User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Gold Rathian (4th Gen)/@comment-26034899-20160130044910

Ah, Gold Rathian, the only Rathian I find to be harder than her male counterpart. For me, the Gold Rathian is a mixed bag. On one hand, those tail flips are pretty nasty as she tends to use them after homing in on her target (no wonder Guildmarm suggests cutting it). On the other hand, her armor doesn't bounce off weapons as much as the Silver Rathalos' (as far as I've seen), allowing for more consistent strikes, and she's more of a legitimate challenge than her spear counterpart; I find her attacks more of a challenge to avoid (the only attack of Silver's that really troubles me is the poison claw, and that can be mitigated with a good defensive weapon), not to mention that I find that she has less susceptible to the "use Flash Bombs to knock the monster out the air" tactic, as she flies less often and has a habit of homing in on me. I'm not too sure how she fares in group hunts, but she's probably less annoying to deal with in group hunts than she is in solo hunts (most monsters are).

Her weapons and armor look pretty nice, and the latter has some decent skills, but you'd best not use it against Thunder monsters like Zinogre, otherwise you'll be left blue with shock. It works well against Dragon monsters, though.

One thing i don't quite understand is why the Rare Raths are immune to the Dragon element while their more common counterparts are weak to it. Maybe they got brain damage from metal poisoning, considering that the element does damage depending on how intelligent and sentient monsters are?

Anyways, i can't wait to see a Platinum Rath sometime soon.