Rathalos Weakness and Strategy Guide

Learn how to beat Rathalos in the game Monster Hunter World (MHW)! This guide explains everything about Rathalos's weakness, carves, rewards, and a complete strategy guide for beating and capturing it. Find out what parts are breakable and severable, and what drops and Monster materials are available.

All Rathalos Articles
Rathalos Weakness & Strategy	Rathalos Weapons	Rathalos Armor 1 | ⍺ | β | ⍺+ | β

Rathalos Weakness, Body Parts, and Resistances

Rathalos Characteristics

Roar	Wind	Tremor	Blight	Status
Big	High	None	Fire	Poison
Breakable Parts
Head, Back, Left Wing, Right Wing, Tail

Locations and Areas Visited

Map	Starting Area	Visited Areas	Rest Spot
Ancient Forest	16	1 / 5 / 8 / 14 / 16	16
Elder's Recess	Coming soon!	3 / 4 / 9	4

*The starting location may change depending on the Quest.

Weakness, Body Parts, Extracts

Head

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
60	65	50	0	Red
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
15	20	15	30

Neck

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
35	37	30	0	Red
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
5	10	5	20

Torso

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
25	25	20	0	Orange
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
5	10	5	20

Back

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
25	25	20	0	Orange
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
5	10	5	20

Wings

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
20	21	19	0	White
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
10	15	10	25

Legs

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
35	35	30	0	Orange
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
0	5	0	15

Tail

Sever	Break	Bomb	Fire	Extract
45	40	35	0	Green
Water	Thunder	Ice	Dragon
5	10	5	10

Higher values indicate higher damage.

Vulnerability to Status Effects and Items

Poison	★	Flash	★★
Paral	★★	Shock	★★
Sleep	★★	Pitfall	★★
Stun	★★	Ivy	★★
Blast	★	Dung	★★
Exhaust	★	Meat	❌
Mount	★★	Screamer	❌

All Monster Guides

Countermeasures against Rathalos

Recommended Weapon Element and Armor Skills

Recommended Weapon Element
Dragon Weapon	Rathalos is weakest against dragon.
Recommended Armor Skills
Fire Resistance	Rathalos has a lot of fire attacks, so negating some the fire damage with Fire Resistance will be helpful.
Poison Resistance	If you do not want to bother with Antidotes or Herbal Medicine, you can get Poison Resistance to Lvl 3 to completely prevent poison.
Earplugs	Rathalos has a big roar, so getting Earplugs to Lvl 5 would be immensely helpful.
Stun Resistance	If you find yourself getting stunned a lot and dying as a result, it might be worth it to put Stun Resistance into your build.
Clutch Claw Boost	The sooner you break his wings, the better! Keep them tender.
Partbreaker	You can also invest in Partbreaker to help you break his wings faster.
Windproof	Rathalos can give you major wind pressure; Windproof at Lvl 5 fully negates it.

How to Beat Rathalos

Fight Near the Feet

Staying near the feet will force Rathalos to constantly attack using the claws from its feet and then lowers his head after. This can allow you to attack and break its head.

Aim for the Head

Rathalos' head can easily break if you deal enough damage to it. Try to focus on this part whenever you can reach it. Also, attacking Rathalos' head continuously can stun him for a short duration. This can be abused if you are using a weapon like the Hammer or the Charge Axe.

Flash Pods

Using Flash Pods against Rathalos when he is flying has a chance to bring him down and stun him for a few seconds. Always bring a Flash Pod handy since it can be difficult to fight when Rathalos is airborne.

Flashing After the Roar

Rathalos will always perform a short roar before doing the jump back flame attack. This has a small window where you can drop Rathalos into the ground by using a Flash Pod while he is jumping back.

Enraged Flame Breath

When Rathalos is enraged, the damage of the fireball after he jumps back can be extremely dangerous, especially if you do not have a high fire resistance. Try to stay away from Rathalos and patiently wait for an opportunity to attack when he is enraged.

As for the roar, you can try wearing gear with Earplugs to prevent getting disabled before Rathalos shoots the fireball.

Destroying the Wings

Attacking the wings as an alternative can also be a good idea. If you manage to destroy Rathalos' wings, this will stop him from flying and performing airborne attacks which can be helpful later in the fight.

