I don't understand the hate for Lunastra.

[Juliane_L]

As the title says, I don't understand the hate about Lunastra. She is one of my favorite fights of the game for multiple reasons, notably her dificulty. She is one of the only monsters in the game that requires you to understand her attacks patterns and to adapt your playstyle in result. She is a tough fight, but, once you learn her moves, it becomes a very enjoyable fight.


I guess most people just got traumatized of her during the first arena quest with her.

Most people complain about her hitboxes, but, while the one of the tail swipe is a bit big, they look pretty fine to me. And i have seen much worse than that.

I also hear complaints about the fire puddles. While they can be pretty annoying depending on the situation, there is a very easy way to counter them: just stick to her. Her fire puddles never hit me that way, and I can easily spam light attacks on her hind legs.

i also hear hate for her low hitzones. I think those are actually pretty balanced. The fact that you can't make her trip by hitting the head help her in the fact that she is one of the only monsters in the game that you can't triplock into oblivion , wich means she can actually fight back, unlike most of the roster of the game. Since tripping her is harder than tripping another monster, hitting her wings ( her only weakspot) now feels like a reward for making her trip, unlike many other monsters that makes you spam attacks on their weak points like it's nothing. ( ivory Lagiacrus hitzones were MUCH worse than that.)

Final point, her nova. I can understand most people hate it after getting hit by it in the arena without any way of escaping. However, in a normal fight, you have a lot of ways to dodge her nova or to predict it. Once you know she is going to use it, you can just use a farcaster. You can also make her use her nova to reset the count via flash pods. And even if you get caught, you still have a few ways to survive, such as spamming panic dive, using Astera jerkys or even get hit by a puddle and getting back up only at the end of the nova.

This is all have to say about Luna. I think she is a fun fight once you learn her, and she is one of my favorite fights. I main DB, so maybe you opinion will change depending on your weapon.

Thank you for reading all of my long post!

(english isn't my main language, sorry if I did any errors.)

[Binary]

Personally I find Luna easier than Teo

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by Bug in Human Life:

Personally I find Luna easier than Teo

i wouldn't say she is easier than teo, but she definitelt isn't THAT difficult.

[crispb]

this guy explains it pretty well. @4:10

https://youtu.be/nOVFKGYzlew?t=250

[mewlynx]

Originally posted by Bug in Human Life:

Personally I find Luna easier than Teo

Hard disagree. OP says once you understand Luna she's easy, I feel that way about Teo. He doesn't really have any BS moves aside from the roar into concentrated explosion, but that's rare and just makes me want to get good at dodging his roar.

I hate Luna just because I don't like getting zoned. Her fire puddles last way too long and she can just spread them all over the place if she feels like it. It's just stressful and not very fun to me.

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by crispb:

this guy explains it pretty well. @4:10

https://youtu.be/nOVFKGYzlew?t=250

i already saw the video, but i don't think she is too fast or do too much damage. never had any problems with her AOE, (i stick to her 90% of the fight so that's not a problem for me) and her Nova is definitely not random.

[Zelph]

Luna is an over tuned teo. She lays flames that can just explode whenever, can't be flashed without triggering her nova, which is horrible. Why on earth would anyone think giving the nova a huge wind radius, occasional wind stun, and super fast AoE a good idea? Thats really the worst part of it. Her hit zones are also pretty awful, wings for blade master, tail for gunner? The hell were they thinking?

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by Zelph:

Luna is an over tuned teo. She lays flames that can just explode whenever, can't be flashed without triggering her nova, which is horrible. Why on earth would anyone think giving the nova a huge wind radius, occasional wind stun, and super fast AoE a good idea? Thats really the worst part of it. Her hit zones are also pretty awful, wings for blade master, tail for gunner? The hell were they thinking?

her Nova is quite easy do deal with. as of the hitzones, while i can't say anyting for gunners ( i main DB) i actually like the fight that blademasteres have to trip her to attack her weakspots, it gives a sense of reward to making her trip (helicopter IG main laughs at the background), it also help her in the fact that you can't just spam her weakspots 90% of the fights and make her dies in 3 min

[Zplayer96]

I'd rather take on AT Nerg, AT Kushala and AT Teostra than take on that blue bi*ch

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by Zplayer96:

I'd rather take on AT Nerg, AT Kushala and AT Teostra than take on that blue bi*ch

i actually like both AT nerg and AT teo...

AT kush, however, is one of the worst mistakes of humanity.

[Remi]

Big bait

[Juliane_L]

Originally posted by Remi:

Big bait

why do you think i'm baiting? i'm just saying my opinion.

[lexilogo]

I don't dislike Lunastra all too much, but she's certainly not really a fight I do when I feel like having fun.

The thing about Lunastra is that in many respects she was designed to counter MHW's issues and try to make a more challenging fight, by doing things like:

-Having hitzones that aren't just "go for the head at all times"

-Relying on AoE damage which is nowhere near as counteractable as standard damage

-Being a more highly tuned ED who is more of a challenge when you're fully geared

-Being immune to flash pods

There are a few other factors that didn't help, like her introductory quests being WAY overtuned in difficulty. Seriously, quest Lunastra is as strong, if not stronger, than her Tempered version. It's also a little ironic that the same update that included all this pushback also added the Temporal Mantle.


The issue is kind of similar to Lavasioth though, having a monster that is this "hostile" in design towards you hunting it makes for a fight that's less fun. It's not about a fight being easy/hard so much as it is if the fight facilitates the bits of the game that are fun.

Monsters are there to be hunted. I don't mind that hunting process being difficult or easy (at least not on an individual monster basis) but I personally don't like a monster like Lunastra that feels designed to make hunting it a hassle.

To illustrate this with a different monster, Odogaron is a fast doggy and inflicts Bleed, which is arguably a hassle, but this all works with the fight design. You need to change how you use dodges and if you get hit with Bleeding you have to totally change how you're playing to cure it. That's how you make a fight more difficult and more fun at the same time. (Iceborne also did a great job with Blackveil Vaal in this respect)


That IMO is why there's hate for Lunastra. Her design is hostile towards the entire hunting process.

[Infinite Duck]

First of all, if you rly want to, luna cant fight back at all (looking at impact mantle bow). As for staying at her hindlegs: it sure is a nice strategy until she decides to move at all so you have to follow her through the puddles. Overall I just cant stand her instant puddle explosions cause there is no real counterplay other than just not being there. Same reason I dont like fighting AT Nerg, attacks that just happen nearly instantly. Her other attacks would be ok for me, its just lame to lose like 1/4 hp without time to react.

[Nerankar]

There is... hate?

[Crusader]

the biggest thing i hate about luna is the insane tail spam / abuse. And well, her hit zone values are garbage for most severing weapons.

I definitely hate kush way more than luna