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Monsters that premiered in the second generation of games (Monster Hunter 2 (dos), Monster Hunter Freedom 2, and Monster Hunter Freedom Unite). 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.

If you're looking for Hypnocatrice and Lavasioth, both of which debuted in the main series in Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, they can be found on the Frontier monsters page here, as they technically appeared in Frontier first. Also, for information about the Shakalaka (which debuted in Monster Hunter 2) and their King (which did in Freedom Unite), see the Civilization subpage.

Main Index | Civilization | Hunters | Main Series Monsters | First Generation Monsters (Fatalis) | Second Generation Monsters | Third Generation Monsters | Fourth Generation Monsters | Fifth Generation Monsters (World & Iceborne | Rise & Sunbreak) | Frontier Monsters | Online Monsters


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Herbivores

    Popo 

Popo

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhwi_popo_render_001_0.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 3, Portable 3rd, 3 Ultimate
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Mammoth-like herbivores that prowl the snowy mountains. Very territorial, they frequently appear in herds and tend to run at the sign of trouble — usually in the form of Tigrexes and Barioths.


  • Cowardly Lion: With emphasis on "cowardly" — they may put up a fight for a while before running off.
  • Gentle Giant: They can get pretty big, but are very peaceful creatures that will never attack a hunter unprovoked.
  • Herbivores Are Friendly: Unless when attacked.
  • Honorable Elephant: They look like wooly mammoths minus the trunk, and are friendly enough to be domesticated.
  • Horse of a Different Color: They're used as beasts of burden in snowy areas. Also by the Capital C Caravan to get to Harth in 4/4 Ultimate.

    Anteka 

Anteka (Gaushika)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhwi_anteka_render_001.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Portable 3rd, 3 Ultimate
Generations, Generations Ultimate
World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Elk-like creatures who are the mountainous counterpart to lowland-dwelling Kelbis.


  • Fragile Speedster: They move quickly, but aren't very sturdy.
  • Herbivores Are Friendly: Unless when attacked. A few games make them somewhat less friendly, having them paw the ground and shake their head as a warning before charging if the player stays too close for too long.
  • Horn Attack: Their antlers are used to attack.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Some find that the best way to describe an Anteka is "goat-moose".
  • Use Your Head: They attack by ramming with their antlers.

Neopterons

    Great Thunderbug 

Great Thunderbug

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monster_hunter_great_thunderbug_587.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Generations Ultimate

Neopterons resembling from a distance simple orbs of light. Judging by the look of their relative the Fulgurbug/Thunderbug, they likely look like large beetles with bulbous abdomens housing their bioluminescent organ, the females having a long and pointed ovipositor.


  • Action Bomb: Yama Tsukami releases a type of Thunderbug that can explode.
  • Shock and Awe: They're called Thunderbugs for a reason.

Bird Wyverns

    Giaprey / Giadrome 

Giaprey (Gianos) / Giadrome (Dosgianos)

The Carnivorous Leader

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monster_hunter_giaprey_giadrome_8406.png

Appearances:
Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Generations (Giaprey only), Generations Ultimate

A second-generation breed of Theropod Bird Wyverns which make cold, high-altitude locations their abode, distinguishable by their crystal-blue scales with sky-blue stripes and a nasty spit which can cover the victim in ice, rendering any action but movement nigh-impossible so long as he/she is stuck. Some herds are led by a larger alpha male with a more prominent turquoise crest.


Flying Wyverns

Pseudo Flying Wyverns

    Tigrex 

Tigrex (Tigarex) (variants: Brute Tigrex, Molten Tigrex, Grimclaw Tigrex, Flame Tigrex)

Roaring Wyvern, Absolute Power (Black Roaring Wyvern, Great Roaring Wyvern, Ruinous Hook Claw, Flame Roaring Wyvern)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhrise_tigrex_render_001.png
Brute Tigrex
Molten Tigrex
Grimclaw Tigrex
Zenith Tigrex
Flame Tigrex

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Portable 3rd
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Brute subspecies:
Portable 3rd
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne
Molten rare species:
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate
Grimclaw deviant:
Generations, Generations Ultimate
Zenith variant:
Frontier Z onwards
Flame Tigrex species:
Online

A deafening roar rolling over hill and dale
The weak flee in fear but the strong prevail
On the snowy mountainside, white is drenched with red
When the ancient tyrant hunts, all are filled with dread.

Menacing snowy peaks and hot deserts alike, the nomadic Tigrex is dreaded for its primal nature, sheer aggression, and a roar that can actually damage any unlucky hunter. Distinguishable by its orange scales with turquoise stripes, this monster first haunted the mountains of Pokke before moving on to other grounds, such as the desert and the area around Yukumo. Brutally loud, Tigrex is a savage powerhouse that would run over its target and bite them to pieces. Portable 3rd introduces a black-scaled Subspecies with golden stripes, with twice the aggression as its cousin and has since adapted to volcanoes. 4 gives us an even meaner version with red scales and black stripes that generates explosive powder. Generations adds the deviant Grimclaw Tigrex. Frontier Z would introduce an older Zenith that has spiked protrusions. Online would introduce a Lone species of Tigrex that uses magma as armor. Explore introduces a variant colored like Evangelion Unit-02.


  • Achilles' Heel: They tire out a lot faster than most monsters. This is the perfect chance to plant a tinged or drugged meat. Even if you don't have one on you, it gets so exhausted that it will completely ignore you and your party while eating for a significant amount of time, opening itself up for you to wail on it with your strongest attacks.
  • Animal Motif: Tigers, if the name, stripes, and savage behavior wasn't enough of an indication.
  • The Artifact: The only monster based on Tyrannosaurus rex to not be a Brute Wyvern, as they weren't introduced until the following generation.
  • The Berserker: Once they get angry, they'll attack relentlessly. Also, whenever a player mounts it, the Tigrex goes absolutely Rajang-shit crazy rolling all over the place instead of standing on the spot trying to shake the hunter off like most other monsters.
  • Blow You Away: No, it’s not Wind from Beneath My Wings. Tigrex’s incredibly Mighty Roar deals damage because it’s using its massive lungs as a pressurized air cannon, filling them with air and then contracting them in an instant.
  • Body Horror: Molten Tigrex is almost as bad as Deviljho when it’s enraged; once it gets mad, its muscles bulge out between its scales. Having its raw muscles on display does mean it’s easier to harm, but considering it's, well, a super-powerful and berserk Tigrex, it’s not something you really want to be near.
  • Boulder Bludgeon: Tigrex can slide its claw across the ground to launch multiple boulders, and is the only ranged attack in its arsenal.
  • Catlike Dragons: Downplayed, it has the ears, posture and gait of a tiger, but is otherwise completely reptilian.
  • The Cameo: In Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker along with Rathalos.
  • Confusion Fu: Tigrex is a fast and flaily monster with very little warning for its attacks. It can cancel out of its charge with a quick backstep, suddenly leap at you, and quickly scramble to turn around after missing with its charge.
  • Determinator: It's not going to simply stop after its dash attack misses you — it will turn around and try again. In fourth generation games, it will also wildly thrash and roll around to try to throw off a hunter who has mounted it, putting up a far bigger fight than most other monsters under similar conditions.
  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Essentially a T. rex with a wyvern's body.
  • Foil:
    • Tigrex has a notable tiger motif to contrast Yian Garuga's subtle wolf and Rathalos' subtle lion motifs.
    • While Nargacuga's feline properties are more dominant, Tigrex's draconic/dinosaurian traits are more dominant.
  • Extra Turn: In Stories and Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, Tigrex and its variations will all move twice in one turn when enraged. Molten Tigrex in particular can move up to three times in one turn when low on HP.
  • Force and Finesse: Tigrex favor brutish charging over the methodical fighting style of the Nargacuga.
  • Glass Cannon:
    • Their defense drops considerably when enraged.
    • Brute Tigrex exchanges the physical resilience of its regular kin for stronger attacks and an even stronger pair of lungs.
    • Despite its immensity and power, Molten Tigrex has relatively low amounts of health, at least when compared to other colossal-class monsters like Akantor and Ukanlos, and when entering its second rage mode, some of its normally hard parts (such as its head and wings) will drastically soften and become weak spots.
  • Ground Punch: One of Grimclaw Tigrex's favorite and deadliest moves. It also summons pillars of energy or steam around the site of the blast.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: The amount of damage it takes to enrage a Tigrex decreases as the fight goes on, up to the point where only a couple of hits will be enough to send it into a rage by the time it's close to death.
  • Hard Head: Non-enraged Molten Tigrex's head is very tough and requires white sharpness just to not bounce; however when it enters its second rage, the head will drastically soften and become a weak spot.
  • Having a Blast: Molten Tigrex can cause the blast ailment. In Iceborne nominate Tigrex has a hidden element as Blast.
  • Interface Screw: Tigrex's aforementioned tendency to freak out when mounted causes problems if mounted too near a zone border; it will occasionally flail its way over the zone boundary, causing the hunter to disappear from its back and wind up in the next zone as a result.
  • Irony:
    • Brute Tigrex's gimmicks revolve around its powerful roar, yet in Iceborne its weapons have unawakened sleep status.
    • Tigrex and Brute Tigrex are pure physical powerhouses with zero elemental powers yet their Guiding Land materials are used to augment your weapons' elemental capabilities.
  • Leitmotif: In the second and third generations, it was The Raging Tigrex!. In the fourth generation, it's Roaring Dragon Bares Its Fangs. In the fifth generation, it gets two remixes.
  • Lightning Bruiser:
    • Tigrex has the brute strength to wrestle down a Diablos, the toughness to walk away from just about anything and fight another day, and while its turning is... less than graceful (its attempts at drifting tend more toward desperately scrabbling for purchase), its powerful legs can carry it at an impressive speed.
    • The Molten Tigrex starts off very slow and partially docile, but very powerful nonetheless. Get it angry twice, and it will begin thrashing like mad all over the place while spreading clouds of explosive powder. It is fitting that the Molten Tigrex was designed with a steam locomotive motif in mind.
  • Made of Iron: We know these monsters are tough, but Peace Walker drives this home by having Tigrex capable of taking several RPG shots to the face before it goes down.
  • Mascot Mook: Introduced in the second-generation game Freedom 2 as its flagship monster. It appears in the game's box cover, and serves as the biggest standard threat for the inhabitants of Pokke Village. It is succeeded by Nargacuga in Freedom Unite.
  • Meaningful Name: Its name is a combination of "tigre", the Spanish word for "tiger", and "teerex", as in the abbreviation for Tyrannosaurus Rex. The combination of those two animals is exactly what it resembles.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: What do you get when you cross-breed a dragon, a tiger, and a T. rex? A 22-meter-long embodiment of raw power, sheer ferocity, and an incredibly foul temperament. Also lots of pain.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Grimclaw Tigrex. "Even veteran hunters shudder at its name."
  • Nerf: Unlike most Deviants in Generations, who are considered significantly stronger than their subspecies and rare species, Grimclaw is actually considered easier than Molten Tigrex, due to lacking Blast element and instead utilizing tremor, which, while still a threat in its own right, is a lot less dangerous than the added damage from blast.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: It's a predatory dragon/wyvern with a T. rex head and a tiger's body! And it can glide!
  • Not So Similar: An enforced decision during the development, as they didn't want the monster to be "Diablos, but a carnivore"; one way was making it quadrupedal rather than a bipedal monster.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: This wyvern has a T. rex head and turquoise tiger stripes.
  • Panthera Awesome: It has characteristics of a tiger: stripes, ferocity, pouncing as a major form of attack and highly territorial.
  • Powerful, but Inaccurate: Tigrex specializes in this type of attack in Stories and Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, utilizing the heavy-hitting, but inaccurate Stampede/Heavy Spear attacks, with Heavy Spear additionally being a guaranteed critical hit. It can bypass this through the use of the Lock-On skill it naturally learns via level-up, however.
  • Ramming Always Works: Tigrex does have other attacks, but it’s best known for simply charging at you full-pelt and letting Collision Damage decide the matter.
  • Rare Random Drop: Tigrex Scalps in Low Rank, Tigrex Maws in High Rank, and Tigrex Mantles in G Rank. Molten Tigrex has its own additional rare carves: Pulsating Blastheart in High Rank and Dire Blastheart in G Rank.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: The rare species, Molten Tigrex.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: When it Turns Red, its eyes become red. Caution is advised, because one of the most aggressive monsters around has just officially gotten ticked off at you.
  • Slasher Smile: As a consequence of its T. rex-inspired facial structure, Tigrex's face seems to be permanently stuck in a wicked reptilian grin. Given its psychotically violent attitude, it's a very fitting look.
  • Stock Animal Diet: Often seen eating Popos in the snowy areas.
  • Stuff Blowing Up:
    • The Molten species in 4, when enraged, generates exploding powder with everything it does. Being hit by it gives you Blastblight, an ailment that is a Suspiciously Similar Substitute to Slimeblight.
    • In Iceborne, Tigrex's weapons gain a hidden Blastblight attribute.
  • Super-Persistent Predator: If Tigrex can be described in a single word, that word is relentless. It is possible to stop its charge with a solid smack to the face, but it’s not unheard of for Tigrex to immediately begin another charge after recovering, at which point you’ll be too close to do anything besides accept your fate.
  • Super-Scream: Unlike most monsters, Tigrex’s Mighty Roar actually deals damage to you if you’re close enough. Perhaps because it focuses so much energy in a specific direction in order to cause damage, this roar's area-of-effect for deafening you is much smaller than most wyverns. The subspecies even turn their roars into their signature weapons, generating visible shockwaves with each scream. Ironically enough, many of its armor sets has the "Earplugs" skill, which allows hunters to ignore monster roars. Its Zenith form in Frontier exaggerates it to hell and back, where it doubles as both a Mighty Roar and a Breath Weapon, sending hunters flying if they get caught in it.
  • Tank Goodness: In some installments, the Tigrex light bowgun is shaped like an actual tank, a WW2-era German Tiger tank to be precise.
  • Tiger vs. Dragon: Serves as the Tiger to Rathalos' Dragon; an interesting case as both are actually dragons with a big cat motif, but Tigrex's tiger motif is very obvious and is a physical powerhouse of a monster, while Rathalos' lion motif is not only rather subtle in comparison, the latter fights more like a classical dragon with aerial fireballs.
  • Took a Level in Badass:
    • Frontier 9.0 and Portable 3rd add more danger to this already powerful Wyvern in the form of a 180-degree tail brush, leaping attacks, a 720-degree spin, and a triple bite.
    • 4 gave it a Rare/Molten species that is twice the regular size, spreads explosive powder, and has two rage modes. It's also one of the few monsters in the game with a six star danger rating, a rating that is normally reserved for Elder Dragons.
  • Tron Lines: When Molten and Grimclaw are enraged, several glowing lines appear in some of their body parts, such as head, wingarms, and tail.
  • Turns Red: Literally. Veins on its head and arms turn bright red when it's enraged.
  • T. Rexpy: It's not a dinosaur, but has the famous meat eater's head and reputation.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: As with the actual monster itself, Tigrex weapons have a low affinity but have high raw damage to compensate.
  • Volcanic Veins: Grimclaw Tigrex's head and wings glow with bright blue veins, which change to red (and also appear on its chest) when it, well, Turns Red.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer…: The Tigrex relies mostly on its hard-hitting swipes and physical attacks, with limited long-range options; most hunters who fight it enough learn quickly that it doesn't need those to close the gap between you and it — its sheer brute force, deafening roar, and lightning-quick reactions are more than enough.
  • Wings Do Nothing: It uses them as legs instead, only flying when moving from area to area.
  • The Worf Effect
    • To show just how powerful Gore Magala is, the opening of 4 Ultimate shows the Tigrex get overpowered by Gore Magala, who proceeds to kill it with a Neck Snap.
    • Happens to Tigrex again in the 2.0 update of Rise, where it has the misfortune of being in Bazelgeuse's line of sight.