Rathalos Attack Patterns

Attack	Attack Power	Guardable	Exhaustion
Back Jump Flame Breath	80	◯	70
Flame Breath	70	◯	55
Enhanced Flame Breath	50	◯	30
Claw Attack	55	◯	40
Glide Attack	45	◯	30
Continuous Kick	55	◯	30
Flying Kick	75	◯	55
Tail Sweep Attack	35	◯	30

Rathalos Carves and Rewards

Carvings and Hunt Rewards

	Obtain Rate (%)
LR	Rathalos Tail / Tail 70 Rathalos Plate / Body 5, Tail 3 Rathalos Shell / Body 26 Rathalos Scale / Body 20, Tail 35 Rathalos Webbing / Body 20 Rathalos Marrow / Body 14, Tail 7
HR	Rathalos Tail / Tail 66 Rathalos Plate / Body 7, Tail 3 Rathalos Scale+ / Body 34, Tail 20 Rathalos Carapace / Body 24 Rathalos Wing / Body 20 Rathalos Medulla / Body 14, Tail 7 Rathalos Ruby / Body 1, Tail 2
MR	Rathalos Lash / Tail 66 Rathalos Ruby / Body 7, Tail 5 Rathalos Shard / Body 34, Tail 20 Rathalos Cortex / Body 24 Rathalos Fellwing / Body 20 Rathalos Medulla / Body 14, Tail 7 Rathalos Mantle / Body 1, Tail 3

Rewards for Each Body Part

	Obtain Rate (%)
LR	Rathalos Webbing / Wing 65 Rath Wingtalon / Wing 35 Rathalos Scale / Head 66 Rathalos Plate / Head 4, Back 1 Rathalos Marrow / Back 30
HR	Rathalos Scale+ / Head 65 Rathalos Plate / Head 4 Rathalos Carapace / Head 30, Back 69 Rathalos Ruby / Head 1, Back 1 Rathalos Wing / Both Wings 65 Rath Wingtalon / Both Wings 35 Rathalos Medulla / Back 30
MR	Rathalos Fellwing / Wings 65 Rath Wingtalon+ / Wings 35 Rathalos Medulla / Torso 30 Rathalos Cortex / Head 67, Torso 69 Rathalos Ruby / Head 5 Rathalos Shard / Head 27 Rathalos Mantle / Head 1, Torso 1

Shiny Drops

	Obtain Rate (%)
LR Drops	Rathalos Scale / 50 Rathalos Shell / 28 Wyvern Tear / 22
HR Drops	Rathalos Scale+ / 50 Rathalos Carapace / 28 Wyvern Tear / 22
MR Drops	Rathalos Shard / 50 Rathalos Cortex / 28 Large Wyvern Tear / 22

How to Get Drops

How to Get	# Times
・At the start of turf war ・When dropped from the air ・Couterattack during the continous kick attacks ・While you're frightened by the attack of another monster	3

Quest Clear & Investigation Rewards

	Obtain Rate (%)
LR Quest	Rathalos Webbing / 9 Rathalos Tail / 8 Rathalos Plate / 3 Rathalos Shell / 24 Rathalos Scale / 19 Flame Sac / 17 Rath Wingtalon / 10 Monster Bone+ / 10
LR Silver	Rathalos Plate / 8 Rathalos Tail / 16 Rathalos Webbing / 16 Rath Wingtalon / 15 Rathalos Marrow / 13 Rathalos Scale / 10 Flame Sac / 10 Rathalos Shell / Rathalos Plate / 8
LR Gold	Rathalos Plate / 8 Rathalos Webbing / 16 Rathalos Tail / 16 Rath Wingtalon / 16 Rathalos Marrow / 13 Rathalos Scale / 10 Rathalos Shell / 10 Flame Sac / 10
HR Quest	Rathalos Tail / 9 Rathalos Plate / 3 Rathalos Carapace / 27 Rathalos Scale+ / 21 Inferno Sac / 18 Rathalos Wing / 12 Monster Hardbone / 10
HR Silver	Rathalos Ruby / 6 Rathalos Wing / 24 Rathalos Medulla / 20 Rathalos Carapace / 14 Inferno Sac / 14 Rathalos Scale+ / 12 Rathalos Plate / 10
HR Gold	Rathalos Wing / 23 Rathalos Medulla / 20 Rathalos Ruby / 13 Rathalos Carapace / 12 Inferno Sac / 12 Rathalos Scale+ / 10 Rathalos Plate / 10
MR Quest	Rathalos Lash / 9 Rathalos Ruby / 3 Rathalos Cortex / 27 Rathalos Shard / 21 Conflagrant Sac / 18 Rathalos Fellwing / 12 Rath Wingtalon+ / 10
MR Silver	Rathalos Mantle / 6 Rathalos Cortex / 17 Rathalos Shard / 15 Rathalos Fellwing / 15 Conflagrant Sac / 14 Rathalos Lash / 13 Rath Wingtalon+ / 10 Rathalos Ruby / 10
MR Gold	Rathalos Fellwing / 17 Rathalos Lash / 16 Rathalos Mantle / 13 Conflagrant Sac / 12 Rathalos Cortex / 12 Rathalos Shard / 10 Rath Wingtalon+ / 10 Rathalos Ruby / 10

