Dance with the devil

Monster Hunter: World’s boneheaded Diablos is in a bad mood and won’t go down without a fight

FORMAT PS4 / PUB CAPCOM / DEV CAPCOM / RELEASED 2018

Most monsters in Monster Hunter: World put up a good fight, but Diablos is a particularly hardy contender. These bull-like dragons make their homes in the desert and are as comfortable moving under the sand as on top of it. Get in the way of one and you’ll know you’ve been hit.

Fighting your first is the moment when MHW gets real and you feel like the professional Hunter you’re aiming to be. There are actually two varieties of Diablos, the standard

sandy-hued brute and the tougher black version. The latter, we’re told, are females in heat, which makes them extra-aggressive, but frankly all Diablos are full of bad attitude and, well, dangerously horny. Which is to say that their heads have thick, sharp protrusions of bone that they can use to gore you or club you senseless. And since their rears also come equipped with a macelike tail, it’s tricky to reach their vulnerable underbellies.

In classic Monster Hunter style, however, it’s possible to smash the horns and sever that tail, if you can avoid getting squidged. But even then a Diablos is no pushover, as they burrow underground and burst up where you’re standing, or hide in cascades of sand for a surprise attack – as surprising as a monster the size of a bus can be, anyway. Finishing them off is no easy task, as every blow winds them up even more. Still, after no small loss of blood and sweat, you take the beast down. Now you can make armour with horned shoulder pads and show it off to your friends. Classy.