think it should be trying to prevent in the first place, though it may have also been simply trying to kill the Elder Dragon the old-fashioned way. Subsequently, its hunting of Xeno'Jiiva further disturbs the ecosystems of the New World as it causes the assorted Elder Dragons to scatter from the Elder's Recess. Lastly, the emergence of Safi'jiiva carries extremely far-reaching consequences, awakening both Alatreon and Fatalis from the other side of the planet, who both rank in the highest threat tier in the lore, and yet there's no mention or sighting of Nergigante.
It Can Think: The ending Iceborne shows that Nergigante is intelligent enough to form what appear to be rudimentary plans. Its main target at the end of the game is Shara Ishvalda, as it is the elder dragon causing chaos across the New World with its song. Nergigante even arrives at its den before the Fifth Fleet, but is unable to do anything with Ishvalda not only covered in its rock armor, but able to stay underground at its leisure. So it puts on a show of fighting the newly-arrived Sapphire Star, then plays dead to trick Ishvalda out of hiding - despite its body presumably being carved, then later being buried under a ton of rocks - and let's the Sapphire Star not only deal with his prey's armor, but allow it to exhaust itself fighting the Sapphire Star. Nearly the exact moment after the heavily-wounded-but-alive Ishvalda starts getting back up, Nergigante bursts from the rubble before tackling its vulnerable prey to the ground, ripping out its throat, and ending the crisis in one fell swoop. Moreover, it stares down the Research Commission for a moment before choosing to fly off, knowing it wouldn't be smart to take on a dozen of these foes alone, period.
Jack of All Trades: Nergigante itself is a Lightning Bruiser, but its weapons, besides a high raw value and high Elderseal, don't particularly stand out. While they don't have the highest rank sharpness and cannot obtain it due to the sharpness meter being full, it instead has a very healthy amount of blue sharpness (or white in Master Rank), so-so elemental damage, and no negative affinity penalties.
Kaizo Trap: When most monsters retreat to their nest, finishing the hunt is mostly a formality. Nergigante gains several new tricks that put its potential damage through to roof.
Kill Steal: Ruiner Nergigante kills Shara Ishvalda just as the player prepares to fight it after it gets back up from its initial defeat.
Know When to Fold 'Em: Nergigante as a species is normally utterly fearless, but tends to know when it's outmatched (or more specifically, outnumbered) and on multiple occasions is shown choosing the better part of valor when faced with something above its pay grade.
- In one of the Lunastra special assignments, a Nergigante trails Teostra to the special arena and attacks him for an easy meal. However, Lunastra swoops in to save her mate. Even Nergigante can’t face two Elder Dragons simultaneously, and it flees rather than fight a one-sided battle.
- Similarly, after Ruiner finishes off Shara Ishvalda, it stares down the Commission before taking off into the sky; it knows the Sapphire Star is not to be lightly trifled with if they can grievously wound the Elder Dragon Ruiner could not slay on its own, and moreover has friends now. Better to retreat than continue a battle you’ve already won.
Leitmotif: "Even Elder Dragons Tremble", which runs at a fever pitch and relentlessly bombards you with oppressive trumpets. Nergigante's appearances in cutcenes are notably always accompanied by a bombastic brass strike that's quickly followed by five more notes. The Arch-Tempered version has "World's End", which has a more triumphant tone to it and is reused when Ruiner Nergigante emerges from the rubble to kill Shara Ishvalda.
Lightning Bruiser: For a creature its size, it's deceptively fast, and it hits like a freight train. It gets much worse with Arch-Tempered Nergigante who has the highest health pool out of all the Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons outside of Zorah Magdaros on top of being exceptionally powerful.
Limit Break: Its divebomb attack functions as one. It's powerful enough to potentially cart a hunter with a direct hit, but can only be used when most of its body has hardened spikes, and shatters all those spikes on use.
Mascot: Of World. Appropriately enough, it's the last Elder Dragon to receive its Arch-Tempered quest which comes with numerous changes compared to the previous AT quests - both on the Elder Dragon and the quest itself.
Meaningful Name: Its name appears to be a combination of "Nergal", a Mesopotamian god of war and death better known today as a demon, and "gigante", "giant" in Latin and some Romance languages.
- Its name, when rearranged, spells out regen giant. Given its Healing Factor and size when compared to the playable hunters this name works incredibly well.
- In Italian and other Latin languages, his name could also be read as a portmanteau of Nero, meaning black, and Gigante, meaning giant. Thus: Black Giant. Makes sense, considering its main color scheme is purple and black.
Ms. Fanservice: Not the monster itself, but the female armor set leaves very little to the imagination. Averted for the Ruiner armor, which covers more.
No Biological Sex: While most monsters aren't designated as a male or a female because there's little difference between the two sexes in the species, Nergigante is a special case; it lacks genitals (and therefore a sex) whatsoever. This is because it reproduces mitotically, through special spikes that it implants in the corpses of its quarry, which absorb its bioenergy and then eventually grow into a genetically identical Nergigante specimen. This takes a huge amount of energy though, hence another reason it likes to target Elder Dragons as they have the most bioenergy of any life in Monster Hunter.
Non-Elemental: Nergigante is an oddity among Elder Dragons in that it uses no elemental attacks whatsoever, instead using brute force to pummel its foes into submission. The Monster Field Guide does provide it a three-star weakness to Thunder and a two-star one to Dragon, but the elemental hitzone values are so terrible that it's better to simply attack Nergigante with raw-focused weapons.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: Like real-world predators, Nergigante isn’t flashy when it hunts. It gets its prey into a killing blow position as quickly as it possibly can, and immediately goes for the throat when it’s vulnerable. It becomes a literal example of "going for the throat" in Iceborne due to how its Ruiner variant ends up killing Shara Ishvalda.
No-Sell: Once its spikes are hardened, melee attacks against them are deflected and only Mind's Eye skill and similar attacks can hit them without deflecting.
Our Dragons Are Different: A bog-standard European dragon, with its main divergent characteristics being its outlandishly oversized horns, its spiked wings and its lack of a Breath Weapon.
Punched Across the Room: Ruiner Nergigante inflicts this against Rajang of all monsters.
Purple Is Powerful: Most of Nergigante's body is of a dark purple hue, and it is as powerful as you could expect an Elder Dragon to be.
Rare Random Drop: Nergigante Gems in High Rank and Large Elder Dragon Gems in Master Rank.
Recurring Element:
- Much like Lagiacrus in Tri, it was misblamed for a much bigger event caused by a stronger being.
- And much like Seregios in 4U, its first scene is invading a map and causing you to fail to capture another monster. Fittingly, it's also an invader type monster, though Nergigante does not actually invade a map. With Ruiner Nergigante being able to cause the bleed status, its comparison to Seregios is much more obvious.
Red Baron: It's called "The Eater of Elders" by some of the Research Commission members as well as certain quests. The Ruiner Variant from Iceborne has another two more titles: King of the Monsters and World Destroying Extinction Dragon.
Roar Before Beating: Nergigante will stand on its hind legs and let off a powerful roar before taking to the sky to perform its spikes breaking dive bomb attack. This is also the reason why its dive bomb is That One Attack, most Hunters that didn't invest in Earplugs skill or is guarding against the roar is stuck in place and unable to dodge the incoming dive bomb.
Signature Attack: The Divebomb, an infamous example of That One Attack.
Slasher Smile: Its jaws and teeth are configured in a way that make it look like it's always smiling maliciously at you.
Spikes of Villainy: Absolutely covered in bristling spikes, most prominently on its wings, and it's defined by its ridiculously gigantic devil-horns. Becomes even more impressive as its spikes harden, as they increase in size and make Nergigante considerably deadlier to fight. Make armor out of it, and you and your palico will get this look too.
Spike Shooter: Once it begins to grows white spikes on its body parts, most of its attacks gains the ability to launch spikes at a distance. Once the spikes hardens, they becomes much stronger and hits much harder. This is much more prominent with the Ruiner variant, who throws spikes much more often which inflict the Bleed status effect. It also has way more of them.
Status Buff: Nergigante gets a temporary buff to its speed whenever it roars, and the boosts are potentially capable of stacking.
Takes One to Kill One: It's a natural predator of other Elder Dragons. On the other hand, its Achilles' Heel is Dragon element weapons just like them, and it's even affected by Elderseal (which delays its spikes from hardening), meaning weapons made from Nergigante parts are ideal for hunting it.
Tamer and Chaster: Ruiner Nergigante armor covers more skin than its nominate version did.
Took a Level in Badass: Very much so considering how easy it can be taken down despite its mascot status. Arch-Tempered Nergigante has 3.7 times the health of the normal variant, its spikes are now harder to break, it can perform a short-ranged dive bomb in one second and it can even spam it, and another Arch-Tempered Elder Dragon comes in only to job to it and leave. Even its battle theme gets a dose of this trope, to compliment all of the changes. Likewise, Ruinter Nergigante has various ranged attacks in the form of spikes that cause bleeding.
Turns Red: Once it gets near death, Nergigante will enter a unique rage mode which is signified by the camera panning out, Nergigante spreading its wings, and unleashing a mighty roar. Nergigante now attack much more recklessly, breaking its own body parts with every attacks to grow spikes of its own volition and use its dive-bomb much more consistently, with the spikes growing back much faster if they are broken.
When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Nergigante's tactics boil down to either punching stuff or turning it into Swiss cheese. That being said, these tend to be the only tactics it ever needs considering how many spikes it can shoot at once and how hard it can punch.
The Worf Effect: While Nergigante usually dominates its opponents in World and Iceborne' Turf Wars, the trope is played straight in Stories 2, where it tries to attack Oltura's juvenile form, only to be smacked unconscious by the latter, and its fate is left ambiguous as the ground crumbles beneath it. Mitigated in that the Nergigante had just been through a grueling battle with the protagonists and was, to quote Cheval, "in no condition to fight something that powerful."

Zorah Magdaros

Scorching Mountain Dragon

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

A massive Elder Dragon with a rocky hide and an active volcano on its back. Zorah Magdaros is migrating to the New World in a mysterious phenomenon that occurs every ten years known as the Elder Crossing. This is the first monster the player encounters in the New World when its advance accidentally capsizes part of the Fifth Fleet, and studying the Elder Crossing and Zorah in particular remain key driving forces of World's Low Rank storyline.

