Random Small Basic notes about Rathalos

[Lutyrannus]

is there a way to stop him from fleeing so much, or any known cause for why? i've noticed he does it more at the start of a hunt, sometimes wasting five minutes, but after enough hits (even if I can only land a few per area) he'll settle down and fight me in just one or two areas for the remainder of the fight.

My suspicions:
Paintballing or otherwise hitting him before he sees you will most likely trigger him to flee
Rage mode MIGHT be what stops him from area swapping so frequently?

He is definitely less likely to run when he's enraged - but the key thing is noting his incredibly predictable behavior. He usually flies to the same area, from the same area - but even further, for example, when he flies from area 9 to area 4, he almost always flies immediately back to area 9. So it might be a good idea to keep one person in 9 and another chases to 4 to see if they can catch up.

It takes patience to learn, for sure. And sometimes he exhibits the errant unpredictable behavior. AI is definitely jank in this game. But once you understand his flight patterns, it's very easy to tell where he is at nearly all times.

[Lori]

is there a way to stop him from fleeing so much, or any known cause for why? i've noticed he does it more at the start of a hunt, sometimes wasting five minutes, but after enough hits (even if I can only land a few per area) he'll settle down and fight me in just one or two areas for the remainder of the fight.

My suspicions:
Paintballing or otherwise hitting him before he sees you will most likely trigger him to flee
Rage mode MIGHT be what stops him from area swapping so frequently?

He is definitely less likely to run when he's enraged - but the key thing is noting his incredibly predictable behavior. He usually flies to the same area, from the same area - but even further, for example, when he flies from area 9 to area 4, he almost always flies immediately back to area 9. So it might be a good idea to keep one person in 9 and another chases to 4 to see if they can catch up.

It takes patience to learn, for sure. And sometimes he exhibits the errant unpredictable behavior. AI is definitely jank in this game. But once you understand his flight patterns, it's very easy to tell where he is at nearly all times.

My first impressions of the fight were definitely horror after dealing with being stalled for five minutes, but it does get DRASTICALLY easier post enrage to the point where I honestly don't mind and can reliably farm him... Rathian gives me more trouble these days, lol

[Rune]

is there a way to stop him from fleeing so much, or any known cause for why? i've noticed he does it more at the start of a hunt, sometimes wasting five minutes, but after enough hits (even if I can only land a few per area) he'll settle down and fight me in just one or two areas for the remainder of the fight.

My suspicions:
Paintballing or otherwise hitting him before he sees you will most likely trigger him to flee
Rage mode MIGHT be what stops him from area swapping so frequently?

the only good way that i know of to stop rathalos and rathian from area fleeing is stunlocking them, whether with flash bombs or by headlocking. this is part of what makes headlocking so ridiculously dominant in the rath meta: not only is it high dps because you're repeatedly hitting a squishy hitzone, but also because you spend 100% less time chasing raths between zones and waiting for los to finish his whirlybird attack

[Nayru]

That reminded me that I always hated when he lands at out of bounds parts of the map, the scale between him and the background is very weird and it instantly shuts off my immersion.

It looks weird for sure but I actually thought it was kinda cool that he could go land on far away parts of the map. It made those places seem more like they are really part of the level.