The Evolution of Kushala Daora in Monster Hunter - Heavy Wings

In the eleventh episode of this series, we explore how Kushala Daora's moveset has evolved throughout the years, since his first appearance in Monster Hunter 2 (2006), all the way to his latest in Monster Hunter Rise (2021)
Remember to like and subscribe for more.
Check out my other videos
Monster Hunter Evolution
• Monster Hunter Evoluti...
The Forgotten Monsters of Monster Hunter
• The Forgotten Monsters...
Contents
0:00 Introduction
0:28 Gen2 Kushala
2:09 Gen4 Kushala
3:36 World Iceborne Kushala
5:22 Rise Kushala
6:36 Kushala Elemental Blights
7:37 Conclusion
Music Featured in Video
MHW Kushala Theme
MHR Kushala Theme
MH2 Kushala Theme
MHW Kushala Chase Theme
MHR Kushala Chase Theme
MHStories Tresse Desert Battle Theme

[@HeavyWings]

The most annoying thing about Kushala Daora isn't his wind barrier, or his constant flight. No, it was trying to fit his entire name in the thumbnail. I gave up eventually.

[@odbp1112]

Skill issue

[@ultimasurge]

Good fight soldier

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

Plot twist right there.

[@ritsu2748]

I wonder why Piplup just flashed on the screen @7:16. Pretty sure I'm not the only one that noticed that lol

[@genericgorilla]

subliminal piplup

[@unownk2245]

I saw piplup now.

[@HeavyWings]

A mistake I made in this video is that Kushala in either World or Iceborne has a counter where if he's flinched, he sends out a brief wind blast. Similar to what Zinogre, and some brute wyverns do.

[@WisdomAkpan211]

You also forgot to mention kushala's long wind up wind breath blast in world. It was sort of like his finisher. He rears his head up for a second or two before releasing a strong blast

[@jesusyamatotv3099]

In World's Elder Recess or Guiding Lands lava areas, Kushala's wind tornados will pick up the lava and produce fire tornados. Now under normal circumstances Kushala will NOT go into Elder Recess' lava zone unless you lead it there while it's enraged or with challenger mantle on, but you can encounter and summon Kushala to the Guiding Lands lava area where it will fling fire tornados.

[@stephenjohn2131]

Yeah that was really interesting to see, also if Lunastra is in the same area. Kushala's winds can caught Luna's flames to turn into purple tornado, which was a sight to behold.

[@JGuy97]

The Rise team really said: “What if we made Kushala a good fight?”

[@AbelMusa]

No they didn't. They only made him piss easy, with every shred of preparation, like equipping wind res and poisoning him, irrelevant.

[@JGuy97]

@@AbelMusa World already made regular Wind Resistance against him worthless, too. At least he’s actually fun in Rise.

[@yourdad5799]

@@AbelMusa Yea when your fight is bad and can't be salvaged at least make it easier and more fun

[@jockpackage1770]

kushala's dev history/impact on the series is both interesting nad hilarious. the funniest part of him was originally, when he was being made, he had the wind aura but it only had the wind preasure thing so gunners trivialized his fight. the dev mainly responsible for kushala wasn't happy so they made it so his wind nullifies ranged attacks unless you hit his head or tail. as for his mpact on the future, this is more so within 2nd gen, tigrex's entire existance was nothing more than a counter to kushala. kushala is over the top, for the series at the time, wind magic so they wanted to step back to prevent the series from losing its blend/middle ground between believable ish science fiction biology so it didn't go true fantasy as a whole. elders always blur the line a bit but their concern at the time made sense. as a consiquence of this, tigrex was playing it very safe, i still like him but this is a fact. he's physical power, screaming and relatively relentless agrees ion. tigrex works and to make him stand out from something like diablos they gave him a unique shape, with the sudo-wyvern skeleton he introduced. this continued for the rest of the 2nd gen, for flagships at least, with nargacuga being the same shape but a panther/bird with a rattle snake like tail and some ninja inspiration. Rise kushala is my favorite, though they kind of overdid it with making him more grounded so rusted likely won't happen because that was part of his shtick. i much prefer Rise giving him his MH4U attacks/making him use ice sometimes and his tornadoes being smaller mobile obstacles is much better than the large/stationary area denial moves. no mention of the MHW ultimate attack with the huge double wind bast? it is a long wind up i guess and is only massively impactful if you guard since you can't block it without a rare skill.

