How to beat Magnamalo in Monster Hunter Rise
This fanged wyvern is the signature monster in Rise.
Magnamalo is Monster Hunter Rise’s flagship monster, and it’s absolutely ferocious. The first time you’ll challenge it in the Comeuppance questline, it’s unlike anything you’ve faced before. It’s far more aggressive and its attacks are much more far reaching and destructive.
If you’re struggling to cut Magnamalo down to size, here’s a comprehensive rundown of the weapons, armor, items, and strategies you’ll need to vanquish the beast.
Magnamalo best weapons and armor
Let’s start off by examining the Magnamalo itself. If you look at its weaknesses and resistances, it’s most susceptible to Water and Electric attacks across the board. Cutting weapons (like swords) and blunt weapons (like hammers) do substantial damage too.
Here’s a closer look at Magnamalo’s physiology.
Fire and Dragon damage are completely nullified, so don’t bring any of those into the fight.
I suggest creating a Water elemental weapon of whichever weapon type you prefer. (My personal weapon of choice is the Longsword so I forged the Drowning Shaft weapon.) Most Water elemental weapons are part of the Royal Ludroth Weapon Tree, so you may need to farm materials from that monster before taking on the Magnamalo.
As for your armor, it’s still up in the air what element its attacks actually are. Magnamalo’s attacks are dubbed “Hellfire” elemental. It works similarly to “Blast” damage from previous Monster Hunter games — if you’re affected by Magnamalo’s Hellfireblight status ailment, you’ll be hit with an additional explosion after a few seconds. Unfortunately, this also means that none of the armors with elemental resistance are going to help you.
In this case, it’s best to just equip whatever armor you have that has the highest base defense.
Magnamalo preparation, crafting, and dango
Try forging this weapon for the fight.
For your pre-hunt meal, go ahead and choose your usual order. A consistently solid trio is Dango Polisher to speed up weapon sharpening, Dango Fighter to decrease stamina depletion, and Dango Feet to prevent getting knocked over.
Make sure that you’re carrying plenty of Potions and Mega Potions so you don’t get knocked out. Knock out three times and you fail the mission. Potions are crafted by combining two Herbs, and Mega Potions are created by combining one Potion and one unit of Honey.
If you don’t want to spend any precious money on healing items, do an Expedition Trip to the Shrine Ruins, as the place has plenty of Herbs and Honey to forage.
At this point, you should decide whether your goal is to kill the Magnamalo or capture it. Capturing monsters ends the fight much sooner and sometimes yields resources you wouldn’t get otherwise. If you want to capture the beast, make sure to bring along Shock traps or Pitfall traps, and also Tranq Bombs.
Magnamalo fight early strategies
Magnamalo can dole out a lot of damage. Here’s how to handle the earliest parts of the fight.
When first starting the mission, try to pick up some endemic life to buff yourself before battle. Right behind the tent in the starting camp, you can find a Giant Wirebug that will propel you to a higher area. There’s a Bitterbug and other endemic life around the area, like Skunkmink, Escuregot, Firebeetle, and Flashbug. Make sure to also pick up any extra Wirebugs too.
During your first encounter with the Magnamalo, both the Great Izuchi and Rathian will be walking around the Shrine Ruins too. Fighting one of them first and riding it to Magnamalo’s location starts the fight off with a bang. If you get lucky like I did, the Rathian and Great Izuchi will find each other at the very beginning of the mission. As they fight, take control of either monster and ride it to Magnamalo and begin your assault.
Magnamalo Tips
Try to flank Magnamalo to score some hits in from behind.
Magnamalo is very aggressive and nimble. Even worse, its attacks have incredible range. It’s best to try and attack it from behind.
Its weak points are:
- Head
- Front Armblades
- Tail
You’ll want to avoid the Hellfireblight status. When Magnamalo exudes a purple gas, that’s your cue to get away. If you’re inflicted with Hellfireblight, you’ll have to cure it with Deodorant.
However, you can actually use the Hellfireblight status affliction against Magnamalo. If you do a Wirebug dash (press ZL + A), you’ll leave behind a “ball” of Hellfire. If Magnamalo makes contact with it, it might topple over, giving you an opening to attack. Additionally, when its body parts are glowing with purple fire, you should focus on attacking those areas, particularly the armblades. Doing so will also cause it to potentially fall over and provide another opening.
If you want to capture Magnamalo, it must be weakened enough that your Palico says something along the lines of “Your enemy is ripe for capturing!”
When that happens, lay down your Shock or Pitfall trap, lure the monster into it and watch it struggle in place. Pull up right next to the monster and continuously deploy your Tranq Bombs until the monster knocks out. It takes about three or four bombs to successfully put it to sleep. This will end the fight against Magnamalo more quickly.
Throughout the battle, make sure to keep your HP high and sharpen your weapon every chance you get. After a while, you’ll take down the Magnamalo.
Monster Hunter Rise is now available on Nintendo Switch.
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