User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Arch-Tempered Monsters/@comment-5130817-20190831212754

AT Elders: the ultimate challenges of World... in theory. Some were done well, improving on the original fights through new mechanics and abilities. Others just had higher stats with not a lot of noticeable differences. And the ones that weren't done well... really weren't.

Vaal, Zorah, Xeno, and Kulve are in the first category: Vaal's strengthened effluvium aura and change in habits made you specially prepare for the fight or get stomped, and the simple act of changing where it rests also made a huge difference. Zorah is way more involved, requiring you to actually fight off Nergigante and stop Zorah from attacking the barrier, and at the end it felt like you could fail or time out at any moment. Xeno skips the first phase and adds a ton of new abilities and attacks, making it feel like a Master Rank version in High Rank. Kulve is... well, the only version now, and a massive grind, but at least it has Fury Mode to shake things up.

Kirin, Teostra, and Daora are in the second. Teostra gains, like, one easily-avoided and punishable move. The others, I really didn't notice anything new other than Daora being more resistant to flashes. Meh.

Lunastra is Lunastra. Can't say much more other than her Hypernova being more telegraphed (and still basically an OHKO) and it taking more effort to cancel her charging move thing. But still, it's Lunastra.

And then there's Nergigante. Hoo boy. Combining planet-sized health with fast, absurdly damaging attacks and occasional speed buffs is bad enough, but then there's the infamous "Pepega Slam." It's a hard-to-dodge attack that comes out insanely fast with minimal warning, takes off half your health in the best cases, and can be spammed repeatedly. Sure, AT Nergigante gets a unique remix of its theme and a special clear theme, but that can't save it. It's one of the three monsters (along with Extremoth and Ancient Leshen... wonder why...) I haven't been bothered to take down.

But anyways, if the ATs (and Tempereds in general) are to return to Iceborne (and they likely will), I hope that they at least get a rework to make them more of a unique and true challenge that isn't bloated stats or BS moves. I'm afraid to see what AT Velkhana could be like...