[@Nasa1423]

Iceborne Kushala can actually appear in the Seliana Arena in one of the event quests in which you get to fight a slightly stronger than usual tempered Kushala, that's the only instance of him using Ice element in either World or Iceborne.

[@_Tzer]

unfortunately he does not do iceblight.

[@MieuxMerci]

Ah Kushala, the worst fight in World. I'm so happy it improved in Rise. As a melee weapon user having him in the air the entire time with flash doing nothing was way too lame. It wasn't the wind barrier's fault. If SunBreak makes his wind barrier uber powerful and just being near it hurts or something that'd be okay! Just stay on the ground!

[@AB-dd4jz]

in mh2 also, this monster is garbage through the generations, only rise made him enjoyable.

[@lokiofasgard7780]

Fighting him with bowgun is also ass brother

[@MayHugger]

The animation of him shedding his rust form still looks amazing.

[@TheRaceMaster11]

Best Kushala is obviously the Rise version. Time to wait for Teostra :)

[@beerhoz4533]

If i remember well, GU kushala can inflict dragón blight with the aerial claw atttack But yea, the rise version is much better in so many ways

[@jhulenoscarantezanamendez6106]

"Perhaps sunbreak will make it more of a threat" Enter Risen Kushala

[@RagingBrachy]

Risen is so good it makes you forget Iceborne Kushala

[@kotzer71]

​@RagingBrachy yeah but then you have to play rise

[@dhruvsingh2882]

I love these videos. It's great to see how these monster have evolved. Keep it up!!

[@RicDreamlandAvalon]

One of my favorite monsters in the entire franchise, kinda lame what happened to him in World/Iceborne, but the improvement in Rise is fantastic, definitely my favorite version

[@enzoanolin4588]

Nice! Doing all famous 3 elder dragons, keep on going! We all love it.

[@dianslabbert504]

Not too long ago I found a video on KZbin uploaded by Japanese person showing gen 2 Kushala ( I am unsure if it was in MH2 or Freedom 2/Unite) showing Kushala actually eats the crystals found on the wall in Area 10 of the 2nd gen Jungle Map. I found that really interesting that such a behaviour was given to an Elder Dragon in such an early game

[@dianslabbert504]

Another change made to Kushala's wind barrier in Rise is that now Pierce type shots can completely pass through it and won't be deflected and/or reflected. Although they did also change its hit zones for ranged attacks in Rise compared to W:I. It was maybe an attempt balance it. Only its front limbs are really weak to shot type damage and piercing doesn't work too well on that part.

[@KlariskraysEli]

Kushala, Velkhana, and Kirin form my MHW trifecta of 'frustrating monster fights." Considering how Rise improved Kushala's fight (and actually made him fun to hunt) I wonder how capcom will improve the latter two (if they even will) if they returned in Sunbreak.

[@Sharkamfss]

Velkhana is already perfect imo

[@anonymousstout4759]

Anything that has the size close to player character are annoying

[@AB-dd4jz]

@@Sharkamfss velk is good when you're used to him but when you 1st encounter it you're under equipped and many of the punish you inflict are avoided or end up with you being hit by a 2nd fast attack which makes him very frustrating early on.

[@Sharkamfss]

@@AB-dd4jz First encounter is fine. 2nd encounter was overtuned, which isn't Velks fault. The actual hunt is perfectly balanced imo. Now arch tempered Velk? I haven't even beaten it lol. I will come back to the game soonish for that.

[@tonymeyer8365]

Might not be the most popular, but it's my favourite Monster of the franchise.

[@carterkc6429]

I think a really fun sub/rare species for Kushala would be a Brass Kushala. It gets small fire attacks, like a quick and small fireball it does a decent amount. It leaves small spots of lingering flames on the ground which can deal damage. When the Kushala makes a tornado, if it starts or moves over one of those lingering bits of flames, the flames get swept up and the tornados turn into fire tornados. Maybe the tornados could also leave fire along the ground too, idk

[@Revonlieke]

Actually a lot of info here I didn't even realize Kushala did. Like the ability to use Ice element only in icy areas.

