User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Gold Rathian (4th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20160202150732

GOLD RATHIAN

Concept: The same as Pink Rathian – a Rathian with a genetic defect. How many times have I heard this story? 1/10

Design: The same as Rathian, only with her scales painted a stunning gold. The end result is very impressive, but to be honest, I’m more of a Pink Rathian fan in terms of color. 7/10

Sound: The same as Rathian. Since the only time you’ll ever encounter Goldy is in the Tower, you get to hear the Tower theme playing in the background. It’s a fitting theme for a monster as mysterious and powerful as Gold Rathian. 7/10

Gameplay: Ordinary Rathian is pretty easy while Pink Rathian is extremely irksome. Then there’s Gold Rathian, who combines natural body armor and a horrible temper with Pink Rathian’s battling technique. Goldy is armored on her head, back, and tail, making it very hard to break the parts you want to – you’re pretty much limited to striking the wings and legs. When she gets enraged, her power and speed dramatically increase to the point where you don’t even want to get near her. She’s got everything in the Rathian family’s arsenal – flaming bites, nuke-like Cluster Bomb, the Dancing Backflip, and the utterly ridiculous homing backflip. She also brings a couple of new things to the table by being able to combine a charge with a backflip, and being able to unleash a total of three nuclear blasts in a row. Normally, only one of these things on its own would be bad, but combined like this, they make Gold Rathian a truly fearsome monster worthy of being put in the same tier as the elder dragons. 6/10

New Stuff: N/A (All of the stuff mentioned above applied to Gold Rathian in 3 Ultimate.)

Equipment: Gold Rathian materials are often used to complete the final few upgrades for Rathian weapons. They’re a chore to get, but when the result is a top-notch Fire-element or Poison weapon, it’s worth it. The Gold Rathian armor set isn’t particularly great. It has Divine Blessing, Great Luck, and Partbreaker, which are good skills, but I’d rather have one of those skills on a set with a few more useful ones. 7/10

Cutscene: N/A

Summary: Gold Rathian is a flying wyvern grouped with elder dragons due to how powerful she is. Even if you know the Rathian family inside and out by now, nothing can really prepare you for Gold Rathian. She’s much like Pink Rathian, which is bad enough, but Goldy sports body armor and a rage mode that sends her speed and power through the roof. I recommend equipping your best armor set and a ton of Antidotes. Overall 5.5/10