Wyvern ecology : Gravios, Basarios, Uragaan and Radobaan in Monster Hunter

[@oux__1784]

I like the “for those of you still awake” after talking about geology as if this isn’t a niche fantasy biology channel. I love it

[@2Scarhand]

"...or 458,000 or whatever it is in Freedom Units." UHC's sassy today.

[@MatthewTheEmperor]

@@2Scarhand Don't forget: "The technical term for their tissues is medium rare"

[@aaa1e2r3]

One aspect of Gravios that you didn't really touch on is its usage by Shogun Ceanataur. The fact that it opts to use a Gravios skull as its shell sells two aspects, that it effectively used as a means to scare off predators, in the same way Monoblos is used by Daimyo. In turn helping establish Gravios' position in the ecosystem of volcanoes and sampling. Also, it is a skull uniquely capable of handling its high-pressure water cannon.

[@Nyxsayeth]

It really is so nice to have a channel apply scientific principles to a game on a level above just going "square cube law". Genuinely feels like a mini evolutionary biology lesson themed around monsters.

[@-AGGRESIVEPEANUT-]

I hope that the square cube law gets disproven some day so that people will stop going "b-but what about the square cube law?" Whenever anyone dares to create a colossal creature.

[@Never_at_All]

Kut Ku confirmed for Wilds and now a new UHC video? What a fantastic day this has been

[@aemon5497]

Why are people exiceted for Kut-ku? He fucking sucks to fight. Would rather have a Qurupeco or Kecha Wacha

[@r.cdahuman7682]

​@@aemon5497 nostalgia and he has lots of personality, he is also an early wall in some of the games

[@shatterIguess838]

Inb4 it turns out to be as hard as 1st Gen Kut-Ku

[@TheGreatCraigWyvern]

@@aemon5497imagine getting filtered by a featherless chicken

[@mikeymccann3074]

And he got limp bizcit to guest star

[@bract3519]

Eating gravios meat sounds similar to eating greenland sharks, probably highly toxic has is, but humans likely invented some way of curing it or ferment it, real question is why go through the trouble of preparing and eating something so uneatable.

[@_Mawk_]

Humans’ll be humans, no matter how toxic we’ll still try to cook it.

[@bract3519]

@@_Mawk_ Fair enough, love me some spicy ammonia.

[@evolvingdragon1793]

Probably for sheer amount rather the quality in desperate times

[@TragikDino]

It’s possible it’s a symbol of status, similar to how being fat or overall large was seen especially in the monarchy age of Europe. Eating gravios is likely something reserved for the richest and most powerful, since it’s going to cost a lot to hire someone who is experienced and skilled enough to make something as inedible as gravios meat into something that a man could eat at all nonetheless turn it into something desirable or at least decent. It’s a major economic flex to either your subordinates or other countries/kingdoms that you can afford to have something so rare and hard to prepare as even an annual meal

[@danpohl8161]

Why do people eat pufferfish?

[@TheRedVoyager]

The elder's recess is almost certainly filled with hotter, basaltic magma, which is a lot hotter, and less viscous. The hexagonal shapes in the rocks is called columnar jointing, which is unique to basalts. I think a lot of the volcanic areas in monster hunter have magmas with basaltic compositions, since they have more viscous (for lava) lava flows and dark colored volcanic rocks. A lot of the volcano locales seem like volcanic island belts, which may be similar to Hawaii or iceland, which are fed by the basaltic magmas.

[@sanguineregis5354]

Fun fact: most volcanic areas we see fall Into a region of the MH world known simply as the "Volcanic Belt" so the shared geology actually lines up!

[@unnaturalhistorychannel]

Thanks for this clarification!

[@pohatunuva3771]

I've had a theory that its a major (and very chaotic) fault zone with different rocks- and thus lavas- converging together, but I'm not sure if it'd be possible for it to have both felsic and mafic flows in the same area.

[@michaelqijieling2627]

Not the be the "erm ackchually" person, but columnar jointing isn't exclusive to basalts and mafic deposits. Felsic/rhyolitic joints, while much, MUCH rarer, do occur in select places like the High Island Reservoir in Hong Kong's Geopark, the result of an exceptionally powerful and violent super eruption (in this case, ~30% larger than Yellow Stone based on the 20 km caldara left behind).

[@Sithari_XAOS]

7:00 IIRC Gravios' armor is the heat resistant part. Its internal organs are smushed together in the center of its body and its thick armor acts like an oven mitt for it. This is also why it has vents that shoot fire as it needs a way to rapidly cool itself down as its armor works as insulation both ways.

[@Ropen997]

I like to imagine that, just as forest elephants create paths in the forests of the Congo, the Uragaans create a kind of trail with their bodies that facilitates their movement by rolling.

