Stripped and Carved: Master Rank Kulve Taroth

March 2020’s Raging Brachydios and Furious Rajang update made some pretty interesting additions to the expansive collection of weapons and armors to Monster Hunter World Iceborne. But while it isn’t a completely new idea to have two set bonuses on a single armor set, the armor pieces, more specifically the Raging Brachydios merged together two set bonuses all while giving away a generous amount of deco slots that really made some pretty interesting changes to shake up the META.

Now with the addition of the Master Rank version of the siege-exclusive elder dragon Kulve Taroth, did Capcom actually managed to make a more gargantuan ripple to the META sets we all know today or will this just be one of the things we would hunt a day and forget it ever existed the next morning? Let’s find out!

What to Expect from Kulve Taroth

Despite being a siege-exclusive monster in the base game of Monster Hunter World, Kulve Taroth is now a limited-time four-player event quest that would rotate in and out of availability. Starting from April 23 to May 8, hunters will be able to post quests or join SOS flares to hunt the beast. And unlike the High Rank siege version of the fight, the hunt itself starts at the second area and skips the entire pursuit where Kulve Taroth would be moving around in the maze-like arena. Kulve Taroth now also scales in HP with more players in the hunt instead of the HR Kulve where its HP is strictly set around four players. The monster also obtains new moves that while it isn’t as deadly as Safi’jiiva’s nova, it still deals quite a huge chunk of damage should you fall prey to the telegraphed move. However most of the time, hunters would’ve already fallen to more devastating moves like the lava pool or its breath attacks. So here’s a few tips to get you started.

1. Kulve Taroth can be wall slammed like any regular hunt. But while it shares some similarities to your normal monster hunts like being able to flinch shot them twice to a wall before it becomes enraged, Kulve Taroth doesn’t particularly get knocked down or at least not as long as a regular monster. You also can’t do a second flinch shot right after the other due to either a set amount of time is needed for it to recover or the monster having some invincibility after getting hit to a wall.
2. Use the environment to your advantage. Each of the three areas has some points of interest that could be useful to hunters. One of the more common is ledges and walls to do mount attacks or the first area’s higher ground where gunners will probably love to simply get away from Kulve’s rolling attacks. But one of the most useful ones are in the second area where you can drop a boulder that deals a lot of damage and should you manage to put the monster to sleep while being under it, you can deal a sweet 10,800 damage right then and there. In the same area is also where the lava would burst right out of the ground. Paralyzing the monster while the lava trap is active is a great way to deal constant damage while other hunters can still do their own attacks uninterrupted.
3. The “floor” is lava. One of the more killer moves that Kulve Taroth is capable of unleashing is its move that spawns massive puddles of lava. This move alone deals massive tick damage as long as you stay in it. So unless you’re an Insect Glaive user that can just jump away or a hunter with a shield whether it’s a heavy bowgun or a charge blade with guard up, you bet your ass you’re gonna burn in that pot. However to avoid being roasted to death, if Kulve Taroth is nearby, you can clutch claw to its body and this alone is enough to avoid the damage, you can move to a body part that doesn’t have any lava nearby or just move from part to part until it subsides. Another option would be superman dive spamming or farcasters.
4. Wound its parts to create weakspots and deal more damage. Kulve Taroth in its early phase is a tough cookie to break. Most hits would deal very little damage and failure to deal enough to make it shed its plating would result to a failed quest right then and there. As such, the wall slams play a big part in making sure you deal a huge chunk of damage but it’s not enough to get you the clear for the next area. And so wounding Kulve is an important part of the hunt especially when it isn’t in its molten state which can be noticed when its chest starts glowing.
5. Mounting is your friend. Just like any fight, mounting monsters is never a bad thing. But similar to the Safi’jiiva fight, mounting the monster is best saved in the third area where it’s more crucial to control the beast from moving around too much at any given time. The Glider Mantle is a great option to easily initiate mounting attacks from anywhere in the area especially in the absence of an Insect Glaive user or when the fight is being dragged away from the center pillar.

As for which skills and equipment to use in general, Health Boost is something you most likely won’t think of leaving behind as Kulve Taroth does deal massive amounts of damage aside from the damage over time (DoT). Having Fire Resistance or a Fire Mantle is also ideal to lessen the damage taken from the lava while Agitator is something that would benefit in your overall DPS considering how easy it is to get it back to its agitated state. Divine Blessing gives a chance to reduce damage taken which is always welcome in my book and Temporal Mantle lets you evade some attacks. Mushroomancer is a great skill that lets you eat mushrooms like a Mandragora that acts similar to a max potion aside from other shrooms. This is a great way to fully heal up especially when you’re running away from the lava and you can bring ten of it at any given time.

