The Kirin is a potent foe, depending on your equipment loadout it could be more of a challenge than the Rathalos or the Diablos. Start out your hunt by search for signs of the beast, which will take the form of shed Electrified Fur, likely in AREA 8. Find enough Kirin material to track it, then follow the Scoutflies to its location. It ranges in the same locales as the Legiana, and there’s a good chance you’ll encounter it in AREA 12, but it can also move between AREAS 13, 10, 8 and 6. When injured, it’ll retreat up to AREA 15 in order to rest.

Hunt - Kirin¶

The Kirin is the first large monster you’ll fight that isn’t some sort of Wyvern. Instead, it has the lofty rank of Elder Dragon… yes, despite looking like a horse. It attempts to live up to that title (the dragon one… not… not the horse) with potent thunder attacks, which it uses frequently to deal heavy damage, and these thunder attacks come in a variety of forms targeting different areas. Mobility will help you evade these attacks, and your weapon type will drastically effect how easy this fight is. Anything that limits your mobility (hence your ability to dodge) or weapons that require too much of an investment in time or specific positioning to make effective use of their attacks may not be ideal for fighting Kirin. The Bow seems to be more of the more ideal weapons for this fight, but in the proper hands, the Hammer does well, too. Whatever weapon you bring to battle, armor with the Thunder Resistance skill will help you survive such attacks if you happen to slip up. Gear like the Thunder Charm, Ingot Mail and Kadachi Greaves will help keep you alive. Ideally you won’t come into this fight without a Thunder Resistance of twenty or higher.

When you first encounter the Kirin, it may not seem like such a daunting foe. Without proper thunder resistance, however, you’ll soon learn to respect its multiple electrical attacks, which it’ll employ constantly. On top of dealing heavy damage, these lightning attacks can stun (like most monster attacks if they land too frequently) as well as inflict paralysis. This double ailment affliction can leave you vulnerable quite often if you take too many hits too close together, and the damage Kirin is capable of putting out means it may not many attacks before you find yourself carted back to camp. A stray lightning bolt followed by a stronger attack that lands before you can recover isn’t an infrequent occurrence.

That said, Kirin only has a few distinct lightning attacks. It can call down several bolts of lightning to strike random areas around it, it can blast a larger, circular area with thunder (sometimes centering this attack upon itself, to ward off melee attackers) and it can conjure a line of thunder… or sometimes several lines at the same time. Watch out for glowing blue spots on the ground to predict where these attacks will land. On top of that, Kirin can kick with its hind legs, slash with its horn, or perform leaps and charge attacks.

This is all well and good early on, and if you watch its attacks carefully you should be keen enough to realize that you can usually get off a faster attack or two at almost any time, so long as you don’t get greedy. The Kirin will normally use its random, multi-strike lightning attack several times before committing to a more potent attack, during which it’ll be vulnerable for longer. Just make sure you’re clear of the stronger lighting attack and use this time to land slower, more powerful attacks.

Eventually, however, the Kirin will grow angry and will - for lack of a better description - charge itself up. While shrouded with lightning it’ll take less damage and many attacks will bounce off. Worse yet, it’ll attack far faster, it’s lightning attacks may gain more strikes, and it’ll move about more. The battle will get quite hectic here, especially as Kirin can be performing two different forms of attack at the same time - charging about while lightning strikes random areas, for example. Even worse, its defense shoots up considerably here, leaving only the head particularly vulnerable to damage - lower damage weapons may find themselves dealing no damage at all with body shots! You’ve little choice but to aim for the head and play much more defensively during this time.

Once heavily damaged, it’ll retreat to AREA 15, but you’ll find no relief in traps and Tranq Bombs, as Kirin, being an Elder Dragon, cannot be captured… that’s not to say you can’t play a few tricks aside from crudely waking the beast up and continuing the fight. Against a sleeping monster that you can not - or don’t care to - capture, you can still deploy Barrel Bombs (or ideally, larger, more upgraded forms like the Large Barrel Bomb or Mega Barrel Bomb). Just place them near the monster’s weak point(s) and when ready, strike them to discharge them, hopefully finishing the beast off, but at the very least the damage these bombs deal will get you closer.

Kirin is, perhaps surprisingly, weak to Fire elemental attacks and unsurprisingly it’s resistant to the Thunder element. It’s not particularly susceptible to any ailments, but its weakest to Sleep and Blast. Its head is the most receptive part of its body to damage, and the horn is breakable.

Kill and carve the Kirin, then return to the Impatient Biologist in Astera to claim your well-earned reward, the Thunderproof Mantle hunter tool. When used, this device will reduce thunder damage and protect you from thunderblight and paralysis. Its effects last for 180 second per use.