That One Boss / Monster Hunter

The de facto icon for these monsters.

As a series of Nintendo Hard Boss Games, this is quite expected. And it won't be long before you start chugging Potions. Even then, you're going to eat a faint to at least one of these highly dangerous monsters.

Examples are sorted by debut appearance.

For Bosses that aren't hard, but still very annoying, see this page. For maps and specific quests that give players a hard time, see this page. For specific attacks, go here.

First Generation (Monster Hunter - Monster Hunter Freedom)

• Rathalos, the flagship monster of the first game (and the entire franchise by extension), can be considered as either this or Goddamned Boss depending on how you hunt him, since he specializes in aerial combat compared to the land-based female counterpart Rathian: aside from spamming fire attacks on you (especially when enraged, where he would immediately throw a fireball after roaring), he loves to fly around and is capable of stunning you with his poison talon dive attack. G introduces Azure Rathalos, who is faster and more aggressive. And then there's the rare Silver Rathalos from that game, who is not only way more powerful than the regular and Azure variants, but his shell is very durable. Later games made Rathalos harder to hunt down by giving him new moves and the same also applies to his variants. One of the few saving graces while hunting Rathalos (or his variants) is throwing a Flash Bomb would not only cause him to fall into the ground but also temporarily blinds him, giving you the opportunity to dish out a lot of damage on him for a short while, and in Rise, he won't always throw a fireball after roaring when entering his enraged state.
• Khezu is capable of luring you into a false sense of security with its slow movements as well as easily telegraphed attack patterns and at the same time, it has an absurd amount of health, is ridiculously resistant to damage (don't bother trying to attack it unless your weapon's sharpness is in the green), and once you finally do get its health low, it busts out the most devastating enraged mode you've seen up to this point, utilizing a new lightning charge attack that can easily One-Hit KO you and its attacks become much more quick and unpredictable. Made so much worse when fighting it near Snowy Mountain's ledges. Hope you have 20 or more Thunder Resistance and a LOT of Nulberries ready before hunting it.
• Plesioth is the franchise's very definition of The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard and the first to start the trend of hip check attacks to boot: How exactly can smashing with its RIGHT hip hit you when you're in its left? Or how can it hit you with its tail when it's ten feet in the air? It can do both of these things and so much more. Luckily in 3 Ultimate, its damage output issue was somewhat relieved, though it gains underwater combat prowess rivaling Lagiacrus.
• Yian Garuga is basically an amalgamation of Yian Kut-Ku and Rathian with a dash of steroids and you have one angry Bird Wyvern who can inflict fireblight, poison, and deal a lot of damage while simultaneously spamming his loud roar to prevent you from properly attacking and will gladly charge over and over to knock you down as much as possible. He's also a very aggressive Lightning Bruiser and will spam the tail swing to very annoying levels.
  • Its 4U iteration is no better. In fact, it seems to get arguably worse. In this generation, it gains a double-beak-slam attack that comes out with absolutely no warning, has a hitbox twice as big as its own head, and inflicts absurd damage every time it hits, which it most likely will. And the worst part? Once it enters rage mode, Garuga will spam this attack like there is no tomorrow, leading to a quick triple cart if the player has not abandoned the quest at that point.
• Diablos is a force to be reckoned with and isn't called the "Desert Tyrant" for nothing. For starters, this angry ceratopsian Flying Wyvern relies on physical attacks, all of which not only have obscene damage output, but also have a chance of stunning you. It's also capable of burrowing underground to either launch a sneak attack or catapult itself on you, and its roar is so loud, you'll really need HG/maxed Earplugs to block. And the cherry on top? Distracting Diablos with meat traps are useless because it's one of the few apex monsters who are herbivorous by default. G introduces a blackened female variant, lovingly named Black Diablos, who is much more aggressive than her regular counterpart and uses the leaping dig attack more often as a Spam Attack. Despite all of these, however, Diablos (and its Black varaint) is very sensitive to noise, so throwing a Sonic Bomb (or attacking a Noios in World) would force out a burrowing Diablos from the ground, immobilizing it long enough for you to momentarily gain the upper hand against it. Hunting Diablos is also made slightly easier in Rise due to using its dig attacks a little less often, but it gains the Bloodbath deviant's rock toss attack to compensate as well as two new horn slam attacks (one of which is also from the Bloodbath deviant) when you hunt it again in Master Rank.
• White Monoblos is not only a Cowardly Boss, but also has more health than its regular counterpart and usually runs away every five minutes. Also, it hides in the ground every ten seconds, rendering it invincible unless you carry the maximum number of Sonic Bombs, which is up to ten. And it's not enough. The worst part? With the best Sharpness you could afford at first, the only part you could attack properly was its tail and its horn... both of which snap off after only a few hits. White Monoblos was revamped in 4 Ultimate to be a less annoying but still difficult boss. It's now only encountered in G-rank, meaning you'll have a weapon that can attack it more easily by the time you fight it, and it digs far less than it used to. However, it can now use an aimed charge that's harder to avoid than the others, and it sometimes makes a U-turn during its charges. What's more, when it gets enraged, it becomes just as fast as an enraged Diablos. Combined with its new attacks, this makes the White Monoblos a much more dangerous monster than it was before. Finally, like basic Monoblos, it's available only in single-player quests, which means bringing fellow Hunters with you for support is very unlikely.

Second Generation (Monster Hunter 2 (Dos) - Monster Hunter Freedom Unite)

• Kushala Daora, the flagship monster of the second game, is this in G/Master Rank, especially in 4 Ultimate and Iceborne. High Rank Daora is pretty easy, but annoying due to its tendency to run around the map a lot. But in general he doesn't do much besides physical attacks, air bullets, and the occassional wind pillars. G/Master Rank Daora kicks it into overdrive, constantly summoning tornadoes everywhere and just generally being much more aggressive. The difference is like night and day.
• Chameleos is one the most irritating Elder Dragons to slay in the entire franchise simply because it turns invisible for almost 90% of the time you fight it. Also, just like the Gypceros, it can steal items from you and you can't get them back, and it can do so at range with its tongue, and you likely won't see it coming since it'll probably be invisible when it does it. It also tends to go back into stealth within 10 seconds of bringing it out of stealth and, all in all, a huge pain in the ass. It also received an overhaul in 4 Ultimate: on the bright side, the amount of time it stays invisible has been heavily nerfed and it no longer attacks while cloaked, thus removing the need for Smoke Bombs. The bad part is that it was given a new move that is basically a teleport^note which can only be rendered ineffective by breaking its horn, which ONLY happens if its health is less than 30%., is much more aggressive than its previous incarnation with its blindingly quick rushing tongue lash, gains the ability to blanket its surroundings with persistent poison clouds and even rearrange them using gusts of wind from its wings (thus reducing the amount of safe spots from which to engage it) and receives a poison mist Breath Weapon that becomes a potential One-Hit Kill in higher ranks, which it uses both as a Counter-Attack if you damage it enough, and when enraged, it has an AOE special attack.
• Rajang has all the elements of speed and unpredictability of a primate Fanged Beast, knocks you away with its roar, and can fire thunder ball and beam attacks from its mouth. Once it's enraged and enters Rampage Mode, it'll be difficult not to be hit by its attacks or risk a faint. Freedom Unite introduces a tailless, permanently enraged variant called Furious Rajang, who has another enraged state on top of that. It's worth noting that despite being presented as a thunder-elemental monster, and its drops being used for thunder-element weapons, most of Rajang's attacks, including its thunder attacks, are physical, so piling on Thunder Resistance is virtually useless. Worse, the best thunder weapons (to deal with Tigrex, for example) can only be made with some Rajang materials.
  • If you're playing Frontier, then you'll likely meet a Rajang with a red aura, who boasts insane speed, a massive hitbox, and an attack power that can simply wipe out the entire party in an instant to the point where it made the regular Rajang (or any other monster) look tame in comparison. It's so bad, so hard that during a period when an exclusive quest was available to those HR/SR 999 hunters hunting this particular Fanged Beast (with every quest's data recorded officially), the overall success rate is 5.8%. Out of more than 270,000 attempts.
  • What makes Rajang worse in 4 Ultimate is that it now uses a more unpredictable movement pattern, to the point where it's very hard to predict its next move, unlike its previous versions. But that's not all, it's also one of the monsters eligible for Apex status, and can be fought as a Guild Quest monster: a duo of Level 140 Apex Rajangs causing frequent quest failures in less than two minutes are the stuff of G-Rank horror stories. And then there's an Event Quest where you're up against an Apex Rajang... except you're NOT allowed to bring your armor or talismans at all.
  • Rajang and its Furious variant have also beefed up greatly in Iceborne in terms of both power and speed, and for a very good reason. See the Fifth Generation section below for more details.
  • Thankfully in Rise, the difficulty in hunting Rajang has slightly lessened, since it spends most of its time sleeping in a specific area whenever it shows up as an invading monster (though if you wake it up, it would immidiately enter its enraged state and try to flatten you), its attacks have slowed down a bit this time (at least by Fifth Generation standards), and you have Wirebugs as part of your fixed arsenal. But at the same time, Rajang is still a heavy hitter, its enraged state (and Rampage Mode by extension) can't be disabled by just breaking its tail, and its continuous sweeping punch attack has a semi-homing track range. As for its Furious variant in Sunbreak, it retains the same moves from Iceborne, albeit with a few adjustments: its continuous sweeping punch attack is followed up by a lightning shockwave, gains a thunder-elemental catapult attack, can fire another thunder beam during its pin attack instead of tossing you to the ground, and if you evade that pin attack, it would throw a large rock at you instead. So if you've used up all of your Wirebugs as well as not having enough defense and Spiribird health buffs while Rajang (or its Furious variant) is about to perform some of its deadliest attacks, especially in its Rampage Mode, watch out.
• Tigrex, the flagship monster of Freedom 2, is very fast, has a massive range, and an obscenely high damage. These all increase in its enraged state. Compared to other apex monsters leading up to it, Tigrex represents a massive spike in the difficulty. Portable 3rd introduces the Brute Tigrex which is even faster and stronger with a bigger range for its roars (which do hurt). The Molten Tigrex in 4 is not only 50% larger, but also crazily fast when fully enraged, spreads explosive powder everywhere that inflicts Blastblight on contact, and being hit by it (enraged or not) is at worst a death sentence. Finally, regular Tigrex can go Apex in 4 Ultimate, becoming not only more aggresive but also harder to hit. That being said, later games mitigate this by giving large monsters stamina, so the most efficient strategy for hunters is to let a Tigrex wear itself down from entering its enraged state before taking potshots at it. This does NOT apply to Hyper Tigrex, however.
• Akantor maneuvers about as well as a continent, but when it starts charging, it's nearly impossible to avoid. Its bite attack in particular can inflict a severe form of Defense Down that cuts your defense in half and guarantees that any attack it does will cart you back to camp. And finally it has a breath beam attack that does extreme damage, up to and including a One-Hit Kill if you have the aforementioned Defense Down or if you're a Gunner. You can cure the Defense Down if you're smart enough to bring defense-boosting items such as Adamant Seeds or Armorskins, but most players online do not seem to know about this, meaning that it may be easier to just take Akantor on alone and avoid dealing with players who have no clue how to buff their defense back up.
• Nargacuga, the flagship monster of Freedom Unite, is bascally a much nimbler Tigrex who can shoot spikes from its tail. Or worse, a Tail Slam capable of finishing you off in one shot. It's also smart enough to avoid Pitfall Traps unless when enraged. Green Nargacuga from Portable 3rd is able to do the Tail Slam twice in a row. Its spikes can also inflict Paralysis on you. And 3 Ultimate has Lucent Nargacuga, who can turn invisible during the fight, and its spikes are poisonous and can shoot them anytime after it uses its tail for an attack. And as if that wasn't bad enough, it's able to unfurl its tail spikes at will instead of needing to be in enraged state to do so.
• Shogun Ceanataur is way tougher and more aggressive than its fellow Carapaceon cousin Daimyo Hermitaur. This Giant Enemy Crab can extend its pincers for long-reaching attacks that not even Gunners are safe from, make lunging attacks for massive damage if not an instant cart, or just plain bulldoze Hunters with its pincers spread out. It took a leave of abscence in the third generation and in 4 (Ultimate), then came back in Generations Ultimate with the ability to inflict Bleeding to Hunters on top of its usual abilities, and retains that property in Rise: Sunbreak.
• The lesser mentioned One-Horned Diablos exclusive to Freedom Unite, aka Devil Diablos. It looks like any other Diablos, just slightly bigger and with a broken horn but it's actually a rank above what you're capable of fighting when you can first battle it, which means it hits a lot harder and has a lot more hp and, of course, the game doesn't give you any kind of warning as to what you're in for. You also get the usual items and only a slightly higher reward for defeating it.