[@Masterplanfoiler]

That's exactly what they do, take for example the one area in the elders recess that leads into the uragaan nest. I heard this area was created by generations of uragaan rolling down the slopes and around and up the walls.

[@Ropen997]

@@Masterplanfoiler Well that's cool, I also imagine they are creating mile long trails too.

[@Masterplanfoiler]

@@Ropen997 definitely. I also like to imagine uragaan flicking their tails “up” while rolling so they stay at a constant speed.

[@CrissBluefox]

I have a soft spot for Basarios, l find them charming little rock monsters, with their over sized feet and tail swing attack that is incredibly difficult to be hit by which I chalk up to an instinctive reaction until it gains it's bone crushing tail club as an adult. Plus they are Blos wyvern cousins which we need more of, so theres that.

[@mikeymccann3074]

I hope when or if he comes back he comes with his own area of a map though cuz I'd love to actually have to look for him in a certain area I know they didn't won the earlier games I believe and in Monster Hunter stories five love to see it with Modern Day graphics

[@davidperdue7541]

You did it. You made a video on my nemesis monsters that I enjoyed watching. Very cool insights about their evolution and biology. I agree, Gravios felt A LOT better in 4th Gen than he did in 2nd when I developed my animosity for him.

[@MrOrdosan]

ya. I also still miss my walking deathstar tho. kinda sad Rise gave us Basarios but no Gravios,lol.

[@davidperdue7541]

@@MrOrdosan I'm not SAD they didn't because I'm a Gravios hater but I do think it was really odd that they left him out. I suspect Covid was what did Rise in. Agnaktor, Zamtrios, Great Jaggi, Great Jagras and Tetsucabra nowhere to be seen for no discernable reason

[@apnosaurus]

"only weak to developer favoritism to brachydios" has got to be the best joke ever said yet

[@themelonzone38]

The funny thing about this is that I'm pretty confident in saying that as far as fire attacks go, brachy's fire probably isn't very noteworthy at all. It's the concussive force of the explosions, that energy transfer through the internal organs, that does the damage

[@Armameteus]

Followed up by the quiet "...certainly not over-hunting..." addendum in relation to Steel Uragaan, the most hated monster in the entire franchise, by official poll numbers.

[@aphato2770]

@@Armameteus I feel like hatred a strong word. Its seems more like general Apathy

[@Armameteus]

@@aphato2770 Purely anecdotal, but I've seen nothing but scathing ire for Steel from pretty much everyone with an opinion on it. The most common complaints are how spongy it is due to having absurdly high defence against all forms of damage. It's whole shtick is that it's way, way tougher than a regular Uragaan, which results in its fight dragging on a long time and being annoying to fight due to its chin being virtually indestructible, causing lots of bouncing when weapon sharpness is below purple. It's too tanky, takes too long to deal with, deals a lot of damage with its chin strikes and, generally, is just regular Uragaan (already a not-so-popular monster to fight) but stronger in annoying ways. I genuinely believe a lot of people actively despise it.

[@alejandroelluxray5298]

​@themelonzone38 I agree, I also hypothesized Brachy uses it's slime for "hit and run" hunting tactics, in which it charges and attacks a wyvern, the pummels causing enough concussion to make it's prey not able to respond quickly, all the while it applies the explosive slime before retreating to avoid direct combat, letting the mold do the rest. Once it explodes, which in turn kills it's selected prey, Brachydios approaches and feasts upon the carcass

[@TornaitSuperBird]

53:22 This is incorrect, Basarios does actually hide in Rise. It does this when asleep, and you can even mine its back for ores before it wakes up.

[@guitartruong3981]

I think Rise's spotty ecology makes it unreliable most of the time, for UHC anyways.

[@Stroggoii]

@@guitartruong3981 When you go out of your way to hate something your bias impairs your judgment.

[@hitmanmastodon1580]

@@Stroggoii to be fair he might have never seen them sleep in rise i actually forgot monsters sleep in this game till i read this comment just due to the time to kill and speed of traversal in the map.

[@marcusaaronliaogo9158]

@@guitartruong3981tbh the ecology of rise is just like the gameplay of old mh games with the hyper aggressiveness

[@guitartruong3981]

@@Stroggoii i think it's less an issue of hate but consistency. Rise has demonstrated that it doesn't put much importance of ecological groundedness, so anything in that game isn't generally useful for ecological analysis. UHC just choose to ignore Rise spotty ecology in many occasions when analyzing monsters.

