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Monster Hunter Freedom Unite: Lavasioth Guide.

Please note: This guide was originally written for www.minegarde.com and the credits reflect that. View it in its original form here: http://forums.minegarde.com/index.php?showtopic=15531

Written by Time Lord / Lord Loss.

Hello, and welcome to my first guide. Here I will be covering a monster new to Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G... the Lavasioth.

Within this guide, you’ll find:

I: Legal Stuff (boring).

II: Introduction (hopefully less so).

III: What is a Lavasioth? (Know thy enemy).

IV: Where can I fight one? (Self Explanatory).

V: Lavasioth’s Attacks (Avoid these).

VI: Strategies (You’ll find this part helpful).

VII: Equipment and Skills Recommendation (Also helpful).

VIII: Tips and Tricks (But nothing Game-breaking).

IX: Lavasioth’s Equipment (Some of it is almost quite good).

X: Epilogue/Credits (For the sentimental amongst you).

As always, just press CTRL and F simultaneously to summon the magic box. Type in the corresponding Roman Numeral to the section you want (see above) and you’ll be taken straight to it.

Legal Stuff (I)

This Guide may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal or private use. It may not be placed on any website or otherwise shown publically without advanced written permission. Use of this guide on another website or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.

Introduction (II)

Don’t let the name fool you. It may have borrowed the ‘sioth’ from its Piscine relative, the Plesioth, but that’s where the similarities end. In fact, Lavasioth is very unique – there aren’t really any monsters to compare it to (baring one or two copied attacks; more on that later). In one sentence, Lavasioth is powerful, fast and aggressive. Oh, and did I mention it swims in lava?

What is a Lavasioth? (III)

Ok. Imagine, if you will, a fish. Now give it skin of cooled magma. Then make it the size of a small bus. Shrink the dorsal fin (the one on top) to a stump; make the side fins almost as small. Ensure the tail is long, thick and powerful. Fill the round, roughly hemispherical mouth with two rows of razor sharp teeth. Then give it legs. This is the Lavasioth.

Or, if my description is lacking, just use YouTube (I myself tried Google Images, and it was awful). admiredfob has a very awesome video guide on beating Lavasioth. Use it as well as or instead of my written guide, it’s up to you. Find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7bQpvc3brg It lives in lava, although unlike the Plesioth, it comes out without a great fuss and doesn’t rush back in. Much.

Where can I fight one? (IV)

As you may have gathered from all the references to lava, you fight this creature in the volcano, exclusively. More specifically, in Areas 9 and 10 of the Volcano, which are new to Unite and only really serve as a place to fight Lavasioth. You probably came across them before in the game and wondered what the heck they were doing there. Unsurprisingly, you need Cool Drinks for these Areas.

For the other meaning behind the question above, the answer would be ‘In the Guild Hall, exclusively’. That’s right – no Elder or Felyne Elder level quests for this beauty. You need to go into the Guild Hall and speak to the Yellow Lady, who gives out G Lvl Quests. You’ll find two Lavasioth Quests at G**, more commonly known as HR8. One is a single monster quest (recommended for your first time) and the other is a Dual Monster Quest (Oh joy! Fun all around!) There’s also a Lavasioth in a HR9 Epic Hunting Quest, ‘The Three Masters of the Volcano’, which features Lavasioth, Terra Shogun Ceanataur and Rathalos.

To unlock HR8, you need to do:

-Daimyo of Sengoku Fame (Plum Daimyo in the Old Desert).

-Old Jungle Lightning (Khezu in the... you guessed it).

-Eyes in the Underground Lake (Plesioth in the Old Desert).

-Pelagus Pride (Emerald Congalala in the Old Jungle again *shudder*).

-Old Swamp, Shrouded in Mist (Dual Purple Gypceros, in the... you guessed it).

I never noticed before that all the Quests needed to unlock Hr8 are set in the ‘Old’ Areas.

Then the HR8 Urgent:

- Ever Present Shadow (Nargacuga in the Great Forest at Night).

Obviously, you also need to be HR7 in order to unlock HR8. In order to unlock HR7... oh, forget it. There’s probably a guide somewhere to tell you how to advance through the HRs.

