That One Attack / Monster Hunter

Didn't deal enough elemental damage in time? Then DIE.

Most monsters of Monster Hunter have a plethora of moves at their disposal. These suckers, on the other hand, will force you on the defensive at best and dropkick your ass back to the village or hub at worst. Most of these monsters are also either on the Goddamned Boss or That One Boss pages for a reason.

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Series-Wide

• In general, tail whip attacks are known to piss off many players, due to having a wide sweeping angle that can and will knock back and disrupt the combo of anybody that's in its way. A lot of monsters have one, from the lowly Great Jaggi to the iconic Rathian and Rathalos, and monsters will happily use them twice in a row all the time to make sure everyone within a few meters of them gets knocked down. The worst tail whip of them all belongs to Yian Garuga, as it comes out lightning fast without warning during its rage mode, and also inflicts poison on top of moderate damage.
• Hipchecks are some of the most rage-inducing attacks in the series. They come out very quickly, most of them deal a lot of damage, and they turn the entire monster's body into a hitbox, making it nearly impossible to avoid them unless you have the Evasion+ skill. Many monsters that can do a hip check are likely to be That One Boss.
• Monsters charging at you, knocking you down, turning around, charging you again, knocking you down, charging you again, knocking you down... ad infinity until you've fainted. Usually when this happens, hunters will start groaning after the second charge knockdown, as they've effectively become stun-locked by the monster unless their allies help. And god help you if this happens in single player for the games, because the AI partners aren't that good at distracting the monster so you can run away. Starting with 4 Ultimate, players can choose when to get up if they get knocked down, making this situation less likely to occur, although it can still happen if they don't time it right or get unlucky.
• "Field" attacks, where the monster stands still and unleashes a cloud of deadly substance. These attacks deal a lot of damage, send you flying, and inflict a nasty debuff to contend with. They almost always use it to punish Blademasters who get close, and they give little warning and practically no time to escape. Not even Evasion +2 can help here. Such users include Khezu, Basarios, Gravios, Uragaan, Gigginox, Zamtrios, their subspecies, and Volvidon. Fortunately, successfully blocking these attacks will prevent them from damaging you for the duration of their effect... but for most of them, that's only if you have Guard Up.
• Instant-windup attacks, or attacks that have no warning whatsoever. There are FAR TOO MANY monsters to even COUNT in the whole series that have such attacks.
• Item-stealing attacks. At least with Melynxes, you can hit them to get your items back, go to their camp if they get away to get your item back, or carry Felvine so that they will always steal it instead of anything else. None of these counters apply to other monsters with a steal move. Hope they didn't take one of your Ancient Potions or your Traps!
• Paralysis attacks. Other status effects and blights can be cured with specific items so you can always just bring the appropriate items with you, but once you're paralyzed, you're incapacitated completely until you either get back up on your own or something/someone else hits you (like a fellow Hunter or Companion, or a monster...assuming it doesn't straight up cart you). Sleep also incapacitates you, but at least there's a brief "drowsy" period where you're still conscious and can throw back an Energy Drink to snap out of it, unless you're a Prowler in which case you fall asleep immediately as if you were paralyzed. And don't think that just because the large monster you're hunting doesn't have it doesn't mean you're safe, as Genprey in the first-, second-, and fourth-generation games can also inflict it, as can Vespoids in the same games and Great Thunderbugs in the second-gen games and Generations (Ultimate), potentially turning these little assholes from Goddamned Bats to Demonic Spiders depending on what you're hunting.

First Generation

• Khezu: Roar during rage and either a thunder tackle or thunder ball shot. Roar will incapacitate you unless you defend or have High Earplugs. The main problem with Khezu in 2/Freedom Unite is that they are unique in having no eyes, so they can't technically see you and thus cannot give you the "spotted" status, and you can only do panic dives (that render you invincible; which regular dodge rolls don't do) in this state. Dodging its attacks at the last second is a no-go as a result. This is no longer a problem in 4 Ultimate, as Khezu now gives you "Spotted" status.
• Gravios:
  • Roar and heat beam. Same as above. High and G-rank one-up this and give the Gravios' a sweeping heat beam. And if you think you can punish the heat beam by standing under it, 80% of the time it'll spray flaming gas immediately afterwards, throwing off unfortunate Hunters and inflicting Fireblight. 4 gives it a "super" heat beam once enraged, which it sweeps vertically in a "V" shape while backing up from the recoil. This move can fry Hunters who think they can get up close and attack while it's firing, as well as those who try to dodge without anticipating the redirect. Breaking Gravios' back in "4" causes the fire gas counter to shoot upwards instead of down and around.
  • In older generations, for some reason, its Hipcheck and Tail Spin happen much too fast for Gravios’ own good, being a slow stone wyvern and all. And the tail can hit you while you’re standing UNDER it, or it doesn’t even HAVE to touch you at all. As for the hipcheck, it can hit you when you’re standing towards the OPPOSITE side of its body. It looks like Gravios has become the Stone Plesioth.
• Plesioth:
  • Hipcheck. Powerful, HUGE range, fast, and with an absurd hitbox (as in, no part of the Plesioth can touch you and you will still get hit). For gunners, this attack basically gives Plesioth an "Instant Death" Radius. This was fixed in 3 Ultimate though, and it helps that Plesioth won't use the hipcheck underwater. Just when Generations seems to give players the perfect counter to Plesioth's hipcheck with the Adept style, it gives Plesioth a new attack in the form of a slower, stronger hipcheck that's specifically designed to catch anyone trying to use Adept style to evade through its attacks.
  • While its hitboxes were for the most part fixed in later generations, getting clipped by its tail spin attack still counts as a full hit, and you take a LOT of damage from this attack. What’s worse, Plesioth now likes to spam the tail spin more than ever, due to having a limited move-set. "You spin me right round..."
• Diablos:
  • Its dig attacks can catch a player off guard, especially in World, where the digging causes a tremor effect. Fighting its lair in World however is a different story, as it can use the walls to dig. Bloodbath Diablos on the other hand...
  • All of Bloodbath Diablos’ attacks could count - one of them is the steam explosion. This can happen when it comes out after digging. Another one happens when it charges. And speaking of digging, its digging attack comes in two hits! The digging animation is a jump dig, which can catch gunners and early evaders off guard, and the digging attack itself hurts HARD. The steam explosion is a One-Hit Kill in the EX quests.
    • Another is its horn attack. Sometimes it attacks more than once. This catches early evade divers off guard.
    • You know how monster roars immobilize you unless you have the necessary hearing protection or you manage to dodge the roar? Bloodbath Diablos is fully aware of this and intentionally charges immobilized hunters right after roaring. In its most difficult quests, that charge is a One-Hit Kill. Don't think that just because you blocked a roar means you're safe; if you are in the path of someone Bloodbath is about to charge into, it's going to get a cart-one-get-one-free special. In Monster Hunter: Rise, Apex Diablos (a Suspiciously Similar Substitute for Bloodbath) does the same thing in non-Rampage quests!
• Rathian:
  • Poison tail backflip. For the beginner, this attack is devastating if you are not used to it. It comes out quickly and with little warning, it has high knockback, and poisons you as well. Luckily, if you have the poison-negating Wroggi Armor, or can just dodge well, it's much less threatening. The Pink Rathian's version is even worse, as she can use a hovering maneuver to position herself right next to you (practically teleporting), then immediately backflip. Problem is, it's very hard to tell where the attack will come from, making blocking or evading it very difficult. If Rathian is flying, the backflip comes out instantly, and she can easily use it multiple times in a row. It was nerfed in World where it no longer causes poison when Rathian's tail is severed and the aerial version has some wind-up, AND you can sever her tail while she’s airborne, but the backflip is no less deadly. In Rise, that change is reverted, making the tail still poison even when severed, and Rathian now spams her backflip a lot more frequently. Even Guildmarm in 4U knows how much this attack is hated.
    Guildmarm: Nothing says "I haaaaate you, Gold Rathian!" like lopping off its tail!
  • With the addition of Hyper mode in Generations, Hyper Gold Rathian now has an even worse version of the dreaded tail backflip when surrounded by the hyper aura, capable of one-shotting players with lower than end-game level defense and dealing a huge chunk of damage, plus poison, to anyone who survives it. And being Gold Rathian, it is capable of using it just as well as a pink rathian, as well as using it at the end of combos. Better hope you know how to dodge.
  • Rathian has an attack sequence where she charges your player character multiple times in a row, and this is no coincidence with the RNG. In the older games, the charge came out instantly. In World, her charge attack got a windup and became easier to evade. Be careful not to stand too close to her, because when she merely clips you with her pinky toe, you will still get hit for full damage, prompting you to cry “wee-wee-wee” all the way to base camp.
  • Dreadqueen Rathian's poison attacks. Before severing the tail, the poison Dreadqueen uses ignores poison immunity- this includes the Fatalis armor's Wellness^note Immunity to Stuns, Sleep, Poison, and Paralysis ability. Getting hit by it's unique poison tail attack isn't a cart, but the poison will.
• Rathalos:
  • In the older generation games, just like his wifey Rathian, Rathalos could also instantly break into a charge, but at least he doesn’t often do it multiple times in a row.
  • His Homing-Talon Strike. Rathalos will fly up high into the air, lift his talons, and then [PHWOOP] immediately fly down at high speed to Poison any unlucky hunters caught in his feet, and then immediately fly back up to where he started. It comes almost out of nowhere to the inattentive player and is just as impossibly hard to dodge. His homing capability is so vast that you could be standing alllllll the way at the other side of an area, and he would fly down at VALSTRAX-LEVEL SPEEDS towards your location. OR, you could be standing behind a rock or another form of shelter, and he would simply swerve around the obstacle and still reach you. Fortunately, a panic-dive can evade it (you need to see it aiming itself at you first, though, which is the big problem) or you can block it (yes, even with the Sword and Shield!). Failure to do so means you will be poisoned and likely stunned - on top of the huge damage. In Generations, you could counteract this with some Hunter Arts, most notably the Longsword’s Critical Juncture, and if you manage to topple him in the process, it becomes downright hilarious!
  • Hop and burn. Rathalos flaps its wings and shoots a burst of flame at you while jumping backwards. There is absolutely no warning, blocking it is difficult, it can turn left or right (meaning it can still hit you if you're attacking it from the side), and it inflicts Fireblight, which can be just as bad as poison. It also sends you flying, and Rathalos jumps backwards as he uses it, so he can now get a free fireball shot at you. Also, Rathalos will use this attack immediately after it roars, so good luck dodging that without any Earplug buffs. And if you do have Earplugs and kept attacking while it roared, you'll probably get hit by the fireball or the wind gust when it takes off. And if you thought the normal Rathalos’ Fireball Backhop was aggravating, the Dreadking Rathalos spams this attack EVERY 10-20 SECONDS, making it outright IMPOSSIBLE to fight. Also, the Dreadking in the EX quests will usually have you and your team eating shit with just one smack from these particularly nasty flaming projectiles.
  • Dreadking Rathalos' meteor fireball attacks. While in the air, Dreadking may release a stronger fireball attack, which plants itself on the ground, dealing lava environment damage while near its radius, and when it explodes, it sends every hunter in its blast radius into the air. In EX, it's an instant cart.
• Many a Blademaster Hunter can attest to the Fake Difficulty that is Fatalis's infamous "Snap 'n Drag" attack. While it is telegraphed, it has long, advancing range due to the sheer size of Fatalis's body, and it's a guaranteed One-Hit Kill if you're remotely close to any part of its body when it uses it, even if you're wearing the best armor in the game and have maximum HP. Yes, this includes the hind legs and the tail. In 4/4U, the attack was nerfed to not One-Hit Kill Hunters under most circumstances, and had its hitbox reworked so that the hind legs and tail deal minimal damage on contact, but getting hit by it still deals an absurd amount of damage.

