Players were first introduced to Anjanath during Monster Hunter World's reveal trailer. When they got their hands on the game proper, many found Anjanath to be one of the very first walls in the game. That is to say, it was the first monster they struggled to defeat.
Now, Anjanath has returned to Monster Hunter Rise. Strangely, despite its difficulty in World, Anjanath is one of the few returning monsters from World who isn't more difficult in Monster Hunter Rise. Despite that, it can still provide a challenge for players unfamiliar with its behaviors.
Prep, Hitzones, and Weaknesses
Anjanath uses fire elemental attacks throughout the course of the fight. There aren't many, but players should expect to deal with fireblight. Fireblight is one of the easier blights to get rid of however, as it can be cured much more quickly by rolling than the other elemental blights can. It can be cured with a nullberry as well, but rolling is going to be the better option most of the time. Players who don't want to deal with fireblight at all can spec for high fire resistance via their armor. If they just need a boost to get to 20 fire resistance to null fireblight, then they can eat dango for fire resistance as well.
Water elemental attacks will do the most damage to Anjanath predictably. Ice is the second best element to use and fire, also predictably, is the worst element to use as Anjanath resists it. Anjanath's hitzones, overall, are pretty good. During the fight, Anjanath will release its wings and snout, but they're not always out in the open to hit. However, when its snout is present, then it's the best place to hit for all weapon types. Second and third best are going to be the head and tail respectively. When it's wings are revealed, that's also a pretty good place to aim for, especially for shot type weapons like bowguns as they'll get the same hitzone values to the wings as they do the tail.
The one difficulty with these hitzones is that Anjanath is rather tall. It can be hard for certain weapon types to hit Anjanath in the face or tail. Shot type weapons excel in the Anjanath fight for this reason as they can aim anywhere. Granted, melee weapons with good aerial options like the insect glaive, are likely to benefit from Anjanath's high hitzone values as well. For every weapon type though, they'll definitely want to take advantage any time they score a knockdown on Anjanath.
As for status ailments, Anjanath isn't overly susceptible to much. Blast is the only thing it resists, but waterblight is also the only status condition that is rated above a one star effectiveness in the hunter's notes.
Fighting Anjanath
Anjanath relies mostly on physical attacks despite being a fire element monster. It especially likes attack hunters with its head so standing in front of it is a fairly risk venture. Unfortunately, as stated above, Anjanath's best hitzones are on its head. Its head is also the only other body part besides its feet that regularly is low enough to the ground to hit without Anjanath being knocked over. Players without great aerial options, high reaching attacks or high reaching silkbind skills, will need to be especially careful if they're trying to get the most damage done to the monster.
It will sometimes bite at hunters, but also likes to headbutt them, which will send them flying into the air if hit. Using a wirebug to wirefall in the air at this point can put a decent amount of distance between the hunter and Anjanath. When players should be careful about wirefalling is when Anjanath digs its face into the ground and starts charging at hunters. If hit by this early in its animation, its quite possible to be hit by it again if players aren't careful with how they wirefall. This could result in getting stunned which is likely going to result in a faint. Sometimes hunters will call out and give warning when its about to charge, but not always.
Other physical attacks it likes to use include jumping at players at hitting them with its tail. It can cover a good distance with its jump so this this is likely something in particular gunners will want to be careful with. Unfortunately, with its tail swipe attack, being behind it isn't really safe either. Anjanath protects its most vulnerable hitzones. It also has a bite attack that is more of a grapple and will throw players to the ground. This is one of the instances where players will want to wirefall to avoid being hit a second time.
As for ranged attacks, it can dig up a boulder to throw at hunters. Also, while it seems to do this far less often than in did in Monster Hunter World, it can spew fire from its mouth at various directions. This is fairly short range however, and only those close to its head are likely to get it. Then, Anjanath actually has a second move that will cause hunters to call out in warning, which is its fire breath attack. It will breath fire out in front of it that covers a large distance. This hits pretty hard, but doesn't cover a wide area so players just need to make sure they're not standing in front of Anjanath when given the warning.
Monster Hunter Rise is now available for the Nintendo Switch with a PC release slated for 2022.