Advancing Boss of Doom: Like Lao-Shan Lung before it, Zorah does little except slowly walk toward the barrier, and it’s going to keep walking there until either you repel it or (if it’s Arch Zorah) it walks through the barrier.
Animal Motifs: A turtle. Moves very slowly, but very few things can actually hurt it. Its mouth and front legs resemble an alligator snapping turtle's, and the mountain-like shell on its back covers its head when it goes down to walk on all four legs.
Attack Its Weak Point: Its "shell" has magma cores which are weak spots that can be attacked to damage it.
Charged Attack: During the barrier defense phase, Zorah can charge a breath attack which can take off half of the barrier's health in one hit. The ballista binder shot or Dragonator can interrupt the charge while destroying all of Zorah's magma cores prevents the ability being used at all.
Colossus Climb: The Player Hunter and the Handler are seen running on and climbing on its body during the opening tutorial of the game. In the quest to capture it, the Player Hunter and other Hunters are sent to climb on its body to damage and weaken it further for capture.
Crutch Character: One of the armor sets you can start off with in High Rank can be farmed off this monster. It's actually quite good and can carry you to the Elder's Recess in the story with a high Fire resistance.
Disc-One Final Boss: The second battle against him is treated with an enormous sense of finality. The stakes are high, all life in the New World is held in the balance, the hunters throw everything they have at the beast, and when it's all done, everyone thinks it's only a matter of time before they get recalled back to the Old World. Then new problems arise and the game keeps going.
Flunky Boss: Downplayed. Zorah Magdaros is often followed by a flock of Barnos. If hunters shoot at Zorah with ballistae and cannons, the Barnos would fly down and attack the hunters. The likely reason Barnos enjoy being around Zorah is because they like volcanic areas, and Zorah Magdaros is pretty much a volcanic Turtle Island.
Gameplay and Story Segregation: Had World used the old threat rating from Generations, Zorah would likely have been an 8-star monster, but it's the first Elder Dragon you face. ^note Ultimately justified in that you actually don't really fight it but rather on it, and that you're not so much as to kill but to capture/redirect it.
Giant Corpse World: Iceborne introduces an endgame area called the Guiding Lands, and it's heavily implied that the entire island is formed from the corpse of a Zorah Magdaros, as explained in Posthumous Character below.
Godzilla Threshold: Once Zorah Magdaros true purpose is known, the Research Commission is forced to throw everything at it in the second battle to repel it for good; cannons, ballistae, stalactites and the powerful Dragonator.
Having a Blast: Weapons made from Zorah Magdaros parts deal Blast damage.
Hold the Line: 2 barriers are built to slow Zorah Magdaros down while Hunters are damaging it to weaken it enough for capture, with the first barrier using cannons and ballistae and then restraining it with binders, and Hunters climbing on its back for the second barrier and another try with the binders. It works, but the sudden appearance of Nergigante ruined the capture attempt. The second battle with Zorah Magdaros is reversed, with the player Hunters going on Zorah's back first to weaken it and repel Nergigante, before flying back to the only wall to both defend the barrier and repel Zorah Magdaros.
Kill It with Water: Its main weakness is Water.
Level in Boss Clothing: Justified due to its massive size, but you're mostly on the monster rather than in front of it during the "destroy the magma core" process.
Magma Man: It's essentially a walking volcano.
Mighty Glacier: Befitting its gigantic size, Zorah Magdaros move at a snail's pace, but can smash through obstacles with ease, and has massive amounts of health.
Monster Clown: The Palico armor made from Zorah resembles a jester.
Nothing Is Scarier: Its Info in the ingame handbook is just "RESEARCHING" during the first half.
Non-Malicious Monster: It doesn't intentionally harm anyone over the course of the game, and it isn't interested in destroying anything at all. It just wants to find a place to die peacefully.
Non-Standard Game Over: Just like with Jhen Moran and The Lao-Shan-Lung, Zorah’s attack’s damage the wall you fight it from, and if the wall is destroyed, the quest is failed. This time, though, you can actually see the wall’s health.
Not Zilla: It has the size and stance of the classic Kaiju.
Person of Mass Destruction: Zorah Magdaros came to the New World to die, like the other Elder Dragons. But because it is so massive, the sheer amount of bioenergy it'll release upon death would have cataclysmic consequences if it dies in the wrong place. The final confrontation during the story involves forcing Zorah to divert from its path towards the Everstream, since Zorah dying within it would cause the whole continent to basically explode, with the end goal being to make it return to the ocean where the aforementioned bioenergy can kickstart a new ecosystem in a few centuries.
Piñata Enemy: Zorah is an easy fight which can reward a lot of resources if you're willing to put in a little extra effort. His shell is studded with ore deposits which contain High Rank ore and will refresh after a while; the first three magma cores can each drop one or more shiny; and cannon attacks can cause him to shed shinies during the final stage.
Posthumous Character: Implied; the Guiding Lands is theorized to be a dead Zorah Magadros. Farming parts from the Guiding Lands, such as the bone piles and mines, can net you armor pieces for Master Rank Zorah Magdaros gear, and the Rotten Vale area has a Zorah head overhead. A Zorah skull can also be seen in the Frost Islands in Rise.
Purple Is Powerful:
- Subverted with its armor set due to it eventually falling off, but its one of the best armor sets once you start High Rank.
- The gamma armor set plays this straight, while the Helm and Chest pieces aren’t considered top tier they do have utility with windproof and tremor resistance respectively. The Arms, Waist and Legs have useful skills like earplugs, bombardier^note increased damage with barrel bombs, blast attack^noteIncrease in blast build up, and critical eye^noteIncrease criticalhit . The latter two work great in conjunction with the armors Set Bonus.
- Also played straight with its Master Rank set for Gunlances, Charge Blades, and Bowguns using sticky ammo due to the set giving a massive boost in the artillery skill, which is considered the main damage skill for said weapons.
Rare Random Drop: Zorah Magdaros Gems in High Rank.
Stealthy Colossus: You wouldn't think so, considering that it is as big as a mountain and moves slowly, but much of the game is spent tracking it down and trying to predict where it's going.
Stone Wall: Zorah Magdaros has come to the New World to die of old age, and reaching this age is understandable. Zorah is not really a killable creature in any sense, simply due to its sheer size and the fact that its body is like 50% cooled magma. The old man’s offensive options, however, are rather limited; basically, it’s just movement and the occasional blast of fire from its mouth.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Very similar to Lao-Shan Lung from the original game; an absolutely colossal, quadrupedal dragon that slowly advances toward a stronghold and has to be stopped, occasionally rearing up onto its hind legs to show off its immense size.
Timed Mission: All the missions are timed in Monster Hunter, but in this case the trope is in effect because after repelling it for good, Zorah Magdaros cannot simply be accessed through the quest log under most circumstances. It appears randomly and only stays available for the duration of any two quests before it vanishes giving hunters a very limited window in which you can battle it.
Took a Level in Badass: Arch-Tempered Zorah Magdaros is a much more intense experience than normal Zorah. The time limit is much tighter, it has greatly increased health, it can destroy the barrier with three solid hits (necessitating the use of One-Shot Binders and the Dragonator to cancel its attacks), and Nergigante actually does need to be actively repelled, rather than being on a timer. While normal Zorah is a definite Breather Boss, Arch Zorah is a tense and desperate race against the clock.
Turtle Island: The chelonian Zorah Magdaros is essentially a volcano that can move around. This monster is so huge that the battles against it involve a Colossus Climb. The later implication that the Guiding Lands may be a long-dead Zorah Magdaros reinforces this.
Unskilled, but Strong:
- While not as bad as Anjanath in this regard, Zorah Magdaros weapons still have a -10% to -20% penalty to Affinity, so you won't be doing as much critical damage with them; that said, they're still pretty powerful with a higher Blast damage.
- Zorah Magdaros, itself, also counts, since it's a walking volcano that just walks forward.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Although a considerable amount of damage is done to it, the New World hunters only prove capable of annoying it enough to drive it off. Granted this is by design as attempting to kill it where it was would've been disastrous for everyone, if that was even possible (an idea that isn't discussed in game).
Volcanic Veins: Seems to have lava flowing within its body. Its magma cores will spill out lava from time to time as they are attacked.
Walking Spoiler: The purpose of this Elder Dragon remains unknown until it's revealed that it came to the new world to die, which would be catastrophic.

Vaal Hazak

Vaal Hazak (variant: Blackveil Vaal Hazak)

Corpse Coat Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/vaal_hazak.png

^{Blackveil Vaal Hazak}

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne
Blackveil variant:
World: Iceborne

A vile looking Elder Dragon that wears rotten flesh on its body and typically resides in habitats completely littered with corpses. It can breathe out a blast of hazardous miasma vapor known as effluvium, which eat away at its enemies' health. Monsters who are infected with the effluvium become more aggressive while hunters who are fully infected have part of their health bars temporarily removed.

Iceborne introduces the Blackveil Vaal Hazak, which is covered in spores that generate effluvium, making this variant of the Elder Dragon even more hazardous.

Always a Bigger Fish: To show just how much stronger an Elder Dragon is compared to most monsters, the normally fearsome Odogaron gets absolutely trounced by it when it tries to leap on it and bite it, much like it does on Radobaan.
Anti-Magic: Not to the level of Deviljho and Nergigante, yet weapons made from Vaal Hazak's parts are the only ones to naturally sport an average Elderseal rating.
Atop a Mountain of Corpses: In its introductory cutscene, it starts out resting under a mountain of fleshes and bones. Then it wakes up and comes out standing on top of the mountain.
Battle Ballgown: A darker variant on female A and Y armor sets; the "flesh" is used to look like a skirt over a metal armor. The Master Rank female armor set looks like a wedding dress.
Blind Seer: Downplayed with Blackveil Vaal. It has a layer of spores covering its head, rendering it immune to flash pods, yet it's still able to determine your location throughout the battle. If you break its head, you can tell that it can in fact see(and be blinded by flash pods now), but being able to fight while effectively blinded is still impressive.
Bright Is Not Good: Blackveil Vaal Hazak is whitish-grey and is even more hazardous than nominate Vaal Hazak.
Cherry Tapping: Due to the presence of its miasma cloud and the Rotten Vale's hazards, there is a solid possibility to cart because you survived being hit only to get finished off by the tick damage.
The Computer Is a Lying Bastard: A half-truth variant. The hunter's notes will state Vaal Hazak has a three star weakness to Dragon element. While this is true, it does not clarify that the weakness only applies to parts of the body that are broken.
Dark Is Not Evil: Despite its horrific appearance and abilities, it acts more like an animal than an evil necromancer. The Blackveil variant is no different in this regard, even though it is a Walking Wasteland.
Deadly Gas: Its breath attacks take the form of a huge blast of miasma known as effluvium(slowly draining hunters of their health and even reducing their health pool for a certain amount of time).
Dracolich: Invoked. Vaal Hazak isn't an undead monster, but it certainly looks and acts like one. The rotten flesh it wears on its body makes the Elder Dragon look like a moving corpse. While it has some decently fast attacks, many of Vaal Hazak's movements are mildly sluggish, much like the movements of a stereotypical zombie. The miasma vapor that Vaal Hazak uses can infect small monsters and make them more aggressive, which almost resemble necromancy.
Draconic Abomination: While not as out-worldly as Xeno'jiiva or Behemoth, it still gives the impression of being something that doesn't belong in a semi-realistic game about hunting dangerous animals, such as (apparent)necromancy and being able to weaponize some very horrifying and deadly gases.
Establishing Character Moment: Its first action in World is to kill all the Girros that are about to mob the Hunter by absorbing the miasma vapor from their bodies. This shows why Vaal Hazak is considered an Elder Dragon, because it has a symbiotic relationship with the effluvium(the miasma vapor that covers many areas of the Rotten Vale).
Flunky Boss:
- Subverted when it comes to effluvium infected monsters. At first, it may seem like the Elder Dragon can get infected monsters to fight for it, but infected monsters are actually just attacking anyone they see, including Vaal Hazak. The trope is Downplayed when it comes to effluvium infected Wingdrakes as they prefer to attack hunters over Vaal Hazak.
- The trope is played straight when it comes to the effluvium itself. Vaal Hazak's relationship with the effluvium is similar to Zinogre's relationship with fulgurbugs. Not much of the effluvium is known, but it is likely a bacterium that thrives in and around rotting corpses. The effluvium bond with Vaal, routinely coming in and out of the Elder Dragon as if it is their hive. When in combat, Vaal Hazak essentially pukes out the effluvium, siccing them at enemies. One of Vaal's attacks is it puking directly downward and once the effluvium hits the ground, it will spread out and push hunters away from the Elder Dragon. If Vaal Hazak runs out of effluvium, it can command all nearby effluvium to return to it. Whenever Odogaron gets on Vaal Hazak's back and attacks it, the effluvium are quick to defend the Elder Dragon by overwhelming the Fanged Wyvern until it gets too injured and falls off.
The Grim Reaper: Invoked. Thematically, it's a dragon with a heavy death motif. It wears rotten flesh like a cloak which hides most of its body. Vaal is also covered in spikes in the shape of scythes. The male Blackveil Vaal Hazak helmet resembles skull.
Hate Plague: Small monsters infected with the effluvium are driven mad, making them much more aggressive.
Irony:
- Despite curbstomping Odogaron effortlessly, Odogaron weapons have a hidden Fire element, which Vaal Hazak is weak to.
- Further, even though it wins the turf war against Odogaron without suffering damage, Odo's sheer speed and utterly relentless nature means it could completely dominate the fight afterward if it doesn't flee. Poor Vaal's just too slow to get any hits in most of the time which results it in suffering Stun Lock via flinch animations.
It Can Think: It is weak to Dragon element, but it seemingly accounted for it as it wears a skin that protects it from Dragon damage until broken. Its Arch-Tempered version is also savvy enough to nest in acid to prevent trespassers from safely attacking it.
Kill It with Fire: Vaal Hazak is vulnerable to the Fire element. The Blackveil variant is slightly less vulnerable, possibly because the spores on its body add as extra protection, albeit not much.
Maximum HP Reduction: Can inflict this with its effluvium attacks, causing the player to have their max HP reduced for a temporary amount of time.
Meaningful Name: Its name may refer to Valhalla, Norse Mythology's afterlife for warriors, and Baal, a Semitic god better known as the demon Beelzebub.
Mighty Glacier: Downplayed. It can still charge rather quickly but it is notably not as fast as some of the other Elder Dragons. Vaal Hazak move fairly slow and their attacks generally have long windups, but they hit pretty hard and are quite tough.
Mighty Roar: Vaal Hazak's roars sound like haunting ghost cries, which help add to its death motif.
Mix-and-Match Critters: It's a dragon with the Nested Mouths of a stoplight loosejaw.
Necromancer: Subverted. It looks like it has the ability resurrect small monsters from the dead, but it is actually the effluvium(miasma that bond with Vaal Hazak) infecting still living ones, increasing their aggression.
Nemean Skinning: A rather grotesque example of this trope. It wears a coat of rotten flesh over its body, hiding most of its silvery scales and protecting it from the Dragon element until it's broken.
Nested Mouths: In keeping with the Rotten Vale's deep sea theme, it takes influence from the stoplight loosejaw: it has a second lower jaw nested within the larger one serving as the "floor" of its mouth.
Non-Indicative Name: Blackveil Vaal Hazak is mostly white and grey.
Non-Malicious Monster: Apart from the story quest, it won't immediately attack a hunter unless provoked.
No-Sell:
- Thanks to its symbiotic relationship with the effluvium, Vaal Hazak is immune to its harmful properties. Additionally, parts of its body that aren't broken are immune to the Dragon element and is capable of stepping into the acid pools of the Rotten Vale without risk.
- Blackveil Vaal is initially immune to flash pods, owing to the fact that its eyes are covered by a layer of spores the whole time, though you can remove this immunity by breaking its head.
Poisonous Person: Technically, the Effluvium ailment is separate from the Poison ailment, but the trope still applies given the nature of the effluvium. Its main form of attack comes from the effluvial miasma that it emits, which causes slight damage over time in the short term, and halve your health in the long term. In-universe, it's speculated it may even be responsible for the effluvial miasma found throughout the Rotten Vale.
Rare Random Drop: Vaal Hazak Gems in High Rank and Large Elder Dragon Gems in Master Rank.
Recurring Element: Replaces Chameleos as the designated "Poison Dragon", but also an Elder Dragon with a unique status ailment, similar to the Gore/Shagaru Magala.
Regenerating Health: Not the monster itself, thankfully, but its armor set heavily promotes this, allowing hunters to regenerate red-health very quickly. The set-bonus takes it a step further by allowing them to also slowly regenerate black-health too. A hunter with Vaal Hazak armor doesn't need potions to heal if they're careful enough.
Sickly Green Glow: Blackveil Vaal is so noxious that the entire locale it's in will have this, similar to the icy Velkhana tinting everything blue when it appears.
Signature Move:
- Well, Signature Status, rather. Vaal Hazak is the only monster in World that can directly utilize the effluvium effect as the miasma will cut your maximum health bar down to at most half depending on your resistance to the ailment. The Resident Evil event version of Blackveil has a zombification status.
- Blackveil Vaal Hazak's grand spore eruption(It is a supernova attack similar to what Teostra, Lunastra, and Seething Bazelgeuse can do). The Elder Dragon's spores will begin to grow and shake. Blackveil Vaal will then fly into the air and have the spores burst, releasing large balls of strong effluvium out of them. The effluvium form a large thick ring around Blackveil Vaal and remain there for a good amount of time. These strong effluvium can deplete more health than effluvium normally can, so a hunter being in contact for only a few seconds are enough to be taken out by the miasma. Hunters must be cautious if they choose to be in the center of the miasma ring because, even though it is a safe spot from the strong vapor, Blackveil Vaal is also at the center as it could either finish the hunter off or simply push them towards the strong effluvium.
Squishy Wizard: Downplayed. Vaal can command the effluvium to fight for it, but even when its not using them, the monster itself is quite tough. Its weak spots are easy to hit, but its effluvium will damage you in the process, making safe approaching harder.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- It's similar to Nakarkos, as an Elder Dragon with undead and deep-sea motifs that wears monster corpses as armor (Nakarkos is the "Corpse Dragon", while Vaal Hazak is the "Corpse Coat Dragon"). A key difference is that while Nakarkos is a cephalopod that disguises itself as a hydra, Vaal Hazak is clearly a more traditional dragon from the get-go.
- One to Chameleos, introduced at the same point as Kushala Daora and Teostra (Chameleos's counterparts in the 2nd and 4th gen games), which relies not on a conventional element but a debilitating mist, be it Poison or Effluvium, to do its dirty work.
- Also to the Magala lines, being an Elder Dragon who utilizes a microbe-induced status effect. Additionally, Chameleos, the Magalas, and Vaal are all weak to Fire element with Dragon element being their secondary weakness.
Took a Level in Badass:
- Its Arch-Tempered form is one of the most challenging A.T. fights. Not only does it hit harder, but it now tends to stay in areas with heavy effluvium, forcing hunters to have to deal with that as well.
- Blackveil Vaal isn't just more aggressive, it has a lot more miasma at higher volumes and knows better how to utilize it. It's also more resistant to Fire and Dragon element, as well as Blast damage.
Walking Wasteland: Blackveil Vaal Hazak. It is covered in spores that constantly spew effluvial miasma, giving Blackveil Vaal an atmosphere of effluvium wherever it goes. Unfortunately for everyone else, this makes Blackveil Vaal Hazak's mere existence a major threat to the ecosystem. The Blackveil in the Ancient Forest is even introduced as simply wandering around while the effluvial fumes from its spores drive every nearby monster crazy until they die.
Wave-Motion Gun: Has a charged breath attack that shoots a potent stream of effluvium capable of reaching far.
Wings Do Nothing: Downplayed. Vaal can use its wings to fly but it prefers not to as it would fight almost entirely on the ground. Even if it wants to flee, it does so by running. This is rather justified by the fact that it lives primarily in confined underground caves. There's also the fact that Vaal Hazak's wings are full of holes, so while it can fly, it is likely not a very good flyer. The only time it flies is when it gets mounted by a hunter, prompting Vaal to desperately try to shake them off. The Blackveil variant does fly for a bit when utilizing its supernova-style attack.
Your Soul Is Mine!: Invoked. Vaal Hazak can't seem to generate effluvium within its own body, so it replenishes by having its body simply absorb the effluvium from its surrounding area. Nearby individuals(including hunters) infected with the effluvium are not safe when this happens due to the effluvium being linked to their health. When Vaal Hazak takes the effluvium away from their body, the process ends up killing the infected individuals, and the visuals involved(smokey streams flowing from their bodies to Vaal as they slowly die) certainly look like it's draining their souls.
- Blackveil Vaal Hazak can also absorb effluvium from infected individuals. This may seem strange and rather pointless since the Blackveil variant is covered in spores that already generate effluvium for it, but it is likely that Blackveil Vaal Hazak still goes out of its way to absorb as much effluvium as it can to regenerate any of its spores that were damaged by attackers.