Lavasioth’s Attacks (V)

So know you know what a Lavasioth is, and where to find it. Now you’re going to learn how Lavasioth does its absolute best to smash you out of existence. It is set out this way: Attack Name: How to pre-empt it: How to respond:

In no particular order:

Bite: What it says on the tin. You’ll have seen it before on many a monster; you’re standing in front of it, when all of a sudden it bites downwards to its lower left.

How to Pre-empt it: You probably shouldn’t be in the range of this attack at all. If for some very strange reason you ARE near it, just roll away, as soon as you see him start to lower his head to bite.

How to respond: Although this attack is weak, he recovers pretty quickly from it. He’ll almost always go straight into an ‘on-the-spot’ walk straight after. As you’ve probably learnt by HR8, don’t attack a monster when it’s walking on the spot. It’ll choose a better attack to clobber you with.

Tail Whack: That’s right, I didn’t call it a tail whip. That would be because it’s not. Lavasioth moves his tail roughly 270 degrees behind him, first 110 to the right, then 160 to the left. Note the angles are nowhere near exact, it’s just to give you a rough idea. All in all, very similar to Diablos’ Tail Whack. One to avoid. Extra thought: The attack has somewhat ambiguous hit-zones. If you’re standing under where the tail connects to the body, you might be safe, even if the very harsh laws of MH hit boxes tell you that you should have been hit. Then again, standing there might also not be safe. It’s very marginal.

How to pre-empt it: He occasionally does this after a Land Swim. Apart from that, the only advice I can give is don’t stand beneath his tail.

How to respond: If you’re at the side of him when he does this (if so, good) roll to his head and attack it, but in doing so avoid the tail – it might creep round just far enough to smack you.

Lava Ball: It seems even the new monsters must abide by the rule that no creature is complete without some kind of projectile attack. Anyway, he’ll basically hurl a big glob of lava at you. However, just to make things complicated, his head follows you until the last nano-second before he releases the ball, making it a lot harder to avoid that, say, a Rathian's. As if this wasn’t bad enough, when it lands it explodes into small fragments. If these hit you, they can do considerable damage, and you won’t even have seen it coming.

How to pre-empt it: He can sometimes do it after walking on the spot. Apart from that, it’s pretty random.

How to respond: This is probably one of your best opportunities to do some damage. This attack is has one of his longest recovery times, so feel free to wail on his legs a bit (be aware that a fragment of the blast can on rare occasions find its way back as far as his legs. This is nothing short of cheating). Don’t get to greedy, however, or he’ll nab you with a...

Hipcheck: Ah, the one attack shared by many, many monsters. You’ll see Lavasioth readying himself by curving his spine, then trying to smash you with his hip. Or tail. Or neck. Or head. The hit-zone isn’t fussy. On the bright side, it’s nowhere near as bad as Plesioth hipcheck.

How to pre-empt it: When you see him curve his spine, roll out of there, either towards the head, to the other side of his body (probably pushing it a bit, and you might not even be safe there). Possibly try rolling directly away from his on-coming hit. Or if you’re really feeling lucky, or have Evade+1/2, you could try rolling through the hip-check. Not really recommended.

How to respond: Lavasioth takes a bit of time to recover from this. You can get in a few hits on either the head or legs.

Jumping Smash: One of his worst attacks (before you get used to it). It’s pretty much the reason you should never be under Lavasioth. Basically, he jumps really high in the air, then lands with considerable force on the ground. It’s similar to Daimyo’s jump, with two differences; firstly, it’s a lot faster, and secondly it doesn’t home. Like Daimyo’s jump it causes the Quake Effect, meaning if you’re too close, but not close enough to get hit, you’ll wobble around hopelessly while Lavasioth recovers.

How to pre-empt it: As you as you see him tense his legs, roll away from his shadow. Don’t bother sheathing your weapon – there won’t be time.

How to respond: If you manage to avoid the Quake Effect, which is possible once you build up a sense of timing (alternatively, just get an Evade+2 set) it’s a great chance to get some free hits on his back/legs/head.

Lava Ball (Lava Based): This is basically the same as his normal Lava Ball, except he does it from when he’s in the lava. It scatters when it lands just the same as the normal one. However, it doesn’t seem to be as hard to avoid.

How to pre-empt it: Lavasioth will rear up out of the lava, point his head at you and fire. During the rearing up and aiming you should have had time to roll away (it doesn’t really try track you at all).

