Monster Hunter Stories 2: Dreadking Rathalos Overview

Following Molten Tigrex’s entry into  Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin, is Dreadking Rathalos, available in today’s update! If you’re having any issues getting the update, you can check our hot fix here.

STARTING OFF

You’ll be able to score yourself a Dreadking Rathalos by:

• Searching rare egg dens around Hakolo Island
• Slay co-op quest, Dreadking Rathalos

The chances of actually obtaining the egg seems to be on the low side, so you could just continuously refresh the Hakulo Island dens, whichever feels faster or more convenient to you.

DREADKING RATHALOS

BASIC STATS

ELEMENTAL STATS

SKILLS

OVERVIEW

Going by numbers alone, Dreadking Rathalos is comparable to Hellblade Glavenus. This Rathie loses 1 point of crit, with overall lower defense. The speed stat between these two monsties is the same, so there’s probably not going to be much difference in terms of usage. This Rathie does have the benefit of Dragon being its weak element, as there are only 2 Monsties that naturally use Dragon attacks i.e. Deviljho and Stygian Zinogre. The latter two are unlikely to be found in PVP, if that’s your intention.

Dreadking Rathalos offers 2 new genes:

• Fire – Power – Explosive Breath – Deals heavy fire damage to one enemy. Medium chance to inflict Blastblight.
• Fire – Power – Explosive Burst – Deals heavy fire damage to all enemies. Low chance to inflict Blastblight.

It also comes with Ignition Kick, which Molten Tigrex already introduced.

With how closely they’ve been released, the intended synergy seems pretty obvious. Explosive Breath is a great skill that can combo well with Ignition Kick for single target damage. You can further complement this with passives from Inflict Ailment genes & Bombardier genes. Explosive Breath does come with the downside that it cannot crit. 

Explosive Burst works similarly to Molten Tigrex’s Firepowder. Its low chance to inflict ailments doesn’t make it better than Firepowder, even if it is 4 Kinship cheaper. Do note that neither Dreadking Rathalos’ or Molten Tigrex’s Kinship costs for skills can be reduced to 15 or below – all Monsties start with 15 Kinship in PVP – making them less desirable for use in PVP, when there are other, better skills that can deal AOE damage at similar Kinship cost.

Once again, as with Molten Tigrex, Dreadking Rathalos doesn’t bring anything especially exciting to Monster Hunter Stories 2. It can’t quite stand out from its peers such as Dreadqueen Rathian, Teostra, or Hellblade Glavenus. The inability to crit with Explosive Breath means it can’t be fully taken advantage of, even if you discount crit-based builds. 

Dreadking Rathalos is so average it’s okay; might as well wait for the next update.

Other guides:

• Finding Elder Dragon and Deviant Eggs
• Quick Gene Farming
• EXP and Nutriment Farming
• Farming Elder Dragon and Deviant Eggs
• Understanding Genes
• Understanding Game Mechanics
• Talismans Farm

Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin

Publisher: Capcom

Developer: Capcom

Release Date: 2021-07-09

Nintendo Switch, Steam

A new adventure awaits you in this second installment of the turn-based RPG series set in the world of Monster Hunter! Become a Rider and form bonds with friendly monsters known as Monsties to fight alongside them as you take part in an epic story.

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