Third Generation (Monster Hunter Tri - Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate/G)

• Barioth is just as tough as the first two quadrapedal Flying Wyverns, since it can cling through walls for a Wall Jump, has a hip check attack that is almost as bad as Plesioth's, and is capable to spitting ice twisters that not only can inflict Iceblight and Blow You Away, but also in older games, turn you into a Human Popsicle. Hunting Barioth can be difficult and frustrating due to the lack of fire weapons early on, since most of them require parts from Rathalos (who is even more of a That One Boss in the third game) and you'll need an upgraded Rusted Weapon (which can be mined with very low chance at the Volcano) that deals Dragon damage in order to hunt the latter monster much easier, which is a real problem because Barioth's Frost Sacs are needed to upgrade it. And then there's Sand Barioth from Portable 3rd, who is much more aggressive than its snow-dwelling cousin, can follow up its hip check attack with a charge or bite, and is capable of spitting giant tornadoes despite lacking any elemental attacks. Despite all of this, Barioth (and its Sand variant) becomes a Goddamned Boss and goes down quickly if you're smart enough to put a dent in its mobility by breaking its forelimbs.
• Try to engage a High Rank Qurupeco. It can summon a Great Jaggi or a Rathian. It can also summon Deviljho, who is both this and a Wake-Up Call Boss at the same time for the following reasons: very big, heavy hitting, and capable of inflicting debuffs with its corrosive bite attack (which inflict Defense Down), rock toss (which inflicts an elemental blight depending on the environment), or Breath Weapon (which inflicts Dragonblight). Many Qurupeco Quests would end in a complete and utter failure because it summoned G.I. Jho. If THAT wasn't bad enough, 3 Ultimate introduces Savage Deviljho, who is always enraged by default and would usually show up in G/Master Rank Quests. And you want to run away from that? You have no other choice but to hunt them because their materials are unique enough to forge really good equipment for later hunts. There's a reason why it isn't called "The World Eater" for nothing.
• Lagiacrus, the flagship monster of the third game, is a Lightning Bruiser on water that uses fast, powerful attacks with gigantic hitboxes while the iffy water controls make fighting it even more of a chore. Dodging its attacks is a hit-and-miss, and its spinning tackle is more likely than not to hit you anyways, if you even dodge away from it. Its long and thin body is hard to hit consistently. It can inflict Thunderblight, which reduces the number of successive hits it takes to stun you, and Waterblight, which reduces stamina regen. Then it charges up and Turns Red, where it can use its fast-hitting electrified tackle twice in a row on top of even more powerful attacks. While it's far easier to fight once it goes on land, but that rarely lasts long. It's saying something that even its subspecies (Ivory Lagiacrus) is considered easier than standard Lagiacrus due to fighting entirely on land, despite its more powerful traits. It doesn't help that Lagiacrus's weakness is Fire, but few fire weapons are available by the time of the first major battle against it; most fire weapons for the majority of weapon types require parts from Rathalos, which is unlocked after defeating Lagiacrus and is also on this page. Don't think it's any easier in Generations due to the lack of water combat; this version shoots gigantic, explosive thunder balls and follows up a roar with a nigh-undodgable thunder pillar. Fortunately, you have more fire weapons by then.
• Alatreon is not only this, but also a Wake-Up Call Boss for those who underestimated it as the so-called "Blazing Black Dragon" (even more so than the above Deviljho), since it's actually a multi-elemental Elder Dragon. It's also very aggressive, especially when it absorbs the sparkles surrounding its horns to switch from the Fire/Dragon-based Ground Mode to the Ice/Thunder-based Flight Mode, where it becomes more powerful and difficult to hit unless you break both of its horns. Fortunately though, since it's very vulnerable to Sleep and Paralysis, you can inflict either of them to buy yourself more time to recover or gain the upper hand against it. Throwing a Flash Bomb on a flying Alatreon can also disable its Flight Mode, albeit temporarily. Its 3 Ultimate incarnation is even worse: Alatreon would always enter Flight Mode every time it's enraged, breaking both of its horns does NOT prevent it from doing so, and can switch Modes at will.
• Zinogre, the flagship monster of Portable 3rd, seems easy to be hunted down on paper, but when it starts charging up and goes into its supercharged state (which is also its enraged state), it won't stop unless you toppled it, which means it can stay in this form much longer than others' enraged state. In this state its speed and power rockets to crazy levels, has attacks that can inflict thunderblight on you, and has a ridiculous hitbox for its attacks. Shock Traps are useless against a supercharged Zinogre and at other times, the trap will help it charge up. Also, it can be enraged, while already in this state. Which makes it a double enraged state. 3 Ultimate introduces Stygian Zinogre, which can rain down dragon-element thunderbolts while charging up, and is able to launch homing Dracophage Bug bolts on you; and they're fast. And in 4 Ultimate, it's possible for regular Zinogre to enter the Apex state, which not only makes it even stronger, but also makes its Fulgurbug bolts paralyze you. However, in order for Zinogre (and its Stygian variant) to enter its supercharged state, it must be standing still while charging up, meaning that you can score some free hits on it before that happens.
• A new contender of That One Boss arrives in the form of Brachydios, the flagship monster of 3 Ultimate, who is also known as "the most powerful package monster" throughout the series among fans and developers alike, which is saying something. It is very fast and agile and its arms are developed enough to throw punches that inflict Slimeblight (later renamed Blastscourge in Iceborne) on you even if you block it. Unless you rub the Glowing Slime off by rolling, it will explode after a while or upon being hit by another Glowing Slime-inducing attack for extra damage. Brachydios also uses a moveset very different from that of other Brute Wyverns, and its leap attacks are notoriously deadly. Once it's enraged, the Glowing Slime on its body turns yellow and detonates on impact, making it one of the most lethal enraged states in the series. Inexperienced hunters are actually advised to just run away from an enraged Brachydios. Then there's the infamous "Clashing Fists!" version, which is not only much larger than normal, with health, attack power, and range to match, but is near-permanently enraged. 4 Ultimate introduces Raging Brachydios, who is not only an Elder Dragon-level apex monster (similar to the likes of Rajang and Deviljho) with a more lethal version of Glowing Slime called Flashpoint Slime, but also cannot be captured, though it's only optional and exclusive to G/Master Rank. Of course, slaying it will allow you to forge new weapons endowed with the Blast ailment.
• Goldbeard Ceadeus, the Elder Dragon you have to slay to unlock G-rank quests in 3 Ultimate. The good news: You have 50 minutes instead of 30 or 35, unlike the original Ceadeus. The bad news: Note that the objective is to "slay", not "slay or repel"; you must kill it within the time limit or you will get nothing. It also will not retain any damage for successive quests; it starts at full health every time, so you must kill it in one go, and it has the durability of a planet. While managable in a multiplayer hunt, doing this quest solo is nearly impossible if you don't have a weapon that can do damage fast enough or manage use of the ballista and Dragonator weapons effectively. If you're playing the 3DS version and don't have a Wii U or local hunting friends, prepare for a massive Difficulty Spike.
• Gigginox in G-Rank gains the ability to lay egg sacs on its back. This happens very quickly and is impossible to stop. Unlike the other egg sacs, Giggi spawned from this one will immediately jump at hunters from the egg sac itself. These Giggi love to jump out while you're in the middle of an attack, and they'll still latch onto you even if you block them. A player with multiple Giggi leeching off of them will lose health very quickly, making slow weapons incapable of rolling a very poor choice in these fights. While the egg sac can be destroyed, that won't stop the Gigginox from laying another one, sometimes while it's on the ceiling. Even the developers seem to be aware of how difficult it is, as missions against a G-rank Gigginox are one of the few G-rank missions that take place in stable environments, so players at least don't have to worry about another boss monster making it even harder.
• Silver Rathalos and Gold Rathian are always challenging but managable apex monsters in the previous games, but their 3 Ultimate incarnations are even more so. Both of them share most of the tricks first seen in their preceding species and subspecies. The catch? Both are nearly completely covered in nearly impenetrable armour. This means that, unless you're using the incredibly rare Fencing skill or have some means of bypassing attack deflections, almost every swing you take will leave you immobile and very, very vulnerable. To make matters worse, both utilize highly effective poison (applied by the Rathian on her backflips and the Rathalos on his claw strikes), which will quickly force you to burn through valuable resources in a hurry, if you survive that long. The base camp has no bed or storage chests, negating the Farcaster healing abuse available in the Alatreon and Dire Miralis fights, meaning that the only means of healing you can have is whatever healing items you can bring with you, unless you or someone in your group has a Hunting Horn with a healing song. Both also have incredibly high health, and will spam fireballs with high damage and a wide explosion radius. And if you want to try to capture them, only a Shock Trap will work since their arena's floor will render the Pitfall Trap unusable due to its hard texture (this isn't the case with the Tower Summit in the fourth generation games); also, because the arena only has one zone, the monsters can't limp, meaning that without the Capture Guru skill it's nearly impossible to tell when they're on they can be captured without LOTS of trial and error. Thankfully, unless you want to unlock the Hallowed Jhen Mohran fight or want any equipment that requires their drops, they're entirely optional.
• The powered-up Ivory Lagiacrus from the G-rank event quest "Cruel King of the Sea" in 3 Ultimate. It has a lot more health than the regular Ivory Lagiacrus, and its attacks are devastating; not only do they cover a wide range, they do massive amounts of damage. And guarding against the super discharge attack is a Luck-Based Mission due to the bolts having random hitboxes; the bolts hit from all angles, which means that they can potentially hit you from behind, making your attempt at blocking them pointless. Fortunately, beating it gives you the materials you need to make the Lightning Blaze Gunlance.

