Monster Guide - Guide for Monster Hunter Tri

Monster Hunter Tri: Monster Guide by White_Pointer
Version 1.02, Last Updated 2010-07-05 View/Download Original File Hosted by GameFAQs
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Monster Hunter Tri - Monster Guide
Copyright 2010
Version 1.02
Written by White_Pointer

e-mail: [email protected]

Contents of this Guide:

1.0 Introduction
2.0 Legal Information
3.0 About the game
4.0 What’s in this guide?
5.0 Format of this Guide and Notes
6.0 Small Monster Guide
 6.1 Kelbi
 6.2 Aptonoth
 6.3 Felynes
 6.4 Melynx
 6.5 Altaroth
 6.6 Bnahabra
 6.7 Fish
 6.8 Epioth
 6.9 Giggi
 6.10 Jaggi
 6.11 Jaggia
 6.12 Ludroth
 6.13 Rhenoplos
 6.14 Delex
 6.15 Baggi
 6.16 Popo
 6.17 Uroktor
7.0 Large Monster Guide
 7.1 Great Jaggi
 7.2 Qurupeco
 7.3 Royal Ludroth
 7.4 Barroth
 7.5 Gobul
 7.6 Great Baggi
 7.7 Lagiacrus
 7.8 Rathian
 7.9 Gigginox
 7.10 Rathalos
 7.11 Barioth
 7.12 Diablos
 7.13 Uragaan
 7.14 Agnaktor
 7.15 Ceadeus
8.0 Monster Status Effects
 8.1 Poison
 8.2 Paralysis
 8.3 Sleep
 8.4 Stun
 8.5 Mud/Ice
 8.6 Defense Drop
 8.7 Fireblight
 8.8 Waterblight
 8.9 Thunderblight
 8.10 Iceblight
 8.11 Dragonblight
9.0 Frequently Asked Questions
10.0 Acknowledgements and Credits

1.0 Introduction
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

During my time playing Monster Hunter Tri, I found myself needing to constantly
keep track of the different monsters found throughout the game and what
significance they had. I found this to be a bit of a pain, but to my surprise
I found Gamefaqs doesn't have a Monster Guide! Well, I hadn't written an FAQ
for a while, so I took it upon myself to fill that void, and this guide was
born.

2.0 Legal Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guide is intended for personal use only. No profit can be made from this
guide under ANY circumstances, it is to be used for non-profit only. This guide
will ONLY be hosted on Gamefaqs, unless you have my written consent to publish
it on your own site and you MUST e-mail me to request my permission to use it.
Please explain in your e-mail what the theme of your site is, the approximate
amount of unique visitors you receive each month and what materials the site
covers. This guide may not be altered in any way, shape, or form.

3.0 About the game
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monster Hunter Tri is the third major game in the Monster Hunter series, and
the first to be released on the Wii, with the previous games appearing on the
PS2 and PSP. Capcom stated they decided to go with the Wii to expose a wider
audience to the game, and I must say the strategy has worked on me as I'd
never played a Monster Hunter game before Tri. It's a very good hybrid of
action/adventure/RPG.

4.0 What’s in this guide?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This guide contains everything you'll need to know about hunting monsters in
Monster Hunter Tri. For each monster, I've provided a description so you can
easily recognise them, any behaviours you need to know about, what items you
can get by carving them, what commodities you can get by converting them to
resources after moga woods hunting, and tactics you need to take down the big
bad boss monsters. Also included is a quick reference of status effects a
monster can inflict on you and what they do.

Having said that, considering how massive this game is and the sheer amount of
information that is involved in this, I acknowledge it's quite possible I've
missed something or I've made a mistake in my notes. So if you find an error
or omission please let me know and I'll make sure I add you to the credits.

Also, at this time, this guide only covers the monsters you'll fight and items
to acquire from them in the offline single-player mode.

5.0 Format of this Guide and Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is just a quick description and explanation of how I've structured the
guide. Each monster is laid out as follows:

Monster Name
============

Type: The type of monster taken from in-game information

Threat: Star threat ranking from 1-6 taken from in-game information

Weakness: What the monster is weak against

Description:
Description of monster so you can recognise them!