Second Generation

• Akantor:
  • Charge. Tracks players, slow enough that it can nearly always keep you in its sights, Akantor is large enough that you can't dodge through or around it even with Evade+2, and it deals obscene amounts of damage. worst of all? in the early games where you start in the same zone as it this is likely the first attack it will do once the quest starts. It's telling that the best advice is "Farcaster out immediately."
  • Its "Turn-Around Ground Grind" is hard to avoid most of the time. As Akantor grinds its tusks into the ground, its head's hitbox practically EXTENDS outward, and getting clipped by its tusks, or even standing under its NECK, will still deal full damage. The tail is an additional nuisance to deal with, as it ALSO knocks you back and deals almost as much damage as the tusks. In rage mode, its tusks will inflict Severe Defense Down, potentially making the next attack a One-Hit Kill. Defense Down (including its aforementioned stronger variant) can be easily cured with any defense buff (such as Adamant Seeds), however most players (at least in public lobbies) don't seem to know this, meaning that you may end up eating cart because of your teammates not knowing how to cure a debilitating defense debuff. On top of this, Akantor tends to use this attack a LOT. Ukanlos can do this too, but thankfully not as often, but its version hurls giant ice chunks.
  • There's another move where it grinds counter-clockwise, and then hurls its tail at you for incredible damage. The jaw part of this attack has an even smaller windup than the other one, and if it touches you during rage mode, you get Double Defense Down, meaning you are done for as the tail approaches your location...
  • For Blademasters, whenever Akantor tunnels underground, it's REALLY ANNOYING. The animation comes out abruptly, giving you no time to react. Next, it will usually do this while you're standing RIGHT next to its body and attacking it. That's without getting into the fact that Fireblight is inflicted with this move. There's a good reason that most Blademasters are not fond of fighting Akantor. Also, since it's Area-of-Effect, the hitbox is too wide to be avoided, even if you roll AWAY from it. Lastly, throughout the fight, it CONSTANTLY tunnels underground, so about 30-50% of the fight consists of getting flung away by this attack. Fatalis almighty!
  • Then there's its Wind Breath. It's not frustrating to deal with, just really dangerous. Akantor will tunnel to the other side of the arena, then unleash a powerful beam that deals potentially One-Hit Kill damage, or if you're lucky enough to successfully tank the attack without carting, it will inflict Dragonblight. It will also use a sweeping Wind Breath that covers a wider angle; if you're in the path of the beam, it's advisory to panic-dive under it. In G-Rank, it gains a new spreading variation of this attack. Similar to how Ukanlos stands up before firing its spreading Ice Beam in a clockwise rotation, Akantor will stand up and fire its Wind Breath in a counterclockwise rotation. On a side note, it actually looks cool in this stance.
• Ukanlos:
  • Ukanlos' Ice Beam is almost as devastating as Akantor's Wind Breath. It deals almost as much damage, but instead of Dragonblight, you get Iceblight, or even worse, the Snowman status. That is, if you manage to SURVIVE the beam. Iceblight slurps up your Stamina Gauge rather quickly, and Snowman covers you with snow and ice, inhibiting your movement. And in G-Rank, it deals incredible damage.
  • If you see Ukanlos burrow underground, it's very likely that it will use its Swimming Jaws Attack. In High-Rank, it's somewhat easy to evade, but in G-Rank, its homing ability and speed are enhanced, making it even tougher, and if its enraged, they are enhanced even further; that is placed on top of the fact that G-Rank attacks do higher damage. Not even PANIC-DIVING can easily evade this attack! It gets frustrating to deal with as Ukanlos likes to constantly use this attack, sometimes even twice in a row, and worse yet, it always tends to target your player character when it uses this attack, even though you have two Palicos in the same area at full health. Cue the Jaws theme!
• Tigrex has a couple:
  • Its inhumanly fast turning charges, which can make a player stare in shock after chasing it, thinking it will just halt like usual until it slams on the brakes and does a swift U-turn right at them. And at higher difficulty levels, Tigrex can do this as much as 3 or 4 times in a row.
  • Brute Tigrex's super roar, in which he rears back and takes a deep breath before unleashing an earth-rending cry that would make Black Canary proud. Not only does it inflict ungodly amounts of damage, but at later difficulties Brute Tigrex can also fake out unwary hunters with it by pretending to charge, then quickly shifting into a Super Roar without warning. And if that wasn't bad enough, in G-Rank he can do this twice in succession^note although observant players will know if it's the double roar by taking note of how long Tigrex breathes in deeply before roaring; if he takes much longer than usual, he will do the double roar. The worst part? Compared to Brute Rex, Molten Tigrex can do the super roar three times in a row.
  • Molten Tigrex's explosive powder. Like Teostra, Molten Rex can release clouds of explosive powder into his surroundings with each move. These clouds inflict Blastblight when touched by a hunter, but that's not the bad thing about them: the real danger is that these clouds can knock hunters down and disrupt their movement, potentially setting them up for a nasty combo from Molten Rex's charges and melee attacks—which will in turn detonate the Blastblight and effectively double the damage they receive. Even if you have a skill that prevents Blastblight, those clouds will still knock you over, even if you block it.
  • Grimclaw Tigrex's claw slam attack in EX. While the shockwave isn't an instant cart, getting hit by the claw slam is. As a gunner, the shockwave is the only issue, for blademasters, it isn't.
• Nargacuga's Tail Slam. It's basically a close range, spammable One-Hit Kill that can be frustratingly hard to roll through and has a kinda iffy hitbox (you take full damage even if you touch the dust cloud it raises after the tail touches the ground). Granted, you can see it coming from a mile away (he roars very noticeably before doing it and there's a rattling sound effect), and it allows you to wail on the tail to try and sever it while it's stuck in the ground, but not even Evade+2 can bypass it. G-Rank Nargacuga in Generations Ultimate, Green Nargacuga, Lucent Nargacuga, and Silverwind Nargacuga (at higher quest levels) can use it twice in a row for extra fun. Lucent Nargacuga's version fires poison spikes in all directions. Silverwind Nargacuga's version not only causes bleeding, but unleashes a massive wind beam from its tail that deals slightly less damage plus bleeding, so even staying far away won't help you.
• Gypceros' item steal attack. If a Melynx steals one of your items, you can hit them to get it back, and if they retreat, you can go to the Felyne hideout and most likely retrieve your items. But if Gypceros steals one of your items? It's gone with no way to recover it. Pray that item wasn't something rare and/or valuable such as an Armortalon, Ancient Potion, or worst of all, a Pitfall Trap on a capture quest (unless you or another party member have a spare one, and remember, Shock Traps don't work on it).
• Rajang:
  • Rajang's Lightning Beam is quite a toughy to deal with. It has MASSIVE range, meaning it could potentially snipe you from across the map. And the beam itself can travel through walls. In the 2nd generation games, the attack precedes a noticiable animation. Then in 4 and 4 Ultimate, this attack still has a notable preparation (it stands up and aims at the sky first), but it come up much faster, and it can aim at any direction without reducing its range and incredible damage. That being said, it's actually easy to dodge if you know what you're doing, and you can score a few free hits as well. In World: Iceborne, the ending windup was sped up a little.
  • Rajang's Arm-Swinging Thrash, also known by some as the "Dempsey Roll", is even worse. While it does not have the Lightning Beam's range, if you're trying to run around it, it has a hitbox that's pretty much wider than Area 8 of the Sunken Hollow. If its fist, or even its SHOULDER, simply grazes you, you will take full damage and knockback. This is also the case if you're standing UNDER it too, because its second punch is much closer to its body than the first punch. Hitboxes aside, it gains significant distance with every punch it does, so you can't just run away from it either, unless you're standing far enough away from it where it can't hit you. And obviously, since this is Rajang we're talking about, each punch will deal horrific damage, especially in G-Rank. And let's not get started on Apex Rajang! The "Dempsey Roll" Arm-Swinging Thrash comes in two variations. The first one is where it swings its arms three times and stops. This one doesn’t have any windup, unfortunately, but one could predict that it's about to happen when standing in close proximity of the monkey. The second one, introduced in the 4th generation, is arguably worse, as even though this variation has a really small windup, Rajang will use it no matter how far away from it you are standing, making it more unpredictable, it swings its arms seven times instead of three, and it instantly turns in your direction and does it. Each version ends with a ground punch that causes a wide-radius tremor that roots you in place, leaving you vulnerable to its next attack, unless you have Tremor Resistance. Finally, Rajang is capable of spamming this move over and over again, going as far as being possible to see it use the "Instant Turn in Any Direction" version up to four times in a row, even when it's NOT enraged.
  • In Rise: Sunbreak, Rajang in Master Rank has a shoulder tackle attack that it is all too happy to spam shamelessly. In a solo hunt, this makes it difficult to maintain a decent damage rate because you spend a lot of time just having to dodge out of the way.
• Chameleos:
  • Chameleos' item-stealing tongue-lash is even worse than Gypceros's because it can hit you at range. Prepare to scream if it steals something very valuable like an Ancient Potion or one of your stat-boosting Talon items. At G-rank, it also does obscene amounts of damage, potentially sending you back to camp just to rub salt in the wound. Thankfully as of Rise, it only steals your Spiribird buffs, but if it takes green nectar (for HP) or yellow nectar (stamina), it's still frustrating.
  • Its Rushing Tongue Lash introduced in the 4th-generation games is a LOT worse. It turns out that the attack has two separate hitboxes: one on its tongue, which steals items, and another on the REST OF ITS BODY. To make matters worse, this attack is spammable. It's intelligent enough to know that hunters will get frustrated with this specific attack, either leading to a triple cart or a "Quest Abandoned".
• Teostra has two:
  • For a monster that's famous for fire and explosions, Teostra's favorite attack is just charging into you. The problem is it comes out extremely quickly with no warning at all, it can use it after doing anything (after an attack, jumping back, turning around, doing nothing), it can turn while it's running, and it deals a ton of damage. This makes breaking Teostra's head a real pain for Blademasters. Teostra? More like Teos-TRAIN!
    • Thankfully, in World, he no longer spams charge attacks, making him a lot more enjoyable to fight.
  • In 4U, Teostra's Supernova. No, not the one at the end of its rage mode hunters can easily use a stopwatch to time and evade, the single ranged explosion it conjures up starting from its G-Rank incarnation. The attack comes out fast, where if you see Teostra looking at you menacingly, you have barely enough time to put away your weapon and do the superman dive to evade it. The explosion can catch players (particularly gunners) off guard easily, and is a One-Hit Kill on practically everyone. Teostra also likes to use this on a player that is recovering from knockdown, making this almost impossible to evade with weapons drawn without Evasion skill. In World, he uses his Supernova much more freely, and hunters have to either superman dive or try to flash him to survive. Becomes harder with his Tempered and Arch Tempered versions since flash pods only work 3 times on him before he gains immunity.
    • It gets even worse in World - wherein Supernova now gets the joy of Hitbox Dissonance since that thing will hit at full strength at almost everyone in the room. And even dodging out of the room can't be enough as it can go through the hallways.
• Daimyo Hermitaur:
  • When it digs, it will attempt to attack the hunter from the ground repeatably. Unlucky hunters will be sent flying when hit. In Rise: Sunbreak, it can additionally instead perform an attack where it peeks out of the ground, then lunges at the hunter and pin them down, potentially for massive damage.
  • The jump attacks it does, while easily evadable, in Higher ranks, it jump moves towards unlucky hunters.
  • In 4U, it gains the ability when it covers itself, it gives a warning that it will unleash a water spray attack. In G Rank, it will try to aim at your location. The covering move can be disrupted with a Sonic Bomb...if you remember to bring them...and you can sheathe your weapon and scroll to the Sonic Bombs in your inventory (or have a touchscreen or right-analog shortcut for it) before it can uncover and attack.
  • Also in 4U, it gains to move while spraying water. Early evaders is given waterblight for their trouble.
  • In Rise: Sunbreak, it gains a new highly-damaging sideways tackle, throwing off those who expected this Giant Enemy Crab to be a Warm-Up Boss.
• Shogun Ceanataur:
  • One of its attacks involves it advancing with its pincered arms outstretched. It deals heavy damage, the entire body is a hitbox, and it comes out instantly. While it often backs up before the attack when it's calm and taunts afterwards, when it's enraged it can do the attack whenever it wants, often right after other attacks, with no warning, then seamlessly transition into another attack.
  • G-Rank Shogun in Generations Ultimate has a new move where it backs up, sharpens its claws, and then lunges at its target. It deals massive damage even with maxed-out armor, always inflicts bleeding, has a large range on top of the distance Shogun leaps, and Valor guard points don't block it because the attack actually has two closely timed hits. If you aren't close enough that you can run under it before it jumps, hope you can dive or you're getting cleaved.
  • Rustrazor Ceanataur in Generations Ultimate, when it has the Gravios skull (which it starts out with), can do a 180-degree sweeping water gun attack from the skull's mouth. Because of its low angle, it's nearly impossible to avoid unless you are right under the monster. Gunners are especially liable to cart to it unless they've pumped up their Water Res to the point where they're immune to Waterblight. It also has a charged up version of the water gun; thankfully the tell is obvious, but when it finishes charging it can change direction before firing it for massive damage that can shoot a Gunner back to camp.
  • Rustrazor Ceanataur takes a page from Glavenus- When it uses its own version of Glavenus' roundslash, hope that you can dodge, or stagger it. Getting hit by it inflicts Defense Down, which lasts for minutes if you made the mistake of not bringing anything that buffs Defense. In the EX versions, its an instant cart.