Fourth Generation (Monster Hunter 4 - Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate)

• Nerscylla, a horrifying spider which spends 90% of the time swinging around, up and down the webs, making players very hard to catch up with its speed, let alone hitting it (especially when it hangs itself upside down). It can also get you poisoned or put you to sleep.
• Even for introductory monsters to the G-rank, Tigerstripe Zamtrios in 4 Ultimate is just too strong. It can now inflate its size at will (while reducing chances for hunters to attack it), then hop and roll around in an unbelieveably fast speed, massive damage included. Its normal state is also very fast. It can also paralyze you for good measure. The worst? Most of the time you'll face it in a certain tight area in the desert.
• The first fight against the fourth game's flagship monster Gore Magala. You get to fight it, a wyvern-size monster, on the Arluq, a ship not unlike the Dragonship in shape and in size. It's also a story boss, which means you have to beat it in order to move on. However, the difficulty can be mitigated somewhat if you know that jumping off the ship takes you to a room with a bed and supplies.
• Seregios, the flagship monster of 4 Ultimate, is just as annoying as Rathalos due to its Bleeding-induced quill-like scales and pragmatic fighting style, especially when you first encountered it in the story, but a certain Yukumo Event Quest turns it into this: you're up against a Seregios in the exact same situation as that Event Quest, minus the "story boss" part. And as if the devs learned from players using the trick in the above quest, they put an (almost insurmountable) invisible wall around the boat.
• For those who caught Plesioth with the Fishing Machine in 4U and had a good laugh, facing Cephadrome in the same game might deliver a major shock. Not only was he given a few of Nibelsnarf's moves to buff up his offensive capabilities, he also retains his scaled down version of the legendary Plesioth hipcheck. And yes, that means he can hit you from the right side even if you're on his left. No wonder its also known as the Desert Plesioth. It also tends to "swim" on the sand for a long time. Touching its fins while it's "swimming" will cause Paralysis status, and if the Paralysis connects, it will usually do a flying tackle right after which does massive damage. And to top it all off? One of the required quests for getting a G-2 license involves hunting two of them at the same time. Good luck.
• Gravios is a Goddamned Boss on Low Rank, but High Rank and up it becomes this, due to having a heat gas attack that it often uses after firing its heat beam, which prevents players from just easily punishing the attack without worrying about Fireblight. And like before, its skin is tougher than nails, necessitating a high-Sharpness weapon with a good overhead attack to damage its comparatively soft belly consistently without bouncing off.
• Purple Gypceros has several improvements that make it a royal pain in the ass, as if the standard "inflict more damage" fare wasn't enough. When enraged, it will constantly run around spamming poison all over the place. And not just any poison, this is "Severe" poison, indicated by three purple dots instead of two, a slightly more reddish hue, and most importantly, a higher rate of health drain than standard poison. It can also charge its flash attack while it's moving, and if you don't expect this, you'll find yourself in dizzy status constantly and unexpectedly. In G-rank, it can charge up its flash attack, then store it so it can use it whenever it wants. It will play dead twice, and it does the first fake-out before it's down to capture-ready health, meaning that a player familiar with the original Gypceros but not this one may find themselves wasting traps and Tranq Bombs if they try to capture the Purple Gypceros on its first fake-out.^note Thankfully, Purple Gypceros is not part of any capture quests, so you won't wedge yourself into an Unwinnable by Design situation if you try to capture it at this time.
• Stygian Zinogre is tough enough in High Rank, but in G Rank it becomes just as hellish as its motif. It can now unleash dragon balls that speed toward the position you were and deal a lot of damage plus Dragonblight. This happens with almost every attack. It also loves to chain several powerful attacks in succession, especially its tail flip, that usually inflict Dragonblight. When it's enraged and fully-charged, it goes berserk and starts spamming combos like no tomorrow, flinging enough dragon balls to count as Bullet Hell and making it nearly impossible to heal or even approach. Frenzied Stygian Zinogre is even more spastic and combo-happy on top of the Frenzy Virus debuff.
• Dalamadur, the Final Boss of the fourth game's High-Rank, is sadistically hard to solo. Not because of its attack power, not because of being on the receiving end of Hitbox Dissonance, not even because the arena you fight it in is huge and full of hills and cliffs that are a real chore to navigate, but because it's one of the beefiest damage sponges in a series that prides itself on long boss fights (to the point where it makes the Goldbeard Ceadeus look frail in comparison). It only has a few attacks, most of which are highly telegraphed or That One Attack, but the real threat is the time limit. It moves around a lot, with most of its weak points often resting near the top of higher cliffs from which it can easily knock you off, costing valuable time, and in the later stages of the fight it spends a great deal of time on the fringe of the map. Even when it stays still and you can wail on it, many weapon types struggle to maintain the DPS required to put it down within 50 minutes. Worse, because it's also the final boss of High-Rank in 4 Ultimate, it's impossible to farm up G-Rank equipment by hunting with friends because G-Rank quests require HR8, which is obtained immediately after killing it. It's much more manageable with a party, but because it's an Urgent Quest, only the host gets credit for the quest, so if you have a party of four trying to reach G-Rank, you'll have to go through this quest four times in order for everyone to rank-up. And if you weren't sick of it by then, then there's a G-Rank exclusive subspecies in the final batch of G-Rank quests. Thankfully, that one is optional.
• Glavenus, one of the four flagship monsters of Generations, stands out among the apex monsters of that game due to its extremely long range and many different attacks. People hoping to run circles around it like with the other three Fated Four apex monsters are in for a rude awakening as its large bladed tail can hit from any direction, and the tells for each one are very hard to distinguish from one another. To catch you off guard, it also has a slow spin attack and a lightning-fast double bite, and its attacks tend to move it around a lot which makes it unreasonably difficult to target specific parts. However, the real danger appears when it sharpens its tail which makes all of its attacks inflict Fireblight and it gains an explosive lava spit attack which sticks to the ground and can ensnare you into inescapable situations. One unique move in particular has it strafing to the side while firing a projectile at you, making proper positioning all but impossible to maintain. That said, dealing enough damage to Glavenus' glowing throat causes it to topple, allowing you to momentarily gain the upper hand while it's defenseless.
• Hyper Monsters are just as bad as the Frenzied/Apex Monsters: while hitting a hyper part charges your Hunter Arts more quickly, those same parts can launch faster or much more powerful attacks than before. Not only do Hyper Monsters get enraged very easily, they never get exhausted, meaning you might as well be fighting a monster that's permanently enraged. As if that wasn't enough, even attacks from a non-Hyper part do more damage than before, and the monster has much more health than it usually does, effectively making it a G-Rank monster in High Rank clothing. To say nothing of G-Rank Hypers. While none of them are required to rank up, you will have to fight them to upgrade your gear to endgame levels.
  • Even three/four star monsters can be this. Case in point? Khezu, who already hits like a truck and can cause Thunderblight, so getting stunned is more or less a death wish, and it's VERY easy to be stunned.
  • Hyper Zinogre is even more brutal than the regular Zinogre, thanks to an insane boost in power, greatly improved jumping ability, and enhancements that turns several of its less dangerous moves into Those One Attacks. Hyper Zinogre has an annoying habit of jumping behind you or out of sight so it can attack you from your blind spots. The bolts of lightning it summons when it's enraged are larger and cover more ground than before, and if its head is glowing, its normally easy to avoid thunder balls become massive spheres that are as big as Zinogre itself.
  • Hyper Seltas Queen is a nightmare for Blademasters. Gunners can pick off Seltas with Blast and shred the Queen with Pierce shots. Blademasters have no choice but to get up close and personal. Seltas Queen's already gargantuan health and attack power becomes boosted through the roof due to the Hyper aura. The only way to deal any decent amount of damage to Seltas Queen is by attacking her mouth. Only problem: that's directly in the range of her most powerful attacks, most of which are Hyper-boosted. And that's before factoring in Seltas, who spams stamina-depleting shots and can perform a super-powerful charge attack with Seltas Queen.
  • Hyper Tigrex. Like with Zinogre, Tigrex is already a pain in the ass, but combine the already aggressiveness of this beast with the Hyper buff turns this to a nightmare for Blademasters. And unlike with Hyper Seltas Queen, Gunners aren't safe this time either due to the fact that Hyper Tigrex can and will close gaps effortlessly at a fast pace and at a large distance, and one-hit KO them, that is, if he doesn't just chunk a massive boulder at you.
  • Hyper Lagiacrus isn't that bad as long as its back isn't Hyper-charged. Which it usually is. In that case, its thunder balls gain absurd power and size, with the spinning thunder balls becoming as big as Lagiacrus itself. When you see it curl up, run like hell, because its Hyper-boosted super discharge is a One-Hit KO nuke with a massive hitbox that continually moves outward. It also can fire purple thunder balls that have a similar effect and are just as deadly.
  • The six-star Hyper monsters are by far the toughest in the game. In Generations their quests are all DLC, but in Ultimate they're part of the standard High Rank and G-Rank quest list, so you will have to fight them for 100% Completion.
    • Hyper Rajang is probably the least bad of the six-star Hypers, which isn't saying much considering how absurdly hard it hits and how much punishment it can take. Thankfully, Furious Rajang weapons (which are usually superior to regular Rajang weapons) don't require Hyper Rajang Furs to fully upgrade, and the Hyper Rajang quest doesn't reward anything special.
    • Hyper Deviljho is no joke. It has more health than Nakarkos and hits way harder, its constant raging makes it a stronger Savage Deviljho with a more awkward weak point, its Hyper-boosted dragon breath can bring all but the sturdiest and Dragon-resistant builds to minimal health, and the kicker: you know how Deviljho's greatest weakness is how it tires so easily? Hyper monsters don't get tired. While this means no more Defense Down, this only makes it that much tougher to bring down. Worse yet, a lot of high-end armor sets in Generations Ultimate require Esurient XR armor pieces, which means a lot of fighting this guy.
    • Hyper Gold Rathian has astronomical health, is heavily-armored everywhere, hits like a train with her normal attacks, and one hit from her tail will finish off most hunters, if the poison doesn't get them before they can heal. If her head gains the Hyper aura, her fireballs practically become mini-nukes.
    • Hyper Silver Rathalos is considered by many to be one of, if not the, hardest monsters in the game. His attack power is unreal, his Hyper-boosted fireballs and explosions are absolutely devastating, he has an absurd amount of health, and his super-tough armor is just one of many obstacles to get through. Oh, and if you want tier III of the Chaos Oil Hunter Art, the quest for it is a G-rank quest that has you hunt both a Hyper Silver Rathalos and a Hyper Gold Rathian at the same time!
• All of the Deviant monsters are meant to be challenges, being basically subspecies on monster crack, but a few are a cut above the rest:
  • Redhelm Arzuros, despite being the first Deviant you unlock and thus being a Wake-Up Call Boss, remains this even as you unlock more Deviants, as it has a five-swipe combo that's nearly impossible to avoid thanks to the monster's newfound speed, its massive damage increase in rage mode, a charge swipe attack that can easily cart you in one hit, and, at higher ranks, a 360-degree sweep that also can immobilize you with wind pressure.
  • Dreadqueen Rathian, as her name implies, can be summed up as the queen of all Rathians, and that includes her variants: Take a Gold Rathian's moveset, turn up her attack power by a lot, give her super-tough armor, add on Dreadking Rathalos's immunity to flashes while airborne, pour on a Deadly Poison, which can't be blocked by maxed Poison Resistance, sprinkle in spikes that inflict said Deadly Poison, top her Deadly Poison attacks with Hitbox Dissonance and you have one helluva recipe for hunting disaster.
  • Silverwind Nargacuga is everything you probably hate about Nargacuga, now with projectile disc attacks that can not only catch unwary Hunters off-guard, but also cause the ever-obnoxious Bleeding status. Oh, and its infamous tail slam? That launches a disc as well, meaning that if the tail doesn't directly hit you, you can still potentially get carted.
  • As if the regular Astalos wasn't annoying enough to fight due to its unpredictability, Boltreaver Astalos is even more so. It gains a new electrical breath attack with projectiles that hover for a moment and then quickly charge at their targets, as well as an attack where it can pull in players and then hit them with an outward-pushing attack for massive damage and a long-ranged lightning beam that hits for even more massive damage. Also, like Dreadking Rathalos, Flash Bombs are useless against a flying Boltreaver Astalos unless you break the crest on its head.
  • Bloodbath Diablos, one of the two flagship monsters of Generations Ultimate, is the most dangerous G-Rank Deviant in the entire game for the following reasons: it's way more powerful and aggressive than its previous counterparts, and has more than one enraged state. Hunting this particular Deviant becomes much harder because the more health Bloodbath Diablos loses, its aggressiveness, damage output, and enraged state level increases at a very alarming rate, and when its health goes critical, it would enter Massacre Charging State, which both locks it into a permanent enraged state and serves as its Super Mode. It's also one of the smartest monsters in the entire franchise, since it proves itself to be a Combat Pragmatist by immidiately charging at you after roaring. Thankfully though, Bloodbath Diablos is an Optional Boss and unlocking its Quest requires reaching HR60 and clearing all G1 Deviant Quests as well as slaying Athal-Ka, so you don't need to hunt it.