    Nargacuga 

Nargacuga (Narga Curga) (variants: Green Nargacuga, Lucent Nargacuga, Silverwind Nargacuga, Fiercewater Nargacuga, Blinking Nargacuga)

Swift Wyvern, The Ever-Present Shadow, The Assassin, Pouncing Shadow (Green Swift Wyvern, Moon Swift Wyvern, Wind Cutting White Shadow)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhrise_nargacuga_render_001.png
Green Nargacuga
Lucent Nargacuga
Silverwind Nargacuga
Fiercewater Nargacuga
Blinking Nargacuga
Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Freedom Unite
Portable 3rd, 3 Ultimate
Generations, Generations Ultimate
World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Frontier
Online
Green subspecies:
Portable 3rd, 3 Ultimate
Lucent rare species:
3 Ultimate
Rise: Sunbreak
Silverwind variant:
Generations, Generations Ultimate
Fiercewater subspecies:
Explore
Blinking subspecies:
Frontier Z

Now here is a creature with smugness and guts
Haughty and arrogant; look as it struts
Enter its turf and suffer your fate
Watch as its eyes fill with rancor and hate
Don't try to run; it's already too late.

A black panther-like Wyvern commonly found in jungles. Where the Tigrex specializes in its power and ferocity, the Nargacuga relies on its speed and agility to tear down any opposition. It has razor sharp wings and a long tail that can shoot out spikes. Quick and cunning, Nargacuga is a killer shadow that many would fear in the wild. Portable 3rd introduces a green-scaled Subspecies, and 3 Ultimate a metallic lucent form, each increasingly more dangerous than the last, especially when enraged. Generations adds the deviant Silverwind Nargacuga, who can create curved projectiles of high pressure Razor Wind with every tail swing. Explore would introduce a Variant that stores water in its fur and uses it to augment its attacks. And Frontier introduced an albino Extreme Variant which utilizes several multi-hitting blade moves that can kill Hunters instantly if caught up in them.


  • Achilles' Heel: In Portable 3rd and 3U, breaking its wings will cause it to lose its footing and fall to the ground, leaving it vulnerable to attacks. It can also be stunned with Sonic Bombs.
  • Always Accurate Attack: Silverwind Nargacuga's Guided Spike Bomb attack in Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is guaranteed to hit, bypassing Evasion boosts.
  • Art Evolution: Lucent Nargacuga has more notable white fur on its back and neck in Rise: Sunbreak and its juxtaposition with the red eyes give it a resemblance to Frontier's Blinking Nargacuga.
  • Bat Out of Hell: Its wings, ears, and nocturnal lifestyle make it resemble a bat.
  • Berserk Button: It will go into Rage Mode if hit with a Sonic Bomb.
  • Beware My Stinger Tail: Especially when enraged, where the sharp scales that cover its tail stand on end, enhancing the damage its tail slams do.
  • Blood Knight: Nargacuga enjoys the thrill of the hunt and battle.
  • The Bus Came Back: After being absent for the entirety of the fourth generation and the majority of the fifth after its debut in 3U, Lucent Nargacuga makes its return in Rise: Sunbreak as one of the expansion's additional monsters.
  • Catlike Dragons: A wyvern that strongly resembles a panther in its appearance, its fur, its roar, and its movements.
  • Critical Hit Class: Nargacuga and its subspecies are specialized in landing critical hits in the Stories games, possessing status buffs that raise Crit Rate and attacks that have a high chance of landing critical hits, and Stories 2: Wings of Ruin additionally grants them all maxed-out Crit Rate stats. Silverwind Nargacuga downplays this aspect; while it retains the maxed-out Crit Rate of its cousins, it focuses less on doling out critical hits and more on evasion, attacks that never miss, and attacks with a high chance of inflicting Bleeding.
  • Death of a Thousand Cuts: Frontier's Blinking Nargacuga takes this trope very literally as several of its moves and attacks leave behind a trail of cutting attacks that stunlocks you into place and will kill you there and then unless you manage to perfectly dodge them.
  • Eye Scream: Dealing enough damage to the head will place a huge scar over one of Nargacuga's eyes, removing its glowing trail in rage mode.
  • Extra Turn: In Stories and Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, wild Nargacuga, its subspecies, and its Deviant will all move twice in one turn when enraged.
  • Foil: While Tigrex's draconic traits are dominant, Nargacuga's feline traits are moreso.
  • Force and Finesse: Nargacuga are far more methodical and faster than the Tigrex, which favors simplistic, yet more powerful charging and swiping. This even extends to weapons made from their respective parts: Tigrex weapons have high raw damage with a hidden Blast Damage, in exchange for a negative affinity penalty. Nargacuga weapons have lower raw damage with a hidden Poison Damage, but have a positive affinity rating.
  • Fragile Speedster: It's not the hardiest when compared to other monsters, but its agility and moveset more than make up for it.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom: The variety that leaves after-trails — the sign that it is angry. After breaking the head, they'll only show up on one eye rather than both.
  • In the Back: Nargacuga's strategy revolves entirely around getting shots in the back, making it difficult or sometimes impossible to guard against.
  • Invisibility: The Lucent subspecies is capable of turning totally invisible, with barely a flicker to its name. The only indications of its location are the dust clouds it leaves in its tread, and its glowing eye-trails when enraged. In Stories all varieties of Nargacuga can do this but can't attack while doing it.
  • It Can Think: If you try to trap it with a Pitfall Trap and it notices you, not only will it not fall for it, but it will also escape from it immediately if it does fall for it.
  • Leitmotif: Battle / Nargacuga from the second to fourth generations. Iceborne gives it a remixed version.
  • Logical Weakness: It has very good hearing, so it really doesn't like Sonic Bombs - except unlike other monsters with sharp ears, this only makes it flinch, so all you've really accomplished is pissing it off.
  • Mascot: Of Freedom Unite.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Like its cousin the Tigrex, the Nargacuga seems to be a mix between a dragon, a panther, and a bat. Combining these three together will create the embodiment of stealth and speed.
  • Ms. Fanservice: And Mr. Fanservice, usually enough. Not the monster itself, of course, but its armor sets are quite revealing on both genders. While not to the same extent as the female Kirin armor, the female armor it provides tends to be featured a lot in fanart.
  • Ninja:
    • Nargacuga armor definitely invokes a ninja/shinobi theme, using overall dark colors, a facial mask to cover the player character's face, and wearing the netted undershirt along with light armor and baggy pants.
    • Invoked when in comes to the monster itself. Base Nargacuga is black in color, which helps it to blend well in the dark. Rise even gives it the title Pouncing Shadow. Green Nargacuga's color could certainly help it blend well with the green vegetation of the forest. Lucent Nargacuga may be white in color but it can turn itself invisible, making it a more significant stealth expert. They are known as the Swift Wyverns because they move around fast to either strike their targets quick or get them from the side. Their ability to shoot spikes from their tail invokes the ninja's trait of throwing kunai or shuriken.
  • Panthera Awesome: Has characteristics of a panther: black, lustrous fur that gives it camouflage, stalking behavior and a high-pitched growl.
  • Poisonous Person: The Lucent subspecies fires poisonous tail spikes, and in some installments - Frontier and Sunbreak - can even have them rain down in waves. In addition, weapons made from the nominate species have a hidden Poison damage rating.
  • Rare Random Drop: Nargacuga Marrow in Low Rank, Nargacuga Medullas in High Rank, and Nargacuga Mantles in G Rank. Lucent Nargacuga has its own special rare carve, Cloudy Moonshard.
  • Razor Wind: The Silverwind Nargacuga can fire off crescent-shaped wind projectiles with its tail attacks.
  • Razor Wings: The two blade-like projections of the Nargacuga's wingarms are not just for show. The correlating part is actually called a cutwing, to hammer in the idea.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: You might not be able to notice them with how much pouncing Nargacuga does, but they become much more prominent when it's enraged.
  • Retractable Weapon: Its tail extends when it does its tail slam attack, giving it an unexpected amount of range.
  • Spikes of Doom:
    • When it is enraged it erects the spikes that normally lie flat on its tail, which can deal extra damage, but also become prone to breaking.
    • The Lucent subspecies is capable of firing these spikes with every movement of its tail, but has to manually unfurl them first. The base Nargacuga gains the ability to shoot these spikes as well in Iceborne.
  • Spike Shooter: They can fire the sharp scales on their tail with a rapid flick as a decently-ranged projectile attack. This action is preceded by a warning rattling sound from the tail as the Nargacuga loosens the scales in preperation.
  • Status Effects: The Silverwind Nargacuga can inflict Bleeding. As of World: Iceborne, the standard Nargacuga can inflict Bleeding as well, but this is absent in Rise.
  • Stock Animal Diet: They love to eat Kelbi.
  • Tail Slap:
    • In addition to the standard tail-spin, Nargacuga can swing its tail in front of it, and do a powerful tail-slam.
    • Both subspecies and the Deviant can do the tail-spin and tail-slam twice in a row, or follow up a tail-slam with a tail-spin.
  • Theme Naming: In 3U, its endgame weapons are named after major stars in constellations.
  • Turns Red: Like all other Wyverns, though special mention goes to the Green and Lucent forms, each with a Rage Mode that is even more powerful than the last.
  • Weak, but Skilled: It’s not the hardiest or strongest of monsters in its class, but it’s incredibly agile and is almost as much of a savant in combat as the likes of Brachydios. This also extends to its weapons, which have a positive affinity rating and can deal poison damage, in exchange for lower raw damage. Their armor also usually has low defense in exchange for affinity boosts and enhanced dodging capabilities.

    Akantor 

Akantor (Akamtorm)

Supremacy Wyvern, Tyrant of Fire, The Black God

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/akantor_3109.png

Appearances:
Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Portable 3rd
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate

A gigantic, armored Wyvern that is most at home in volcanic areas.


  • Achilles' Heel: Breaking its stomach makes the rest of its body more vulnerable to damage.
  • Blow You Away: The Sonic Blast, a devastating wind tunnel attack of terrifying range and power. It's only effective if a Hunter is too far away from it, but when it hits, it hits hard, and survivors also get Severe Dragonblight. This is the attack that destroyed the Felyne Elder's boat in 4U, stranding her on Cheeko Sands and apparently killing her husband.
  • Curb-Stomp Battle: Delivers a near instant kill on a Gravios just moments after shrugging off a heat-beam directly to its face.
  • Damage-Increasing Debuff: It can inflict a severe form of Defense Down. If you didn't think to bring Adamant Seeds or other means of clearing Defense Down, enjoy getting carted in 1-2 hits!
  • Dig Attack: It can burrow underground and reappear elsewhere. Although it is used offensively, it is more often used to put a fair distance between itself and Hunters to make the Hunters easy targets for its devastating Sonic Blast attack.
  • The Dreaded: One of the few Flying Wyverns (not counting certain rare species and deviants) that are on par with Elder Dragons in terms of power. The other is Ukanlos.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Sports two prominent tusks on its lower jaw (minus the "evil" part; it's an animal, after all).
  • Final Boss: Of Freedom 2 in multiplayer, Freedom Unite in single-.player, and the "Cowardly Palico" Sidequest Sidestory in 4 and 4 Ultimate.
  • Geo Effects: In 4U, it can cause certain parts of Ingle Isle to rise and fall when it uses certain attacks. Indented areas generate hot spots that damage Hunters who stand on it, but in exchange, give hunters elevated locations from which to make mounting attempts.
  • Leitmotif: Tyrant of Hellfire.
  • Mighty Glacier: It's pretty slow compared to the other Pseudo Flying Wyverns, but it has the power and defenses to make up for it.
  • Moveset Clone: Shares the animations for its charging attack, tail swipe, and roar, with the likes of Tigrex.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Classified as a Flying Wyvern despite being, well, flightless. Curiously, it wasn't reclassified even in Portable 3rd, even with the Fanged Wyvern class introduction. It still has some classical physiological features of a Flying Wyvern, such as small hind legs and over-sized front limbs. Additionally, one of its digits on its front feet point upwards and backwards, suggesting that it might have had wings in the past, but has since lost them as an evolutionary trade-off for its size. Finally, it cannot be captured, is noted to be extremely dangerous, and is only fought in a specific special area, so it has more in common with Elder Dragons than other Flying Wyverns.
  • No-Sell: Immune to traps due to the massive size.
  • Playing with Fire: Subverted, interestingly enough. While you fight it in an area filled with lava, Akantor does not actually have any abilities that let it produce fire naturally. The closest thing it has to fire elemental attacks are the plumes of lava that its roar causes to erupt from the ground and splashing lava around when a hunter is too close when it burrows underground. The only elemental attack it has is its dragon element sonic blast.
  • Rare Random Drop: Akantor Gems in High Rank and Conquest Spheres in G Rank.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The red to Ukanlos' blue, as reinforced by their in-game title "Twin Walls".
  • Spikes of Doom: The spikes on its back, said to be able to easily scar rocks.
  • Super-Scream: Like Tigrex, standing too close to it will hurt Hunters a lot when it roars. If you're unlucky enough, it can even be a One-Hit Kill.
  • Tail Slap: A swing from its massive tail is deadly.
  • Tactical Suicide Boss: Its Sonic Blast and Mighty Roar are both devastating, but they require the beast to stand up on its comparatively weaker hind legs. Hitting the legs hard enough while it's doing either of these actions will trip up Akantor and topple it for a bit.
  • Unskilled, but Strong: Zigzagged for its weapons. They all have top of the line raw damage, and a hefty helping of positive Affinity to boot, unlike most high raw weapons, which have negative Affinity ratings...except their Sharpness stats are terrible, having similar Sharpness layouts as the Petrified weapons and maxing out at a tiny little sliver of blue sharpness even in the weapon's final form. They also don't have any Decoration slots. However, at the same time, its armor comes with Mind's Eye inbuilt, making said sharpness a non-issue since you can just muscle through even the toughest monster shells with no hassle. Taken even further in Generations where it's armor also comes with the Blunt skill, which increases damage proportional to how low your weapon sharpness is.
  • Vocal Dissonance: For such a huge beast, its voice is surprisingly high-pitched, with the most notable example being the sound it makes when flinched.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Its Sonic Blast attack. Interestingly, it's nigh-useless at point-blank range.
  • Worm Sign: After burrowing into the ground, a series of lava geysers will erupt around the spot it chooses to resurface from for a few secondsnote . In 4U, it also leaves a glowing white hot crack in the direction it travels in while underground.