Behaviour:
How the monsters act and the attacks they use

Habitat:
Areas you'll likely find them in

Carves: Items you can get by carving them

Drops: Items the monster may drop

Commodities: Items you can get by converting kills to resources

Additional Quest Rewards: Extra items you can receive from quests

Notes
~~~~~

1. I'm really not interested in all of the various probabilities for every item
you can carve or get from a drop. It really shouldn't matter when it comes
down to it, but I'm sure there are other guides out there that break everything
down and do the number crunching. As far as I'm concerned, I only need to know
what items I can get from what monsters, not specifically the exact chance of
getting said items, so please don't ask me to include these percentage values.

2. "Additional Quest Rewards" only apply to large monster quests, and while you
can gain a number of items when completing quests, I'll only list the items
here that can *only* be obtained from the quest rewards, as well as anything
special you need to do during the quest to obtain them (or have a higher
chance of obtaining them). So, if you can gain an item some other way from
the monster (carve, drop, etc) in addition to it also being a quest reward, it
won't be listed here. These also just cover the main request rewards, not
subquest rewards.

3. "Weakness" only applies to the large boss monsters. While the small monsters
do generally have a weakness, it's kind of a moot point when they are taken
down by just about any weapon pretty easily anyway.

4. You may be wondering what significance the "Threat Level" is. Well, from my
own observation this is what I've best been able to determine:

*      1-star threats are small monsters that will usually not attack you
unless provoked.
**     2-star threats are small monsters that will always attack you
unprovoked, generally being smaller or younger versions of bigger monsters.
***    3-star threats are the first few big boss monsters you fight. They will
always attack once they spot you, and they usually enlist the help of smaller
monsters during the fight.
****   4-star threats are the big boss monsters you tackle during the mid-point
of the offline portion of the game. They are nastier and tougher than the 3-
star threats and usually have attacks that can inflict poison, stun, or some
other ailment on you. They also often have very tough armour.
*****  5-star threats are the toughest of the bunch. They are huge monsters
that generally take ages to kill, hit hard, and almost always possess some
kind of elemental attack. Make sure you are very prepared going against these
guys.
****** 6-star threats...there's only one of these in the single player game.
No prizes for guessing it's the final boss.

5. Catching monsters can be easier or harder than killing them, depending on
the monster and how you approach the quest. Keep in mind that only the large
boss monsters can be caught, the small monsters can not get caught in traps.
When a monster has been sufficiently injured to be caught, it'll retreat to
another area to sleep. Chase after it when you see it limping away, but not
too quickly - if you're too fast and you get there before the monster itself
does, or you arrive shortly after the monster does, it won't sleep. You can
still catch it of course, but you'll need to set your trap while the monster's
attacking you (or Cha Cha). It's much easier to set your trap, then hit it
with your weapon to wake it up, and have it chase you straight into the trap.
If you want to be sneaky, set the trap right under its nose or right beside it
so it's caught almost as soon as it wakes up. As long as you've hurt it enough,
it shouldn't take many tranq bombs or bullets to send it to Disneyland (two
tranq bombs is all you should need).

6. Most of the single player quests are listed to "Hunt" a particular monster.
This doesn't necessarily mean kill the monster. While you can certainly finish
the quest by killing it, keep in mind you can also finish the quest by
capturing it. Note however that some items can only be obtained from carving
a dead monster, while some items can only be obtained from capturing it. The
only times you actually need to slay a monster is when the quest actually
specifically tells you to do so (eg, "Fell the Lagiacrus"). Of course, if the
quest specifically tells you to catch the monster, then of course you need to
catch it - killing it will fail the quest. So just keep in mind that if the
quest says to "Hunt" a monster, you can either slay it or capture it. Many
large monsters have a separate capture quest in addition to a hunt quest.
"Repel" quests (of which there are only two anyway) require you to injure the
monster to the point where it runs away. If you are hunting large monsters in
the Moga Woods for commodities for rare trade, capturing them gives you a
higher chance of obtaining these rare trade items.

7. Obviously, not everyone will find their experience to be the same when
battling the large monsters. A monster you may find difficult, someone else
has probably beaten pretty easily. A monster you've beaten easily, someone else
probably found difficult. Your armour and weapons of choice, as well as what
items you bring along to the battle, make a pretty significant difference in
a monster's overall difficulty. Go in ill-equipped or under prepared and
you're going to have a hard time. Don't be too discouraged if you get beaten
the first one or two times you take on a large boss monster, use it as a
learning experience, then come back better prepared. Here's a pro tip though -
if you faint twice during a tough fight, abandon the quest and start over,
especially if you're low or out of healing items. Yes, you will lose your
deposit, but if you faint a third time and fail, you'll not only lose your
deposit but you'll need to re-buy all of the items you used and go through
the hassle of re-stocking yourself before attempting the fight again (the game
seems to auto-save after a quest regardless if you succeed or fail, so
resetting the console won't work. Trust me, I tried it). If you abandon the
quest, you get all of your items back, so you save yourself time and money in
the long run.

For these reasons, I only really list the monster's attacks and provide some
general advice. Not every player is the same and there's countless weapon and
armour combinations you can use, so I'm leaving all of that customisation up
to you. Play the game how you want, and hopefully you can find this guide
useful.

6.0 Small Monster Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These monsters are listed in the rough order you'll probably encounter them in.

6.1 Kelbi
=========

Type: Herbivore

Threat: *

Description:
Kelbi are small deer-like creatures that prance around doing nothing much.
These will likely be the first monsters you encounter in the game. They are
dark-coloured animals with horns, with the larger variety having larger horns
and having a slightly greener colouring.

Behaviour:
Kelbi will hop around minding their own business most of the time. They are
generally docile and normally only attack you if you threaten them, though
the larger kind can decide you're a threat when you don't even have your weapon
drawn. Even if they attack you they are nothing to worry about. If they do
decide to attack they'll jump at you and ram you with their horns. Not very
damaging, and they don't take much before going down.

You can gain different items when carving Kelbi if you stun them first (yep,
carving an animal that's still alive...better call PETA). Remember the easiest
way to stun a monster is to equip the small sword and whack it with your
shield.

Habitat:
Found just about anywhere where there is grass to eat. They are most abundant
in the Moga Woods and in various fertile areas of the Sandy Plains and lower
Volcano.

Carves (dead): Warm Pelt, High Quality Pelt, Raw Meat
Carves (stunned): Kelbi Horn, Blue Kelbi Horn (large Kelbi), Firedouse Berry

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Fine Pelt, Funky Pheromones, Shroom Germ

6.2 Aptonoth
============

Type: Herbivore

Threat: *

Description:
Aptonoth are large grey-coloured herbivores that look like dinosaurs, with
a long boney crest jutting out the back of their heads and spikes on their
tails.

Behaviour:
Aptonoth will completely ignore you unless you attack them, slowly walking
around grazing on the grass, occasionally rearing up on their hind legs. If
you attack one of the baby ones, the adults will retaliate and attempt to
whack you with their tail. If you attack an adult, the smaller ones will run
away.

Habitat:
Like Kelbi you'll find them pretty much wherever there is grass to eat, even
in the lower, fertile areas of the Volcano. Most common in the Moga Woods
though and can be fairly common in the Flooded Forest.

Carves: Raw Meat, Monster Bone S

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Dung, Super-Sized Dung (large Aptonoth, found during breeding),
             Giant Skull (large Aptonoth)

6.3 Felynes
===========

Type: Lynian

Threat: *

Description:
Felynes are white cat-like creatures. They are only about as tall as your
waist and make meow-ing sounds. They carry a weapon which in all honesty looks
like a bug net, but it's probably not. On closer inspection it's more like a
small scythe.

Behaviour:
Felynes will generally leave you alone, preferring to search the ground for...
well...something. If you attack them though they can whack you with whatever
the thing is they carry, or they can chase you with an exploding barrel that's
quite damaging if they manage to hit you with it. They generally aren't a
threat provided you don't accidentally hit one when fighting a larger monster
(though annoyingly, they often decide to attack *you* if they are hit by a
larger monster - go figure). When a Felyne is "killed", they will collapse,
then retreat by digging into the ground.

Obviously this only applies to Felynes you encounter in the wild and not those
that reside in the village.

Habitat:
You'll find Felynes anywhere, they can survive in pretty much any environment.

Carves: N/A

Drops: Throwing Knife, First Aid Med, EZ Flash Bomb

Commodities: N/A

6.4 Melynx
==========

Type: Lynian

Threat: **

Description:
Melynx are black cat-like creatures. They are about the same size as Felynes
and make similar sounds, and carry a similar-looking weapon, though it seems
to have a hand shape on top of it.

Behaviour:
Although they look similar, don't mistake a Melynx for a Felyne. While Felynes
are generally docile, Melynx are the opposite, and will leap at you, swinging
their weapon or whatever it is in the air. Their goal isn't to damage you, but
steal your items. If they hit you they'll steal a random item, then dig
underground to escape. If you manage to hit them before they escape you'll get
your item back. If not, you can find it in a Melynx camp, unless the quest
ends, then it's gone forever. If you are carrying Felvine, that will be the
first thing they take. Like Felynes, when they "die", they collapse, then
escape by digging a hole.

Apparently you can cause Melynx to attack larger monsters using a Felvine bomb,
but I've never managed to actually make this work.

Habitat:
Like Felynes, they can be found just about anywhere.

Carves: N/A

Drops: Ration, Mini Oxy Supply, EZ Shock Trap (very rare)

Commodities: N/A

6.5 Altaroth
============

Type: Neopteron

Threat *

Description:
Altaroth are basically giant ants that emerge from gaps in walls or from tall
"nests". Pretty hard to mistake them for something else.

Behaviour:
Altaroth are slow moving and generally do not pose much of a threat. If you
threaten them, they can shoot a poison at you that causes a temporary defense
drop.

The unique thing about Altaroth though is what you can get from them. As they
wander around they absorb various resources from the environment, and their
abdomens swell up as a result. If you then kill them, you can harvest some
pretty nice (and usually rare) items. Killing them when their abdomens are not
swollen though won't produce any items. The colour of their abdomen indicates
what they are carrying.

Their bodies will shatter if they are straight-up killed, which is fine if you
want what is in their abdomen. But if you want to carve them, you need to
poison them first (stunning them won't work).

Habitat:
Altaroth are found in every environment in the game. You gotta hand it to them,
they have the survivability of a cockroach.

Carves (poisoned): Monster Fluid, Altaroth Stomach, Altaroth Jaw

Drops (blue abdomen): Ripened Mushroom, Monster Fluid
Drops (yellow abdomen): Honey, Monster Fluid
Drops (green abdomen): Waterblock Seed, Might Seed, Monster Fluid
Drops (white abdomen): Insect Husk, Altaroth Stomach, Monster Fluid

Commodities: Shroom Germ, Shroom Germ+, Fish Finder

6.6 Bnahabra
============

Type: Neopteron

Threat: **

Description:
The other kind of large insect found within the game, Bnanabra are large
flying insects resembling mosquitos, with red bodies and fast moving wings.

Behaviour:
Bnahabra are usually found just flying around the various environments they
inhabit, often in groups of 3 or 4 or more. They are aggressive and will
attack you if they spot you. They can attack you either with their stinger
(which can cause temporary paralysis) or by spitting poison at you which can
reduce your resistance to various elements.

Like Altaroth, their bodies will shatter if killed with a weapon. If you want
to carve them you need to poison them, although unlike Altaroth, stunning
them also works.

Bnahabra are attracted to light, so whip out your torch if you want to draw
them closer.

Habitat:
Like Altaroth, they are found in every environment in the game. Well, except
underwater, obviously.

Carves (poisoned/stunned): Bnahabra Shell, Bnahabra Wing, Monster Fluid

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Funky Pheromones, Gold Needle (large Bnahabra), 
             Queen Needle (large Bnahabra)

6.7 Fish
========

Type: Fish

Threat: **

Description:
"Fish" is a pretty broad term in the game, used to describe just about anything
you'll encounter underwater that's not one of the main "monsters" but are
larger than the fish you can catch with a fishing line and bait. Needless to
say I was a little disappointed when I found they didn't have their own
separate entries but oh well. From what I can gather there are six different
types of fish:

Sharqs: Large fish that look like...uhh...sharks
Perciform: Small fish that look like jellyfish
Tuna: Small fish that look like...errr...tuna. Don't confuse these with the