Fifth Generation (Monster Hunter World/Iceborne - Monster Hunter Rise/Sunbreak)

Monster Hunter: World

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• Anjanath is already established to be this due to its messy hitboxes for a mid-tier monster, frighteningly fast speed for a Brute Wyvern, and a powerful flaming breath attack that would make Deviljho proud. It's almost a relief if Rathalos interferes for a Turf War and beats the ever-loving daylights out of Anjanath. However, this only applies for its Assigned and LR Quests due to the lack of armors with high amounts of both defense and fire resistance available at the Smithy. While hunting Anjanath may be difficult in the early parts of the game, it becomes a Goddamned Boss if you're aiming for its legs to topple it. The same cannot be said for its Rise incarnation, who is not only a genuine apex monster on par with the likes of Rathalos, Tigrex, or Zinogre, but also gains Deviljho's rock toss attack. And the worst part is, Anjanath's enraged state doesn't immediately end by throwing fire attacks on you, and it can't be toppled easily by just breaking its legs. Thankfully though, you've already unlocked more armors with at least 10 Fire Resistance by the time you're hunting it.
• Bazelgeuse is either this or Goddamned Boss: This explosive scaled, falcon-winged leonine Party Crasher is basically the Flying Wyvern version of the already annoying Uragaan with the strength of an Elder Dragon, Deviljho's durability, and Seregios' combat intellect. While its highly damaging physical attacks are very telegraphed and easy to dodge, what makes Bazelgeuse so dangerous and challenging to hunt is its scales, which can explode upon being struck by an attack (when normal) or on their own (when it Turns Red). You'll have to be very careful not getting caught in its exploding scales, especially if you're equipped with melee weapons. And if that wasn't bad enough, there's a HR9 Hunting Quest where you'll have to hunt two Tempered Bazelgueses and finishing it is absolutely necessary to rank up from HR29. Fortunately though, the difficulty in completing that Quest would be a cakewalk if you're smart enough to trick them into attacking each other. Its Rise incarnation on the other hand, is far more difficult to be hunted down, since it's a lot faster while flying, its carpet bombing attack has a much wider range, its explosive scales can stick to walls, and when you hunt its Master Rank version in Sunbreak, it's now capable to performing a double tail slam and a Limit Break similar to its Seething variant.
• Diablos represents a significant Difficulty Spike when you encountered it in the story. All of its attacks are capable of almost halving your health on the spot, its sheer size can make them very difficult to dodge, and its has a devastating charge attack that make it dangerous to approach if you ever get too far away. If it manages to stun you, it's inevitable that you're going to faint soon after. Up until this point in the game, you could defeat most enemies with skillful use of your weapon of choice. As for Diablos, you're going to have to get creative with the environment and the tools you have in your item pouch.
• Black Diablos is basically a More Deadly Than the Male version of Diablos. This blackened Ceratopsian Flying Wyvern is far more aggressive and ill-tempered than normal Diablos, hits a good deal harder, moves around much more, and on top of the infamous leaping dig attack has an aimed charge that is a guaranteed stun. Against something as aggressive and heavy-hitting as Black Diablos, unless you have maxed Stun Resistance, you're very likely to get flattened by her after being stunned.
• True to its reputation as the flagship monster of World, Nergigante is very brutal, even by Elder Dragon standards: extremely fast, insanely strong, and can be difficult to properly damage due to regeneration. Unlike most monsters, slaying it becomes more difficult when it loses more health, as it would use its Signature Move, the infamous divebomb attack, far more constantly. What's worse is that this attack also has very wonky hitboxes, especially since the animation moves faster than the hitbox. And that is before it retreats to its lair where it gains the ability to cause environmental damage, by making the stalactites on the roof drop on you. Due to the sheer difficulty in slaying Nergigante, especially in its Assigned Quest, it would take an armor with very high Defense for you to survive (albeit with at least less than 1/3rds of your full health remaining) from its divebomb attack.
• Unsurprisingly, Deviljho is still as powerful as ever due to its massive size and debuff-inflicting attacks as well as being a heavy hitter. This voracious crocodilian Brute Wyvern used to have Great Jaggi's moves in the previous games but here, it fights like Anjanath (who is a also a That One Boss, at least in the early parts of the game) instead and picks up some new tricks en route to the New World, such as getting up much quicker, retaliating after being staggered, attempting to still attack while pitfalled, and using smaller monsters such as the Great Jagras as very nasty bludgeoning weapons. Hunting it in the Rotten Vale is also ill-advised due to its rock toss attack inflicting Effluvia on you and its Special Assignment is much harder to complete: since the Handler ends up mounting Deviljho after a cutscene, you can't use the SOS Flare just yet, and you'll have to topple it first before her stamina runs out.
• Lunastra is a lot nastier and more dangerous than in the previous games: Some of her attacks, such as her version of the tail whip, have odd hitboxes. Even worse, her weakpoints are on body parts that are difficult to reach with their respective weapons, Wings for melee and Tail for ranged. And by the way, Fire Resistance is not the main issue here, since most of her attacks deal heat damage, which can only be mitigated with either Heat Guard or the Fireproof Mantle. Her Tempered version, as a result, is even worse than Teostra, who is already powerful in his own right.
• Tempered Monsters are the World equivalent of Frenzied/Hyper monsters, being beefed up adversaries that are far more powerful than their normal counterparts. However, a few Tempered monsters deserve special mention:
  • Tempered Kirin, the very first Tempered Elder Dragon encountered in the game, is the traditional Warm-Up Boss of the category. However, you should expect a LOT of patience, healing, guarding, evading, and Hit-and-Run Tactics because it will make your life a living hell with its brutal damage and relentless offense, enough that its most powerful moves can leave even a Hunter with maxed Thunder Resistance and the Thunderproof Mantle reeling with 2/3rds of their health gone. Even veteran Hunters consider this as one of the hardest boss fights in the game, and it's just the starting point for the endgame! The only thing that mitigates this is that it fights like a regular Kirin, but that would be brief mercy if you get clipped by its lightning attacks. To put the sheer difficulty of this boss fight into perspective, one of the quests after this one is an Optional Slaying Quest against Tempered Nergigante, Kushala Daora, AND Teostra all at once. Those who made it to that Quest consider it much easier than Tempered Kirin!
  • Tempered Teostra too. Explosive blasts from this ill-tempered leonine Elder Dragon are a death sentence, especially if he rams into you while you're Blastblighted. Plus, his Supernova attack is capable of finishing you off in an instant if you don't have enough Health Boost on.
  • Tempered Deviljho is even worse. Remember how difficult Hyper Deviljho was in Generations? Exact same scenario: Obscene damage, more durability than even Xeno'jiiva, and a powerful That One Attack that even Nergigante would be worried by, execpt there's no Hunter Arts or Hunter Styles to bail you out this time. The only things that slightly mitigate this are 1) Tempered Monsters are still vulnerable to being tired, so drugged meat works this time, 2) unlike a Tempered Elder Dragon, it CAN be captured to make the hunt easier, if only a little, and 3) at least it isn't Tempered Kirin. There's a reason why Tempered Deviljho ended up being an event-exclusive monster. And then there's the "Heart of the Nora" Event Quest, which features two Tempered Deviljhos, and one of them is gigantic. At least they have less health than usual, and one of them is smaller than a regular-sized Deviljho, but good luck.
• The Greatest Jagras is a rude awakening for those who underestimated it as "just a bigger Great Jagras". Its body roll attack is now capable of finishing off all but the best equipped Hunters in one shot, and its roar is now requires near full Earplugs skill to deal with. This is on top of now having almost as much health as a Tempered Elder Dragon.
• While all the Arch-Tempered Monsters can count as this trope to a degree, none fit this status more than the game's flagship monster Nergigante. This thing has got several new attacks that come out so quickly they can even hit bow-users in the middle of a string pull. Think that speed trades off damage? No, unless you invest in defensive skills, these attacks still hit so hard they will come close or outright One-Hit Kill you, even with endgame gear. Take into account that its spikes are now much harder to break and Arch-Tempered Nergigante has four times as much health as a regular version, and you have a nightmare of a monster that can take hours of time to kill even one.

