Lagiacrus, the legendary Leviathan-class monster from previous games, makes its return in Monster Hunter Wilds with new tactics and a two-stage battle involving underwater fights. If you’re fighting Lagiacrus for the first time or you’re an experienced hunter, this walkthrough will unlock the quest and slay the monster with maximum efficiency.
Unlocking Lagiacrus
To start hunting Lagiacrus, you first need to be Hunter Rank 31. After clearing this requirement, proceed to the Scarlet Forest base camp and talk to Erik. He will give you a special quest starting with a linear quest to a High-Rank capture of Lagiacrus.
Once you finish the capture quest, Lagiacrus will start appearing randomly in Scarlet Forest. It may appear in both its normal and Tempered variants. Once you’ve found it, you can fight on sight or mark as an Investigation to do later.
Lagiacrus Fight Strategy (Land Phase)
Ground fight of the battle is where Lagiacrus incorporates a combination of melee and lightning attacks. Its normal attacks comprise tail swipe, bite combo, and body check. These are pretty easy to dodge or block with defense actions like parry or guard, which can be done through the Lance or Sword & Shield.
Riled up, Lagiacrus becomes enraged and begins using its special attacks more frequently than ever before. The two most perilous of these are the Slithering Charge and the Lightning Eruption. The charge is a linear burst that will knock hunters off their feet, and it will happen several times depending on how angry Lagiacrus is. The eruption fires bursts of electricity either close to the body or in open waves. Timing and positioning are key—dodging or moving to the side is safer than trying to block them, especially if you’re low on stamina.
After a large eruption, Lagiacrus exposes a temporary wound on its back. This is the ideal moment to use a Focus Strike to deal heavy damage and extend your opening before it retaliates.
Underwater Phase and Environmental Tools
Halfway through the battle, Lagiacrus plunges into the sea, unleashing a special underwater battle mode. The mode severely alters the pace of the battle. Your weapon’s properties are stripped while underwater, and the focus is on positioning, evading, and utilizing objects from the environment as attacks.
Swimming is controlled by the left trigger (L2 on PlayStation / LT on Xbox) with unfettered depth and direction. Have a sense at all times of Lagiacrus’s character and attitude, with priority on visibiltiy and response time.
There are two breakable rock walls in the sea battlefield. If you break them on Lagiacrus—one is off to the side of the entrance and the other towards the back—you will be able to stun the monster temporarily, making it weak to attack or allowing you time to heal. These can save your life, particularly during the more hectic moments of the battle.
Using the Grapple Hook and Finishing the Fight
Your grapple hook is almost ridiculously handy underwater. You can grapple Lagiacrus after it lands certain attacks, notably its lightning burst attack underwater. Grappled, you can land light knife slash or charge up an upgraded heavy attack with more damage. Wounding Lagiacrus underwater also breaks its rhythm and stuns it.
If your party deals enough damage during this phase, a cinematic finisher sequence will trigger. If it happens near the spiked coral formation on the left side of the area, you’ll slam Lagiacrus into it for additional damage and launch it back to the surface in a stunned state. Anywhere else, it simply surfaces with light damage. But skipping the battle underwater on time will lead to Lagiacrus releasing a gigantic supernova-type lightning attack. This will hurt players whether they are above or below water, so swim down low and remain underwater until the attack subsides.
To consistently beat Lagiacrus, take gear capable of reconciling mobility and defense. Great Sword or Switch Axe perfect guard weapons can revenge-punish such set movements as the hip-check and slither, while good evasion weapons (such as Bow or Dual Blades) excel against its assault attacks.
Always seek openings after powerful attacks, and exploit the vulnerability of Lagiacrus after lightning attacks. Be sure to lay traps in land phase to disrupt charge patterns, and make use of the terrain in your advantage during the underwater fight.
