Monster Hunter World: Slaying Legiana – Tips and Tricks

Within the Coral Highlands, players will discover a unique environment unlike any seen before in the Monster Hunter franchise. Sprawling coral spires make traversing the vertical layout of the map unique and creates a home for many different flying monsters. Patrolling the skies of the highlands is the elegant flying wyvern, Legiana. This icy monster is swift on its wings and doesn’t like to stay in one spot for long, so here are some tips and tricks on navigating this hunt.

1 – High Flyer

Legiana does not spend much time on the ground during this fight until it has been tired out or weakened enough. The monster is also very mobile and traverses the map quickly while in the air. When going into the battle, it’s best to bring along weapons that allow for higher mobility for the hunter and utilize attacks that allow for easy mounting of the monster.

The insect glaive is perfect for hunting Legiana. It allows the hunter to move and dodge quickly while the weapon is drawn. It also has specific attacks and combos to easily get on top of the monster and hit Legiana while it is in the air by use of the kinsect. Using any means to knock the monster back down to the ground before fighting it head on will give the hunter an advantage.

2 – Legiana’s Attacks

While on the ground Legiana has two basic attacks that the hunter must worry about that can easily be avoided. A basic charge where the monster will run directly at its target and a tail swipe. Pretty simple compared to most battles up to this point. However, once the monster is in the air, the real fight begins.

When the monster first takes off it will usually try to attack the hunter with the massive claws on its legs. Legiana will turn towards the target and claw at the ground in front of it, usually chaining this attack two or three times in a row. Getting behind the monster’s legs and attacking during this animation is a good way to get in some free damage. 

Now comes the real fun, Legiana’s ice elemental attacks. Both of these attacks look similar, so watch out for the small differences to know exactly where to dodge out of the way. First, Legiana will flap its wings forward and turn its body slightly before whipping its tail around in a circle. It will then launch a ring of ice in a circle around the monster and onto the ground. During this animation, dodge backwards away from the monster to get out of the area of the ring. Second, Legiana will spin around in a circle in the air first, then flap its wings hard while flicking its tail forward, shooting a blast of ice in a straight line in front of the target for a large distance. When the monster launches its spin animation, dodge to the left or right of where the monster is facing to get out of the way of the ice blast and the ice trail that will be left behind. Getting hit by either of these attacks or standing in the ice trails too long will cause iceblight, which will put the hunter at a huge disadvantage until the ailment has passed.

Legiana has one last trick up its sleeve that happens when it becomes enraged. When the monster enters this state, its front area will frost over with small icicles. Not only will the monster get faster and hit harder, it will also add a flying charge attack to its ability roster. Legiana will pull back quickly while in the air, then straighten out, flying forward while corkscrewing through the air directly at its target.

While this monster is enraged, it’s best to pull out the oldest hunting trick in the book: Dodge! Kite the monster around as much as possible to wear it out. You can also use items such as flash bombs or aerial attacks to knock it out of the air to slow it down or knock it over before going in for the attack.

3 – Iceblight

Iceblight is very similar to waterblight that hunters will have experienced during the battles with Barroth or Jyuratodas. This ailment will cause the hunter to deplete stamina at an alarming rate. Due to Legiana being a quick fighter, this can be a huge hindrance while attacking, mounting, or dodging during the battle especially when the monster enters its enraged state.

Before going into battle with Legiana, make sure to eat a meal that provides a buff to elemental resistance to help avoid the ailment. Also, carry a stack of nulberries into the fight. These will immediately remove the ailment once consumed, getting the hunter back into fighting condition quickly.

4 – Weaknesses

The main areas to focus attack on Legiana are its head, wings and tail. All three of these areas are breakable, but focusing on the tail and breaking it as soon as possible during the fight is very crucial. Once the tail has been broken, Legiana will no longer be able to freeze the surrounding terrain with ice elemental attacks.

The monster has two major elemental weaknesses, thunder being the most damaging, followed by the fire element. Bringing in a Tobi-Kadachi weapon is a great way to get a leg up in the fight. Legiana is also very weak to the poison ailment, so having some poison smoke bombs handy is always a good idea.

This encounter is fast paced and a ton of fun. It’s a fantastic fight to practice reading monster body language to predict attack patterns. In addition, it’s  a great way to hone in on a hunter’s ability to mount monsters in various ways to knock them to the ground. Legiana’s elegant design and unique attack style really shows off the next generation feel of Monster Hunter World.