      smaller Pin Tuna or Glutton Tuna that you can catch while fishing
Molid: Large fish that look like ocean sunfish
Catfish: Large fish that look like...well...catfish
Arowana: Green fish about the size of tuna. Don't confuse these with the
         smaller Burst or Bomb Arowana you can catch while fishing

Behaviour:
Most fish will ignore you most of the time, unless you decide to attack them
or you get too close to them. The only one that seems to actively seek you
out to attack you are Perciforms, and besides those, Sharqs and Catfish are
the only others that actually fight back if you attack them.

All fish will swim away if they are "killed" with a weapon. If you want to
carve them, you need to first injure them sufficiently with your weapon, then
finish them off by jabbing them with a fishing harpoon. Sharqs and Catfish
swim a little lopsided once they are injured enough, however the others don't
so you'll need to make an educated guess.

Habitat:
You'll find Sharqs, Perciforms, Tuna and Molid underwater in the Moga Woods.
You'll find Catfish and Arowana underwater in the Flooded Forest.

Carves (Sharqs): Sharpened Fang, Sharqskin, Raw Meat, Immunizer
Carves (Perciforms): Velvety Hide, Raw Meat, Bomb Sac
Carves (Tuna): Big Fin, Raw Meat, Dash Extract
Carves (Molid): Big Fin, Raw Meat, Lifecrystals
Carves (Catfish): Monster Guts, Velvety Hide, Raw Meat
Carves (Arowana): Sharpened Fang, Raw Meat, Catalyst

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Beautiful Scale, Fish Finder

6.8 Epioth
==========

Type: Herbivore

Threat: *

Description:
Epioth are large aquatic herbivores with long necks and tails and paddle-like
feet.

Behaviour:
Like most herbivores, Epioth are placid monsters that will only attack in
retaliation to being attacked or if another close by is attacked. They do
virtually no damage when they do so. Most of the time they will cruise around
in the water, eating vegetation at the bottom of the water, occasionally
coming to the surface for air.

Habitat:
You'll find Epioth underwater in the Moga Woods and Flooded Forest.

Carves: Monster Guts, Monster Bone S, Hydro Hide, Raw Meat

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Power Paddle

6.9 Giggi
=========

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: **

Description:
Giggi are small leech-like creatures with big mouths full of teeth. They
appear to be blind as far as I can tell, but can seek you out in the dark.

Behaviour:
Giggi will normally drop down from the ceiling when you approach, then follow
you around before launching themselves at you and latching on with their
huge mouth. While latched on they'll slowly suck the life from you until they
detach (to detach them, roll on the ground, though Cha-Cha will help you with
the detaching if you don't). They are weak and can be killed quickly. They are
also afraid of light (or perhaps it's the heat) and will back away if you pull
out your torch.

Habitat:
Giggi show up in just about any cave or dark area, though you'll often 
encounter them out in the open in the Tundra, spewing out of large egg sacs,
and are even found in the lower areas of the volcano.

Carves: Giggi Stinger, Velvety Hide, Monster Fluid

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Fish Finder, Gold Needle

6.10 Jaggi
==========

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: **

Description:
Jaggi are small, raptor-type predators that like to hunt in packs. They are
primarily orange in colour with a frill behind their head and a spiked tail.
Jaggi are the young males of the species.

Behaviour:
Jaggi will react immediately when they spot you, and will usually rear up and
make growling noises before moving in closer to you. Although carnivores,
they are often timid and indecisive about whether to attack you, and only
really attack using small bites or trying to whack you with their spiked tail.
Neither attack is very damaging, but if you are surrounded by a pack of them
it can add up quickly. They are weak and won't take much punishment before
being killed.

Jaggi are afraid of fire and will keep their distance if you whip out your
torch. They will actually run away if you hit them with it a few times.

Habitat:
Found in many areas of the Moga Woods and Sandy Plains.

Carves: Bird Wyvern Fang, Jaggi Hide, Jaggi Scale, Monster Bone S

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Curved Fang, Pittance Fang

6.11 Jaggia
===========

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: **

Description:
Jaggia are the females of the Jaggi species, and are every bit as dangerous as
the males. They are larger than the males with a darker colour, and do not have
spikes on their tails. Their frills also hang limply on either side of their
head.

Behaviour:
Jaggia act very similar to Jaggi...they will usually react as soon as they spot
you by making threatening movements, before moving in to attack you. Their
attacks are also similar to Jaggis, except they can also ram you with a
charging headbutt, which will knock you backwards but isn't terribly damaging.

Like Jaggi, they are apprehensive of fire and will not attack if you are
holding your torch.

Jaggia are also often encountered resting, lying on the ground. They usually
won't notice you unless you run right in front of their faces or you attack
them.

Habitat:
Where you'll find Jaggi, you'll find Jaggia - various areas of the Moga Woods
and Sandy Plains.

Carves: Jaggi Hide, Jaggi Scale, Bird Wyvern Fang, Monster Bone S

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Curved Fang, Moonlight Fang, Pittance Fang

6.12 Ludroth
============

Type: Leviathan

Threat: **

Description:
Ludroth are aquatic predators, with an iguana-like appearance. They are green
in colour with sharp claws and of course lots of sharp teeth. The Ludroth you
encounter in the game are apparently the females of the species.

Behaviour:
Ludroth are extremely aggressive and territorial, and will attack you on sight.
They can attack both from in the water and out of it, although they are
somewhat slower on land but still capable of making quick movement. When they
exit the water they make a very large leap and can close a large gap very
quickly.

On land, they have a spitting attack that can cause Waterblight. They don't
seem to use this underwater, but they don't really need to given their
increased maneuverability. On both land and in water they'll attack by biting.

Habitat:
You'll find Ludroth in the watery areas of the Moga Woods and Flooded Forest.

Carves: Hydro Hide, Immature Sponge, Monster Bone S

Drops: N/A

Commodities: Power Paddle, Perfect Paddle

6.13 Rhenoplos
==============

Type: Herbivore

Threat: **

Description:
Rhenoplos are large herbivores that resemble something like a Triceratops
without horns. They are brown in colour with a large, boney frill and a
club-like tail.

Behaviour:
Rhenoplos are powerful animals and also extremely territorial, and can and
will rear up and charge at you unprovoked, but especially if you decide to
attack one of the herd. They'll charge at you full speed and smash into you
head first, which can be quite damaging. They don't have good eyesight though
and will ram into boulders and trees if you dodge out of the way. They'll sense
you are in the area however with their excellent hearing. Attack these guys
from the sides if you can.

Despite the fact they are herbivores, note their 2-star threat rating - they
are the only herbivore that will actively seek you out and attack you
unprovoked. They can be very annoying when attempting to fight a larger
monster or when you are trying to carry something back to base camp.

Habitat:
You'll encounter Rhenoplos in the hot areas of Sandy Plains and the Volcano.

Carves: Raw Meat, Rhenoplos Shell, Monster Bone M, Rhenoplos Scalp

Drops: N/A

Commodities: N/A

6.14 Delex
==========

Type: Piscine Wyvern

Threat: **

Description:
Delex are weird swordfish-type creatures with a long, crocodile-like snout
filled with teeth, a large sail on their back, fins and a strong tail. They
have adapted to living in the sand, rather than the water.

Behaviour:
These things are one of the stranger monsters in the game. When you first
enter an area where they reside, you won't see them, but they'll eventually
show up. You'll likely hear them before you see them though. As they move they
travel in schools of 5 or 6, and will constantly leap out of the sand and bury
themselves back in. When they get close to you they can move short distances
underneath the sand. When they are within range they'll pop their heads and
upper bodies out of the sand and spit sand at you. They can also bite you if
you get too close.

If you kill a few of them, the remaining Delex will retreat to another area.

Habitat:
The large sandy areas of the Sandy Plains.

Carves: Pointed Fang, Monster Guts, Big Fin

Drops:  N/A

Commodities: N/A

6.15 Baggi
==========

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: **

Description:
Baggi are blue versions of Jaggi, but are native to the Tundra. Aside from
their obvious colour difference, they are skinnier and slightly taller than
Jaggi, have a crest on top of their head instead of a frill, and do not have
a spiked tail. There doesn't appear to be a female version, unless they just
look identical to the males.

Behaviour:
Baggi behave in much the same way as Jaggi. They'll usually howl and hiss when
they first see you, and then move in for the attack. They possess almost
exactly the same attack set too...biting, ramming you, and whacking you with
their tail (even though it's not spiked). They also have a spitting attack
that can put you to sleep. Unlike Jaggi they will not jump down from higher
ledges to get to you, though you'll often meet them in larger packs and are
often accompanied by other smaller monsters like Giggi and Melynx to
complicate things. They are noticeably tougher to kill than Jaggis.

Like Jaggis, they will keep their distance if you whip out your torch.

Habitat:
You'll find Baggi exclusively in the Tundra.

Carves: Baggi Scale, Bird Wyvern Fang, Monster Bone S, Baggi Hide

Drops: N/A

Commodities: N/A

6.16 Popo
=========

Type: Herbivore

Threat: *

Description:
Popo are large herbivores native to the Tundra, and resemble something like
a Woolly Mammoth without a trunk. Their entire bodies are covered in thick fur
and they sport huge tusks, though the tusks are obviously not as defined in
the juveniles.

Behaviour:
Popo are even more placid than other herbivores like Aptonoth. They will
generally not attempt to fight back at all, and will prefer to run away when
under threat. When not under threat they'll move around very slowly as they
graze for food.

Habitat:
Popo are found exclusively in the Tundra.

Carves: Raw Meat, Warm Pelt, Popo Tongue

Drops: N/A

Commodities: N/A

6.17 Uroktor
============

Type: Leviathan

Threat: **

Description:
Uroktor are weird red Leviathans with large beaks, spines down their backs and
some strange claw thing on the end of their tails. It's not explained if these
are males or females, so I'll assume its a mixture of both and there's no
discernable difference between the two.

Behaviour:
Uroktor, while being related to Ludroth, really don't act in a similar way to
them at all. The one thing they share in common is that they can spit a
projectile, though in the case of Uroktors it's a fireball, not a water ball.
Up close, the Uroktor can bite you. But they have the unique ability to tunnel
through solid rock, and will regularly burrow into it. Once they are
underground, they can either pop out the top halves of their bodies to spit a
fireball at you, or they'll try to get underneath you then propel themselves
upwards at force, knocking you up and backwards. They can also leap at you
from a short distance, though don't do this very often. They tend to hunt in
groups of 3 or 4.

Habitat:
Uroktor are found exclusively in the Volcano.

Carves: Uroktor Scale, Dragonfell Berry, Monster Bone M

Drops: N/A

Commodities: N/A

7.0 Large Monster Guide
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The large monsters, or the big bosses, as it were. Again, these are listed in
the order you'll probably fight them in.

7.1 Great Jaggi
===============

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: ***

Weakness: Fire

Description:
Imagine a huge Jaggi, and you'd be pretty close to envisioning what a Great
Jaggi looks like. For all intents and purposes he is just a huge Jaggi, just
with slightly different colouring. He's complete with the frill and the tail
spikes.

Behaviour:
Just as he looks like a huge Jaggi, he behaves in much the same way too. He's
surprisingly agile for such a big creature, so you need to be pretty careful
you don't get caught out by how quick he moves. He can jump backwards and
forwards pretty big distances and can also turn around and change directions
very fast. This guy isn't *too* difficult to take down, however when you first
encounter one your weapons and armour would not be particularly great, so
you'll need to be careful. Late in the game though these guys become nothing
more than a speed bump.

He has three main attacks. First of all, obviously he can bite you. This attack
is strangely not all that damaging, but should be avoided nonetheless. His
second attack type is something you need to be really careful of, as he rears
back then jumps as you, attempting to smash you with the side of his huge body.
After he lands he'll spin around, causing additional damage to you if you are
standing in the wrong spot. Thirdly, like smaller Jaggi, he can spin around and
whack you with his spiked tail. This dishes out reasonable damage to you, plus
he'll almost always spin around multiple times, alternating the direction with
each subsequent spin. He tends to use this attack a lot once he is injured and
low on health.

The Great Jaggi also likes to call on his entourage of smaller Jaggi and Jaggia
to help him out. He'll stand up tall and make a distinctive high pitched call
into the air, and either more Jaggi show up, or the ones present will behave
a little differently. Generally speaking, you can ignore the Jaggi and Jaggia
for the most part and just concentrate on the big kahuna, although you should
dispose of them if they are causing you problems (just be aware that more will
come to replace them).

Capturing Great Jaggis isn't too different to hunting them, just be on the
lookout for when it starts limping. Don't use a pitfall trap to catch a
Great Jaggi though if you're a blademaster...he's too short and the tranq bombs
will just fly over his head, so use a shock trap instead.

Habitat:
You'll mainly run into Great Jaggis in the Moga Woods, but they also inhabit
the Sandy Plains too.

Carves: Great Jaggi Hide, Great Jaggi Claw, Screamer, Jaggi Scale

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Jaggi Scale

Commodities: Pink Liver, Moonlight Fang, Giant Skull, Pittance Fang

Additional Quest Rewards: King's Frill (break frill)

7.2 Qurupeco
============

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: ***

Weakness: Ice

Description:
Qurupecos are large green birds with a long, platypus-like bill, bright red
chest feathers and a large, flat tail. When it screams its red chest puffs out
like a frog.

Behaviour:
If you had problems fighting Great Jaggi, you're going to be in for a bit of
hurt when hunting down a Qurupeco. While you could (and if you're like me,
probably did) get away with being a little underprepared when fighting Great
Jaggi, if you come in unprepared for this one you're going to be in for a rude
shock. These huge birds are very aggressive, move quickly, have some very
damaging attacks, can heal themselves, and to make matters worse can summon
other large monsters to help them out.

The first thing you'll need to know is what the tell tale signs are that it's
trying to do something sneaky like summon some help or heal. The Qurupeco
will stand tall, puff out its red chest and scream into the air. The type of
scream gives you an indication of what it's trying to do. It can be several
things: It can heal itself and any nearby monsters, it can raise the attack
of itself and any nearby monsters, and lastly it can summon another large
monster by mimicking the sound it makes. It can summon Great Jaggi, Royal
Ludroth and even Rathian if you're unlucky. Often before it performs one of
these screams it'll skip from side to side, knocking the forearm parts of its
wings together, but won't do this every time. You can try to stop each scream
by attacking its chest or throwing a sonic bomb at it. If you manage to
interrupt it during the heal or attack scream, those buffs will be applied to
you instead. Cool.

It has attacks of its own of course, and many of them are pretty devastating,
especially at the early point in the game when you first fight one. The
Qurupeco can lunge forward and peck downwards four times, and can also spin
around twice in an effort to hit you with its tail. Both of these are
relatively low damage and not too difficult to avoid. It can also spit some
kind of yellowy-green mucus that in itself doesn't do a lot of damage, but
can lower your fire resistance - which is the perfect setup for its two most
dangerous attacks. The first is telegraphed when it knocks the forearms parts
of its wings (its "flints") together twice. When you see this, get the hell
out of the way. After doing this the Qurupeco will leap forward and smash its
wings together creating a small explosion, and if you are caught in it it'll
inflict mega damage. The bird will then roar after it's finished the attack.
The Qurupeco can cover a lot of ground with these lunges, and it lunges 2 or 
3 times in an attack, so stay alert, especially as it tends to do this a lot
once its injured and low on health. The second isn't well telegraphed...the
bird will open its wings and leap backwards, sometimes causing a localised
explosion in front of it which again is highly damaging. Whenever it doesn't
cause an explosion when it leaps backwards, and uses its wings to create
strong gusts of wind towards you, pushing you backwards and making you
immobile for a few seconds.

The Qurupeco will rarely stay in one area for very long, and will lift off and
fly away to another, forcing you to give chase. If the Qurupeco manages to
summon another large monster, it's best to try to ignore that monster as best
you can and concentrate your efforts on the Qurupeco...with any luck, it'll
fly away and allow you to leave the other monster behind, or you can try
lobbing a dung bomb at it in an attempt to drive it away. Sometimes a Great
Jaggi will actually attack the Qurupeco and you can stand back and watch, but
not for too long as they'll soon figure out that you're the main target.

Capturing these things can be a royal pain. Not only do they have an annoying
tendency to fly away once you've set your trap, but there's also a chance that
one of the large monsters it summons could set the trap off instead. Again,
your best bet is to get the Qurupeco to the point where it retreats to sleep,
then try to trap it there...just make sure you aren't followed by another
monster. It's certainly still possible to trap it when you notice it limping
though - keep in mind it'll always take off and land from the same spot in
each area. If you see it heading in that direction, you can set the trap to
cut it off, or you can wait until it flies away and follow it.

Habitat:
You'll find Qurupecos show up in the Moga Woods, Sandy Plains and Flooded
Forest.

Carves: Qurupeco Scale, Qurupeco Feather, Monster Bone M, Vivid Feather,
        Strange Beak

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Qurupeco Scale, Qurupeco Feather

Commodities: Pink Liver, Stunning Quill, Flamboyant Quill

Additional Quest Rewards: Flintstone (break wing flints for higher chance)

7.3 Royal Ludroth
=================

Type: Leviathan

Threat: ***

Weakness: Thunder and Fire

Description:
Royal Ludroth are apparently the male of the species, and are essentially huge
Ludroth. It has a distinctive silver tail, a large yellow mane and a crest on
its head.

Behaviour:
Like the Great Jaggi, the Royal Ludroth possesses much the same abilities as
its underlings, but also brings plenty of new tricks to the table too. Like
regular Ludroth he is most dangerous in the water, but is no slouch on land
either. It also has a different set of attacks for land and water combat. It's
a tough fight the first time you face one.

His land attacks are actually the most diverse. He can charge straight at
you, or he can charge at you spitting balls of water in various directions,
which cause waterblight if you are hit by them, but luckily they don't travel
very far. Pay attention to him though even if you avoid him as he can turn
around and come at you multiple times. He can also leap at you, or attempt to
whip you with his tail, or lift himself up and attempt to slam his body down
on top of you. He's also got an attack where he rolls over and tries to crush
you (he'll do this one a lot if he's low on health), as well as the
trustworthy old-fashioned methods of trying to dismember you with his claws 
(after contorting his body 180 degrees) or biting your head off. There's also
an attack he uses where he rears up on his hind legs and spits 1, 2 or 3 balls
of water, which can cause waterblight if they hit you.

Underwater, he can charge at you, whack you with his tail and claws and bite
you, and can also occasionally use the spit attack (obviously he won't stand
on his hind legs while underwater though). While his attack set is a little
more limited than on land, keep in mind he's a lot more agile in the water, so
his attacks have a much higher chance of hitting you.

When fighting him, it's possible to cut off his tail, (which can be carved), 
which decreases the range of his tail attacks, and you can also damage his 
crest and mane.

Capturing a Royal Ludroth is actually not too difficult. It's possible other
monsters like Qurupeco might show up, but do your best to ignore them. If you
can, try to keep the majority of the fight in the shallow waters as it's a lot
easier to face him there. Once he's sufficiently injured he'll retreat right
to the edge of the map into the cave there, which should allow you to bag him
easily.

Habitat:
You'll run into Royal Ludroths in the watery areas of the Moga Woods and
Flooded Forest.

Carves (body): R.Ludroth Scale, Spongy Hide, R.Ludroth Claw, Dash Extract,
               Quality Sponge
Carves (tail): R.Ludroth Tail, R.Ludroth Scale

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Dash Extract, R.Ludroth Scale

Commodities: Moonlight Fang, Ancient Skin Oil, Perfect Paddle, Fortune Fang

Additional Quest Rewards: R.Ludroth Crest (break crest)

7.4 Barroth
===========

Type: Brute Wyvern

Threat: ****

Weakness: Water when covered in mud, Fire when not

Description:
Barroth are very large bipedal monsters with tough skin, a clubbed tail, and a
distinctive "scoop" head crest. They are brown in colour and have hard ridges
down their backs. Parts of their body such as tail, head and back are often
covered in mud.

Behaviour:
Barroth spend a lot of time submerged in mud, where you can only see the very
tops of their heads poking out. When you approach them they'll jump out to
attack you. He's also the first monster you encounter that has a deafening
roar, causing your character to duck and cover their ears for a couple of
seconds. As usual your first fight with one will be pretty tough.

Something the Barroth loves doing is rolling in mud to coat its body, and then
shaking that mud off. It'll do this relatively often, particularly when it
has low health. When it's rolling it opens itself up to attacks. When its
shaking the mud off, it will fly in many directions...even behind it. Be sure
to not get hit by the mud balls because they will coat your body and
temporarily slow you down and prevent you using items, making you practically
a sitting duck. Obviously, the Barroth can bite you, which causes quite a bit
of damage, and it can also smash its head on the ground if you are standing in
front of it that's also a damaging attack (and be doubly careful of this as
smashing his head also causes mud balls to flick up into the air).

That clubbed tail isn't just for decoration, and the Barroth can swing it
very effectively to cause you some major hurt. He'll almost always swing it
twice, once in each direction, by quickly rotating his entire body. Be
prepared for this attack a lot once he's low on health too. Finally, his most
damaging attack is a bull-like charge, where he'll spend several seconds
setting himself up and getting his direction right, then charge straight at
you, smashing into you at high speed with his head, then spins around and
takes a big swing at you with his tail for good measure. This causes you mega
damage and can easily knock you out if you're not watching your health bar.
Be very careful when trying to avoid this bull charge attack, because the
Barroth does actually alter his trajectory ever so slightly towards you when
charging. I was often being hit by it when I wasn't expecting to, and was
practically yelling at my TV "I'm nowhere near it!" before I realised that he
does indeed veer slightly towards you during the charge, and he was catching
me just with the side of his head. Best way to avoid it is wait as long as you
can then dodge.

The Barroth's tail can be cut off, and its head crest can be smashed, both of
which can be carved.

When the Barroth retreats to a different area, it will tunnel underground, so
unlike other monsters, where you can easily see which direction they head off
in, it's easy to lose track of the Barroth as you can only see small puffs of
dust coming out of the ground as he moves. Make sure you paintball him to keep
tabs on where he goes.

Luckily, there are no offline quests requiring you to capture a Barroth.

Habitat:
Barroths inhabit the Sandy Plains, and are only found in the more fertile
areas where they have access to mud. So in that sense, whether you are
tracking one down or trying to avoid one, you'll have a pretty good idea where
they'd be.

Carves (body): Barroth Shell, Barroth Ridge, Barroth Scalp, Barroth Claw
Carves (head): Barroth Scalp, Barroth Ridge
Carves (tail): Barroth Tail, Barroth Ridge

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Fertile Mud, Barroth Ridge

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Barroth Shell (break claws for higher chance)

7.5 Gobul
=========

Type: Leviathan

Threat: ****

Weakness: Thunder and Fire

Description:
Gobuls are huge fish-like monsters with a big gaping mouth full of lots of
teeth and a glowing "lantern" that dangles in front of their face, similar to
that of an angler fish. Its body is mostly flat, with short, stumpy legs.
Strangely, unlike other Leviathans, it does not have a long, slender body or
long tail.

Behaviour:
Despite their 4-star threat rating, Gobuls often do not actively seek you out
and chase you when you enter their area as other large monsters do. They spend
a lot of their time buried underneath the sea bed, trying to lure unsuspecting
prey. When they are hiding, the sand is slightly raised, allowing you to spot
them. Once you aggravate it though, it becomes hostile.

After hiding, the Gobul can perform a number of attacks. The most common one
sees him producing an almighty inhale, which sucks you in towards his mouth.
Once you are close enough it lunges forward and bites down on you. It doesn't
strictly need to attempt to suck you in though to pop out of the sand and bite
you. It can also leap out of the sand, flip over, and attempt to crush you on
the bottom of the sea bed. The Gobul will hide a lot more often (and perform
one of these attacks) when low on health.

Outside of its hiding spot, the Gobul can temporarily stun you by emitting a
blinding light from its lantern. You'll know this is coming when you hear it
spark up the lantern 3 times. It can charge at you from a distance and snap
its jaws down on you, or can simply bite you by quickly turning its body
around in a 180.

The Gobul also has several attacks that can occur when it puffs its body up
and extends the spines on its back. The first, it will simply try to impale
you with them if you are close enough, which can cause paralysis. The second,
it will puff up and then roll over to one side. The aforementioned attack
where he jumps from his hiding spot and flips over also sees him producing his
spines.

The Gobul can, albeit rarely, also jump up on land. He's a lot less of a threat
on land, but can still charge at you, and can also whack you with his tail,
which again, can cause paralysis. Like most monsters that can hit you with
their tail, he'll swing it twice, once in each direction.

The Gobul can actually be "fished". If he is hiding under the sand underwater
where there is a fishing spot, equip a frog as bait and throw it in. He'll
fight for a while but you'll eventually haul him up onto the land where you
can have a much easier time fighting him.

The Gobul's lantern can be broken, which prevents the blinding light attack
from working, and his tail can be cut off, which reduces the range of his tail
swipe attack, and can be carved.