    Ukanlos 

Ukanlos (Ucamulbas)

Avalance Wyvern, Tyrant of Ice, The White God

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ukanlos_4128.png

Appearances:
Freedom Unite
Portable 3rd
4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate

The Akantor's icy counterpart and final boss of Freedom Unite, the Ukanlos is another gigantic Pseudo Flying Wyvern that breathes blizzards and freezes all but the most skilled of Hunters.


  • Achilles' Heel: Breaking its stomach makes its entire body more vulnerable to damage. This also makes its front arms soft enough for green sharpness weapons to attack without bouncing off.
  • Acrofatic: Able to leap a great distance despite its massive bulk.
  • An Ice Person: It can fire an icy beam that launches ice chunks. If hit by the beam, you'll die. If struck by the ice chunks, you'll take major damage and get inflicted with the Snowman status instead. If you're not able to get out in a hurry, this usually has about the same effect.
  • Covered in Mud: Both its freeze beam and the ice boulders which it throws with its shovel chin can inflict the Snowman status on Hunters and Palicoes, greatly hindering their movement.
  • Dig Attack: Similar to Akantor, it can also burrow underground. The main difference is that it will partially resurface to use its swim attack most of the time.
  • The Dreaded: One of few Flying Wyverns (not counting certain rare species and deviants) that are on par with Elder Dragons in terms of power. The other is Akantor.
  • Final Boss: Of Freedom Unite in multiplayer.
  • Geo Effects: In 4U, its roar and belly flop attacks can cause portions of the Polar Field's landmass to shift up or down, similar to Akantor's effects on Ingle Isle.
  • Land Shark: Can use a swim attack after digging through the ground, in which only its dorsal plates are visible. It can also track its targets during this move, making it very difficult to avoid.
  • Lantern Jaw of Justice: More like a spade, which it uses to dig through heavy snow.
  • Leitmotif: Absolute Zero.
  • Mighty Glacier: Both literally and figuratively.
  • Non-Indicative Name: Classified as a Flying Wyvern despite being, well, flightless. Like with Akantor, it wasn't reclassified even after being reintroduced in Portable 3rd. Also, it cannot be captured, is noted to be extremely dangerous, and is only fought in a specific special area, so it has more in common with Elder Dragons than other Flying Wyverns.
  • No-Sell: Like Akantor, he's immune to traps.
  • Rare Random Drop: Ukanlos Gems in High Rank and Ukanlos Stones in G Rank.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: The blue to Akantor's red, as reinforced by their in-game title "Twin Walls".
  • The Slow Walk: A variation: Ukanlos's trademark tunneling attack is a rather slow chase to slice a hunter with its fin peeking out of the ice. Because of the Ukanlos's immense size and the move's very accurate turning, this slow movement ends up requiring substantial effort needed to dodge it.
  • Super-Scream: Just like Tigrex and Akantor, its roar can actually damage you if you're close enough.
  • Tunnel King: It just absolutely loves tunneling (technically digging into the iceberg and swimming) around and chasing you.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Fires a freezing beam.
  • The Worf Effect: Don't let Ukanlos's status as an "Elder Dragon Level Threat" imply that Deviljho and Kushala Daora are on the same level as it: it's one of a handful of monsters that actively hunts both of them so effectively that they will actively try to avoid its territory, or flee if caught by its sights.

Carapaceons

    Hermitaur / Daimyo Hermitaur 

Hermitaur (Yaozami) / Daimyo Hermitaur (Daimyo Zazami) (variants: Plum Daimyo Hermitaur, Stonefist Hermitaur, Zenith Hermitaur, Gonngenn Hermitaur (Spearbreaker Daimyo Zazami))

Shield Crab, Shelled Sovereign, The Ultimate Shield (Daimyo of Sengoku Fame, Crab Ramparts, Sunflower Shield Crab)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/daimyohermitaur.png
Plum Daimyo Hermitaur
Stonefist Hermitaur
Zenith Hermitaur
Gonngenn Hermitaur

Appearances:
Juvenile/adult nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Rise: Sunbreak
Plum subspecies:
Freedom Unite
4 Ultimate
Stonefist deviant:
Generations, Generations Ultimate
Zentih Variant
Frontier Z onwards
Gonngenn Subspecies:
Online

Fearful, fidgety Felynes advancing through the night
When suddenly out of nowhere a horrid face causes fright
Be calm, there's no need to cry or moan!
It's just some old weather-beaten bone!
Yet not all is what it seems, for below this giant skull
Hides a devious monster waiting for some prey to gull.

Red Carapaceons that resemble hermit crabs. They inhabit deserts and forests, preferably where there's water nearby. Upon reaching adulthod, Hermitaurs ditch their own shells in favor of Monoblos skulls and become Daimyo Hermitaurs. Freedom Unite introduces a violet-shelled Subspecies that instead uses Diablos skulls. Generations adds the deviant Stonefist Hermitaur, who has a tougher claw. Frontier Z introduces an older Zenith that has much more developed claws and a differently shaped horn on its shell. Online introduces a Lone species with crystals growing on its claws.


  • Achilles' Heel: Using a Barrel Bomb or Sonic Bomb when Daimyo Hermitaur retreats into its shell will topple it, making it easier to damage.
  • Counter-Attack:
    • In 4U, Daimyo Hermitaur and its subspecies gain the ability to fake out Hunters by first blocking with their claws and hiding within its shell, then unleashing a torrent of water afterwards. This can usually be predicted by watching the monster's behavior; when they're doing the fake-out version, they'll aggressively turn to keep the hunter in their sights while guarding.
    • In Stories and Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, attacking Daimyo Hermitaur and its subspecies when Claw/Scissor Guard is active will cause them to immediately counterattack the Rider or their Monstie, with the sole exception being Kinship Attacks.
  • Desert Skull: A cutscene shows Feylnes coming across a Monoblos skull, only to find that a Hermitaur has already claimed it.
  • Dig Attack: Daimyo Hermitaur can dig into the ground and pop up beneath hunters shell-first multiple times before properly resurfacing. They'll also occasionally try to dive on a hunter from underground for a pin attack.
  • Fast Tunnelling: To the point where it practically teleports underground.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: In the lore, Daimyo Hermitaurs are described as all but oblivious to the world around them, only turning hostile when attacked first. In actual gameplay, this is mostly regulated to a short while of continuing to find edible bits in the sand once the hunter is detected until they exercise the same aggression as any other boss monster.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: Giant flailing water-shooting enemy crabs that can cut rock. In fact, the Daimyo Hermitaur's first mission in Freedom Unite is called this word for word. Stonefist Hermitaur is easily twice as large as Daimyo Hermitaur.
  • Hitbox Dissonance: The EX version of Stonefist Hermitaur's final dig attack has little to no room to dodge. Sometimes the hunter gets bumped aside, and many times the hunter is sent flying, or get a cart.
  • In a Single Bound: Daimyo Hermitaur is capable of jumping astoundingly high, in an attempt to land on an unfortunate hunter.
  • Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: If Daimyo Hermitaur retreats into its shell, arrows will bounce off it and melee attacks will be deflected, ESP notwithstanding. Using a Barrel Bomb or a Sonic Bomb will make it come out of its shell, however.
  • Making a Splash: It can shoot a foamy water spray from its mouth.
  • Mighty Glacier: Daimyo Hermitaur is relatively slow, but hits hard, has a considerable amount of health, and has a sturdy shell it can use to deflect attacks.
  • Palette Swap: Hermitaurs share the same body design as Ceanataurs, except colored red and with big, meaty claws.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Stonefist Hermitaur has a dark purple-and-red color scheme and is a lot more aggressive (but no more evil) than your average Daimyo Hermitaur.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inverted with the Shogun Ceanataur; The Shogun is the red to Damiyo's blue, the former favoring offense to the latter's defense. Played straight with the subspecies.
  • The Right Hand of Doom: Stonefist Hermitaur's left pincer has grown to a massive size. It is impenetrable and reflects shots, but toppling Stonefist will temporarily weaken the pincer.
  • Shoryuken: Stonefist Hermitaur can perform a variation of this using the horn on its shell.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Daimyo Hermitaurs use Monoblos skulls for shells, while their Plum counterparts use Diablos skulls.
  • Tank Controls: As suiting a four-legged crab, the model is unique in having different attacks based off the position of the hunter relative to the direction the Daimyo Hermitaur is facing in. This includes its unique and somewhat silly backdash charge to ram its horned shell into hunters. While the regular species moves in straight lines, the subspecies moves in a circular pattern.
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: The Stonefist Hermitaur is the immovable object to the Rustrazor Ceanataur's unstoppable force. This is more evident by its Japanese title Spearbreaker.

    Ceanataur / Shogun Ceanataur 

Ceanataur (Gamizami) / Shogun Ceanataur (Shogun Gizami) (variants: Terra Shogun Ceanataur, Rustrazor Ceanataur, Swordmaster Shogun Ceanataur, Onimusha (Armor Shredder Shogun Gizami))

Sickle Crab, Final Flash, Blue Sickle, Blood Stained Blades (Fierce Scythe Crab, Swordmaster Sickle Crab)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ceanataurrise.png
Terra Shogun Ceanataur
Rustrazor Ceanataur
Swordmaster Shogun Ceanataur
Onimusha

Appearances:
Juvenile/adult nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak
Terra subspecies:
Freedom Unite
Rustrazor deviant:
Generations Ultimate
Swordmaster variant:
Online
Onimusha subspecies:
Online

With a fearsome leap, the hunter thinks its prey vanquished.
But what it finds are not the spoils of victory...
But discarded armor, shed like a husk.
And when the beast finds its next target...
It doesn't think twice about leaving its old shell behind.
It finds new armor to don, its blades as deadly as ever.
Those who oppose it have no choice but to atone with their lives.

Blue hermit crab-like Carapaceons that make the volcanoes and swamps their home. Once they reach maturity, they, like the Hermitaurs, shed their own shell in favor of a Gravios skull as the Shogun Ceanataur. Freedom Unite introduces a black-shelled Subspecies which wears a Black Gravios skull. Generations Ultimate introduces a deviant that wears a Glavenus skull known as the Rustrazor Ceanataur. Online would introduce a variant that is strangely coated in blood, and a Lone species with a shield-shaped claw.


  • Absurdly Sharp Blade: Its scythe pincers are described as being able to cut cleanly through bedrock and can kill monsters as large as the Royal Ludroth in one blow. True to the description, Blademaster weapons made out of its parts tend to have natural Purple sharpness, the highest sharpness level in the console series, and its Blademaster armor has the Handicraft skill, which increases the sharpness of your weapons, or Razor Sharp, which halves your weapon's sharpness loss rate.
  • Armor-Piercing Attack: The Rustrazor deviant's lore describes it as being able to tear through any armor with ease thanks to it sharpening its claws on the Glavenus skull it wears, rendering armor useless against its attacks. Fittingly, it can inflict Defense Down with some of its attacks.
  • Audible Sharpness: When it enters rage mode and extends its scythe pincers.
  • Balance Buff: Generations gives it the ability to inflict Bleeding status.
  • Berserk Button: The Shogun Ceanataur will be fixed in a state of permanent rage if you break either of its claws. This is no longer the case in Generations.
  • Ceiling Cling: Unlike the Daimyo Hermitaur, Shogun Ceanataur can leap onto and crawl around ceilings. It can then proceed to snipe Hunters with its water beam or drop down on them from this position.
  • Dig Attack: Like its relative Daimyo Hermitaur, Shogun Ceanataur can burrow underground and attack from beneath by clawing with its scythelike pincers.
  • Energy Weapon: Its water jet attack manifests as a thin beam, more akin to Plesioth's water jet than the Daimyo Hermitaur's foamy water spray.
  • Fantastic Drug: The Rustrazor is addicted to sharpening its claws on its Glavenus skull. The fact that “withdrawal” means its claws rusting helps nothing.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: About as big as a Daimyo Hermitaur.
  • Glass Cannon: The regular species. The Subspecies lean towards being Lightning Bruisers.
  • It Can Think: Shogun Ceanataur’s intelligence isn’t readily apparent, but Rustrazor was able to recognize the potential of a Glavenus skull (perhaps after seeing a living Glavenus) and learn how to use one itself.
  • Making a Splash: Only if they're wearing the Gravios shell, though, as it has a mouth through which the crab's water-spewing abdomen can protrude.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A hermit crab with the head of a shrimp and arms of a praying mantis.
  • Moveset Clone: The Rustrazor takes a page out of Glavenus' book and borrows some of its blade techniques; it can polish its claws for extra damage, as well as perform Glav's infamous Spin Attack, jaw-grinding windup and all. Fortunately, it also borrows an Achilles' Heel; its claws become much softer weak spots after heating up.
  • Palette Swap: Ceanataurs share the same body design as Hermitaurs, except colored blue and with thin, sickle-like claws. Not the case with Shogun, as its design and fighting style differ significantly from the Daimyo.
  • Poisonous Person: Ceanataurs will occasionally spit poison at you. The Shoguns didn't get this back until the Hardcore versions in Frontier.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Inverted with the Damiyo Hermitaur; the Shogun is the red to Damiyo's blue, the former favoring offense to the latter's defense. Played straight with the subspecies.
  • Retractable Weapon: Its scythe-pincers are usually folded, but it will extend them when enraged, drastically improving its attack reach.
  • Serrated Blade of Pain: Its pincers have serrated edges on the bottom, while the Rustrazor has these edges on the tops of its pincers as well.
  • Sinister Scythe: Its pincers resemble giant sickles, as per its title. The Long Sword made out of its parts also resembles a scythe.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: Shogun Ceanataurs hide inside Gravios Skulls; their Terra counterparts use Black Gravios skulls. Note that the regular Shogun's shell can be either a Gravios skull, an unknown wyvern's skull, or a giant conch shell, and if broken, the Shogun will tunnel away and fetch a new one. Terra Shoguns never change shells. The Rustrazor deviant wears a Glavenus skull.
  • Stance System: The Rustrazor deviant alternates between two different fighting styles depending on what skull it wears. When it wears a Gravios skull, it focuses more on ranged attacks. When it wears a Glavenus skull, it focuses more on melee attacks.
  • Status Effects: In Generations, it can inflict Bleeding if it lands enough hits with its claws.
  • Status Buff: The Rustrazor deviant can sharpen its claws on the Glavenus skull it wears, which increases the damage they do.
  • Tank Controls: In a similar fashion to the Daimyo Hermitaur as a four-legged crab, though with a quick and unique outstretched-claw spinning attack to abuse anticipated attack angles.
  • Unstoppable Force Meets Immovable Object: The Rustrazor Ceanataur is the unstoppable force to the Stonefist Hermitaur's immovable object. This is more clear in its Japanese title Armor Shredder.
  • Urine Trouble: The water it spews from its abdomen is actually urine. As a reflection of this, it was redesigned to have a visible anus underneath its shell in Sunbreak.

