When you’re preparing to tackle Rathian in Monster Hunter Wilds, having the right loadout can turn a challenging hunt into a straightforward victory. Rathian is a formidable flying wyvern known for its fiery breath, venomous tail, and swift, aggressive attacks. To defeat her efficiently and claim valuable materials, you’ll need to carefully select weapons, armor, and skills optimized against her strengths and vulnerabilities.

Understanding Rathian’s Strengths and Weaknesses

Before selecting your gear, let’s briefly cover Rathian’s characteristics:

• Elemental Type: Fire
• Status Ailments: Fireblight & Poison
• Primary Weakness: Dragon
• Secondary Weakness: Thunder
• Resistances: Fire

Knowing these key points, your gear selection should focus on exploiting Rathian’s dragon and thunder weaknesses while building resistance against poison and fireblight.

Optimal Weapons for Hunting Rathian

In Monster Hunter Wilds, weapon swapping is an available mechanic, allowing hunters to carry two weapons into a hunt. While weapon swapping in combat can be situational, Rathian offers the perfect opportunity to utilize this feature.

Recommended Primary Weapon: Dragon Element Weapons

Since Rathian’s primary weakness is dragon damage, choosing a dragon-element weapon as your main weapon is a smart strategy.

Suggested Dragon Weapons:

• Wyvern Blade Verde II (Long Sword): High dragon elemental damage combined with swift attacks.
• Dragonmaiden Axe II (Switch Axe): Offers solid dragon damage and the ability to sever Rathian’s poisonous tail effectively.
• Princess Rapier II (Sword and Shield): Quick attacks to stay mobile, allowing you to dodge Rathian’s fire and poison attacks easily.

Recommended Secondary Weapon: Thunder/Utility Weapons

A second weapon offering thunder damage or utility features can assist in specific situations during the hunt.

Suggested Thunder Weapons:

• Rey Tonitrus II (Hammer): High thunder damage and excellent stunning capabilities, useful to control Rathian’s aggressive behavior.
• Rey Astrapi II (Great Sword): Heavy hitting with thunder element can stagger Rathian effectively and break parts for extra drops.

Utility Weapon Option:

• Queen’s Melody (Hunting Horn): Provides support buffs like attack boosts and elemental resistances, benefiting your team significantly.

Armor Loadout: Defense and Utility

When hunting Rathian, your armor set should prioritize poison resistance, fire resistance, and general attack skills.

Recommended Armor Set:

Rathian Beta Set: Offers innate poison resistance and decent defense, ideal for minimizing Rathian’s status ailments.

Armor Pieces:

• Rathian Helm Beta – Poison Resistance skill
• Rathian Mail Beta – Health Boost skill
• Rathian Vambraces Beta – Poison Resistance skill
• Rathian Coil Beta – Attack Boost skill
• Rathian Greaves Beta – Recovery Up skill

Alternative Armor Pieces for Mixed Sets:

• Guardian Rathalos Greaves Beta: Offers fire resistance and attack bonuses.
• Dober Vambraces Alpha: High attack and affinity skills for maximizing damage output.

Decorations & Skills to Prioritize

Choosing appropriate decorations and skills can significantly improve your survivability and effectiveness:

Essential Skills:

• Poison Resistance: Dramatically reduces Rathian’s poison effect, minimizing the need for antidotes.
• Fire Resistance: Helps negate Rathian’s fiery attacks and manage fireblight.
• Attack Boost & Critical Eye: Increase your damage output to shorten the fight duration.
• Earplugs: Rathian’s roar can immobilize you briefly—earplugs prevent this interruption.

Recommended Decorations:

• Antidote Jewel: Grants Poison Resistance
• Blaze Jewel: Enhances Fire Resistance
• Attack Jewel: Boosts damage
• Expert Jewel: Improves affinity (critical hit chance)

Recommended Items & Consumables

Carrying the right items can further streamline your Rathian hunt:

• Antidotes: Quickly cure poison status.
• Herbal Medicine: Faster alternative to antidotes, healing both poison and a small amount of health instantly.
• Flash Pods: Ground Rathian from flight, creating openings to attack safely.
• Mega Potions: Essential healing during tough encounters.
• Nulberries: Removes fireblight immediately.

Hunting Strategies & Tips

Target Rathian’s Tail

Rathian’s tail is a primary source of poison attacks. Severing it early reduces her threat significantly and grants additional carves. Choose weapons like Great Sword, Switch Axe, or Long Sword for effective tail cutting.

Ground Rathian With Flash Pods

Flash Pods are invaluable against Rathian, especially when airborne. Equip Flash Pods to your slinger and launch them when Rathian takes flight, forcing her to the ground and leaving her vulnerable.

Exploit Openings After Fire Attacks

Rathian becomes briefly vulnerable after her fire breath attacks. Dodge the flames, then immediately approach to deal heavy damage, especially to her head for potential stuns.

Utilize Weapon Swapping Smartly

Use your secondary weapon to exploit specific situations. For instance, start with a Hammer or Hunting Horn to stun and debuff Rathian, then switch to your dragon-based weapon to maximize damage during vulnerable phases.

Buddy Recommendations (Palico)

Your Palico companion can offer valuable support against Rathian. Equip them accordingly for maximum effectiveness:

• Palico Rathian Alpha Set: Grants poison resistance and improved survivability.
• Support Gadgets: Choose gadgets that provide healing or traps, such as Vigorwasp Spray or Flashfly Cage, to minimize Rathian’s threat level during the hunt.

Final Thoughts

With careful preparation, Rathian hunts become manageable and rewarding. Prioritize dragon and thunder weapons, armor sets with poison and fire resistances, and utility items like Flash Pods. Utilize weapon swapping efficiently by combining utility and damage-focused weapons, and leverage your Palico companion’s support to create optimal conditions for a successful hunt.

Now you’re fully prepared to face Rathian head-on. Good luck, hunters!