Nailing down just one Alatreon weakness in MHW is a tricky thing… The Blazing Black Dragon of the Monster Hunter world doesn’t have just one! Instead it changes periodically through the fight, similar to Lavasioth. Unlike the big magma fish, though, Alatreon can also target your weaknesses on the fly — changing its form to hit you with different elemental damage and blights. That makes it one tricky as hell battle. Targeting its weakness (whatever that may be at the time) is key! So let’s take a look at how to target them in our Alatreon weakness guide to MHW.
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Alatreon uses all of its elements at the same time. Though, as in previous games, it’s incapable of using Water damage at all. So you don’t need to worry about your level of resistance in that respect. Otherwise it now flutters between three forms (which also determine its weaknesses) in order. These are now Fire, Dragon, and Ice forms when you first battle it. These correspond to the color of the dragon itself. Ice form is blue, Dragon form is dark purple sort of color with black accents, and Fire form is an orange hue.
What element works best for you and when, however, depends dramatically on the mission you’re playing. In the initial special assignment called “Blazing Black Twilight,” Alatreon starts in Fire Mode, switches to Dragon Mode, and ends in Ice. Then the process repeats. That is unless you break the horns during Dragon Mode! This will keep the Elder Dragon from switching to its third mode (for a time). Knowing its elemental weaknesses and exploiting them is massively important, too, for reasons we’ll go into below.
Alatreon Tips – MHW Guide
Other Alatreon tips include going for its body parts. You can damage its wings, horns, and front claws, much as you might expect. It’s also possible to sever its tail for an extra carve! Although it’s often best to focus on the aforementioned horns. They’re easy enough to snap anyway. Breaking these will delay Alatreon’s ability to switch to a third mode. However, you can only break Alatreon horns when it is in Dragon Mode.
More important than breaking body parts, however, it is now vital to damage Alatreon with elemental damage. The Blazing Black Dragon has a power move called Escaton Judgment. This shockwave will completely annihilate an unprepared party. However, hitting the beast with elemental damage mitigates this damage before it’s ever dealt. You can also heal with Dust of Life and Astera Jerky. However, Farcasters are disabled during the fight. That includes Escaton Judgment. It’s also worth noting that Blast and Poison are status effects, not elemental types. So they won’t help you here. Sorry, but your Lightbreak weapons are no longer the be-all end-all!
There are basically two “styles” of Escaton Judment. One is an instant kill (or potential party wipe). The other can kill you, but gives you time to heal. You must do enough elemental damage to trigger the survivable form of Escaton Judgment before it starts. There are two ways to know you’ve successfully saved your own life. Alatreon will topple (giving easy access to its horns) and the Handler will chime in to say you’re doing a good job suppressing the beast.
One key tip is to pick the right elemental damage for the job. And that depends entirely on the mission you select. When you first fight Alatreon, during the Blazing Black Twilight special assignment, it always begins by using Fire and switches up accordingly. Naturally, Ice damage is best to start with — or make sure you have Dragon damage to break those horns at a moment’s notice. Water and Thunder also work throughout the quest, but at reduced damage.
To just survive the fight, equip three levels of Blight Resistance. This doesn’t just protect you from Thunderblight and getting lit on fire. It prevents Dragonblight. That’s essential for dealing the elemental damage necessary in the battle. Three levels of Health Boost are also massively helpful for Escaton Judgment.
Most other Alatreon attacks have huge telegraphs. They just hit like runaway semi trucks… You need to balance dealing lots of damage will avoiding its attacks. The best spot for that is usually close to the monster itself. Standing to its sides protects you from many ranged attacks. Glowing blue marks on the ground summon lightning that you can step away from (and deal damage between). When Alatreon charges with red energy, it’s going to “self-destruct,” dealing a hefty shockwave of damage. But it has a massive dodge window. Just roll when the high-pitched whine Alatreon’s energy makes suddenly cuts to silence. That’s your opportunity for an easy dodge.
How to Alatreon in MHW
A “correct” Alatreon fight works like this. Say it starts in Fire Mode. You can use an Ice element weapon to deal maximum damage until the Elder Dragon turns to Dragon Mode. Hopefully you’ll get a topple and a notification from the Handler that you’re doing well. Once the beast is in Dragon Mode, especially if you get the topple, focus on breaking the horns.
If you perform both of these vital steps before Escaton Judgment, you’re doing well! The monster will perform its supernova. Yet you can heal through it. A Health Booster is enough to get the job done (and give you time to sharpen). Otherwise, eat Astera Jerky or a Max Potion when your health gets to about the halfway mark. There is animation for both items. So you need to “pre-eat” before your health gets too low and you die. Just one restorative will keep you from carting.
Now you need to repeat the whole process. Alatreon can still switch to its third element — unless you break the second horn before the second Escaton Judgment. This will force the beast to switch back to its original form yet again. By this point you should be close to just killing the dang thing.
Once you finish the assignment, there will be two event quests to choose from: “The Evening Star” and “Dawn of the Death Star.” The former mission works just like the special assignment, going from fire, to dragon, to ice. Whereas Dawn of the Death Star is just the opposite. Once you have the pattern down, though, you just need to make sure you match the damage you’re doing to its weaknesses. They look like the following
- Fire Mode is weak to ice damage.
- Ice Mode is weak to fire damage.
- Dragon mode is weak to dragon damage (and the only phase of the fight that lets you break horns).
Natural Partbreaker from the Switch Axe or Gunlance can help break those pesky horns. It’s not that hard to do without, though. Flash Pods come in super handy as well. They will knock the standard creature to the ground out of Flight Mode, just like a normal monster. That’s your opportunity to get a few hits in and hopefully break those horns! Just bear in mind that Alatreon is only weak to Flash Pods when it is not enraged.
Astera Jerky is also your friend. The Alatreon shockwave attack works just like Supernova from Lunastra. That is to say, it does “red health” damage rather than direct damage. Spamming the instant Astera Jerky will refill your health as it drains and help you survive through Escaton Judgment. Astera Jerky also combos with Wide-Range. That means support builds are helpful when playing with friends and strangers.
Oh… The classic “Superman Dive” move we all love so much does not work here, either. Sorry.
Happy hunting.
