In a little over a month, Capcom will provide fans of Monster Hunter Rise with the Sunbreak expansion. Last week the developer held a Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Digital Event on YouTube, highlighting a number of additions to the game that players can look forward to.
The expansion for Monster Hunter Rise will feature Follower Quests, Master Rank versions of monsters, and a new Switch Skill Swap mechanic. Capcom also announced three new monsters coming to Sunbreak, while gaving players a longer sneak peek at the expansion's flagship monster: the Elder Dragon Malzeno. Although one of the three new monsters isn't new to the series, two of them are subspecies of creatures from Rise's base game: the Magma Almudron and the Aurora Somnacanth.
Monster Hunter Rise's Aurora Somnacanth Subspecies
While Seregios, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate's flagship monster, isn't new to the Monster Hunter series, the other two are brand-new subspecies of established monsters. One such monster is the Aurora Somnacanth, a new take on the Somnacanth introduced in Monster Hunter Rise.
The original Somnacanth is a Leviathan class monster, similar to Monster Hunter 3's Lagiacrus and the Mizutsune from Generations. Leviathans are "Large Monsters" that mostly consist of wyverns which specialized in swimming. As a "Large Monster," Somnacanth is hostile in nature, usually considered a top predator in their environment, and are normally the primary objective of Hunts. These monsters also provide players with item drops that they can use to craft equipment or sell for a great price.
As a subspecies, the Aurora Somnacanth maintains certain similarities to the original Somnacanth from Rise, such as its Leviathan status, mermaid-like body, and wing-like fins. However, this monster looks to have the Ice Element, unlike normal Somnacanth focusing on Sleep status ailments, giving it a unique blue tint and maybe pointing to it spending less time in the water. As such, the Aurora subspecies will also have a few new moves that hunters need to learn to avoid.
While normal Somnacanth attacks by shooting a sleep-inducing beam or producing a dreamy smokescreen, the new Aurora subspecies Somnacanth fires off powerful ice breath that causes its target to become frozen. If a hunter gets caught by the beam and becomes frozen, the Aurora will follow up with a mighty body slam, similar to when a regular Somnacanth catches hunters with its sleep powder.
According to the Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Digital Event, the Aurora Somnacanth will have the passive ability to freeze everything surrounding it, with the effect of creating slippery surfaces that it will use to its advantage. The Leviathan will slide around on slippery, frozen surfaces it creates to quickly reach and attack hunters. Aside from these two abilities, the Digital Event didn't showcase the subspecies' other attacks or what kind of new armor and weapons will be made using its parts.
Whether the Aurora Somnacanth will utilize objects to produce attacks, similar to the normal Somnacanth using shells, is currently unknown. Other details such as what its elemental weaknesses, rampage type, blights, and threat level, may also be revealed as Capcom approaches the expansion's late June release date, or at least upon the release of Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak. One thing's for certain, the Aurora Somnacanth might be one of the toughest Monster Hunter monsters to face in the upcoming expansion.
Monster Hunter Rise is available now for PC and Switch. The game's Sunbreak expansion launches on June 30, 2022.