There are no offline quests requiring you to capture a Gobul. Good thing too,
I suspect it would be extremely annoying.

Habitat:
Gobuls are found exclusively in the Flooded Forest.

Carves (body): Gobul Hide, Gobul Spike, Paralysis Sac, Gobul Fin, Gobul Whisker
Carves (tail): Gobul Spike, Gobul Fin, Gobul Hide

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Paralysis Sac, Gobul Spike

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Gobul Lantern (break lantern)

7.6 Great Baggi
===============

Type: Bird Wyvern

Threat: ***

Weakness: Fire

Description:
The Great Baggi is...yep, you guessed it, a huge Baggi. The Great Baggi has
every feature of the smaller Baggis on a larger scale, though its head crest
in a little larger in proportion to its body. Even its colouring is the same.

Behaviour:
The Great Baggi not only looks the same as its smaller bretheren, it acts much
the same too. It can attack you by biting you, and by spinning around and
whacking you with its tail, which (and you should be used to this by now) will
almost always be two tail swipes, one in each direction. Like the Great Jaggi,
once its low on health it will use this attack a lot more often. The Great
Baggi also possesses the same attack as the Great Jaggi where he leaps towards
you and smashes into you with the side of his body. And also like the Great
Jaggi, he can leap backwards and forwards a considerable distance, as well as
stand tall on his hind legs and call into the air for help from smaller
Baggis.

The Great Baggi also possesses the same venomous spit as the regular Baggis,
only it's a much larger spitball and has a lot more chance of knocking you out
and putting you to sleep. It won't use this attack too regularly though unless
you keep your distance, and even when it does, just move in really close and
it won't hit you.

That's more or less it, there's nothing particularly unusual about the Great
Baggi that you haven't seen before. The only time the fight may get a little
tricky is if he retreats into a dark cave, but you should still be able to see
what you're doing, particularly as his eyes glow in the dark. It seems like a
bit of an odd change of pace doing a 3-star threat fight at this point in the
game when you've already knocked over a couple of 4-star threats. Just think
of it as a bit of respite as your next fight is going to be a lot tougher.

There are no offline quests that require you to capture a Great Baggi.

Habitat:
You'll only encounter the Great Baggi in the ice of the Tundra. Unlike the
Great Jaggi though it will also enter dark caves.

Carves: Baggi Hide, Sleep Sac, Baggi Scale, Great Baggi Claw

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Baggi Scale

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Leader's Crest (break crest)

7.7 Lagiacrus
=============

Type: Leviathan

Threat: *****

Weakness: Fire

Description:
You'll know the Lagiacrus when you see one. It's a massive, blue-coloured
aquatic serpent-like reptile with spikes along its back, a flat frill and
small horns jutting out the back of its head. The Lagiacrus is the monster on
the Monster Hunter Tri box art.

Behaviour:
As you might expect, the Lagiacrus is one tough customer, being the pin-up
monster for the game and all. The first time you face one, you don't actually
need to kill it, just hurt it enough to drive it away (which isn't quite as
easy as it sounds). It has 2 distinct attack sets, one on land, the other in
water. During the repel mission, the fight will be 100% land based. During the
kill mission, he'll spend the majority of his time in the water, though will
still come up on land at times.

His land attacks are fairly varied, but one thing you must be wary of is that
he can hit you from just about anywhere. His signature move is a ball of
electricity that he fires out of his mouth, though you'll see this one coming
a mile away as he spends time rearing up on his hind legs first. He also has
two long-range physical attacks, where he slides on his belly towards you, and
when he simply charges at you. His belly slide isn't as bad to avoid and
actually opens up a quick counter opportunity as he takes a while to regain
his footing after coming to a stop. At close range he's got a number of tricks
up his proverbial sleeve too, One such trick you'll need to look out for is an
elastic whip-like attack, where he curls his body up and then allows it to
snap back out, whipping out his tail in the process. If you aren't careful he
can hit you twice with this attack, once when he curls up and once when he
whips back out. Another you'll need to be on the lookout for is a simple bite
attack, where he'll snake his neck and snap either to the left or right, often
both. Finally he has attacks where he simply attempts to smash you with the
side of his body, and an attack similar to the Royal Ludroth where he lifts
himself up and tries to fall down on top of you.

Underwater, he's a different case altogether. In addition to being more agile,
he also has a whole new set of attacks you'll need to learn. He retains his
electric ball attack, but also possesses a much more nasty attack where he
sends a large electrical shock out of his entire body, damaging anything that
is unfortunate enough to be in range. You'll see this one coming when he
arches his back and his dorsal spines start glowing. Once he's in rage mode,
this attack seems to get a lot more nasty, the range is bigger and it is a lot
more damaging. Like all of his electric attacks this can cause thunderblight.
He also retains his biting attack as well as his whiplash attack, and
possesses two underwater versions of the charge move...one where he'll simply
come straight at you with his mouth open, and another where he spins like a
drill as he's coming at you. Both attacks are telegraphed by him swimming away
to make room for himself and then curling up in a ball, before slingshotting 
himself towards you, and both create a strong current of water that can propel
you backwards. He also likes frequently quickly turning in 180's while
underwater, and this will hit you too if you are too close to him.

And of course, regardless of whether he is on land or in the water, he can
bellow out a deafening roar, which causes you to duck and cover your ears.
The Lagiacrus' tail can be cut off and carved, its horns can be smashed and its
chest wounded.

The quest requiring you to capture the Lagiacrus is a little trickier because
of the more confined underwater areas of the Flooded Forest, and the fact
other monsters such as Gobul might show up to make your life more frustrating,
but use the same strategy you should know by now...hurt him until he limps off
to sleep, set the trap, then lure him in.

Habitat:
You'll need to be on the lookout for Lagiacrus in the Moga Woods and Flooded
Forest.

Carves (body): Lagiacrus Hide, Lagiacrus Scale, Lagiacrus Claw, Shell Shocker
Carves (tail): Lagiacrus Tail, Lagiacrus Scale, Lagiacrus Plate

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Lagiacrus Scale, Lagiacrus Plate

Commodities: Ancient Skin Oil, Sea-king's Scale

Additional Quest Rewards: Monster Bone L, Lagiacrus Horn (break horns), Wyvern
                          Claw (break claws)

7.8 Rathian
===========

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: ****

Weakness: Dragon and Thunder

Description:
The Rathian is a large dragon-like creature, although is bipedal like a bird.
She has a greenish-brown colouring with a heavily ridged back, barbed tail,
large wings with protruding spikes, and goblin-like head. This is the female
of the species (the Rathalos being the male).

Behaviour:
The Rathian is unlike anything you've really faced up to this point because of
the fact it can fly and use that to its advantage during the fight, basing
some of its attacks off that fact (the Qurupeco only really flies when it
retreats). If you get unlucky, one may actually be summoned by the Qurupeco
during its capture quest, long before you're actually given a quest to hunt
one. Needless to say you'd be in no way prepared to fight one at that stage of
the game and you should do your best to avoid it. When you *are* ready to
fight one though, here's what to expect.

First things first, the Rathian can spit fireballs. You need to be wary of
this distance attack at all times and make sure you are not stationary in one
spot for very long. She can spit 1 or 3 at a time, and she can also create a
localised explosion of sorts, with multiple detonations, and does this a lot
when low on health. Like most large monsters, she can also bite you and whack
you with her tail - and like most monsters will usually swing her tail at
least twice, once in each direction. In addition to this regular tail attack
she has a second tail attack, where she'll open her wings and hover in the air
slightly before back-flipping and hitting you with her tail in a vertical
trajectory rather than a horizontal one. This attack also has a chance of
poisoning you, so be on your guard to get out of the way if you see it coming.

When on the ground the Rathian can charge at you from a distance, and like the
Barroth, can alter her line slightly during the charge, so you'll need to time
your dodge well to avoid it. She can turn around and charge multiple times in
a row, though once you've hurt her enough she'll slip and trip at the end of
the charge instead, which is a great opportunity to get in some free hits.
She can also lift herself up and fly just above the ground, chasing you around
and will eventually line herself up then swoop down at you. If she manages to
land on top of you, (sometimes she can also do it after knocking you down
from a charge), she'll execute probably her most nasty attack. She'll pin you
to the ground with one of her clawed feet, and take bites at you regularly.
Each bite doesn't do much damage on its own, but if you don't break free,
she'll eventually eat you alive. When you are pinned you'll notice a gauge at
the bottom of the screen. You can mash the buttons and stick to break free,
but the easiest way is to throw a dung bomb at the monster, which will
instantly cause it to let go, so bring a few along just in case. She's also
quite prone in general to flash bombs, pitfall traps and shock traps.

As is the case with most large monsters, she has a deafening roar that causes
you to cower and hold your ears. Like the Qurupeco, she'll fly off and retreat
to another area after a while, but she rarely travels any further than one
area away, and you should be able to track which direction she goes in by her
shadow. Use paintballs if you want to be sure. Overall, this fight isn't too
difficult, provided you keep your distance when she's flying (or be prepared
to block if that's what your weapon preference is) and pay attention to what
she's doing.

The Rathian's tail can be cut off and carved, and this reduces the range of
her tail attacks (but strangely does not prevent the poison attack). Her wing
claws and head crest can both be broken.

As was the case with Qurupeco, be careful to not set up your traps to capture
a Rathian until you're sure it's not going to fly away. Nothing is more
irritating (well, aside from the Felynes and Melynx that make nuisances of
themselves during the capture quest). Get it to the point where it retreats to
sleep before attempting a capture.

Habitat:
You can run into Rathians in the Moga Woods, Sandy Plains and Flooded Forest.

Carves (body): Rathian Scale, Rathian Shell, Rathian Webbing, Rathian Spike,
               Flame Sac
Carves (tail): Rathian Scale, FireWyvrn Marrow, Rathian Spike, Rathian Plate

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Rathian Scale

Commodities: Glittering Scale, Queen's Spirit, Wyverngold

Additional Quest Rewards: Rath Marrow, Rath Talon (break wings), Wyvern Claw
                          (break wings)

7.9 Gigginox
============

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: ****

Weakness: Fire

Description:
The Gigginox is the mother of all those little annoying Giggi. It's much more
than just a huge Giggi though. For a start it has legs and wings, though the
wings have actually evolved into another set of legs, meaning it travels
around on all fours. It has a long, flat tail, and purple-ish "sensors" on
its head, tail and body. It's main colouring is much the same as a Giggi, a
dirty white/grey colour, though its underside is red. It's complete with a
huge round mouth and frog-like feet. At first glance its tail looks identical
to its head.

Behaviour:
The Gigginox is one of the more unique monsters in the game, due to the fact
that you fight her completely inside of caves. She's perfectly adapted to this
and will climb on walls and on the ceiling during the course of the battle.
When on the ceiling it can hang in place using its suction cup-like tail.

The Gigginox's special ability is its poison. It has multiple ways to poison
you, and you need to be wary of all of them. The first is a pretty obvious one
- it spits a poison ball at you. It can do this either when on the ground, or
when hanging from the ceiling. The second, it can sort of lay a poison ball
with its tail. Both of these will hang around the battlefield for a while. The
third is a bit more subtle and a bit more difficult to avoid...it lifts its
body up then slams it down, creating a poisonous gas cloud that lingers in the
air for a few seconds. You'll need to be careful of this because this body
slam attack won't necessarily create a poison cloud every time and there's no
real way of knowing if it will. Lastly, it can create a small localised gas
explosion directly in front of itself that propels the monster backwards, in
a similar way to the Qurupeco's fire explosion. Be careful of the poison cloud
but also be careful that the Gigginox doesn't land on top of you. Make sure
you bring plenty of antidotes to this fight to negate the poison effects.

So what can it do besides poison you? Glad you asked. It should come as no
surprise to you that it can roar very loud, making you duck and cover your
ears. It likes to jump around quite a bit as well, and can cover big distances
in a single leap. It can either try to land right on top of you, or try to be
sneaky and land behind you. When it does the latter it will actually spin 180
degrees in mid air so it is facing your back when it lands. It can also try
ramming you from a distance, though moves somewhat slower to other monsters
like Barroths.

The Gigginox is somewhat elastic too and can stretch its neck longer to bite
you. It will often swing its neck in both directions, hitting multiple times.
It uses this to its advantage when hanging from the ceiling too. When hanging,