Third Generation

• Deviljho:
  • Its sweeping breath attack, which inflicts huge damage and Dragonblight. In the case of Savage Deviljho, similar to Teostra's fire breath, its range doubles in Rage Mode; unless you're quick enough to run under its jaw before it can do the attack, be prepared to panic dive.
  • In 4U, its new full-body-hitbox pin attack or leaping pin attack are nothing to sneeze at. To clarify, the Deviljho can lightly tap you with its tail or graze you with its feet, and you will still get pinned. It's not unheard of to go through an entire 10 Dung Bombs in a single Deviljho hunt—because the alternative usually results in Deviljho biting the hunter to death before they can break free of the pin.
  • In 4 Ultimate and Generations Ultimate, Deviljho gains a new move in G rank: it stands upright and unleashes a vertical breath attack. The unpredictable attack can be an issue to Gunners and anyone when Savage Deviljho uses it.
• Qurupeco's monster calls. If you don't have dung bombs, this turns a one-on-one fight with a relatively easy monster into a two-on-one with anything from the relatively easy to manage Great Jaggi or Rhenoplos to the crap-your-pants scary Rathalos, Diablos or Deviljho. It can then boost their attack, defense and even heal them with other calls, as well as itself.
• Uragaan:
  • Uragaan's mighty seismic chin can count if you aren't watchful. It will blow up any rocks thrown by its tail swing. The rocks themselves can hit you, or you can be hit by their explosions if it blows them up. Its actual damage and tremor radius are hard to judge until you've faced it enough. Note that the tremor will force you to put away your weapon, meaning that you have to draw again. Also the roar, while not annoying, is followed directly by a chin slam, meaning that you can get hit by it if you don't have Earplugs.
  • G-Rank Steel Uragaan can chain its roll into a chin slam just like regular G-Rank Uragaan. The difference: Steel Uragaan unleashes a huge, lingering, and highly damaging cloud of noxious gas upon slamming its chin down, preventing Tremor Res users from exploiting the opening. Even if you avoid the gas, the chin slam still has a huge tremor radius and deals a ton of damage by itself. Plus, the attack counts as two hits, so if your stamina isn't full and you don't have Guard +1 or +2, you can still get hit by the gas.
• Brachydios' leap slam, especially when enraged. It does a LOT of damage, is difficult to evade, has a wide area of effect when in rage mode, causes Slimeblight/Blastblight, and usually comes out of nowhere as the tell happens only a split second before it goes airborne. And sometimes it skips the tell and jumps without warning. Any of its new attacks it uses while in Rage Mode can be this. Aside from the above, special mention goes to its two attacks where it sticks its horn in the ground. One, where it creates a series of explosions in front of it, does huge damage and has deceptively large range, and can't be avoided by leaping away from it. The second one, is where it stays stationary and slams its horn into the ground, making spots on the ground around it light up before exploding. This comes with little warning, the spots are hard to see when your next to it, and if you are in the middle of an attack animation you will most likely not have enough time to position yourself in-between them.
• Barioth:
  • Normal Barioth has a rather questionable hip check. Though not nearly as legendary as Plesioth's, you can be on the opposite side of the hip check and still get hit and fly in the other direction. And when preparing the hip check, it can somehow rotate on the spot to aim at you, making it even harder to simply run away.
  • The Sand Barioth's tornado. Unlike the normal ice cyclone the normal Barioth uses, this one lasts much longer. Also, the Sand Barioth can fly into the tornado and lunge at you in an instant. This is almost guaranteed to catch you off guard, and unless you're on the opposite side of where it lunges, the only safe way to dodge it is a well timed panic dive. And in G-rank, it can also shoot mini-tornadoes that move through the area.
• Gigginox' head sweep isn't very deadly, but it is extremely irritating. It comes out instantly, has an absolutely absurd range, and will knock you down. The first swipe's range is reasonable, but the second swipe is ridiculous. Its hitbox extends about as far out as the length of Gigginox's body and can hit you even if you're standing towards the center of the side that the second hit reaches.
• Amatsu's tornado. It covers a wide range, sucks you in so you can't run away, and has near-One-Hit KO power, to the point of leaving someone with 700 Defense with just a shred of health if they have max HP. In other words, a Total Party Kill is guaranteed for an unexperienced team. Most players just Farcaster out of there, perform a panic dive with near-perfect timing, or high-tail it to the ballista. Amusingly, in Generations: if a player is willing to fight a longer battle- playing as a Palico provides a quick and easy getaway via one of the early level burrowing skills which immediately gets you out of harms way for little cost.