    Shen Gaoren 

Shen Gaoren (Teppeki Shen Gaoren, Guren Shen Gaoren)

The Walking Fortress (Rock Armored Fortress Crab, Red Lotus Fortress Crab)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monster_hunter_shen_gaoren_2548.png
Teppeki Shen Gaoren
Guren Shen Gaoren

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Lone Species:
Online

Gigantic Carapaceons with absurdly long legs and a Lao Shan-Lung skull for a shell. Online introduces two Lone Species, both use an Akantor skull for a shell with the Guren Shen Gaoren Lone Species having high amounts of heat flowing through it's body.


  • Achilles' Heel: Literally played straight: each of its long legs are quite soft and vulnerable, so attacking them repeatedly will eventually cause the monster to come crashing down in a heap — which then exposes two more of its weakspotsnote . It is also incredibly weak to Fire and Dragon elements.
  • Desert Skull: Well, Forest Skull anyway. The corpse of a Shen Gaoren can be found in the Jurassic Frontier in Generations.
  • The Dreaded: Shen Gaoren is an Elder Dragon-level threat.
  • Giant Enemy Crab: The greatest one amongst the Carapaceons.
  • Hold the Line: Missions pitting you against it would always have you either driving it away or killing it before it breaches the last defensive barrier to Dundorma.
  • Kaizo Trap: Hunters attempting to topple it need to make sure that absolutely no one is standing under its body when it falls, or else it may end up dealing severe damage or outright carting a hapless Hunter once it hits the ground.
  • Leitmotif: Two themes which play in the first and second parts of the fight, respectively.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A combination of a hermit crab and the Japanese Spider Crab.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Much like Lao-Shan Lung, Shen isn’t really aggressive or predatory, it’s just too big to not be a problem by moving.
  • Rare Random Drop: Heavenly Gaoren Shell in G Rank.
  • Shockwave Stomp: Each footstep it takes causes a small earthquake, which greatly disrupts melee combat and can cause Hunters standing under its body to flinch and become vulnerable to being stepped on. It will also occasionally go on a stomping frenzy for a few seconds.
  • Skeletons in the Coat Closet: It's so big that it has to use a Lao Shan Lung skull as its shell.
  • Stone Wall: Except for its legs and face, much of its body is nigh-impenetrable. In exchange for this durability, it rarely attacks.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: It can fire a huge blast of volatile acid from the back of its head after opening its shell, which can become a One-Hit Kill if hunters aren't careful enough to avoid it.
  • The Worf Effect: The Lao-Shan Lung skull Nakarkos wears is confirmed to be from a Shen Gaoren it killed. The corpse can be found in the Jurassic Frontier.
  • Volcanic Veins: The Guren Shen Gaoren has this going on, it can even heat the ground where it walks because of this.

Fanged Beasts

Primate Fanged Beasts

    Conga / Congalala 

Conga / Congalala (Babaconga) / Emerald Congalala / Gold Congalala

The Mischief-Maker, Jungle Outlaw (Green Fur Beast, Golden Fur Beast King)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/conga_7452.png
Emerald Congalala
Gold Congalala

Appearances:
Conga and Congalala:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations Ultimate
Emerald subspecies:
Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate
Lone Species:
Online

Medium-sized, pink-furred, gorilla-like Fanged Beasts that inhabit jungles and swamps. Using body slams, dashes, and farts, Congas are not to be underestimated despite their massive girth, let alone their adult forms, which can now hurl their own excrement onto you and sports a potentially fatal triple claw swipe before dropping itself on the ground, which can unbalance nearby Hunters. Freedom Unite introduces a green-furred Subspecies that's even gassier. Online introduces a gold furred Lone species that came to be by eating special mushrooms.


  • Achilles' Heel: Congalala and its subspecies get exhausted quickly compared to most other monsters, leaving them vulnerable to Drugged, Tinged, and Poisoned Meat. It can get around this by eating the mushrooms and ore it carries around in its tail, though.
  • Acrofatic: Despite its girth, Congalala can move surprisingly quickly and make large jumps.
  • Balloon Belly: Will flex its belly on occasion, puffing it out to deflect attacks before doing a body-slam.
  • Bare-Bottomed Monkey: Adding to their primate-like appearance, their backsides are hairless, which will no doubt be seen a lot given their preferred methods of attack. Congalala's behind, along with its face, becomes appropriately bright red when it's angry.
  • Belly Flop Crushing: One of its attacks involves jumping in the air and landing on its stomach.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: If you don't want to suffer a face full of Paralysis, Poison, or Blastblight, then you'd better take these fart monkeys seriously.
  • Breath Weapon: After eating something, it can exhale a stream of gas that varies depending on what it ate.
  • Divergent Character Evolution: In-game lore tells that Emerald Congalalas are basically Congas that ate way too many plants.
  • Dung Fu: Besides farting, Congalalas can hurl their own shit on you. Same status ailment, but twice as disgusting.
  • Eat Dirt, Cheap: Sometimes holds a chunk of mineral rock in its tail instead of a mushroom. When eaten, it will give the Congalala Sleep status attacks.
  • Extreme Omnivore: Congalala can eat any mushroom without ill effect, including mushrooms that cause poisoning and paralysis.
  • Fartillery: Not only is it disgusting, it also causes the "Soiled" status, disabling your capability to use healing items. The Emerald Congalala is even gassier, farting after more of its attacks and even having a super fart that will send you flying.
  • Fat Bastard: Fat and extremely ill tempered.
  • Gasshole: Besides farting and dung-hurling (which causes "Soiled"), Congalalas can also use their breath to cause other status ailments. Whichever food it holds in its tail will indicate the kind of ailment one should expect.
  • Green and Mean: Emerald Congalala. Not only is it more aggressive than its pink cousin, but it's far more prone to farting. One of its Frenzy quests in MH4U's G Rank (where it's accompained by a Seltas Queen) cites this very trope in its name.
  • Ground Punch: They can occasionally rear up and slam their fists to the ground, creating a small quake.
  • In a Single Bound: It can literally leap from one area to the next, like it was shot out of a cannon.
  • Jack of All Stats: Congalala and its subspecies are well-balanced in Stories. Both have a Health and Speed rating of 3/5, but while the former leans slightly more towards defense than offense, having a below average Attack stat of 2/5 and an above average Defense stat of 4/5, the subspecies falls squarely in the middle, with both its Attack and Defense stats being a moderate 3/5.
  • King Mook: Congalala is the boss version of the Congas.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: Basically a pink gorilla with a gray underbelly and a hippo's face.
  • Playing with Fire: When it eats a Nitroshroom, it gains a flaming breath attack. 4 Ultimate replaces the fire with explosive powder that can inflict Blastblight.
  • Power-Up Food:
    • Congalala's Breath Weapon changes depending on what kind of food it eats.
    • One event quest in 4 Ultimate involves hunting a Congalala and an Emerald Congalala that start off smaller than you. Both of them carry a Super Mushroom that causes them to grow huge after eating it, complete with the classic sound effect.
  • Prehensile Tail: Its tail is usually busy holding a mushroom or stone for the creature to snack on later, but when said objects have either been eaten or dislodgednote , it then uses its tail to pluck and hurl fresh dung at its opponents straight out of its hindquarters.
  • Real Men Wear Pink: Its pink fur is incorporated into both male and female armor sets.
  • Silly Simian: It’s a goofy, clumsy, bright pink hippo-monkey that fights by farting on you.
  • Solid Gold Poop: The Emerald Congalala's gas can be used as airship fuel. The Territorial Dung they throw can be traded in for a significant amount of currency points.
  • Status Effects: Besides its signature Soiled status effect, it can also cause poison or paralysis depending on what it ate.
  • Toilet Humor: Between the dung-tossing and the farting? Absolutely, although the Soiled status isn't likely to make anyone laugh.
    • Naturally, an April Fool's Frontier quest exaggerates this: When the quest begins, the entire area is covered by a cloud of green gas, and your objective is beat on a Congalala, with it's ass sticking out and indiscrimingly firing dung everwhere, with a Thunder-element weapon. And once it's revived, it lets out a massive fart before flying off, never to be seen again.
  • Turns Red: Visually, the Congalala's face and buttcheeks literally turn red when enraged.
  • Video Game Stealing: It can sometimes steal Well-Done Steaks from hunters with its charge attack. Like with the Gypceros and Chameleos, these items cannot be retrieved.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: In 4, you're introduced to Frenzied monsters by way of a Congalala giving in to it.
  • Wolverine Claws: It has very long claws on its hands that it uses in attacks.

    Blango / Blangonga 

Blango / Blangonga (Dodoblango) (variants: Copper Blangonga, Zenith Blangonga)

Ruler of the Snow (Wild Monk of the Dunes, Flame Lion)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blangonga.png
Copper Blangonga
Zenith Blangonga
Flame Blangonga

Appearances:
Blango and Blangonga:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Generations, Generations Ultimate
Copper subspecies:
Freedom Unite
Zenith variant:
Frontier Z
Lone species:
Online

White-furred, baboon-like Fanged Beasts inhabiting snowy peaks. Weak on their own, Blangos receive a power boost in the presence of an alpha male, which sports vicious jumping skills. Freedom Unite introduces a copper-furred, desert-dwelling Subspecies. Frontier introduces an older Zenith Variant with more muscular arms and is the Alpha of several hundred Blango and Blangonga. Online introduces a Lone species that uses hot volcanic rocks like boxing gloves.


  • Achilles' Heel: Breaking the Blangonga's fangs will negate its roar and make the Blangos stop assisting it, making it easier to defeat.
  • An Ice Person: The Blangonga's preferred combat style.
  • Barehanded Blade Block: In the opening of Monster Hunter 2, a Blangonga manages to do this with one hand against a great sword.
  • Boulder Bludgeon: The Copper subspecies hurls rocks instead of ice.
  • Dig Attack: It can dig underground before emerging beneath a hunter.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Blangongas sport a pair. Break them and their roar won't be much trouble anymore.
  • Flunky Boss: Blangongas can call Blangos when in trouble. This will fail if its fangs are broken, as the Blangos see them as a sign of leadership.
  • Glass Cannon: It hits really hard, but it's not particularly durable.
  • Ground Punch: They can occasionally rear up and slam their fists to the ground, creating a small quake.
  • Hyper-Destructive Bouncing Ball: On occasion, the Copper subspecies throws a massive boulder that bounces around the battlefield. Borders on That One Attack due to its curving trajectory.
  • In a Single Bound: It travels to different areas by making massive jumps.
  • Killer Gorilla: Gorilla/baboon hybrid, but the point is the same. Blangonga is notorious not for being a difficult fight, but an incredibly annoying one due to its agility and damage output.
  • Kill It with Fire: The standard Blangonga's main weakness is Fire, and it was required to break its fangs prior to the fourth generation.
  • Kill It with Ice: The Copper Blangonga's main weakness is Ice, and you need to use it if you want to break its fangs.
  • Lightning Bruiser: The Copper Blangonga hits hard, moves quickly, and has a notably tougher hide than its vanilla counterpart does.
  • Mighty Roar: For a Fanged Beast, the Blangonga's roar can actually stop Hunters in their tracks. Breaking their fangs, fortunately, will permanently destroy this ability.
  • No-Sell: The Copper subspecies is notorious for having a rock-hard lower body that can deflect most attacks, which is bad news for inexperienced Hunters who have gotten used to targeting the regular Blangonga's hind legs.
  • Stout Strength: Has a stocky build, but is quite powerful.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: Its hind legs are smaller than and not as well developed as its forelimbs.
  • Turns Red: When Blangongas go into Rage Mode, so do the Blangos!
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: In Generations, Blangonga is this for those who took on the Hub quests before the village quests. It's much faster and harder-hitting than previous monsters and is a flunky boss whose flunkies are surprisingly tough.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: The Blangongas are very fond of using a Clothesline to close the distance.

    Rajang 

Rajang (variant: Furious Rajang)

Child of Destruction, The Golden Lion, Destruction Incarnate (Great Golden Beast, Super Simian)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_mhrise_rajang_render_001.png
Furious Rajang

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Furious variant:
Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster World: Iceborne, Rise: Sunbreak

At a distant flight lies an island of fire
There walks a dark beast, a great ball of ire
Wielders of flame who dare to engage
Will only succeed at igniting its rage
For it's the top player, and the world is its stage.

A powerful Primate Fanged Beast with a pair of large horns and control over electricity. Normally solitary, the Rajang is a creature so powerful few have ever met it, let alone survived through it to tell the tale, especially once it activates its Rage Mode, in which its hair turns gold and becomes even more powerful. Freedom Unite introduces a variant that's permanently enraged, with another rage mode on top of that. Explore introduces a variant during the Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba crossover.