[@dima_keller]

I love WorldBorne, but MR Kushala is a freaking nightmare for some weapons and I really like him using Alatreon's flying pounce in Rise

[@clockwork204]

Maaan I miss the weather effects these 3 elder dragons bring to the map. Makes them feel like actual natural disasters. Particularly Kushala's, since Teostra at least still has the heat haze going on and Chammy got the mist when they're enraged. Anyway, Rise Kushala is definitely the most fun of the iterations. Makes it feel less special, but super fun.

[@Kushina-43]

Great video as always, and I saw that Piplup

[@_Tzer]

I feel like rusted kushala feels more grounded but maybe thats the combos and aggressiveness.

[@ultimasurge]

Love your videos.

[@HeavyWings]

Thank you!

[@evodolka]

Rise Kushala is just flat out the best, no contest my issue with Worlds Kushala is that he is about as fun as pulling out my teeth, especially in MR where he LOVES to spam that jump in the air hurricane, plus his armor was just lame, his set bonus was flat out POINTLESS and his weapons were pretty easily out classed by other ice weapons, ESPECIALLY in Iceborne they could have solved this with a simple poison weakens his wind but dragon REMOVES the wind, or something like that, this way it could be a choice between abusing a weakness but suffering some wind or turning off the wind but losing the weakness exploitation

[@riamfarizzan4017]

Honestly, fighting him in World as a HH main was actually... fun. Side note: last I played that game was before Iceborne was released on PC. Having wind pressure negated basically 100% of the time and him being relatively easy to hit on the head made him such a blast to hunt. So when I heard that people didn't like him, it took me a while to realize that my playstyle was probably the only enjoyable way to fight him. But in Rise, I stopped using the HH, and fighting him again was not only refreshing because he has a lot of new moves, it was also more fun that World. I can't imagine fighting him using any other weapon in World, but in Rise, I already beat him with 3 different without losing my mind. Huge props to the devs who made him so much more enjoyable to fight.

[@eriknorman1690]

I miss the old HH...

[@riamfarizzan4017]

@@eriknorman1690 FUCK MAN ME TOO

[@randomgecko5530]

Lowkey my favorite elder dragon

[@stephenjohn2131]

Now thats one of my favorite monsters, i was waiting for his video and you did cover him very well but sadly he is hated by majority of the MH community because he flies too often and people don't like gimmicky fights. I can do nothing but accept the current version we have in Rise that flies less and doesn't have the wind barrier active all the time but, i will always prefer the old one that flies alot and has his gimmick on for the whole fight. Why because in older games Kushala teaches you many of the valuable lessons. He has a wind barrier and there are many ways to negate it either by using poison weapons, most hunters craft one weapon with the highest raw and don't try the other statuses but game rewards experimenting (he's very weak to thunder as well) or using an armor that has wind resistance, slot the said resistance decorations or either use a hunting horn that provides wind resistance melody. The game doesn't explain it how but you as a hunter learn from experiences, or by using the poison throwing knives the guild provides you in the supply box so you can experiment and learn by yourself, or if you are a hunter that pays attention to the old wyverian ramblings he also provides good information on him. Better yet you can buy a magazine in game that explains this as well. But here's my favorite way to negate the wind barrier, position your self strictly to either his head or tail and both are really sweet hitzones. The game rewards you for good positioning, if you stay one foot away from either of the sweet hitzones and attack from there you will not be affected by his wind barrier. Also his head has a threshold that other monsters have, that when you do certain amounts of damage, it will be knocked out. So if you position yourself good and do punish him on openings you can create a loop of knocking down a Kushala till it dies. As for his flying alot, that's not an issue either because the game teaches you two lessons here and rewards prepared hunters. Have a good stock of flash bombs or suffer the consequences, what's that? You forgot your flash bombs? Sad, well now you can choose to either cancel the hunt and loose the registration fee or... Stand your ground, watch his behavior while he flies, position your self accordingly to punish him and turn the hunt into your favor. Despite being a very old monster that in the current recent games, he is no longer a threat but i will always respect him. For making me the hunter that iam today lol.

