Monster Hunter World: How to Slay Behemoth – Tips and Tricks
The time has finally come for the Monster Hunter World and Final Fantasy XIV crossover event, and hunters will be tasked with taking down a massive monster from a strange world known as the Behemoth. When players log in after August 1st, they will notice a new NPC near the Resource Center with a quest marker above her head named Serious Handler. She will give players the quest titled “A Visitor From Another World” to investigate strange beings popping up in the Wildspire Waste, which will have hunters track down a mysterious crystal located in the middle of the map, being guarded by a moogle. A Kulu-Ya-Ku will then swipe this crystal, and become powered up and larger in size, which will become the main target of the quest. After taking down the thieving bird, hunters will return to the Serious Handler where they will be given a quest to track down the Behemoth itself. This fight is like nothing we have seen before in Monster Hunter, and requires high level gear, major preparation and most importantly, teamwork. Let’s take a look at how to take down the powerful Behemoth.
The Enmity Mechanic
The Behemoth has a unique mechanic, where hunters in the party can pull attention to themselves, creating an opening for the rest of the party to do damage without being the focus of attacks. This mechanic is called enmity, and works the exact same way as pulling aggro in many other games. Players can pull enmity by attacking the head of the monster repeatedly. Once a member of the party has enmity from the Behemoth, the monster will focus its melee and elemental attacks towards that player for a short period of time. Take advantage of this as much as possible to deal out a hefty amount of damage in the time period allowed. During the majority of the fight, the monster will not let up its constant sporadic barrage of attacks from all angles, so being able to control the fight and the monsters focus will give hunters a much needed advantage in battle.
Elemental Attacks
Being a magical beast from Final Fantasy, Behemoth’s elemental attacks come in the form of spells. On the right side of the screen, players will notice a combat log popping up, letting hunters know which spells the Behemoth is about to attack with. Knowing which one does what is crucial to navigating the battle, and will give the hunters an advantage when they know what is coming for them.
The first attack to watch out for is the Charybdis spell, which summons a small tornado onto one hunter in the party that can cause wind damage and a knockback. If a hunter is targeted, a small wind storm will begin to blow around them. After a few seconds, Behemoth will let out a roar at the sky, and summon the tornado in the last location the hunter was in. To avoid being caught in this attack, run away from the gust in any direction, and when the Behemoth lets out its roar, dodge roll out of the way twice to cover distance away from the wind tunnel.
The next attack to be wary of is the Thunderbolt spell, which will cause thunder damage and a possible stun. Behemoth will stomp its front feet on the ground creating a shock of electricity in front of it, then blast two streaks of lightning at an angle in front of it across the map. Much like the Kirin fight, watch for the blue glow on the ground that will show the trajectory of the incoming lightning. Stay in between the two lines or to the sides of each to easily avoid this attack.
Next let’s take a look at the Meteor and Comet attacks. When casting Meteor, Behemoth will bring down a fiery rock from the sky onto a hunters location. The longer the battle goes on, the more meteors the monster will summon. A glowing red circle will appear underneath the hunter when the spell is cast, so avoid the fireball by dodge rolling out of the way of the highlighted area. Comet has similar mechanics, but instead of a single highlighted area, a series of small red explosions will begin to follow the hunter across the map. Once the comet hits the ground, instead of exploding it will remain on the map to be used as cover for the Behemoth’s ultimate attack. Keep in mind the locations of these comets, and try to kite the monster away from them so they are not destroyed.
Finally, the Behemoth’s ultimate attack, Ecliptic Meteor. When this spell is cast, a massive red circle will appear in the area, and the ground will start to shake. Hunters will have a limited time to find one of the comets still on the map to hide behind for cover. When the comet hits the ground it creates a massive explosion and shockwave that will kill anything caught in the blast. The only way to avoid it is to be behind one of the comets, so make sure to keep them from breaking at all costs, because this attack will cause an instant wipe for the assignment.
Weaknesses
Behemoth has two major weak points on its body. Its head, which is breakable, and its tail, which is severable, but remember that attacking its head will cause the hunter to aggro the monster. Its tail and hind legs are the two safest places around the monster to attack, especially while the monster is pausing to cast a spell. The monster has a high elemental weakness to dragon attacks, and takes medium damage from both ice and water based elemental damage. Behemoth takes medium level damage from all ailments across the board.
This fight is absolutely brutal and incredibly fun. Level up and augment your equipment as much as possible before jumping into this battle, as any advantage a player can get is the difference between success and a team wipe. If at all possible, try to find a group that can balance out tanky builds and dps builds, this fight intentionally works a lot like an MMO dungeon boss. The Behemoth hunt is a shining example of Capcom putting their best foot forward, and not letting up on giving hunters all over the world the content they deserve.