  • Achilles' Heel: For a creature so unbelievably strong, Rajang has a couple of weaknesses:
    • Observant players will note that its hind legs aren't as well developed as its forelimbs...
    • In a nod to Dragon Ball, breaking its tail will render it unable to transform into its enraged state. Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to Furious Rajang, who already has its tail cut off. In Iceborne, this just immediately depowers it and weakens its rampage, while in Rise, dealing enough damage to its tail is the only way to end its rage mode.
    • It has less HP and takes more damage from attacks than most monsters in its danger category, meaning it goes down surprisingly quickly.
  • Added Alliterative Appeal: One of Furious Rajang's materials is called Ghoulish Gold Gorer.
  • The Berserker: They don't call it Destruction Incarnate for nothing. Rajang is relentlessly savage in combat and is one of the most aggressive monsters in the franchise, jumping all over the place and leaving explosions and craters in its wake and smashing hunters to the ground with its bare hands even before entering Rage Mode. The aptly named Furious Rajang is even worse in this regard as it got rid of the one way Hunters had to quell its rage.
  • Blood Knight: It has the most amount of turf wars, indicating this, even against weaker monsters. It also gives zero warning if it sees you. No warning roar, no threat display, it will just jump in fists blazing to pound you into the dirt.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: It's not truly as powerful as an Elder Dragon (except Kirin), but can match them though sheer ferocity. You usually don't fight it until High or G/Master rank, often after you've put an Elder Dragon or two under (or turned into) your belt. In Iceborne, it even holds its own in Turf Wars against most of them.
  • Boulder Bludgeon: The 4th generation games gave it the ability to rip chunks of rock out of the ground and throw them at hunters. The Apex Rajang can rip out a piece of terrain ten times larger than it to throw at hunters... which fortunately is too large for it to adjust the angle of its toss.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Its introduction in Rise makes it the dragon in question, with a Rathian attacking a Rajang and going about as well for the Rathian as you'd expect.
  • Carry a Big Stick: The Greatsword, Sword And Shield, Insect Glaive, and Charge Blade all use blunt weapons in place of a blade visually.
  • Counter-Attack: Starting with Iceborne, if an attack sends Rajang into a wall, Rajang can place its arm on the wall to steady itself before leaping at the hunter to counter attack.
  • Curb-Stomp Cushion: While it takes on Elder Dragons and Savage Deviljho in turf wars and gives them a good beating, it also takes equivalent damage back in all casesnote . Except Kirin, who it just straight up defeats outright.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Upon seeing a Rajang in its rage state, a player's first instinct might be to go for the tail to knock it out of it. However, Furious Rajang has no tail, leaving its head as the only other weak spot and the only other way to knock it out of its rage state, which happens to be right next to the arms that are guaranteed to pound you into a pancake served up on a cart if you overcommit.
  • Dance Battler: In this case, breakdancing (on your bones.) With an array of moves that include backflips, 720 degree spins, reverse leaps, somersaulting roll attacks, hopping zigzag rushes, and Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs, Rajang evokes the image of an acrobatic martial artist more than it does a mindless animal.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: This ape will take on every Elder Dragon in World (and Savage Deviljho) and give them all a heavy beating, often sending them running off the vicinity, to say nothing of pretty much any other large monster that would dare approach it.
  • The Dreaded: Similar to Deviljho, both In-Universe and by players. It has a six star danger rating, something that's usually reserved for Elder Dragons. Frontier even reveals that Kirin horns are one of its favorite foods, which was later canonized in Iceborne.
  • Drop-In Nemesis: In Iceborne, Rajang is easily one of the worst things that can happen during a high MR investigation, ruthlessly hounding you unless you have dung pods and potentially jeopardizing capture quests when it sets its sights on the target monster, since it can appear in any map after completing its special assignment. If it so much as spots something moving, both you and the monster you're hunting are about to have a very bad time. In the Guiding Lands, Rajang also has the unnerving tendency to spawn exactly where you defeated a monster, as if to deny you a carve, and will not stop chasing you until you throw a Banishing Ball at it, since its patrols tend to cover the entire map.
  • Enhanced Punch: Pulls one on Savage Deviljho in Iceborne: Savage Jho will grab Rajang and lift it in the air, only for Rajang to go Super Saiyan and punch Jho downward so hard that it instantly drops it on the ground. Afterwards, Jho will often go "Screw this!" and run away, with Rajang being the one to stand its groundnote .
  • Establishing Character Moment: Reintroduces itself in Iceborne by way of killing a Kirin and eating its horn.
  • Evil Twin: Humorously discussed. After completing the "Reveal Thyself, Destroyer " special assignement in Iceborne, the Admiral jokingly suggests that fighting Rajang felt like going up against his evil twin, given the physical similarities between the two (spiky, golden hair and buff arms).
    Admiral: But we showed it who the bigger baboon was, am I right? Bwahaha! Er, wait... That kinda came out wrong...
  • Extra Turn: In the Stories games, Rajang will move twice in one turn when enraged.
  • Fanservice: The Buff Body armor in an event quest featuring a pair of Rajang gives a Heroic Build for Male Hunters and Chainmail Bikini for Female Hunters as well as Underwear of Power for both genders. Unsurprisingly, the chest piece is very popular.
  • Fixed Damage Attack: Rajang's Mach Punch attack in the Stories games deals exactly 190 damage per use, ignoring any and all Defense boosts.
  • Force and Finesse:
    • It's the force to Zinogre's finesse, being far less controlled than the wolf and much less inclined to elemental moves, but is far physically stronger. As far as weapons go, Rajang's weapons have superb raw damage and a lvl4 slot, but poor elemental damage and negative affinity, while Zinogre weapons have average raw damage and a lvl2 slot, but superb elemental damage and neutral affinity.
    • Ironically, with the induction of Furious Rajang and Raging Brachydios, this is now reversed. Furious Rajang's weapons typically have significantly lower raw than Raging Brachy's do, but make up for it with significantly more purple sharpness and positive affinity, as well as much higher elemental damage than the normal Rajang's weaponry.
    • When it comes to the Rajang variants themselves, the normal kind is the Force to the Furious' Finesse. Regular Rajangs prefer to close the distance and beat their enemies to death with a powerful physical assault, while Furious Rajangs trade brute force in for more varied and sophisticated lightning breath attacks. As such, the former's weapons have higher raw damage but negative Affinity and can only achieve white sharpness with sufficient Handicraft, whereas the latter's have lower damage but but better sharpness, elemental, and Affinity values.
    • Whenever they trade blows, the Rajang is this in relation to its rival the Savage Deviljho.
  • Fury-Fueled Foolishness: It becomes this when it gets angry due to being blinded by rage, which is shown by it becoming unable to jump straight out of Pitfall Traps like it can while calm.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Rajang are strong enough to fight Elder Dragons, and its favorite prey are Kirin, but like the Deviljho, will not show up even in Elder Dragon quests. Averted as of Iceborne, where its introductory scene has it manhandling a Kirin, snapping its horn off, and snacking on it before turning its attention to you. In addition, Rajang can engage in turf wars with Elder Dragons.
  • Genius Bruiser: Word of God confirms that it is highly intelligent while calm, even having the ability to jump straight out of Pitfall Traps.
  • Glass Cannon:
    • Strikes hard and fast, but Rajang goes down very quickly compared to other endgame monsters (in fact, it has one of the lowest health pools of any large Master Rank monster in World, clocking in at up to 44,064 in multiplayer and a meager 17,280 in single-player.) Prior to World,, its entire body was one giant weak point and it is susceptible to traps (pitfall traps in particular can keep it in place for 18 seconds on their first use, although they only work while it is enraged), making it the target of choice for level 140 Guild Quests in 4U. This is exemplified in the Turf War with Savage Deviljho, wherein it seems to take less damage when Jho drags it across the floor, and does more damage to Jho with its Enhanced Punch. Please note that Turf Wars take about 10% of the losing monster's HP (or both if it's a tie), which means that Rajang has less HP than Savage Deviljho.
    • The Furious variant's armor set is built around this, as it raises the cap for the Heroics and Maximum Might skills. One tap from the monster might splatter you even with the massive Defense boost, but on the flipside, you can turn monsters into creamed corn at a far faster pace, if you know what you're doing.
    • Rajang's Monstie form in Stories 2: Wings of Ruin has one of the highest Elemental Attack values out of any Monstie in the game, but also has lacking Elemental Defense and poor Recovery.
  • Gold-Colored Superiority: Furious Rajang's fur is golden to begin with, unlike the base version whose fur is naturally black and only turns gold in rage mode. Subverted in 4 Ultimate and Generations due to Apex Rajang and Hyper Rajang, both of which are more powerful but have black fur when not enraged, just like vanilla Rajang.
  • Golden Super Mode: When enraged, Rajang’s fur stands on end and turns gold.
  • Good Old Fisticuffs: Its trademark "Dempsey Roll" attack, wherein it stands on its hind legs and does a rushing series of hooks with its forelimbs. Typically the cause of death for players not used to fighting Rajang, as it comes out quickly and with little warning, and covers a very wide area.
  • Ground Punch: It can occasionally rear up and slam its fists to the ground, creating a small quake. In Frontier, it can send out damaging rupture lines in multiple directions. In Iceborne, it will follow up its grab by throwing the grabbed hunter to the ground and following it with an unblockable ground punch on the helpless hunter. Unless the helpless hunter manages to get out of the way in time, or they/a fellow hunter shoots Rajang with slinger ammo that can flinch it (Like Flash Pods or Scatternuts), this attack is a practically guaranteed cart.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Don't even expect a warning roar if this thing sees you. Soon as you enter the Rajang's line of sight, it will drop what it's doing and come at you fists first. It also doesn't take much to send it into rage mode.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Apex Rajang in 4 Ultimate is especially infamous amongst Apex Monsters due to its ability to intrude on even the earliest G-Rank quests. At that point, you don't have the Drive Wystone required to successfully damage it.
  • In a Single Bound: Much like Congalala, it can make incredible leaps when traveling from one area to another.
  • It Can Think: Rajang's intelligence was mostly passed as an Informed Attribute, but in Iceborne, its intelligence is finally shown beyond its ability to escape pitfall traps when calm, as it can pull off a hunter trying to flinch free it, being the only one to do so. And when Furious Rajang is enraged during its pin attack, it point-blank blasts the Hunter with its thunder beam in addition to it's pounding moves, similar to Iceborne's Safi'jiiva.
  • Kabuki Theatre: Some equipment you can make from Rajang parts reference common facets of kabuki theatre.
  • Killer Gorilla: Especially compared to the Congalala; its Super-Strength alone makes it on par with various Elder Dragons in terms of overall danger.
  • Kill It with Ice: Its main weakness is Ice, which was required to cut its tail before the fourth generation.
  • Leitmotif: "Golden Mane", which features a set of wooden instruments that give the track an Middle-East feel to it. Iceborne's arrangement instead puts a groovy, jazz-like spin to the theme, all while charging forward with an oppressive brass.
  • Lightning Bruiser: It's fairly durable, extremely agile, and incredibly strong.
  • Maniac Monkeys: It's a monkey-like creature characterized by its extremely aggressive nature (to the point where it will attack anything on sight), especially when it gets truly angry.
  • Master of All: Rajang's Monstie form found exclusively in Japanese releases of Stories boasts a solid 5/5 rating in HP, Attack, Defense, and Speed, with its only real drawback being that its Elemental Attack and Elemental Defense values are somewhat lower than those of other Monsties of its rank.
  • Meaningful Name: Its name is derived from rajah, the Sanskrit word for "king".
  • Metronomic Man Mashing: In its turf wars against Flying Wyverns, Yian Garuga, and Coral Pukei-Pukei, Rajang will grab the monster by its tail and slam it onto the ground twice.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A cross between a gorilla (body structure and temperament when angry), a mountain goat (horns and posture), and a monkey (facial shape, tail, and hair) with hair that resembles a Lion's mane when enraged. It also greatly resembles a minotaur.
  • Monkey King Lite: Palico gear crafted from a Furious Rajang will make your kitty look like a miniature version of Sun Wukong himself. They'll even get their own Telescoping Staff to go with the ensemble!
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Prior games have called it the "Gold Lion", but Rise gives this electro-murder monkey the apt descriptor of "Destruction Incarnate."
  • No-Sell:
    • Rajang will not leave if you throw a Dung Bomb at it, even if you have a skill that normally ensures it will work. You can still use dung bombs to escape from its pin attack, though.
    • Pit Traps will not work on a Rajang unless it's enraged.
    • And as of Iceborne, if its arms are powered up, it will straight-up rip Shock Traps out of the ground and destroy them, unless it manages to land on top of the trap instead of rushing toward it. Rise removes this vulnerability and simply has the Rajang destroy the trap if its ensnared by it, even preventing capture if it was pre-tranquilized.
    • A Double Subversion: You cannot grapple onto Rajang's head with the Clutch Claw. Fortunately, you can still Flinch Shot it from the arm. On the other hand, when you try to grapple onto Rajang, there's a chance it will simply grab you and pull you right off. It has opposable thumbs too, after all.
    • It's completely immune to electric attacks. Should a Rajang ever encounter a Kirin in the wild, the fight will be horrifyingly one-sided in its favor.
  • Non-Elemental: Despite being one of its more prominent attacks, its "lightning" beam in fact has no elemental property.
  • Pintsized Powerhouse: A lot smaller than most monsters of its threat class, but still very powerful in spite of it. Becomes more apparent when it swings the far bigger Rathalos like a toy. Amusingly, Rajang used to be fairly large in Freedom Unite, but subsequent games made it smaller to the point where World's version is nearly half of its original size, though it's justified to accomodate for Rajang's much faster combat pattern in the fifth generation. Rise, in turn, upscaled Rajang and reduced its attack speed to put it in line with older generations games.
  • Power Dyes Your Hair: When it becomes enraged, most of its fur turns gold.
  • Power-Up Food: They need to eat Kirin horns in order to unlock/enhance their electric abilities.
  • Primal Chest-Pound: It does this when it uses its Status Buff.
  • Punched Across the Room: In Monster Hunter 4, Rajang's punches gain ridiculous knockback in rage mode. Rajang itself is also on the receiving end of this in Iceborne from Ruiner Nergigante during turf wars.
  • Rare Random Drop: Furious Rajang has Rajang Nerves in High Rank and Rajang Hearts in G/Master Rank, while the nominate species has Gold Rajang Pelts in High Rank and Gold Rajang Pelts+ in G/Master Rank.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Those blood-red eyes may be the last thing you ever see.
  • Ret-Canon: The fact that they enjoy the taste of Kirin horns was originally mentioned in Frontier before it was finally seen onscreen in Iceborne.
  • Rolling Attack: Can use an aimed rolling dive bomb after jumping into the air. Furious Rajang in 4U can perform it three times in a row, adjusting its aim with each rebound, with the third roll a guaranteed hit unless the victim rolls out of the way quickly. Or you can just move towards the Rajang's shadow as soon as it finishes the second roll.
  • Samurai: Both male and Female Armor tends to invoke the imagery of a Japanese feudal warlord mixed with a kabuki warrior.
  • Schmuck Bait: While it's never a required encounter until HR7 in Rise, it has a chance of spawning in earlier quest tiers, sleeping in secluded areas of the maps. It's easy for seasoned veterans to assume they stand a decent chance against it and choose to wake it up, only for it to immediately enrage all the way up to Super Arms Mode and start hitting way harder than Rank 5 armor is meant to accommodate.
  • Shock and Awe: Rajang's main element is electricity. The reason why Rajang can produce so much electricity is because of the Kirin horns.
  • Shockwave Stomp: More like shockwave body slam and shockwave Ground Punch. Frontier G's Rajang can even send out damaging rupture lines with them.
  • Shoryuken: Seems to have learned this move en-route to the New World, and will use it on Ruiner Nergigante. Considering Capcom made the game, it is an obvious Shout-Out.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Its overall appearance recalls the Dragon Ball series' Saiyans, a race of Human Aliens who turn into Oozarus — berserker monkeys — at the sight of the moon. Its power loss once its tail gets cut off also alludes to Son Goku and other Saiyans losing their Oozaru mode once their tail is cut off. Finally, its hair turning gold once it goes into Rage Mode recalls their Super Saiyan power boost. The Furious Rajang even has another Super Mode that looks like Super Saiyan 2. And the Rajang's powerful mouth beam might even reference Nappa's Break Cannon - and its Kinship Attack "Gigantic Meteor" vaguely resembles the Spirit Bomb in execution. Finally, Rise's subtitle for Furious Rajang dispels any doubt to the reference by calling it a "Super Simian."
    • In the 4th generation and Iceborne, Rajang seems to have manifested Bushoshoku Haki en-route to the New World, as it can use a move that toughens its arms up in a similar fashion.
    • The Rolling Attack is highly similar to the Blanka Ball, and Rajang's Turf War with Ruiner Nergigante in Iceborne has it deliver a Shoryuken straight to the dragon's chin.
    • It has a Turf War with Savage Deviljho, giving the New World its own interpretation of King Kong vs. Godzilla.
    • Armor made from the Furious variant evokes the appearance of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West, with the Hunter versions looking more fearsome and godlike while the Palico's is considerably more cuddly.
  • Sleepyhead: It spends most of its time snoozing whenever it invades a map in Rise. Whether this is a good or bad thing is up to you.
  • Sphere of Destruction: Sometimes backflips into the air and shoots a lightning ball at the spot where it stood. The Red Rajang in Frontier G can also charge up a large sphere (similar to Son Goku's Genki Dama/Spirit Bomb) and detonate it across a wide radius, instantly killing anyone caught in the blast regardless of health.
  • Status Buff: In the fourth generation and in Iceborne, when it's enraged, it can use a move that toughens its arms up, causing every weapon below purple sharpness to bounce off its arms. Since the Furious Rajang is always enraged, it can do this whenever it wants.
  • Strong and Skilled: Strong enough to lift and hurl boulders as if they're made of styrofoam, fast and agile enough to react to and counter any attack from any direction, and smart enough to use his hands and the environment around him to his advantage. It all combines to make a monster that can easily pound other monsters into the dirt regardless of how much bigger they are than Rajang. This doesn't quite translate to his weapons though, which have a lot of raw damage but negative Affinity and sits at low natural sharpness.
  • Super-Strength: Rajang is unbelievably strong, and is often estimated to be (at least in physical capabilities) one of the brawniest monsters in the franchise. Its boulder-toss exemplifies this trait; rock gets very heavy very quickly, and Rajang chucks it at you like it ain’t no thing. In Iceborne it has a turf war against Rathalos in which it jumps up and grabs the airborne wyvern by the tail, slamming it down and around like a ragdoll despite the Rathalos being twice its size.
  • Top-Heavy Guy: Its hind legs are smaller than and not as well developed as its forelimbs.
  • Trademark Favorite Food: Kirin horns. These guys will more than happily go toe-to-toe against an Elder Dragon just to munch on that one little appendage as if it were a big, crystal banana.
  • Turns Red:
    • Like all boss monsters, though special mention goes to it, for whenever it does, its dark brown hair turns gold, not unlike a few characters in a certain super-popular manga and anime series. This is the Furious Rajang's default state, and when it becomes enraged, its fur becomes even spikier and electricity will crackle in its fur.
    • In Frontier, when hunting a Hardcore mode "Golden Rajang" — which is basically Rajang locked in Rage Mode, going berserk after just a few attacks — there's a rare chance that it would have a red aura, putting a more literal spin on the trope. Pray to Gog that you never meet it, because the successful hunt rate for a Red Rajang out of the 270,000+ tries was 5.8%. And there's an Event Quest in Frontier G8 where you fight two Red Rajangs AT THE SAME TIME.
    • Rise's Furious armor set finally allows the player to invoke this with its unique, aptly named Furious skill, whilst using the Red Switch Scroll the player gains physical and elemental defense in addition to building up meter, and once its full it can be spent by switching to the Blue Switch Scroll, trading defense for temporary infinite stamina.
  • Uniqueness Decay: Inverted in World: Iceborne, as it is the only Fanged Beast in a game mostly full of wyverns.
  • Unstoppable Rage: In Rise, once Rajang becomes enraged, it will stay that way until enough damage is dealt to its tail.
  • Wave-Motion Gun: Made of lightning. The Furious variant has it fire it point-blank as part of its pin attack, then fire it again after it tosses you into the air.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: In Iceborne, many of its turf wars involve it doing power slams on other monsters, and its Counter-Attack move when being flinched into a wall is a clothesline. Arn Anderson would be proud.
  • Youkai: It's one of the few Monsters that is specifically based on a Youkai, in this case a Raijū. It's a Thunder-type monster, can appear like a ball of Thunder/Fire, has yellow and black fur, and looks like any of the described forms of a Raiju, namely as a Monkey. It has only one tail and can be cut to make it lose power. It may also be partially based on Oni, due to the horns, the muscular built, and a lot of its weapons are based on Kanabo (studded/spiked clubs), a weapon commonly associated with Oni.

