Proper Level for Furious Rajang & Raging Brachydios?

[Skirmisher]

Hello fellow hunters, as we know Furious Rajang & Raging Brachydios had been added into the game yesterday. After a few hunts on Furious Rajang I feel like I really need to ask some questions.

Let's say, first of all, I am an average or under-average, hunter. I soloed 99% of the content of MHW:Iceborne, from low to master rank, except for, obviously, the sieges, which usually does not end well due to connection problems. Personally I like using very defensive, dodgy/utility builds with skills like Health Boost 3, Divine Blessing 3, Earplugs, Evade Window/Extender etc. with melee weapons. (Hammer, Longsword & Dual Blades)

Most of the time I did well, takes longer time to down monsters than most probably, but usually with no carts. Until yesterday. Furious Rajang hits WAY harder than tempered monsters I have fought in Guiding Lands. Granted, I am only MR66 so the tempered monsters I fought should be Tier 1 as I am concerned. But still, F. Rajang can just hop by me and it takes 1/4 of my health away (200 hp max), yet alone the real damaging attacks. The fact that its combo seems unending does not help at all. I actually see some openings, like the double fist slam, but the windows are so small that I usually got knocked back after say, I clutch claw him. In other cases, I tried to attack in that window and well, the trade in damage is VERY unfavorable for me.

So far my only successful hunt is the one that I fire an SOS, being nothing else but a tenderizer and occasionally spreading dust of life. All my solo attempts failed pretty badly, either I cart 3 times or timed out. I felt ashamed of my skills. However, I noticed a few things in the fight and from the youtubers. First of all, in the special assigned mission, I noticed Ruiner Nergigante appearing. To my knowledge, I'm not supposed to see him until I am MR 100. The next thing I saw from the youtubers is that they usually has around 900-1000 Defense while I only have a tid-bit more than 800, and their weapons are fully-augmented.

So, there's that. May I ask if I should only attempt to solo F. Rajang and Raging Brachydios(haven't fight this one yet) until I get fully-augmented armor at least (Gotta farm the living sake out of GL for this one)? And for the meantime, should I continue hunting them with others or just avoid them totally?

Edit: Before anybody ask about, yes I do clutch claw/attack him when he is breathing the lightning beam and I did use pitfall traps on him when he is rampaging. Still I failed

[RAIN3801あまっぴ]

It's better to trust yourself and solo this
And yes get fully augmented armor, and maybe consider fortify before fighting it.
I still ♥♥♥♥ my pants fight them in PC even though i fought in in PS4

[RIOT|Stalkermaster]

Originally posted by Skirmisher:

However, I noticed a few things in the fight and from the youtubers. First of all, in the special assigned mission, I noticed Ruiner Nergigante appearing.

You will always fight a Ruiner Nerg at the end of the story but it isnt the full proper fight

[Nerevar]

the monkey is easy as hell. easier than normal tempered rajang i have to say. way more fair openings than normal version.

raging brach is plain bs. ultimate proof for the 2nd time (first was crystal kulu) that this games hitboxes dont work well when a monster is just made super large for no good reason as they outscale his actual body all the time.

yes he is beatable. yes he is soloable. did so myself. but after 32 kills and 1 single reactor drop i call BS on this thing accross the entire board. add print exchange in 2 weeks. done till then. not gonna waste my time farming this just for 0.1% chance at TWO more reactors when i should farm tempered doggo event instead in these 2 weeks. ♥♥♥♥ off devs.

[Mordeth Kai]

Yes, fully max out your armor. This is post-game content that is getting pretty close to what AT hunts where like in the base game, they are meant to challenge end-game players with max gear.

[Lunamorte]

Originally posted by Nerevar:

the monkey is easy as hell. easier than normal tempered rajang i have to say. way more fair openings than normal version.

raging brach is plain bs. ultimate proof for the 2nd time (first was crystal kulu) that this games hitboxes dont work well when a monster is just made super large for no good reason as they outscale his actual body all the time.

yes he is beatable. yes he is soloable. did so myself. but after 32 kills and 1 single reactor drop i call BS on this thing accross the entire board. add print exchange in 2 weeks. done till then. not gonna waste my time farming this just for 0.1% chance at TWO more reactors when i should farm tempered doggo event instead in these 2 weeks. ♥♥♥♥ off devs.