Xeno'jiiva

Xeno'jiiva (Zeno Jiiva)

Dark Light Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_xenojiva.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne

A species of Elder Dragon previously unknown to the Guild. The mysterious force luring Elder Dragons away from the Rotten Vale to the Elderstream was actually this creature, feeding on the bioenergy of those dying elders as it secretly incubated inside an enormous crystal.

Attack Its Weak Point: Attacking its glowing chest enough times when it is fully powered will stagger it and knock it down the ground for a good 10 seconds.
Background Music Override: When Xeno'jiiva appears in the post game and its quest becomes available as a result the normal town theme is overridden by more dark and sinister piece giving an in-story sense of urgency that it needs to be taken out as soon as possible.
Big Bad: It's the very reason the Elder Dragons are migrating to the New World, attracting them so they may die and allow it to absorb the released bioenergy.
Boss Arena Urgency: Downplayed. At the start of phase two there are multiple rocks that can be used to shelter from more dangerous attacks, such as the sweeping beam, but Xeno'jiiva will gradually destroy these as the fight progresses. It will also rarely use its beam attack while airborne and carve off an edge of the platform.
Breath Weapon: It can shoots blue fireballs from its mouth but as the battle progress and it begins to build up power, the fireballs turns to laser shots before turning into a continuous laser beam.
Bright Is Not Good: Xeno'jiiva is very bright and glows, but is clearly a dangerous and outworldly threat. Given its adult form is compared to a Satanic Archetype, it might actually be Light Is Not Good instead.
Combat Stilettos: The female Xeno'jiiva armors have this.
Contractual Boss Immunity: It can't be mounted and is immune to Flash Pods and Sleep ailment. It also can't be forcefully turned or flinch shot into the wall using the Cluth Claw if Iceborne is installed.
Damage-Sponge Boss: It's as durable as it is large.
Death from Above: Xeno'jiiva can use both its fireball and beam attacks while airborne and will also divebomb, which triggers a Dragon element explosion in its wake.
Draconic Abomination: While it’s still dragon-shaped, the Eldritch Abomination trope is invoked by its alien appearance, such as its three pairs of false eyes, glowing body parts, and blue flames. Even by this generation's nightmare-inducing standards, this beast is UNHOLY.
Dragons Are Demonic: Its demonic traits are its incredible power, speculated alien origins, and its otherworldly appearance.
Dragons Are Divine: At the same time, though, said otherworldly appearance is ethereal and graceful, and a gentle blue radiance emanates from its entire body.
Energy Weapon: Its Breath Weapon takes the form of massive searing lasers, hot enough that they cause the ground under them to turn molten, inflicting Fireblight if the player steps on it. The airborne version can actually carve off the edges of the platform.
Enfante Terrible: As Iceborne's second free title update reveals, Xeno'jiiva is in fact a baby - or at least a youth - when you run into it. If they're allowed to grow up, they soon turn into the far more deadly Safi'jiiva, who's capable of absorbing energy from entire biomes and reshaping them as it pleases.
Extra Eyes: Subverted. It has two eyes, and has three pairs of red-orange gems or markings above them that make it look like an eight-eyed alien, although they don't glow or blink like its actual eyes. When you break its head, some of them become cracked.
- As it turns out, they are in fact sensory organs (just not eyes), directing the monster to new sources of energy to feed on. As it matures into Safi'jiiva, these organs atrophy and become vestigial, though they are still present.
Final Boss: Of the base version of World. As with most examples, it is the Big Bad of the story, and must be stopped before it becomes a more significant threat.
Gem Tissue: It was born from a crystal, and its very body appears to be made of some kind of translucent, crystal-like material.
Giant Flyer: Don't let its size fool you; it can fly, and it'll use it against you, diving down to strike you with its claws or bombarding you with fireballs and lasers from the air.
Interface Spoiler: You can accidentally learn of its existence and name long before meeting it if any of its event quests happen to be in rotation when checking the quest board.
Irony: Although it does fit the Western mold (see Our Dragons Are Different), it's one of the most alien-looking monsters in World, both from an in-lore and from a design standpoint. And yet, when it grows up, it loses the alien-looking aspects and looks very much like a traditional Western dragon as Safi'jiiva; (at least, on the outside.)
Jack of All Trades: Like Nergigante, it's a monster that had every weapon class based on it prior to major updates. Whereas Nergigante weapons focus on raw damage, the Xeno'jiiva weapons excel in customization. They have considerably weak base damage, little Dragon element, and low Elderseal but they compensate them by having two Level 3 decoration slots, white sharpness, and a positive affinity. The monster's LBG and HBG are also the only bowguns to have all five elemental ammo. Furthermore, its armors had the highest defense stat and most decoration slots before major updates came in.
Leitmotif: "Guiding Lamp to the Otherworld", which only plays a few notes of World's theme in an uncertain tone before the oppressive brass imposes Xeno'jiiva's motif of unholiness. and Once Xeno'jiiva switches areas, "How Life Springs Anew" plays, with the swelling orchestra incorporating "Stars At Our Backs" as if to tell you to press forward with renewed courage. The main phrase of Xeno'jiiva's theme would end up be used in Safi'jiiva's theme as a verse sung in Monster Hunter's fictional language, praising the Red Dragon as the perfect being.
Lightning Bruiser: Partially due to its large size, it can cover a significant area very quickly, even though some of its attacks have long windups.
Limit Break: Can unleash a powerful attack once it is fully charged where it rears up and proceed to sweep the entire area with its laser beam but the sheer force of this attack will break the ground it is standing on and make it stumbles into the ground and leaving it vulnerable. Once it climbs back out, it will have reverted back to its normal state. The Arch-Tempered version only does this once its massive health is low.
Meaningful Name: "Xenos" is Greek for "stranger" or "foreigner" and appears in words like "xenophobia" and "Xenomorph". "Jīva" is a living being filled with life force in Hinduism and Jainism. Quite fitting for an otherworldly dragon filled with the bioenergy of Elder Dragons.
My Name Is ???: When first encountered, the HUD names it "???". Carved parts are described as coming from an "unknown monster".
Mysterious Veil: The female armor gives off this impression with the bridal veil that hides the hunter's eyes.
No-Sell: Immune To flash bombs. Not to slinger ammo, however.
Nothing Is Scarier: Even after you defeat it, in-game information is left blank during the duration of the game, although unlike older monster that were on similar rank from previous games, it has an icon this time.
Our Dragons Are Different: It's an ethereal monstrosity with an otherworldly appearance, but otherwise fits the Western mold very well, to the point that it's one of the few monsters that deals both Fire and Dragon elemental damage. Its adult form, Safi'jiiva, ditches the alien look completely for a far more traditional look, yet its power to absorb energy from entire biomes still suggests that it's far more than it appears.
Playing with Fire: Its abilities deal a lot of Fire damage, and it can cover the ground with Fireblight.
Power Glows: Most of its body glows blue, with a red glow from some kind of core also spreading from within its torso. Its light becomes more radiant as the fight goes on.
Rare Random Drop: Xeno'jiiva Gems in High Rank.
Riddle for the Ages: In vanilla World, we knew virtually nothing about this monster, which invited much speculation. It was only until the second free title update of Iceborne that reveals this thing truly is a baby, and that it has an adult form: Safi'jiiva. Yet beyond that, there's still relatively little information to go on about where it came from, or how it can do what it does.
Shockwave Stomp: It can manipulate the earth's energy to create chains of explosions.
Skeletons in the Coat Closet: The Palico armor crafted from its parts features skull-shaped cutouts in the fabric.
The Spook: Xeno'jiiva has never been seen, or even heard from before, to the point it doesn't even have a name in-universe until after the player slays it. Even the field guide initially remains blank, outside of gameplay information of course. It was eventually updated with information that is known.
Timed Mission: Just like Zorah Magadaros, after Xeno'jiiva is defeated, you cannot fight it through the quest log under most circumstances. It appears randomly and only stays available for the duration of any two quests before it vanishes, giving hunters a very limited window in which they can battle it.
Technicolor Fire: Its fire attacks are blue.
Took a Level in Badass: Much like Zorah, Arch-Tempered Xeno is a force to be reckoned with. It’s apparently learned from its previous battle with you, and is a much more competent adversary this time around. The battle starts in the last phase, and Xeno immediately destroys the crystal spires, preventing mount attempts. It doesn’t make the same clumsy mistakes it did in its first fight, slinger ammo doesn't make it flinch, and actually gains several new moves and variations on existing ones.
Turns Red: It gathers energy during the fight, and upon accumulating enough, it adds molten ground and additional explosions to many of its attacks, putting several moves into one-hit-cart territory. Staggering it during one of its longest moves removes it from this state.
Unskilled, but Strong: Xeno'jiiva is a youth when you encounter it; it makes mistakes during the fight that other Elder Dragons wouldn't, such as pounding the ground and causing it to collapse, giving the player a huge opening. However, the bioenergy of deceased elder dragons allowed it to be born in the first place, so Xeno'jiiva's mere existence is a possible extinction-level threat. This is subverted in its Arch-Tempered incarnation; it’s learned from its first battle with you and is a much more competent and dangerous adversary.
Vocal Dissonance: For a dragon as humongous as Xeno'jiiva, it lets out a lot of cries that resemble a baby or a squished plushie, which makes sense once you learn that it's a juvenile monster.
Walking Spoiler: There are implications something is going on throughout the story, but you only actually meet this monster (or learn a monster is even behind everything) right before you have to kill it.

