Monster Hunter World Lunastra Guide: Everything You'll Need to Know About the Lunastra Update

Update: Lunastra was originally made available for the PC version of Monster Hunter World on November 22.

Earlier this week, Capcom released the next major "Title Update" - Title Update 4.0 - to Monster Hunter World, including the game's 3rd extra DLC Monster - Lunastra.

Players who have downloaded this latest patch now have access to the Special Assignments that eventually unlock Lunastra's optional quests, but what sets her apart from her contemporary - Teostra? As always, we took to the hunt to see how she slots into the ongoing Monster Hunter: World experience.

What's new in the Lunastra Update

Much like with Deviljho's launch back in March, Lunastra's launch co-incides with a large supply of new content. Lunastra brings a few new Turf Wars to the table, new weapons, and two new sets of armor for both male and female hunters. Here's all of what you can expect;

• New, Lunastra weapons for each of the game's 14 weapon classes. Complete with new stats, new models, and of course new materials dropped from the beast itself that are required to craft and upgrade these tools.
• New armor sets for both the male and female hunter. Much like the other High Rank armor sets, the Lunastra set includes an Alpha and Beta set, that both look different as well as offer slightly differing stats and armor skills.
• Lunastra includes her own specific side quest, which requires players to have already unlocked their Hunter Rank for the first time, and then speak with The Huntsman. After taking on a Teostra in the Wildspire Wastes, you'll be tasked with a quest at the forge to drive away the same Teostra from the Arena. Upon arrival, however, you'll instead be tasked with repelling the Lunastra within a 15 minute timespan. Completing this objective will award players with the final Special Assignment tasking players to hunt down both a Lunastra and a Teostra at once. Once completed, players will then be able to hunt Lunastra in her own optional quests.

How to Find Lunastra / Unlock Her Special Assignment

Lunastra is now available to anyone hunting that have already cleared the games final hunt - Xeno'jiiva - and have unlocked their HR at least once. As mentioned in the last section, players will be tasked with several special assignments before being granted the ability to hunt Lunastra freely:

• After reaching Hunter Rank 16 or above by hunting Xeno'jiiva, talk to The Huntsmen to receive the Special Assignment "The Blazing Sun" - a hunt against a Teostra in the Wildspire Waste.
• Upon completion of the Special Assignment, speak to The Huntsmen to be alerted to commotion ongoing at the forge. Speak to the Second Fleet Master to receive the next Special Assignment, "Pandora's Arena". This tasks you with dealing enough damage to the Lunastra within the Arena to repel it within the allotted time.
• Finally, talk to The Hunstmen once more to receive the last Special Assignment, "No Remorse, No Surrender" - finally you're tasked with hunting both the Lunastra and the Teostra within the Elder's Recess.

Once completed, players gain access to both a solo Lunastra optional hunt titled "Blue Prominence" as well as a duo optional hunt against both Lunastra and Teostra titled "Infernal Monarchy". Good luck hunting!

Battle Tips for Lunastra

Lunastra shares a lot of its moveset with Teostra, in fact in the past its moveset was more or less identical. This time around, however, Lunastra has some unique characteristics that truly creates a unique image for the Empress of Flame.

• If you've fought Teostra enough times, you'll surely have recognized his iconic "Supernova" - a powerful attack that he lets loose a set time after entering rage mode. While you could use flash pods to knock Teostra out of the air before he could unleash his powerful AOE attack, Lunastra will at best ignore them, and at worst flash pods will actually provoke her! Don't bother bringing them when challenging her.
• In addition to being immune to cancelling her "Supernova", Lunastra's variant of the attack lingers and might be especially hard to dodge when you first fight her within the Arena. If you see her charging up, try and rise to the upper floors if you have the chance. While you can probably run far enough away when fighting her outside of the Arena, don't take the chance when you're first tasked with repelling her.
• Instead of lingering blast-inflicting clouds, Lunastra leaves pools of blue flames on the ground. Drink a Cool Drink to limit the damage output from running across them; it builds up fast otherwise. Even with the protection of a Cool Drink, however, try to avoid these pools when you can!

Lunastra's moveset requires a healthy dose of caution to counter. Take special care when first fighting her in the Arena!

A Note About Lunastra

Lunastra, much like Deviljho, is added directly into the existing Monster Hunter: World High Rank experience, despite its initial Hunter Rank 16 requirements. While it does take the spot of the toughest Elder Dragon (though that will probably still depend on personal experience), much like Deviljho, the base Lunastra hunts will probably feel a bit easy if you've become accustomed to hunting Tempred Monsters. Of course, it's still worth hunting her due to the abundance of new weapons she brings to the table, as well as the two new armor sets that hunters can now play with.

As mentioned alongside Lunastra's announcement, some harder end-game content outside of Tempered Elder Dragons and Kulve Taroth is indeed incoming. Arch-Tempered Monsters and the Gamma armor sets that come from defeating them will offer some increased challenge for those that have already mastered everything that Monster Hunter: World has to offer. Kirin's Arch-Tempered quest will be available from June 8th to June 21st, while Vaal Hazak's will be available from June 22nd to July 5th. For now, however, players have Lunastra to whet their appetite with.