[@otseattah8908]

Bruh I was pausing and looking through the literature you cited on magma in the first 2 min cause I didn’t know anything about geology, so when you finally said, “For those still awake.”, I lost it 😭

[@nickgushard8948]

They'll never be as cool as the Whetfish, whenever you make that video

[@themelonzone38]

The whetfish is really cool, I'm curious about the potential inspirations of Arapaimas (the fish that Uth is partially based on) or angular roughsharks. I'm more of the idea that they're based on roughsharks, as the scales are what's used to sharpen, and on an arapaima they're both pretty hard to remove and lose some of their effectiveness when you do

[@fluffdafire157]

For anyone who needs the info the average body temp in freedom units is 96.7 - 98.6 °F

[@takenname8053]

Thanks!

[@Naldro-Creator]

An hour of UHC, yes please

[@theawesomestuff2408]

I think on the ecology side, this one is a banger. You connected the ideas between two groups of pretty unrelated monsters pretty fluidly and coherently. And to be honest, I never really thought much of the Gravios family ecologically beyond "Why and how is it flying?" I think on the gameplay side, I'd like to comment more on Gravios. I think its issues are two fold: Elemental damage is poorly balanced, and it extremely disproportionately punishes Blademasters compared to Gunners. Gravios is a monster with poor raw hitzones and extremely high Water and Dragon hitzones. The flip of the norm, and on paper, "fine". But due to elemental damage being flat per hit instead of working off motion value, you get a monster that's no biggie with Dual Blades and a nightmare with Hammer. Additionally, pretty much everything it does seems specifically made to annoy melee. The low HZVs that are murderous on sharpness. The gas expulsion. The flop. The leaping stomp. The hard to reach belly. Meanwhile, on the ranged side, you just sit back, use Pierce, occasionally side roll from/through the laser, and rip it a new one while it's doing the aforementioned attacks aimed at nobody. Although, with Wilds' Focus Mode and Wound system making attacking and damaging specific parts more effective, I think Gravios would actually be much more palatable there.

[@FollowerOfMegatron]

If gravios ever comes back, His intro should be a brachydios trying to hunt it, The slime mold explodes, But gravios doesn't even flinch and proceeds to obliterate the brachydios with its lazer.

[@fictioneater3110]

Same I hope he’s one of the only few volcano monsters next to the obvious Akantor to strait up humble brachy, it gets boring seeing monsters that are more fan favorite disrespecting the less popular monsters that should obviously be stronger than it in some instances. They need to get humbled from time to time to balance things out.

[@thebaseandtriflingcreature174]

like the screen gets completely blasted out with white and when it fades, we just see a comedically brachidios-shaped ash pile that then blows away with the wind

[@RodrigoLeaf15]

I was thinking just the same. The hunter running from a surprise encounter with Brachy, bumps into the Gravios. Brachydios goes on the offensive against the largest threat, blasts it and all...... for Gravios to literally just shrug a bit and the charge the laser beam into Brachy, blasting it away before facing the hunter XDD

[@Dragnarok1]

Despite frontier being over the top ridiculous, there is an ancestor, or "origin species", to gravios that started out in the desert. That's one particular set of monsters that deserves to be looked into: the origin species. Voljang ends up becoming rajang over time. But some aren't great to look at like the ancestors Yama tsukami or teostra.

[@purplehaze2358]

If I recall correctly, redback spiders and American black widows are another example of two species independently evolving to be like, nearly identical.

[@jacobcoleman8250]

The term you’re thinking of is called convergent evolution.

[@purplehaze2358]

@@jacobcoleman8250 I'm well aware of the term. There's a distinction between not using a term explicitly and not knowing/remembering it. This comment is specifically directed at the part of the video where UHC posits the new and old world Uragaans could be separate, convergently evolved species - a part where he uses the term himself explicitly. And, further, this comment was referencing instances of convergent evolution where it's legitimately difficult to tell two species apart at times.

[@joseal8319]

Oh, what a great video. The ruby Gravios idea is something I've explored in the past, and the notion of having the different Basarios in the different locales is great too.

[@migueljose5161]

Man I really hope that Gravios returns in wilds with basarios in rise but without his adult form it felt bad(although comprehensive we would be doing circles around Gravios in Rise) I know that Gravios isn't the most popular but I really miss this giant tank of a dragon

[@Castersvarog]

Given the sheer size of the maps in Wilds I hope we get to see the bigger large monsters like Gravios, Gammoth and the twin Gods again.

[@thatoneweirdbish6364]

​@@CastersvarogGravios in a volcanic area, Gammoth in an ice area and Duramboros for the forest area would be my dream come true

[@purplehaze2358]

Obviously, these lads have air bubbles in their armor that protects them from lava. Jojo said that can happen, so that must mean it's true.

[@latrodectusmactans7592]

I personally thought this was one of your most enjoyable episodes.

