Looking for a Monster Hunter Rise monster list? As a Monster Hunter player since the original landed on PS2 eighteen years ago, it feels strange that Monster Hunter has finally found a stable home on the PC. This year, we're getting a double serving of dragons to bash with Monster Hunter Rise and its expansion, Sunbreak, which is out this summer. Originally released on the Nintendo Switch last year, Monster Hunter Rise is a slightly faster, lighter game than World, with a focus on high-agility combat against a fresh set of monsters inspired by Japanese myth and legend.
While about half of Rise's cast are returning favourites from World, let's take a quick peek at the 22 monsters making their PC debut this week (not counting that old MMO spin-off). Just think of all the swords you'll be able to turn them into.
Be warned that spoilers abound. If you want these Monster Hunter Rise monsters to surprise you, tread carefully. If you need more help in your battle against The Rampage, check out our essential Monster Hunter Rise tips.
Monster Hunter Rise monster list: The PC debutants
Great Izuchi
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Every Monster Hunter game has at least one of these; a barely-upgraded pack-leader version of some minor nuisance critter, perfect for new players to bully until they're feeling confident enough to tackle the real monsters. The Great Izuchi fills that role admirably, albeit with the fun twist of being a coordinated pack hunter.
Every Great Izuchi—a furry velociraptor-like creature with a bladed tail—is flanked by a pair of regular Izuchi, which behave like extensions of the pack-leader's body. They're capable of some quite impressive synchronized attacks, often pausing to pose proudly after each swing. A fine opportunity to remind them that pride comes before a fierce beatdown.
Once the minions are cleared up, the Great Izuchi is even less dangerous, although still impressive to watch, and a bit of a statement of intent for the game. The monsters native to Kamura are a more acrobatic, stylish bunch than what you might have seen in MH: World. You'll want to brush up on your ninja moves to keep up.
Arzuros
First appearance: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
Evolution in the world of Monster Hunter always goes one step too far. Bears are bad enough in real life, but the Arzuros skips straight to the D&D Monster Manual ideal of the Dire Bear. Take your average honey-coveting ursine, cover it in armored scales and amp up the aggression and you've got a big hairy problem for everyone.
Thankfully, the Arzuros is introduced very early and isn't too much to worry about. Like the Great Izuchi, the Arzuros is a bit more agile than it first appears, but its attacks are still predictably bear-like. It has no elemental powers, unless 'bear' is an element and nobody told me. It probably should be.
The Arzuros is equally weak to both Fire and Ice elements, but the greatest weapon you can use against it is a jar full of honey. If you're struck by a grapple attack, rather than give you a mauling, the bear may opt to just steal any honey you're carrying, sit down and have a snack instead of continuing the fight. Punish it, or just enjoy a brief respite from the violence.
Great Baggi
First appearance: Monster Hunter 3
A little bigger and tougher than the Izuchi, but less subtle and a little more annoying to fight. The Great Baggi has two tricks of note. The first is summoning more members of its pack to harass you, and the other is spitting a glob of tranquilizing goo that can put you to sleep. Honestly, if you're an experienced Monster Hunter player, you might be feeling a little drowsy fighting this one.
The Great Baggi exists to teach new hunters how to identify when a monster is setting up for a projectile attack or a heavier melee attack like a hip-check, and it does that job well, but it's an otherwise forgettable creature that gets a bit lost amongst the otherwise-great monster lineup in Rise.
The Great Baggi is technically vulnerable to fire, but you'd be hard pressed to even notice the difference in damage done until you reach High Rank hunts.
Lagombi
First appearance: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
Slightly bigger and more threatening than the Arzuros, but about three times as adorable. A bizarre fusion of bear, wombat, rabbit and penguin, it is impossible to fight a Lagombi without feeling at least a little guilty. They're just so fluffy!
And yet surprisingly capable in a fight. While their basic claw-swipe attacks are similar to the Arzuros, they mix things up with some high-speed belly-slide attacks, an anchored spinning kick/hip-check and the occasional massive thrown snowball.
While not a dramatic threat, newer hunters who choose heavier, slower weapons may find the Lagombi leading the dance, and keeping out of melee range with dash and projectile attacks. Closing the distance should be top priority. For motivation, just imagine how much good luck you can fit in one of these rabbit's feet.
