User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Dalamadur/@comment-24965733-20160229023611

So, this isn't quite the cavalcade of unrestrained salt and hatred I was expecting. Suppose I'll have to fix that.

Firstly, I don't like the design. Probably my most subjective complaint, but the snek just looks stupid to me. Especially the head with all those forwards-bent spines. On top of that, the music is garbage. Probably the worst specific-monster theme in the main series. Or at least #2 with G crimmy. The equipment is 90% garbage, with armor that's usually outclassed by other pieces in mixed sets or just flat-out has useless skills. The only pieces I know of really worth using are some of the shah pieces because of awaken. The weapons aren't usually that good either. I know the swaxe and glaive are considered good, but the rest of 'em are pretty mediocre at best. Especially for an endgame monster. Designs are alright I guess. Doesn't really appeal to me.

And the fight, oh god the fight. Grand total of about three attacks it can use. (bite, fireball, clawsweep) which it spams the living hell out of. I mean, it also has the noob-killer flamethrower, but it only does that at predetermined times in the fight, so I don't count it as a regular attack. But yeah, that gets on to fight scripting. Every single dala fight plays out in the exact same bloody way. Hit backspines as it leaves pillar. Go for claws/tail/chest, probably knocking it down and getting a few hits on the head. Dodge a bite or two. Go for tail/back/head as it curls around pillar. Tail knocks off a few platforms, creates gouge in center of map. Get a few more hits on it as it leaves pillar. Go for claws/tail/chest, now with added meteor spam. Dodge a flamethrower. Repeat until at half health. Dala destroys half the arena. Repeat until 30% health. Dala now spams the everliving hell out of meteors. Kill it. Get eight carves. The reason I even got into MH is because the I found the 3U demo to have fairly organic fights. This is just tedious. Shah shakes it up a bit I guess but from all I can tell that's just an RNG restriction on which parts you can hit at a given time.

And can we talk about the meteors. I don't know how the hell people complain about shagaru blasts when these bloody things exist. Shagaru blasts are small, you can get out of them with a single roll. Dala meteors will hit you even if you roll. Shagaru is a very mobile monster, standing in one place for an extended period of time doesn't happen often. (unless you're doing hame runs/je suis monte in which case you deserve to get blasted ;p) Dala (and particularly its weakpoints) sit still for about 70% of the fight, meaning you're going almost assuredly getting blasted unless you're constantly doing hit and runs. Shagaru's blasts are fairly well synchronized with its attacks; usually an opening to heal/attack with shagaru coincides with the off-time of the blasts. Dala's meteors just go off constantly and forever. And finally, I have lost count of the times I've been knocked off the platform in the hotspring for whatever reason, and every bloody time I try to go up, I get meteored. Dodge to the side, hits me. Try to rush to the top, hits me. Repeat until I die, usually including a few times of getting meteored whenever I try to heal. Because, as I mentioned, unlike shag, dala meteors don't have openings. They're just a constant nuisance. Dodge one and another one's already targeting you.

idk, skimming through the other comments, feels like I'm the only one with the misfortune/insanity to solo dala on a semi-regular basis. Most of these admittedly aren't as much a problem in multi. In multi dala just dies like a beach. Still isn't fun. Mostly just a chore then.

I'll leave you that like 'em to your fun now. Just my two cents.

/salt