Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate Guide: How to Kill a Rathian

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate has more than its fair share of aggressive creatures hellbent on eating you for breakfast. For most of them you’d be nothing more than a light snack or the equivilant of finding a piece of potato chip in your teeth four hours after you already ate a bag of them. The trick, then, is killing these gigantic beasts before they stomp on your face. So we at Twinfinite decided it was a good idea to put together some primer guides for taking down each of the more dangerous enemies in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.  This one’s about the Rathian: the first of the seriously evil wyverns you’ll face and probably the source of many poison-fueled nightmares to come.

The Rathian takes the form of a huge, well, dragon. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate contains many creatures that can be seen as dragon-like, but this is the first that really instills that sort of primeval fear the flying reptiles can bring. She’s a strong and vicious lady (the male version being the devastatingly destructive Rathalos) with a sting in her tail and fire spewing forth from her heart.

A Rathian’s basic attack in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is a fairly simple bite. She will pull her neck back to her right hand side before lashing out with vicious jaws. This attack can be easily blocked with a shield like that found on the Charge Blade or simply avoided with a dodge to the side. Do be warned, however: this strike is paired with a powerful swing of her enormous, muscular tail. If your desire is to take her down as quickly as possible, roll forward towards her right hand side then slash at her legs.

When on the ground, a Rathian enjoys using her fiery breath to devastate enemies with three different attacks. The first is a triple whammy of flame-flavored death that spits three fireballs over a long range from her front. This triplet of tinder-lighting torpedoes launches from her center, and then one is fired to her right and her left. At close range, just roll beneath her neck. When at a distance, an easy sidestep away from the first is more than capable of avoid each of the three.

This flaming strike, like her other fire-based attacks and most of those in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, sets you ablaze. If left unchecked, you will die from damage over time. Removing it is fairly simple. Just run away from her and roll three or four times. Should there be water nearby, roll once through that and any burning effects will be removed.

Her second blazing barrage is a long-ranged singular fireball that travels quicker than you’d think, but if you’re prepared you’ll be running away when the Rathian fires this off. In typical Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate fashion, this attack’s a terrifying remover of health, coming with the added bonus of setting you alight. Follow the same tactic as mentioned above to remove the embers rolling around your skin.

A Rathian’s last hurrah in the fire department is a vicious explosion that deals incredibly vast amounts of pain to anything in front of her at about her own body length. It’s telegraphed by a large roar before the Rathian rears back in preparation. Use the fact she’ll be stuck in this animation to run straight between her tree-trunk legs and slash at them. She’s surprisingly vulnerable when using all three of her sizzling skills, making them a great avenue on the path to taking down a Rathian in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

She’s got some pretty big wings, remember? She’ll use them too. Way too often for your liking.

When a Rathian takes off that’s your personal signal to keep a close eye on where she’s pointing because she’ll use a small yet powerful collection of attacks from the skies. There’s a reason why that Supply Box contained a couple of Antidotes, but make sure you bring more of them for this. One of her strikes is a vertically-spinning roll where she whips her tail up from under her, poisoning you in that annoying way Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate creatures often do. It’ll also give you a fairly long free flight, so remember to track your air miles.

A hovering Rathian can also use two swooping abilities that are just as evil as her venomous tail. If she pulls back a little in the air then you’ve got one of two attacks to look out for. She’ll more often than not use a forward strike where she swings back and forth on a serpentine pathway, moving at high speed and causing more damage than you’d think. A fast slip to the left or right should keep you safe.

Her second is a swoop where she’ll whip out her legs to grapple you (or a comrade) on the floor. If you see someone being grappled, this is actually a good thing for you if you aren’t being munched on. This is one of those rare occasions where a Rathian is completely vulnerable to incoming damage. Do enough and she’ll stop feasting on your friend.

She’ll usually land after dishing out on of this last couplet of abilities, but she can stay airborne after one venom whip to deal another of the three attacks. After the second swooping one she will always land.

A Rathian may be one of the more vicious enemies to face on the fields of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, and not entirely due to the abilities listed before. She likes to move around a fair amount. Not a problem initially, but when you remember her size then it becomes terrible. If you are at a distance from the Rathian or a companion is, she will take pleasure in running towards you or them before lashing out with her most basic jaw-centric attack. The attack itself is a pain, just not as much of a pain as the damage or knockback taken when struck by her legs and wings.

Without a doubt though, the Rathian’s most irritating attack is one where she will turn on the spot and do a 180 even Microsoft would be proud of. This whirling dervish of death kicks out damage from both her jaws and her tail. If she does it once and you’re lucky enough to avoid damage, run beneath her (seeing a pattern here yet? or get as far back as possible because that tail is so much longer than you think. 

Like every single other beast in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, a Rathian can go into a furious rage. This is signified by a powerful roar before being followed up with fire rolling around her jaws. When in a frenzied state, the Rathian becomes even more terrifying than normal. She’ll move faster and whip out attacks quicker than you can react. Should you take damage during this phase or be poisoned, try to break line of sight with her before treating your wounds.

Remember how we’ve been saying go for the legs about a hundred times so far in this guide? Well, there’s a damn good reason for that. They aren’t very heavily armored. A Rathian has some of the strongest armor you’ll have come across so far in your journey through Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. Unless your weapon is in at least a green state of sharpness, you’ll be doing next to no damage if you attack anywhere besides her squishy underbelly.

Keep to her underbelly where possible and the Rathian will fall quite quickly. Also try to ensure you throw some strong attacks onto her head when she stumbles or is vulnerable to your strikes. This can break several pieces of armor on the head and reduce her ability to render you a bloody smear on her feet. Keep Antidotes available where possible, and if fighting in the A. Steppe region be ready to run between zones 2, 4, 5, and 8 to keep track of the vicious vixen of the skies. 

If you want to really kick out as much damage as possible, come at her with thunder or dragon type damage. To protect yourself, try to wear armor that has some sort of Auto-Guard function if your using a weapon that can guard and some Fire Resistance where possible to lessen the blow her fire can pack onto you.

To really hurt a Rathian, you’ll have to leap onto her back where possible. This is only really viable every third zone of combat and is really quite easy to manage. Keep an eye on her neck. When it coils back, grip tight as a massive roar is coming. If it swings right then left then right, grip also to hold on during the Rathian rodeo.

To defeat a Rathian, simply do all of this and keep everything in mind. That’s not too hard right? On a side note, if you’re playing with ranged weaponry really keep an eye on the Rathian when her neck pulls back, or you could be meeting a very fiery end very quickly.

What monster is causing you trouble in Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate? Let us know in the comments down below and we’ll try to get some tips out just for you as soon as we can.