Aknosom
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
A graceful (if ornery) giant bird combining elements of the Kasa-obake (a one-legged umbrella spirit) from Japanese folklore and the humble crane. One more extremely photogenic creature new to Rise's Kamura region.
The Aknosom attacks with a variety of skewering pecks, aggressive and defensive strikes using its flexible neck-crest, and the occasional round of fireballs. Paying homage to both its mythological and natural inspirations, the Aknosom likes to stand on one leg while using its less mobile attacks, giving hunters plenty of opportunity to get in close.
Still, not every graceful pose is an invitation to land a few cheeky melee hits. Sometimes this bird will punish such aggression with a clawed spinning kick. They really do make monsters classy around here, huh?
Tetranadon
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Wait, did I say classy? I retract that statement. Still, I cannot deny that this strange amphibious fusion of frog, hippo, platypus, turtle, kappa and sumo wrestler is without charm.
Tetranodon has two distinct fighting styles. By default, it's a surprisingly agile creature, attacking with a mixture of pounces, slaps, charges and multi-projectile water elemental attacks, largely protected by its armored shell.
When the fight gets serious, Tetranodon will inflate itself by guzzling a swimming pool's worth of water, allowing it to sit upright in a stance mimicking a sumo wrestler. As well as the occasional wide-angle water attack, it'll attempt to use its enhanced bulk to push you around, or just squash you flat with a huge bouncy body-splash attack. Smack its exposed belly enough and it'll deflate, along with its wrestler's pride.
Royal Ludroth
First appearance: Monster Hunter 3
A returning favourite from the Wii era of Monster Hunting. What the Royal Ludroth lacks in size, strength and intimidation factor, it more than makes up for in squishiness and absorbency. It'd be an ideal pick for a line of official plush or bath toys.
Often flanked by a pack of smaller females, the Royal Ludroth lives and hunts near water, absorbing vast quantities of it in its spongey 'mane' to fuel its Waterblight-inflicting mucus (ick) attacks. As the fight wears on and the monster expends its water reserves, its mane will visibly deflate and dry out, forcing it to return to water to recharge its stamina.
Thankfully, they're not quite as intimidating in Rise as they were back in Monster Hunter 3. As there's no underwater combat engine in Rise, you'll never have to fight a Royal Ludroth on its home surf-and-turf.
Khezu
First appearance: Monster Hunter 1
Nope. Nuh-uh. Nobody wants to be even within a mile of a Khezu. One of the original generation of creatures, with the Khezu someone at Capcom way back when decided that a Giger-esque nightmare beast would fit in great amongst dragons and dinosaurs. The Khezu is a slimy, rubbery-skinned cave-dwelling monster, with a Lamprey-like mouth at the end of a long, stretchy neck. It has no eyes.
While not the biggest or toughest creature you'll fight in Rise, Khezu is still a memorable fight thanks to the creature's strange, flailing animations and its assortment of electrical attacks, both projectiles and defensive auras. You'll know Khezu is charging up for a big shot when it uses its horrible suction-cup tail to anchor itself to the ground.
Canonically, Khezu reproduce by using their electrical powers to paralyze prey (like unsuspecting hunters) then inject their parasitic offspring into their stunned victims. The whelps grow, feed and eventually emerge from their host. I don't think anyone's going to judge if you decide never to capture one of these alive.
Great Wroggi
First appearance: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
The third and (thankfully) last of the Great lizards you'll be fighting in Monster Hunter Rise, although this one teaches a few key lessons with its reliance on poison mist attacks.
Similiar in build to the Great Baggi and similarly accompanied by expendable minions, the Wroggi can use its inflatable neck sac to huff clouds of deadly (but mostly just irritating) poison at hunters. Some direct attacks, some lingering area-denial clouds, but nothing that bringing a few poison antidodes into the fight won't fix.
Getting up-close and aggressive is the order of the day here, teaching another key Monster Hunter fundamental: Aim for the part that's giving you the most trouble. Break its fragile poison-spraying bits and it'll barely be able to spray its venom beyond biting range. Serves it right.