Fourth Generation

• Oroshi Kirin's horn charge. Kirin has it too, but because Oroshi has an extremely limited moveset (topping out at five different attacks), it spams the horn charge way more often than it should. This becomes a real problem for anyone wielding a slow weapon, because this means that Oroshi refuses to stay still while it's trying to ram you with its horn. And the attack itself does fairly decent damage.
• Seregios has an attack where it takes to the air and sweeps across the ground with its talons. Unlike most of its attacks, this attack deals a ton of damage, and it's very difficult to tell where the attack will come from. Even worse, it can do it twice when it's enraged, and it can adjust the aim of the second one in case the first strike misses.
• Cephadrome gains an attack in 4 Ultimate where it dives in place repeatedly before bursting out of the sand. During the diving part, Cephadrome will cause anyone it hits to trip, which will slow them down long enough to hit them with its main attack before they can roll away. Problem is, Cephadrome can essentially teleport beneath someone before starting the attack, making it very hard to avoid.
• The Seltas Queen has three of them:
  • One is an attack where she raises her tail over her body and waits for someone to get close enough before snapping her tail at them. This attack can strike you no matter where you attack her from, she can use it multiple times in a row, and its large reach makes it difficult to evade. Unless you can evade with perfect timing, have a weapon that can block in the middle of a combo like the lance, or have the Evasion+ skill, this attack will hit you if you're using a melee weapon. It doesn't help that the Seltas Queen will sometimes use this attack for nearly a minute, which can waste a lot of time. While the regular Seltas Queen can't do this if a Seltas is riding on her, the Desert Seltas Queen can do this even if a Desert Seltas is riding on her.
  • Seltas Queen also inherited Tigrex's charge where it can rotate after a charge and continue the attack. While it can only use this attack when it has a male Seltas riding it, Seltas Queen's version of the attack is much faster and deals slightly more damage.
  • Seltas Queen's Mucus Blast. Huge damage, high chance of stun, a very obscure tell ^note The Seltas Queen sometimes begins gathering bubbles near her mandibles; if steam starts blowing out downwards (not outwards, as that just means she's enraged) then stay away from her head, as she's about to launch the attack. and it sends out three blasts in rapid succession, so you can't just dodge-roll through the attack. If you're hit, Seltas Queen is almost certain to follow up with a powerful rushing attack while you're stunned. It gets even worse in G-rank, as she can now fire it after stepping backwards a couple of times, and while airborne. If you are standing in front of her and you aren't paying any attention while she uses this attack, then not only will you get stunned (or even cart), but you might pee your pants in surprise. Geez Louise, talk about being wet...
• Nerscylla:
  • Starting with High Rank, its poison shear attack inflicts Severe Poison, causing your health to gradually drop rapidly. If the shears themselves leaves you with "one more hit will finish you off" levels of health, it's a safe bet that you'll get carted in about five seconds unless someone else uses a party-wide Poison-curing item for you or the knockback sends you through an active Portable Steam Bomb. In G Rank, Nerscylla will chase you with its shears extended, so running away won't help much. Shrouded Nerscylla's digging version of the shears has a hitbox that remains even after they close. Although one could determine that as a small poison axe.
  • Just when you thought Hitbox Dissonance is now a thing of the past in 4U, there is still the Shrouded Nerscylla and its Building Swing attack. Unlike the regular Nerscylla which can only perform this move once, the Shrouded version can chain this move up to three times in a row, adjusting its aim to hit the intended target. This puts players at a risk of getting paralyzed by its spines if they so much as even get brushed lightly by them, but the real danger is its body slam finisher at the end of the swing combo: even though the Nerscylla may appear to miss you by landing off to your side, getting touched by the tip of its hind leg will still knock you down and deal full damage. On a side note, if you look closely as it does this in Area 7 of the Dunes, you may notice that it hangs from thin air.
• Tigerstripe Zamtrios:
  • Ground Pound attack during its inflation mode. Huge damage and knockback, and once it lifts off you have about a second to react if you see that Shadow of Impending Doom on top of you. If your HP is anything less than half of a maxed-out lifebar, say hello to the cart. Even if you avoid it, it still causes tremors that stun you and force you to sheath your weapon unless you have the Tremor Res skill active, if you're close enough when it lands. It gets worse if you're fighting it in the rather cramped Area 1 of the Dunes, where it's quite possible that you and at least two of your hunting partners will get destroyed with a single pound attack for an instant quest failure.
  • It ends its inflation mode with a water beam that comes out extremely quickly with no warning, has massive range, and deals a ton of water damage. At least the water beam has a smaller hitbox than it looks.
• Dalamadur:
  • Its meteors can be irritating to deal with. Their hitboxes explode, meaning they expand when they touch the ground, effectively hitting you, even when you try to roll away from them. Also, the higher the ground that you're standing on, the sooner the meteors will land. Even worse, the meteors almost never stop spawning during the fight (and this is more apparent in the final phase), sometimes they spawn close to Dalamadur's body, preventing you from safely approaching it, and it's possible that some of them may be programmed to always spawn right above where you are standing, even if you have two Palicos at full health. And in G-Rank, they will deal pretty big damage. Good luck trying to take down this snake's massive health pool with the meteors getting in your way.
  • It also sweeps across the arena with a beam of death. How do you avoid it? Jump to a lower platform? Nope, it hits you there. Climb off the platform onto a ladder so you aren't on the arena? Nope - it literally clips through the arena and can get you even if you are way below it. What you are supposed to do is run towards the beam of death at full speed, then at the right moment hit the dodge button so your hunter jumps and falls flat on their face... going through the beam. (Not under. Through.) Not only does this make absolutely zero sense (since why on earth would anyone think to try and dive through an attack?) but the game also gives no real hint you should or even COULD do this. The player could easily have discovered this dodge-dive move by accident without noticing it even has invincibility frames and thus wrote it off as useless due to the long animation time where the player is vulnerable. On top of this? You also have to be very very precise with your timing. While a certain meal does help give you extra invincibility frames, if you press the button one second too late or too soon it won't count. The only way you really know you succeeded is if you don't faint.
• Gogmazios:
  • Its Explosive Tar Beam is devastating to all hunters. It deals massive damage (Gunners are outright one-shot), has really massive range, and after the explosion, the hitbox lingers, so if you panic-dive too early, you will still get hit. This attack will most certainly make players crap their pants. There’s a second version of this attack where it aims straight down and fires it vertically, but that one is easier to deal with, as its range is smaller.
  • Gogmazios' dripping tar substance can be ANNOYING. This is especially the case in the first phase, where the tar will stick you to the ground, rooting you in place for the next 3-5 seconds. This becomes a problem if you're standing in the most inopportune position for it to happen, and Lord Fatalis help you if you happen to get rooted in place RIGHT IN FRONT OF AN ONCOMING ATTACK, such as its above-mentioned Explosive Tar Beam. There's a good reason the Supply Box gives you Cleansers. The good news, however, is that in the second phase, the tar will lose its ability to leave you stuck in the ground, alleviating the annoyance factor, but the bad news is that now, each blob of tar will glow orange, inflate, and detonate right after landing on the ground, so be careful!
  • When Gogmazios enters its second phase, it gains a move where it takes to the sky and does an aerial bombardment of the area with its Explosive Tar Beam. Most players outright flee to other areas during this attack because it is that dangerous. Since it's way up in the air, the anti-air Restraints don't work on it, and sticking around to use the Ballista or Gunner weapons will most likely result in a painful death more than anything.