Snake Wyverns

    Remobra 

Remobra (Gabras)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/remobra_3009.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Serpentine wyverns that mostly serve as annoyances on missions hosted in damp areas. Scavengers by nature, Remobra are frequently seen in the presence of Elder Dragons.


  • Airborne Mook: They use their ability to fly to stay out of hunters' reach.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: They're such opportunistic scavengers that if any monster is killed, they will stop what they're doing and immediately feast on it, even if they were attacking you seconds ago.
  • Breath Weapon: Spits out a venom which, while not too potent, may still prove to be an annoyance, especially if fighting larger monsters.
  • Combat Pragmatist: They'll wait until the hunter(s) stop moving, like if they get knocked down or stunned, and poison them opportunistically. However, this is can be taken advantage of by downing or trapping a monster and keeping a distance, where they'll poison the large monster for you. However, they'll also attack if you stay in one place too long while attacking a downed monster.
  • Monstrous Cannibalism: If a Remobra is killed, the other Remobra will eat it just as readily as any other monster.
  • Poisonous Person: Its spit can cause poisoning.
  • Portent of Doom: In-game lore describes them as this, owing to being frequently seen alongside Elder Dragons. Gameplay-wise, this translates to them being one of the few species of monsters to be present if an Elder Dragon is on the map.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: It's black with red markings, and is an aggressive Portent of Doom.
  • Retcon: They were originally classified as Flying Wyverns before the Snake Wyvern class was introduced. Their entry in the Hunter's Notes points this out, stating that in-universe, their classification was reevaluated after the discovery of Najarala.
  • Vile Vulture: Though they're reptilian, like the Anjanath they serve the same general role, feeding on carrion and being seen as an omen of bad news as they often follow Elder Dragons around.

Elder Dragons

    Chameleos 

Chameleos (Ohnazuchi)

Mist Dragon, Ancient Phantom

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chameleos.png
Risen Chameleos

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter Rise, Rise: Sunbreak

Desolated ruins, a thief stalks through the mist
Driven by a lust for wealth, it just cannot resist
Begone, o foul miscreant, for those are sacred grounds
The dead dwell here, this is their realm, and you've overstepped its bounds
But other things live here as well, equally concealed
So be mindful of your insolence, lest your fate be sealed.

A large, poisonous, chameleon-like Elder Dragon that uses its camouflage to blend in with its natural habitat: the forests, jungles, and swamps.


  • Achilles' Heel: Throwing a Smoke Bomb against it temporarily disables its camouflage. This no longer works as of 4 Ultimate, but breaking the horn still ruins the ability. Rise changes this to Flash Bombs instead.
  • Belly Flop Crushing: Chameleos gains the ability to perform a body slam in Rise, with enough force to make the ground tremor.
  • Beware the Silly Ones: With its appearance, strange walk, and irritating tactics it's definitely the doofiest Elder Dragon. However it's still an Elder Dragon which means it's capable of wrecking Hunters no problem. The only reason its body count isn't higher is because it chooses. Also there's the fact that its armor and weapons are perfectly designed to outright negate the powers of Kushala Daora, another Elder Dragon. In Sunbreak, it's one of the Elder Dragons that can enter the Risen state, in which it not only becomes more aggressive, but its poison attacks become deadlier and gain much more coverage.
  • Boulder Bludgeon: In Rise, Chameleos's tail slam is powerful enough to launch boulders out of the ground.
  • Breath Weapon: Besides its poison breath, it can also fire a stream of mist that's surprisingly powerful. When it's enraged, its ultimate attack involves spewing mist with incredible force as it walks and twists its body, dealing an obscene amount of damage to anyone that gets hit.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: While Chameleos in 4 Ultimate is notably watered down, its invisibility mechanic gets a new niche: it warps around the area when its smoke is out. Breaking its horn renders it visible and shows it's actually flying from point A to point B, but it is also notably slower, whereas while fully invisible it covers distances that it shouldn't be able to cover so quickly.
  • Counter-Attack: In 4 Ultimate, Chameleos will occasionally respond to taking damage by interrupting its current action with a quick backwards step, and attacking the player who damaged it, either with the mist breath if they're close or the poison spit if they're far away.
  • Damage Over Time: Especially so in the second generation, where most of its playstyle involved wearing you down via status ailments rather than heavy-hitting moves. Poison, Fatigue, and Item Theft would all gradually weaken hunters and cost them items either directly or indirectly, while turning invisible gives it a chance to run down the clock—a Hunter has little chance of finding it if it hadn't been paintball-tagged.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!: Many Elder Dragons, including Chameleos, can't have their tails cut off until their health is low enough, while their other parts can be broken normally. For Chameleos, this is no longer the case in 4 Ultimate; in fact, it's backwards. The tail can be cut off normally while its horn can only be broken when it's low on health. Cutting off the tail won't disable its camouflage anymore either.
  • Discard and Draw: It loses its signature Video Game Stealing ability in Rise... in exchange for being able to steal Spiribird buffs for itself instead. In addition, not only does it have several new attacks, but all of Chameleos's poison attacks have been upgraded to Venom, the same kind Apex Rathian uses, which drains health at a much faster rate then normal and which can only be reduced, not nullified, by the Poison Resistance skill.note 
  • Establishing Character Moment: Reintroduces itself in Rise by way of stealing a Melynx's staff and smacking the thieving Lynian with it.
  • Gasshole: The poison spit attack is accompanied with what is unmistakably a burping sound.
  • Hollywood Chameleon: The reason for many of its tropes.
  • Invisibility: Its theme is being almost totally invisible for the majority of the fight. Cutting off the tail (before 4 Ultimate) or breaking its horn, though, permanently disables this ability.
  • Invisibility Flicker: Earlier games have it do this on a regular basis. 4 Ultimate only uses the flicker when it's moving from spot to spot when enraged.
  • It Can Think: Chameleos essentially uses psychological warfare, with its entire strategy revolving around making its enemies completely tired of its shenanigans.
  • Kill It with Fire: Its main weakness is fire. With Teostra having been given the blast element, Teostra equipment is perfect for dealing with it.
  • Leitmotif: Deep Forest Illusion. It receives a new arrangement in Rise with a choir joining in.
  • Lightning Bruiser: It can move pretty fast when not camouflaged.
  • Logical Weakness: It uses a weak electrical current to manipulate the mists that give it the invisibility it's famed for. Therefore, hitting them with a Thunder attack would overload the current and put Chameleos' invisibility on the fritz faster, hence its Thunder weakness.
  • Martial Pacifist: It's said to be a peaceful monster who avoids conflict whenever it can, but will fight if it has to.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A combination of a chameleon, an uroplatus, and a dragon.
  • Nerf: In the early games, Chameleos was invisible nigh-perpetually, only becoming visible during a select few attacks or when afflicted with certain status ailments. The invisibility mechanic is made much less frustrating in 4 Ultimate, with Chameleos only becoming invisible when enraged and always being visible when attacking. Generations additionally gave it a weakness to Thunder. By contrast, Rise's incarnation of Chameleos is in the middle-ground of the two, regularly going invisible throughout the fight, but also becoming visible after a short period of time (and/or being hit).
  • Overly-Long Tongue: As with a regular chameleon, its tongue is long, elastic, and sticky.
  • Painting the Medium: Whenever it creates its smokescreen, its Leitmotif gets a dampening effect.
  • Poisonous Person: It has several moves that involve spewing poisonous gasses at you. These poison clouds stick around for half a minute, damaging anyone that touches them. Its weapons almost always have an extremely high poison element.
  • Put on a Bus: Chameleos was replaced by Vaal Hazak in World.
  • Rage Quit: Its entire in-universe strategy is to make its enemies do this; it knows how frustrated Hunters get when they keep getting poisoned and robbed while Chameleos darts around erratically and invisibly, and it hopes that frustration is enough to make them give up fighting it.
  • Rare Random Drop: Chameleos Gems in High Rank and Lrg Elder Dragon Gems in G Rank.
  • Silly Walk: Its regular walking animation has it always hesitating on its steps and looking generally confused. This is reflective of chameleons in real life.
  • Smoke Out: In 4 Ultimate, it creates a fog from its breath that hinders with both sight and hearing, even damping its own leitmotif.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: It can snatch your Spiribird pollen with its sticky tongue in Rise, removing the buffs it gives you. However, the Hunter can still get it back for themselves/friends by standing in the cloud effect before it dissipates (via hitting Chameleos' head enough), though this doesn't take it back from him.
  • Tail Slap: Chameleos has two attacks of this type, although one is more passive than the other. The first one is the Chameleos flapping its tail up and down twice to manipulate its poison clouds, but it's more likely to blow a hunter back than hurt him or her. The second, however, is a single powerful slam to crush any hunter that's too close to its tail.
  • That One Boss: Invoked. It can poison you, it can turn invisible, it can poison you while it's invisible, it can steal your items (or buffs in Rise's case), it's insanely fast for a monster of Chameleos' size, all to be as annoying as possible to get you to leave it alone.
  • Trap Master: Starting with 4 Ultimate, its strategy revolves around spreading poisonous clouds that damage anyone that touches them. Even someone that's immune to poison will lose health very quickly if they don't avoid them, effectively allowing Chameleos to restrict the hunter's movement.
  • The Trickster: In a world where monsters are mostly nonsapient animals, Chameleos stands out with its tricky personality. It’s an intelligent, mostly non-violent dragon whose fighting style is less about killing you and more about screwing with you until you leave it alone, and it even plays pranks and acts like a ghost for fun. The Melynx in Chameleos’ Rise intro posed no threat to it, nor did it feel the need to kill the intruder; Chameleos just felt like giving it a scare. Subverted with Risen Chameleos however, as the pain of overcoming the Qurio affliction has not only made it stronger, but its fighting style is significantly more aggressive.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Chameleos in Rise is a lot more aggressive, can use numerous new moves it didn't have before, and its regular Poison is upgraded to the much more deadly Venom, meaning you really have to work hard not to get hit. Otherwise, you'll constantly be in danger of being hit to low health, getting up only for the poison to cart you before you can heal. Then in Sunbreak, its "Risen" state - Afflicted, but overcome due to its Elder Dragon power - gives it a giant power boost along with new moves.
  • Troll: Chameleos doesn’t just swipe your items because it’s a thief. It KNOWS that Hunters will get frustrated with this thing constantly stealing their belongings; its entire strategy is to make its enemies sick of its shenanigans and give up fighting it.
  • Video Game Stealing: It can steal items from hunters with its tongue lash. Like with the Gypceros, these items cannot be retrieved. Luckily, this ability was reduced to just stealing Spiribird buffs come Rise.
  • Visible Invisibility: Once its horn or its tail (pre-4 Ultimate) are gone, parts of Chameleos' body (or all of it, if both are gone) become a transparent silhouette whenever it tries to turn invisible.
  • Wind from Beneath My Wings: Chameleos can flap its wings to change the positions of its poison gas clouds.