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

Iceborne kushala makes me want to sleep.

[@stephenjohn2131]

I don't like the 5th gen Kushala in general that includes Rise and MHWI, with that said you can still easily dunk Iceborne Kushala out of the air like the old games by doing a charged slash or an amped elemental discharge. Beyblade him with dual blades from the ledge, do the jumping attack after charging with the lance, do hammer uppercut, play aerial sword and shield or better yet become a helicopter and defy gravity, mount him with IG 5 times in a single hunt. I don't know about you but Kushala's fight is one of my top favorite fights. Alongside all the flying wyverns, that includes Legiana and his Shrieking counterpart as well. Hope Legiana returns.

[@stephenjohn2131]

Why are sleeping hunter? Play aggressively and imagine the people cheering for you. Never give up! 💪

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

@@stephenjohn2131 I think you are not a normal person if you like shrieking legiana.

[@stephenjohn2131]

Good thing because i'd rather eat at abnormal folk's table rather than with "omg you are not normal" lol i can live with that.

[@_Tzer]

throw 5 brightmoss at kushala's head in world while it's flying it acts like flash bombs

[@wanderer9994]

Maybe I missed it, but did you mention the rusted kushala skin at the top of the hoarfrost reach mountain? A neat thing they included

[@WeeWeeJumbo]

i've only ever played World/Iceborne, and i've only ever hated having to fight this thing

[@moneymoneymoney6777]

Would like to see a video on Kirin, as far as I know he's been in every game expect for 3rd generation and Rise, I don't know if we'll get him in Sunbreak as a suprise or post launch DLC

[@meekaboo_]

The piplup scared me :'(

[@Expresso52]

Ackshually that "exhausted state" was in 4U as well and was very confusing to me the first time I saw it lol

[@HeavyWings]

I wasn't aware. I guess it's more obvious in World because there's an actual exhausted sign on the minimap.

[@WisdomAkpan211]

@@HeavyWings yea it started in 4u. Believe he was the only elder that could tire besides the gore variants

[@aliultimate009]

There is something important which i wish was put into perspective. The roar it makes when shooting a jet stream of straight line wind. In 2nd Generation it used to scream ( WahAaAaAaAaAaAaaaahhh ) In Generations Ultimate it is replaced with a generic vacuum wind noise ( Psssshhhhhshshshshshshshhsh )

[@aproudbaguette3605]

My most hated monster, his fight in MHW is beyond bad, i didn't hated him that much before because once he flinch he takes some time to gain its wind, in World he has it constantly if you're not using Dragon weapon, and even with these its a pain in the 🍑, i broke a freakin door because of him, and a door is not free, screw you Kushala He trigger something within me, i hear his name and i'm already mad, i see his face i want to punch the screen where his face is, just watching this makes me want to kill every Daora in existence, my hate for this monster is even beyond the game I HATE HIM Though his old sound design was pretty cool too

[@A-G-F-]

Is he worse than azure rathalos or pink rathian? Im at early High Rank and so far those 2 have been the worst

[@MrRirate]

take some pills

[@rocketdino3206]

Why do these videos have images of piplup appear for a second.

[@woodenspoon9639]

7:14 Piplup my beloved

[@babulbi]

7:15 Why was there a flashing Piplup, lmao.

[@HeavyWings]

He's adorable thats why

[@WisdomAkpan211]

@@HeavyWings when will you graduate to start showing prinplup and eventually empoleon xD

[@reshi606]

Kushala can also inflict Dragonblight in GU, though im still not sure from what move since I've rarely ever seen it.

[@MrKaiju-sr8wu]

Since you’ve done 2 of the trio of mh2 Elder dragons, I’m guessing Teostra comes next

[@sixeyesshiva]

The piplup jumpscare 💀

[@MrRirate]

I like to discover that it's difficult against him in MHW, I stopped at mhfu and 3rd but he's one of my favorites. A boss who doesn't bother you is a trivial matter.