• The Hyper Silver Rathalos' fire explosion. It's a constant worry because the Silver Rathalos's head is always hyper charged, its range is massive, it comes out in just one second, and it can take out more than half of your health even if you have more than 600 defense. Even Adept users can find it very difficult to avoid it, since it's hard to tell where the Silver Rathalos will fire it, and the attack's hitbox expands instead of staying static. G-Rank Hyper Silver Rathalos somehow makes it worse by being able to use it after a dive, which positions itself right next to you.
• Glavenus' supercharged tailspin. The problem isn't that it's fast, (you can actually see it coming, and even has a long windup), but that it covers a massive amount of area, and does an absurd amount of damage, as even blocking isn't safe unless you chugged a dash juice. Its Hellblade variant is even worse. As if one isn't enough, it does a second one in succession! Rustrazor Ceanataur has its own version of the spin that, while not used often, inflicts Defense Down and bleeding if you survive.
• Nakarkos:
  • In its first form, after staggering it (or the beginning of its first form in G rank), Nakarkos will charge at hunters. In G rank, it does this twice, hitting those who dived too close to it.
  • Hellfire Star. While this One-Hit Kill beam can be easily avoided by going to the sides of the monster, if you have the misfortune of being far away from the monster when it fires, you better have good timing with your panic dive or from Absolute Evasions or you're waking up in a cart. It is also entirely possible to jump from the base camp (if you were carted or deployed a Farcaster/Far-cat-ster)...into the path of the beam, giving you just enough time to dread the impending cart or Acorn usage. On G-rank, it gets even worse, as Nakarkos moves into the water just outside of the arena to fire, removing its blindspots. The good thing about the attack though, signals that Nakarkos is almost dead. Fortunately, you can stop the beam by yeeting a Tranq Bomb into its gob...but this is only slightly hinted at by the Supply Box coming stocked with a few, and you have to get dangerously close to the beam's firing range to do so.
• Valstrax has two:
  • It has an attack where it will take off into the air, orbit the current area, and then divebomb the area at high speed for massive damage. Your only real hope is to panic dive or take advantage of evasion invincibility frames, as otherwise you can expect to wake up on a cart, and even then it's difficult to time especially if you didn't have the sense to paintball it or otherwise give yourself means of tracking monsters on the map, because it moves so fast that you won't have time to track it by eye. First-timers to the monster may assume it's just changing areas when it flies away, only to abruptly end up in a cart.
  • One of its combos has it lunge one of its wings forward, than the other. Another one of its combos looks identical at first, but after the first lunge it will then do a spin attack that will hit Adept Style users who thought they could get in an insta-move after dodging the first hit.
• Malfestio:
  • Malfestio has a habit of incessantly swooping at you, and just getting clipped by its wing automatically counts as a full hit. It can even turn its head around 180° (something that owls can do in real life) and transition into this attack. And it never. Stops. SWOOPING. It gets worse with Hyper Malfestio, where the attack is even stronger, and there's likely even more swooping involved.
  • G-Rank Malfestio's wing slam. Comes out very quickly with minimal tell, can be followed up from many attacks, has surprisingly wide range, and deals huge damage. It always comes out the same way each time, from the left wing, but with the attack's hitbox it's not easy to tell where to dodge. It's nastier with Nightcloak Malfestio due to its greater size factoring into the hitbox and its much higher attack power.
• Astalos:
  • When flying in the air, it sometimes dives into the ground, sending hunters flying if hit.
  • When both standard and Boltreaver Astalos stick their tails into the ground, the initial shock is guaranteed to cause paralysis, followed by a hit from the resulting shockwave.
  • Boltreaver Astalos' thunder beam attack. The tell is short, its range is very long, it deals obscene damage even in level G1 and with high Thunder res, and there are two versions of it, one on the ground and one in the air. When its head is blue-charged, you best watch out for that little back-hop and be ready to dodge or defend it. Sunbreak gives normal Astalos this attack as well.
  • Boltreaver can send an orb of lightning that pulls hunters into it. Unlucky hunters who don't run away from it are greeted with a truckload of damage or, worse, a cart. Think you can just run from it? Pay attention to Boltreaver, because it's going to dive attack an unlucky hunter.
• Mizutsune:
  • Bubbleblight has two tiers. The first gives Evasion+1 and Constitution+1, which can be seen as a benefit... if only it were so simple. Go up to the second tier, however, and you slip about uncontrollably, which makes it difficult to do anything important. Given some of Mizutsune's attacks inflict Bubbleblight and others can inflict Waterblight, you could find yourself skidding between the two states until you slip and fall right into a cart. Soulseer becomes enraged when its bubbles are popped, as if this wasn't bad enough. Rise lets you attack, but now you CAN'T PANIC-DIVE, which removes your biggest source of evasion frames. Is Mizutsune drifting with his water jet while you're bubbled over completely? Omae wa mou shinde iru...
  • Mizutsune can do a barrage of attacks that follows up with a water beam attack. Unlucky hunters will usually be met with a cart, especially when facing off against Hyper Mizutsune.
  • The Rise incarnation can use his soapy belly to drift while firing a water beam. This beam lasts for a long time, has a very long range, hurts, and has a large area of effect due to Mizutsune suddenly turning into a Mario Kart driver. However, if you can smack him with enough damage in one hit, he slips on his own bubbles and gets toppled.
• Redhelm Arzuros:
  • Redhelm Arzuros possesses a powerful claw strike attack that hits five times consecutively. The way it's performed alongside its range and speed prevents even Adept evades from being effective. It also does ridiculous damage and outright One Hit Kills Gunners with on-par armor. G-Rank Arzuros gains this attack, and while it's nowhere near as powerful or wide-ranged, it's still difficult to avoid.
  • Redhelm Arzuros has a charged attack that launches hunters and can cart in the EX quest. Do it in a body of water, he drops a shiny, usually a fish.
  • G Rank Redhelm Arzuros also has a running swipe attack that is usually a cart in the EX quest. Dodged it? Well the attack also has a windpress effect.
• Snowbaron Lagombi:
  • Snowbaron likes to chuck snow at hunters. Sometimes it rolls out a snowball that increases its size when afar.
  • Like a regular Lagombi, it loves to slide dash at hunters. Sometimes these attacks are instantanous.
  • One attack Snowbaron uses has it create a giant snowball like a Spirit Bomb. Getting hit by it is usually a cart in the EX quest. On the bright side, staggering Snowbaron while it’s holding the giant snowball will stun it for about 20 seconds.
• Stonefist Hermitaur's dig attack, at least in the EX version, has its final dig attack always give little to no room to run away from the attack. As the thing is already huge enough, many times a gunner will cart, or another hunter may get harmlessly "bumped" by the model.
• In Generations and Generations Ultimate, Deviant variations of venomous monsters (Dreadqueen Rathian, Dreadking Rathalos, and Deadeye Yian Garuga) can inflict a third tier of Poison called Deadly Poison. Whereas standard Poison may be a minor nuisance and Noxious Poison eats through a fair chunk of your health, Deadly Poison drains your health fast enough to trigger a cart in seconds if not cured. Thought of bringing in a Negate Poison set? Think again, because that simply downgrades Deadly Poison to Noxious!
• Drilltusk Tetsucabra has an attack where it charges up a super jump, then tries to, well, frog splash on any unfortunate hunter in its trajectory. It's very painful, but it's quite blatantly telegraphed; sounds harmless enough. However, it can also pull up a rock in its jaws that it can crush with such a force that the resulting shockwave that will always stun anyone who hits it. It knows this will happen, and will immediately go for the kill by charging up said super jump while you're incapacitated. Since you can't move, if you can't escape from the stun in time, you can kiss most, if not all of your health goodbye. Fortunately, even if you can't dodge in time once you regain your senses, you can at least use a Counter-Attack such as Brimstone Slash, which sends the poor frog flying as retaliation for the massive damage you've taken. You can also remove this deadly one-two combo entirely by breaking both of its tusks.

