Diablos is broken as hell, especially the black version

[ninjawannabe]

I have downed the regular version a few times enough to get charged blade but he is far from fair. Here are my gripes with him and why I don't think he is tuned correctly 1) the charge attack, he has an animation so I starting running in a circle but the body will shift 45 degrees from where he is looking right before he charges. Combine the turning on a dime with the fact that the tail and wings count as a hit even after he stops moving and it is extremely hard to dodge. 2) underground attack, the hit box is way off of the animation as the animation is only where his back is but when he surfaces the wings tail and head count as hit making it 3 time larger. Combine that with his ability to turn on a dime with that attack too and it is almost impossible to dodge. It can be avoided with the slinger but he spams it and you can only carry three before needing to stop and craft again. The fact that is considered a power attack and almost one shots you is why it feels unfair, massive attack that can barely be avoided....fun. Unless I'm missing something this guy was not tuned correctly and I'm not looking forward to have to farm horn and black version for upgrades. Has anyone farmed this guy with a melee weapon or is he designed to be farmed with a ranged weapon? If you have farmed him with a melee what am I missing as this is ridiculous.

[Suzaku]

Superman dive to avoid most attacks. Otherwise, I suggest a shield. Diablos is one of the few monsters I create an anti-[monster] set for. Get yourself a few ranks in guard, and you can simply shrug off most attacks even with the smallest shields.

[Dagný]

The thing you're missing is that you can: Block with a shield, superman dive or vault with the insect glaive

[Calo Nord]

Time your dodges better, tempered version is better at aiming the charge

The running dodge is great for the burrowing attack, or use screamer pods

[ninjawannabe]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Superman dive to avoid most attacks. Otherwise, I suggest a shield. Diablos is one of the few monsters I create an anti-[monster] set for. Get yourself a few ranks in guard, and you can simply shrug off most attacks even with the smallest shields.

I usually superman dive but it seems that it has a very small window for it use the i-frames to dodge the attack. For example, if I spam dive he turns and hits. If I wait until the charge has begun it feels 50/50 if it hits or misses. I tried blocking attacks of other monsters but it felt like the damage was only cut in half which feels like a game of attrition so I have always defaulted to avoiding. Was I doing something wrong then or it because I didn't have the guard ability? Does that ability make it so you take no or just little damage from these attacks?

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by ninjawannabe:

I tried blocking attacks of other monsters but it felt like the damage was only cut in half which feels like a game of attrition so I have always defaulted to avoiding. Was I doing something wrong then or it because I didn't have the guard ability? Does that ability make it so you take no or just little damage from these attacks?

The guard skill heavily affects how much chip damage gets through. To give an example, I use rank 5 guard on sword and shield (the weakest shield), and the burrowing attack from a MR tempered black diablos would barely tickle my hp bar.

I prefer SnS against her because she is so fast, I can use the speed of the weapon to reposition or react as needed. With rank 5 guard, her strongest attacks don't hurt. This way I can go toe-to-toe without fear of over-committing. Makes the fight quite easy.

[Lunar Purge]

For normal Diablos you are likely not having as many issues for the normal one as you the Black One so I'll try to help.

For that underground attack a sonic bomb when it's out of rage will help counter that, the Black Diablos however is very very fast. So Sonic Bombs can work well but it comes out really fast, if you need their horns the good news is that their horns are really breakable so breaking them at the start of the mission is key.You can focus on slinging the diablos into near by walls for high damage 2-4 of these will break off both horns if you play solo.I do believe that removing their horns also weaken their attacks? But I'm not 100% sure of that.

One way to help avoid their charges, Black Diablos when she is doing her focused point at you charge is to run at her while moving to one of her sides you can see her run and when you dodge away right before her head or wings touch you should be outside of her hit box, if you dodge this close she cannot turn enough to go after you again and ends up sliding to a stop.

For the Digging attack you can see her digging and this one is a bit harder to avoid as she can at times dig right under you and cause you to stagger a bit, however is many cases if you dodge the Moment your stagger animation ends you will dodge their burst out of the ground attack.

Another good trick is to give your palico the shield equipment and they will taunt the diablos away from you so you can focus on weakening and slinger. Also remember to use the thorn pods that the diablos drops and use slinger burst on it's head or any part of it's body, Diablos tend to be easy to KO and Exhast leading to free hits. Hope this at least helps. Depending on Weapon you use in melee we can also give other words of advice.

[ninjawannabe]

Originally posted by Calo Nord:

Time your dodges better, tempered version is better at aiming the charge

The running dodge is great for the burrowing attack, or use screamer pods

It seem like a weird follow up question, but when you run and dodge which direction do you dive? I typically dive sideways but again if it just a hair to early his wings get me, I noticed his tail comes up last so I try to dive sideways but still towards him a little and I have the best success with that one but it again feels 50/50.

