Zoh Shia's Unblockable Touch of Death Combo

[Terminal Desolation]

I've done the Zoh Shia fight and for the most part it's fine, but one aspect is extremely frustrating: the (as far as I'm aware first and only in MHWilds) unblockable fire breath AoE combo it does.

90% of the attacks are completely irrelevant. You can basically ignore the boss and just go hyper aggressive. But if Zoh Shia decides to spam the stupid unblockable fire attack, you just die. I had a run that was pristine, no issues. Then, unblockable fire attack into fireball spam. My Seikret wasn't able to get me in time, as the unblockable attack doesn't actually knock you down so no cheap invuln period, you just gotta hope your Seikret gets there fast enough. Okay, that's just one cart. Drop back in, boss immediately does the exact same combo. Seikret once again is once again not able to recover me in time, so I die again. Less than 60 seconds because I got insta combo'd from full health. Dodging doesn't work, because even if I double dodge the fireball attack the AoE is wide enough to still instakill me if I'm not blocking. The chip damage is high enough through both fire balls and the fire damage that if I get sneezed on I die, and sometimes the fire DoT will kill me outright too.

Third time's the charm, though, right? Nope, spawn in, drop down, get a couple of attacks in, see him winding up for a fireball attack and... oh wait no it was the unblockable fire AoE again, because it has almost the same wind up animation as every other fire breath attack Zoh Shia uses. Combo'd to death again. 3 carts in sub 2 minutes, after like 12 minutes of near perfect fighting.

I can't tell if it's telegraphed any differently from the other "stand up on your back feet for a big fire attack" move because that's all I ever see when I'm fighting it, is it rearing up on its hind legs for *some kind of an attack*. If it doesn't spam that attack like its life depends on it (because it does) I can clear the fight in like 20 minutes no big deal. I'm not opposed to monsters being able to combo you to death, but to be able to combo you to death off an unblockable with a 100% chance is stupid as ♥♥♥♥. At least in the first half of the fight that attack isn't part of a combo, but in the back half it becomes one.

There were unblockables in World too, but I always remember those having significant wind up so the shield type builds could properly react and reposition. I'm also pretty sure those attacks had enough down time that enemies couldn't combo off of them, so if you didn't die you had a chance to recover. That is not the case here.

Is there something I'm missing here? Usually my Gunlance strategy is just "turtle up and I can get through" if the hyper aggression tactics don't work, but that doesn't really hold up here since he still hits me with the unblockable into multi-fire ball spam. It feels like I'm supposed to stay hyper aggressive in order to kill him fast enough that he doesn't get the opportunity to spam that attack.

[Merio049]

If your talking about him using toasters/Fatty 'stand up and burn under me' just run to his tail. if its his pillar boosted attacks getting behind him works as well

[StarExile]

Tourist problems, i see

[Krowle]

Originally posted by Terminal Desolation:

and sometimes the fire DoT will kill me outright too.

Put more fire resist skill then? so that you doesn't take much damage on fire attack. Above 20+ and you can pretty much ignore the fire blight chance dot damage to popup. Have enough def and resist can even manage getting "3hit dead" from a fire ball combo.

Common player mistake is "Panic getup" too soon or too late. Use free invulnerable time to let combo get past.
Next, manipulate the use of "Frog jump" well. Too early or too late can get you catch in the next combo. Try to run and change your position so that you're out of the next combo.

Consider use Sheath III if you frequently need to perform a lot of Frog jump or even a "Leap of faith" jumping forward toward the monster.

[SapienChavez]

I know the combo and it is frustrating. What is your Def? I can survive with 400+ def.

Also, some of his combo is best to STAY DOWN, as this game lets you take yourtime getting up and you are invulnerable while laying. You can just let him shoot that second/third shot and sit there in the fire blast.

I only play hammer, for now and survive this. (I am a big time Lance user historically, but always start and complete these games with hammer. no block!)

[Mechanique]

Try using armor that does not have a negative fire resist. Add divine blessing if you are still bad enough that you eat boss combos

[Hettar]

Blocking is super strong so far, having played a bit with Sword'n'Shield I can see how you can get used to it quickly. But Zoh Shia loves tu burn you, has many AoE's and he hits hard. Staying close and turning around him is pretty effective for me, if you're too far away from him he's gonna fireball you like crazy.
Also I'm a Dual Blades main, so I try to perfect-dodge almost all the time. And all this guy's attacks can be dodged, despite having a initial hit and an AoE aftershock. Tricky timing, but the window is there.

Also relying too much on your Seikret can be dangerous. I almost never call mine during a fight, unless I have to sharpen. Some monsters love to combo you to death (Gore Magala does the same thing, with a wing slash-breath-body slam combo), and in these cases you're better off just staying on the ground after the first hit, as long as possible, without touching any control. The superman-dive can also help, like always !