One of the most iconic monsters in Monster Hunter Rise, the Mizutsune is also one of the first challenging creature encounters that you’ll encounter in the game's early hours. This creature is a frustratingly agile, bubble-blowing menace that can prove to be a challenge if you're not prepared. As with all Monster Hunter titles, however, going into the battle with the right equipment, strategy and knowledge of the monster is the key to success.

Related: Monster Hunter Rise: Beat Zinogre, Weaknesses And Best Equipment

Early game progression in Monster Hunter Rise will require you to defeat or capture a Mizutsune at least once, and they're a common enemy to appear when free-roaming in the first couple of areas you'll be able to access in Monster Hunter Rise. There are also additional variants of the Mizutsune that can be taken on later in the game, such as the Violet Mizutsune, a more difficult variant added in the game's recent title update.

Mizutsune - Strengths and Weaknesses

Despite their intimidating agility, Mizutsune has a few glaring weaknesses that can be used to your advantage. Notably, Mizutsune has an elemental weakness to both thunder attacks and dragon attacks. Thunder is the more effective of the two, offering an advantage across more of Mizutsune's targets than dragon-based attacks.

In terms of where to strike on the body, the head and neck of the Mizutsune offer the biggest opportunities for damage and will knock the creature over quicker. You should try and focus your attacks here, although the tail will also be easy to hit for much of the fight, and is also an acceptable target for when you can't reach the head area.

Best Equipment To Fight Mizutsune

Any thunder element weapon will be fairly effective in the fight against the Mizutsune, especially weapons that deal slashing damage. A great sword, long sword or dual blades will all be useful for this purpose. Weapons crafted from the Khezu or Zinogre are all particularly effective.

For armour, any that offers water resistance will suffice. The set acquired from the Royal Ludroth is a good option if you want an accessible armour that doesn't require lots of additional grinding for materials.

Mizutsune - Fight Breakdown And Moves

Mizutsune's basic approach to fighting you is using an array of bubble-based ranged attacks. These mostly come in the form of charged spread attacks, which you'll need to dodge or move between. Mizutsune will also fire single bubbles with frequency, including a large pink bubble that does more damage than their usual beige bubbles.

It goes without saying that getting hit with one of Mizutsune's regular bubbles is also bad news, but if you're well-equipped, it will only do a small amount of damage. Most of Mizutsune's bubbles will be beige and inflict you with a condition that lowers speed and stamina ('bubbleblight').

In addition to these bubble attacks, Mizutsune can also shoot water straight ahead in a water cannon attack. This is not just a static line of water, as Mizutsune will move their head to direct the trajectory of the water into the air or in a sweeping motion, or sometimes up into the air. This jet stream can reach quite a far distance and will be difficult to outrun, so it's best to dodge roll through the stream. Failing to dodge will also apply the 'bubbleblight' debuff. This can be recovered from by eating a nulberry.

Alongside their repertoire of water-based moves, another powerful asset of the Mizutsune is their unpredictable physical attacks. This creature loves to do a spinning attack where you can be hit with their entire body, often doing this multiple times in a row. They can also do a simpler slamming move with their tail, which can be really difficult to avoid if you're already close to them.

Learning when Mizutsune is about to spin or swipe with their tail is crucial for mastering this fight, as it's really easy to get caught off-guard with these incredibly quick attacks. As soon as you notice the early frames of the spinning attack, it's a good idea to use your wirebug to get out of the way as soon as possible.

Mizutsune also has a habit of lunging forward very rapidly, especially when they're frenzied. It's best to roll multiple times or use the wirebug to zip directly to the left or right. Once their lunge is finished, there will usually be a brief window of opportunity to attack before they wind up into another physical attack or bubble attack.

If you get hit by one of Mizutsune's physical attacks, you'll often get knocked down and unable to use your wirebugs for a few vital seconds. This is essential to avoid where possible. If you're using a melee weapon like sword and shield or long sword, you'll want to take advantage of your wirebug as much as possible to stay at a medium range and pop in and out to attack.

Be sure to collect an additional wirebug on the way to the fight, and ensure your weapon stays at maximum sharpness to do the most damage on the head, neck and dorsal fin (the fin atop their head).

Mizutsune - Drops And Materials

Mizutsune will drop a small variety of materials that can be used to craft a Mizutsune armour set (which offers water resistance) and an array of Mizutsune weapons with the same elemental property.

The only way to obtain the Mizutsune Fin will be to break the fin during the fight, which can be most easily achieved by attacking the top of the head with a slashing weapon whilst the creature is on the ground.

The following materials can be obtained from Mizutsune:

• Mizutsune Scale
• Mizutsune Purplefur
• Mizutsune Claw
• Bubblefoam
• Mizutsune Tail
• Mizutsune Plate
• Mizutsune Fin
• Wyvern Tear

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