Plunderblade Rewards

Plunderblade

	Obtain Rate (%)
LR	Rathalos Scale / 42 Rathalos Shell / 31 Rathalos Webbing / 25 Rathalos Plate / 2
HR	Rathalos Carapace / 42 Rathalos Scale+ / 31 Rathalos Webbing / 26 Rathalos Ruby / 1
MR	Rathalos Cortex / 42 Rathalos Shard / 31 Rathalos Fellwing / 26 Rathalos Mantle / 1

Palarang

	Obtain Rate (%)
MR	Rathalos Shard / 50 Rathalos Cortex / 28 Large Wyvern Tear / 22

Quests Where Rathalos Appears

Type	Quest Name
Assigned	★2 - Bird-Brained Bandit
Assigned	★3 - Urgent: Pukei Pukei Hunt
Assigned	★4 - The Encroaching Anjanath
Assigned	★5 - A Fiery Throne Atop The Forest
Optional	★1 - Fungal Flexin' In The Ancient Forest
Optional	★2 - Big Brained Bandit
Optional	★3 - Scatternut Shortage
Optional	★3 - Flying Sparks: Tobi-Kadachi
Optional	★4 - One Helluva Sinus Infection
Optional	★5 - When Desire Becomes An Obsession
Optional	★5 - Redefining The "Power Couple"
Optional	★5 - Special Arena: Rathalos
Optional	★6 - Hard To Swallow
Optional	★6 - Google-eyed Green Monster
Optional	★6 - A Hair-Raising Experience
Optional	★6 - It Can't See You If You Don't Move
Optional	★6 - The Sleeping Sylvan Queen
Optional	★9 - The White Winds of the New World
Optional	★7 - Rathalos Rematch
Optional	★7 - The Red and Blue Crew
Optional	★7 - Special Arena: HR Rathalos
Event	★7 - Deep Green Blues
Event	★5 - The Poison Posse
Event	★7 - Kings Know No Fear
Event	★5 - Every Hunter's Dream
Event	★8 - Code: Red
Challenge	★7 - What Lurks in the Forest
Challenge	★7 - Challenge Quest 1: Intermediate
Assigned	M★3 - Ever-present Shadow
Optional	M★1 - The Great Jagras Returns!
Optional	M★1 - Literary Thief
Optional	M★1 - New World Problems
Optional	M★1 - Beating Around the Bush
Optional	M★1 - Trapping the Tree Trasher
Optional	M★2 - Anjanath Antics
Optional	M★2 - Fool's Mate
Optional	M★3 - Swoop to a New Low
Optional	M★3 - Nargacoulda, Should, Woulda
Optional	M★3 - The Secret to a Good Slice
Optional	M★3 - Red and Black Aces
Optional	M★3 - Special Arena: MR Rathalos
Optional	M★4 - Misfortune in the Forest
Event	M★3 - A Sky and Sea of Fire
Event	M★6 - Yodeling in the Forest
Event	M★1 - To Our World

All Quest Guides

Related Links

All Monster Guides

List of All Base Game Monsters

MHW (Base Game) Monsters

Anjanath	Barroth	Bazelgeuse	Behemoth
Deviljho	Diablos	Dodogama	Great Girros
Great Jagras	Jyuratodus	Kirin	Kulu-Ya-Ku
Kulve Taroth	Kushala Daora	Lavasioth	Legiana
Leshen	Lunastra	Nergigante	Odogaron
Paolumu	Pukei-Pukei	Radobaan	Rathalos
Rathian	Teostra	Tobi-Kadachi	Tzitzi-Ya-Ku
Uragaan	Vaal Hazak	Xeno'jiiva	Zorah Magdaros

Colored Variants

Ancient Leshen	Azure Rathalos	Black Diablos	Pink Rathian

Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons

Arch-Tempered Great Jagras	Arch-Tempered Kirin	Arch-Tempered Kulve Taroth	Arch-Tempered Kushala Daora
Arch-Tempered Lunastra	Arch-Tempered Nergigante	Arch-Tempered Teostra	Arch-Tempered Vaal Hazak
Arch-Tempered Xeno'jiiva	Arch-Tempered Zorah Magdaros

Monsters by Game

All Monsters by Game
Iceborne	Monster Hunter World