I seem to have the opposite problem to you. Raging Dio I can solo with ease but Furious Rajang repeatedly decks me.

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by RIOT|Stalkermaster:

Originally posted by Skirmisher:

However, I noticed a few things in the fight and from the youtubers. First of all, in the special assigned mission, I noticed Ruiner Nergigante appearing.

You will always fight a Ruiner Nerg at the end of the story but it isnt the full proper fight

Ah, by that I mean, should I actually be facing Furious Rajang AFTER I fought the real fight with Ruiner Nergigante at MR99(since Nerg quest should only be available then)?

Also, for the love of all that is holy, they are JUST BELOW ARCH TEMPERED LEVEL? No wonder Furious George hit like 3x harder than Scarred Yian Garuga...

[Holografix]

1. upgrade each armor piece to above 170 defense.
2. Have high Thunder Resistance
3. Have an ice weapon

practice on Furious Rajang. You'll win eventually.

[Zelph]

Originally posted by Nerevar:

the monkey is easy as hell. easier than normal tempered rajang i have to say. way more fair openings than normal version.

raging brach is plain bs. ultimate proof for the 2nd time (first was crystal kulu) that this games hitboxes dont work well when a monster is just made super large for no good reason as they outscale his actual body all the time.

yes he is beatable. yes he is soloable. did so myself. but after 32 kills and 1 single reactor drop i call BS on this thing accross the entire board. add print exchange in 2 weeks. done till then. not gonna waste my time farming this just for 0.1% chance at TWO more reactors when i should farm tempered doggo event instead in these 2 weeks. ♥♥♥♥ off devs.

Having given him a couple runs, at least with long sword, I agree that furious is quite a bit easier then normal rajang.

I think brach is pretty easy to for that matter though. Might be gunlance talking though.

[月]

The game patch come with armor upgrade unlock, CAPCOM do give you option to upgrade your armor before fighting Furious Rajang & Raging Brachydios.

If you can't solo, don't join SOS.

You can also check through your build and your item box, probably something missing.

[Zelph]

Originally posted by 月:

The game patch come with armor upgrade unlock, CAPCOM do give you option to upgrade your armor before fighting Furious Rajang & Raging Brachydios.

If you can't solo, don't join SOS.

You can also check through your build and your item box, probably something missing.

I haven't solo'd, used sos on a bunch of hunts. 3 or 4 carts total over 7 or 8 hunts(one was really bad, various reasons why). You don't need to solo things first before dealing with them, especially with prior experience in the series.

[Skirmisher]

Hmmm, perhaps it is just me but I certainly felt furious is harder on openings than the normal rajang. Can't say for tempered rajang, haven't face him.

For example, when fighting normal Rajang,whenever he goes "ORA ORA" in rage mode I go "THAT BUTT, GOTTA SMACK" But on Furious Rajang this is no longer viable since the weakness is the head this time, which you will NOT want to be in front of at this timing. The only openings I can think of are after the double-fist slam and the lightning beam breath. Beam breath is somewhat easier to go after. Cut in diagonally from the front, and slam it. double-fist slam is somewhat riskier since the opening is much shorter, though still an opening. I found myself trading damage going for this opening and, as mentioned, he cuts away too much of my health for the tiny bit of damage done.

It seems however, that many agree on augmenting armor. Pretty much expected. Will farm the Guiding Lands more . I'll stick around to see if more advices come up.

[Otaconnor]

If you don't mind waiting until MR75, there's a monster you unlock then whose armor has Divine Blessing Secret on it. Use the chest and the coil (together fully unlock level 5 DB) and you have all the tankiness you need.

Don't bother stacking tons of defense skills, but DO augment armor as much as possible.
I tried an ultra-optimal defense build and he could still 2-3 shot me. Divine Blessing is better since it's a percentage decrease in damage received, it will save you way more often than 1.5k defense ever will.