    Teostra / Lunastra 

Teostra (Teo Teskator) / Lunastra (Nana Teskatori)

Flame King Dragon, Emperor of Flame / Empress of Flame

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teostra.png
Teostra
Risen Teostra
https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mhw_lunastra_render_001.png
Lunastra

Appearances:
Teostra:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Lunastra:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter: World ver. 4, World: Iceborne

In the halls of inferno roam the restless souls
The lone monarch approaches with the fire he controls
He's here to judge the wicked who sully his domain
To damn them with his rage to eternal pain
Swift as wind his punishment, absolute his reign.

Leonine Elder Dragons feared and closely monitored by the Guild for their aggressiveness and destructive command over fire. The Teostra and Lunastra are the male and female of the species respectively: Teostra is colored red and has two long horns, while Lunastra is colored blue and has a pair of crown-like protrusions on its head.


  • Achilles' Heel:
    • Breaking their horns will nullify their flame aura, making them easier to deal with. In World, it's Elderseal, which suppresses Teostra's flame aura and delays its supernova.
    • Flash Pods in World are the easiest way to stop a Teostra from getting its supernova off right on the spot and in normal situations. Tempered Teostra however, was given the same buff as all Tempered monsters, where it gains an immunity if done too many times, meaning you'll have to evade any further supernovas the old fashioned way.
  • Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: It was stated that the two were rarely seen together. Considering that they have a combination attack in World and Lunastra instantly throws herself at Nergigante to protect her mate, this is certainly the case.
  • Battle Aura: Both creatures are wreathed in a fiery aura that slowly damages any Hunter who strays too close. Breaking their horns disables the aura.
  • Battle Couple: For the first time ever, thanks to World allowing for multiple Elder Dragons on one map — the duo can fight as a pair. When they do however, getting them both pissed off together is a terrible idea.
  • Berserk Button: As Nergigante learned the hard way, assaulting Teostra is a good way to invoke Lunastra's ire. Additionally, using flash pods on Lunastra in World can potentially anger her enough to prompt a supernova in response.
  • Big Bad: A Lunastra is the primary antagonist of Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild, though she remains a Non-Malicious Monster, only being a threat because Aiden's village is directly in her migratory path for the Elder Crossing.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Can show up to give you a helping hand in the True Final Boss fight against Allmother Narwa in Rise.
  • Breath Weapon: A flamethrower attack that increases in size when enraged. In 4U, Rage Mode replaces the flamethrower with a stream of explosive powder.
  • The Bus Came Back: After having been basically retired for nearly a decade, Lunastra finally makes her return in World.
  • Catlike Dragons: They're Elder Dragons shaped like enormous, reptilian winged lions.
  • Cherry Tapping: Lunastra's supernova does considerably less immediate damage to the player than Teostra's, but that doesn't make it any less dangerous. Instead, it has a damage-over-time area-of-effect that both staggers the player repeatedly and chips away at their health in small but rapid hits. The only way to avoid most of the damage if caught is to panic dive when the attack goes off and not move until the hunter starts to get up on their own, then dive immediately again. And it will still do a fair bit of damage in the short time between the get-up animation and the second dive.
  • Combination Attack: In World, Teostra and Lunastra have a special "bond" ability, similar to the turf wars between other monsters. However, instead of a fight, it’s a Mating Dance that culminates in... well... supernova plus supernova equals Total Party Kill.
  • Divergent Character Evolution:
    • In the second generation, Lunastra was essentially just the offline reskin of the online-only Teostra. When she was finally added back to the series in World, she was made distinct from her mate in several ways. Instead of blastblight and fireballs, Lunastra carpets the ground in persistent blue flames that cause steady environmental heat damage and will splash out smaller flames if struck by a fire-element attack. Her double supernova causes causes a rapid health drain for any hunter caught in its massive area of effect; even the fireproof mantle is only partially effective, and the damage can also overpower gradual healing effects. Lunastra is resistant to flash pods, unlike Teostra. Finally, she has her own variation of Teostra's theme that sounds somewhat softer and more feminine while still exhibiting power and authority.
    • New World Teostra and Lunastra are noted to have the ability to fly effectively, while the Old World variants are seen to prefer staying on the ground and are gradually losing this ability.
  • The Dreaded: Even for an Elder Dragon, Teostra are so hostile and brutal that authorities keep tabs on their movements. World mentions the only reason Teostra aren't responsible for more casualties is thanks to its usual habitats being inhospitable to start with.
  • Eat Dirt, Cheap: Their fiery power comes largely from eating coal.
  • Elegant Gothic Lolita: Both armor sets on female hunters invoke this.
  • Enemy Mine: In Rise, Teostra is one of three monsters (the other two being Kushala Daora and Magnamalo) that can show up during the Allmother Narwa fight to oppose her, ignoring you to challenge the bigger threat.
  • Fangs Are Evil: Both of them sport prominent fangs, and are known for being violently territorial (minus the "evil" part; they're animals, after all).
  • Fiery Lion: They're leonine Elder Dragons with fiery manes and fire as their primary element.
  • Final Boss: Of Monster Hunter 2 in the offline campaign. Even after the threats of Kushala Daora, Chameleos and the other Elder Dragons are over, you'll only be able to achieve true peace in Jumbo Village by confronting Teostra's short-tempered partner.
  • Foil: To Rathalos and Rathian as well as Narwa and Ibushi.
    • Rathalos/Rathian are commonly seen together, but lack any specially coordinated attacks when attacking the same target. In contrast, Teostra/Lunastra are almost never seen together, but do possess a special "bonding", combining their Supernovas together.
    • Teostra has blastblight alongside fire and Lunastra creates environmental hazards that can trigger chain reactions for massive burst damage; Rathalos and Rathian use poison to apply damage over time.
    • While Rathalos and Rathian fit the classical description of Wyverns, Teostra/Lunastra have a strong Lion Motif and are more similar to a Manticore in appearance.
    • The Raths' lion motifs are extremely subtle while you can spot the Stras' straight away.
    • The 'Stras are a conventional loving couple who won't hesitate to jump into action when their mate is in trouble, such as Lunastra driving off a hungry Nergigante with eyes on her mate in World. In contrast to the 'Stras, Ibushi and Narwa's bond is one of primal need and instinct and the male is sacrificed to empower the female of the species in a way that is quite offputting by human standards.
  • Force and Finesse: Risen Teostra in Sunbreak is the force compared to Risen Kushala Daora's finesse. Risen Teostra's moveset is as a whole quite similar to the original, but it compensates with extreme aggression and incredibly heightened attack power. Risen Kushala's offensive power, while still buffed, doesn't quite match that of Teostra, but it has more extensive changes to its moveset and is capable of chaining together multiple moves more fluidly. Both dragons have a "Mantle" skill exclusive to their armor which buffs the player from continous attacks, but Teostra's Powder Mantle is focused on pure offense with it building up a devastating explosion, while Kushala's Wind Mantle focuses on skill usage by greatly accelerating Wirebug regeneration.
  • Hair-Trigger Temper: Lunastra in World. Unlike Teostra, who will not attack unless provoked, Lunastra turns hostile the moment a hunter enters her sight.
  • Having a Blast: Occasionally emits a combustible powder which they spread with their wings, then detonate by gnashing their teeth like a flint. Fortunately, the sparks are color-coded so the Hunter knows its area of effect: red sparks mean the explosions will occur around the creatures; yellow ones mean the powder will explode further out. In 4U, Teostra gains the ability to release this explosive powder during its other attacks while enraged.
  • Kill It with Ice: Lunastra's main weakness is ice.
  • Kill It with Water: Teostra's main weakness is water. In addition, striking any of Lunastra's non-empowered flame patches with a water-element weapon/projectile or throwing a Crystalburst at one destroys that patch.
  • King of Beasts: Teostra and Lunastra are draconic lion monsters, and as Elder Dragons they are near the top of the Monster Hunter world's hierarchy.
  • Leitmotif: Emperor of Flame, shared between both of them. The theme was given a remaster with Teostra's appearance in Monster Hunter World, while Lunastra got a different arrangement.
  • Lightning Bruiser: They possess good speed, good durability, and powerful attacks.
  • Limit Break: When Teostra becomes fully enraged, he charges up power and unleashing a devastating explosion. Wearing armor made from him will also grant a limit break of sorts to the player via the Latent Power ability, which substantially buffs the Hunter after they sustain significant damage.
  • Mating Dance: During their bond, Teostra and Lunastra will fly gracefully around each other, showering the area in their powder and looking really pretty doing so. This being the Fire Dragons, though, the dance culminates in the biggest attack in World (other than Behemoth’s Ecliptic Meteor): an enormous combined Fire Dragon supernova that fills the zone and is almost guaranteed to one-shot everything in it.
  • Meaningful Name: Their Japanese names are derived from Tezcatlipoca, a major Aztec deity associated with royalty and jaguars.
  • More Deadly Than the Male: Averted in the second gen games (she was actually weaker there, while Teostra was the stronger one), but played straight with Lunastra in World, as evidenced by how, even though she still can't match Nergigante, still fares better and at least gets off a supernova before being slammed around. Also reflected in game in World, where Lunastra is generally seen as being harder than Teostra. Rather than having a powerful but survivable supernova like Teostra, Lunastra has a version that creates a super hot area that staggers and chips at the player's health in a way that makes it more likely to cause a faint.
  • Non-Malicious Monster: In World, Teostra will not attack you on sight, and even allow you to walk beside it, provided you don't attack it at all, or are in combat with another monster. Averted with Lunastra, though this is because the Lunastras that are encountered are in heat.
  • No-Sell:
    • Their flame aura will deflect all kinds of arrows and normal bullets. Breaking their horns will nullify this ability.
    • Lunastra can't be knocked out of her supernova with flash pods like her mate, worse still, ill-timed flash pods can actually get her to launch into a supernova as a reflex.
  • One-Gender Race: Subverted. Teostra and Lunastra and males and females of the same species, but sexually dimorphic enough to warrant separate names.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: These are lion dragons that can breathe fire and create explosions, though they seem to have more in common with manticores than dragons.
  • Our Manticores Are Spinier: They're Fiery Lions with a draconic tail and wings.
  • Playing with Fire: Both of them have an arsenal of fire attacks. In 4U, Teostra replaces the Fire element with Blastblight when enraged.
  • Powder Trail: An observant hunter might notice that in 4U there's an airborne trail left when an enraged G-Rank Teostra leaps back and produces an immense cloud of explosive dust... a trail that the Teostra can use to ignite the entire cloud from a distance.
  • Put on a Bus: Lunastra was retired early; her Armor still appears in 4U and Generations Ultimate, curiously. She finally makes her return 9 years later in Monster Hunter: World.
  • Rare Random Drop: Fire Dragon Gems in High Rank (Teostra Gems in 4) and Lrg Elder Dragon Gems in G Rank.
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Played straight in the second generation games, inverted in World, Lunastra is the aggressive red to Teostra's passive blue.
  • Retcon: Back in the second generation, Lunastra was stated to be the weaker and more docile of the two. This is reversed in World, where Lunastra is now more aggressive.
  • Sphere of Destruction: Teostra flies up briefly before unleashing a giant spherical blast of fire. This supernova deals tremendous damage in a large radius and is guaranteed to stun anybody who manages to survive the explosion. His Combination Attack with Lunastra in World is even bigger.
  • Tail Slap: Stick too close to the Teostra's rear end and it will try to sweep you away with a double tail slap. With the addition of Blastblight, this attack will also leave behind some explosive dust while it's enraged.
  • Technicolor Fire: Lunastra's attacks in World will leave behind trails of blue flame.
  • Time Bomb: In the fourth generation, the Teostra's rage mode disperses his flame aura to light up the entire area as it spreads explosive powder with most of his attacks. The rage can be prematurely cut-off through KOs, sleep, paralysis, successful mounts, or just sufficient damage to the head. It lasts a fixed 100 seconds, and if it's not cut-off before it ends...
  • Took a Level in Badass: In her first appearance, Lunastra was functionally just a weaker, solo-only Teostra typically fought in lower-level quests than her male counterpart. Come her triumphant return in World, however, she's treated as the stronger and more aggressive of the two.
  • True Blue Femininity: Lunastra is blue and female.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Lunastra is introduced in World by protecting her mate from Nergigante, and she'll gladly jump your ass if you attack him while she's around.
  • The Worf Effect:
    • Teostra and Lunastra individually suffer this against Nergigante in World, though they at least manages to do inflict some damage back in retaliation. When the two are together in their introductory quest, Nergigante thinks better about fighting two at once and cancels his hunt against the formerly-lone Teostra. In Rise, Teostra loses a brief and one-sided fight against Narwa the Allmother when it potentially arrives midway through the final story quest.
    • Flaming Espinas is shown defeating Teostra with a Supernova in Sunbreak.