it can stretch and swing its neck around in an attempt to catch you with it.
If it manages to hit you with this swinging neck attack while its hanging from
the ceiling, it can pin you to the ground and slowly drain your health away in
a similar way that Rathian can (except you end up actually inside her mouth
...gross). After a while of being trapped, she'll also release a poison gas
cloud that will poison you (duh) and drain your health even faster. Like
Rathian, dung bombs work to free you instantly from this, so again it'll be a
good idea to bring a few along to this fight. Also while its hanging from the
ceiling it can simply let go and attempt to fall on top of you, squashing you
underneath it. It if decides to stick to a wall, be prepared for it to leap
off at some point.

Overall the Gigginox's attacks generally don't do a lot of damage on their
own, but combined with the poison attacks they are very potent. Do not
underestimate this thing or you'll be killed pretty quick. It also has a
tendency to lay egg sacs (even on the ceiling), which will spawn Giggi that
tend to make a nuisance of themselves during the fight. All of the glowing
purple parts of its body can be smashed, but you cannot sever anything. In the
dark caves the purple glows in the dark, in brighter caves these areas appear
white. Remember not to forget your hot drinks for this fight, too.

Fun fact: While it doesn't look like it, the Gigginox *can* actually fly
(beyond making leaps to the ceiling or over your head). During the fight there
is a small chance it might venture outside for a short time. It it does, you
will see it flying when it retreats to another area. It's not very common, but
you might get lucky!

There are no offline quests that require you to capture a Gigginox.

Habitat:
Gigginox only inhabit the dark caves of the Tundra. Makes you wonder why you
find Giggi in caves in the middle of the desert...

Carves: Flabby Hide, Pale Extract, Unnerving Talon, Poison Sac, Uncanny Hide

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Pale Extract

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Fearsome Maw (break purple areas on head or body)

7.10 Rathalos
=============

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: *****

Weakness: Dragon and Thunder

Description:
The Rathalos is a large monster, noticeably bigger with a larger wingspan than
his female counterpart the Rathian, and sporting a distinctive red colouring.
Like the Rathian he has a spiked tail, large powerful wings with protruding
spikes and a menacing looking head.

Behaviour:
As you would expect, the Rathalos behaves in a very similar way to the Rathian
- well, some of the time. The big difference between the two, apart from
Rathalos obviously having a lot more health, is that he spends a lot more time
in the air than Rathian does, and has a number of air-specific attacks at his
disposal.

On the ground, his moveset is much the same as Rathian. He can charge at you,
although doesn't slip and trip if he's low on stamina. His version seems
faster than Rathian's but that might be just my eyes. He also spins his body
around to whack you with his tail the exact same way as Rathian, usually twice
in a row (once in each direction). He has a move similar to one the Qurupeco
has, where he'll quickly leap back and blast a fireball out, sometimes blowing
gusts of wind at you while doing so, and may continue to hover slightly above
ground for a short time while he periodically fires single fireballs. He can
bite you of course, normally by swinging his neck towards you, and possesses
the same fireball attack, although when on the ground he'll only ever spit one
fireball at a time.

In the air it's a different matter. He has an air-based version of the
fireball attack and he can spit out, 1, 2 or 3 fireballs in a volley. While
flying, he can also dive-bomb you claws-first and if you're hit by this you'll
be poisoned and even stunned if you're unlucky. This one's quite difficult to
dodge and will require precise timing as he actually follows you on his way
down and will change direction to hit you. Simply running to the side won't
cut it. He's also got two swooping attacks that he'll execute while in the
air. One is basically an air-based version of his regular charge (that moves
MUCH faster and is more damaging), the other is that move you'll be quite
familiar with by now where he'll pin you down with one of his talons and
slowly drain away your health, unless you wildly mash the buttons to escape,
or use a dung bomb (so yes, it might be a good idea to bring a few to this
fight, too).

Overall, the Rathalos is a much tougher customer than the Rathian, and because
he spends so much time in the air, you'll need to exercise a lot of patience.
You might be able to land blows on him (and possibly knock him down) during
his low-altitude flying attacks, but it's pretty risky to do so. You just need
to try to avoid or block his attacks as best you can, and maximise your 
opportunities to hit him while he's on the ground. It may be a good idea to
bring a pitfall trap and shock trap, plus the components to build 1 or 2 more,
just so you can pin him on the ground for a bit longer and give yourself some
free hits. Many of his attacks are very powerful with a good chance of
stunning you, so stay alert or you could find yourself dead very quickly.
Don't forget your cool drinks either. Be careful of his roar, as immediately
afterwards he'll perform the leap-back fireball attack.

The Rathalos' tail can be cut off and carved (which reduces the range of his
tail attacks), his wing claws can be broken and so can his head crest. There
are no offline quests requiring you to capture a Rathalos, though be careful
during the second Rathalos quest as a Rathian can show up to join the fight
and make things much tougher.

Habitat:
Rathalos patrol the skies of the Volcano and can also be found in the Moga
Woods.

Carves (body): Rathalos Scale, Rathalos Shell, Rathalos Webbing, Flame Sac,
               FireWyvrn Marrow
Carves (tail): Rathalos Tail, Rathalos Scale, FireWyvrn Marrow, Rathalos Plate

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Rathalos Scale, Rathalos Plate

Commodities: Glittering Scale, Vermilion Scale

Additional Quest Rewards: Rath Talon (break wings)

7.11 Barioth
============

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: *****

Weakness: Fire

Description:
Barioths (not to be confused with Barroths) are odd looking monsters that, like
Gigginox, have wings but their wings have developed into another set of legs,
and spend a lot of time on all fours. They do still however retain the ability
to fly. They are whiteish-grey in colour, with spikes on their wings and
large clawed feet. But their most distinctive feature is their large
sabre-teeth, making them look like a huge sabre-tooth tiger with wings.

Behaviour:
The first thing you'll probably notice about the Barioth is the thing that'll
take you completely by surprise - its speed. The Barioth moves incredibly
fast...much faster than anything else you've really faced up until this point.
The game kinda warns you that it is "difficult to keep up with" if you add it
to your hunter's notes, but nothing can really prepare you for just how agile
these things are. It can leap large distances in a single bound, it can fly
quite well, and has very fast movement speed on the ground. He also hits hard
and can stun you with just two consecutive hits. Yep, this is a tough fight.

Closing the gap is what the Barioth does best. He can charge you, or jump at
you with a lunging attack where he swings his body and bites to each side a
couple of times, lurching forward a large distance each time he does so. Once
he's in your face, he can whack you with his claws, or slam his sabre-teeth
into the ground, causing your body to be coated in snow if he hits (which has
the same effect as being coated in mud by the Barroth), or bite you. At medium
range, he can whip his spiked tail at you (don't underestimate the range of
this attack) which causes iceblight, or spit out an iceball that turns into a
mini-ice tornado, which can also cause your body to be covered in snow. He can
also spit this iceball attack while in the air. Also while in the air, he has
an annoying tendency to try to land on top of you and flatten you, and can
swoop down and slam into you from the air too, both attacks are very damaging
and should be avoided as best you can. Perhaps his nastiest attack is one
where he can fly to a wall, grab hold of it, then push off and propel himself
towards you, whipping his tail around to finish you off. He doesn't do this
very often, but you must try to avoid this if you can as it can be a one-hit
kill depending on your defense (and is highly damaging even if it doesn't
one-hit you). And of course, the Barioth can roar very loudly.

The Barioth has no issues fighting you in dark caves either, in fact he can be
a tougher prospect in there due to the confined spaces. So don't think the
fight is restricted to the outdoor areas.

It should go without saying to bring plenty of healing items to this fight,
as well as hot drinks. Because the Barioth moves so fast, much of your attack
opportunities will come from avoiding and counter-attacking, so get very used
to blocking or dodging (depending on your weapon of choice) as you'll need to
learn to do a lot of it in this fight. If you don't, the Barioth will make
mince meat out of you.

The Barioth's tail can be cut off and carved, which reduces the range of its
tail attacks. His sabre-teeth can be broken, and the spikes on each of his
wings can be broken, both of which can affect his movement speed and possibly
cause him to slip and slide on the ice. There are no offline quests that
require you to capture a Barioth.

Habitat:
Barioths are encountered exclusively in the Tundra.

Carves (body): Barioth Shell, Frost Sac, Barioth Pelt, Amber Tusks
Carves (tail): Barioth Tail, Barioth Shell, Barioth Spike

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Barioth Spike, Frost Sac

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Barioth Claw

7.12 Diablos
============

Type: Flying Wyvern

Threat: *****

Weakness: Ice

Description:
The Diablos is one of the uglier monsters you'll encounter in Monster Hunter
Tri. It's a massive creature with the same shaped body as the Rathian and
Rathalos, except it unmistakably has two massive horns jutting out of its head
in addition to two moderately long tusks sticking out of its mouth. Its body
is covered in ugly brown scales which are extremely durable, and its tail ends
in a club that looks similar to a battleaxe.

Behaviour:
The Diablos definitely looks like it's been beaten with an ugly stick, but
this thing can move with surprising speed despite its big and bulky size. First
and foremost though, you need to be wary about this beast's roar. The Diablos'
roar is more like a high pitched scream, which actually causes any surrounding
Delex in the area to pop out of the sand. If you are within range of the roar,
your character will duck and cover their ears as usual, but will be doing this
for longer than the roar of other monsters, and could potentially leave you a
sitting duck for attacks (whereas most of the time with other monsters, you
still have a reasonable chance of getting away before the next attack comes).

The Diablos fights purely with brute force. Not surprisingly, it can use its
huge horns and charge you like a massive bull. At close range, it can flick
its head upwards, catching you with his horns and launching you high into the
air. It can swing its head multiple times from side to side, especially when
angered. Both of these horn attacks are quite damaging, but are not too
difficult to avoid. It can also bite you, though doesn't really do this much
unless you're in its face.

It's not just the horns on its head you need to worry about though, that tail
packs a punch as well. It has two specific tail attacks, one is a pretty
standard spin-the-body-around kind of move that many other large monsters use.
The other, it'll stand perfectly still and whip its tail from side to side
several times, often after resurfacing from a burrow. Both attacks are again
pretty damaging, and can be deceptive in their execution.

The unique ability of the Diablos is its ability to burrow underground and move
around. While tunneling is when it can launch its nastier attacks. The first
isn't too hard to avoid, he'll tunnel straight at you and attempt to come up
underneath you to gouge you with his horns. Move to either side and you
shouldn't get hit, but keep an eye on where the puffs of dust are so you know
where he is. His second is much more difficult to do much about. He'll burrow
underground, then shake the ground several times, causing dust to puff up into
the air. This will disorient you if you are in range. After a couple of
tremors, he'll suddenly burst from the ground, performing a massive leap in the
air, and if he lands on you causes massive damage. You'll need to hit the deck
at the exact right time to avoid this one.

Once you learn how to use sonic bombs, his burrowing attacks don't seem so bad,
and he becomes much easier to deal with. They take a little getting used to,
and you'll probably need some trial and error to get your timing right (try
throwing one just after his tail disappears into the ground), but once you
have it right, you can use them to pin him into the ground for a short time,
allowing free hits. Sonic bombs don't work when he's angered though (you'll
know he is as he moves a lot faster than normal). Because he retreats to other
areas by tunneling underground, it can be difficult to keep track of where he
goes, so make sure you paintball him.

Fun fact: The Diablos can't really fly, but will float in the air for a short
time after he breaks free of a pitfall trap or if he's been trapped by a sonic
bomb.

The Diablos' tail can be cut off and carved, and both of its horns can be
broken. There are no offline quests requiring you to capture a Diablos.

Habitat:
Diablos are found exclusively in the Sandy Plains, generally in the large
desert areas but can occasionally wander into some more fertile areas too.

Carves (body): Diablos Shell, Diablos Fang, Diablos Ridge
Carves (tail): Diablos Shell, Diablos Tailcase, Diablos Marrow

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Diablos Ridge

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Diablos Marrow, Twisted Horn (break horns), Majestic
                          Horn (break horns)

7.13 Uragaan
============

Type: Brute Wyvern

Threat: *****

Weakness: Water, Poison and Paralysis