Bishaten
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
I sure hope you like persimmons, because freaky monkey-bird monster Bishaten just loves to share. Only a little larger than a human, Bishaten is capable of amazing acrobatic feats thanks to its gliding wings and massive prehensile hand-tail, which it can balance on, or use to hang from walls or ceilings.
While most monsters you'll be fighting have some kind of magical or elemental attacks, Bishaten just has a seemingly bottomless pouch packed with persimmons, which it will pelt you with constantly through the fight. Fresh orange ones are hard and deal impact damage, while rotten ones deal area-effect poison damage.
Not only will you be getting your five-a-day from this fight, but you can join in too. Stun a Bishaten at the right moment and you can snag some fruit for yourself to use as impromptu projectiles. Turnabout is fair play, and monkey see, monkey do.
Somnacanth
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Yet another small but graceful creature native to the Kamura region (a bit of of a running theme at this point), and yet another strange combination of myth and nature. In this case, you're going up against a hybrid of mermaid, sea-serpent and otter.
The Somnacanth likes to keep mobile, moving quickly around shallow water, and switching to a perched stance balanced on its tail when fighting on land. It keeps hunters at arms length with sweeping head and tail attacks, projectile sprays and a powerful sleep-breath attack that can be disabled by smashing its face in.
Probably the most interesting attack it has is picking up colourful sea-shells when playing around in the water. Somnacanth will stop and smash its held shell against the rocky plate on its stomach. If the shell is red, expect a fiery explosion, and if the shell is yellow, then expect a blinding flash. Suddenly I'm glad that otters haven't figured out this advanced technique.
Volvidon
First appearance: Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
If the well-chilled Lagombi is the cutest and fluffiest of the bear-type monsters in Rise, then the Volvidon is its dark mirror image. Meaner, uglier and packing a stretchy tongue coated in paralyzing venom. It's also part armadillo, clad in fireproof armor plating, giving it solid resistance to damage (until you crack through its shell) and letting it roll around at the speed of unsound.
While it shares some of its moveset with Arzuros and Lagombi, Volvidon is faster and more aggressive, scooting out of range, spitting paralyzing toxin and then racing back for an easy hit. A solid counter-swing at it rolling body can leave its stunned and ready for a well deserved pummeling, however.
There's basically nothing pleasant about fighting a Volvidon, but the absolute nadir of any fight is when this awful armadillo uses its gas attack. Beware when it falls to the ground, trembling, as it's about to unleash a long, visibly wet, extremely brown fart, its entire body convulsing. Get caught in the cloud and you'll suffer the appetite-destroying 'soiling' debuff and a massive blow to your self-esteem.
Basarios
First appearance: Monster Hunter 1
Yet another member of the OG crew, Basarios still knows how to rock, although rolling is more Volvidon's thing. In the volcanic biome, Basarios is a mostly archetypical wyvern, but covered in massive boulder-like stone armor slabs. Be ready for a slow-going endurance fight.
What you see is what you get with this volcanic-type wyvern. Slow, lumbering attacks, high armor and a few fiery projectiles to keep you on your toes, and an area-effect poison gas move to stop you from crowding it too badly. If overly pressured, Basarios will dig into the ground and swim through solid earth to buy some time.
Curiously, Basarios is the juvenile form of the more graceful Gravios, a monster not present in Rise. Perhaps we'll be seeing its more nimble and practically armored elder variant in the upcoming Sunbreak expansion?
Magnamalo
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
You know things just got serious when you find yourself facing down the monster on the box art. The tiger-like Magnamalo is an extremely dangerous brute of a monster. It's fast, tough, it's agile, it has attacks for every possible engagement range and it can switch gears on a moment's notice. Plus it seems to be channeling the cursed spirit of a samurai, just to keep things spicy.
As well as vicious claw attacks, Magnamalo has a spear-like extendable tail with much longer reach than you might think. And just to make things better, it can shoot bolts of dark 'hellfire' energy from it as well. Just because it's pacing slowly around the arena doesn't mean you're safe, as it covers its grandstanding with sprays of homing projectiles.
