Nergigante General Information¶

After completing the expedition to the Elder’s Recess, you’ll be tasked with searching for blue monster tracks, which will, as usual, yield Research Points. Gather enough of these special Research Points to further your investigation of Nergigante, which will unlock the assignment A Wound and a Thirst. Other than this, you’ll unlock the optional quest The Eater of Elders should you wish to hunt Nergigante further. Once you hit Hunter Rank 50, you can start hunting Tempered Nergigante via investigations.

Nergigante Strengths and Weaknesses¶

Nergigante’s head, horns and front limbs are the most susceptible to damage, albeit not equally. The horns readily take damage from every source, while the head only takes full Blunt damage and the front legs take full Cut damage. All three targets deliver more damage than the rest of the monster’s body, however. The horns are breakable and the tail is severable.

While not being strongly resistant to any elements, Nergigante is weakest to Thunder, followed by Dragon. Despite this, Elderseal has no appreciable effect on Nergigante, so you can safely ignore it as a consideration.

Nergigante is moderately susceptible to all ailments.

There’s woefully little you can to in preparation against Nergigante, as he deals exclusively in melee damage. As the fight goes on, he’ll grow out his spikes, which will allow him to discharge his spikes after some attacks, and perform his spinning dive attack, which does obscene damage. You can strike to break them off to delay these attacks, but otherwise, just take items to buff your attack and defense and have plenty of healing items on hand.

Nergigante Attacks¶

Nergigante is no slouch in combat, rivaling the ferocity of the the most aggressive monsters, frequently attacking and leaping with little pause - somewhat impressive for a monster of its size. Nergigante can showcase this aggression in a variety of ways, including a quick, frontal claw attack or bite, a charge attack (leading with its horns, of course) and a head-butt, which again makes use of its prominent horns. These attacks are all fairly common, short-range, comparatively low-damage and easily avoided, if you just don’t stand in front of Nergigante and make too inviting a target of yourself.

Against foes that attempt to flank it or attack from the rear, Nergigante can perform a side-swipe with its claws (dealing significant damage to flanking foes), tuck-in, then violently unfurl its wings (it takes some time for this attack to launch, so if you see Nergigante folding up its wings, be prepared to dodge or block) and the good old tail smash, often performed two strokes at a time, as per the norm. Add into this a relatively long-range roar (not infrequently employed) and you’ve got a good idea of Nergigante’s more basic, close-range attacks.

Nergigante can also grind its wing and shoulder into the ground and perform a charge attack with this improvised spike-wall. In addition to its other two - relatively short-ranged charge attacks - Nergigante is capable of performing a leaping charge, covering a fair amount of ground quickly. When Nergigante just wants to make an impact, however, it’ll rear up on its hind legs and perform a rather inelegant, stumbling, short charge before smashing the ground with its fist, making for a significantly more powerful punch than normal.

As with most enemies, Nergigante can grow enraged as the battle wears on, and, somewhat novel for Elder Dragons, Nergigante can also become fatigued. Most Elder Dragons also have some sort of cumulative effect which makes them stronger throughout the fight, altering their behavior and attack patterns - generally becoming more aggressive as the fight goes on. Kirin is currently the only example you should be aware of from this game, which could charge itself up, after which it would become resistant to damage and more dangerous with its lightning attacks.

Nergigante, on the other hand, has rapidly growing spikes. Initially these will only be prominent on its back and will start out white, but will harden over time and eventually turn black. In addition it’ll grow these spikes on its wings, arms and tail. Defensively, these spikes will help deflect attacks, requiring you to maintain higher levels of sharpness to avoid having your blows deflected. Offensively, most of its moves will remain the same, although these attacks may be accompanied by spike discharges - especially with its headbutt attack, which now grows quite dangerous, indeed. When these spikes are white, you can break them off to retard their growth temporarily, serving to keep Nergigante calmer and less dangerous. Most likely, however, these changes in Elder Dragon behavior are something you’ll just have to endure as a normal part of fighting such a monster.

What you must watch out for with Nergigante when its spikes are fully grown and hardened are its variety of diving attacks, including a diving headbutt and massive, ground-catering punch. Its most dangerous attack, however, is an spinning dive that uses Nergigante’s bulk - and wing spikes - to deal massive damage. This can nearly kill a character with a full health bar and good defense in one hit, and you must evade it if at all possible by sprinting to the side. Fortunately, Nergigante will signal this attack ahead of time by rearing back on two legs and roaring. A well-timed Flash Pod may also interrupt this attack, but it’s a gamble if you’re the target of the attack.

As is the norm with many High Rank monsters, Nergigante’s Gem is its rarest drop, being a very rare carve from its corpse. You can increase your chances of obtaining this treasure by breaking the horn during battle, or by severing (and carving) the tail. Speaking of which, the Nergigante Tail is also a rare drop, you best chance of obtaining it coming from carving the severed tail. Nergigante Horn+ can also be scarce, being a rare carve from the corpse, but a common reward after breaking the horn in combat.