Mega Monster Hunter Time!!!!!!

It's been a while since I did a Monster Hunter post and I figured out how to defeat Rathalos and Barioth (I technically did not defeat Barioth. Time Limit expired right before I could do the death blow). NOTE: I call the parts you can get from carving and/or Quest Rewards "loot" so whenever I say "loot" I mean "parts". Also I have Tri, Not 3 Ultimate, so some bits of info might be corrected in the new version. Also, when I refer to "farming" i simply mean fighting the same monster simply to get enough loot to make armor and weapons



This is the logo of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

Anyway, There are a few important things about Monster Hunter I would like to point out in case you have not read the first two or so posts on Monster Hunter. First, 90% of the monsters are really big. Second, do not expect to kill/capture any of these monsters on your first try, this game has a somewhat infamous difficulty. Sure the game is a bit more forgiving than games of similar difficulty but is still challenging nonetheless. But it's a good kind of challenging. The kind of challenging that makes you want to keep playing the game more and more.

Third, Capturing gives you better rewards. I once captured a Rathian and I got like five maybe six Plates (Rathian Plates are annoyingly hard to get) and two or so Spikes (just as hard to get as Plates). But I did not get a Ruby. But let's face facts. Rubies are the second hardest loot to get in the game (the first is Elder-Dragon Blood, because there is only like 1 maybe 2% of a chance of getting it).

And finally, you literally hunt monsters. And you can use monster loot to make armors. and WEAPONS!!!!!

Anyway, The game is light on story but still has story nonetheless. You are a rookie Monster Hunter that just started his/her career and the Hunting Guild (you work for them) have assigned you to Moga Village. Which is a quiet little town that trades fish and small bones with other countries. The citizens have been suffering recently from unnatural earthquakes that the mayor/chieftain guy suspects is caused by a large aquatic monster, and blames This Guy (see below).


LAGIACRUS!!!!!!!!


Anyway, The first set of assignments or Quests as they are called in the game are very easy. They consist almost solely of plucking mushrooms for a chef, protecting a farm from a pack of carnivorous Jaggi and collecting pieces of coral for a Lovesick Lad (that's his name) that is too scared of water to get the corral himself.

BUT when you do the Quest titled "Guts: It's What's For Dinner" something......interesting happens. Okay now all your hunter has to do is kill a bunch of aquatic herbivores called Epioth and get the loot known as Monster Guts. Because these guys only live in water you need to "get your feet wet" so to speak. Now when you go into Area 11 (which is where the Epioth are) chances are the big guy is going to ambush you. Pro Tip: You are safe from Lagiacrus as long as you don't hear music playing. If you hear any kind of music, you are in for a world a hurt. By the way, for those of you that have played Tri and have gotten past this Quest, what was your reaction when you saw this thing?



Great Jaggi!!!


Anyway, once you do this Quest you earn the right to do some "Big Game Hunting". Conveniently the name of this Quest just happens to be "Big Game Hunting". Basically you have to do your first boss fight against the Great Jaggi (which is actually a really big Jaggi, see above). I recommend the Following strategy: Armor; Any. Recommended Weapon: Any Great Sword of your choice. Provisions: 10 Potions and Ten Mega Potions (in case you get cocky), Well Done Steak, Tinged Meat (wait until he is drooling to put it down), and Flash Bombs (in case you want to "One Zone" him). He is by far the most easy boss in the game as he has a fairly decent amount of health and he only has three attacks. A Spinning attack where he jumps forward and makes a 180 degree turn and slaps you with his tail (he always does it twice in a row), a sort of side bash which will send you flying (this is his deadliest attack) and a simple lunge/bite combo. He can also summon standard Jaggi and and can jump backwards.


Once you defeat Great Jaggi all you have to do now is do your first Capture Quest. Instead of simply killing your target you need to bring this Great Jaggi in......ALIVE. This is the second most difficult Capture Quest (assuming you are cheating by farming end game monsters for overpowered weapons) because I almost always get a brave Great Jaggi that keeps fighting to the bitter end and refuses to retreat. Now normally you would want to use your strongest weapon but because I am a complete "Farm the biggest baddest monster you can fight for Overpowered weapons and armor" nut I wound up One Zoning him every time until I tried out my Hammer (I currently got at least four Hammers right now. I like my Hammers). I hit just enough times to make him weak enough to be put to sleep by my Tranquilizer Bombs (hand-thrown grenades that put monsters to sleep when caught in a trap).