When riled up, that spear-like tail fans out into a wider bladed form with new attacks. Contrary to previous reports, its massive tornado-like projectile thrust is, in fact, worse than a poke in the eye. And whatever you do, make sure you're somewhere else if it leaps straight up into the air. Its powered dive-bomb attack is spectacular, but unpleasant to be on the receiving end of.
Mizutsune
First appearance: Monster Hunter Generations
An older monster that fits in perfectly with Rise's rogues gallery. Found near water, the Mizutsune blends elements of fox, reptile and fish—equal parts fur, scale and fin, and classy all round. It is also said to be the sworn enemy of a popular web browser.
Mizutsune protects itself with sprays of orbiting bubble projectiles which can apply the nasty stamina-sapping Waterblight debuff if you don't time your approach correctly. Given how fast and squirrelly Mizutsune's up-close attacks are, it's probably not a good idea to run out of air when tussling with this critter. Not that being at range is safe either, as it has some powerful elemental beam attacks too.
Rise's bubble-fresh version of Mizutsune has picked up a few new tricks, including a direct water-spitting attack, and a few new high-agility attacks when it's enraged. Take care, or this one will give you a thorough lathering.
Almudron
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
You'll probably want to go back to fighting Mizutsune to clean up after tussling with the squishy, mud-slinging titan that is Almudron. This wyvern is old, cranky and doesn't take kindly to people playing with its mud.
Almudron has a long snake-like body with short limbs, but an enormous semi-prehensile tail that it uses to fling mud around the arena. Mud tsunamis, pillars and even the occasional wrecking ball made of the stuff. Still, I bet it does wonders for its skin—it doesn't look a day over 500.
Almudron is one of the longest monsters in the series, and uses its stretchy stature well. Many of its attacks involve half-burying itself in the mud, its upper half free to bite and claw while its tail emerges from the mud elsewhere to slap you around. This monster is all about fighting dirty.
Goss Harag
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
This unsettling ursine runs hot and cold—a true bipolar bear if there ever was one. The Goss Harag is an enormous and aggressive creature, and that would be bad enough normally. Rather than going bearserk when cornered, Goss Harag stays cool under pressure and arms up, using its ice-breath powers to attach giant ice swords or shield-like clubs to its paws.
Once equipped, Goss Harag's move-set becomes significantly more human-like, with measured blade swipes up close, and tossed icicles if you try to keep your distance. Still, there's some fun opportunities to cross swords with it, if you're willing to go toe-to-toe with this abominable snowman.
If you're unfortunate enough to get stunned, Goss Harag has also been known to take advantage of your helplessness by marching slowly towards you, sword held high before dealing the killing blow. There's a degree of intelligent malice here that you don't normally see in your average MH critter. Goss Harag really is scarier than the average bear.
Rakna-Kadaki
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Arachnophobes rejoice! No, wait, the other thing! Rakna-Kadaki is the first spider-type monster to grace the PC, and a distinct departure from the rest of Rise's critters. Wrapped in webbing and carrying around a nest-full of equally horrible spiderlings on its back, Rakna-Kadaki is one of the few higher-tier monsters to fight alongside minions.
Alongside the clawing, clubbing and web-spitting attacks you'd expect from a giant spider, Rakna-Kadaki fights with the help of its young. Launched on web-tethers from its nest, they help their mother to grapple around the arena, giving it surprisingly unpredictable movement.
As if being a gigantic horrible mega-spider wasn't enough, Rakna-Kadaki also has a suite of flame attacks that can be launched from both its mouth (for longer flamethrower-style sprays) or jets on its underside to dissuade attacks on its vulnerable flanks. You could say this one's a real hot mama. But I won't. Because I have standards.
Thunder Serpent Narwa
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Paired with Wind Serpent Ibushi, Thunder Serpent Narwa is half of Kamura's leading power couple. So strong is its bond to its other half that Narwa has completely broken up with the concept of gravity. This colossal dragon lazily floats through the air, (often upside-down) bombarding you with lasers and only landing when forced to earth by your attacks.
In the face of such love, even the ground itself is starting to give up. Large chunks of stone float freely through the arena, providing additional footholds during the battle, and you might need the extra elevation to avoid some of Narwa's more spectacular projectile barrages.
