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Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Malzeno fight walkthrough, weaknesses, and tipsHow to defeat the flagship monster of Sunbreak, Malzeno
How to defeat the flagship monster of Sunbreak, Malzeno
Want to know how to beat Malzeno in Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak?Malzeno is the flagship monster of the newSunbreakexpansion and introduces some new mechanics to the series. Those mechanics(endgame spoiler alert!)are also extremely relevant to Sunbreak’s post-game content, so Malzeno serves as a nice sampler of what’s to come(end spoilers).Malzeno bridges players from Master Rank 4 to 5 and into the hardest monsters the game has to offer, like Rajang, Bazelgeuse, and the Elder Dragons. Defeat Malzeno and take that next step into Sunbreak’s endgame with this guide.
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Review | A Delightfully Difficult Expansion That Doesn’t DisappointWatch on YouTube
Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak Review | A Delightfully Difficult Expansion That Doesn’t Disappoint
Malzeno fight walkthrough
Fighting Malzeno hinges around managing the Qurios and Bloodblight, a new ailment (or if you play your cards right, buff) for players to deal with. Qurios are the leech-butterfly hybrids that you have seen flutter around Malzeno in cutscenes throughout the Sunbreak story. Many of Malzeno’s vampiric attacks use Qurios to apply a new ailment called Bloodblight to the player, which you will see represented with a pinkish-red icon over your health bar.
Malzeno weak spots and elemental weaknesses
Malzeno’s main weak spots are its head and the spiky ends of its wings. Blunt and Slashing damage also fare well against the tail and torso, but Shot damage struggles. Bow and Bowgun players will need to stick to headshots as much as possible.
As for elements, Fire does alright but Dragon is the real star. If you put together aGore Magalaweapon before fighting Malzeno, it will do wonders here. All other elements struggle. Ice does well against the head but is ineffective elsewhere. Malzeno is also completely immune to Water and Thunder elements, so they’ll do you no good for this hunt. Malzeno is even immune to most statuses and has no real ailment weaknesses, so stick to raw and dragon damage if you can.
How to beat Malzeno: top tips for success
Here are our top tips for victory over Malzeno.
Use Bloodblight to your advantage
While the healing penalty from the Bloodblight status is certainly problematic, you can actually use it to your advantage. The on-hit healing Bloodblight provides is significant, and can sustain you through many of Malzeno’s lower-damage tail and claw swipes. If you can get in close and stay there, you can pump out a lot of damage without worrying too much for your own safety. Heavy-hitting attacks still pose a threat, butBloodblight allows players to shrug off smaller hits with ease.
It’s a marathon, not a sprint
The longer the fight drags on, the more chances Malzeno gets to use particularly dangerous attacks like that teleport slam. Inevitably, you and your team are going to faint a few times on your first try. I normally advocate for offensive food skills that can shorten a fight and reduce the number of times such attacks are used, but no amount of extra damage will quite do the trick for your first swing at Malzeno. So,consider eating for skills like Moxie and Insurance that can save you a faintand help grind out this marathon hunt.
Stay down to avoid double-hitting moves
As we mentioned in the walkthrough section, Malzeno has a few attacks that turn into two-hit combos in its enraged form. This isn’t exactly unprecedented, as many monsters have similar power-ups in Master Rank. However, Malzeno’s one-two punches are particularly quick, and punish players for relying on certain habits.
That’s everything you need to know to hunt Malzeno! Malzeno’s armor has some great skills for late-game, so plan to revisit this fight a few times. To help you get to Malzeno, we’ve got guides to other key monsters includingGarangolmandLunagaron.If you’re looking for sub-camp locations throughoutMonster Hunter Rise, ourlist of sub-camp locationshas the entire base game and the new Sunbreak maps covered. The old maps are heavily featured in Sunbreak too, so make sure to track these camps down. We’ve also got a guide tounlocking all Switch Skills in Sunbreakand the base game to help you customize your loadouts.