How to respond: If you’re using a melee weapon, there’s nothing you can do. Just avoid it and await his next move. If you’re using a ranged weapon, you can risk a few shots after he’s fired. I’ll leave it up to your judgment.

Triple Lava Blast (Lava Based): This attack is somewhat different – he’ll swim below the lava, then surface suddenly in the same place, causing three balls of it to fly up and land somewhere near you. Powerful, so don’t get hit with it.

How to pre-empt it: As soon as you see him go down, you’ll know this move is coming up (the animation for the Lava Based Lava Ball (I love tongue teasers) is subtly different). As soon as you see the balls fly up in the air, keep your camera focused on them as well as you can. If one looks like it’s going to land near you, simply roll away.

How to respond: Again, if you’re using melee weapons, there’s nothing you can do. Just bide your time. I’d also recommend ranged weapon users just wait as well. You’re only going to do minimal damage shooting at him as the balls fall to Earth, and if you’re shooting at Lavasioth you’re not concentrating on the balls, which mean they’re much more likely to hit you. Play it safe. Be aware these balls have a small ‘splash radius’, i.e they can damage you if you’re really close but not technically touched by them.

Surfacing: Simple; Lavasioth swims under the fragile volcanic rock you’re standing on, then burns through it to get to you. Powerful, but you’ll see it coming a mile off.

How to pre-empt it: You’ll see Lavasioth swim towards said rock, briefly pause, then swim under it. This is your cue to get moving, because he’s homing in on you. You have plenty of time to sheath, don’t worry. It’s not a fast attack. After a few seconds, you’ll see a big, bubbling red circle appear where he’s about to surface. It shouldn’t be too near you, but if it is, get out of there a.s.a.p.

How to respond: After burning through the rock (how does it do that?) it will fly into the air a little, then hit the ground and wriggle off a bit. Don’t touch it while it’s wriggling, unless you’re shooting it with a ranged weapon. While it’s wriggling, run after it, because it’ll soon stop and try and hit you with another attack... although hopefully not the dreaded...

Land Swim: And finally, ladies and gentlemen, I’ve saved the worst until last. The dreaded landswim. You’ll have seen it before on Plesioth; basically they drop to the floor and squirm towards you at considerable speed. However, with Plesioth, you didn’t have to worry about it unless you were a Gunner, because when you’re meleeing it, you are: A), not going to be in front of it, which is where the hit zone is, and If you are hit, your armour can cope with it.

Lavasioth is considerably more evil with this move. It’s stronger, and can take ¾ out of G Lvl melee armour and has a sneaky twist; he can turn around after doing it once and come speeding towards you again for a second ‘bite at the cherry’. Oh, and when he turns around, he locks onto you, meaning your only hope is to Panic Dive. The delay when he locks on mean you may Panic Dive too soon, and you can be brushed by a lingering hit-zone as you stand up. In short, a really horrible move. The one factor that redeems it, slightly, is the fact he's only going to do the U-Turn in Rage Mode. (Thanks TenSa ZanGetsu!)

How to pre-empt it: When he drops to the floor, roll once, then sheath. Hopefully he’ll go sliding off in the wrong direction. If he does turn around, be sure to Panic Dive at the last minute.

How to respond: Unfortunately, the nature of this attack means he normally ends up recovering from it some distance away from you. If he does stop near you, great, get some damage in. Under normal circumstances, however, run after him while he’s wriggling and you’ll be close enough to get some hits in when he does his next move (assuming it’s not a Land Swim).

Lavasioth has no new attacks in Rage Mode (apart from the fact he can do a U-Turn in the Land Swim). Mostly, they just all become faster and more powerful. Great.

Phew, that’s it for the attacks. Onto the...

Strategies (VI)

Here I’ll be covering the (brief) strategies for the various weapons. As you’ll soon see, some are easier than others.

At this point it’s prudent to mention that Lavasioth has no obvious weak-points. The head and neck are equally weak. The back is slightly weaker if you’re doing Impact damage, but slightly stronger if you’re doing Cutting damage. The stomach takes the same damage as the head and neck for Impact, but cutting does slightly more damage there (immaterial, as you won’t want to be under the stomach for fear of the Jumping Slam). The tail is fine to aim for is you’re Cutting, poor if you’re using Impact. Weirdly, the side fin takes good damage from Impact, but you can rarely reach it, and cutting weapons are significantly weaker on the side fins. Finally, the Legs/Feet take reasonable damage (Impact is stronger there) and all in all, they’re probably the things you want to be hitting most.