Description:
The Uragaan is a huge bipedal monster with a massive, rock-hard chin that it
uses as a weapon. It's greenish-brown in colour with an array of weird yellow-
brown flattened spines protruding from its back, the top of its head and down
the length of its tail. Its tail is long and thick.

Behaviour:
The first time you encounter a Uragaan will probably be on the powderstone
delivery quest. At that stage, my advice to you would be to avoid it as best
you can, and don't bother fighting it until you are given a quest to do so.
When you're ready to take one on, here's what to expect.

The Uragaan is generally slow moving, but has a unique method of moving
around quickly. It can roll itself into a ball then roll around the area on
top of its flattened spines. He can roll a short distance or a longer distance,
and can also circle around you. Be sure to keep an eye on him whenever he is
rolling because there's no sign beforehand to telegraph how long his roll is
going to be. He will however always stop rolling if he hits lava or runs into
a wall. He also has another variation on this roll that's only used in the
middle area of the Volcano where you first encounter him. He'll dig into the
ground, then a few seconds later will emerge on top of the hill. He'll then
roll down the hill then continue rolling around the area in a figure-8 shape
several times. I found the safest position to stand during this is right at
one of the two entrances to the area, just far enough so you don't enter the
next area, but it's possible to stand in the middle of the loops and not get
hit too if you can predict where he'll roll. When he's tired, he'll often fall
on his side after a roll.

What can he do besides rolling? Well, that massive Jay Leno chin has to be used
for something, right? The chin is so big it can damage you a little just by
walking into it! He has several attacks that utilise it. The most common is an
attack where he pounds his chin on the ground four times. He'll pound twice,
pause for a moment then pound twice again before emitting a growling noise.
When angered, he'll turn to chase you in between each pair of pounds. He's
also got one, big massive chin pound that he can unleash, where he'll make a
groaning noise, slowly raise his head up, then smash his chin into the ground.
If you're caught under it it'll do big damage. If you aren't, the force of the
pound will send shockwaves through the ground and will disorient you if you
are within range. The Uragaan is slow to recover after this attack so it's a
perfect opportunity to demonstrate your weapon skills on him. Finally, he can
sweep his head from side to side in an effort to hit you with his chin, though
will only use this if you're right in front of him.

But wait, there's more! Order now and receive a free set of exploding rocks!
That's right, the Uragaan's back apparently has some volatile rocks on top of
it, and he can throw them onto the battlefield by whipping his tail around. Up
to three rocks can be thrown out at once, and they will explode if they hit
you, causing pretty big damage. If they don't hit you, they will stay on the
ground until either you or the Uragaan itself hits them. However the
aforementioned shockwave generated by the single massive chin smash can also
set all the rock bombs off. It'll be a sensible idea to steer clear of these
rocks if he throws them out. The tail-whip move he uses to sling out the rocks
is also an attack, and you'll need to keep an eye on that tail as it has
deceptively long range.

Finally, the Uragaan has a pretty annoying move where he...ummm, for the lack
of a better word..."farts" out a gas from underneath his body. This gas can be
blue coloured, which will put you to sleep, or red coloured, which is a fire
attack and will cause fireblight. He'll stand pretty still for a second or two
before using this move, tempting you in close to hit him. Once you notice the
move coming though you only have a second to get away before being hit. He'll
almost always immediately follow up this move with a roll attack.

For the capture quest, use the same strategy at the other monsters...get him
to the point where he retreats to sleep. However you'll notice once he does
that he sleeps on top of that hill in the middle area that he launches his
figure-8 roll attack from, where you can't reach him. Don't be discouraged by
it...set your trap anyway, and he'll come down soon enough, where you can bag
him.

Bring plenty of cold drinks to this fight as it will likely be a long one,
and some poison bombs probably wouldn't hurt either (use them in combination
with traps). Be sure you use the poison knives you are given as supply items.
If you have a weapon that can inflict poison or paralysis, even better. Be
careful of Uragaan's roar too - while the roar itself isn't any different to
that of other monster roars, he'll slam his chin into the ground twice
immediately afterwards. If you're standing in front of him you'll be hit by
this, if you're underneath him at the time, you'll be propelled forward to
finish up in front of him.

Uragaan's tail can be cut off and carved, and his chin can be broken, which
can lower the effectiveness of his rolling attacks (he'll fall over more
often). You'll need a really sharp weapon or a strong hammer to break it
though. Uragaan provides four body carves instead of the usual three.

Habitat:
Uragaan inhabits the volcano, generally sticking to the hotter areas about
halfway up, though occasionally may venture into the cooler rocky areas.

Carves (body): Uragaan Scale, Uragaan Shell, Uragaan Jaw, Uragaan Scute
Carves (tail): Uragaan Scale, Uragaan Scute, Uragaan Marrow

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Uragaan Shell, Uragaan Marrow

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Charms to be appraised

7.14 Agnaktor
=============

Type: Leviathan

Threat: *****

Weakness: Water

Description:
Agnaktor is the adult form of Uroktor, and therefore possesses a very similar
body shape, only a lot, lot larger. It has the same strange beak-like mouth,
and the same strange tail, although it now has grown a full dorsal sail on its
back as opposed to the individual spines Uroktor have. When in lava, its body
is red-hot and soft. When out of lava, its body cools and hardens.

Behaviour:
The Agnaktor is a pretty nasty customer to deal with. You'll notice from his
introduction cinematic that the state of his body changes during the course
of the fight. If any part of his body touches lava, it will glow red hot and
can be hit freely. The longer he stays out of lava though the harder his body
gets, until just about any weapon attack will bounce off him. Obviously, you
shouldn't waste too much time (not to mention whetstones) by attacking his
body when it's in this hardened state, but on the flipside you really need to
make your attacks count when his body is soft.

He shares several very similar if not identical attacks to the Lagiacrus. The
first, he'll simply charge towards you a short distance. The second, he'll
slide along the ground on his belly in an attempt to ram you. Both attacks
should be easily avoided, but be on the lookout for them. He also has a very
similar tail-whip move where he contorts his body, bending it in a U shape,
before springing his tail out and whacking you with it. He's also got a new
attack where he'll chase you around the battlefield, slamming his beak into
the ground multiple times as he does so, kinda similar to an attack Qurupeco
has but with a lot more force behind it. Obviously, stay away from that beak.

The Agnaktor's main drawcard is his ability to tunnel through solid rock. When
he does so, he'll flip and dive head first into the ground, using his beak and
twisting his body in a drilling motion to dig himself a hole in an identical
way to Uroktor. Once he's under the ground he can unleash one of several
attacks on you. The first is the same attack Uroktor possess, where he'll
come up underneath you and launch himself upwards, sending you flying into the
air if you're standing above him. However he may also continue rising and
burrow into the ceiling, then come back down and repeat the attack. The second
attack type can be difficult to see coming. If only his dorsal sail resurfaces
soon after he's burrowed, he's going to come straight at you with a very fast
underground charge attack. Dodge out of the way! A third attack that he can
pull off while underground is a constant dive-burrow move, where he'll
violently surface then dive back down into the rock again in an attempt to
pole-axe you, and will perform three or four dives in quick succession. You
really need to keep your eye on him and constantly run in circles to try and
avoid this one. The final attack he can use after burrowing is a plasma-like
beam attack. Only the top half of his body will surface, then he'll steady
himself with his front legs as he snaps his beak together several times,
before opening his mouth and firing out a red-hot beam. As he's firing it, he
twists his neck around, causing the beam to be fired out in a circle shape
around him with ever-increasing radius. Believe it or not the safest place to
stand here is right up next to him, and he's completely exposed to attacks
when doing this move, so make the most of the opportunity.

His final attack is a variation of his heat beam that he can fire after
burrowing, except he doesn't need to burrow to fire this one. He'll simply
stand still and snap his beak together several times, before unleashing the
powerful beam. The force of the blast is enough to push him backwards a couple
of steps. This one is fired in a straight line however, making it easier to
avoid. His chest is vulnerable to attacks during this move. Obviously, this
beam as well as the variation he fires after burrowing can cause fireblight.

So, the big question is when is his body soft enough to hit? There's obviously
lava under the ground, as he'll always surface from a burrow in his softened
state, regardless of the attack he used. His beak is vulnerable after the
multiple beak smash, his beak and chest are vulnerable during his standing
heat-beam move and his upper body is vulnerable during his burrow heat-beam
move. His body will also become soft if you manage to catch him in a pitfall
trap. Like Diablos, he can be trapped half-submerged in the ground by a sonic
bomb unless angered, although your window of opportunity to use one is
significantly smaller (you'll really need to time it so it hits a moment after
his tail disappears underground), and his body will be in the softened state
then too. Obviously, his whole body is open to attack after he emerges from
lava. I'm guessing if you're a bowgunner you may be able to hit him while he's
actually in the lava, but have not tried it myself.

The first time you do this will likely be a pretty long fight, so don't forget
cool drinks! Also make sure you paintball him, as he'll dive into the lava to
move to another area so you're never quite sure which way he went. He'll
always retreat to the very top of the volcano to sleep though. It seems kinda
redundant to say this by now but yes, he can roar loudly too.

Agnaktor's tail can be severed and carved, his beak can be broken and his chest
can be wounded. It's also possible to break off the parts of his legs that
harden when out of the lava, but make sure you have a very sharp weapon. There
are no offline quests requiring you to capture an Agnaktor.

Habitat:
You'll find Agnaktor in the Volcano, only in the hot lava-filled areas.

Carves (body): Agnaktor Shell, Agnaktor Hide, Agnaktor Scale, Agnaktor Claw,
               Firestone
Carves (tail): Agnaktor Tail, Agnaktor Fin, Firestone

Drops: Wyvern Tear, Agnaktor Scale, Firestone

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: Agnaktor Beak (break beak), Monster Bone L (break
                          beak)

7.15 Ceadeus
============

Type: Elder Dragon

Threat: ******

Weakness: Dragon (don't ask me how that works), Thunder, or Fire on his beard

Description:
The Ceadeus is the final boss of the offline single player game and is
appropriately massive. It's a huge water-based behemoth, shaped kind of like
a huge, light-blue eel/whale thing with short, pectoral fins and long
bull-like horns on its head. Its strangest feature is what can only be
described as a beard under its chin. Doesn't exactly look like your
stereotypical dragon. Interestingly, this is the only 100% water-based monster
in the game, he does not possess the ability to come up onto land. It appears
to only have one eye as a horn protrudes from his head where his other eye
should be. In the final area his underside glows blue, and changes to red when
in rage mode.

Behaviour:
For the final boss in the game, the Ceadeus surprisingly does not have too
many attacks. By my count there's only six of them. However, be careful
particularly during the first part of the battle as you're chasing him through
the underwater tunnels as his tail and fins can hit and damage you if you get
too close, even though he doesn't intentionally try to hit you with them. Of
course, he has a deafening roar, though won't use it until you reach the final
area.

He's got a pretty stock-standard headbutt kind of move, where he'll swing his
head from side to side several times in an attempt to catch you with his horns.
The other main physical attack he uses is a tail whack, where he swims into a
vertical position then swings his tail upwards. Both of these attacks are
fairly slow moving and oddly, not all that damaging. He does also have a
double-bite move which he uses relatively rarely.

The attack you'll probably most need to look out for is his water vortex.
He'll spend a second or two sucking in a huge mouthful of water, then fire it
out of his mouth with a massive amount of force (enough to propel him
backwards a bit, so you aren't completely safe hiding just behind his head).
This particular attack has two variations: this first is fired in a straight
line, the second he moves his head down while firing, causing the vortex to
arc downwards. This attack is quite damaging, and will knock you back a long
way too. Be careful as it's got a deceptively large area of effect and you may
be hit by it even if you think you are far enough to either side. Both
variations of this move cause waterblight if you are struck by them. He will
not use the vertical variation until you reach the third area.

His final attack is also pretty nasty, though you've basically seen it before
when fighting the Lagiacrus. He'll curl his body up then slingshot himself
through the water towards you, spinning his body like a drill as he moves.