Lightning def doesn't help much past 20. In fact I believe his beam, ironically, only deals physical damage. But in general he only has 2 really scary lightning attacks (both of which are easy to learn).

And most important of all, learn his moveset. Get good at dodging and you can replace tank skills with damage skills. A video analysis like this one should help if you're overwhelmed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRm1vwy3n9U

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by Zelph:

Originally posted by 月:

The game patch come with armor upgrade unlock, CAPCOM do give you option to upgrade your armor before fighting Furious Rajang & Raging Brachydios.

If you can't solo, don't join SOS.

You can also check through your build and your item box, probably something missing.

I haven't solo'd, used sos on a bunch of hunts. 3 or 4 carts total over 7 or 8 hunts(one was really bad, various reasons why). You don't need to solo things first before dealing with them, especially with prior experience in the series.

Oh I did not join SOS, I am the one who fired it.

And thx Zelph. Felt bad for using SOS on Furious Rajang. It's not like Safi where it felt like an invitation, but more like "I suck so much, plz help this trash" feeling. Thx. for telling me it's ok to do so.

[Skirmisher]

Originally posted by Otaconnor:

If you don't mind waiting until MR75, there's a monster you unlock then whose armor has Divine Blessing Secret on it. Use the chest and the coil (together fully unlock level 5 DB) and you have all the tankiness you need.

Don't bother stacking tons of defense skills, but DO augment armor as much as possible.
I tried an ultra-optimal defense build and he could still 2-3 shot me. Divine Blessing is better since it's a percentage decrease in damage received, it will save you way more often than 1.5k defense ever will.

Lightning def doesn't help much past 20. In fact I believe his beam, ironically, only deals physical damage. But in general he only has 2 really scary lightning attacks (both of which are easy to learn).

And most important of all, learn his moveset. Get good at dodging and you can replace tank skills with damage skills. A video analysis like this one should help if you're overwhelmed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRm1vwy3n9U

Wow, I find this video extremely useful. It really shows that there are more openings I missed. It seems hammer (my main) is somewhat bad for this fight, however, as there is a lot of quick re-positioning in the video. Would you recommend a punishing-draw GS with slugger secret to someone who had little experience with the Great Sword? Granted I would be doing a lot of sheathing in this fight so I should have better movement speed. I mean, it's mostly just draw attack->sheath->re-position->draw attack with this build. Should not be too hard right?

[Otaconnor]

Originally posted by Skirmisher:

Wow, I find this video extremely useful. It really shows that there are more openings I missed. It seems hammer (my main) is somewhat bad for this fight, however, as there is a lot of quick re-positioning in the video. Would you recommend a punishing-draw GS with slugger secret to someone who had little experience with the Great Sword? Granted I would be doing a lot of sheathing in this fight so I should have better movement speed. I mean, it's mostly just draw attack->sheath->re-position->draw attack with this build. Should not be too hard right?

Hammer is my main in IB too so I feel your pain. I actually played LS for him since it used to be my main and it's easier to snipe his head with it. Hammer is a fantastic weapon but I feel Rajang is one of its bad matchups.

Crit Draw GS is an extremely effective way to safely deal with Rajang. I've tried running punishing draw with the Safi GS (since the Barioth set is pretty awful, only wanted to use 1 piece) and honestly I don't think it's worth it. Frostcraft GS will do so much better. A full meter is a whopping 30% bonus damage and the Velkhana set comes with Crit Draw and Divine Blessing. If you're willing to try GS on him I'd really recommend that. Use either the coil or arms with another set.

Oh, and slugger secret is almost never worth it. Each time you get a KO, the monster builds up resistance for the next KO. That means after you get 2 or 3 KOs, the next one will take ages. So long in fact that the monster might die before you proc the next KO, making those extra levels of slugger wasted. Only use this on monsters that are weak to stun and have tons of HP.
Note that you will of course proc your KOs way faster, so perhaps consider a slugger build to start the hunt and then swapping to another loadout after you get 2 or 3 KOs.

And of course like you said,
Draw attack (charge if you can) -> roll cancel for faster recovery -> sheathe -> re-position -> repeat