Lavasioth is also relatively easy to Paralyze, although that’s not much use solo. He is also surprisingly easy to Poison, but resistant to sleep.

His elemental weakness is Water. Nothing else is really worth using.

Finally, the weapons.

Greatsword: Big, slow, but powerful and can Guard. Not personally my first choice for Lavasioth, but it’s not awful. Basically, do a Lvl 3 Charge Attack (^) on one leg after the Lava Ball, and when he trips do one on the stomach. You can also squeeze in a Lvl 3 when he stands still (when he goes into Rage Mode). A Lvl 2 would probably be safer, though. You could also do a plain unsheathe attack if you’re close enough to him after a Land Swim. Feel free to either try a Lvl 3 charge, or a charge and (0) after his Jumping Slam. That’s really all there is to it.

Longsword: Smaller, faster, slightly weaker. A pretty good weapon against Lavasioth. Try a (^) + (^) + (0) + (^+0) after his Lava Ball. Once you’ve filled your Spirit Gauge, use ® and ® + (Combo) attacks as much as possible. Aim for the legs, then the stomach when it trips. You can also do (^) + (^) if you’re close enough after a Land Swim, or a longer combo after a Jumping Slam.

Sword and Shield: Small, very fast, pretty weak. Always a good weapon to use on a new monster, because the Guard can save your life more than once from an unexpected move. Unsheathe on his legs, then follow up with a full combo if time permits. Attack the stomach when he trips. There are also other openings, such as after a Land Swim or Jumping Slam. This will probably be a long fight. Try to stay focused.

Dual Swords: If you’ve ever used Dual Swords before now, you’ll know the drill. Take a Mega Juice, Demonize, and Devil Dance away (on a leg, in this case). You can get in a Devil Dance after the Lava Ball (you could try two, but you’ll probably be Hipchecked for your trouble), after he trips, and after a Jumping Slam. You can do one or two single attacks if you’re close enough after a Land Swim.

Hammers: My favourite for Lavasioth. Superpound the legs as much as possible, or try the spiny move that ends in a Golf Swing. Triple Pound the legs after a Lava Ball, and Unsheathe after a Land Swim (bear in mind the Hammer’s Unsheathe attack is feeble). When it trips, Triple Pound the back instead of the stomach. After a Hipcheck, you can try hitting the head for a KO, but Lavasioth doesn’t normally use Hipchecks enough for this to work. Triple Pound after a Jumping Slam.

Hunting Horn: Sorry, I don’t know much about Hunting Horns, nor am I any good with them. The only thing I can suggest is ensure you stay buffed up, superpound the legs a lot, and do lots of (^) swings on his back when he trips.

Lance: A pretty good weapon here, although the lack of mobility can be frustrating. Upstab the legs (0) as much as possible, it’s stronger than the normal stab (^). When he trips, feel free to charge into the stomach (^ + 0) – the Lances Cutting damage comes in helpful there (Yes, I know they can do Impact as well, but it’s not particularly helpful in this instance). Also attack after a Jumping Slam (try Guarding it if you can’t backhop in time) and if you’re close enough after a Land Swim.

Gunlance: Similar to the Lance, although you probably know that by this point in the game. Triple poke as much as possible. Shelling does part raw damage and part fire damage (I may be wrong there) and Lavasioth takes no damage, whatsoever, from Fire element. None. Nothing. I’m not sure about Wyvern’s Fire, but that might be worth a few uses.

Light Bowgun: Ah. The first range weapon to be covered. You need to be very careful where you stand when using range weapons – in front, and he’ll track you with the Lava Ball or Land Swim towards you. It’s much safer to stand behind him, and shoot at an angle through his stomach and out through his head (obviously, you want to be using Pierce S or Water S). Alternatively, shoot from the side, blasting through his side fin, through the spine, and out the other side. Light Bowguns struggle a little with damage over time, so this could be a long fight.

Heavy Bowgun: Essentially the same as the Light Bowgun. Just remember you’re not going to be as mobile. Basically, it’s shooting from behind, hitting him in the belly, and the shot carrying on before emerging out of his head. The alternative strategy is to shoot through the side fin, and watch it come out the other side. Standing in front of him is likely to get you killed very quickly.

