User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Kirin (5th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20180526154134

"In the far east, there are legends of another monster that shares the same name and abilities as Kirin." Reference to the mythological Kirin, perhaps?

Kirin's an okay monster. He's still as unique and horsey as ever, and he's still highly amusing to mount. Surprisingly, I quite like the intricacies of his design, specifically the scales and claws/toes he has instead of fur and hooves, justifying his classification as an elder dragon. Of course, the copious amounts of lightning and addition of armor when enraged makes fighting him more of a pain than it has to be. Fortunately, I've lately discovered that I don't have too much of a bad time employing Great Sword hit-and-run tactics against him, keeping the risk to a minimum. From what I've gathered from MHW gameplay footage, his design looks surprisingly fantastic and he has a new "multiple horizontal lightning strike" attack, but unfortunately he looks about the same as always. Not sure I'd ever want to fight the Tempered version, though.

Are this monster's weapons any good, incidentally? I've normally been content with farming Zinogre and Astalos for Thunder weapons, but I might try for a Kirin weapon or two.

Speaking of equipment, the Kirin armor... is overrated. I'm not too big a fan. Even though I usually use a female character, I do have standards in terms of armor, and I don't want her looking like a stripper. But Gore Magala armor, on the other hand? Now that is gorgeous armor. Badass? Oh yeah. Attractive? Undoubtedly. Looks practical for use as armor? Yes, that too. It meets all my standards. Kirin armor does not. (And anyway, Dalamadur and Nergigante arguably have Kirin beat in terms of skimpiness.)