Monster Hunter World: Iceborne

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• Velkhana, the flagship monster of Iceborne, may look stunningly beautiful at first glance but at the same time, it's an incredibly irritating Elder Dragon with a sharp tail that's difficult to consistently predict (even if you cut it off, since it would quickly build a replacement anyway), lots of AOE attacks, and worst of all, a commonly spammable Breath Weapon that not only covers a lot of area, but can ONLY be blocked with Guard Up. All of this wouldn't be all that bad if not for the fact that it's quite agile as well. An even worse variation is the one fought in the beta version: Instead of 20-35 minutes like the other quests or extended time, you only had 15 minutes to actually slay it. The greatest enemy was not Velkhana but the timer itself, as most Hunters failed the quest due to running out of time instead of fainting. This short animation accurately describes the whole thing. That being said, its overreliance on its tail stab and ice attacks would leave its head wide open for free hits or toppling with a Flinch Shot.
  • Its Arch-Tempered version is just as bad as Arch-Tempered Nergigante, if not worse, and is a nasty surprise for players who thought they could just steamroll it with Fatalis gear or the like. Its HP is more than doubled to make it only slightly less tanky than Fatalis, almost everything it does can kill in one or two hits even with maxed defense and ice resistance, and it gains a special aura that gradually makes it more powerful and resistant to damage as it's attacked (though you can temporarily suppress it with dragon weapons, especially from Fatalis). In addition, it gains a few new tricks: most notably, its Limit Break is used considerably more often, with its potentially fatal spinning ice breath now bypassing Guard Up and freezing survivors in place to be impaled by the icicles after. On top of this, Velkhana can now pin you down with a follow-up charge attack if you attempt to recklessly use the Clutch Claw on it (unless if there's an opening), which even shreds right through the Temporal and Rocksteady Mantles. You can't even cheese your way through this quest due to its 30-minute time limit, which forces hunters to play as aggressive as possible due to Velkhana's already glaring durability.
  • Its Sunbreak incarnation pulls no punches either, as while you're likely considerably faster and packing a lot more combat tools, its ice attacks slow down your Wirebug Gauge cooldowns instead of doubling your stamina consumption, it can utilize several moves previously exclusive to its Arch-Tempered version, and it now has a second Finishing Move. Hope you're not letting your guard down against that Velkhana because the Clutch Claw is not available for that game and you're in for one helluva hunt.
• Barioth is already expected to be this for those who already hunted it before in the previous games, but it's also a Wake-Up Call Boss for those who are still sticking with HR equipment. Before hunting Barioth, you should consider the main reasons why hunting it can be proven difficult: 1) the wings on its forelimbs take less damage from cutting and piercing attacks, 2) there aren't many available pre-MR3 Armors that have both high defense and ice resistance at the Smithy, and 3) it gains a powerful leaping slam attack that can pin you down. However, hunting Barioth can be managable if you break its forelimbs to topple it and hamper its mobility. Its Frostfang variant, however, is on a completely different level and even more frustrating to hunt than its regular counterpart, since it can do its leaping slam twice when enraged and trades the ice twister spit for unresistable ice pools that can freeze you in place for a beating.
• Continuing the trend of "T. Rexpy monsters in World being very difficult", we have our lovely pal Tigrex. Even compared to the other apex monsters, it's frighteningly fast and hits extremely hard to boot, and all its attacks either hit multiple times or have huge hitboxes that can catch you off-guard even if you've managed to time a dodge properly. Fighting Tigrex in this game makes you feel like you have absolutely no breathing room, which can also make it difficult to find time for healing or sharpening/reloading weapons unless you have maxed Speed Eating and Speed Sharpening. Worse, because most of its attacks are effectively charges that it can change direction in, it can easily chase you from one area to the next, making escaping from it very hard and even more dangerous when taking into account how narrow the paths between areas are. And in case you thought it was a one-off monster exclusive to one area, this extremely ferocious tigrine Flying Wyvern is a pseudo-invader, meaning that it can show up anywhere besides the Coral Highlands. In short, Tigrex continues to be a threat even when you're not fighting it, and would've been nearly impossible to be hunted down if it weren't for its stamina issues. And then there's the Brute variant, which is basically Tigrex on monster steroids: Take a Tigrex, then Paint It Black, make it far more aggressive, more agile, and turn its deadly Mighty Roar into a Spam Attack.
• Fulgur Anjanath proves itself to be an even bigger Wake-Up Call Boss than Anjanath and its threat level is now on par with the apex monsters, since it's a MR4 monster when compared to Anjanath, whose highest rank is MR2. While it lacks any Breath Weapon-based attacks, it has a more durable body despite its health being just the same as an average MR apex monster, hits harder than the regular Anjanath, and when enraged, its attacks can inflict Thunderblight, such as the mucus spit (though that attack won't inflict Thunderblight if Fulgur Anjanath is not enraged), the ever-annoying thunder jaw slam that can catch you off-guard (and it would do so with little wind-up) and the thunder divebomb attack (which is also its Finishing Move). If you get stunned due to being inflicted by Thunderblight prior, it's only a matter of seconds before Fulgur Anjanath would smash you flat. And the real kicker? You must complete its Assigned Quest for the story to continue. Despite all of this, however, Fulgur Anjanath has the same Achilles' Heel its nominate counterpart had.
• Savage Deviljho returns, and its moveset has been updated to include even nastier breath attacks than the regular Deviljho, on top of being more aggressive and having bigger HP than a standard apex MR monster. Most of its attacks now routinely inflict Defense Down on you, and it loves to coat the area in thick clouds of draconic energy that deal a hefty amount of damage and inflict Dragonblight if you're not immune to it. Additionally, when enraged (which is very easy for the monster to enter), it permanently stays in that state unless you interrupt its counterattack, making it near impossible to find an opening to topple it with a Flinch Shot. When its health goes critical, it would occasionally breathe into the ground and create a massive explosion which can easily send you back to camp. It's saying something when a regular Savage Deviljho is harder than other Tempered monsters of its size (like Tempered Acidic Glavenus and Tigrex, which get their asses handed to them without so much of a proper turf war). The only saving graces are you don't need to hunt it for story progression, it's weak to all elements besides ice, and takes more damage when enraged. However, it would show up as soon as you enter MR5 Quests, which is very likely to be as early as when you're hunting a Seething Bazelgeuse, where the monster would continuously chase you down. Additionally, Dung Pods are useless against an enraged Savage Deviljho, but you can still you hide, use a Farcaster, throw a Flash Pod to blind it, or trick it into attacking another monster.
• Hunting Bazelgeuse is already a chore, but that was nothing compared to Seething Bazelgeuse, who is basically a beefed-up version of Bazelgeuse itself. Its scales can explode on their own, and deal more damage whenever it's superheated (which can be indicated by the scales' color changing from reddish orange to bluish purple). It also gains a few new moves like Savage Deviljho, such as performing a double tail swipe that can connect with a tail slam and a double headbutt attack as well as flying into the air, and scattering its scales around the area before performing a vertical divebomb attack. Most of all, unlike Savage Deviljho, hunting Seething Bazelgeuse is part of an Assigned Quest after slaying Velkhana, who is already That One Boss itself. Fortunately, Seething Bazelguese is not an Elder Dragon, so capturing it can end the hunt early, and its Assigned Quest is also an expedition when you encounter it the first time.
• Shara Ishvalda, the "Old Everwyrm" and Final Boss of the expansion's main story, is a tough nut to crack. The first phase of this boss fight is manageable due to being a Mighty Glacier and you can strip off its rock armor quickly by either toppling through a boulder trap or bringing a Blast weapon. Once you did, though, it becomes a Lightning Bruiser capable of stunning you with a wide variety of pressurized air beam attacks. If Shara Ishvalda's health is low, it'll use its Finishing Move, the giant air sphere, which not only has a very wide AOE range, but is also capable of a One-Hit Kill, though you can still either retreat to safety with a Farcaster or wear a Vitality/Temporal Mantle to avoid eating a faint before Shara Ishvalda drops it to the ground. And that's not all, Shara Ishvalda can also slow down your movements by turning the ground into quicksand in both forms. So unless you have maxed Stun Resistance and Aquatic Expert, then you're in a world of pain. Fortunately, just like in the first phase, there are three more boulder traps to topple Shara Ishvalda in the second phase, but if you botched the timing, it would just destroy them with one of its attacks.
• Zinogre has made its glorious comeback in the expansion and outranks all MR monsters you've previously hunted prior to Shara Ishvalda, including Savage Deviljho AND Seething Bazelgeuse. This blue thunder-elemental lupine Fanged Wyvern has a few new tricks on its sleeve: it can shoot Fulgurbugs with its paw slam, is capable of performing multiple attacks in quick succession, has a circling thunder attack similar to the one Lagiacrus had from Generations, and its pin attack can't be blocked, even with Guard Up. And the very tip of the iceberg? It can also become enraged even if it's not in its supercharged state. On the bright side, Zinogre's body becomes less durable when supercharged like in the previous games and the lightning surrounding it when entering this state doesn't knock you off.
• Stygian Zinogre is already an extremely troublesome monster ever since its debut, but it has further Taken A Level In Badass here as well. It gains a spinning slash attack and a double leaping slam-forward corkscrew combo, plus, it switches the homing dragon thunderbolts for MORE Dracophage Bug AOE attacks. It's also resistant/immune to all elements (unless when supercharged, where it's weak to thunder and water but resistant/immune to fire, ice, and dragon instead), and its Tempered version's threat level is on par with the likes of the Elder Dragons.
• Yian Garuga was never a pushover in the previous games, but it's even crazier and more tenacious than before. Besides its usual aggressiveness and immunity to Pitfall Traps when enraged, it's a MR6 monster like the above Zinogre, has Rathian's charged fire breath and Legiana's aerial tail slam, gains a diving beak attack that can shave off a large chunk of your health, and its wings are very durable to the point where either tenderizing them with the Clutch Claw or having Mind's Eye is needed to break them and prevent your weapon from being bounced off. Its Scarred variant is even more so, since it's always Tempered, and its fireball barrage is a multi-hit attack, meaning that you'll have to think twice before bringing the Rocksteady Mantle with you. At least its double beak slam lacks the Plesioth-level Hitbox Dissonance, and it doesn't spam that attack as often.
• Rajang continues to be a threat in Iceborne, maybe even more so than its previous incarnations. While Rajang's ferocity was tempered by its entire body being a weakpoint in previous generations, this Rajang has its head and tail as the only default weakpoints, and you'll have to use the Clutch Claw to create new temporary weakpoints. To make things worse, Rajang shows off a new side of itself: it is the only monster who is quick-witted enough to deal with those who attempted to grapple its face with the Clutch Claw, and will pluck them off to throw them to the ground (if it's enraged when this happens, it will also hit you with a pin attack). In addition to this, if you're able to deal enough damage to Rajang in a single hit, it will stumble forward a small distance before tripping; however, if it stumbles into a wall, it can stop itself from tripping by grabbing onto the wall and then lunging back at you. And to top it all off, only ice and blast attacks would work against it (since it's resistant/immune to all other elements and ailments), and breaking its tail does NOT disable its enraged state (and subsequently, it's ineffectual against its Rampage Mode) this time. The only positive things about Rajang are its Rampage Mode doesn't last permanently like Savage Deviljho's enraged state, so attacking its tail can shorten (or even end) its duration, and if Savage Deviljho (who is thankfully present in Rajang's Special Assignment and Wildspire Waste Event Quest) or an Elder Dragon (who is not Kirin) is around, you can lure that monster and Rajang into attacking each other as a distraction (and for a guaranteed Turf War) to make your hunt a bit less tedious. But just to be clear though, this is one angry Super Simian who would mess you up wherever you go and wants you to know it.
• Furious Rajang is back, and it's meaner, faster, and stronger too. Unlike regular Rajang, whose slightly low health pool kept it from being a total pain in the ass, Furious Rajang has a slightly above average amount of HP, which is comparable to the likes of Nargacuga and the above Zinogre. It's still as mobile as the classic Rajang, but it now also possesses several new, long ranged and very painful attacks. Some of its old attacks are juiced up too, like its pin attack, for example. Instead of just yeeting you off to the side and then landing a single, massive punch while you're knocked on your butt, Furious Rajang smacks you against the ground a few times, blasts you point-blank with a thunder beam, and then toss you onto the ground, which is all but fatal if you have less than half your health left. And, needless to say, all of its attacks hurt like hell. But the worst part is probably its Rampage Mode; since it doesn't have a tail, its head knocks it out of Rampage Mode... but since its arms are hardened and located around its head, you'll be bouncing off a lot unless you tenderized them. And if you're going to knock Furious Rajang out of its enraged state, it must be in Rampage Mode while doing so. To put this golden Super Simian's difficulty into perspective, an event quest where you get to fight a Tempered one gives you five attempts, instead of the standard three. The only other quest to have this is the Fatalis Special Assignment.
• While Brachydios is difficult but somewhat manageable, its Raging variant definitely raises the difficulty. For starters, it's significantly larger than its normal counterpart, meaning that it has much larger coverage with its attacks and can cross through areas much more quickly, and every single one of its attacks will inflict Blastscourge, causing those afflicted with the debuff to explode after a certain amount of time has passed or upon being hit for an even greater amount of damage, sometimes enough to get them fainted in one hit. Furthermore, when its head, arms, and tail are covered in Flashpoint Slime, dealing enough damage to them will cause it to fall to the ground and explode, dealing a good amount of damage to the Hunters; this is very likely when you're attempting to combo a downed Raging Brachydios, which wastes time that could've been spent wailing on it (though if you keep up the attack consistently enough, you'll "disable" its Flashpoint Slime and prevent this for as long as you can do so in a certain timeframe). And this is before the phase where Raging Brachydios imprisons you in its own lair, rendering you unable to retreat (even with Farcasters). As the cherry on top, you can't use Traps while fighting Raging Brachydios on its last legs because it would spread its Flashpoint Slime all over the floor (which now deals continous heat damage akin to Lunastra's fire pools and can be detonated at once with its Limit Break), and since its quests are clearly listed as Slaying Quests, you must finish it off instead of bypassing what's left of its HP by capturing it.
• Alatreon gets a massive difficulty upgrade in the expansion: The boss fight against this very aggressive multi-elemental Elder Dragon is essentailly a race against time to suppress its power so you can at least survive its Escaton Judgement, coupled with a brutal wake-up call about elemental matchups. Because Escaton Judgement is only weakened by elemental damage, you'll be forced into bringing the right elemental weapon to counter Alatreon's Active element, and you must break its horns to prevent it from switching to the opposite Active element, otherwise you won't be able to reliably weaken the next cycle of its Escaton Judgement. Things continue to get nastier, since Alatreon can inflict every elemental blight, including the long-lasting Dragonblight that prevents you from dealing any elemental damage unless you have Nulberries or maxed Dragon/Blight Resistance. Additionally, Alatreon never stops chaining one large-scale attack after the other and has a tendency to stay airborne for prolonged amounts of time, so you're forced to exploit the few openings it gives you to do any meaningful damage, compounded by the difficulty of using the Clutch Claw on it due to the lack of terrain for a Flinch Shot and nearly all of its moves potentially throwing you off. And unlike in Shara Ishvalda's case, you can't go back to camp unless you faint, which means there's no escape from Alatreon's Escaton Judgement except for passing the elemental DPS check. You'll also have to slay it as a requirement to unlock Fatalis, though the good news is you don't need to complete the Alatreon Special Assignment because there's another one where you can take on an Alatreon with much less health instead, although its massive damage and aggression is still intact, and you'll still need to contend with at least one Escaton Judgement before it dies.
• Fatalis has more than earned its spot as the last boss monster introduced in Iceborne, and it lives up to its reputation as The Dreaded and the original game's Final Boss, being highly mobile, very sturdy, completely immune to Elderseal and Stun, resistant to Sleep, Poison and Paralysis, which will work exactly once, extremely aggressive, and overwhelmingly powerful enough that it can finish you off in one shot with damn near all of its attacks unless you've beefed up your defense and fire resistance. Think Plunderblading parts off of it and using them to craft its armor to use against it will help? Good luck with that because while the Transcendence and Inheritance set bonuses are powerful indeed, said armor has -5 Fire resistance, so you'll have to be very careful. The arena where you're fighting Fatalis has cannons and ballistas to even the odds against it, but have fun actually using them without something to keep Fatalis from noticing you, because it's smart enough to focus on anyone that gets too close to them. In addition, its Schrade's Demise attack will be used at fixed health intervals and can result in an invariable One-Hit Kill or even a Total Party Wipe if you aren't positioned to avoid it. On top of that, once it enters its Hellfire Mode, pretty much everything it does will erase your health bar twice over unless you break its head first; this can be made easier by slamming it into a wall with a Flinch Shot,^note While it's on four legs; doing this when it's standing up will only force it onto four legs and do pitiful damage. which deals massive damage to its head, but this will always enrage it, meaning that you're likely going to spend most of the fight with a royally pissed off Fatalis (though that's a good thing if you have Agitator Secret). And if that wasn't bad enough, you must slay it in 30 minutes (as opposed to the standard 50). To make things a bit fair though, the fight with Fatalis has more breathing room than Alatreon: the first two Schrade's Demises may cover the entire arena, but there are clearly-designated safe spots where you can avoid the brunt of the damage: each Schrade's Demise from the third one onwards have cone-shaped firing ranges that grants safety if you can get close and to its side, and the Dragonator can shave off 10% of its HP and leave it stunned if you survived long enough to fire it off. In addition, its Special Assignment gives you five attempts instead of the usual three (though this does not apply to the Event Quest unlocked afterwards). But make no mistake, even with the extra tools and comparatively fair mechanics, Fatalis is definitely the strongest AND most dangerous monster you've ever fought, bar none, and slaying it would be your biggest crowning achievement in the entire Monster Hunter mythos.

