User blog comment:BannedLagiacrus/Monster Appreciation Week: Vaal Hazak/@comment-15446856-20180819140546

Vaal Hazak is proof that monsters don't need to be super powered to be good, something that the update monsters seem to ignore.

The concept is one of the best; a dragon with a strong undead vibe thats essentially a necromancer, and responsible for much of the Rotten Vale's effluvium. It pretty much is the dragon of death, its entire design is based off death, a skeletal body which wears the blood red flesh of those it preys on.

The battle revolves around the status of effluvium, while small monsters encased by it can give you the status, it is very rare in their case. Vaal Hazak is mostly a melee fighter without its status, using various bites and claw strikes. But what really sets Vaal apart from the Teo and Kushala is the effluvium that will cut health bars in half when in its range. Be it's aura, gas field, AOE's or its most powerful attack, a solid beam, there's no escaping it. It makes you have to utilise Nulberries and resistance skills to combat its main ailment. This is a simple fight that doesn't rely on being challenging with super speed and wide ranging attacks, and that's what I like about this monster, its attacks are fair and easy to read, its sound design is perfection, and Vaal even gets a Turf War with a normal monster, Odogaron which (so far as of title update 4) is the only Elder that has one.

The theme is also fantastic, as it is not at all what is usually expected for something like this. While most other games would play a theme of horror and dread, Vaal Hazak's is a dramatic orchestral melody that goes well with this monster.

Arch Tempered Vaal Hazak gets to have different behaviours, even sleeping in the acid pools of its area. Oh, and this one, you cannot ignore the Effluvium at all, it will eat your health bar like the acid. And the beam is death, no exceptions.

IMO, its a better Chameleos.