With both Bowguns, you’ll want to be bringing as many Pierce Shots as possible (Pierce 1, 2 and 3) as well as Water S and materials to combine to make more of these shots. Normal S Lvl 2 and Lvl 3 wouldn’t go amiss either. Water S is the priority.

Bow: Similar to Light Bowgun (except, obviously, you don’t fire shots). You’re going to be mobile but not going to kill it very quickly. A Water Pierce Bow is best; just follow the above strategies of shooting from behind or across the body, whilst never standing in front. Rapid is ok, as is Scatter, because it’s such a wide area, but Pierce will always be preferable. Remember to bring Power Coatings, combines for more, and Poison/Paralysis Coatings if you feel it’ll liven things up.

Equipment and Skills Recommendation (VII)

We’re getting there. You now know all Lavasioth’s attacks, where to find it, and the (very) basic strategies on how to take it down. But what weapons and armour should you take it down with? First off, the weapons. I’ve tried to have at least 3 for each weapon type. (Remember, to qualify, these weapons have to be obtainable at HR8. I know full well that King Atillart Sword is probably the best raw Greatsword, but you can’t get it ‘till HR9).

Greatsword:

- Carmine Blade. Terra Ceanataur is a pain, but this weapon has impressive Raw, and natural Purple sharpness (an extra 20% damage). Plus it looks cool. Has a HR9 upgrade.

- Darkness Darkblade. The raw isn’t earth-shattering, but it makes up for it with natural Purple sharpness and scarily high affinity. Also looks quite cool.

- Punisher. Nothing to get all excited about, but has slightly higher Raw than the previous two, in exchange for only White sharpness. (Use Sharpness+1 to maximise its potential). It is also very easy to make and has two slots.

Longsword:

- Atlantica. The best Water-element Longsword, full stop. Not too hard to make. It needs Sharpness+1 to hit Purple.

- Shogun Cutter. Raw focused. Not too shabby, and has natural Purple sharpness.

- C. Blango Decimator. Also raw focused, and upgrades into the best raw Longsword at HR9. Preferable with Sharpness+1.

Sword and Shield:

- Master Odyssey. The best S’n’S against Water-weak creatures. Impressive stats. Use with Sharpness+1.

- Crow Blade. Expensive but good. Requires Yian Garuga materials. Has two slots, high raw and high affinity.

- Dual Scissors. Despite the ‘Dual’ in the name, they are actually a sword and shield. They essentially serve as an alternative to Master Odyssey.

Dual Swords:

- Ebony Wings. Nargacuga Dual Swords. As with all the Nargacuga weapons, they’re fine for end-game, but you probably won’t win any speed-kill competitions. Has natural purple sharpness, so you can use something other than Sharpness+1.

- Holy Guild Knight. The best Water-element Dual Swords. Expensive, but has two slots and good stats. Some of the materials needed can be annoying to get, especially the Giant Blk Pearl.

- Carmine Edge. Another pair of raw Dual Swords. Normally, I’d only recommend using Dual Swords with elements or statuses, but I’m struggling to recommend good Dual Swords for Lavasioth. Like Ebony Wings, they have natural purple.

Hammer:

- Juggernaut. One of the three or four best end-game raw hammers. Obtainable at Hr7, has impressive attack, two slots and even gives you a defense boost. Just use Sharpness+1 to get up to purple.

- Carmine Axe. Another good choice; has natural purple and Water element. Not too hard to make, unless you really don’t like Terra Shogun Ceanataur.

- Royal Lobster Hammer. An alternative to Carmine Axe; has slightly weaker raw, but more element; not what you look for in a Hammer. Also lacks natural purple. Nevertheless, it is capable of defeating Lavasioth.

Hunting Horn (Note: I don’t know enough about Hunting Horns to judge them on the notes they play. Consequently, I have judged these Hunting Horn on stats alone):

- Bi-coloured Casternet. It’s an end game Hunting Horn with Water element. Gives a defense boost. Use with Sharpness+1.

- Crabby Casternet. This one focuses on raw. Like many of these recommendations, it has a better Hr9 upgrade, but is still perfectly usable.

- Jungle Conga. High raw, but has no slots. Use with Sharpness+1.

Lance:

- Gravedigger. A raw Lance. There’s little to say about it. Use with Sharpness+1.