In the Name of all that is Shiny

Once you’ve actually slayed Kulve Taroth, you can carve and obtain more materials aside from the one’s you’ve been picking up from the ground ever so often. These can then be used to craft the Master Rank Kulve Taroth armor sets or upgrade Kjarr and Taroth weapons you’ve previously obtained from the siege. Additionally the Elder Melder now has an option to meld the materials you obtained from either the High Rank or Master Rank Kulve Taroth to obtain new Kjarr and Taroth  weapons similar to the awaken alchemy for Safi’jiiva weapons. This process however does not guarantee a Kjarr weapon and the weapon type is still random. And another similarity that the Kulve Taroth weapons share with Safi’jiiva weapons is how they get upgraded, you don’t particularly choose an ability to add from a random pool of abilities but it simply lets you feed Kulve Taroth materials until it reaches level 5 and they increase their raw attack values, element/status, adds a bit of defense and the sharpness gauge gets maxed similar to how a handicraft skill works and not how a Safi’jiiva weapon with a Sharpness ability attached to it.

When it comes to what Kulve Taroth brings to the table, let me just say that the female’s Kulve Taroth Alpha set is just a 10/10 on its looks alone. However the armor set bonuses itself is far from the usual stuffs we’d expect to run. While the two-piece Guts is fine, it also isn’t anything of an upgrade when it comes to the number of pieces required to run the Seething Bazelguese armor set. However on the four piece, it becomes a bit more of a deco generous Brute Tigrex on Free Meal Secret. The set itself is something a bit more inclined to be used by hunters playing around a support and healer build.

Although it is still possible to make use of the armor set or pieces to fit some builds that are geared towards dealing damage. Starting from the Kulve’s leg pieces, the Alpha version gives you two Critical Boosts and a Peak Performance while still being generous in giving a level 2 deco slot and two level 1 deco slots. The Beta version removes the peak performance and replaces the level 2 slot with a level 4. This on its own is the Garuga or Brachydium Beta pieces in terms of worth. Depending on your needs, you can easily swap either of these three pieces without having to miss out on anything. But the Kulve Alpha leg piece is where it really got my attention as we all know there isn’t any Flawless+ jewels in the game so this piece can literally give you two levels of Peak Performance without having to sacrifice an extra deco slot.

On the other hand, the Kulve waist pieces are a sight to behold. The Beta gives two levels of Peak Peformance with a level 4 and a level 2 deco slot however the Alpha adds a level of free meal but instead of decreasing its deco slots it actually gives a level 2 and two level 1 slots. So if you end up gunning for an Attack+ or Expert+ on your build the Alpha piece is something you can simply use to get the same effect with a free meal as a bonus. Then there’s the arms and chest piece. Things that are easily overshadowed by already available armor pieces in the game. While they aren’t bad in general, a speed eating 3 is not that enticing for me while a level of critical boost with two level 4 deco slots is shoved aside by the Brachydium with the same slots and has two points into Agitator.

Now let’s talk about Kulve’s head pieces. Why? Just why Capcom? They’re like miles apart in terms of their overall looks. On one hand there’s a pretty decent looking head piece and on the other, you have this… an over-the-top looking badass with a crazy huge hair befitting Kulve Taroth’s long and wild gold plating. Skill-wise, it goes the other way. The Beta head piece is similar to a Brachydium in terms of slots with two level 4s and a level 1 deco slot and the only difference is getting free meal instead of a weakness exploit. The Alpha piece however adds three whole points of free elem/ammo up and throws away all deco slots entirely. This in turn is pretty much equal to something like a Dober Helm Beta or the Kirin Leg Guards Beta that has two levels of free elem/ammo up and a level 4 deco slot to slap in the third one. Obviously you either go Alpha or not at all. Thanks a lot Capcom.

Other Stuff and then some…

Also included in Monster Hunter World Iceborne’s version 13.50 update is the second part of the ability to augment a weapon’s appearance. This time around unique weapons can now be fully changed into your favorite bone weapons or be transmogrified into any of the available weapons in the game be it a Velkhana Greatsword, The Witcher Dual Blades or even the recent Whetfish Sabers. We can now also upgrade the Attack Charm up to level 5 meanwhile the Evade Window Charm is still missing a piece and would most likely come with May 1’s Arch-Tempered Namielle.

Stay tuned to Invision Community where I will “most likely” share my thoughts on the Arch-Tempered Namielle, Alatreon and other interesting monster hunts. Comment down below if you have any questions or just want to hunt together. I occasionally stream on twitch (www.twitch.tv/TheGhastlyGamerZ) and while I don’t follow a specific schedule, I wouldn’t say no to a chance to play a game or two.

For more info on Monster Hunter World head here https://www.monsterhunter.com/world-iceborne/us/

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