And the best/worst thing? This isn't even Narwa's final form.
Wind Serpent Ibushi
First appearance: Monster Hunter Rise
Smaller and less fond of lasers than Narwa, Wind Serpent Ibushi is still a force (of nature) to be reckoned with. Similarly unbound by the pull of gravity, Ibushi is happy to just float around the arena, buffeting you around with blasts of wind and the occasional energy beam.
Ibushi does seem to be the more independent and enterprising of the pair, often seen herding swarms of lesser monsters in the direction of human settlements in Rise's intense Rampage battles. Thankfully during these fights, you'll have access to plenty of support, backup and giant machinegun turrets to drive off this windbag dragon.
With support, it's a tough but manageable battle. It sure would suck to have to fight both of these free-flying fiends together and without an entire fortress' worth of fire support, huh? Ah, perish the thought.
Chameleos
First appearance: Monster Hunter 2
Nearly as old as Rathian and Rathalos, Chameleos is from a simpler era of Monster Hunter, when you could guess everything about a creature from its name. Unsurprisingly, this one's an oversized salamander. Nah, just messing with you, it's a chameleon.
Despite being the size of several trucks, Chameleos can turn itself almost invisible, making it very hard to get a read on its melee attacks. Thankfully you can disable this ability by breaking its horn or severing its tail, but that also requires being able to see those body parts long enough to get the job done. Unfortunately it still has an assortment of extremely powerful poison attacks when you can see it, including a health-bar demolishing toxic beam.
Even robbed of its cloaking power, Chameleos can make tracking it harder by blanketing the area with fog, making Rise resemble an N64 game. Despite its goofy appearance, Chameleos is classified as an Elder Dragon, with an exceedingly high threat rating. It's a good thing that it chooses to remain unseen until the endgame.
Crimson Glow Valstrax
First appearance: Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate
After an all-night vodka and Red Bull bender, Monster Hunter's Mother Nature decided that it would be perfectly reasonable for an Elder Dragon to evolve into a jetfighter, and now you've got to deal with the fallout.
Crimson Glow Valstrax is a sleeker and more aggressive mutation of the box-cover boss from Generations Ultimate on the Switch, driven into a frenzy by its own prodigious power. While normally nesting in the planet's upper atmosphere, this one has come down to Kamura to hunt and harass, filling a similar role to the obnoxious Bazelgeuse—only instead of bombs, Valstrax can focus its energies into plasma cannon fire and lightsaber-like beam swords. A true next-gen dragon.
Valstrax is extremely agile for an Elder Dragon, and that's before it turns on its multi-vector thruster wings, at which point it can cross the entire battlefield in a flash and turn on a dime. Ever looked at an F-22 Raptor and thought to yourself 'I could take that in a knife fight?' Well, you can put that to the test with this endgame beastie.
The rest
The 19 returning monsters
Monster Hunter Rise has a stacked cast: There are 19 more monsters to fight, all of which appeared in Monster Hunter World. A few are long-time favorites (or arch-nemeses), while a handful actually made their series debut in World back in 2018.
Here's the full list of returning beasts:
- Tigrex
- Nargacuga
- Diablos
- Rathalos
- Rathian
- Kushala Daora
- Rajang
- Teostra
- Barioth
- Barroth
- Zinogre
- Diablos
- Anjanath
- Bazelgeuse
- Jyuratodus
- Kulu-Ya-Ku
- Pukei-Pukei
- Tobi-Kadachi
A fine set of creatures, and I did cheekily omit the bigger, meaner 'Apex' variants that Rise saves for later in its campaign. Can't go spoiling everything on day one, can I?
Of course, this dangerous species list is just the beginning. Hunt, gear up and get yourself ready for later in the year, as Capcom have confirmed that the upcoming expansion will be getting a simultaneous PC and Switch release this Summer. Not only will Rise's existing monsters get their long-awaited Master rank upgrades, but we'll be tussling with a slew of new creatures inspired by European myth, headed up by what can only be described as the Dracula of Dragons. All the elements needed for some spectacular East versus West monster brawls.
Whoever wins, we get to craft cool new hats.
