The Lavasioth, as Jyuratodas’s fiery brother, takes the cake as one of the most frustrating non-Elder fights in Monster Hunter World. If you want to know some methods to bring it down faster, we’ll list them out for you.
Lavasioth is one of very few Piscine Wyverns in Monster Hunter World, the fish-like monsters that tend to swim around their combats. Unlike Jyuratodus, Lavasioth is far from a joke, sporting magma armor that can deflect even the most focused hunters’ attacks. This guide will briefly touch on how its lava armor functions and what you can do to make the fight more reasonable.
What are a Lavasioth’s weaknesses in MHW?
Lavasioth is weak to Water elemental damage when unarmored and remains weakest to Water when hardened. Thunder and Ice damage do good work when the Lavasioth is softened, but overall aren’t worth the loss of damage for when he’s hardened. Of the Ailments, Poison is the most effective against the magma fish, while Sleep and Blast are unlikely to proc more than once or twice during a standard fight.
The above Hunter’s Notes are a bit finicky about the trickiest mechanic of Lavasioth, that being its ability to harden and soften. When out of the lava or not taking Fire damage, a Lavasioth’s magma-covered exterior will harden, causing weapon attacks of Blue sharpness and below to bounce.
Thankfully, a Lavasioth’s exterior will soften when it takes Fire damage or when it goes into the Lava. This is why Lavasioth has one star to Fire damage while hardened, though that one star will quickly go away.
If you want consistent elemental damage, Water is the way to go. Even against its hardened skin, Water will hit for acceptable damage. This is good since Water damage causes Lavasioth’s skin to harden faster. However, it also makes the spot easier to break, which prevents armor from reforming on that surface.
Ailments don’t do anything fun for Lavasioth’s armor mechanic, which is fine by us. Lavasioth can get poisoned multiple times per hunt, which makes it a prime target for anything from Poison Knives to Azure Rathalos fights. And its relatively low resistance to Stun and Paralysis can lead to several easy openings during a standard Lavasioth fight, so you’re far from out-of-options if you’re just rocking ailment weapons.
How to hunt Lavasioth quickly
Lavasioth is a monster with a lot of opportunities to go swimming and very, very durable skin. As a result, it’s important to use the rare vulnerabilities of the fish effectively. Here are a few tips for hunting this Piscine Wyvern effectively:
If you want Lavasioth to heat up and lose its armor, you don’t need to wait for it to do that itself. Instead, you can use Fire damage pods, like Torch Pods, to do the dirty work for you. Even a single Torch Pod will melt the armor off of a section of Lavasioth for a short time, letting you get your licks in.
Unfortunately, hardening Lavasioth on command is trickier. The only way to do so consistently is with a Water weapon or by finding Watermoss in other parts of Elder’s Recess.
- Bring weapons that don’t bounce or Mind’s Eye. Lavasioth will harden at an inopportune time during your fight, but that doesn’t mean you can’t keep up the assault. Weapons that don’t care about the hardness of the monster, like Hunting Horn or bringing the Mind’s Eye skill can let you penetrate that armor on command. Weapons that deal fixed damage, such as the Gunlance or Sticky Ammo Bowguns, can also chew through Lavasioth surprisingly quickly.
- Bring Fire Resistant equipment. Lavasioth’s biggest and scariest attacks deal a lot of Fire damage and not much physical. Equipment like the Fireproof Mantle or armor skills like Fire Resistance will be crucial to not getting chunked by the fireballs of the Piscine.
- Soften him up. The fish takes massive damage while its body isn’t hardened, so use Torch Pods, Fire Weapons, or let him swim to get the most out of your damage. Alternatively, you can break its armor by letting it harden and continuing to smash that part of its body. Then, whenever it would normally harden, it can’t harden anymore, making it a permanent weakspot. However, without the right weapons, this strategy can cause a lot of bouncing and headaches.
- Use bomb pods and traps to keep him above land. Lavasioth’s fight can last a while with how often the fish dives under lava and moves around the battlefield. Don’t be afraid to bring one or two traps along for the ride. That can speed things up significantly by offering additional openings in a fight that otherwise can be a real slog.
What are the rewards for hunting Lavasioth?
Lavasioth has a set of unique drops, which are mostly used for fire weapons and fire-resistant armor. It has its own Scale, Carapace, Fang, and Fin, though it shares a Wyvern Gem with most large monsters in the game. It’s also a source of Inferno Sacs or Conflagrant Sacs, depending on what difficulty you fight it in.
If you want a Lavasioth for weaponry purposes, you’re likely using a Greatsword, Dual Blades, or Light Bowgun. That’s because the Lavasioth is part of an offshoot for the Great Girros tree for those weapons.
The Lavasioth High Rank Armor set is the only armor set that really requires High Rank Lavasioth parts. It grants a massive amount of Fire Attack and a handful of utility skills, like Affinity Sliding and Quick Sheath.
And obviously, you’ll need Lavasioth parts for some fire-based charm upgrades, like the Blaze Charm. But you’ll also want some for the Stealth, Speed Heal, and Stealth Charms.
Come Master Rank, Lavasioth’s parts are a bit of a more important commodity. That’s because some of them are needed for the Dober armor set, an all-around decent armor set with a lot of flexibility between builds.
In general, the Master Rank Lavasioth weapons and armor will get out-scaled by other Fire-based options, such as the Silver Rathalos weapons. But since the Lavasioth gear is only Rarity 10, you can augment them more effectively. The additional customization usually won’t let them keep up with Rarity 11 and 12 gear, but it can make them more effective in your hands. And that’s all that really matters.
All things considered, you don’t have to farm Lavasioth to be endgame viable in MHW. Lavasioth’s armor is good for fire-damage builds and the weapons have good fire elemental damage on them, but neither weapons nor armor are fully optimized for fighting threats like Safi’jiiva or a large number of the Archtempereds.
