User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Lunastra (5th Gen)/@comment-4969421-20181223203259

Capcom put extra work on World's DLC monsters and perhaps it is on Lunastra where this is shown best.

After an eternity of absence from main series games (as opposed to her husband) Lunastra finally makes her grand return in MHW. Maybe that is the reason the development team decided to go the extra mile with her. Regardless, that World Lunastra is one of the best revamps in the franchise is an undeniable fact.

The updates to her design are mostly minor, namely slightly smaller horns and a streak of fur running down from her back to her tail. Personally I've always liked Luna's design better than Teo's, I prefer the crown-like horns that give her a more regal appearance as well as the smaller fangs. I don't dislike Teostra's design by any means but I do think those oversized tusks he has look pretty dumb, and even though they're such a minor part of the design I'm glad they're more reasonable on Luna. On her raged state she is impressive with all that bright dust and glowing horns. Luna is also wonderfully animated, even for a MHW monster. It's honestly impressive how seamless her animations are, like how she breathes fire into the ground and then spreads the flames with the wings.

She also gets a remixed theme! Take Teostra's theme, add Vaal's harpsichord and it becomes 100 times better! I didn't really like it before, but Luna's version of the theme is actually one of my favorites in the game.

Another thing I really like that is also unique to her is her Bond attack. I've always wanted them to do more with monster interactions, so it's not just a monster fighting another in a Turf War. So Lunastra teaming up with her mate for a devastating attack in the form of combined Supernovas was something I was really excited to see, as well as very gratifiying. Now I'm looking forward to seeing more Bonds and hoping Capcom doesn't just forget about this new mechanic, because honestly, there's a lot of potential to it. And come on, who doesn't want to see one for the Raths? They're just asking for it!

Before moving on, as a conclusion I want to mention I really appreciate them putting so much work on a mere returning monster, a few years ago no one would have expected something that's basically a subspecies getting a remixed theme, for example. I appreciate just so much work went into this monster.

But yeah, it's time to talk about the probably most important aspect of a monster: the gameplay. Like I've said before, a monster can do everything else perfectly but if it's not enjoyable to fight it'll basically drag the whole thing down to the point where it's not a good monster at all.

I think Lunastra is fun.

haha tricked you right? here let me make it worse I think Lunastra is fun because she is hard.

Call me masochistic or whatever you want, I was delighted to see a monster that required to you to actually learn, adapt and finally play around to counter and defeat it. Perhaps it is that craving for a good challenge what makes me like Luna as much as I do. That Lunastra fights nothing like Teostra is obvious, but the truth is she is unlike anything else in the game. And I like that. Regardless if it's because of the blue fire zoning, or or the flame bursts, or that infernal tail which actually poses a threat, I like how you fight Lunastra so differently from anything else. I enjoyed learning this monster, finding the best way of maximizing damage while minimizing the risks of getting hit. And even though I had an easier time with Hammer and Duals, I keep Lancing her. Just for that reason, because I like the unorthodox fighting style I need to adopt in order to beat her. And once you do figure that out she's actually perfectly doable. You barely get hit (if at all) and she goes down relatively quickly. What really makes Lunastra hard is that she is very punishing. If you make one mistake things can go south very quickly, even if you were doing perfectly before. If you get cornered, she can melt you in an instant. So even after you've learnt her, she still keeps you on your toes at all times. But Luna is a monster that rewards all that effort you put into her.

However, even although I enjoy the fight, I can't deny Capcom tried too hard to make her hard. There's no reason for Luna to have such awful hitzones. Or for her weakspots to be incredibly hard to hit for 99% of weapons. Or being unable to stagger her by hitting the head when it's not even the weakspot. I also don't think the flame bursts when she does another of her fire spread attacks should come out instantly, you can't really react to it. The moveset and the blue fire mechanics alone are more than enough to make the fight difficult. And the normal quests she appears in are really bad. You're going to have another Elder Dragon with her at all times pretty much. Even if it's something other than Teostra they will follow each other as well. I once had Nerg enter its 2nd phase after it followed Luna through FOUR areas. And I wasn't even hitting it at all. Lunastra is fun when fought alone, but to do that you're forced to get Investigations for her.

Luna equipment is exactly the kind of reward you'd expect from defeating such a powerful monster. Lunastra weapons are (or were) unique in that they diverge into three different paths, and each one grants the set bonus skill of the monster whose materials are used for the final upgrade. LunaXeno weapons give Razor Sharp/Spare shot for free, making them amazing all-around weapons. They also have a good number of slots, making them incredibly versatile and giving you a lot of freedom in set making. Empress Lance "Styx" is probably my favorite weapon in the game for that very reason. LunaNerg weapons, giving Hasten Recovery instead, are less useful, but they may still be worth it for some hunters. Base Lunastra has "Guts", making them worse than the other two options, but at least the HH is really good. Innate skills in weapon is something new but we can already see that Capcom has taken a liking to it, with Ele/Status Crit on the new ATKT weapons (which makes them the new best weapons in the game, maybe). It's not too bad right now (Razor Sharp is practically useless when Master's Touch is a thing, and we really needed that elemental variety) but I hope Capcom is prudent when balancing these weapons if they decide to keep using this gimmick in the future.

Lunastra armor is decent, mostly intended to be used along other armor pieces. Thanks to its 3 slots, the chest piece often finds its way in many mixed sets.

Bottom line, even though Lunastra has her flaws (like any other monster) it's still an enjoyable and fun monster. I was yearning for a challenge and a monster like Luna is exactly what I was looking for. Even though she's a returning monster, she has returned as something entirely new thanks to her completely unique fighting style and how much love the development team put into her. Welcome back.