Rathalos

Rathalos, or commonly known as "Los", is an aggressive, medium-sized wyvern. It has very developed aerial abilities and loves to fly around its territory. The most common Rathalos has crimson and dark skin tone, although there are reports on rare sightings of larger variations which are of different colors.

A Rathalos is a male wyvern and its female counterpart is a Rathian, which shares similar features in appearance and abilties. During feeding sessions, a Rathalos will attack from the air in addition to chasing down its prey on ground level, while a Rathian prefers to simply chase down its prey on foot.

=Battle= When a Rathalos is on the ground, it will often charge at the hunter, occasionally shooting a burst of fireball. Sometimes it will try to fly over the hunter to topple him. When hunters are fighting close to it, it will whip its tail in hopes of hitting them. Its tail whip can be in a clockwise or anti-clockwise direction, so there is no "safe side" hunters should position themselves. It can also fly backwards while breathing fire into its previous position, thus hunters should always hit and roll away/prepare to block.

The trick to slaying a Rathalos is to use every opportunity to hit it. Its weak point is its head, however, you can also aim for its wings and tail because they stick out and are very easy to hit.

After every charge, a Rathalos will turn to face the hunter. If it turns quickly, it is going to charge again. However, if it turns slowly, it is going to blast a fireball or fly lowly to swoop on the hunter. Thus, it is always a good idea to chase the Rathalos and hit it before it turns, and if it turns slowly, hit it some more! Remember not to get greedy with attacks, or you will end up being knocked away by another charge.

When a Rathalos flys into the air and stays there, run under it and stand over its shadow. It will either shoot a single fireball, three bursts of fire, or attempt to swoop down and claw. Weapons that can charge up should do so as it lands to get a power hit in. If you end up getting clawed by it from the air, you will be poisoned, so always bring a few antidotes into a Rathalos battle. In Monster Hunter Freedom 2, the range of this attack has increased, blocking or a fleeing dive are both options to avoid this manoeuvre.

One of the Rathalos' trickiest move is to fly around the area as if it is flying away. Hunters with Autotracker can recognise this flying pattern and know it is actually preparing to dive down on unsuspecting hunters. Thus, always observe it when it is flying around. If it is preparing this move, get ready to roll when it finally makes the dive.

A Rathalos loves flying and it will fly around frequently. For hunters without Autotracker, know its territory and stay in one area and wait for it. It lands and takes off quickly so chances of finding it are slim when you go searching blindly.

The tail of a Rathalos can be cut off and carved once. It is weakest to the dragon element, and second weakest to ice.