- Sadalmelek. A good Water element Lance. Improves again at Hr9 into the best Water element Lance. Use with... you guessed it.

- Carmine Stinger. Alternative raw Lance. Has natural purple, which is good, but lower raw than Gravedigger, which is not.

Gunlance:

- Sea Abyss. A Water element Gunlance based off Plesioth and Green Plesioth parts. Reasonable stats, and only has one slot. Use with Sharpness+1.

- WanningMoonDarklance. Despite the rather contrived name, it’s a good raw Gunlance. Natural purple, scary affinity and two slots make it a good choice.

- Desert Slingshot. High raw is somewhat let down by -20% affinity and no slots. Use Sharpness+1 for purple.

Light Bowgun:

- Owl’s Eye Darkbow: A pretty good LBG, with very high affinity, very fast reload and a big set of Pierce S clips. Unfortunately, it can’t shoot Water S.

- Desert Tail: Reasonably powerful, fires Water S, and is big on Normal Shots. It also fires all the Pierce shots, but in very small clips, which is where Barrage Piercing or Auto-Reload helps.

- Promenade: Powerful, fires all Normal and Pierce Shots, but can’t fire Water S. Has quite small clips.

Heavy Bowgun:

- Power Stinger: A Peirce S centred Heavy Bowgun, that also fires all the Normal S. No Water S, however.

- Violet Stinger: More powerful than the previously mentioned Bowgun, fires everything (helpful) that it fires, and even fires Water S. I don’t know why I even bothered recommending the previous Bowgun.

- Terra C Blaster: Even more powerful, fires all Pierce in reasonable sized clips, fires Water S and only slightly let down by not firing Normal S Lvl 3. For Lavasioth and Gravios, this is the Heavy Bowgun you want to aim for.

Bow:

- Wolf Bow. Yian Garuga Bow. Has Poison Up. Has good raw and positive affinity, but the shot types aren’t ideal.

- Grt Purple Emperor I: Made from Plum Daimyo Hermitaur. Has Water element, but use it with Capacity Up to get the good Pierce shot.

- Carmine Bow: The alternative Water element Bow. Has lots of lovely Peirce shots, so I’d probably choose it over the Plum Daimyo Bow.

Armour:

All the skills named assume you’ve gemmed the armour.

Blademaster:

- Narga X. It has Evade+2, Evade Distance Increased and Trap Master. The most important thing here is the Evade Distance Increased. It also lacks any offensive skills.

- Ceanataur Z. Much more like it. Sharpness+1 (highly recommended), Sharpsword (good) and another small skill of your choice; in my case I went for RA+1. A pretty nifty set.

- Hermitaur Z (for guarding weapons). Impressive set, with Guard+1, AttckUp Md/Lrg (gemming dependant) and Guts, which is always a novelty on Blademaster sets, but just might come in handy.

-Rathalos X. Awesome for Greatswords; it has Attack Up Large and Unsheathe Critical, which makes the first attack with any weapon do 1.25X as much damage. Truely epic.

Mixed Combos (no more than two pieces of any one set): -Skull Face Ceanataur U Ceanataur U Ceanataur Z Ceanataur Z With the right gemming you can get RA+3, Sharpness+1 and Sharpsword, which makes it pretty darn good. The skull may be a bit unaesthetically pleasing, but hey, it's still worth it.

Gunner:

-Shinobi Heaven: Evade+2, Elemental Attack Up, another skill of your choice. A very good High Rank set, although all those Black Fatalis Webbings is horrible.

-Narga X with Blango Z Helm: Auto-Reload, Evade Distance Increased, Evade+2 and Trap Master. Very awesome set.

-Narga X with Congalala X Guards: Evade+2, Evade Distance Increased, Pierce S Up, Trapmaster (needs two slot weapon). Great, especially when you remember Pierce S will be one of your main sources of damage here.

-Blango Z: Normal S Up, Auto-Reload, Faint Duration Halved and you can gem on another skill; perhaps an offensive (not in that sense) one. Pretty good.

Skills: Ah, the skills. Skills can make or break a battle; ensure a swift, confident victory or a 50 minutes struggle where you end up dying anyway. Believe it or not, some skills aren’t available until HR9 (mostly the ones from the G Lvl Fatalis armours), so they won’t be included. In no particular order:

Melee:

Sharpness+ 1: I’d go so far as to suggest this should be your first priority with any white sharpness weapon (those of you with natural purple weapons, don’t use it). It pushes your sharpness from white to purple, which increases your damage by 20%. That’s a heck of a lot.