Monster Hunter: Rise

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• Magnamalo, the flagship monster of Rise, flip-flops depending on when and how you fight it the first time: In the Hub LR3 Quest, it is one of the toughest hunts since it's in an Urgent Quest in order to attain HR3, but it's a fairer hunt at the Urgent LR5 Village Quest. Regardless, it's not listed here for no reason, for it's very agile (even more so than its fellow Fanged Wyvern Zinogre, for example it can fake out a knockdown only to roll back up and attack immediately), hits like a freight train, can suddenly pull off different combo moves involving its long tail (which comes real fast and has a ridiculous range to boot), and similar to fighting against Brachydios, its Hellfireblight (which is essentially Blastblight that cannot be negated by maxed Blast Resistance) can ramp up your damage taken upon being hit, but sometimes you don't even notice that you got Hellfireblight until its too late (since it can inflict this on you through some not-so-obvious attacks). And then its "tail boost" can launch itself to tackle anyone standing almost anywhere at blinding speed, especially when it's fully enraged (as a Finishing Move) or by launching itself and its prey in a Turf War right upon you to potentially cause an instant faint. And as always, when you hunt Magnamalo in HR and MR Quests, all bets are off; this fiery and barbaric tigrine Fanged Wyvern's unpredictability, Hellfire attacks, and insane damage output makes it one of the most dangerous apex monsters to hunt in the game. One of the few saving graces of the fight is that since Magnamalo isn't an Apex variant or an Elder Dragon, you can end this pain in the ass of a hunt early by capturing it, and since Wiredashing while afflicted by Hellfire leaves it behind as a stationary hazard, you can trick Magnamalo into colliding with it for a one-time guaranteed knockdown.
• Apex Arzuros takes a page out of Redhelm's book by being a horrific introduction to stronger variants of monsters, which, in its case, are the Rampage-exclusive Apex monsters. While normal Arzuros is a big fat, doofy bear you can easily slap around without breaking a sweat, the Apex variant lives up to the title of "Bloodlust Incarnate" by being a vicious ursine brute who can finish you off with as few as two attacks with the armor you have, attacks relentlessly with frighteningly fast moves, has an annoyingly high tendency to stun, and has deceptively huge range on its claw swipes and ground pound. And like all Apex monsters, it can call in other monsters for backup, which can lead to you being able to do little more than run for dear life since the mob of monsters constantly gunning for you can make it nearly impossible to use the siege weapons or even attack the monstrous bear. While you do have unlimited attempts, every faint still hurts because it gives Apex Arzuros more time to tear down the final gate with its obscene strength. And what really makes it nasty is that it's the monster gating off High Rank quests, meaning that you're stuck having to beat it with comparatively weaker gear. Then comes the 2.0 update's Apex Arzuros Hunting Quest and Sunbreak allowing it to appear in Anomaly Investigations: while there's no gate to defend this time and the other monsters tend to leave you alone, its attacks are as horrifically powerful as ever, its attention will be focused on you for the entire fight, and you don't have the benefit of infinite attempts or the Counter Signal. Bears Are Bad News, indeed.
• Chameleos is an even bigger threat here than in the previous games: This poisonous trickster Elder Dragon has picked up some of Vaal Hazak's moves, and its poison attacks now inflict the far deadlier Noxious Poison/Venom. In addition, it is also capable of turning invisible even when not enraged or in the mist, and breaking its horns and cutting off its tail does NOT stop it from doing so (though Chameleos will turn invisible less frequently if you break either of them, and the camouflage will be less effective even when it does). That said, its tongue attack can't steal your items, but it can steal your Spiribird buffs for its own use instead, and the only way to take them back is to deal enough damage to Chameleos, which is a major problem because it can turn invisible more often. Normally, Chameleos' armor has an Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic with the other two second generation Elder Dragons: Chameleos beats Kushala Daora, who in turn beats Teostra and vice versa. However, since Chameleos becomes available after reaching HR20 and Teostra is at HR40, you're going to have a really hard time slaying the former without the Kaiser Armor.
• Apex Diablos isn't too much trouble in a Rampage, having fewer projectiles than most of the other late-game Apex Monsters and usually focusing on charging defenses to be a problem to the gate. Sure, it hits incredibly hard, but it's otherwise manageable. This is NOT the case with its Hunting Quest or when it appears in Anomaly Investigations, where it shows exactly how terrifying it is when Apex Diablos only needs to focus on the Hunters. Apex Diablos charges much faster than normal Diablos, hits even harder than normal Diablos, and even has a few moves normal Diablos lacks, such as a wing slam that comes out very quickly and does quite a bit of damage with a massive hitbox. It also borrows Bloodbath Diablos' tactic of immediately charging at Hunters immobilized by its roar, so if you don't have maxed Earplugs, you have about a second to dodge after the roar wears off before it attempts to finish you off. The real kicker, however, is that Apex Diablos has the Bloodbath deviant's gimmick of having a variety of enraged state levels, which initiate as its health decreases, seemingly culminating in him being permanently enraged when it's weak. Said rage cranks up Apex Diablos' aggression and gives its access to lightning-fast charges so damaging they border on being a One-Hit Kill. This turns the last few minutes into a frantic race to slay this beefed up ceratopsian Flying Wyvern as soon as possible before it flattens you into a bloody pulp.
• Apex Zinogre is way more difficult than any other Apex Monsters when you confront it in both Rampage and Hunting Quests; it uses its ultimate attack on installations before resuming the attack on the final gate, making it difficult to counter. It also sends its Fulgurbugs to destroy any Hunting Installations around it, crippling your offensive if you're not under the effects of the Counter Signal. In Hunting Quests or Anomaly Investigations, Apex Zinogre is also a gigantic pain in the ass, instead being a hyperactive and very damaging spaz who simply flings a barrage of enhanced Fulgurbug attacks at you continuously, Thunderlord Zinogre style. With all the Fulgurbugs flying around the screen, it's a feat in and of itself to get a breather in; since most of its attacks can inflict Thunderblight, you'll more than likely end up getting stunned and eating a faint with "lightning" speed.
• Fighting Thunder Serpent Narwa was honestly pretty easy despite having absurdly high health. Not so much the case with her upgraded form, Narwa the Allmother, who amps up the difficulty to levels previously unseen. Not only is she a lot faster and more aggressive, her attacks have been upgraded and become a lot deadlier; this is especially the case with her tail slam, which generates up to three currents of electricity that explode after a few seconds, potentially finishing off any hunters that use the Wirefall mechanic to recover from the initial impact. The remainder of her attacks aren't much better, saturating the entire arena with electric projectiles and delayed explosions, along with her periodically using her infamous Dragonator spin that can very easy net a cart or two; once she's on her last legs, she'll start spamming all of these with virtually no downtime. Even with a group of four hunters, she is more than capable of inducing a lot of pain and faints, and this would force you to perfectly predict her patterns and evade her attacks in order to finally achieve victory. The good news, however, is she'll summon Temporary Platforms (which could protect you from some of her attacks) along with ballistas for you to use, and you'll get a free one-time Wyvern Riding from an intruding monster ally (in the form of either Magnamalo, Kushala Daora, or Teostra; or Malzeno and Scorned Magnamalo in Master Rank) to even the odds against her.
• Crimson Glow Valstrax cranks up the already high difficulty from its original counterpart to insane levels. This high-speed black-and-red avian Elder Dragon is a Lightning Bruiser whose extendable wings grant it deceptively long range on its melee attacks on top of Beam Spam, all of which will usually take out a fat chunk of health if they connect. Once it's enraged and charged up (which also renders it immune to all elemental damage instead of vulnerable), a disturbing portion of its attacks will also leave Dragon mines on the ground, leaving very little space for you to maneuver around the blasted thing and making the whole fight an exercise in frustration. Additionally, it upgrades the already strong "Around the World" move from the regular variant, which can now cause major damage capable of causing a One-Hit Kill unless you time your evasion skills (or just hightail it back to the nearest camp with a Farcaster). When you see the message "Crimson Glow Valstrax: Ambush" on the right-hand side of the screen, you have about five seconds to do something before it smashes into you from the stratosphere, more than likely finishing off anyone in the vicinity instantly. And it can do this from anywhere on the map if it so chooses. As a result, this boss fight puts you on constant edge while looking for an opening to attack. Adding salt to the wound, this thing and its Risen variant have what is widely considered some of the best equipment in the base game and its expansion respectively, so very few won't decide to face this difficult hunt.

Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak

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• Malzeno, one of the Three Lords and the flagship monster of Sunbreak, is basically "Deviljho as a vampiric Elder Dragon" and proves itself to be Strong and Skilled: Very athletic and damaging, is flexible enough to strike from multiiple directions in quick succession, uses a variety of attacks at all ranges (including some that deal Dragon damage), and is capable of inflicting Bloodblight, which not only slowly chips away your health, but also halves the effectiveness of healing items to make taking hits from Malzeno all the more punishing. Things only get worse from there once Malzeno drains enough life force or gets mad enough, since it will then enter The Bloodening, upon which it becomes much faster to the point of teleporting, its attacks are greatly enhanced, and it's now capable of chaining one strong attack after another in quick succession. And if your damage is lacking, failing to knock out a Bloodening Malzeno would result in it performing a Limit Break attack similar to Velkhana's in an attempt to finish you off. On the flip side, attacking Malzeno while Bloodblighted will regenerate some of your health, and since its body becomes less durable while in the Bloodening, you can force it out of this state and topple it by scoring enough hits on its Qurio-covered parts.
• Magma Almudron may not be as large as its infamously annoying normal version, but it trades out on some of the annoyance factor with being far more dangerous. It is much faster and many of its hits have even better tracking range than the regular Almudron, to the point where you all but need to either panic dive or block the attacks instead of rolling away. The constant mud waves have been replaced with heavy hitting magma waves and explosive smoldering rocks, and it now has a Limit Break that causes a massive AoE explosion guaranteed to shear off a massive chunk of HP if not outright kill you if you haven't upgraded your armor yet. Be prepared to chug through a lot of potions because you'll get hit by Magma Almudron's attacks over and over again.
• Arriving from the Frontier series, Espinas is a tough customer to hunt. This gigantic and thorny Flying Wyvern is usually found sleeping in its own corner of the map, and unlike most monsters, a single hit is usually not enough to wake it up. Once it does, however, it goes absolutely ballistic, and its fire breath attack can inflict Fireblight, Poison, and Paralysis all at once! This leaves you wide open to the real kicker of the fight, which are its brutal physical attacks that can send you packing in a few hits at most. Even if you're either using an Antidobra or a combination of maxed Fire, Poison, and Paralysis Resistance to protect yourself from status ailments, Espinas still proves itself to be a ruthless Elder Dragon-level apex monster by continuously attacking you with its obscene wide-area damage and deceptive speed. It gets even worse when it's enraged, where it trades its high defense for even more offense, yet enraging Espinas is pretty much the only way to make it take reasonable damage.
• Flaming Espinas is no less dangerous than the original, as while it no longer inflicts Paralysis, it's considerably more aggressive and trades its Paralysis for Defense Down, which makes you way more vulnerable to its frequently spammable physical attacks and can potentially lead to an abrupt One-Hit Kill. Its fireball attacks are also enhanced to cover a wider area, and it can also start using a fatal supernova like Teostra once damaged enough, except not only is it even more of a guaranteed cart due to inflicting Fireblight and Poison while ignoring even Guard Up and Embolden, it can do it twice in a row when it's low on health.
• Violet Mizutsune can be a nasty surprise for those who were just expecting a souped-up Mizutsune, as while it still has all of the agility of the normal variant, it's far more relentless and ramps up the damage potential immensely. Almost all of its attacks can hit in a deceptively wide area while dealing massive damage, while its explosive fire attacks and lingering pools of flame serve as dangerous area denial. Most damningly of all, instead of the relatively benign bubbles of the original, Violet uses barrages of homing fireballs with scarily good tracking and delayed flight, which are spammed to near Bullet Hell levels and can easily punish what would normally seem like an opening; they're also capable of homing in on players from odd angles, or when not even on the screen. Instead of Bubbleblight, all of its bubbles inflict not only Fireblight to deal extra damage, but also Resistance Down to make its fire attacks hit like nukes even if you stacked fire resistance. Combined with its mobility, Violet Mizutsune can often zone out and run circles around hunters while stirring up a veritable hellfire storm, and weapons without a way to deal with the homing bubbles may have trouble even getting a hit in edgewise amidst the relentless attacks and constant repositioning. And all of this is before it enters its flaming Super Mode, upon which its damage and aggression get cranked up even further, and it gains access to a Fantastic Nuke that not only deals massive damage in a huge area, but sucks in hunters as well. Fortunately, it does share the normal variant's susceptibility to being knocked down, it becomes even more vulnerable to damage in its rage state and can be knocked out of it by hitting its flaming parts, and its Limit Break can be turned against it by knocking it down during the preparation.
• As if Magnamalo wasn't deadly enough, reaching MR 100 will unlock Scorned Magnamalo, a scarred Elder Dragon-level version of the original. It takes the already significant aggression and damage of its regular counterpart and dials it up to absurd levels, while also giving it a plethora of new attacks involving its longer arm blades and more explosive Hellfire, which often cover a wide area and can combo multiple hits in succession. And not only does it start in a rage state comparable to that of a fully charged Magnamalo (complete with starting the fight with Magnamalo's Finishing Move), it can enter a second enraged state at low health that makes its attacks even more ferocious and allows it to inflict Dragonblight.
• Risen Elder Dragons, the rough equivalent of World's Arch-Tempered monsters, are endgame, massively powered up variants with devastating new moves, more health, and a golden Super Mode that will tremendously jack up their already frightening power unless you can quickly deal enough damage to knock them out of it. Naturally, Elders who were already on this list become even more lethal when Risen, while some others suddenly spike in difficulty. Furthermore, these things will be the primary targets in higher level Anomaly Investigation quests, with all the health and damage boosts that entail, and can appear as even stronger Hazard versions once you climb far enough, buffing their stats even further and upgrading their moves.
  • Risen Chameleos is much faster than its original counterpart and utilizes several deadly new moves, including its own version of Furious Rajang's pin attack that pulls in hunters for a deadly body slam. Its poison attacks are more explosive and have a considerably longer reach, especially in its Risen State, and it's notably now capable to turning invisible and spamming poison attacks at the same time. Thankfully though, by the time you've unlocked its Quest, the Kaiser X Armor is already available to be forged if you've slain MR Teostra beforehand.
  • Risen Kushala Daora deals considerably more damage and has many tricky alterations to its existing moves that are designed to throw off hunters used to Kushala's normal moveset, such as new combos and trickier tornado barrages, along with some of its old moves now using its wind to cover more ground. Once it's Risen, its attacks will become more devastating (particularly its Dragon energy dive, which now has a much larger explosion) and it'll start chaining them together in new ways to mix things up even more, potentially finishing off hunters who thought they had evaded an entire combo already.
  • Risen Teostra proves to be even worse than its Tempered and Arch-Tempered counterparts from the previous game: its damage is cranked way up even compared to Chameleos or Kushala, and so much as grazing any of its attacks will often tear off two thirds of your health, with the stronger moves capable of outright finishing you off in one shot without enough defense or Spiribirds. And between its much wider AoE moves, delayed explosions to throw you off, and its tremendously increased speed and aggression, you're going to get hit. Once it's Risen, not only can it start to use its fire and blast attacks simultaneously, all of them start to cover a much wider area, and its supernova will also create a flaming shock wave to throw you off if you thought you could avoid it normally.
  • Risen Crimson Glow Valstrax manages to top the already murderous aggression and damage output of the original. Its new and upgraded wing attacks have just as much range and utterly relentless frequency, while most of its attacks now leave behind practical minefields of lingering Dragon explosions, blowing up hunters who thought they had avoided the initial blow. Once it enters its Risen state, those explosive attacks from its initial state become even more indiscriminate, it gains a new Limit Break where it combos a wide-reaching spin with a borderline One-Hit Kill power stab, and it will instantly use an upgraded "Around the World" that barrages the area with Dragon meteors to pin down Hunters before finishing them off with a crash landing while they're distracted or reeling.
  • Risen Shagaru Magala turns the tough but manageable Shagaru into one of, if not the most dangerous hunts in the entire expansion. On top of the tremendous boost to speed and aggression, it's both incredibly relentless and fairly evasive, constantly repositioning between attacks and forcing players to go on the offensive, especially if they contract the Frenzy Virus - letting it fully build up is pretty much a death sentence given how hard Shagaru already hits. Once it enrages (which happens very easily), almost all of its physical attacks will leave lingering Frenzy blasts similar to Risen Valstrax, and its breath attacks become so wide-reaching that they can often cover half of the area in Frenzy blasts in a single go. And once it enters the Risen state, everything gets even more ridiculous: it'll string together lethal attacks almost continously, its explosions hit harder and spread over an even larger range, and it'll gain access to a Limit Break with converging Frenzy pillars and mines exploding all over the place (the former of which have a disturbingly high stun chance), culminating in a nuclear explosion that'll send you right back to camp if you're caught in it.
• As the Final Boss of Sunbreak's Kamura Story, Amatsu is on a completely different level than in Portable 3rd and Generations, and could be as difficult as Alatreon or the Risen Elder Dragons if you're not careful. For starters, this storm-elemental Elder Dragon in white is deceptively sturdy owing to its constant flight, and is a heavy hitter with a lot of wide-reaching AoE attacks that often inflict Waterblight to sap your stamina, while its second phase cranks all its attacks up further and grants it a wide array of powerful new Thunder attacks. To make things even worse, Amatsu has not just one or two, but four very painful Limit Breaks, such as its own version of Kushala Daora's giant hurricane and tornado rings, Alatreon's Escaton Judgement (which is thankfully not as fatal), and Eo Garudia's wind tunnel attack, all of which can deal near-fatal damage unless you use Wirebugs to evade them. A saving grace here is that similar to the boss fight against Narwa the Allmother, cannons and binders are still available (although the latter will be deflected if Amatsu isn't in the middle of an attack), and you'll recieve aid from either Apex Zinogre (if Utsushi is present as your follower) or Crimson Glow Valstrax (if not) for a free one-time Wyvern Riding. That said, Amatsu is still not to be underestimated despite the much needed tools and assistance you have, and can very easily send a full party packing if they slip up one too many times.
• Primordial Malzeno, the final monster and True Final Boss of Sunbreak, shows how truly dangerous a Malzeno can be in its prime before its bond with the Qurio. It has agility and strength surpassing a regular Malzeno, who was already a significant Lightning Bruiser, and boasts a vastly different moveset with many powerful physical attacks that hit much harder and can combo three to four times in a row, leaving little room to recover and dealing massive damage to even players with high defense. In particular, its wings, which are now wielded like a "sword and shield", have just as much reach as Valstrax and can be used in various ways, catching players off guard as it can combine these with its tail and claw attacks (such as a "shield bash" followed by a "lance thrust" from its tail). Once the Qurio start infecting Primordial Malzeno, it reaches insane levels of power through a similar Bloodening mode and then the further Bloodrage mode, upon which its Flash Step is upgraded to the point of Teleport Spam, it spams moves much faster together with wider-reaching new Qurio attacks to keep you on edge, will start to mix up its combo strings to throw you off, and can unleash a Qurio bombardment and Supernova preceded by a Flash Step directly above the target if not knocked out of the state fast enough. Finally, once it's low, it'll go even further beyond with its Bloodlust state, which is a permanent state of absolute fury that causes Malzeno's aggression to skyrocket, and lets it endlessly chain powerful attacks and teleportation without stopping,^note It can also lock on to one particular hunter during its longest combo chain instantly overwhelming players unless they've brought their absolute best. A Bloodlust Malzeno does have some obvious openings after each large chain of attacks due to resisting the Qurio infection, but considering how overwhelming its raw power and speed during its offensive are, half of these chances will be spent just trying to recover from the beatdown, if not walking back from the nearest base camp. As a result, Primordial Malzeno is not only one of the strongest Final Boss Elder Dragons to have ever graced the franchise, but is also worthy of the title of "Legend Resurrected", and it will take everything you've learned throughout Rise and Sunbreak to bring down this mythical guardian knight.