Kulve Taroth

Kulve Taroth (Mamu Taroth)

Glorious Dragon, Mother Goddess of Gold

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kulve_taroth.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World ver. 3-, World: Iceborne, Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

An Elder Dragon added in the April 2018 title update. She is the target of World's first Siege Quest, where 16 Hunters can join the fray. First discovered when the Research Commission landed in the New World, she escaped due to a lack of resources to properly study her. With her recent return, the Commission makes plans to do what it was unable to decades ago and launch an exhaustive investigation into the creature. She inhabits the Caverns of El Dorado, a volcanic cave system full of precious ores, where she has grown a thick coat of gold and relic weapons to protect herself.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: The completion reward can randomly generate Bushi Tickets that can be used to buy two sets of cosmetic armor sets.
Animal Motif: Resembles a nanny, a female goat, with its horns. She also likes to thrash about by ramming a lot.
Ass Kicks You: Most of her infamous Rolling Attack's hitbox is located on her butt.
Attack Its Weak Point: Completely encouraged to successfully repel her and increase the final rewards.
Bling-Bling-BANG!: Natrually, all the gear you can craft/loot from this fight is covered in gold.
Bling of War: The armor crafted from Kulve Taroth's parts is some of the most ostentatious in the entire series, and also comes packed with several highly sought-after skills.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: In Area 1, you have access to several cannons to whittle down her armour, and you can drop a couple of rock formations on top of her head, leaving her stunned for several seconds. Area 3 has a conspicuous stalactite that can be dropped on top of her, and you can use Area 4's central pillar to jump on her, potentially leading to a mount.
Breath Weapon: A unique take in that, rather than launching torrents of fire, her attacks seem to be pure heat, or at the least superheated air. Regardless of what it is, it's hot enough to almost instantly liquefy metal and turn the ore in her lair into a storm of molten death.
Burning with Anger: Once she is sufficiently riled up, her body temperature increases to the point that she begin to melt her own protective gold mantle, making her take more damage but drastically increasing her offensive power.
Combat Hand Fan: Her parts can be crafted into a bladed fan for the Palico.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Downplayed. While initially immune to the Clutch Claw's effect of forcefully turning and sent to the wall, upon getting a Master Rank version, she can now be forcefully turned and Flinch shot into the wall although like Shara Ishvalda, she merely staggers as opposed to getting knocked out.
Death from Above: In the final phase of the hunt, the heat she gives off causes the gold in the cave ceiling to melt and fall down randomly. The Master Rank version causes it intentionally by blasting the ceiling with her heat beam, which causes a much larger quantity of molten gold to rain down.
Dragon Hoard: An Elder Dragon who lives in, and is covered in gold. Ironically, this sets her apart from the other elder dragons, who are mostly valuable for the materials their bodies possess.
Dragons Are Divine: Kulve Taroth is downright beautiful, and everything she does is a visual spectacle that leaves you awestruck.
Extra-ore-dinary: Downplayed; she can melt gold into a suit of armour for herself, but otherwise uses heat as her main weapon.
Feed It a Bomb: At least with Master Rank Kulve, shooting her mouth with a Slinger Bomb while she's using her Breath Weapon will cause a knockdown.
Four Is Death: Four phases, the last of which is most likely to get players carted due to shedding her mantle and going full ham.
The Ghost: Was one to the Research Commission. Originally documented by the First Fleet forty years ago, they lacked the resources and manpower to properly study Kulve Taroth, allowing her to escape and largely fade into obscurity. The massive amounts of bioenergy released by Zorah Magdaros and Xeno'jiiva finally drew her back out into the open.
Gold-Colored Superiority: This Elder Dragon is golden and is a unique threat, considering how many Hunters are needed to effectively fight her. The gold-filigreed relic weapons she drops are also better versions of whatever they were based on.
Hold the Line: In her map, she must be repelled in the same vein as other larger-than-life Elder Dragons such as Zorah Magdaros.
Infinity +1 Sword: The Kjarr weapons dropped by Arch-Tempered Kulve feature massively increased stats over their base weapon counterparts, often for very little to no trade-off. In addition, they all come with either the Critical Element or Critical Status skill built in, granting endgame builds access to two powerful skills that were previously locked away as set bonuses on two mediocre armor sets (Rathalos and Zorah Magdaros, respectively).
Instant-Win Condition: Breaking her horns in the final phase instantly ends the siege. It takes effort to get to that point, but in the end, the horns are the only thing that matters. Iceborne version 13.50, however, adds a Master Rank quest that assigns you to outright slay her while giving very little priority to breakable parts.
It Can Think: Smart enough to create and wear a protective mantle of gold that is immune to Ice element to cover for her natural weakness to Ice. Although the gold mantle is weak to Thunder element, she got it covered since she herself is naturally immune to Thunder. In the final phase of the fight when she is enraged, she will deliberately uses her Breath Weapon to melt the ores above her in order to melt them down and create environmental hazards of falling molten lava for the Hunters fighting her.
Kill It with Fire: Kulve Taroth's thick gold mantle has to be heated up before before it can be broken apart. Fire elemental weapons, lava eruptions and her own body heat when she is enraged can do the trick. However, her mantle is primarily weak to Thunder element instead of Fire.
Kill It with Ice: Once her protective mantle is shattered, Kulve Taroth becomes weak to Ice element weapons.
Lightning Bruiser: After her mantle has been shattered, she becomes way faster while keeping all of her power.
Marathon Boss: Hunting Kulve Taroth requires several teams of Hunters working together over multiple quests, whittling her down until she's finally weak enough to break her horns. It is possible to solo her, but it will take several hours and at least a dozen attempts.
Mighty Glacier: Before she sheds her golden armor, Kulve Taroth is fairly slow, and the fight's main threat is her massive size and reach.
Moveset Clone: Shares many animations and attacks with Great Jagras, Great Girros, and Dodogama.
Mythical Motifs: Between the goat horns and the fur-like gold armour, it's a clear reference to the Golden Fleece. Of course, even Jason would have trouble taking this fleece.
Non-Malicious Monster: Kulve Taroth will almost entirely ignore Hunters in the first phase of the fight, attacking extremely rarely and only when provoked. Only after she has been sufficiently damaged to reach the second phase will she actually begin fighting back.
Pimped-Out Dress: Not on her, but the female versions of her armor set give of this feeling. Complete with the following:
- Sexy Backless Outfit: The chestpiece, Kulve Taroth's Ire, displays this.
- Showgirl Skirt: The waist piece, Kulve Taroth's Malice.
Piñata Enemy: Compared to normal monsters, Kulve Taroth drops an enormous amount of loot. Attacks are far more likely to spawn shiny drops than normal monsters, with an average player likely to loot more than thirty in a good run. Breaking her horn armor spawns a carve worth three pieces of loot and each of her two horns are worth two carves. And all of that's before the completion awards which can reward up to eighteen items.
Pretty in Mink: Both male and female versions of her armor give of this vibe, except that they're somehow using gold covered fur.
Randomly Generated Loot: Downplayed. The gimmick behind Kulve Taroth's drops is that she has the potential to drop reskinned versions of the weapons of other monsters with unique stat distributions. Each weapon she drops can drop as one of three tiers, and same weapons of the same tier have fixed stats.
Rare Random Drop: Kulve Taroth Golden Glimstones in High Rank and Golden Dragonsphires in Master Rank.
Rolling Attack: Her most frequently used attack is to simply roll over any Hunters in her path, be it straight forward or sideways. Given her sheer size and weight, it cover a wide range and can outright One-Hit Kill a Hunter with low physical defense.
Sequential Boss: The fight has four distinct phases, each taking place in a different area and with different mechanics. Her hunting quest in Iceborne starts in Phase 2 right off the bat.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: The first few phases of her encounter involve melting and chipping away at her heavy, golden mantle. Once it's finally broken off for the final phase, Kulve Taroth goes from awkwardly rolling around to flatten you to sprinting around, violently swiping, tail-whipping, and ramming nearby Hunters.
The Spook: Much like Xeno'jiiva, it is very poorly understood by the Research Commission and has evaded their notice for most of the expedition's life.
Subsystem Damage: Kulve Taroth's armor has eight parts^* that can broken, plus the gold plating on her horns. It's possible to break her armor just with general damage and each part of the armor that breaks increases the end rewards. Once the gold mantle entirely comes off, the only breakable parts left are her tail end and giant horns, the latter of which will end the siege once broken.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
- Her weapons feature gold filigree reminiscent of the weapons made from the Ahtal-Ka of Generations Ultimate.
- The mechanic of getting the weapons from random drops (instead of crafting them) on the other hand make them reminiscent of the Relic Weapons from 4U.
- The volcanic region and her golden, heat-vulnerable armor also make her an Elder Dragon-level equivalent of Agnaktor.
- Once her mantle is broken, she resembles Akantor, being a massive quadrupedal volcano monster.
Single Specimen Species: There's no indication that there's more than one Kulve Taroth in existance, and considering hunters can't kill her, and only break her horns, it's likely there's only one Kulve Taroth exists in the New World.
Temporary Online Content: Kulve Taroth only appears during certain times, a first for the franchise. Her regular version was retired once her Arch-Tempered version was released. With the addition of Safi'jiiva, Kulve Taroth's siege, as well as her Master Rank quest, alternates every two weeks with the Red Dragon.
Timed Mission: The available time for the siege depends on the Pursuit level — the higher the Pursuit level, the more time is available to fight her. Breaking Kulve Taroth's armor and reaching the fourth phase of the fight extends the time limit. The Master Rank version of her quest removes the Pursuit mechanic, but she'll still run away unless the Hunters can break her golden armor.
Took a Level in Badass: The Master Rank version gains a number of powerful new attacks including a sweeping breath attack, a claw slam and a flying frog splash that both cause lava eruptions, and in her final phase she has a powerful new move where she coils around the central pillar and heats up the ceiling so much that a giant mass of molten gold rains down on all but the far edges of the arena.
Unstoppable Rage: Once her gold mantle is broken, Kulve Taroth will fight back much more aggressively against the Hunters in the final phase of the fight by ramming, charging, thrashing and attempting to burn them alive with her Breath Weapon. Each piece of her armor set is also named after an expression of anger, being Fury, Ire, Rage, Malice and Wrath.
Variable Mix: Has a three-part theme, The Brilliance that Rules the Everstream, which starts light in Area 1, becomes more intense in Area 2 and 3, and climaxes in Area 4. Her Arch-Tempered version remixes all three parts, complete with Ominous Latin Chanting that plays once hunters earn her ire in stage 4.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Is neither killed nor captured; she just rushes away after her horns are broken off. She also does this at the end of each area, melting through the wall to do so. If a siege mission fails due to the time limit, a cinematic of her leaving the area plays. As of Iceborne version 13.50, Kulve Taroth is able to be slain in a normal Master Rank event hunt, finally subverting this trope.

Behemoth

Demon Beast

Appearances:
Monster Hunter: World ver. 5-, World: Iceborne

A monster from a different universe, drawn to the New World by the mysterious appearance of aetheryte.

