User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/ Monster Appreciation Week: Diablos (4th Gen)/@comment-5020152-20160507140910

DIABLOS

Concept: There are two dinosaur-headed flying wyverns out there, and Diablos is the second of the two – although it was the only one in MH Tri and 3 Ultimate. As a player of MH Tri, I’ve always preferred Diablos, as I’ve hunted it many times before Monoblos and can’t help but feel like Monoblos is inferior. 7/10

Design: Swap the Styracosaurus-like headgear of Monoblos with a more Triceratops-like set (minus the nose horn), and you’ve got a Diablos! This desert devil certainly isn’t as spiky-looking as Monoblos and has a much blunter design, but that only makes him look scarier. Instead of a spiky thagomizer, Diablos has an axe-hammer tail that is just as deadly as it looks. His frill is smaller than Monoblos’, but his horns are much longer and thicker, and instead of a beak, he sports a pair of short tusks. Ever since MH Tri, Diablos has been reworked to look bigger and more muscular, giving him even more of an intimidation factor. Diablos definitely resembles something straight out of the Mesozoic era, and his impressive size combined with his sturdy, heavy-set build remains to this day one of my favorite designs in Monster Hunter. 9/10

Sounds: The same as Monoblos – deep growls and snarls for the most part, and a high-pitched screech as his main roar. Monoblos and Diablos are infamous for being two of the first monsters to have a roar requiring High-Grade Earplugs to block. They are exclusive to dry areas, so the Dunes theme music is the perfect fit for these desert devils. 7/10

Gameplay: The main thing that separates Diablos from his one-horned cousin is the battle. For one, something you will notice straightaway is that it does not take much at all to make Diablos mad. In fact, Diablos spends much of the fight in a state of rage, increasing his speed and power to levels almost unmatched by any other monster. He digs underground often, forcing you to either use up your Sonic Bombs or run around like a headless chicken in hopes of not getting painfully ambushed. (Unfortunately, Diablos is immune to Sonic Bombs when enraged, meaning that the headless chicken option is the only one available to you.) Diablos’ attacks, aside from his ear-splitting screech, are all physical in nature and hit like a tank. While Diablos loves using his massive head to smash you into oblivion, you must watch out for the tail as well – it has a huge range and a good amount of muscle behind it. Diablos rarely limps when close to death, since he’s usually too busy throwing a temper tantrum, but you can tell when the fight is almost over when he starts raging even after a single hit from your weapon. Overall, facing off against Diablos can either be a fun or a painful experience depending on how much you like sweating with anxiety while trying to avoid having your character flattened by giant Triceratops wyvern. 8/10

New Stuff: When Diablos charges into a wall, he’ll automatically dig underground and appear on top of it, so it’s a lot harder to get him stuck in this game. He can no longer do the Underground Pounce that he had in Tri and 3 Ultimate, since that attack is now Black Diablos-exclusive. However, he does have a new combo that involves him jumping out of the ground and then immediately charging forward (meaning you get punished even if you opted for the headless chicken option mentioned above). 7/10

Equipment: Diablos weapons are renowned for having some of the best raw damage in the entire game. His Great Sword, the Cera Cymmetry, is particularly impressive. Speaking of Great Swords, the Diablos armor set is one of the better sets to forge if you’re fond of those weapons, sporting Critical Draw, Quick Sheath, and Tremor Res. I also love the G-Rank female version of the Blademaster armor for its design. 7/10

Cutscene: The hunter enters the Everwood, only to be ambushed by a pair of Diablos. But the wyverns don’t even notice the hunter – they’re too focused on fighting each other. In a brutal battle for territory, the Diabloses clash again and again, tossing the hunter away every time they meet, until one of them prevails over the other. The loser flees, and the winner screeches a victory cry. Such a cool cutscene! Monster-on-monster battles are pretty awesome. 10/10

Summary: Diablos is a monster that I’m slightly biased towards because of how much I liked fighting him in MH Tri, especially when compared to the boring Monoblos. Everything I can think of about Diablos is just better than what Monoblos has to offer, from the design to the battle to even the equipment. Wherever there’s a desert in the world of Monster Hunter, you can bet your life that Topps here is eventually going to surface and try to make your life miserable. Overall 8/10

(Even though I say that, there is no sign of Diablos in the new game, Monster Hunter Generations. This makes me confused and more than a little upset. Diablos has appeared in every single Monster Hunter game with a desert region so far, and Capcom just went and cut him from the MHGen roster for reasons unknown. RIP Diablos, and here’s hoping you show up again in the next game.)