User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Alatreon (4th Gen)/@comment-31446922-20170304192748

Ah, Alatreon... Where to even begin with it?

In Tri, Alatreon was a goddamn monster and a half. It never taunted aside from its "Preparing to enter flight mode" animation, and the cooldown on many of its moves was short and gave a hunter very little time to react. It charged at you, and you dodged it, IT'S TAIL would hit you. Killing Alatreon was an endeavor in and of itself, especially if you were a blademaster not using the OP as hell Lance, but breaking the horns for a Skypiercer was the true challenge. You KO'd it, its head would flail wildly making hitting it near impossible, and it never kept its head low to the ground for more than a second unless you got its horns stuck or paralyzed it. Add to that the super low drop rate for the item IF both horns were broken, and you had an exercise in frustration and rage unrivaled in the MH world even if you went full cheesage on it. This was the Alatreon I grew up with, and even with the best gear and the best weapons, if it wanted you dead, YOU WERE DEAD.

I never played P3rd because loljapanonly, but I know of the changes it and 3U made to make Alatreon easier... somewhat. Now it taunts after every chained ground slap, after every homing lightning, and it takes longer to recoil after a fireball. Slime wrecked Alatreon and made killing it much easier than before, and the binders only sealed the deal, ontop of the smaller size for the Elder Dragon. However, these changes were for a good reason: Alatreon could no longer be tripped. Breaking its claws only staggered it a bit, so to get consistent damage off of it, you had to either paralyze it, KO it (Much easier to do now that its head wasn't flailing like a drunkard), or bind it out of the air, which it could now do any time it wanted, though it still stayed on the ground for the most part. Also, damage output was increased, especially on the G-rank Alatreon who also had absurdly huge HP to boot, making it nigh impossible to solo, and its horns became even harder to break with how tough they were, to offset the vastly improved changes for a Skypiercer/Skyswayer. Alatreon was still a challenge, but less than the insanely ludicrous monster seen in Tri.

Which brings us to Generations. Now we're in Ingle Isle, and gone are the walls to get its horns stuck on and the binder to take it down. Flash bombs somehow are less reliable than before, and half the time Alatreon can be looking DEAD AT THE FLASH BOMB WHEN IN THE AIR and ignore it. KOing it is an exercise in futility now thanks to how much it resists KO, and EVERY TIME it goes into its rage mode, it goes up in the air. On paper, this spells a nastier challenge than 3U's Alatreon...

But to be perfectly honest, I find Generation's Alatreon to be easier than the previous ones. Since it's always in flight mode when enraged (Aside from a very few exceptions), you never have to deal with rage boosted dragon claws and fireballs, and the increased taunting in the air also helps. the static lightning attack has been made easier to avoid, and it might just be how Ingle Isle is, but Icicle Crash also is easier to avoid despite the icicles falling down faster and sooner. Mounting it IS a pain, but after a while, I can get the mount almost guaranteed unless it does a triple thrash on me (The leviathans and Rajang can also burn in hell for that shit), and Adept makes dodging its attacks very easy. The horns are now made of plastic, and Alatreon can now be tripped again. Many of its moves have also been slowed down so they're less dangerous, like the thunder clap, aerial thunder rush, and the leap back slam that used to be almost instantaneous in Tri or even 3U. I definitely have an easier time fighting Alatreon in Generations than Amatsu...

Other things I can say: I love Alatreon's appearance as a sleek black dragon with the V-shaped wings and massive horns, his sound design is perfect and intimidating (Though I miss the howl and animation he did when he got head staggered in Tri), and his theme Ultimate Judgement really sets the stage for the kind of hell you are in for. His weapons are among the best in the game, especially in Tri, and his armor in Tri was so brokenly good. Sad to see it get nerfed especially in Generations, but dem's the breaks. Having the best dragon weapons in the game is a bonus, though...

Overall, I'd have to give Alatreon an 8/10 in Generations. Tri's Alatreon was a 7/10 due to how terrifyingly hard that fight was, and 3U's Alatreon si the perfect blend of difficulty and fairness, only set back by being almost impossible to solo at the G-rank, earning it a 9/10.