And Your Reward Is Clothes: Beating the Extreme Behemoth will allow you to get the Drachen layered armor.
Animalistic Abomination: By Monster Hunter standards at least. Being a monster from another universe, Behemoth is completely unlike anything else in Monster Hunter. It's an incredibly magical creature from a High Fantasy setting, invading a nonmagical Low Fantasy setting, and this makes it stick out.
Bragging Rights Reward: Defeating Extreme Behemoth is this. It has no new weapon or armor, and all the materials to craft it drop from normal Behemoth. All that beating Extreme Behemoth nets you is a Layered Armor, a title, and a background for your Guild Card.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Is immune to traps and certain status conditions in the same vein as other Elder Dragons. Additionally, it's also immune to the Clutch Claw's effect of forefully turning or being flinch shot into a wall.
Crossover: With Final Fantasy XIV, with Rathalos also being a boss in that game.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Behemoth boasts a health pool surpassing even Xeno'jiiva on top of his aggression, having 35,000 compared to the later's (solo) 16,000. Extreme Behemoth takes it up a notch with over 50,000HP. ^note
Death from Above: It's introduced crashing down on a meteor and killing Dodogama, and several attacks involve blasting Hunters with lightning or meteors.
Do Well, But Not Perfect: The final stage of Extreme Behemoth has three castings of Ecliptic Meteor to contend with, with only one comet for each one. However, the comets are triggered by health percentages, so if too much damage is dealt all at once (such as with a mount or sleep bombing) he will cast Comet twice before using Ecliptic Meteor, leaving your party with no cover for the next one.
Draw Aggro: Dealing enough damage to its head causes its attacker to gain its enmity, marked by a red line connected to them, and it will target them exclusively for a short time while changing its attack patterns.
The Dreaded: There's a reason the Moogle tells you not to fight it solo on your repel quest; the Serious Handler and the Excitable A-Lister heed that warning REAL quick when you go hunt it for real.
Elemental Powers: Has a few.
- Blow You Away: It frequently casts Charybdis, which creates damaging tornadoes that will stick around for a while, reducing the area you have to fight in. It can be interrupted by flinching it or with a Flash Pod.
- Playing with Fire: Meteor, and an unnamed attack that causes volcanic explosions in front of it.
- Shock and Awe: It can cast Thunderbolt.
Establishing Character Moment: Drops in from a meteor and kills a Dodogama.
Four Is Death: Four phases, just like Kulve Taroth. Unlike Kulve, however, it's an immediate threat even in phase one.
Guest Fighter: This is the first time in the main series that a crossover features an actual monster from another franchise as opposed to approximating one with an existing Monster Hunter monster.
Healing Factor: If all hunters leave the area it is in after the battle begins, it will begin regenerating health (with a game message informing you of this), a mechanic taken from its native franchise.
Kaizo Trap: Behemoth will always cast Ecliptic Meteor as it dies, as per Final Fantasy tradition.
Limit Break: In true Final Fantasy fashion, Behemoth has one in its 'Ecliptic Meteor' attack, a zone-wide, unblockable, unavoidable One-Hit Kill meteor strike.
Mechanically Unusual Fighter: Behemoth functions less like a creature and more like a raid boss, and it's this that its difficulty draws from. Several examples:
- Behemoth will focus its attacks on a Hunter if they quickly deal sufficient damage to its head, encouraging a "Tank, DPS, Healer" composition akin to traditional RPGs.
- Its Ecliptic Meteor is a One-Hit Kill. Period. ^noteSkills like Guts, Guard Up on shields, Lance's empowered guard, Temporal Mantle, and superman diving are ignored by the attack. It also disables Farcasters until it finishes. The only way to avoid the move is to hide behind the smaller meteors on the ground or flee the area.
  - As a Shout-Out to the Final Fantasy series, the new 'Jump' emote can also be used to avoid the attack if timed correctly.
  - Another trick players have figured out, is that sitting at the canteen in camp makes you immune to it.
- Extreme Behemoth carries the dubious honor of being the first monster in the series to have DPS checks: If a party cannot do enough damage past a certain threshold by the end of Phase 3, it will cast Ecliptic Meteor without dropping a Comet first. Hilariously (frustratingly), it works the concept in reverse during the final phase; see Do Well, But Not Perfect above.
Mighty Glacier: Subverted. It hits like a ton of bricks and its attacks can cover a large area, but it's not particularly agile. However, the main trouble is when it starts casting spells in between physical attacks, giving you little room to breathe.
Moveset Clone: Downplayed; its shares some of its physical moves with Nergigante.
Muscles Are Meaningful: Its ridiculously ripped upper body and front legs aren't just for show; Behemoth delivers some of the most powerful and brutal physical attacks in the game akin to Nergigante, easily oneshotting most Hunters in High Rank gear. Its pin animation also showcases just how easily it can toy around with an unlucky Hunter it grabbed, repeatedly slamming them into the ground and inflicting Bleed status on them.
Non-Indicative Name: If it wasn't obvious enough that the "Elder Dragon" tag is meant to represent unusually powerful monsters rather than just dragons, the Behemoth is not a winged reptile, but an unusual canine/bovine hybrid.
Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Behemoths are considered middle/upper-middle tier in terms of strength back in Final Fantasy, so they're obviously not weak there. However, they're considered to be closer towards the likes of Fatalis and Alatreon here due to the lack of magic in the Monster Hunter universe.
Outside-Context Problem: It's from an entirely different franchise.
Purple Is Powerful: Much like in its home series, the Behemoth is purple and a serious threat.
Schmuck Bait: The game advises you to not fight it solo, and they're not joking. With the health bar of a full-multiplayer hunt no matter what, even those in top-tier Master Rank gear from Iceborne who try to solo regular Behemoth will find it difficult to finish him off in just 35 minutes. Meanwhile, Extreme Behemoth is outright stated to be "extremely difficult" in it's quest description; you need a fully-prepared four-person team with a good plan to even have a shot, because there is zero margin for error.
Taking You with Me: Behemoth will try to cast Ecliptic Meteor one last time just before it dies in an attempt to wipe your team out.
Temporary Online Content: Averted with normal Behemoth, whose quest becomes a permanent Optional after completing the Special Assignment. Played straight with the extreme variant, which is an equivalent of an Arch-Tempered Monster and often disappears from the questboard, only to pop up again during festivals.
Turns Red: Behemoth's entire body glows burning red once someone gains its enmity.
Video Game Tutorial: The first time players fight it is an Antepiece that tasks them only to repel the Behemoth. Allowing them to familiarize themselves with the fight's unique mechanics. The players are even allowed 9 faints so as to keep them from failing, even if the entire party wipes from the eventual Ecliptic Meteor it casts to end the encounter.
Wake-Up Call Boss: Behemoth is outright designed to punish players who think they can just brute-force their way to victory without a strategy, on top of forcing solo players to look for coordinated help. The extreme variant also tells players that if they can't properly utilize the jump emote in the situation that they fail the DPS test, they're doomed.
We Need a Distraction: Encouraged by one player taking the tank role to gain its enmity so as to prevent the Behemoth from casting Charybdis all over the place.

Velkhana

Velkhana (Ivelkhana)

Ice Dragon, The Iceborne Wyvern, Lord of Ice

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/velkhana.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, Rise: Sunbreak

When happening upon a frozen statue
Its terrifying creator soon reveals itself
The lord of the tundra is heartless and cold
Showering its prey in an impenetrable veil of snow
Leading foolish creatures to an icy grave

The flagship monster of Iceborne, Velkhana is an elegant Elder Dragon with power over ice. Largely unknown to the Guild, its sudden appearance following the Elder Crossing project leads the Research Commission to discover a second island, the Hinterlands/Hoarfrost Reach, kickstarting the events of Iceborne.

Antagonist Title: Appropriate that Velkhana, one of the iconic monsters of Iceborne, was nicknamed the Iceborne Wyvern In-Universe.
Armor-Piercing Attack: Arch-Tempered Velkhana's bite attack will knock down any hunters that clutched onto its head to prevent an easy force-shot to the wall for a free stun. This attack even bypasses any protective mantles such as Rocksteady and Temporal; the former does not prevent the hunter from getting knocked away while the latter will instantly drain all Temporal charges before getting knocked down from the attack.
Beware My Stinger Tail: Velkhana will use the tip of its tail as a lance to jab at hunters from various angles.
The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In: When the icepick-like tail is severed, it lands with the tip embedded in the ground.
Bling of War: In contrast to the gold-plated glory of Kulve Taroth, Velkhana's armor layers a lot of silver & white over deep blue robes, blending both elegant curves and dangerous spikes into the design. It give the sense of an elegant warrior king/queen with regalia either fused with or outright made from ice, topped with an icy, crown-shaped helmet.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: A minor example, the icy spots left on the ground by Velkhana's clouds can be used to trigger slide attacks even on flat surfaces/makes platforms that the hunter can jump off, potentially getting off a mount attack.
Breath Weapon: In a similar manner to Kulve Taroth, Velkhana doesn't breathe ice per se, but rather a super-chilled air that causes stalagmites of ice to erupt from the ground or icicles to crash down in mid-air. Or just freeze monsters solid..
Contrasting Sequel Main Character: At least physically, Velkhana is the first flagship elder dragon to use the slimmer elder dragon skeleton in awhile. Previous flagship elder dragons such as Nergigante, Valstrax, and Gore Magala all used the bigger, more buff skeleton from the latter.
Crippling Overspecialization: Velkhana relies on tail stabs and its ice breath to attack. Its head is left defenseless while doing either of them, so you can use the Clutch Claw to score some free hits or topple it with a Flinch Shot.
Critical Hit Class: Its armor specializes in critical hits—draw attacks are guaranteed crits, crits are more likely when hitting weak or damaged areas on the monster, and elemental damage is buffed on crits.
Disc-One Final Boss: For much of the Iceborne campaign, Velkhana is treated as though it's the Big Bad. It's regarded as an extremely dangerous creature that could end all life in the New World, its very presence puts the whole Research Commission on edge to the point where the Commander even considers evacuation, you clash with the beast multiple times, it grows tougher with every encounter, and the penultimate battle is even a siege mission where you have to keep the dragon from destroying Seliana. It's only after you slay Velkhana when it becomes clear there's something more sinister at work.
Dismemberment Is Cheap: If you cut off their tail, they will make a prosthetic of it out of ice and continue the fight, though it only applies said prosthetic when using its tail attacks.
Dragons Are Divine: Velkhana just exudes an air of regality that few other Elder Dragons can match. It uses the slimmer, more elegant Elder Dragon frame, fights you in locales covered in in glistening ice crystals, and the ice armor it forms on its head has spires reminiscent of a crown.
Elemental Armor: It covers itself in ice that can be broken as a way to topple it. It reapplies it when enraged not only to regain its defenses but also to create a new tail if the old one got severed.
Force and Finesse: The Finesse to Nergigante's Force when it comes to their weapon lines. Nergigante weapons look as unsubtle and brutal as the elder dragon itself, with high base damage but limited to blue sharpness for its R8 weapons and white for its R12 weapons. Velkhana weapons on the other hand look elegant and sleek, even normally crude weapons like the Great Sword and Hammer. While their base damage is lower than Nergigante's, all of its weapons have access to purple sharpness even in their penultimate R11 forms. This dichotomy is replicated in Sunbreak with its turf war against Magnamalo, with Velkhana spending most of the turf war trying to get quick hits in and avoid being thrown around like a ragdoll by the physically stronger Fanged Wyvern. Just when it appears Velkhana has gotten the better of it via an ice prison, Magnamalo blasts itself free with enough force to knock Velkhana back.
Geo Effects: Velkhana will create pockets of chilled air as it moves and fights which, when struck with its Breath Weapon, will erupt into walls or blocks of ice. The blcoks of ice behave like ledges which savvy hunters can make use of.
The Ghost: Even moreso than Kulve Taroth. No offical records exist for it in either the Old World or the New, and what little information does exist is from unverified civilian testimonies. The only real evidence of it comes from journal scraps found on a pre-Research Commission shipwreck linking it to the Legiana and their 'song'.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: Likely in reference to the actual monster's quick scorpion stabs, Velkhana armor comes with skills that encourage iaijutsu combat. Quick Sheath allows you to put away your weapon faster, Critical Draw guarantees a critical hit on draw attacks, and its unique set bonus Frostcraft gives you a buff to attack which degrades with each hit and regenerates while sheathed.
An Ice Person: Where there is Velkhana, there is ice. This Elder Dragon is known to command the cold by supercooling the air around itself. With this ability, Velkhana can form ice in various ways:
- Its ice armor is made by condensing and cooling water vapor, as opposed to Zamtrios secreting a fluid that freezes on contact with the air.
- It creates pockets of chilled air that can be triggered by its breath attack. On the ground they erupt into walls of ice, dealing damage and inflicting Iceblight when they do, and in the air they'll cause icicles to form and crash down.
- While wearing its ice armor, several of its breath attacks are powerful enough to cause stalagmites of ice to grow wherever it hits
- By freezing patches of the ground it can create traps that slow Hunters walking on it, eventually freezing them in place if they can't escape in time.
Instant Armor: It can condense the water vapor in the air into a layer of armor that would make Zamtrios jealous.
It Can Think: If a hunter has a tailraider (an assistant small monster like Jagras, Girros, Kestodon, etc.) with them to Draw Aggro, Velkhana will pause fighting the hunter and look for the tailraider before freezing them alive, in order to prevent the player from having an extra meatshield.
Increasingly Lethal Enemy: Arch-Tempered Velkhana has a unique aura that builds in strength as it continues to get attacked, gradually reducing the amount of damage it takes while increasing the power of its Breath Weapon. The aura is indicated by the state of its ice armor (which can no longer be broken by normal damage), but Elderseal procs can temporarily weaken and suppress the aura.
Leitmotif: During your first two fights against Velkhana, you only get a glimpse of the monster's full theme, instead contenting yourself with bits of brass here and there in "Behold, the Ruler of the Frost" and "The Defense of Seliana". It's only during your third and final encounter that Velkhana deploys the full force of its leitmotif, "Splendiferous Silver Sovereign", which incorporates an even more energetic brass movement than the first two themes as well as a beautiful, but aggressive piano performance, resulting in a noble and bewitching concerto. Velkhana's sumptuous theme was admittedly composed with the idea that if its foil Nergigante (who has a very brutal leitmotif with a feverish tempo) is a "king", then Velkhana is the "queen", further cementing the contrast between the two flagship monsters. Finally, Arch-Tempered Velkhana, much like AT Nergigante before it, has its own theme in the form of "Iceborne's End".
Lightning Bruiser: Don't let Velkhana's graceful appearance fool you; despite having the second lowest health pool of the Master Rank Elder Dragons (less than Ruiner Nergigante, even), it's just as durable as the average ones due to its very low elemental hitzone values (meaning that raw damage is still preferred over even its three-star fire weakness), and possesses a nasty plethora of powerful ice attacks that it tends to execute with very little windup. Arch-Tempered Velkhana ups the ante by having over twice the health of a normal Velkhana (putting it squarely between Alatreon and Fatalis for sponginess that's adjusted with multiplayer), and most of its attacks are capable of carting Hunters with maxed out MR gear with just two hits.
Limit Break: If it's not toppled before the end of its rage state, it will create an ice supernova with a massive spread that will get rid of its ice armor but will also cart anyone without sufficient Ice resistance.
Mascot: It is the flagship monster of Iceborne.
Non-Malicious Monster: Outside of the one you are required to slay in the storyline, Velkhana won't attack unless you provoke it, being more interested in chilling around the Hoarfrost Reach than picking a fight with the Hunter. Only Arch-Tempered Velkhana and the USJ Arena one are hostile on sight, with the former immediately coating itself in ice as soon as the fight starts.
Our Dragons Are Different: It's a highly stereotypical Western dragon with powers over ice. Ice-based powers are very common for Western dragons in fiction, perhaps second only to Playing with Fire.
Rare Random Drop: Velkhana Crystals in Master Rank.
Recurring Element: Like Nergigante in the base game, Velkhana is thought to be responsible for Iceborne's unusual changes until the Commission realizes something more powerful and sinister is causing them.
Red Baron: Its nickname, in the game, is the Iceborne Wyvern.
Turns Red: Or blue, in this case. When Velkhana enrages it immediately reapplies its ice armor if it wasn't already wearing it, creates a large number of cold patches in its area, and the lighting shifts towards more blue tones.
The Worf Effect:
- Averted in Iceborne as it was the only Elder Dragon that Nergigante had a turf war with where a draw was forced, and likewise in Sunbreak where it holds its own against both the similarly brutish (Scorned) Magnamalo and the elegant Malzeno.
- Played straight though in regards to its turf wars with Risen Kushala Daora and Teostra in Sunbreak, as both ascended Elder Dragons are quick enough on the uptake to land a breath attack direct hit in on the ice dragon after an otherwise even physical tussle. Also played straight with Primordial Malzeno who, unlike the normal variant, will inflict a borderline Curb-Stomp Battle upon it by deflecting Velkhana's ice breath with its wing before swatting it into the ground.

