Although Mizutsune is one of Monster Hunter Wild’s more difficult fights, it doesn’t hold a candle to the recently added Lagiacrus. The “Lord of the Seas” boasts some powerful attacks with considerable range, not to mention a one-of-a-kind underwater combat phase. Here are some tips to conquer the regular and Tempered versions of this aquatic lord.
How to find Lagiacrus
Your first chance to hunt Lagiacrus is with the “Trembling Blue Currents” mission, which becomes available after completing both “A World Turned Upside Down” and “Forest Doshaguma” in Chapter Five. Afterwards, Lagiacrus will begin to spawn in the Scarlet Forest, Ruins of Wyveria, and the Wounded Hollow.
Lagiacrus’s Weaknesses
As tough as this opponent is, they thankfully have quite a few shortcomings. You’re sure to have a more efficient hunt by keeping the following in mind:
Elemental Weaknesses: Fire, Ice
Weapon Type Weaknesses: Cut, Blunt
Breakable Parts: Head, Back (weak point), Tail (can also be severed), Foreleg
Susceptible Status Ailments: Blastblight, Exhaust, Paralysis (less effective), Poison, Sleep, Stun (less effective)
Items and Traps: Flash Pod, Pitfall Trap, Shock Trap
How to Defeat Lagiacrus
Lagiacrus can feel a little contradicting if you’re not familiar with this giant leviathan. Even though they confidently take a Rathalos fireball to the face in their introductory cutscene, Lagiacrus is weak to Fire. They also differ from other water monsters in that they’re not weak to Thunder, and instead use Thunder element attacks. All that to say, Fire-based weapons and Thunder-resistant armor will go a long way here
I’ve had the most luck when keeping a +20 Thunder resistance. This hunt isn’t as bad as Arch-Tempered Rey Dau’s almost endless lightning strikes, but more than half of the attacks are electric. Being afflicted with Thunderblight and subsequently getting stunned is highly likely if your resistance isn’t high enough.
Besides a couple of projectile attacks, Lagiacrus’ physical attacks are similar to Mizutsune’s, in that they’ll cover a substantial amount of ground lunging and sweeping their entire body at you. Don’t expect a certain area to feel safer, the way you can lie low underneath Zoh Shia. Well-timed guards and evades are incredibly important for a fight like this.
Prioritizing hits to the back is a smart way to restrict some of Lagiacrus’ Thunder attacks and collect the not-so-common Lagiacrus Shockspike material. Heavy Bowguns and other weapons with long reach will be fine, but Dual Blade users like me mostly have to rely on traps and mounting. A great method for any hunter to dish out damage to the back is by dodging through the monster’s massive discharge attack, since that can reveal a Focus Strike spot for a few seconds after.
The environment is a helpful friend in a fight like this. Never hesitate to lead it towards Poisoncups, Sporepuffs, or into a turf war with another monster. On the likely chance it moves to Area 15, trigger the Dam Rubble interactable with your slinger. You’ll deal a lot of damage and knock it down for a bit.
Lagiacrus will retreat to the newly added Area 19 at the tail end of the fight. It will briefly surface along the edge of Area 13, where you can trigger Unstable Rubble to fall and knock it out of the water. No matter if you interrupt its journey or not, you’ll track it to Area 19. Keep the hits coming to make the monster dive into the nearby water. This is when you can follow after it and fight the “Lord of the Seas” on its own turf.
Bear in mind that underwater combat isn’t as fleshed out as regular combat. While there is free movement and access to the Evade button, you’ll mainly be fighting with your slinger. You can use it to drop Submerged Rubble, collect Piercing Pods, or directly latch onto Lagiacrus in a similar interaction to Mounting. The latter is the best way to deal big damage during this part of the hunt.
Hurt Lagiacrus enough during this phase to trigger a cool cinematic of your hunter smacking the hell out of it and taking the fight back on land. If there isn’t enough damage dealt, the watery serpent will quickly create a whirlpool that unleashes a massive discharge of electricity. Swim as far away as possible to avoid losing a majority of your health or even fainting. Either way, the fight will transition back up top for the final bout. Play it smart and you’ll be done soon enough.
Tempered Lagiacrus kicks the difficulty up many notches. Attacks are frequently chained together and they all hurt a lot. Evading seems to be a more manageable strategy than guarding against these attacks. I’ve seen great results using the Rey Dau Gamma armor that’s forged from fighting Arch-Tempered Rey Dau. On top of the included high Thunder Resistance, it offers many other useful skills for both offense and defense. Throw in some Evade Window and Partbreaker decorations to give yourself a real fighting chance.
Lagiacrus’s drops
The only thing better than defeating the “Lord of the Seas” is all the parts you get after. Below is a list of every Lagiacrus material, arranged by how often they drop.
Lagiacrus Claw+ (100% chance for breaking the Foreleg)
Lagiacrus Hide+
Lagiacrus Scale+
Lagiacrus Shockspike (100% chance for breaking the Back)
Lagiacrus Horn+ (100% chance for breaking the Head)
Lagiacrus Tail (100% chance for breaking the Tail)
Lagiacrus Certificate S
Lagiacrus Sapphire
I would like to stress that the new Title Update 2 monsters have really scarce drop rates for the rarer materials. If you’re struggling to get the Lagiacrus Sapphire with its ridiculous 1%-2% drop rate, it might be best to wait until a hunt features the material as a Bonus Reward and then save that investigation.
This difficulty spike is exactly what the community has been asking for. Here’s hoping Capcom keeps it up with even more difficult monster battles in the future.
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