Fifth Generation (World: Iceborne)

• When enraged, Anjanath has a very nasty breath attack that's comparable to Deviljho's own breath move. While not as powerful, it comes out quickly and deals a nasty amount of damage to all but the most fire-resistant hunters, if not outright killing them.
• Nergigante's dive attack.
  • Powerful enough to kill any Hunter short of max health in a single hit, very fast, huge hitbox, and even seems to have some tracking ability. While Nergigante always telegraphs it by roaring, this doesn't help all that much, since it means that you'll have a very short window of opportunity to sheathe your weapon and dive away from it - and even that requires great timing in itself!
  • To make it worse, his Arch Tempered version has a new attack where it can perform a much quicker version of the dive bomb. It's a near One-Hit Kill attack that requires almost no windup, can chain into any of its regular attacks, and is capable of spamming it.
  • While Ruiner Nergigante initially didn't have the move, Tempered Ruiner Nergigante does. Thankfully, this version has a much easier to anticipate windup. In exchange, however, it roars before it does the move, meaning that if you don't roll at the correct time or have Earplugs, you're gonna be in for a world of pain (and possibly bleeding.)
• Bazelgeuse's bomb scales are annoying enough to deal with, but they cross over into this territory when it's enraged. The is because the bomb scales now explode on contact with the ground and Bazelgeuse will drop a lot of them, while flying out of reach, on top of hunters who may be too busy fighting something else.
• Xeno'jiiva's breath beam, specifically the variant where he sweeps it sideways. It moves pretty fast so it's quite difficult to outrun, and it's very low to the ground, so players can't just roll to evade it. Unless there's a large enough rock left to shelter behind, the only option is for players to sheath their weapons and try to run to Xeno'jiiva's side where it won't reach them, or panic dive to the ground if they can't make it. Thankfully, it does have a bit of startup so it does become easier for players to prepare for it as they gain experience.
• Tempered Kirin's horizontal lightning bolts. Regular Kirin's version in this game is deadly enough; however, the Tempered's version is much worse as it comes out much faster and will at times have three parallel lightning bolts that can catch players who get the timing of their dodges wrong. The only tell is that the ground where the bolts will pass over glows blue, however, the fact that the Coral Highlands where the fight takes place already has a bluish tinge makes them hard to spot. Even more so for gunners who're aiming down their weapon as the camera zooms in, nearly hiding the ground from view. The Master Rank version of Kirin in Iceborne can lay down the lightning in a crisscrossing pattern.
• Black Diablos' aimed charge. It has several seconds of wind-up and a very distinctive animation, but moves insanely fast, has a huge hitbox, deals a ton of damage, and worst of all, is a guaranteed stun. You'll take maximum damage and get stunned even if you get clipped by the back of her leg. Considering how hard it is to recover from stun in this game and how aggressive and hard-hitting Black Diablos is, this attack is basically a one-way ticket back to camp.
  • In Master Rank, she gains an attack where she digs into the ground and leaps out like Diablos. And then, taking a page from White Monoblos she immediately does it again... and again... and again. If you get caught in it with the Temporal Mantle, it'll eat up all of the tool's charge, and if you get caught without, you're going to be in for a world of pain. And even if you completely stay out of the move's firing range, it's still quite time consuming and irritating.
• Kulve Taroth has two:
  • The infamous "The Floor is Lava" attack, the one where she breaths on the floor and the ground becomes hot as a result. HUGE Area of Effect damage and it quickly drains your Health, even with a very high Fire Resistance & Fireproof mantle equipped and it goes through the Temporal Mantle's auto-evasion. Not helping is that she uses it a lot in her final phase.
  • Kulve's rolling attack can also be quite aggravating. She rolls ponderously over towards her target which doesn't seem dangerous until you remember she's nearly the length of the arena. And getting tapped by her while she's rolling can easily shave off more than half your health and leave you prone. And even if you're in a safe spot, Kulve has now rolled a long sprint away from where you're standing which will eat up a chunk of the free time between her attacks.
• Lunastra gains a new Supernova, unique from Teostra's in World. Unlike her male counterparts, this one hits twice, and many players can take a lot of damage if they're not expecting the second, stronger blast. It also sets the immediate area on fire with her spectral blue flames whose damage, interestingly enough, doesn't count as fireblight, meaning fire resistance doesn't nullify it. When she's in a hunt with Teostra, both will team up to do a Double Supernova, with both pulling off their Supernova attacks at the same time.
• Though most of Behemoth's moveset is deadly and annoying, none of its attacks are nearly as infamous as Charybdis. If the long casting isn't interrupted by a Flash Pod or staggering it, Behemoth summons a tornado right on top of whoever it's targeting. This tornado covers a wide area, deals not-insignificant damage, obscures your vision, lasts for an incredibly long time, and since Behemoth casts Charybdis near-constantly, there can be numerous tornadoes active at a time. While Behemoth stops casting Charybdis if it's in enmity mode, that comes with its own problems and doesn't last very long anyways. Extreme Behemoth takes it further in that the casting time is even shorter and Extreme Behemoth has the Tempered Flash Pod resistance. The tornadoes are easily the most hated part of the Behemoth fight, more than even Ecliptic Meteor.
• Banbaro:
  • When Banbaro rips a tree from the ground, it's able to undergo a sudden burst of speed towards the player character with the tree perched on its antlers. The sad part is you can't break its antlers, no matter how many attacks and part breaks you land on its head. Usually, after it charges once, it will do a second one before the tree despawns, almost guaranteeing that players who are hit by the first one will get hit again. Imagine a bulldozer with the speed of a race car; you get this thing. It's not really too hard to evade if you're combating it in a 1-on-1 match, because you obviously know what you're doing. But if you're in the middle of battling someone else and Banbaro just happens to wander by, the furry Brute Wyvern will go berserk, and decide to ruin the day of both you and the monster you're fighting with that damned tree trunk. "IT'S BANBARO TIME" indeed.
    • More often than not, it will suddenly charge in from offscreen and hit your player character, and in the process, also jumpscare you.
• Velkhana:
  • Velkhana's Ice Breath. A direct copy of Vaal Hazak's move, it boasts long range, can cover a wide area, does a lot of damage, applies Iceblight and cannot be blocked without a special skill. What makes it a real pain is that it ignores Velkhana's own ice wall's and can hit Hunters through the floor, which makes dodging it even more difficult. And unlike Vaal Hazak, Velkhana loves to spam this move. As for the Arch-Tempered version, the beam's attack pattern stays the same, but it now deals enough damage to easily be a One-Hit Kill even with the toughest armor in the game.
  • Arch-Tempered Velkhana's modified Limit Break, which has it shoot a sweeping ice beam into the ground, trapping anyone caught in the radius just in time for an expanding ring of icicles to burst out from the ground. The breath beam deals heavy damage and roots you in place, leaving you with a sliver of health that's likely to be finished off by the icicle burst that you can't reliably walk away from while having your movement hampered; to make things worse, the Frost Breath is unblockable, even WITH the Guard Up skill. The only ways to avoid this attack is to run far away from Velkhana, or move exactly under the Elder Dragon.
• Shara Ishvalda, the final boss of Iceborne has a host of these during its second phase. The first is a series of laser-like beams that it sweeps either towards or away from it, with each beam spaced just right to catch dodge rolls to the sides. The second is a Wave-Motion Gun that has a wide diameter beam, making it hard to dodge. Additionally, it can and will spam this attack, sometimes on a single target, almost guaranteeing a cart. And you're still not in the clear if you just get hit by it, as if you're not thrown to the sides and you try to get up, the blast hits you AGAIN, meaning you'll most certainly wake up on a cart. The final one is an attack where it throws a giant sphere of energy at the ground, which causes an explosion that covers the entire arena. Dodging this is quite tricky as it doesn't explode immediately on impact. These sound beams also have a higher propensity to stun, so if one catches you and Shara decides to do the laser beam attack again...
• In World: Iceborne, Rajang gains a new pinning attack that gains incredible distance and comes out absurdly quickly WITHOUT WARNING. If getting caught by this pin attack does not result in getting outright mauled to death, your health gauge will have at most 10% of your health left. While it's likely to do this right after using its Blanka Ball attack, the pin can be used after doing ANYTHING ELSE, making it even MORE unpredictable. It seems outright IMPOSSIBLE for anybody to evade this pin, because it's just too fast for its own good. In Sunbreak, the pin is altered in which it will now send you flying in the air and if you don’t quickly wirefall, Rajang will snipe you out of the air with it’s beam, very likely finishing you off, although the pin itself comes out slightly slower.
  • In the case of Furious Rajang, getting insta-pinned (yes, that is a big enough word to describe the attack itself) will result in being blasted with a Lightning Beam at point-blank range, and then slammed into the ground. Worse yet, this attack can even damage those who AREN'T pinned. And that part of the pinning attack has an explosive hitbox that expands outward.