After several more adventures (some more exciting than others) a kid starts spreading rumors of a fairy-like creature roaming around the Deserted Island. There are no such things as fairies in Monster Hunter, so this is complete nonsense. Then again this kid is like seven (maybe five) years old so he doesn't know any better. Turns out the "fairy" was a Shakalaka (Tiki Men that are part human part monster). This one, named Cha-Cha, is apparently on some kind of spirit journey. Because his spirit journey won't end until he makes himself the most perfect mask ever (his version of perfect is something that can take a beating and have a wide enough mouthpiece to allow him to eat steak/meat/monster flesh/Jaggi livers comfortably) he agrees to help your hunter on Quests, provided to feed him Monster livers on a regular basis. And help him make cute masks.



Cha-Cha!!!!!!!

Anyway, After several more adventures involving fighting giant chickens and walking banana trees, The Lagiacrus from before arrives and the mayor/Chieftain guy gives advice on how to fight Lagiacrus and not get killed trying. You and Cha-Cha duel the so-called Lord of the Seas on the shoreline of Deserted Island. Here is a decent strategy That I use (I use these tricks to farm him. I almost have the whole armor set, and over half my weapons are made with Lagiacrus loot).

1. Recommended Armor: Barroth Armor (because of the high Thunder Resistance)
2. Recommended Weapons: Bone Axe (for severing the tail), Plume Flint (for bonus Fire damage)
3. Bring as many Potions, Mega Potions, power-ups, Dash Juices (Steak + Dash Extracts equals Dash Juice) and other provisions as you can carry. With luck you should only have to heal once.
4. Set Cha-Cha to Fire Attack mode. Put in a Defense Boost too, just in case.
5. Wail on the tail. Because this Quest will end long before Lagiacrus is weak enough to limp, try to cut off the tail as soon as possible. You can loot it!!! With good luck you can get a Plate.
6. Don't get hit (obviously)
7. By now the canteen should be open so bust out your best food combo before fighting this guy.
8. Attack him from the side when possible (he turns around quickly).

After getting a taste of it's power and fighting even more Monsters (including the Queen of the Land, the Rathian), The Lagiacrus has recovered from it's wounds (if the tail has been severed, the claws broken, the horns smashed, etc those injuries will be fully healed) and reveals that monsters have a (too) good concept of the art of revenge. In other words it wants to kill your hunter, and probably the citizens of Moga Village.

Use the above tricks when he is on land (which is when he is low on Stamina) but use these tricks when he is underwater (The fight goes smoothly if you use both sets of tricks. After all he is the first hard boss you face).

1. Just like last time, wear full Barroth Armor and bring either a Plume Flint or a Bone Axe. 
2. Bring Storm-Sender Seeds, as they can cure Thunder-Blight, which guarantees the next direct hit will immobilize you (I learned this the hard way).
3. When The Lagiacrus' back starts glowing, get as far away as possible from him. The glow means he is going to cover his entire body in lightning.
4. When you see his mouth glow, dodge to the right. He can shoot orbs made of lightning from his mouth, which then explode and give you Thunder-Blight. 
5. If you think he is is going to do his coil attack, always dodge upwards. I used to have a habit of dodging to the left because I sometimes forget that you can dodge upwards and downwards if need be.
6. Don't get hit.
7. Keep him in visual range at all times. Consider your hunter dead if you lose track of him.
8. Max out the overall Defense of your Barroth armor. Do this using 20 or so Armor Spheres, 15 Armor Spheres+, and 10 Advanced Armor Spheres (two for each piece)
9. Wail on his Chest, Back and Tail. As previously stated you can sever the tail and get a chance of getting the oh-so-valuable Plate. Now if you are insanely lucky or ate for Crazy Lucky Cat at the canteen you can get a Sapphire. His Chest is quite obviously a weak spot and is somewhat of a blind spot for Lagiacrus (only two attacks can hurt you if you wail on his chest). If you break the spikes on his back you can get Shell Shockers in the Quest Rewards, and it weakens his electrical powers (I think they lower the damage they do, but I am not sure).

After defeating the Lagiacrus Cha-Cha goes missing (either he wanted to make sure Lagiacrus was dead, or he wanted to turn the carcass into a T-Bone Steak!). Your Hunter must solo the next handful of Quests alone but around the time you get to fight the Rathalos, Cha-Cha returned and discovered that the Lagiacrus had nothing to do with the earth-quakes and they were instead caused by the Elder Dragon, Ceadeus. According to Cha-Cha, Ceadeus was lurking about in underwater ruins right underneath Moga Village.

Anyway I am going to teach you some tricks I learned when Fighting Rathalos (see below).

 

RATHALOS!!!!

