Fatalis Counterbuilds and Counter Skills

This is a guide to countering the Fatalis in Monster Hunter World (MHW) Iceborne. Read on to learn about Fatalis' Weaknesses, skills that counter them, and recommended setups.

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Fatalis Weakness & Strategy	Fatalis Weapons	Fatalis Armor ⍺+ | β+	Fatalis Counters

Fatalis Best Counter Weapons

★Best Weapons Against Fatalis★
Alatreon Weapons Are Extremely Effective
Switch Axes are Highly Effective
Weapons With Blocks Are Also Useful
The Legendary Ghillie Mantle

Alatreon Weapons Vs Fatalis

Fatalis sports a weakness to Dragon element and Alatreon weapons are king when it comes to Dragon Elemental weapons. The alatreon weapons can provide the greatest damage output you can possible ask against Fatalis (not including the fatalis weapon itself which can deal more).

Switch Axes ZSD

The Switch Axe can spam ZSD against Fatalis' Head. This can result in a pretty fast Horn Break especially if the Switch Axe user has 3 partbreaker skills in their kit.
How To Use Switch Axe

Weapons with Blocking Abilities

While Mobility vs Blocking abilities has always been a personal preference, the ability to block can potentially save mispositioned allies against Fatalis' cone attack. Its cone breath can be blocked by small pillars and players that block the attacks, this can be used to save allies that have no pillars to hide on.

The Ghillie Mantle's Instant Hide Ability

The Ghillie Mantle is more commonly used during expeditions and endemic life capturing but in the Fatalis fight, it shines (or camouflages) best. The Fatalis AI will continuously attack its target, when it attempts to target you and you use the Ghillie Mantle, it will switch to a “looking for target” state. This is especially useful in Multiplayer since you can use the Ghillie Mantle to hide while providing a window of opportunity for other players to attack

Ghillie Mantle

The Ghillie Mantle Cannon Opening Strategy

For this strategy to work, you'll need the Ghillie Mantle and a Level 2 Heavy Artillery skill. Use the Mantle then head into the battlefield, load all the cannons then aim the rightmost cannon 1 time to the right and the left cannon 3 times to the right. Use the right cannon then take the Fatalis Roar, after recovering, immediately go to the 2nd cannon and fire it. All 10 cannonballs will hit the Fatalis and the 6th Cannon will stun Fatalis providing for a huge 4500 damage and a window to wound and damage Fatalis' head.

Fatalis Best CounterSkills

★Best Weapons Against Fatalis★
Fire Resist (Must be over 20)
Partbreaker to destroy Fatalis' Horn
A maxed out Heavy Artillery Skill is highly recommended too
Tool Specialist too for more Temporal Mantle up time
Clutch Claw Boost skill for light weapons

Fire Resistance

Fatalis has strong firebreath attacks. While it is possible to survive one lethal attacks with Felyne Moxie, the burn damage of Fatalis' fireballs will kill you soon if your fire resist is below 20. Having more than 20 fire resist is highly recommended to improve your survivability, it also allows you to survive Fatalis' fire attacks if you fail to break its horn.

Partbreaker

One of the main goals of this fight is to ensure that Fatalis' horn gets broken during the late stages of phase 2/ early stages of phase 3. This can provide a huge window of opportunity to deal free damage AND weaken Fatalis' fire attacks. Always focus on the head whenever possible!

Heavy Artillery Skill is Recommended For Machinery

While the Heavy Artillery Skill doesn't affect the Dragonator, it works wonders for the Roaming Ballista and the Cannons. The cannons, in particular, will down the Fatalis after hitting it with 6 cannonballs (solo) while having heavy artillery 2 up.

Tool Specialist is a Must Have

No matter what mantles you're using, the Tool Specialist is surely going to make a huge impact when fighting against Fatalis. The Temporal Mantle, in particular, is a must-have against the black dragon to avoid those fatal attacks and give you the confidence to dive into the fray.

Clutch Claw Boost to Easily Wound the Fatalis

The Clutch Claw Boost has 2 effects, it can either make light weapons instantly wound a monster with one Clutch Claw attack, or make heavy weapons drop monster ammo after a single Clutch Claw attack. Both effects are highly recommended but it is more important for light weapons since wounding Fatalis is pretty much, a requirement to take down the massive beast within the allotted time.

Fatalis Best Counter Skills List

Hunter Skills

Palico Skills and Equipment

Felyne Kitchen Skills

Recommended Builds Against Fatalis

Base Sample Setup To Counter Fatalis

Weapon		Decorations
Dark Claw "Demise"		Tenderizer Jewel 2 x2
Armor		Decorations
Head	Brachydium Helm Beta +	Expert Jewel+ 4 x2 Expert Jewel 1
Armor	Escadora Soul Beta +	Attack Jewel+ 4 Dragon Jewel 1 x2
Greaves	Brachydium Beta Braces Beta +	Hard Defense Jewel 4 Flight/Expert Jewel 4
Waist	Escadora Might Beta +	Expert Jewel 1 Attack Jewel 1
Legs	Escadora Sheath Beta +	Challenger Jewel+ 4 Charger/Protection Jewel 4 x2
Charm	Challenger Charm V	none

Base Sample Skills

A General Basic Setup

While this setup doesn't have partbreaker nor fire resistance skills. This is what a sample skillset you would be generally running against Fatalis. High dragon elemental attacks is a must against Fatalis and the other damaging skills are also highly recommended to be able to defeat Fatalis. He has a massive HP pool so optimizing your damage is more of a necessity.

Full Fatalis Armor to Counter Fatalis (Dual Blades)

Weapon		Decorations
Alatreon Madness		Destroyer Jewel 2 x2
Armor		Decorations
Head	Dragonhead Beta +	Tenderizer/Evasion Jewel 4 Satiated/Expert Jewel 4 x2
Armor	Dragonhide Alpha +	Satiated/Expert Jewel 4 Sprinter/Evasion Jewel 4 Shaver Jewel 3
Greaves	Dragonclaws Beta +	Destroyer/Maintenance Jewel 4 Challenger/Maintenance Jewel 4
Waist	Dragonbarbs Beta +	Flawless/Maintenance Jewel 4 x3
Legs	Garuga Greaves Beta +	Heavy Artillery Jewel+ 4 Critical Jewel 2 x1 Evasion Jewel 2
Charm	Wyrmsbane Charm V	none

Fatalis Armor Skills

A Comfy Dual Blades Setup for Fatalis

Critical Boost and Agitator is left at level 1 to maximize the amount of skills we can slot in while also utilizing the most efficient level for these skills (critical boost gives 30% bonus at 1 level while agitator provides a free 5% affinity at level 1). QOL skills like Free Meal and Evade Window keeps your HP to the max. Free Meal in particular, works extremely well with Max Potions and Ancient Potions which can keep your Peak Performance up most of the time.

The most essential counter skills are mixed in too like Heavy Artillery and Part Breaker, if another party member wishes to use the machinery, you can swap the Heavy Artillery skill for another Sprinter to lessen the stamina consumption of Demon Mode.

MHW Related Links

Best Builds

Best Endgame Builds and Weapon Progression Builds

Best Builds Per Weapons

Melee Weapons
Long Swords	Great Swords	Sword and Shield	Dual Blades
Hammer	Hunting Horn	Lance	Gunlance
Switch Axe	Charge Blade	Insect Glaive

Ranged Weapons
Bow	Light Bowgun
Heavy Bowgun

Best Counter Builds

Monster Counterbuilds
Fatalis	Alatreon