Namielle

Namielle (Neromielle)

Abyssal Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhwi_namielle_render_001.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

An Elder Dragon that coats its skin in a layer of low-viscosity mucus, which it can drop onto the ground to create localized riptides to stagger opponents, wash them away with waves, or conduct its bioelectricity to electrocute them. It is only known through vague reports by First Wyverians, which mention exploding water and bright lights.

Bioluminescence Is Cool: Namielle has rows of red lights across various parts of its body akin to real-life deep sea fish.
Cthulhumanoid: Male armor gives this vibe.
Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: An interesting subversion. Standard Monster Hunter logic is that you fight a Water-based monster with Thunder damage weapons. But apparently, one of the sea creatures Namielle shares traits with is electric eels: it can electrify itself and use the pools of mucus it leaves on the battlefield to conduct its Thunder-based attacks, so Thunder-based weapons are not recommended. Its highest actual elemental weakness is Fire.
Geo Effects: Namielle leaves pools of watery mucus on the ground as it fights, which can be used to create waves to moves hunters, cause geysers when struck by a water attack, or to conduct electricity and explode into steam when struck by a thunder attack.
Graceful in Their Element: While dehydrated and with no body of water nearby, Namielle moves rather slowly with its stubby limbs and cape-like wings. Once there's a lot of water lying on the floor, however, it can move around in a very slippery manner, slithering along the ground to reposition itself. When hydrated and charged with electricity, Namielle can also fly very gracefully while also zapping Hunters on the ground with its wingtips, something which is reminiscent of a vampire squid catching its prey.
Leitmotif: "Morning Star of the Dark Tide", which features a cello legato that's reminiscent of Jaws's famous theme, with the orchestra wavering back and forth to give the impression of an incoming tide.
Limit Break: Once enough damage has been dealt to it, Namielle will quickly spew a lot of water into the ground then immediately leap into the air, before slamming the ground in its electrified form, vaporizing every body of water in the vicinity and inflicting heavy damage to hapless Hunters caught in the AoE (can even become a One-Hit Kill if your defense is low enough or you're fighting Arch-Tempered Namielle). This is easily identified by Namielle letting out a high pitched noise before executing the attack. However, if hunters survive, Namielle will be completely dehydrated afterwards, leaving it weak and vulnerable for the next while.
Making a Splash: It is a water-themed Elder Dragon, and can create floods and tidal waves only using the water it leaves behind.
Meaningful Name: Nami is Japanese for "wave", and it's a deep-sea themed Elder Dragon that utilizes waves of water to push players around, and "-elle" is the feminine form of the suffix "-el" commonly found in names (for example: Daniel - Danielle) which means "god" in Hebrew, so in a roundabout way, Namielle could mean "Goddess of Waves".
Mix-and-Match Critter: It has stocky, webbed forelimbs like a salamander, catfish-like whiskers, and a head like a hammerhead shark. Its wings form one large membrane resembling a vampire squid's webbed arms, with the inner surface featuring bright rainbow-colored strips similar to a comb jelly's cilia. Areas of its skin also feature a recessed grid pattern resembling a seahorse's bony armor.
Non-Malicious Monster: Outside of its introductory cutscene, it's not aggressive at all, and won't attack the hunter unless they strike first. Even in the introductory cutscene, all Namielle does is use its water to drive the hunter away.
Rare Random Drop: Large Elder Dragon Gems in Master Rank.
Roar Before Beating: When enraged, it'll sometimes do a roar that sounds like a squeaky inhale. If you hear that noise, you'd do well to get away from any of the puddles in the area, or you're in for a shocking surprise; doubly so if it's the Arch-Tempered variant. Fortunately, that noise also means you can go in for the kill if you survive, since it gets drained of all its mucus and turns a dried out brown after using the attack.
Shock and Awe: Is able to charge its melee attacks with thunder.
Shout-Out: The headgear and hair styles of the female armors are this to Splatoon. Also, the Namielle resembles Cloudjumper, Valka's dragon from the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: It is effectively an Elder Dragon version of Lagiacrus, being a sea creature that also has electricity.

Shara Ishvalda

Shara Ishvalda (An Ishvalda)

Earth Singing Dragon, Old Everwyrm

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shara_ishvalda.png

^{Click to see its final form.}

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

The mysterious "Old Everwyrm" mentioned in the old writings discovered by the Handler and the Tracker. This ancient Elder Dragon can manipulate the earth itself, and is the cause of the seismic activity, strange song-like calls, and ecological changes that the Research Commission investigates throughout Iceborne.

Ax-Crazy: While an animal, and a mysterious one at that, in its final phase Shara Ishvalda looks deranged, with its staring eyes and constant twitching.
Big Bad: of Iceborne, being the source of all the seismic activity, songs, and ecological changes that cause all the problems in the expansion's story.
Bizarre Alien Senses: In truth, Shara's eyesight is very poor, being adapted for a life underground. Therefore, the primary means that it senses the world around it is via its forehead, which houses a primary sensory organ beneath (analogous to where a third eye would usually be).
Boss-Arena Idiocy: The first phase's arena is home to a large rock formation that you can fling Shara Ishvalda into twice, making the boulders fall on its head and take off a huge amount of its health, on top of stunning it and leaving it wide open for you to wail on it longer than you would against other toppled monsters. The second phase has three similar rock formations with a similar mechanic, but Shara Ishvalda's frontal sonic blast can obliterate them before you can even use them against it.
Botanical Abomination: Uniquely among all canonical monsters, Shara actually seems to be part plant, with a bark-like hide and wingarms that resemble knotted wooden branches. In fact, at one point in development it was a plant.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Downplayed. While it can be forcefully turned and ran into a wall using a flinch shot, it will merely stagger it unless it's sent to a falling boulder. It can also be mounted although successfully doing so is incredibly difficult.
Creepy Long Fingers: Its wings look more like this rather than actual wings, and they're almost constantly twitching when at rest, in a way that's nearly reminiscent of a spider's legs.
Dishing Out Dirt: Those veiny wingtips aren't just for squick. They can cause vibrations that can manipulate rock and soil, from creating a suit of armor for itself to changing solid ground into exploding quicksand.
Draconic Abomination: Much like Xeno'jiiva before it, Shara Ishvalda may be dragon-shaped, but its general appearance, abilities to alter both monster behavior and biomes across a whole continent, and lack of explanation for its true nature or origin, all mark it as an UNHOLY creature.
Dragons Are Demonic: Shara looks like an unnatural combination of plant and dragon, with bizarre abilities and freakish features topped off by its insane, fourth-wall-breaking Death Glare.
Energy Weapon: Can fire multiple "beams" from its wingtips. These are actually the visible manifestations of the vibrations it uses to control rocks. It can also do one massive beam by putting all its wingtips together.
Eye Awaken: Even after shedding its rock armour (which corresponds with the end of the first third of its total health bar), Shara Ishvalda does not open its eyes until the last third of the fight, and when it opens them, they track your screen. Later, the Field Commander orders everyone to pack up and head home, only for the downed Shara to open its eyes, stand up and challenge the Commission once more, which prompts Ruiner Nergigante, also revealed to be Not Quite Dead, to emerge and swiftly kill Shara.
Final Boss: Of Iceborne's Storyline, following in Xeno'jiiva's footsteps before it, being the main cause of all the new abnormalities.
Final-Exam Boss: While the player is not required to use it, the Iceborne-exclusive Clutch Claw is essential to beating it quicker by throwing it into nearby boulders for massive damage. Additionally, if they have not mastered diving by the time they fight it, they are likely to get one-hit killed by its gigantic sphere. Fortunately, they can use Farcaster to escape from this attack.
The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: If Ishvalda is brought to its final phase, it opens its eyes up, and stares directly at you. As in, the eyes will always track to your camera, not the hunter; there is zero explanation for it. ^note
Gameplay and Story Integration: Most elder dragons are described as being comparable to walking natural disasters, but Shara Ishvalda is the first to back up that claim - when fought, it outright destroys the area around the arena, with more and more of the background sinking into the ocean as the fight goes on.
Geo Effects: Can turn parts of the stage into soft quicksand that slows the player down. These patches will also explode when struck by its sonic attacks, dealing significant damage and launching hunters.
Giant Hands of Doom: Especially in its armored state, but even without them, its membrane-less wings move like a pair of hands that shoot sonic lasers at the hunters.
Glowing Eyes of Doom: It's not especially obvious unless you're close by to its head, but Shara Isvalda's red pupils give off a low-level glow. It's best seen either when it's in its armored state, or during the hunt's ending cutscene where it's getting back up, before Ruiner Nergigante shows up.
Gonk: Unlike more feral-looking Elder Dragons like Nergigante or Kushala Daora, Shara Ishvalda's true appearance is deliberately hideous and freakish, with its distorted body sporting an unusually bright color palette and a face resembling a snarling Hindu demon's instead of a dragon's.
Hand Blast: They can fire beams of vibrated air from the fingertips of their hands/repurposed wings.
Leitmotif: "From the Rumblings Come a Song" for its first phase and "A Single Bloom in an Eternity" once it's stripped of its rock plating. Both themes make heavy use of a wooden flute playing out a plaintive melody, mimicking the vocals of a Hindu hymn, which is in line with Shara Ishvalda's religious inspiration. The second theme goes out in full force with the percussions and the orchestra, demonstrating the solemnity of the Old Everwyrm's supreme power.
Light Is Not Good: Unlike Xeno'jiiva, which was brightly colored, but not as obviously holy-based, Shara draws on Hindu, Buddhist, and even ancient Sumerian religious imagery. Its strange wings call to mind multi-armed deities. The bony structures on its head resemble a mukuta crown, and in combination with the pale pink coloration and other ridges along its back resemble a lotus. At the same time, it's one of the series' more unsettling monsters and like other elder dragons is capable of destroying entire ecosystems.
Limit Break: Once Shara Ishvalda is sufficiently injured, it will gain an attack where it burrows to a random side of the arena and charges up an enormous sonic sphere before hurling it into the middle of the arena, detonating in a massive explosion that deals severe damage to, if not instantly carting anyone unlucky enough to be in the blast. It'll generally use this not long after entering its final phase, but it can reuse it multiple times if the fight persists.
Mad Eye: Atypically for this trope, when Shara is pushed to the brink, both of its eyes become this. And only adding to the effect is that throughout the fight, while its eyes can close - as after shedding the rocks, it starts with them shut - it seemingly doesn't have eyelids and so cannot blink.
Meaningful Name:
- "Shara" comes from the name of a Sumerian god of war of the same name, who is the son of Innana. The Japanese name instead uses "An," the Sumerian supreme god, and father of Innana. "Ishvalda" on the other hand derives from "Ishvara" which is a Hindu concept of a higher power and itself holds various meanings, particularly "Supreme Being" or "God".
- The Japanese name for its armor is "Angaruda" which draws from "Angalta Kigalshe," or "the Great Above, and the Great Below." This is the story of Innana's fit of jealousy over the beauty of a mountain, and flattening it into a crater. Rather apropos, given the monster creates sinkholes.
- The name for its ultimate attack is "Imperial Lotus Kalpa Cannon". In particular, 'kalpa' in Hindu/Buddhist mythology refers to a very long period of time, on the order of between the creation of the universe and recreating a world or universe, which is fitting for Shara's overall divine theme.
Mighty Glacier: As expected from a walking pile of rocks, Shara Ishvalda is one of the tankiest monsters in the game, requiring you to make use of your Clutch Claw to slam it into falling boulders and significantly speed up the first phase of the fight; its moves are also unsurprisingly telegraphed, but hit as hard as a mountain falling on top of you. Even when its rock plating is entirely removed, its true form is still relatively slow, but its attacks are incredibly powerful and far-reaching.
Mix-and-Match Critters: Its striking yellow eyes and Creepy Long Fingers make it resemble a scaly aye-aye.
Moveset Clone: Downplayed, as Shara Ishvalda's true form shares the same lithe skeleton, posture and walking animation as Valstrax, but otherwise uses its wings differently, cannot fly period unlike Valstrax, and is significantly slower.
My Name Is ???: Much like Xeno'jiiva, when first encountered the HUD name is "???", and carved parts are described as coming from an "unknown monster".
Mythical Motifs: Of Hindu and Sumerian mythology. From its name, appearance, battle theme, and the gears that come from it, the thing has a chock full of references to Hinduism.
Nightmare Face: Its almost human-like face in its second form is unholy, giving Xeno'jiiva's appearance a run for its money. The deranged look in its eyes, combined with the The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You element, seriously adds to the creepiness as well.
Not Quite Dead: After being beaten, it gets back up, only to get killed by Ruiner Nergigante.
Person of Mass Destruction: This thing is basically a living earthquake, demolishing entire ecosystems by triggering tremors along the Everstream and creating vibrations strong enough to shatter mountains.
Rare Random Drop: Shara Ishvalda Gems in Master Rank.
Red Baron: "The Old Everwyrm".
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its deranged, fourth-wall-breaking Nightmare Face wouldn't be complete without these.
Shed Armor, Gain Speed: Like Kulve Taroth before it, Shara Ishvalda has a very athletic body that's encumbered by an extremely heavy layer of armour—or a mountain's worth of rocks in this case. The first phase has Shara covered in rock armor, making its moves predictable, if highly damaging. When the second phase comes around, Shara sheds all the boulderplates and becomes significantly faster than its first form. While it still executes its attacks fairly slowly, their sheer scale and range are enough to make Hunters think twice about tanking them.
Sphere of Destruction: Shara Ishvalda's ultimate attack creates a massive sphere of sonic energy that it then throws at the player, causing an enormous explosion and detonating the sand traps over a wide area.
The Spook: Even more so than Kulve Taroth and Velkhana—only one person, the Tracker's master (who came to the New World before the Research Commission), had any inkling of its existence.
Stone Wall: The first phase starts off with it being covered in rocks which hunters have to get rid of. The armors made from it offer defensive skills such as Health Boost and Defense Boost.
Strong and Skilled: Its weapons have good raw damage, neutral affinity, and can obtain a decent amount of purple sharpness if given maximum Handicraft skill. It can also benefit from the Non-Elemental Boost skill, or reasonable Dragon damage and high elderseal if its element is awakened instead.
Super Armor: The armors set bonus gives any mantle you put on Tremor Resistance, Windproof, Flinch Free, and Earplugs skills, effectively turning it into a near replication of Rocksteady Mantle. The caveat is that you need to have at least four pieces of the armor to activate it.
Super-Scream: Its roar is notable in that, like Tigrex’s, it bypasses the Earplug skill by way of being an actual attack powerful enough to deal damage and send hunters flying.
Tunnel King:
- Until it's drawn out (or chooses to appear), Shara Ishvalda will typically stay underground, tunneling around the area and causing earthquakes. During the fight, it can submerge most/all of its body during both its armored and unarmored phases for certain attacks, or just to move to another part of the arena.
- In lore, Shara is essentially a burrowing wasteland, as it's underground digging can regularly collapse the land above wherever it goes. In fact, the Hoarfrost Reach used to be a hot place due to a volcano, but Shara passing through the area at one point collapsed it and buried the magma flows, ultimately letting the place turn into the snow-packed area we explore in the present.
Walking Spoiler: Whatever is going on during the events of Iceborne, we know nothing of it up until the showdown, being the true perpetrator of the events.
Wave-Motion Gun: By bringing its wingtips together, Shara Ishvalda can fire a massive sonic blast in a manner similar to Akantor that is strong enough to pulverize the mountains around its arena.
Wings Do Nothing: Subverted. Its wings lack webbings and are too thin to allow it to fly, but they were designed for underground digging, creating sonic vibrations at the wingtips and granting Shara Ishvalda a scary repertoire of environmental-changing abilities.
Worf Had the Flu: It's eventually killed by Ruiner Nergigante, but it was weakened earlier by the hunter.