Behemoth (Monster Hunter World)

New to the series is a crossover monster straight from another game series, Final Fantasy, the Behemoth, who is so bad, it got its own folder. For those familiar with how he works in Final Fantasy XIV, you'll already know how devastating a monster it is:

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• For starters, he is absolutely massive and very fast on his feet to boot, meaning his physical attacks are hard-reaching and hard-hitting. Players without a shield or ranged-centric playstyle will have to be extra careful to not get hit.
• The majority of his body is armored, meaning that most weapons will bounce back a lot. This is doubly worse as he has a huge body, meaning you'll be inadvertently hitting it, especially as he moves around with his attacks. The vulnerable areas that you want to hit (his head and tail) are high off of the ground, meaning that only long melee weapons with vertical attacks can reliably hit them.
• Specific to this monster and hailing from his home game is his ability to cast spells. Each one of them are incredibly deadly or at the least, annoyingly cheap. A few of these will target one random player in a group. Be warned if you try to go solo since you're the only target the Behemoth can select. These spells are the following:
  • Meteor causes the Behemoth to drop a meteor from the sky onto a random spot (which can be seen as a burned mark on the ground). While it is easy enough to anticipate, it has a deceivingly large area of effect, taking a good chunk off your health and burning you. Later along the fight, Meteor will randomly shoot out three meteors in quick succession, making it even tougher to dodge depending on where they land.
  • Thunderbolt is uncommon but potentially worse. Behemoth will send out random streaks of lightning along the area which will immediately strap you with the Paralysis status effect should you get hit by it, followed by lightning strikes across random spots in front of the Behemoth, akin to Kirin.
  • Charybdis while not nearly as damaging as other spells, is potentially one of the most annoying attacks in the game, bar none. Behemoth will stop in his tracks to charge up his spell and one random player is marked (indicated by a small tornado appearing around you). Should you not prevent Behemoth from ending the cast via Flashpod or staggering him with enough hits to the face, he will spawn a tornado in the area of the marked player, taking up a significant amount of space and doing medium damage. What makes this spell truly vile is that it stays on the field for a long time, potentially denying you of any space to work around the Behemoth. Thankfully, it lacks the wind knockback that Kushala's tornadoes possess, but that doesn't stop them from being a gigantic hindrance. Thankfully, he stops using Charybdis in the second phase of the fight, but goes right back to using it once he moves to the final area, which is a very bad thing for reasons stated later.
  • Perhaps the worst and most fearful spell that he possesses is the Ecliptic Meteor. The Behemoth summons a gigantic meteor which, while it has a significant delay before landing, has a nearly map-wide area-of-effect and is a One-Hit Kill no matter what. Not even the Lance with Guard up or any mantles will save you. Your only chance is to hide behind the smaller Comets that Behemoth dropped beforehand, but should Behemoth destroy those or if you're in a bad position, all you can do without some serious cheese is say hello to the cart. Finally, the Behemoth will cast this ability before he dies, which means that he can potentially end your mission even if you were seconds away from tasting sweet victory. In the Extreme version of the quest, not only will he drop the Meteor on a timer to cause Total Party Wipe if you fail to do enough damage to make him summon Comets in the last phase, doing too much damage may also cause him to do this by skipping the health thresholds to summon Comets, which in either case means you're screwed.
• Beyond the spells he possesses, he has a multitude of attacks, most of which are similar to Nergigante, while possessing a few tricks up his sleeve. Of note is an attack that causes the ground in front of him to explode, knocking you up in the air and dealing tons of damage should you not move away or have Guard Up. He usually uses this when you're trying to hit his head, and the attack barely leaves any time to dodge it if you're that close.
• If all this weren't enough, his final phase has him move towards the area where Nergigante would normally sleep, except Behemoth immediately begins attacking. What makes matters worse is that for a significant part of the fight, he won't break the walls that would normally give the area some more breathing space. This results in you fighting in a terribly claustrophobic area against a monster with tons of area-of-effect attacks that will inevitably cover the majority of the area. If he casts Charybdis more than once, you can say goodbye to slaying him.
• Alternatively, if you fail to break his horn Behemoth will instead go towards Teostra’s nest meaning that unless you have a Cool Drink, you not only have to deal with Behemoth but also the constant heat damage.
• Behemoth also has a grand total HP count of 34,000 which is comparable to a full-party Kulve Taroth and Xeno’jiva, although its health doesn't scale with more players. This means that Behemoth can only be reasonably fought on multiplayer by its design^note This wouldn’t be a big deal were it not for the fact that Multiplayer requires a PS+ or Xbox Live account(which aren’t cheap). Meaning that some players will never be able to defeat Behemoth and obtain any of the rewards for defeating it. Not that this hasn't stopped some players from accomplishing solo Behemoth runs anyway..
• If a normal Behemoth wasn't bad enough, a special event quest has you fight a Tempered Behemoth (or "Extremoth") with a massive 51,800 HP, more deadly attacks, the standard Tempered accumulated resistance to statuses (notably making Flash Pods less effective at cancelling Charybdis), and more finicky Ecliptic Meteors that can cause an instant team wipe if you didn't meet a fairly specific set of conditions. Fortunately it's a completely Optional Boss with purely cosmetic rewards.

Frontier Series

• Hyujikiki is considered to be a roadblock by many Frontier players due to its difficulty. It is very fast, very strong, and its attacks have massive range, and these all increase when it becomes enraged. Even worse is when it initiates its second Rage Mode; when near death, it utilizes Poison, Paralysis, and Sleep all at once and gains an immense boost in attack power, allowing it to take out hunters much easier then before.
• Coming forth from the currently Japan-exclusive Monster Hunter Frontier is the final boss of Monster Hunter G Genuine's first update, Disufiroa. Armed with several AOE attacks, multiple OHKO moves, and not one, but TWO states of rage, in addition to a strict 25 minute time limit, this monster is nigh unkillable if the players aren't prepared for him. And he gets stronger the more you fight him!

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