You'll need to be on your guard here as he'll spend a little while getting his
trajectory right and will move his head side to side, so sometimes it can be
tricky to predict exactly which direction he's going in. If you're hit head-on
by this attack, it will cause dragonblight. This attack it not as fast as the
Lagiacrus' version. He won't use this attack until you reach the third area.

Having said all that, oddly enough it's not so much the Ceadeus itself that is
your biggest enemy here, it's the timer. You're only given 35 minutes to
complete the repel mission as opposed to the usual 50 minutes, and he's got a
tonne of HP so doesn't exactly go down quickly. Luckily, for the main story
quest, you do not need to actually kill it, just repel it. Once he's repelled
(and you've finished the main game), an optional kill mission opens up that
gives you the chance to slay him. Unless you've done some grinding online to
get uber high rank armour and weapons it's impossible to do enough damage to
kill him in one attempt (and even if you could, he'll swim away once you've
damaged him enough in the repel mission anyway). So since this guide is
concentrating on single player, I'll focus on the repel quest, then if you
want to tackle him in the kill quest you can do so, as the only thing that
really changes is that you're only given 30 minutes instead of 35.

So, the first part of this battle sees you chasing after him through a series
of underwater tunnels. He starts off swimming slowly in the first area, and
gradually picks up pace in the second area. In this time he won't aggressively
attack you, except occasionally in retaliation if you hurt him enough. You'll
need to watch yourself that you aren't hit by his pectoral fins or tail as you
try to get close and then keep up with him. Lay into him as much as you can
during this time - you need to damage him enough so that he breaks into the
third area when he reaches it (if he isn't sufficiently damaged by the time he
reaches the end of the second area, it's quest failed at that point). Don't
waste time attacking his horns at this stage, just concentrate on his body
(his beard is a good place to focus your attacks, and you should be able to
"break" it before he reaches the third area).

Once he breaks through into the third area, the battle proper starts. He uses
all of his attack set, and he'll consider you a threat rather than a annoyance,
aggressively attacking you. There are three underwater weapons available for
you to use against him at this stage of the battle: A Dragonator, which is a
high-impact set of huge heavy spikes, and two UW Ballistas (one on either side
of the Dragonator), which are harpoon-firing types of weapons. The Dragonator
is activated by a button on top of it, and the two Ballistas require you to
collect UW Ballista ammo. You'll find the ammo beside each Ballista...once
you've collected it, scroll to it in your item list then "use" it when you are
near the actual Ballista. Aiming the Ballistas can be a bit tricky (gunners
would know this already, but tapping R on the classic controller puts you into
first person mode which makes it MUCH easier to aim the things) but now is the
time you need to go for the horns. Aim and fire on the head area as much as you
can. Once all of the Ballista ammo is used (one side has 10 ammo, the other
8-10, but you can only hold a maximum of 10 at once. Pro tip: You can max
yourself out on Ballista ammo before the fight by trading it from the Argosy
Captain, so you have an extra 10 Ballista ammo to use) and you've nailed the
Ceadeus with the Dragonator at least once (it takes about 10 minutes for it to
recharge, so it might be a good idea to use it as soon as you enter the third
area to give you a chance at using it again) you should have his horn broken.
When using the Dragonator, be sure to wait until he's in front of it, then
push the button. You should be aiming to hit his chest or head, for some
reason it will miss if you hit his tail area. Try to lure him in front of it,
or alternatively wait until he swims to the opposite side of the area, as
after he does this he'll swim up in front of the Dragonator. If you manage to
break his horn before you've used all of the Ballista ammo even better, use
the remaining ammo on his body. Your job isn't over once that horn is broken
though. You must now pull out your handheld weapon of choice and spend the
remaining time giving him everything you've got. Provided you've got a decent
weapon (and if you've got this far, I presume you do - a weapon with Dragon
or Thunder element is even better) and you've hit him with the environment
weapons, you should be able to do enough damage to repel him.

Special Note:

Now, I just want to clear up any misconceptions about the Ceadeus and the slay
quest. You may have heard that he does not regenerate his health between
quests, and yes, this is true. However, from my own experimentation I've
found this only applies during the same quest. If you attempt the repel-only
mission, any damage you do does NOT carry over to the optional slay mission,
and vice-versa. If, however, you attempt either of these missions a second
time, the damage dealt DOES carry over (unless you fail to get him into the
3rd area it seems). This is true regardless of whether you successfully repel
him (as you need to repel him first in the optional quest), or fail the quest.
So, don't be confused if you play the repel mission first and successfully
finish it, then attempt the slay mission to find his horn has grown back.
When playing the optional mission, you'll need to attempt it at least twice
anyway, with the first time a repel and the second time a kill. Yes, it's a
bit confusing, but if you just think of them being two completely different
and separate quests, you should be fine. Also, with both the repel quest and
the optional slay quest, if you get him into the third area, he'll start from
there the next time you play the quest if you happen to fail (or if you
successfully repel him in the slay quest). Of particularly special note
in regards to the slay quest, once you've repelled him, he'll start in the
third area the next time you attempt the quest - if you go straight for the
Dragonator and use it immediately, you should be able to use it three times
during the fight (unless you kill him beforehand, of course).

The last thing to note about the Ceadeus is that it doesn't limp when it's
close to death like other monsters do (I suppose it can't since it doesn't have
legs). Instead, it will noticeably glow a pale white colour.

Once his horn is broken off it can be carved twice. If you manage to kill him
(during the optional kill quest) his body can be carved six times! However,
make sure you kill him with your handheld weapon or the Dragonator, if you kill
him with a Ballista shot you'll likely be too far away to get all 6 carves
before the 1 minute timer runs out (I found this out the hard way). His beard
can be "broken", and his tail and back can be wounded. He's immune to shock
traps however so don't even bother attempting to catch him.

Habitat:
You'll fight the Ceadeus in a specific area of underwater tunnels that isn't
part of any of the other maps of the game, ending in a large circular
underwater ruined cave. Apparently it's meant to be some area underneath Moga
Village.

Carves (body): Ceadeus Scale, Ceadeus Hide, Luminous Organ, Deep Dragongem
Carves (horn): Crooked Horn, Ceadeus Scale, Ceadeus Hide

Drops: N/A

Commodities: N/A

Additional Quest Rewards: ElderDragonBlood, Ceadeus Fur (break beard), Ceadeus
                          Tail (break tail)
                          
8.0 Monster Status Effects
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wondering what the hell "dragonblight" means? Look no further. Here's a quick
reference to the various status effects a monster can inflict on you, and what
each one does. Because I'm such a nice guy, I'll even tell you what items cure
them. Note certain armours and charms will also offer various levels of
protection from these ailments. All status effects wear off on their own
eventually, but depending on your equipment this time can be lengthened or
shortened.

8.1 Poison
==========

Effect: You gradually lose health
Sign: Purple bubbles appear over your character's head, health bar is purple
Cure: Antidote Herb (50/50 chance), Antidote, Herbal Medicine, Antidote Horn
Inflicted by: Rathian, Gigginox, Rathalos

8.2 Paralysis
=============

Effect: You are unable to move for a set amount of time
Sign: Your character lies flat on the ground surrounded by yellow bolts
Cure: No cure as far as I can tell, you just need to wait it out
Inflicted by: Bnahabra, Gobul

8.3 Sleep
=========

Effect: You fall asleep until you are hit
Sign: Your character will move lethargically before collapsing on the ground.
      White bubbles appear over your character's head
Cure: Energy Drink (use before you collapse on the ground) or get hit by a
      monster or Cha-Cha
Inflicted by: Baggi, Great Baggi, Uragaan

8.4 Stun
========

Effect: You are unable to move for a set period of time
Sign: Your character stands wobbling and dazed with stars around their head
Cure: None, but mashing the buttons and stick allows you to snap out of it
      quicker, or you can get hit by a monster or Cha-Cha
Inflicted by: Any monster landing multiple hits in quick succession. Rathalos
              and Gobul can one-hit stun

8.5 Mud/Ice
===========

Effect: You move very slowly and are unable to attack or use items (but can
        still dodge). Your stamina will not deplete for the duration of the
        effect
Sign: Your character's body is encased in mud or ice
Cure: Cleanser, or get hit by a monster or Cha-Cha
Inflicted by: Barroth (mud), Barioth (ice)

8.6 Defense Drop
================

Effect: Your defense is temporarily lowered
Sign: Puffs of smoke with periodically eminate from your character's body
Cure: Adamant Seed
Inflicted by: Altaroth, Qurupeco (fire defense drop)

8.7 Fireblight
==============

Effect: You gradually lose health
Sign: Your character's armour is on fire, health bar is purple
Cure: Firedouse Berry, or roll on the ground 3-4 times or once through water
Inflicted by: Uroktor, Qurupeco, Rathian, Rathalos, Uragaan, Agnaktor

8.8 Waterblight
===============

Effect: Your stamina replenishes much slower
Sign: Your stamina bar turns blue recovering stamina
Cure: Waterblock Seed
Inflicted by: Ludroth, Delex, Royal Ludroth, Barroth, Gobul, Lagiacrus, Ceadeus

8.9 Thunderblight
=================

Effect: Makes you more prone to being stunned
Sign: Electricity periodically zaps around your body
Cure: Stormsender Seed
Inflicted by: Lagiacrus

8.10 Iceblight
==============

Effect: Causes your stamina to deplete much faster
Sign: Your stamina bar turns light blue when using stamina
Cure: Icethaw Pellet
Inflicted by: Barioth

8.11 Dragonblight
=================

Effect: Your affinity (chance of critical attacks) is lowered
Sign: Your character's body pulses with black/red bolts
Cure: Dragonfell Berry
Inflicted by: Ceadeus

9.0 Frequently Asked Questions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This section is new as of version 1.01 of this Monster Guide. I'll add the
questions that I get emailed about the most frequently and answer them here.

Q: Why aren't Deviljho, Jhen Mohran and Alatreon mentioned in your FAQ?
A: Because this FAQ only covers the offline single player game, where these
monsters do not appear.

Q: How do I obtain "plus" versions of items from monsters, eg Jaggi Scale+ ?
A: Again, this is online only. Once you have hunter rank of 30, high-rank
quests open up to you, where you can fight stronger versions of monsters.
Completing these quests allows you to obtain these high-rank items.

Q: You mention I can get x item from a monster, but I've killed 100 of them
and haven't got it yet! What gives?
A: Some items are very rare. Sometimes you can get lucky and get it first go,
sometimes you can be really unlucky and barely get it at all. Also keep in mind
some items are only obtained after achieving a goal during the battle (breaking
Qurupeco's flints to obtain Flintstone, for example), and some items can only
be obtained from capturing a monster. A common belief on the forums is that
the game somehow knows what item you're after and decides not to give it to
you :P

Q: How do I obtain the rare "star" commodities?
A: Hunting monsters in the Moga Woods. You get 1-star rare from Great Jaggis,
2-star rare from Qurupeco and Royal Ludroth, 3-star rare from Rathian and
4-star rare from Lagiacrus and Rathalos (Rathalos appear to be quite rare
though). Hunting on days when the forecast mentions "abundant commodities",
and capturing the monster rather than killing it will increase your chances.

Q: Is blinding a monster with a Flash Bomb the same as stunning it?
A: No. Blind and Stun are two separate statuses you can inflict on a monster,
even though they both cause the monster to see yellow stars around their heads.
A blind monster can still move around, a stunned monster can't. As far as I can
tell the only way to stun a monster is to whack it with your shield when using
the short sword (anywhere on the body is fine for small monsters, aim for the
head for large monsters) or to smash it with your hammer (again, for large
monsters go for the head, but you'll probably kill a small monster before you
stun it - stick with the shield if you want to stun Kelbi).

10.0 Acknowledgements and Credits
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Capcom for making this excellent game, and making the decision to bring it to
the Western audience on the Wii!
The various posters on the Gamefaqs message boards, because I needed to check
them quite a number of times in order to find some of the rarer carves and
drops that I somehow didn't get myself. Too many to list here by name so if
you asked a question about a carve or if you answered someone's question,
credit goes to you!
"Ricky Renna" and "Kyle Grzech", for pointing out that the Barroth does leave
a small dust-puff trail when it moves to another area. I'd noticed it myself,
but totally overlooked it.
An emailer that wishes to be known as "Anonymous", for pointing out I'd missed
quite a few commodities for the small monsters, and pointing me in the right
direction to find the ones I missed.
My wife, who was well and truly over the game by the time I'd finished single
player and had written this.
Myself, for writing this guide :)

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about this FAQ, feel
free to e-mail me.

Copyright 2010 by White_Pointer