  • In addition to this, both Rajang and its Furious variant gain an elbow-slam move they can use when enraged in Iceborne, better known as the Banana Slamma. It deals huge damage in the form of a massive Thunder explosion, meaning that multiple hunters can get carted at once, comes out really fast, and has a funky hitbox that can linger for a bit, meaning you can get hit by the move if you approach Rajang too fast after it lands. A small boon, however, is that it's blatantly telegraphed by Rajang standing up on its hind legs and roaring.
• Raging Brachydios in Iceborne has attacks that have a significantly amount of area coverage owing to its huge size but one of the most dangerous ones has to be when it rushes towards the player three times with the first two creating an explosion on a straight line with the last one following the player. This attack is very fast and difficult to dodge and unless they can dive each one in time, this attack will more often than not be the leading cause of carts against the monster.
• Safi'jiiva, being a multiplayer-focused monster, has a whole slew of annoying attacks but the following are regarded as the worst among them.
  • Safi'jiiva's laser breath attack where it actually tracks and leads the player, aiming where they'll be. This makes it pretty hard to dodge unless they do so at the very last minute. And unlike most of its laser blasts, these can follow a hunter up, so the Insect Glaive or a Glider Mantle-powered super jump won't save you here.
  • An alternate laser breath would have it sweep through the entire arena twice where unless you can time your evade roll, goes behind it or hide in a crag, it will easily chunk a good amount of health from the player.
  • Safi also has a lunge attack where any players that got caught will get snatched up in its mouth, then it blasts a concentrated beam at them, and while it won't directly cart them, the residual Fireblight damage certainly will. The only ways to not die from it are to have 20+ Fire resistance, wear the Fireproof Mantle, which prevents Fireblight, or have your teammates heal you, ensuring that you can live and immediately go chug a Mega Potion. The latter strategy is actually recommended by the game itself, as several EZ Dusts of Life can be found in the supply box before starting the fight.
  • And lastly, it can also slam its limbs on the floor causing 4 explosions, expanding out in a ring. Huge damage, tremendous area of effect, hard to dodge, and sends you flying if you get hit, and to make matters worse the rings overlap in a way where even if you avoided one, you may be clipped by the next. Even if you brace yourself and guard, you'll still find yourself a ponderous distance away from the Red Dragon and missing a sizable chunk of health. Panic-dive through one of the rings? Good. Improperly time or position your evasive maneuvers? Prepare for pain.
  • Its Signature Move, Sapphire Star, specifically on the third floor. Safi'jiiva will take flight and spread a blue cloud of blue smoke on the ground, and when it's finished charging up, it will drop a blue sparkle on the ground and unleash a cataclysmic explosion. The first time one sees this, they'd assume that it's based off the Behemoth's Ecliptic Meteor, and they're right. That explosion will undoubtedly one-shot players. In order to avoid this, a player must hide behind any of the crags on the second floor, or the ones it creates during the fight on the third floor...provided the damned thing makes some, as it only sometimes uses an attack that heats up the ceiling, causing crags to drop down, replacing the ones that break with each iteration of the move. If it doesn't do the ceiling beam attack before it decides to nuke you (or worse, you flinch it in the middle of said attack, cancelling it), you may as well Rage Quit then and there. In the raid mission where you are supposed to slay Safi, the charge up time is a lot faster than in the first quest you encounter it, and it becomes even faster and more populous each time the move is launched. Alternatively, you can use a Farcaster to escape, but only in the brief window where it's winding up, and not when the attack is actually progressing.
• Alatreon gains a new Limit Break attack called Escaton Judgment, where during its transition between Dragon mode to Fire or Ice mode, it will let out a big nova-like attack that deals a huge DoT that will overpower even the strongest healing effects, leading to a Total Party Kill (see the page image.) There's nowhere to hide or run from it, you can't dive through the attack, it ignores the Temporal Mantle, and you can't use Farcaster to escape. There are a few ways you can survive the blast, but they're incredibly convoluted and require intense coordination from all your teammates. The only reliable way to mitigate it so you won't immediately get incinerated/frozen to death is to deal enough elemental damage to it, limiting the player's options into using weapons with elemental properties and armor with element-enhancing properties, which makes weapons with ailment properties - such as Blast or Sleep - completely useless. But even then, it's easier said than done, given the fact that Alatreon is very mobile and does spend a fair amount of time airborne, and even then players will really have to choose carefully when to attack as it doesn't allow much breathing room. More often than not, said attack tends to be the reason that leads to quests failing as a result of its One-Hit Kill attack.
• The World incarnation of Fatalis thankfully boasts a less dangerous "Snap 'n Drag" move, but being tough-as-nails, he naturally has a lot of attacks that hit like trucks.
  • A surprisingly deadly weapon in his arsenal is definitely his infamous "Cone Breath" move. Comes out fast, deals lots of tick damage quickly, bypasses the Temporal Mantle's auto dodge like Kulve Taroth's heat breath, leaves an explosive spot under Fatalis' head once it ends, and covers a wide area. Though it is telegraphed (the camera pans out towards Fatalis when he's about to unleash it) and leaves a massive opening for hunters to wail on his head, that's little recompense for anyone who got deep-fried by a cheap shot. Fortunately, it can be exploited by forcing him to do it in front of one of the pillar nubs in the arena, which blocks the attack entirely.
  • Another attack to watch out for is when he starts charging up his fire breath in its final phase, then releases a massive flamethrower while spinning like a sprinkler. It has an obscene radius, covering over half the arena, so the only way to dodge it is to panic-dive out of it or time your Dragon Pod shots correctly. And if you haven't broken his head twice, the attack will be all but guaranteed to one-shot you. Thankfully, however, you can completely avoid this attack by grabbing onto its head.
  • Fatalis sometimes starts charging up a massive fireball that results in an enormous explosion. While this is manageable normally, he chains it into a dive-bomb once enraged, which can easily spell doom for you if you got hit by both the initial attack and the follow-up. To make matters worse, said dive-bomb also unleashes wind pressure when Fatalis takes off, meaning you aren't safe just because you evaded or blocked the first blast. Once it's in its Hellfire mode, it uses the follow-up dive if not enraged, but it'll instead shoot three large fireballs in a row when enraged, the last of which comes out much quicker than the first two just to throw you off.
  • Fatalis has an attack where he sweeps a torrent of fire from one side to the other. It hurts like hell, is hard to prepare for, and has a deceptively large radius. Unless you're attacking the sides, your only options are to panic-dive out of it or roll to the other side.
  • Once it enters Hellfire Mode, Fatalis gets an attack where it jumps onto you and causes you to get stuck to its chest. While it is telegraphed, it functions as a worse version of the above Safi'jiiva's pin attack; but instead of leaving you at 1 HP, regardless of Fireblight, this thing just deals a ton of chip damage, with Fatalis finishing the job if its chest's heat didn't kill you outright. The only ways to survive it are to make it flinch via Dragon Pods, which may not be accessible at all times, or for a teammate to pop a Dust of Life in the small window after you get stuck, but before Fatalis tries to off you.
  • Fatalis' forward body slam can hit you when you're standing next to its hind legs. It also always knocks you on your butt, which is an especially irritating aspect as it can potentially combo into an unavoidable cart if Fatalis decides to attack again and you can't flinch it in time.
  • And finally, its signature "Schrade's Demise" move. It's an enormous torrent of flames that deals chip damage until it becomes deadly, and is performed at certain health thresholds. The problem here, however, is that it becomes incrementally harder to dodge every time. The first time just has you hide behind a metal wall and opens up the rest of the arena. The second time has you raise the barricade to avoid it, which is located at the front end of the arena, meaning that if Fatalis was too far away from the barricade, you're screwed. The remaining three iterations, however, don't give you anything to hide behind. Instead, they're like an enormous version of the above "cone breath" move, wherein you have to move through the flames towards Fatalis. And how long do you have to make it to the safe spot before you get flash-fried? Six seconds. Though you can survive the lethal blast with help and Divine Blessing Secret, these attacks are make-or-break points for any run. As if that wasn't bad enough, each time it takes flight to use this attack, it unleashes wind pressure. If you're standing too far away from the safe area, you don't have wind resistance and you get immobilized, then say hello to the cart. A small mercy, though, is that any iterations of the move after the second somehow cleanse the battlefield of any damaging flames.
  • And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, there's one more trick Fatalis has up its sleeve. Once it enters Hellfire Mode, all of its fire-based attacks leave a puddle of flames on the ground that deals chip damage. However, these fire puddles deal heat damage, not fire. And they can't be mitigated by some silly drink this time, either - you have to use the Heat Guard skill to avoid taking damage from them. Nor can the fire puddles be removed from the fight by breaking Fatalis' eye. Even after you've slapped it out of Hellfire Mode, its weakened fire attacks somehow still leave lasting flames behind.

