Bazelgeuse General Information¶

Bazelgeuse is perhaps the most annoying monster in the game. Not in a straight fight - Bazelgeuse isn’t too hard to take down, but as a general pest… you’ll learn to hate it. It’ll start appearing long before you get a proper quest to hunt it down, invading High Rank expeditions and also becoming a fixture in High Rank optional quests and investigations. After the mandatory expedition to the Elder’s Recess locale you’ll finally get the quest Bazelgeuse in the Field of Fire, which will be the only quest Bazelgeuse features in until you hit Hunter Rank 29 and are given the assignment Beyond the Blasting Scales, where you’re tasked with hunting down two Tempered Bazelgeuse. Yikes.

Bazelgeuse Strengths and Weaknesses¶

Bazelgeuse’s head, tail and wings are all more receptive to damage than other parts, although not equally so. The head takes the most damage from all sources, followed by the tail, while the wings only take substantial Ammo damage, being less receptive to Cut and Blunt damage. The head, wings and body are all breakable, with the tail being severable.

Bazelgeuse is weak to Thunder and resistant to Fire.

No ailments are particularly effective against Bazelgeuse, but Poison, Sleep and Paralysis work better than Blast and Stun.

The primary mode of attack for Bazelgeuse is via its explosive scales - its physical attacks that accompany them usually serve as a means to trigger these explosions, and largely have less range. As with the Uragaan, there’s not much you can do to mitigate the damage coming directly from these blasts, but a high Fire Resistance (20+) will prevent you from being set on fire. It’ll spare you a bit of bother and make the fight somewhat easier.

Bazelgeuse Attacks¶

The main armament of the Bazelgeuse - aside from its massive body - are its explosive scales, which it deploys in various ways, usually before detonating them with its body, or with fiery breath. This is not a subtle monster, at its most elegant being the monster equivalent of a B-17 bomber, but it’s just as ready to shed bombs from its neck and detonate them by slamming its head down upon them. If this all sounds very similar to the Uragaan… well, you’re not wrong, save that the Uragaan tended to expel its bombs haphazardly, randomly restricting movement and causing incidental damage if you came into contact to (or got into close proximity with) its bombs. The Bazelgeuse is guilty of the same behavior, save it’ll actively employ its bomb-scales during attacks, and these can often make it more predictable… although stepping on the odd, randomly-shed explosive scale can still be a chance nuisance.

The Bazelgeuse has four clusters of explosive scales - two under each wing, one on the underside of its neck and one on its tail. Of these, the tail you can - and arguably should - actively target, as severing the tail will reduce the amount of bomb scales it can drop during attacks, and will generally make attacking the rear of the beast easier. Several of its less elegant attacks include dropping scales from its neck or tail before either charging over, flopping down on top of, or slamming its tail down upon the discharged scales, shortly causing them to explode.

In fact, the Bazelgeuse can largely be summed up as a fairly typical Flying Wyvern whose vulnerability windows are unique due to the delayed explosions accompanying many of its attacks. Learning the timing is a matter of practice, but generally, you should attack from the rear (going after the tail at first, then the stub of the tail when it has been severed), don’t be greedy with your attacks, and be ready to roll away from the monster when you see its explosive scales drop.

As a Flying Wyvern type monster, you should expect the “charge-back-and-forth” “attack” that those sorts of monsters tend to have, as well as the typical tail sweep - albeit the Bazelgeuse’s tail sweep obligatorily comes with added explosive scales - the flying leap followed by a ground slam (also accompanied by explosive scales if you don’t sever the tail), and the side rush. The Bazelgeuse can also slam its head into the ground, presaging a ground-grinding charge attack, and like most Flying Wyverns, it can breathe fire, although in this case its breath weapon is nothing special, being a short-ranged attack primarily used to detonate scales dropped for the purpose.

The most dangerous attack the Bazelgeuse has - which earns it the B-52 moniker - involves the Bazelgeuse taking to the air and flying in a line, shedding scales as it goes. Sometimes it’ll do more than one line, but it always intends to circle around and dive onto the ground, sliding over its previously discharged scales to cause a series of explosions. Not only is this a massively damaging diving charge attack in itself, but the explosions that go along with it can make it very tricky to keep an eye on the flying Bazelgeuse and avoid the bomb-scales it already dropped. On the other hand, when it’s flying around is an ideal time to introduce it to a Flash Pod.

Like all monsters, Bazelgeuse, when pressed, may get enraged, and where the Anjanath had its frills to let you know, the Bazelgeuse’s scales will start to ominously glow. Its attacks remain the same, albeit faster, but the explosive scales will now come pre-charged, liable to detonate shortly after hitting the ground whether the Bazelgeuse acts upon them or not. This will change the timing of its attacks somewhat, but the glowing orange bomb scales do give you a better “get the hell out of the way” visual cue. Most spectacularly, however, is the effect the Bazelgeuse’s rage will have on its bomber attack, turning it from a diving charge attack with explosive scales that serve as mines until detonated by said charge to an active bombing run.

As usual, the Bazelgeuse Gem is this monster’s rarest drop, and it joins the ranks of Elder Dragons, the Deviljho, Odogaron and the Legiana as rare monsters who get their own, unique gem. The Bazelgeuse Gem is a very rare drop, but you have a chance to obtain one by carving the tail, or as a reward for breaking the body or head. Otherwise, the Bazelgeuse Tail is pretty rare, too, and you can only obtain it as a hunt reward, or by carving the tail.