Monster Hunter World: How to Slay Kirin – Tips and Tricks

In the upper region of the Coral Highlands hunters will find the elegant elder dragon Kirin roaming the wilds. This monster uses lightning to attack its foes and to charge its own body to toughen its skin. Kirin is very fast and highly agile, being able to quickly scale vertical cliffs to escape battle. What’s worse, its attacks hit like a tank if the hunter isn’t properly prepared. Here are our tips and tricks on navigating this tricky encounter.

1 – The Master of Thunder

Kirin uses electricity to both attack and defend itself from all angles. The most important thing going into this fight is bringing along armor sets and charms that have the Thunder Resist skill and have them maxed out in level if possible. This monsters lightning attacks can easily one shot a hunter who does not have any resistance or negative resistance to thunder damage. Also, Kirin can inflict the hunter with thunderblight which increases the chances of the hunter being stunned. This can be removed by taking a nullberry or rolling seven times in any direction.Kirin has three major lightning attacks that can all be pinpointed at long range. Before each attack, the ground will begin to glow blue in the area the lightning will strike so make sure to keep looking around and dodge out of the damage zone immediately after the glow appears. First, the monster will look at the ground and shake its mane creating a small pinpoint lightning bolt that will strike in the location of its target. Second, Kirin will buck up into the air on its hind legs, shaking its head before slamming its front feet on the ground bringing a huge bolt of lightning down in the area in front of it. Both of these attacks are a radial damage area so dodge out of the glow as soon as you see it to avoid the damage zones. Kirins big hitting attack is a lightning bolt that shoots in a straight line horizontally across the map. This attack is a little tricky to predict. Watch for the monster to slow down to a walk while looking at its target. The blue glow will appear on the ground all across the line that the attack will cover, so dodge out of the way and get some distance from the area as soon as possible. The monster will then whip its head from right to left summoning the massive lightning strike. When the monster is enraged, it will summon three of these specific lightning attacks at once. If caught in the middle, find the gaps on the ground between the blue glow before the attack goes off to avoid the damage zones.

2 – Physical Attacks and Defenses

Kirin has three basic attacks to watch for that are not nearly as deadly as its lightning based attacks. The monster has a headbutt, where it will dip its head down and then thrust its horn forward in front of it at its target and a backwards kick where it will buck its hind legs back kicking at its target behind it. Both of these attacks are easily avoided by dodging to the left or right of the monster or towards the monsters chest and stomach area. Kirin also has a very quick charge where it will bound across the map towards or away from its target, hopping from left to right and being able to change directions on a dime. Avoiding this attack is tricky so try to judge the monsters trajectory and dont dodge until it is a few yards away. Kirin can also use lightning as a defense mechanism. When the monster becomes enraged, it will call down a massive bolt that will hit it directly and cover its body in a static field. This heavily increases the monsters defense and will cause even high sharpness weapons to bounce off of its body. When this happens, the best place to attack the monster is its head which is the monsters weakest point.

3 – Weaknesses

Kirins big weak point is its head so focus damage there as much as possible. The monster is highly weak against fire elemental damage and takes medium level damage from both water and ice elemental attacks, but is completely immune to all thunder elemental damage. Being an elder dragon Kirin cannot be trapped or captured and is specifically immune to the stun ailment as well. The monster can be put to sleep and is susceptible to blast damage so bringing along some sleep and barrel bombs will help hunters get a one two punch in for extra damage, putting the monster to sleep and then bombing it to wake it up.This hunt can be very frustrating at first while learning how to navigate Kirin’s sporadic movements and constant bombardment of lightning attacks. Just remember to stack as much thunder resistance as possible before the fight, this will give you a bit of breathing room to not worry as much about lightning attacks and focus more on doing damage to the monster itself. Once this monster goes down, it is one of the most rewarding experiences in the game. Hopefully these tips and tricks helped in hunting this heavy hitter.