Sharpsword: It effectively doubles how long your sharpness lasts. A good skill to have, but not essential.

Attack Up Sm/Md/Lrg: It increases your attack, as the name suggests. Nice and simple.

Reckless Abandon+1, 2 or 3: Increases your weapon’s affinity. (Affinity is the chance of scoring a critical hit; a critical hit does 1.25x as much damage). Works well with Sharpness+1, because the higher sharpness increases affinity (in conjunction with RA).

Range:

Capacity Up: Allows more bullets per clip on Bowguns, and allows a new charge level on Bows. It increases the damage over time on Bowguns, and can help you with better charges for Bows. Can be obtained from just one armour piece, Barrage Piercing.

Auto Reload: Means you don’t have to re-load Bowguns, which is a big increase on damage over time. It also maxes out your recoil on some shots, though... but not elemental ones, so spam Water S! Oh, and on Bows it means you don’t have to manually equip a coating.

Guts: As you’ve probably noticed by now, Gunning armour has poor defence. It’s a fact. However, Guts makes it so you can’t be killed in one hit if you’re at 60% HP or more. This, as you can imagine, is helpful. You only need a Mega-Potion and one normal Potion to get back in the safe HP range again afterwards (thanks, mazeron).

ElementalAttckUp: Increases the power of elemental shots (in this case, Water S). Worth consideration.

Evade Distance Increased: When you roll, you roll further. Good for when Lavasioth is targeting you with his lava balls.

Pierce S Up: Increases the power of Peirce shots. You’ll want to use these as well as Water S, so it’s a skill worth consideration.

Reckless Abandon+1, 2 or 3: Increases the affinity of your weapon. It’s a basic damage over time booster, and better than Attack Up, which isn’t very good on Ranged weapons.

Tips and Tricks (VIII)

• As I’ve mentioned before, Lavasioth is weak to Water. Use either Water element weapons or raw ones.
• Trip Lavasioth to get some free hits in. Trip it by attacking for the legs.
• Like its Piscine relatives, it is possible to capture Lavasioth. You will be able to tell when he is ready to capture by the fact the ‘aura’ of lava stops flowing off him.
• Both Shock Traps and Pitfall Traps work on Lavasioth, and apparently the Shock Traps lasts double the normal time.
• Sonic Bombs and Flashbombs have no effect. Lavasioth, like most monsters, also won’t go for Raw Meat.
• Lavasioth has two breakable parts; the face, and his dorsal fin. (Thanks, Devil and JinSeta!) Both of these are going to be pretty challanging to break, depending on the weapon type.
• When Lavasioth goes into Rage Mode, he’ll stand perfectly still for a few seconds. Get some quick hits in.
• Apparently Lavasioth drops a Shiny when you KO it. I have yet to test this myself.
• You may hear people referring to Lavasioth as Volganos. This was the name used in the Team HGG translation of Monster Hunter Portable 2nd G, before Unite was released and we had the official name.
• When in Area 9, if Lavasioth jumps into the smaller pond, he'll always jump back out and land in the middle. It's a great time to sharpen/heal, etc, because during this he's obviously not going to be able to attack you. (Thanks, Devil!)

Lavasioth’s Equipment (IX)

Congratulations, you’ve beaten your first Lavasioth! But what should you make from the materials you’ve gained? First off, the weapons.

Greatsword: Igneous Blade -> Igneous Sword: The best Fire element Greatsword; better than Teostra Del Sol, due to having higher raw, and lower element. Worth consideration.

Longsword: Liquid Fire Blade -> Divine Fire Blade: A good fire element Longsword; however, you’ve probably made Wyvern Blade ‘Silver’ by now, which makes this weapon a bit superfluous. If you’ve not made said weapon, feel free to make this instead.

Sword and Shield: Not applicable.

Dual Sword: Fire Storm -> Volcanic Storm: A Dual Sword with two elements, Fire and Water (so requires both Lavasioth and Plesioth parts). As with most Dual Swords with multiple elements, it’s a bit gimmicky, and probably not worth making.

Hammer: Not applicable.

