Alatreon is finally here, but hunters are finding this new Elder Dragon to be much more challenging than expected. As with most new additions to Monster Hunter World, Alatreon has received some substantial improvements since his last appearance in the series, and many are struggling with besting the beast.
Alatreon first appeared in Monster Hunter Tri, and is largely considered the coolest monster in that whole generation. As one of the few Black Dragons, its power is well beyond that of any of the other Elder Dragons Monster Hunter World players have faced thus far.
Alatreon is most notable for its elemental instability. This Elder Dragon has access to all five types of elemental damage in the game (fire, thunder, water, ice, and dragon), but can't always control which it uses. As a general rule, ice and thunder element attacks are only used while it is in the air and fire and water element attacks are only used while grounded.
The most important thing to make use of in this fight is elemental damage. Alatreon is extremely weak to the Ice element when in his default fire mode, and doing a lot of damage quickly will be very important. Throughout the fight, sparks will gather around Alatreon's horn, and eventually the monster will rise into the air and perform a nova attack. This move is almost guaranteed to kill all players in the area, and since farcasters are disabled, there's really no escaping it. Dealing elemental damage to its horn will disperse the sparks, however, and make Alatreon use this move less often or decrease its power to a manageable level.
That's the big thing to watch out for, but there are some other tips that can help with this fight. For one, it's very important to use blight resistance in armor, as Alatreon will throw out every type of elemental blight in the game. Without this skill, players will find themselves spending more time eating nulberries than actually dealing damage. Furthermore, since farcasters can't be used in this fight, Light Bowguns and Heavy Bowguns are at a distinct disadvantage as they can't return to camp to restock.
The rest of the fight will require practice and repetition to overcome just like any hunt, but these tips should help point hunters in the right direction. Of course, the rewards for taking him down are well worth the effort, so fans will simply need to be persistent and try to learn from each loss.
Monster Hunter World is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