Fifth Generation (Rise: Sunbreak)

• Jyuratodus suddenly becomes Mud Plesioth. Its hipcheck attack can slap you even if you're standing on the other side, and since the Piscine Wyvern is a High Rank exclusive monster, it's going to chop off a sizable chunk of health, as well as knocking you flat on your ass.
• Any attack involving Almudron's tail after it creates its mudball Epic Flail. Normally Almudron's tail slams come out fast but don't have too much force behind them, but the mudball "blesses" them with extremely high damage and even seems to make said tail slams even faster. And that's without mentioning its Tactical Nuke Mud Ball Slam, which practically hits with the damage (and range) of a standard nuke, cutting a HUGE fraction of your remaining health. Expect an equally fast cart if you dare to stay in the fight with any less then a third of your health left, because Almudron can easily do that much damage in seconds even with the best of armors. And if Almudron has a mud ball when it decides to leave the area, it will always do this attack to get rid of the ball which may catch you off guard.
  • Magma Almudron is somehow worse in this regard, as it now has a new attack where it performs a fast, un-telegraphed tail punch that also heavily tracks the player that it spams throughout the fight. In addition, all of its old mud-based attacks are now heavily damaging, explosive magma attacks, and its platforms it generates throughout the fight can be detonated if hit with any magma attacks.
• When Goss Harag freezes its paws, you'll want to break its makeshift icy weapons as soon as possible because it has a really nasty Limit Break it could use at any time. It launches three highly-damaging ice discs at you that are annoying but not impossible to dodge, but are a prelude to the truly scary part of the attack: it flings its blades/boxing glove at you next, and unlike the normal discs, they have insanely good tracking and seem to home in on you as you dodge. They deal a devestating amount of damage, and getting hit by one usually means you'll be hit with the other and be left with barely any health, assuming you aren't carted outright. It also has a nasty trick in Master Rank, if Goss Harag forms two blades, he will immediately perform a lunging swipe that can cart players who were used to his usual attack pattern.
• Magnamalo:
  • Magnamalo's double sweeping strike has high range, has a windup that might be easy to confuse with other attacks, and it deals around 50% of your health in damage. This attack will always leave X's across your Wirebug icons, preventing you from recovering with the Wirebug. But do you want to know the worst part? Magnamalo's WHOLE BODY becomes a hitbox. Capcom, did you let Plesioth in the programming room again?
  • Magnamalo has another attack where it advances with its head pointing towards the ground, attempting to pick you up, promptly before unleashing an explosion in front of it. When it does pick you up, it hurls you into the air, leaving you vulnerable to the following explosion unless you have a Wirebug handy. This attack is on the list for two reasons. First, it comes out almost INSTANTLY, giving you absolutely NO TIME TO REACT if you're standing right next to it. Second, this attack is one of its most spammable attacks, meaning that somewhere between 33-50% of the fight will consist of getting insta-grabbed and yeeted airborne. Good luck keeping your patience if you want that Purple Magna Orb.
  • When Magnamalo enters its Super Hellfire state (marked by the pink flames in contrast to purple), you better knock it out of that state fast, because if you don't, it will flare up, dash forward at high speeds, dash again in a different direction, and then quickly divebomb you in a similar vein to Nergigante. This undoubtedly deals incredible damage. The hitboxes are tolerable, however.
  • Its tail hellfire blast is pretty annoying, even though Magnamalo has a noticiable windup for this attack (where it twirls its tail in the air). When the blast actually comes out though, it's nigh-instantaneous, has a massive range, and deals a huge chunk of damage - in Master Rank, it can also fire it twice in a row when enraged. A Scorned Magnamalo in its Raging Hellfire mode will charge for a third red blast, except it sweeps a large area of its side instead of being a single shot, inflicts Dragonblight, and deals damage bordering on a One-Hit Kill.
• Apex Rathalos' "King's Ascension" isn't so bad in its Slaying quest "The Fearsome Apex Rathalos," but in Rampage quests, it's a nightmare to deal with. He starts a long, continuous roar, in which you have to pass a threshold to stagger him, before he takes to the skies and bombards the Stronghold with colossal, explosive fireballs that destroy Hunting Installations permanently. The problem here is that said threshold is very high, meaning you're more often than not going to do jack shit against the King of the Skies as he flies up and blows your arsenal to smithereens. The only somewhat reliable way to deal with it is to just outright nuke him with the Splitting Wyvernshot, and even that's not a given!
• Crimson Glow Valstrax has a few new tricks up its sleeve from Generations Ultimate:
  • This Valstrax takes a cue from the only other monster with wingarms and now comes packing a giant laser of Dragon energy. This beam is all but a One-Hit Kill, is unblockable, and leaves an explosive spot on the ground. Fortunately the windup is very obvious and it can easily be avoided by any half-decent player. That said, the Master Rank version will reset its aim by firing the beam back down immediately after the first blast, catching players who aren't expecting it off guard, and the Risen version will produce much more dangerous explosions.
  • Remember vanilla Valstrax's "Around the World" dive-bomb attack? Crimson Glow Valstrax keeps all of its moves, but what makes this one deadlier is that it can do this as it arrives in an area! Yes, you could be fighting any other monster, including the Party Crasher Bazelgeuse itself, when the words 'Crimson Glow Valstrax: Ambush' appear on screen. When that happens, you have about five seconds to take defensive measures before Valstrax's impromptu Launchpad McQuack impression launches you into the nearest cart. Even if you survive an impact to the face, it will hurt like hell!
  • Risen Crimson Glow Valstrax upgrades Around the World by first raining down a barrage of dragon meteors that leave behind lingering explosive patches, before immediately segwaying into a faster version of its dive-bomb. The initial rain will pin down hunters, dealing massive damage at worst and throwing off their timing at best...and by the time the explosions subside, Valstrax will already be poised to finish them off.
  • Risen Valstrax also has its new Limit Break in its Risen mode, where it builds up a massive amount of thrust in one wing and spins towards the target, before unleashing a devastating power stab using the charged wing. The initial spin covers a ridiculous amount of ground in an instant, and is nearly impossible to dodge without something like a counter or superman dive, while the latter stab is comparatively easier to avoid - but not if you've been left reeling or disoriented by the spin, and it still comes out extremely fast. Needless to say, a direct hit from either the spin or especially the stab can very easily be a One-Hit Kill for even the tankiest of builds, and even shield users will often find themselves missing half their health from the chip damage even after blocking the attack. To make matters worse, a Hazard Risen Valstrax will perform two consecutive wing stabs just to catch you off guard, potentially carting hunters that evaded the first stab or even crunching through shield users with maxed Guard skills.
• Vanilla Narwa had several finicky yet fair moves, but her Allmother form ups the ante significantly:
  • Narwa borrows Ibushi's tail slam attack, but turns it up a notch due to it also producing one to three electric currents in a fan depending on her rage state. The initial slam deals heavy damage and pins hunters, leaving them wide open to the secondary eruption, often causing lethal or near-lethal damage in a single go. Furthermore, even if you can wirefall out of the way after the initial pin, the spread of the fan means that you better not launch yourself into a lightning bolt and eat a cart anyways.
  • In her third phase, her ground slam attack releases two sets of three fissures: one of wind that can knock you skyborne like Ibushi, and one of thunder that can inflict Thunderblight. There's only a small safe zone in between the fissures, and if you get hit by one, you're likely to get hit by the other.
  • Another slam attack has her lunging at and striking the player twice in quick succession. This attack doesn't seem that complicated on paper, but in practice, you're having to deal with a gargantuan monster that can lunge halfway across the arena with each claw swipe, and she takes advantage of her serpentine figure by striking you at odd angles that are nearly impossible to dodge roll away from. Chances are if you get hit by the first, you will get hit by the second, and even if you dodge the second you aren't out of the woods yet: she immediately fires a thunder ring and thunder sphere that are just as tough to dodge. And if she's pinned you against a wall, chances are you're taking that hit. In Master Rank, Ibushi will also pick up this move, so be prepared when facing him too.
  • The first part of her Limit Break attack has her hoist up around nine Dragonators with her electromagnetism, then begins whirling them around Ahtal-Ka style, with an explosive orb of thunder in the middle. Everyone has to run to the outer edge of the arena, then once the orb detonates, they have to run to the center. The problem here is that the Dragonators are still spinning like the blades of a blender when the orb explodes, and they can do massive damage to you. Since each of the Dragonators cover the gaps in between the others, it's very likely you'll end up getting pureed en route to the safe spot, and then hit again when trying to recover from your fall. Not only that, but the move sucks you into the center. It almost makes the second part, which is a One-Hit Kill in the vein of the above "Sapphire Star of the Emperor" seem downright tame in comparison!
• Espinas:
  • With Espinas’ appearance in Sunbreak, it’s fireballs are now practically a death sentence as they can inflict poison, paralysis, and fireblight, ALL AT SAME TIME! So not only are you dealing with the damage you just took from being hit by the fireball itself, now your health is draining fast from fire and poison while you’re unable to move from the paralysis, giving Espinas ample time to prepare another attack that will likely cart you.
  • Espinas is plenty powerful even without the dreaded poison breath, however. Its most deadly attack is simply charging at you, dealing heavy damage, and its wide hitbox can make it difficult to avoid. It can also charge at you up to three times in a row! Beware of wirefalling out of a charge if it hits you—odds are, you'll fly right in the way of a second charge that will send you right back to camp.
  • Flaming Espinas has one doozy of a Limit Break. It rears up and starts glowing, takes a few steps towards the nearest hunter, and crashes back down in a giant explosion . It's incredibly difficult to escape without a properly timed superman dive, and if you don't escape you're probably fainting from the damage^{and for the record...}  Don't try using a defensive silkbind or longsword counter. They don't work.. Even hunters that survive are poisoned, burnt, and locked out of wirebugs, so chances of survival are slim to none. To make matters worse, if it's injured enough, it'll take to the air before firing a second fireball that creates a similarly devastating explosion - the second one is a bit more lenient, but it can very easily finish off a player who barely avoided the first blast.
• In its third phase, Gaismagorm gains an attack where it pushes its arm into the ground and launches itself towards the player like a rocket, before turning around and doing it again. Like Narwa's bite attack mentioned above, it's a relatively simple attack made difficult by the fact that you have to dodge a literal Kaiju sliding towards you at top speed, and although the attack has a decently long windup, it's deceptively fast once Gaismagorm actually starts moving. Without a counter or block, it's fairly difficult to dodge the attack in time, and getting hit by it will knock the player far up and potentially get them hit a second time when Gaismagorm turns around unless they have a Wirebug.
• All Afflicted monsters have a shared quirk where if you fail to knock it out of its rage state fast enough (by attacking the glowing red Anomaly Cores), it will create an explosion that inflicts significant damage and stun to anyone who didn't get blown back to camp. This explosion attack also creates four orbs that orbit outwards, ensuring that not even Gunners are safe. While multiplayer can make it easier to get to all the Cores before any of them trigger a detonation, the Cores' health scale with multiplayer, so you'll still need competent teammates to ensure you don't get a big blast of Qurio energy to the face.
• Primordial Malzeno:
  • Primordial Malzeno has its infamous "shield bash" where it charges the hunter using its wing to bash them, before following up with an additional stab. The initial shield bash comes out extremely quickly, can combo out of some of its previous attacks, and will knock the hunter flat on the ground, so if you don't Wirebug out of there quickly the second hit will hit you, guaranteeing massive damage or a cart considering how much one hit hurts already. In later phases, it will start to mix things up with a different bash attack that can transition into one of its other attacks.
  • Its aerial cross chop. Fairly fast windup, can dash at someone from across the zone, reaches way further than you'd expect, has an extremely wide hitbox while dealing massive damage, and is unblockable even with Guard Up. The only way to reliably avoid it is by dodging towards Malzeno.
  • Its quadruple Qurio laser blast in the Bloodening state. It comes out very fast (only telegraphed by Malzeno deploying four balls of Qurio in front of itself for a few seconds, which will be reduced to about one if it's in the Bloodlust form) and covers a decently long range in the blink of an eye, while inflicting very high damage and Bloodblight to boot. It covers quite a wide area and unless you happen to weave between the beams' path or escape in time, you're going to get hit because the attack goes right through Guard Up.
  • Once it's in the Bloodrage or Bloodlust forms for long enough, Malzeno gains access to a Limit Break where it creates an indiscriminate storm of Qurio blasts while raining down more in a fairly large area, before teleporting atop the player and unleashing a devastating explosion that borders on a One-Hit Kill. The first part isn't so bad, but when Malzeno teleports on top of you, you have roughly a second to somehow get out of the massive radius, superman dive, or trigger some form of counter/invulnerability before the explosion blasts you to kingdom come; if you get caught by its initial Qurio blasts, chances are that you won't even have time to dive. On the bright side, if you survive, the attack will leave Malzeno fatigued and weakened for a bit, providing a big opening to attack.
  • Once Primordial Malzeno is on its last legs and enters its Bloodlust form, it'll gain a particularly nasty combo that consists of eleven of its prior attacks performed consecutively without stopping, most likely aiming at one particular hunter, all while teleporting in between attacks to throw you off. The combo has a fixed order so it can be predicted, but Malzeno will still be zooming around like it's on crack, and taking a hit at any point in the combo will almost certainly throw off your rhythm and lead you to mess up a later part of it, not helped by the fact that a Bloodlust state Malzeno also has several other similar (but shorter) combos to mix things up. Attacking Malzeno during this combo string without being a master of dodging/countering is basically suicide, so if you're not that good, your only option is to run and wait it out until Malzeno collapses from fatigue afterward.

Frontier/Other

• Espinas Rare Species: The Firestorm. It essentially flies up and nukes the battle area, spreading unblockable, poisonous flames around it. Get hit by that, and you have a few seconds before it sends out a shock wave clearing everything around it. And it's the main attack this thing uses. Made worse by the fact that making it flinch during the few second gap where it's preparing to jump is the only way to get a much-needed item from it.
• Lavasioth:
  • Its charge attack. If your weapon isn't sheathed when it comes at you, you have almost zero opportunity to dodge it and it might as well be an Always Accurate Attack.
  • Its super magma spit in World. Though the attack has a fair amount of wind-up and has a distinct sound cue, the projectile moves quickly and explodes with a huge radius, and can take off over half your health even if you're wearing fire-resistant armor, with Tempered Lavasioth's version becoming an One-Hit KO. Don't think keeping your distance will keep you safe, as Lavasioth can snipe you with the attack halfway across the area; being far away may even encourage Lavasioth to start spamming this attack.

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