    Kushala Daora 

Kushala Daora (Kushaldaora) (variant: Rusted Kushala Daora)

Steel Dragon, The Frozen Dictator, Shadow Upon the Tempest

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kushala_daora.png
Rusted Kushala Daora
Risen Kushala Daora

Appearances:
Nominate subspecies:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
Monster Hunter 4, 4 Ultimate, Generations, Generations Ultimate
Monster Hunter: World, World: Iceborne, Rise, Rise: Sunbreak
Rusted variant:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom 2, Freedom Unite
4 Ultimate

Dashing across a snowy plain, monsters nipping at the heel
Out of breath, limbs in pain, doomed to end as meal
One last stand, a final try, to die a hero's death
Then help arrives from the sky, like a divine breath.

A powerful wind-controlling Elder Dragon covered in silvery metal plates which it sheds periodically. Kushala Daoras tend to be highly aggressive, attacking towns on occasion, but it can also defend itself fiercely with a windy barrier surrounding its body, rendering it immune to projectiles. In the same game where this Elder Dragon debuted, so did an older variant of it, whose old skin hasn't yet been shed, giving it a rusty look.


  • Achilles' Heel:
    • In the 2nd generation games, breaking its horn or cutting off its tail would completely nullify its ability to make wind barriers, making it easier to deal with. The barrier no longer disappears as of 4 Ultimate, but it does get weakened.
    • Poison will also weaken its wind barrier.
    • As of World, along with all other Elder Dragons, poison no longer has the ability to weaken barriers. Instead, they are weakened by the new Elderseal effect. However, as a nod to what came before, Kushala Daora still carries a strong weakness to it regardless. This change was reversed in Rise along with the removal of Elderseal.
    • Since it has a regular habit of staying airborne, you can ground it repeatedly by launching a flash pod right in its face whenever it flies to the sky. Moreover, you can carry up to 3 Flash Pods and 10 Flashbugs, which can be used for crafting Flash Pods right on the field. In other words, each person can flash it for up to 13 times during battle, and there's no limit for how many Flash Pods and Flashbugs you can store in your camps. You can even grow Flashbugs in Astera. However, Tempered Kushala would become gradually resistant to Flash Pod for each time you use it until it becomes completely immune to Flash Pods, and in Iceborne Flash pods not only work a limited number of times but only knock Kushala down for a few moments.
    • If it gets into a Turf War with Espinas, it won't come out on the winning side. Espinas is perfectly suited to deal with Kushala Daora, being a highly venomous wyvern with enough weight and mass to make Kushala Daora's wind negligible.
  • Animal Motifs: If a monster's weapons have some sort of animal embellishment they tend to stick to one animal, such as Teostra's lion ornamentation. Kushala Daora's weapons uniquely feature a wide variety of animals, although it's still one per weapon—for instance, a light bowgun based on a hornet, a charge blade based on a tortoise, and a bow based on a seahorse.
  • Battle in the Rain: In Dos, Freedom 2, and Unite, Daora is notorious for worsening the weather of almost any zone it inhabits, barring the Desert and Town (Dundorma) maps. In particular, the Jungle and Swamp get heavy rainfalls while the Snowy Mountains experience strong blizzards, both of which disable the use of Barrel Bombs note . This becomes a plot point during the Dundorma crisis in 4 Ultimate, necessitating the acquisition of a water-resistant flammable fuel for the Demolisher anti-dragon cannon to work in adverse weather conditions.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Two cases in Rise.
    • Its introductory cutscene shows it intervening on behalf of a Felyne being chased by a pack of Baggi, blowing the Bird Wyverns away with a tornado.
    • It may also make a surprise appearance to assist you in Allmother Narwa’s True Final Boss battle.
  • Blow You Away: Possesses a powerful wind barrier that can topple anybody who manages to get close enough, in addition to its wind-based breath attacks.
  • Breath Weapon: Can shoot wind bullets and concentrated streams of frigid air from its mouth. In 4U, it borrows Barioth's ability to spit tornadoes.
  • Butt-Monkey: Kushala Daora cannot catch a break in Sunbreak. It gets beaten down by both Furious Rajang and Gold Rathian in their introduction movies, and gets suplexed in a Turf War with Espinas.
  • Call-Back: Kushala's theme in World contains a snippet of the main theme from Dos.
  • Chrome Champion: Kushala's scales and skin aren't simply "metallic-looking"; they're made of an organic metal which rusts over time. It also happens to be one of its main causes of natural death: According to the Monster Hunter Illustrations concept art book, its limbs and soft tissues will slowly transform into the same organic metal as it grows older, interfering with its normal biological functions and eventually causing it to perish.
  • Covered in Mud: If Kushala Daora is fought in a snowy environment, its wind blasts cause anyone that gets hit to get the Snowman status.
  • Developer's Foresight:
    • In World, Kushala Daora will never go to the volcanic areas of Elder's Recess on its own. However, if you lure it near lava using the Challenger Mantle, its tornadoes can catch fire. (They don't gain a fire element, though.)
    • Should Lunastra be on the map, her patches of blue fire can be picked up by tornadoes as well. These can be immediately cleared by hitting it with a Crystalburst.
  • The Dreaded: In 4 Ultimate, the Rusted Kushala Daora is this for all of Dundorma, primarily because the town is still recovering from a recent Elder Dragon attack, and a second one so soon would potentially wipe Dundorma off the map. Much of the postgame involves helping the town rebuild in order to defend itself from the imminent Elder Dragon.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: The Arch-Tempered version showed up several weeks before its special event quest as a Helpful Mook for Arch-Tempered Teostra.
  • Enemy Mine: In Rise, Kushala Daora is one of three monsters (the other two being Teostra and Magnamalo) can show up during the Allmother Narwa fight to oppose her, ignoring you to face the bigger threat.
  • Final Boss: Rusted Kushala Daora serves as this in 4 Ultimate's offline mode, though really it's more of a Cutscene Boss serving as a tutorial for how the Battlequarters works. He isn't given a proper fight until late in online mode as one of the post-Gogmazios Optional Bosses.
  • Good Scars, Evil Scars: The Rusted Kushala Daora in 4U has a particular silver scar over over its right eye. The Master of Defense caused the scar when he protected the then-young Ace Commander from it, though it cost him his career as a Hunter. In return, the Daora left a scar on the Master's face, opposite of where its own mark is.
  • An Ice Person: If it's fought in a snowy area, its wind attacks gain the ice element and the ability to inflict the Snowman status.
  • Kill It with Water: The Rusted version is weak to Water attacks.
  • Leitmotif:
  • Lightning Bruiser: It can move fast, use powerful attacks, and has a metallic body that makes it very sturdy.
  • Mascot: Of 2, making it the first Elder Dragon to grace a game cover.
  • No-Sell: Its wind barrier can deflect bullets and arrows, and knock you off your feet if you get too close. Poisoning it removed this barrier temporarily, while breaking its horn negated it permanently.note 
  • Non-Malicious Monster: Outside the initial story quest, it's much more easy-going in World. It'll even sit down and quietly watch you intermittently if you don't attack it.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Greatly resembles the metallic dragons from Dungeons & Dragons.
  • Put on a Bus: Disappears from the roster for the entire third generation of games, but comes back in the fourth to stay.
  • Rare Random Drop: Daora Gems in High Rank and Lrg Elder Dragon Gems in G Rank.
  • Recurring Boss:
    • In a meta sense. The Kushala Daora that shows up in the Frozen Seaway to attack Cathar in 4 is reportedly the same Kushala Daora that attacked Jumbo Village and Pokke Village in dos and Freedom Unite, respectively.
    • The Rusted Kushala Daora fought in 4U's multiplayer. Prior to fighting it, everything, even Gogmazios, was killable in a single battle even for a solo Hunter. The Rusted Kushala Daora however is fought multiple times to wear down its health, being fought first in the Polar Fields before being weak enough to be driven to the Battlequarters for the final fights. For a single player, you can expect to have to fight it upwards of four times just for one kill.
  • Removable Shell: Periodically sheds its metallic plating.
  • Status Effects: In Rise, one of its attacks can inflict Dragonblight.
  • Stronger with Age: The Kushala Daora observed in the New World are generally more masterful of their wind control abilities than the ones found in the Old World, even if they fly less often than the latter. With reports of Kushala Daora having migrated to the New World at least 20 years before World, it's implied that these ones are older individuals that came not to die like most of the Elder Dragons who do the Elder Crossing, but rather to live longer thanks to the vast amounts of bioenergy found in the Elder's Recess.
  • Suspiciously Similar Substitute: A strange case of an older monster subbing for a newer one. The revamped Kushala from Rise fights more like Velkhana from Iceborne.
  • The Worf Effect: In World and Iceborne, Kushala Daora is among the Elder Dragons that get physically manhandled in a Turf War against either Nergigante or Rajang, though it at least manages to land a strong initial blow on them. In Rise, it technically draws with Magnamalo, though its Turf War doesn't end in a draw so much as it ends with Magnamalo damaging itself in the process of slam dunking Kushala Daora into the ground. It also suffers a definitive loss against Narwa the Allmother when it intervenes in the final story quest. In Sunbreak it also loses in a Turf War against Espinas, a highly venomous wyvern perfectly suited to deal with Kushala Daora's strengths, though the latter does manage to get a hit in.

    Yama Tsukami 

Yama Tsukami

Floating Peak Dragon, Floating Disaster

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monster_hunter_yama_tsukami_8720.png

Appearances:
Monster Hunter 2, Freedom Unite

One of the largest monsters in the Monster Hunter universe, the Yama Tsukami resembles a giant octopus with grass and earth growing on it. It attacks by flailing its tentacles and summoning Mega Thunderbugs.


  • Animalistic Abomination: It's very bizarre, being a large, cephalopod-like dragon that's covered in foliage and capable of flight, but still has a recognizable form.
  • Balloon Belly: Its body is essentially a living helium balloon; attacking it long enough even causes it to deflate and fall temporarily until it can restore its lighter-than-air gases.
  • Big Eater: It eats entire forests and lakes — as well as anything living in them — in a single gulp. It's no wonder that it's classified as an Elder Dragon when it can raze entire environments in a single feeding session — even the Deviljho's infamous Horror Hunger can only drive the extinction of individual species.
  • Spin Attack: Has a highly damaging tentacle spin attack, which requires crouching to avoid. Alternatively, you can sharpen your weapon just as it lowers its body to hit you.
  • Extreme Omnivore: It feeds by sucking up everything below it in one gulp. While it mostly tries to eat whole forests and lakes, it often ends up eating every living thing that was unfortunate enough to be there at the time. It also isn't picky about whether or not it ends up eating civilized settlements and its residents either, which is where the missions to hunt it come in. Yama is less "omnivorous" and more "literally does not care what ends up in its gob".
  • Final Boss: Of 2's online mode.
  • Foil: To Nakarkos. They're both powerful cephalopod Elder Dragons who act as the final boss of online mode, but while Nakarkos swims in water in a deep subterranean arena and is covered in bones, a symbol of death, Yama Tsukami flies through the air, is found in high places, and is covered in foliage, a symbol of life.
  • Flunky Boss: Can summon Mega Thunderbugs.
  • Flying Seafood Special: Well, “floating” is more accurate. Yama doesn’t have much control over where it’s going, so it’s just being carried along the breeze.
  • Kill It with Ice: It's weak to the Ice element.
  • Leitmotif: Battle / Yama Tsukami.
  • Living Gasbag: The junk in its belly that it can't digest rots and releases gases that turn it into one of these. If you do enough damage to it, then it'll actually lose some of its gas and drop down, allowing you to get some free hits.
  • Meaningful Name: In Japanese, "Yama" is mountain, "tsuchi" soil, and "tsuka" is hillock, and "kami" Shinto venerated nature spirits. Altogether, "mountain soil spirit" fits the mossy floating head described as "a bite of earth, a drink of forest".
  • Mighty Glacier: While its attacks deal quite a lot of damage, virtually every one of Yama's attacks is clearly telegraphed and easily avoidable even if you have worse reaction time than a dead Aptonoth.
  • Mix-and-Match Critters: A free-floating octopus-plant-balloon-dragon-thingy with More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
  • No-Sell: When fought at HR 100 in Frontier, Yama Tsukami gains a red aura field that negates all attacks from ranged weapons unless they hit it while it's in the middle of an action. This can be bypassed with the Super Pierce Crouch sigil.
  • More Teeth than the Osmond Family: Despite being a giant octopus, it has a large mouth filled with disturbingly human-like molars, and past those its gullet is a circle of Sarlaac-like teeth.
  • Obliviously Evil: Yama Tsukami is the most simultaneously destructive and peaceful monster in existence. While it tends to vacuum up EVERYTHING below it, it’s not truly aggressive. It’s just going where the wind carries it, and sometimes the wind carries it over a village.
  • Our Monsters Are Weird: Even among the unclassifiable Elder Dragons throughout the series, Yama Tsukami is completely out-there as a massive floating mollusk covered in vegetation. The fact that it only appeared in one generation before undergoing Chuck Cunningham Syndrome (aside from Frontier and Online) only adds to how strange it is.
  • Planimal: While not strictly a plant/animal hybrid, Yama does have plants literally growing out of its back. The “living mountain” moniker is no exaggeration.
  • Swallowed Whole: Sometimes creates a vortex with its mouth and sweeps it across the arena. Hunters who get caught in the funnel are sucked into the creature, then chewed up and spat out. Anyone unfortunate enough to get hit by this move gets instantly carted back to camp.note 
  • Weaksauce Weakness: Tranq Bombs, items that aren't designed for combat and normally have no effect on Elder Dragons, can be used to make it flinch, and if one gets thrown into its mouth while it uses the wind tunnel attack, it will fall to the ground and become open to attack, dropping a shiny in the process.

 
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One of the monsters you fight in the Monster Hunter games is the Shen Gaoren, a tower-sized crab.

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