Safi'jiiva (unmarked spoilers)

Safi'jiiva (Mufeto Jiiva)

Red Dragon

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhwi_safijiiva_render_001.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

The fully mature form of Xeno'jiiva, Safi'jiiva is a dragon who absorbs all the bioenergy within an area, changing it to suit its needs. In game, it represents World's second siege quest after Kulve Taroth's. Safi'jiiva first appeared in a surprise recon mission that was part of the update that added Stygian Zinogre. After repelling it, it eventually returns in a later update, allowing hunters to fight it for real.

All There in the Manual: A lot of the lore behind Safi'jiiva is hidden inside the Dive into MHW: Iceborne sourcebook. This includes the fact that the black dragons (Alatreon and Fatalis) appear in Iceborne due to its presence, and that Capcom created it specifically to be the ecological nemesis of the former and a New World equivalent to the latter.
All Your Powers Combined: Its moveset takes cues from several monsters throughout the game, including Xeno'jiiva's large Breath Weapon beam and ground burst, Namielle's laser beam with ground eruptions, and Behemoth's aggro mechanic and instant death attack. Customization on its weapons indicates that it can also harvest the essence and set bonuses of nearly every monster in World, with the exceptions being monsters that were introduced in later title updates like Raging Brachydios/Furious Rajang, Alatreon, and Fatalis.
Attack Its Weak Point: Its whole body starts off incredibly tough, so hunters have to make weak points using the Clutch Claw's tenderizing ability in order to do real damage and avoid bouncing without the Minds Eye decoration. Some of its parts are weaker to certain types of damage, too; Blademasters should aim for its forelimbs, Hammers and Hunting Horns should aim for its head, and Gunners should aim for its wings. During the final phase, its chest becomes a weak point when it enters rage mode.
Battle Ballgown: The female armor made from it features a collapsible one, no less! It starts glowing red or blue when it's powering the Hunter up or healing them.
Bizarre Alien Reproduction: If Dive into MHW: Iceborne is to be believed, Safi'jiiva produces offspring through a powerful explosion of concentrated bioenergy, which is exactly what 'Sapphire of the Emperor' amounts to. The bottom of the Secluded Valley is littered with Xeno'jiiva cocoons that could soon grow, which is why Alatreon stepped in to ensure none would live.
Boss-Arena Idiocy: Downplayed; the three floors you fight Safi'jiiva in each have unique elements that can accelerate the process of making the dragon retreat to the lowest level.
- On the top floor, there are two boulders that you can lure Safi'jiiva towards and make them fall on it, knocking it down and draining a significant amount of energy on the floor. There is also a spot where the ground is decayed, trapping Safi'jiiva in vines if it steps on it for too long.
- On the middle floor, the terrain is mostly open, but there are a couple of uneven indentations that allow for slides and small jumps, making it easier to mount the dragon. There are also indestructible crags to help you hide from the 'Sapphire of the Emperor', as this is the floor where Safi'jiiva starts using its ultimate attack.
- On the bottom floor, there are gas deposits that you can lure Safi'jiiva towards, dealing 1000 damage each time it blows up near the dragon and potentially knocking it down. Unlike the second floor, the crags that allow you to survive the 'Sapphire of the Emperor' get destroyed after a single blast, but Safi'jiiva regularly refreshes them by accident (unless said move is interrupted, in which case you're screwed).
- The second and bottom floors both have ledges on them, allowing hunters to try and mount the monster. Dual Blades in particular benefit from this the most, since their Dance of Heavenly Blades attack deals a lot of damage due to Safi'jiiva's length.
Cast from Hit Points: The awakened skill in its armor set gives you a number of powerful buffs (up to a 40% boost in affinity and a flat boost of 150 to elemental power,) but at the cost of sapping up to 8 health with every attack you make, depending on the weapon. That said, if you're able to land a number of continuous attacks successfully without sheathing your weapon, then you'll get some free healing that will more than make up for the damage you previously took. Alternatively, if your playstyle doesn't allow you to regularly do this - such as a Draw-focused Greatsword build - the healing augment can still heal some/all of this damage.
Contractual Boss Immunity: Besides the standard Elder Dragon immunity to traps, Safi'jiiva is immune to the Clutch Claw's ability to both forcefully turn and flinch shot it to the wall. Using the flinch shot instead will cause it to switch target to whoever the hunter uses it on when enraged.
Damage-Sponge Boss: Double subverted. Even with a full party, Safi'jiiva's health clocks in exactly at 40,000 HP (which is fairly middling for bosses of this difficulty), but on top of its massive damage resistances, it will consume some of the stored energy on the floor to significantly heal itself and re-harden its body every time you knock its health down to a certain threshold.^note The only way to prevent it from healing itself is to deplete its stored energy on each floor until it can no longer drain energy from the ground, with draining energy over multiple runs slightly reducing the stored energy per floor on every subsequent one until it's finally slain. As a result of its mechanics and the truncated 20 minute time limit on its hunts, it's generally extremely difficult to kill Safi'jiiva in a single hunt unless you are skilled enough to quickly deplete the energy in the two upper floors, then dish out your highest DPS on the bottom floor.
Draconic Abomination: It's the most normal-looking dragon in Monster Hunter World, but the way that it feeds by drawing energy from the land implies it's no ordinary lifeform, and may only be a dragon in appearance. The fact that it's what the far more otherworldly Xeno'jiiva matures into only goes to further show how wrong this thing is.
Dragons Are Demonic: Its hellish red scales, long black horns and spiky body make it look far more like a demon than most other monsters in the franchise.
Draw Aggro: From the second phase onwards, it adopts something similar to Behemoth's MMORPG-style aggro mechanic, singling out the Hunter who did the most damage to it and aggressively targeting them. The aggro'd Hunter has to keep up the damage or risk letting Safi'jiiva enter a powered-up state; aggro can also be drawn by using the Flinch Shot attack on its head. On the other hand, it's an excellent opportunity to deplete Safi'jiiva's energy reserves, as every attack it makes in this state will consume some of its energy.
The Dreaded: The threat posed by Safi'jiiva is enough that Alatreon, a black dragon noted for being a recluse, has decided that it needs to burn down all the Xeno'jiiva cocoons to prevent the emergence of another Safi'jiiva.
Energy Absorption: It absorbs the energy from the land itself to heal, with this process continually shedding unneeded bits of skin if one looks closely, and moving to deeper locations after it's completely drained an area.
The Generic Guy: The most powerful monster added in the Fifth Generation is a rather traditional looking dragon. This makes sense when you realize that Safi is meant to be an equivalent to Fatalis, itself another generic looking dragon.
Giant Flyer: Safi'jiiva is the second largest flight-capable monster in the main series after Gogmazios, so it becomes something of a shocker to see just how quickly it transitions from one area to another with a single flying leap. Though it doesn't really fly for long during gameplay due to a preference in absorbing the ground's energy, its flight pattern is nonetheless very graceful when initiating the 'Sapphire of the Emperor' or putting the finishing touch in its pin attack.
Glass Cannon: Its armor set bonus gives a significant boost in affinity, elemental, and ailment damage, but at the cost of health being drained. It even punishes you for missing an attack, but rewards each successful hit by healing back all the damage done.
Irony: The closest thing to a traditional Western dragon introduced in World is the adult form of Xeno'Jiiva, a translucent dragon that has gemstones for pseudo-eyes, shoots blue lasers, hatched from a cocoon literally moments before it's fought, and is heavily implied to be an extraterrestrial lifeform.
It Can Think: Implied by way of being a heavily-older Xeno'jiiva, but its improved moveset and general behavior all make it a very smart adversary.
- If you're some distance away from it, it'll stay away and keep trying to blast you with its beams. One of them includes a period where it'll stare at you, building a mouth charge, but it tracks you as you move... not just where you're standing, but your speed and direction, so that if you don't change these things at the last possible second (or get behind cover/underneath its mouth), it will hit you.
- Like certain other monsters, it has a move where it can grab you with its mouth. Rather than simply flinging you around for a bit though, Safi'jiiva blasts you point-black with its energy beam until the force finally expels you from its grip.
- Unlike most monsters, Safi'jiiva can feel your presence through the Ghillie Mantle and will try to sweep the area around with its laser beam, even though it doesn't know where you exactly are.
It's All About Me: The Admiral notes that Safi'jiiva is a creature that doesn't play well with other species, given that reshaping entire ecosystems to meet its own needs and draining energy from the land for its own preservation can benefit no one but itself. As such, to prevent such a monster from propagating outside of the New World, the Research Commission orders its slaying. After fully completing the siege for the first time, the Seeker muses that Safi'jiiva's behaviour of reshaping its surroundings so it can reap the benefits is oddly similar to humans in that respect.
Kaizo Trap:
- Similar to Behemoth, Safi'jiiva will unleash the "Sapphire Star of the Emperor", an area wide attack that can one-shot players, right before it's repelled.
- Its armor skill increases the elemental power of attacks at the cost of around 2-8 HP per attack. Unlike most examples of similar skills, it doesn't stop your HP from going past 1, so if you're not careful, you will bleed yourself dry.
Leitmotif: "The Emperor Emerges From Under the Veil" and "For the Emperor’s Amusement", a pair of epic orchestral songs with the distinction of being two of the few themes in the franchise to have vocals, and satanic ones at that. The first theme is a Dark Reprise of Xeno'jiiva's own leitmotif with a much more frantic tempo, while the second theme slips in the franchise's tried-and-true "Proof of a Hero" as Safi'jiiva is backed into a corner. Both themes also have the distinction of becoming distorted with all sorts of psychedelic synths, bass and trumpets if you attract Safi'jiiva's Draw Aggro, and both themes briefly collapse into a Heartbeat Soundtrack once the 'Sapphire of the Emperor' drops to the floor in order to emphasize the explosion's impact.
Lightning Bruiser: Much like Xeno'jiiva, Safi'jiiva's attacks cover a lot of distance by being one of the largest monsters in the game. Unlike the former, Safi'jiiva can chain multiple, frighteningly accurate attacks in quick succession, and its tough hide means that you really need to use the Clutch Claw's tenderizing ability to create temporary weak spots.
Limit Break: 'Sapphire of the Emperor', wherein Safi'jiiva flies up and coats the area with its breath, before releasing a conspicuously small orb of energy that, when dropped to the ground, detonates into a nuke-like explosion that will invariably kill everything in the area that isn't hiding behind solid ground. It's always used when Safi'jiiva's health drops below the threshold needed for it to try and regenerate itself, but it's also used with reckless abandon when Safi'jiiva is almost dead on the bottom floor.
