Rathalos

A classic example of a flying wyvern, Rathalos, often referred to as "Los", is an aggressive, medium to large-sized wyvern. It has well developed aerial abilities. In addition to the regular red, Rathalos can also be azure or silver in color. A Rathalos is a male wyvern and its female counterpart is a Rathian, which shares similar features in appearance and abilities.

=Battle= When a Rathalos is on the ground, it will often charge at the hunter. Rathalos have particularly long tails ( Unless tail is cut off), so its tail whip is deadlier than most wyverns. It can also fly backwards while breathing fire into its previous position, so it is best to attack then dodge away. When turning to face the hunter, a Rathalos will either turn quickly or slowly. A fast turn means it will probably charge; however, there are times when it turns fast and does not charge. The former would be the safest to assume. If the Rathalos turns slowly, this most likely means that it will shoot a fireball, which is a great opportunity to attack, but it might quickly fly to the other side of the zone instead. Remember not to get greedy with attacks, or you might end up being knocked away by a charge.

When the Rathalos flies straight up and hovers, it will do either of three actions: it will shoot fireballs, one or three, and occasionally drifts forward while doing so; it will swoop at you with its claws out in an attempt to poison you, this can be avoided by standing by its shadow; it will "reset" its position (most flying wyverns occasionally do this: the wyvern flies up and immediately lands again, or, if near the edge of the zone, will fly back to the middle and land). The safest way to kill a Rathalos is by using a great sword and utilizing full charge attacks on its head(regular or azure) or wings (silver) to ensure maximum staggers and damage.

Sometimes when a Rathalos flies up, it will start flying as though it is going to leave the zone. Instead, it will circle around the zone, usually three times, before lining up with the player to do a swooping divebomb. When this happens, block if your weapon allows you to, or do a fleeing dodge. A learned hunter can use a great sword and bring the Rathalos down with a full charge as it swoops down during this attack.

The regular and azure Rathalos can only be found in the Forest and Hills. Most often it flies immediately to zone 9 upon starting the quest, and can travel to zones 10, 3, 4, 5, and 6. It rarely flies to zone 2. The silver Rathalos can be fought at the Tower.

Its tail and wing claws can be broken off for extra carves. However this can be hard without proper equipment and is not recommended for first time Rathalos/Rathian Fighters.