[@lubbo5261]

Annoying =/= difficult

[@MrRirate]

@@lubbo5261 sure, like dark souls bed of chaos is annoying more than difficult

[@Darkwarp1994]

When i think on kushala i try to limit the headaches he cause me in world/iceborne with his tornadoes

[@twinkiestorrstoenailclippi2122]

I know I'm not the only one who peeped the piplup at 7:15

[@jack76thegamer30]

Mhfu is really loved by people

[@colorgreen8728]

World kushala was brutal

[@grimreefer213]

I hated Kushala in World the first time I fought him, and he can certainly be annoying when you get perpetually wind blasted, staggered and beat up. But Kushala actually grew on me over time, when I started using elderseal and greatsword the fight became a lot more fun for me and he doesn’t bother me nearly as much now, I actually kinda like Kushala. I can understand why some may find him annoying, but I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as some people believe he is. Rocksteady mantle plus greatsword is the antidote to Kushala. You can use negate all wind pressure but I don’t because I lose a lot of damage when using his armor and I don’t play hunting horn. He’s not a bad monster but the persistent tornados are annoying

[@FuDiggity]

Piplup got me. 😭

[@tTaseric]

The one good thing I can say about Kushala is that he isn't Nightshade Paolumu.

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

I haven't fought this dragon yet. I've faced Ibushi though.

[@FirithPanda]

Wasn't this cideo up before?

[@sumbodee1616]

No mention of Kushala summoning flame tornadoes when fighting in areas with lava or when Lunastra is around? Sadge. I dislike World Kushala as well, but goddamn that feature of his tornadoes was a treat to watch

[@TragicDestrucTt]

Please do deviljho 🙏🏾

[@athos9293]

7:16 why Pou Piplup Dunsparce Bro wtf

[@gaiaricapito4547]

Chamaleos could've been very good as a monstie in mh stories 2

[@Vondawg02]

Don’t think i didn’t catch that mythical pokemon

[@marlonmarinay5102]

ah yes kushala daora coolest design wouldve been my favorite if it wasnt for the wind barrier as a melee user its so fucking annoying

[@comaloma]

I get annoyed that people never mention rise kushala has a velkhana attack and valtrax has shara ishvaldas beam

[@aganosxvii5079]

I actually like kushala in world the most.

[@givemyhatback]

I think that I enjoyed World's the best for some reason, even as a GS or LS main

[@HeavyWings]

Worlds leaves a really bad first impression but once I knew how to fight him he wasn't so bad. I do like how visually imposing the tornados are too. He can just be a giant pain sometimes.

[@givemyhatback]

@@HeavyWings Agreed. I did like that it felt like a real force of nature but I totally get why it was off-putting to people.

[@phasmanaut_g3383]

Whats eith the piplup popup lol

[@Ceruendiir]

Am I the only one that always thought of Kushala as a female?

[@joshuagreenough1954]

piplup

[@XmortoxX1990]

I still like World's version over Rise

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

So you like standing for 30 minutes doing minsicule damage?

[@XmortoxX1990]

@@marcusaaronliaogo9158 more like an 10 minute Long Shelling cheese. This monster is super easy with Gunlance

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

@@XmortoxX1990 Thats the problem, weapons like sns are having a suffering time while guns are having their easiest time with kushala, thats why world and iceborne versions are kinda bad, they have no middle ground of enjoyability.

[@XmortoxX1990]

@@marcusaaronliaogo9158 Can also beat Kush with Insect Falivr quite well. Not a 10 minute rum but it's a 15-20 minute one instead depending how well can I prevent the wind Aura. I don't find the wind Aura that annoying, and I just make the most when I use my flash bombs

[@beardedgreymon4470]

rise i enjoyed that fight hated world

[@maxkalina1955]

None of the kushalas are fun to fight, i suppose Rise Kush is the most bearable but other than that i hope to never see his annoying self again.

[@odbp1112]

7:16 - 7:17 wtf man????

[@merouln700]

Rise Kushala is unfortunately for me, forgettable. Like I barely remember fighting him because the fight was too easy. It was still fun, but again, hard to remember. Soloing MR Kushala in Iceborne is probably the worst experience I've ever had in all the monster hunter games I played. I'm cautiously hyped for Sunbreak Kushala, but I really want to be satisfied with it, and honestly with the direction Rise Kushala went, it can be a really good fight.