Meaningful Name: Safi means "clear" or "pure" in a number of Mediterranean languages (Greek, Arabic), owning to its relation to Xeno'jiiva. Safi can also be a corruption of "sapphire", as in "Sapphire Star", the central motif in the New World's Creation Myth hich is implied to have been the meteor which brought Xeno'jiiva to the New World as well as the imagery evoked by its ultimate attack.
No Range Like Point-Blank Range: If Safi'jiiva catches a hunter in its jaws, rather than slinging them around like a rag doll as other monsters do, it'll chew on them for a bit, before blasting them with its mouth beam. This attack does an incredible amount of damage, and can easily cart a hunter if their defense isn't high enough (or they don't have Felyne Moxie to keep them at 1 HP).
Ominous Latin Chanting: Safi'jiiva sports a leitmotif that rivals other top tier Elder Dragons like Fatalis and Dire Miralis due to incorporating vocals made in Monster Hunter's fictional language. In this instance, the main verse praises the Red Dragon's perfection, describing it as "that which is the king of all things, the perfect being".
Person of Mass Destruction: It can somehow drain the energy of its surroundings to the point that it can reshape ecosystems to its liking, and is thus considered an immense threat to the New World that has to be slain. Its 'Sapphire of the Emperor' is also a One-Hit Kill that the Admiral speculates that nothing could survive.
Power Glows: Both the armor and the monster it's made from. The Safi'jiiva armor glows red when it's powering up attacks at the cost at some of your health, and it glows blue when it's absorbing the energy of the target to heal you; meanwhile, Safi'jiiva itself glows when absorbing energy and entering Supercritical Mode.
Rare Random Drop: Zionium Crystals in Master Rank.
Recurring Element: Safi'jiiva's design hearkens back to some of the previous generations' monsters;
- Borrows a major trait from 4/4U's Gore Magala/Shagaru Magala, being a juvenile Elder Dragon that eventually molts to a far stronger adult form.
- It is also quite similar to Fatalis; a mysterious Elder Dragon with a title describing only its color (Black/Red Dragon), whose mundanely draconic appearance belies an insane, almost supernatural power.
Red and Black and Evil All Over: Primarily red with some shades of black, and is very much an aggressive monster.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Its eyes glow red when it starts focusing on a hunter. This means that hunter needs to be very careful, as it will relentlessly chase them down.
The Rival: The Dive into MHW: Iceborne guidebook states that Safi'jiiva's presence stirs both Alatreon and Fatalis into action. Alatreon is said to be the counter to Safi'jiiva's unprecedented mutation, which is why it shows up in Safi'jiiva's abandoned nest to eliminate the Xeno'jiiva cocoons at the bottom of the Secluded Valley. It even details that Safi'jiiva's control over bioenergy is specifically countered by Alatreon resetting the ecosystem through destruction, and that both species are locked in a planetary turf war. Although Fatalis was the basis for Safi'jiiva's design aspect, Alatreon is its in-universe ecological nemesis.
Satanic Archetype: The closest thing to a classic demonic dragon in World. Not only does it look the part, its ability to absorb the lifeforce of living beings and the earth itself gives it the impression of having soul-stealing powers. It can also be considered, symbolically, a 'fallen' angel, being a former being of light, Xeno'jiiva, that, over time, transformed into something far more dark and demonic.
Shockwave Stomp: Like its juvenile form, it can manipulate the energy of the earth to create chains of explosions. However, these attacks are far more potent, since Safi'jiiva can perform radial, linear, or spread versions of them, as opposed to the solely-linear explosions of Xeno'jiiva.
Shout-Out: On top of its face strongly resembling King Ghidorah's from Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019), its original implied origin as an extraterrestrial and apparent instinctive goal to terraform and propagate the world are also identical to that film's plot. Amusingly, in the pre-hunt cutscene, the Admiral will suggest that the mysterious new monster is a three-headed dragon that breathes lightning, which is exactly what King Ghidorah is. It also has a passing resemblance to two other demonic red dragons in fiction, Smaug and Grigori.
The Spook: Unbeknownst to the Commission, there was a second Xeno'jiiva living in the New World, and while the Hunters slew the one in Elder's Recess, this one was allowed to molt countless times and eventually become Safi'jiiva; it's only after repelling it that the Commission puts the pieces together and concludes that it's Xeno'jiiva's fully mature form. On a meta level, Capcom seem to be treating it in the same manner as the so-called "Forbidden Monsters" (or Black Dragons, after the original, Fatalis', Red Baron title), not mentioning it at all in their promotional material save for a single teaser.
Strong and Skilled:
- Powerful enough to shoot a laser beam capable of one-hit killing anyone and cause explosions just by slamming its limbs into the floor, and smart and skilled enough to utilize its limbs, tail and wings in close combat.
- Customization makes it weapons this as well, thanks to already having a decent starting raw damage value, but can be increased significantly while still having reasonable base elemental/ailment damage and will never decrease in affinity, while sitting at 5%, and having one level 4 decoration slot.
Subsystem Damage: Rivaling fellow siege monster Kulve Taroth, Safi'jiiva has a grand total of 11 breakable parts ^note, and breaking them all is required to gain maximum rewards during a siege. However, you are very unlikely to break them all in a single hunt and kill Safi'jiiva at the same time due to how its energy drain system works, as well as the hard time limit of 20 minutes. Subsequent runs in the same siege will notify you with a "Part broken" message, but won't reward you with additional points if you or a different group in the same siege already destroyed the part in a previous hunt.
Temporary Online Content: Safi'jiiva is available for hunt every two weeks or so, with its siege alternating with Kulve Taroth's.
Timed Mission: Unlike Kulve Taroth, the Safi'jiiva hunt has a hard time limit of 20 minutes. The first two phases are essentially just delaying actions; in order to maximize the amount of time you have in the final phase (where it can actually be killed) you have to deplete the energy levels in the first two arenas, which will shorten the duration of the first two phases in subsequent hunts.
Took a Level in Badass: Its juvenile form, Xeno'jiiva, was defeated the first time the Commission encountered it. Safi'jiiva can only be repelled at first during the scouting mission, after which the fight proper is a siege event. Not only that, it will fully heal itself once past a certain health threshold on any given floor, granting Safi'jiiva significantly more health than its supposed maximum, whether during a siege or in solo play (as a later update made possible). And that's before taking into account the improved plethora of attacks from its juvenile form, making it one of the fiercest fights in the entire franchise.
Turns Red: After enough damage has been dealt to it on the bottom floor, Safi'jiiva will enter Supercritical State, with its entire body glowing and most of its parts becoming vulnerable to critical hits even without the need to tenderize them. While this makes it more susceptible to damage, Safi'jiiva becomes significantly more aggressive, spamming its ground slams and beam attacks with reckless abandon, before taking flight and nuking the arena with the 'Sapphire of the Emperor'. It only exits Supercritical State after its ultimate attack is done, but will perpetually remain in that state when near death.
Ultimate Life Form: Or at least as close as you can get to a creature that has limitless growth potential if left unchecked. The main verse of its two themes is translated from Monster Hunter's fictional language as "that which is the king of all things, the perfect being", and it's in-universe name literally means "perfect life". As an implied extraterrestrial lifeform with the power to reshape ecosystems to its own liking and absorb the land's energy at will, there is reason to believe that Safi'jiiva would end up dominating the series' setting if it were to propagate itself beyond the New World, and would likely be considered a Dangerous First-Class Monster had World kept the classification from previous games. At the very least, its presence is enough to cause two of the most powerful monsters in the series (Alatreon and Fatalis) to awaken and try to eliminate Safi'jiiva.
Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Unless you kill it within the alloted 20 minutes, Safi'jiiva will fly away and you'll have to reinitiate the hunt, though it's a normal occurence in this particular siege given the need to fulfill specific objectives to gain maximum rewards, and Safi'jiiva will usually flee to the lower levels earlier in subsequent hunts.
Vocal Dissonance: Retains several of Xeno'jiiva's cries, particularly when agitated or stunned. The only times when Safi'jiiva does sound like an adult dragon are when it starts firing its breath attacks, which are punctuated by very deep roars that sharply contrast with its usual pitch.
Walking Spoiler: Knowledge from the base version of World makes this monster ultimately much more unsettling.
Walking Wasteland: The eventual result of Safi'jiiva absorbing the land's energy for its own gain is a barren place devoid of life much like the Secluded Valley it resides in. Indeed, Safi'jiiva's impact on the environment can go unnoticed by other monsters until it's too late.

Characters / Monster Hunter Fifth Generation Monsters World

Edit Locked

Herbivores

Kestodon

Gastodon

Fish

Gajau (Garaiba)

Lynians

Grimalkyne (Tetol)

Gajalaka

Boaboa

Wingdrakes

Barnos

Mernos

Noios

Raphinos

Cortos

Bird Wyverns

Theropod Bird Wyverns

Kulu-Ya-Ku

Scratching Bird, Ovivore Outlaw

Tzitzi-Ya-Ku

Bright Bird

True Bird Wyverns

Pukei-Pukei (variant: Coral Pukei-Pukei)

Poison Bewitching Bird / Water Bewitching Bird (Coral Pukei-Pukei), Gluttonous Gullet

Flying Wyverns

Paolumu (variant: Nightshade Paolumu)

Floating Sky Wyvern / Floating Sleep Wyvern (Nightshade Paolumu)

Legiana (Leigiena) (variant: Shrieking Legiana)

Wind Drifting Wyvern

Bazelgeuse (variant: Seething Bazelgeuse)

Explosive Scale Wyvern, Bomber Wyvern, Party Crasher / Death from Above (Seething Bazelgeuse)

Piscine Wyverns

Jyuratodus

Mud Fish Wyvern, Sinister Swamp Shadow

Beotodus (Brantodus)

Frozen Fish Wyvern

Brute Wyverns

Anjanath (Anjanaff) (variant: Fulgur Anjanath)

Fierce Jaw Wyvern / Thunder Jaw Wyvern (Fulgur Anjanath), Relentless Ruffian

Radobaan (Radobalkin)

Bone Hammer Wyvern

Banbaro (Buffbaro)

Ferocious Bull Wyvern

Fanged Wyverns

Jagras / Great Jagras (Dosjagras)

Thief Wyvern

Girros / Great Girros (Dosgirros)

Paralyzing Thief Wyvern

Shamos

Tobi-Kadachi (Tobikagachi) (variant: Viper Tobi-Kadachi)

Flying Thunder Wyvern / Flying Poison Wyvern (Viper Tobi-Kadachi), Flying Sparks

Odogaron (variant: Ebony Odogaron)

Cruel Claw Wyvern / Wicked Claw Wyvern (Ebony Odogaron)

Dodogama (Dodogamaru)

Rock Thief Wyvern

Wulg

Ice Jackal Wolf

Relicts

Leshen

Elder Dragons

Nergigante (variant: Ruiner Nergigante)

Extinction Dragon

Zorah Magdaros

Scorching Mountain Dragon

Vaal Hazak (variant: Blackveil Vaal Hazak)

Corpse Coat Dragon

Xeno'jiiva (Zeno Jiiva)

Dark Light Dragon

Kulve Taroth (Mamu Taroth)

Glorious Dragon, Mother Goddess of Gold

Behemoth

Demon Beast

Velkhana (Ivelkhana)

Ice Dragon, The Iceborne Wyvern, Lord of Ice

Namielle (Neromielle)

Abyssal Dragon

Shara Ishvalda (An Ishvalda)

Earth Singing Dragon, Old Everwyrm