[Henrique87]

Screamer pod. Bring 10 more Screamer Sac to craft more pods on the fly. Ez pz.

[Hammer Of Evil]

screamer pods and lance. slot quicksheath and guard decorations.

most people are like 'omg lance so boring' - but both lances counter diablos very hard. makes the fight almost comically boring. definitely keep a lance around for farming repeated tempered diablos/blk diablos fights.

its a perfect fight to queue the counter-clutchclaw, because you ride out the rest of the charge with superarmor then still get the tenderizing attack.

you can fight diablos with hammer and greatsword, but much more dodging is required, and you have to be very careful when you commit to a swing. diablos will clean up any bad habits you have, lol.

remember, you can only dive if you sprint 'AWAY' from the monster, unless you have "leap of faith' charm equipped. then you can be a madlad and dive towards him.

[ninjawannabe]

Originally posted by Lunar Purge:

For normal Diablos you are likely not having as many issues for the normal one as you the Black One so I'll try to help.

For that underground attack a sonic bomb when it's out of rage will help counter that, the Black Diablos however is very very fast. So Sonic Bombs can work well but it comes out really fast, if you need their horns the good news is that their horns are really breakable so breaking them at the start of the mission is key.You can focus on slinging the diablos into near by walls for high damage 2-4 of these will break off both horns if you play solo.I do believe that removing their horns also weaken their attacks? But I'm not 100% sure of that.

One way to help avoid their charges, Black Diablos when she is doing her focused point at you charge is to run at her while moving to one of her sides you can see her run and when you dodge away right before her head or wings touch you should be outside of her hit box, if you dodge this close she cannot turn enough to go after you again and ends up sliding to a stop.

For the Digging attack you can see her digging and this one is a bit harder to avoid as she can at times dig right under you and cause you to stagger a bit, however is many cases if you dodge the Moment your stagger animation ends you will dodge their burst out of the ground attack.

Another good trick is to give your palico the shield equipment and they will taunt the diablos away from you so you can focus on weakening and slinger. Also remember to use the thorn pods that the diablos drops and use slinger burst on it's head or any part of it's body, Diablos tend to be easy to KO and Exhast leading to free hits. Hope this at least helps. Depending on Weapon you use in melee we can also give other words of advice.

You are correct that the black version is giving me the most trouble. I will have to test the breaking of the horns b/c Suzaku mentioned the guard ability to help reduce damage as another solution but I will need to do additional farming. To make sure we are comparing apples to apples, when you see the ground attack does she not surface immediately for you? It seems the animation gets close and then she immediately emerges. If I understood what you said it sounds like there is a delay? I don't remember thinking there was one but it could be my frustration preventing me from seeing it. I wonder if maybe I'm not seeing the stagger and so I'm not dodging in time.

[ninjawannabe]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Originally posted by ninjawannabe:

I tried blocking attacks of other monsters but it felt like the damage was only cut in half which feels like a game of attrition so I have always defaulted to avoiding. Was I doing something wrong then or it because I didn't have the guard ability? Does that ability make it so you take no or just little damage from these attacks?

The guard skill heavily affects how much chip damage gets through. To give an example, I use rank 5 guard on sword and shield (the weakest shield), and the burrowing attack from a MR tempered black diablos would barely tickle my hp bar.

I prefer SnS against her because she is so fast, I can use the speed of the weapon to reposition or react as needed. With rank 5 guard, her strongest attacks don't hurt. This way I can go toe-to-toe without fear of over-committing. Makes the fight quite easy.

Lunar Purge mentioned breaking the horns might reduce the attack damage, do you have any experience with this? I'm wondering if that could negate the need to farm for the guard ability.

[Suzaku]

Black Diablos has 2 different burrows. One where she pops up immediately, and another where she delays it about a second. The delay can screw up things like counter-timing for certain weapons, which is why I just stack guard and hold block no matter what.

[stealthdriver]

Diablos is the ultimate 'guard point' learning monster. Practice with on him and then once u got it down, u'll destroy her.

[Suzaku]

Originally posted by ninjawannabe:

Lunar Purge mentioned breaking the horns might reduce the attack damage, do you have any experience with this? I'm wondering if that could negate the need to farm for the guard ability.

I've not really payed close enough attention to how much damage is inflicted if the horns are broken or not. If there is a difference, it's not noticeable.

[ninjawannabe]

Originally posted by Suzaku:

Black Diablos has 2 different burrows. One where she pops up immediately, and another where she delays it about a second. The delay can screw up things like counter-timing for certain weapons, which is why I just stack guard and hold block no matter what.

Oh, that makes more sense. Is there a different animation for each burrow? I think this might be the best way forward for my play style but I do love bouncing around like a monkey. Either that or I spend a bit of time getting used to the guard point mechanic as suggested.