1. Recommended Armors: Barroth (gem in Fire Resistance if you want), Quropeco.
2. Recommended Weapons: Tough Break (because it's a Dragon weapon while in Sword Mode), Lagia Lightning (He is weak to Thunder).
3. Recommended Provisions: Antidotes, Mega Potions, Pitfall Traps and Shock Traps, Tranquilizer Bombs, Paint-balls, Whetstones, Armor-skins, Power Charms and Armor Charms, and of course, Well Done Steaks.
4. Set Cha-Cha to Dragon Attack (Rathalos is also weak to Dragon).
5. Don't get hit.
6. Do a bunch of hit-and-run attacks (at least until you kill him for the first time. In that case wail on him mercilessly).
7. Don't get hit by flame breath
8. don't get hit by the tail/stinger thing.
9. Bring Dung/Stink Bombs (same thing). He will sometimes pin you down and maul you to death unless you throw a Dung Bomb.
10. Never get hit by his "around the world" attack. That move will hurt. A Lot. Assuming you have not cheated and farmed powerful monsters for armor.
11. Throw a Flash Bomb at him when he gets airborne. It will stun him long enough to get a ton of decent hits in. This trick requires a large amount of practice.
12. Don't stand in front of him when he roars. As soon as he is done roaring he will jump backwards and launch a fireball at the same time (and sprint towards you for the death blow). When he roars the safest place to be is to his left-hand side.
13. Block often if you are using Lagia Lightning.
14. Gem in Attack up Large if possible.

Those are my tricks for fighting Rathalos. I will most likely be farming him for armor. His armor is fairly good and it looks cool. It's so spiky!!!!!!! I like Spiky Armor.

Anyway, to kill/capture Barioth is a task in itself, but I learned several tricks to fighting him (I fought like a hundred times. I would rather fight every Elder Dragon in the series at the same time than fight a single Barioth. But I will farm him anyway, he gives one of the best Lances in the game!).

 

BARIOTH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1. Recommended Armor: Baggi Armor (for Ice Resistance).
2. Recommended Weapons: Quro Flint, Wyvern Blade Fire, Chak Chak, Blue Crater (maybe. I have not tried Blue Crater yet).
3. Provisions: Cleansers (unless you gem in Mud/Snow), Mega Potions, Max Potions (in case things get crazy), Dash Juices, Armor-Skin, Power Charm, Paint-balls, Psycho-Serum (in case you forget to use your Paint-balls).
4. Barioth will always attack from an angle. He never goes straight when attacking.
5. Have Cha-Cha wear his Lamp Mask (if you built it already) and set him to Fire Attack (Barioth is weak to fire).
6. Break his wingtips as soon as possible. Barioth will move slow enough to be harmed by the bigger, slower weapons when both wingtips have been broken.
7. Sever the tail as soon as the wingtips are broken. He uses his tail for 90% of his attacks.
8. Block (when possible) as soon as he starts flying.
9. Bring a Pitfall Trap, plant it somewhere and complete the sub-target so you can end via sub-quest, In case you die twice.
10. Don't get hit by his claw-swipes.
11. Don't get hit by his Tornado attack.
12. Don't get hit by his Tail whips.
13. Don't get hit by his snowballs.
14. Give Cha-Cha the "signal" to light up the dark spooky caves Barioth hangs out in.

Those are my tricks. Does anyone know how I can make a Fire sword and shield quickly? If anyone has a Fire sword and shield, tell me how to get it in the comments.

Anyway, I think after this you have to fight Uragaan, But I have not unlocked him yet (or even a weapon that can cut him). Anyway I do not have tricks for this guy but here is a cool picture of him I found on Google (Google is the most useful thing since automobiles!)

 

Uragaan!!!!!!!

After Uragaan I have no idea but I do know that at some point you have to fight......

 

THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let me introduce you........to the Ceadeus!!!!! Even Underwater this guy is a Giant. NOTE: Some Monsters look slightly smaller underwater. Literally. But seriously, how can a veteran hunter kill a Giant Whale with a Viking Helmet and a shaggy beard? Just like how can a mere human kill.......

 

......THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

Surprise appearance from the Lao-Shan-Lung from Monster Hunter Freedom Unite. But let's face facts. How can a team of four pro hunters kill............

 

......THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Double Surprise appearance of the infamous Dara Amadyura from the currently Japan exclusive Monster Hunter 4.

Anyway, to wrap up this long post is a gallery of hunters with WEAPONS!!!!

 

Sword and Shield!!!!

 

Great Sword!!!!!

 

Long Sword!!!!!

 

Lance!!!!!!

 

Gun-Lance!!!!!

Dual Swords!!!!

Hammer!!!!!

Hunting Horn!!!

 

Bow-gun!!!!

 

Switch Axe!!!!!!

 

Switch Axe (Sword Mode!!!)!!!!

 

Bow!!!!!

For more info (like who are Alatreon and Dire Miralis) please Google it (I got every picture on this post from Google). I would suggest going to a Wiki but I have not yet found one with helpful info. Sure they tell you the attack patterns and stuff but not how to beat them within a one hour time limit.