Hunting Horn: Lava Alphorn -> Volganos Arpa (what? Either there’s a mistake on the Minegarde Weapon Trees or Capcom actually used the fan-translation name...) It’s a perfectly good Hunting Horn stat wise, even if it does have -10% affinity. However, bear in mind I know nothing about the notes it plays, and this could make or break it as a weapon.

Lance: Not applicable.

Gunlance: Volcano Gunlance -> Lavasioth Gunlance: A good end-game Fire Gunlance. It’s in direct competition with Luna’s Sun; Lavasioth Gunlance has higher raw, but lower element. Also bear in mind that Luna’s Sun has no slots, and shoots Spread Lvl 4, whereas Lavasioth Gunlance has two slots and shoots Long Lvl 4. Make up your own mind.

Bows: Not applicable.

Light Bowgun: Lava Storm: Nothing particularly amazing here, although it does fire a huge range of shots. Use with Barrage Piercing to get more, badly needed, shots per clip.

Heavy Bowgun: Not applicable.

Armour:

Lava X, Blademaster: You’re going to end up with a base defence of 460, which isn’t half bad. The only elemental defences away from 0 are +20 Fire, +5 Dragon, and -15 Water. It has reasonable slots, including a chest piece with 3. Most importantly, the skills it gives (with a little gemming) are Guts, TerrainDamageResist (or something like that) and Focus, which cuts down the time needed to charge your weapon. It’s an ok set, but not great, and Guts is a bit of a novelty on Blademaster sets; there aren’t many attacks that’ll one-hit-KO you (apart from Fatalis’ Snap ‘n’ Drag, Yama’s Sucking attack...)

Lava X, Gunner: A base defence of 230 is reasonable for Gunner armour, and the elemental properties are better (+25 Fire, +10 Thunder, +10 Ice, +10 Dragon, -5 Water). Slots are the same. The skills are also the same, except the Fast Charge works only on Bows, and Guts is much more helpful, because there are some attacks that are going to one-hit kill you in G Lvl.

For the sake of arguement, let's say you have every single piece of Lavasioth equipment there is. Are you done fighting him? Oh no! Time for...

Subsection: Lavasioth Training

Once you've beaten Lavasioth, you unlock Lavasioth Training, in the G lvl Training section of the Training School. As you can imagine, it's pretty hard.

Sword and Shield': This is a set aimed at sleep bombing. Great idea, Training Instructor; you've obviously not read my guide, because if you had, you'd know Lavasioth is practically resistant to sleep status. Oh, and he doesn't really give you enough bombs, so you've got to go mining.

Greatsword: Just follow my simplistic Greatsword strategy further down, but be aware the armour has the 'Focus' skill, so your charge times are decreased. Also note that the Instructor makes a fool of himself again, saying "[Lavasioth] also has a huge weakness"

Hunting Horn: Eek. I don't know what I'm doing when it comes to Hunting Horns. I just find it amusing you've got a set with Adrenaline+2 and the Bombs to activate it, so the Instructor really can't like you very much.

Lance: Erm... just using a Lance against Lavasioth. It's pretty underpowered, and you don't have many Whetstones, so consider gathering some.

Heavy Bowgun: It's a pretty weak Bowgun, but it fires a nice variety of shots. You also have a decent range of items. The catch is it's just inherently hard to gun Lavasioth.

Epilogue/Credits (X)

And so, dear reader, you’ve reached the end of my first guide. As is traditional in a guide, there’s a number of people I want to thank:

• Capcom, for making such an awesome series of games.
• The people who run and maintain www.minegarde.com, thank you for giving all us Monster Hunter fans a place to come for all our Monster Hunter needs. Oh, and the weapons trees were a great help.
• A number of people from www.minegarde.com, including:
  • Devil, whose guides were part of the inspiration for my own.
  • mazeron, for your awesome gunning strategies.
  • Halos Nach Tarriff, for listening to my ever wilder theories in the Monster Theory Topic, some of which may have once concerned Lavasioth.
  • Century, whose previous guides were also inspiring. I’m really looking forward to working together in the future.
  • VioletKIRA, for your status and sharpness guides, that proved to be most helpful.
  • Anyone else who has ever given me help or encouragement on www.minegarde.com. That’s most of the members, then.
• And you, the person who’s just taken the time to read my very first guide. You, the reader, are very important. Thank you.

Lord Loss / Time Lord © 2009.