[@obambagaming1467]

The part breaks are the best part about some monsters like Gravios. Elders, Gravios, Akantor or Brachydios are just a few examples that are especially fun because you can break parts

[@bumberquest3031]

Maybe it's due to the limitations of the older gens, but the Elder's Recess seems way more elevated than past Volcanic areas, and seems less volcanically active as well. Maybe the more mountainous terrain and the lack of abundant lava flows mean that Gravios in general has more difficulty traversing the area, compared to Uragaan where the environment seems almost perfect for its mode of transport? Elder's Recess is also a spot where Elder Dragons frequent (especially the infamously aggressive Nergigante) so maybe larger monsters with slower life styles aren't as suited to deal with these threats as well as something that can fly or roll away.

[@Irelevant472]

To break each part is unliked? How are these people playing? I always feal like i failed if the monster is not a broken lego set wen the quest complete hits

[@Raisera]

Uh... they are playing normally, I suppose? I don't enjoy hitting what's not a weak spot just to break it. Makes the quest take unnecessarily long.

[@devranyilmaz9806]

@@Raiserayou do realise that breaking parts improves the hitzones on the monster, right? Not to mention that you are more likely to get more and rarer materials doing so. Plus, dealing part damage causes the monster to flinch, which can both save you and provide a short opening to deal free damage. A squad with both cutting and blunt damage can consistently stun-lock a monster just by beating the shit out of it and turning its bones into a slinky. Also most Flying Wyverns trip if you attack their legs (which mostly can’t be “broken”, but part damage will contribute). Plus, it’s still worth attacking an already broken part because it will still cause flinching if you pass the threshold again. Flinching a monster also causes them to lose stamina faster, so you can obliterate them even faster than if you didn’t break their parts.

[@gamecavalier3230]

Breaks gud, love breaks.

[@Raisera]

@@devranyilmaz9806 You do not improve overall HZVs by breaking parts, and not every HVZ improves thanks to the corresponding part break. And even if you would, it would not make up for the high amount of DPS lost. There are obvious exceptions of course, like the metal Raths, but it's not the rule. Going for flinches does, and sorry for sounding like a broken record, not make up for the high amount of DPS lost. Everything else you said is irrelevant to players killing at a decent pace. I am not strictly speaking of speedrunners, but there's a reason why hitting the head (or, in rare cases, other parts with high HZVs) is recommended regardless of skill level.

[@2468h-s9e]

@@Raisera It's fun to break stuff. All the reason I need

[@XmortoxX1990]

This was a great ecology video. I've had no idea Lava could be that different in composition. I hope Gravios and Basarios return in Monster Hunter Wilds.

[@BaronSterling]

I absolutely love Gravios - and yes that includes the heavy focus on partbreaks in his fight. Love breakin parts.

[@mikeymccann3074]

Also honestly if you want the gear for a monster you're going to have to focus on part breaks anyways

[@grantowens7537]

Honestly, the gen 1 tracks (volcano and swamp) for Gravios really sell the idea of this massive, terrifying slab of armor blasting lasers. I do agree that we should get another sort of “class” of monster, purely reliant on size and weight. Both Gravios and Gammoth would benefit a lot from this, where their size and strength make them the “immovable monsters”, more common than but still just as destructive and powerful as elders, sort of the counter balance to the extreme offense archetype we get with Rajang and Deviljho. The opposite of the super kill-everything-saurus, the living untouchable mountains. Hell, real life did that with sauropods! But I guess gigantic herbivores simply aren’t as exciting as massive predators to the general public. Feels bad man.

[@sevirakalau2171]

I love rajang but I would love to see a battle where a turf war with it and Gravios happens where a rajang goes to attack it, does no damage Gravious is irritated and tries to crush it and the evasive rajang dodges it and tries again. Frustrated that physically it's met a monster it can't just punch it's way through it attacks with lightning which causes an actual spark of pain for gravious and it responds in kind with a laser of it's own. Knocking rajang back but leaving the two with an understanding that this fight is a long, arduous process that is worthless for both of them in the long run and the rajang simply leaves and the gravios goes about it's business. And deviljho can try to lift a gravious like akantor does but struggles to get it off the ground like it could a diablos. This tugging and pulling on it's massive body still hurts gravious though prompting it to use sleep gas as it would when akantor goes for it's neck then bulldozing or beaming the deviljho away. Deviljho being a bit more "no fucks given" probably wouldn't leave like I assume a rajang would

[@AGREY-p1s]

22:55 I heard in another video you talking about how brachydios has no need for the slime. Maybe it uses it to catch retreating prey? It doesn’t seem to be the quickest monster, so maybe if an uragaan is rolling, or a Rathalos is flying, or lavasioth goes into the lava, it can stick its slime onto it so it can still hunt them when they’ve escaped it. That’s kinda what happens in the Iceborne cutscene with the Uragaan Also to me, Barnos and Gastodon seem to be wayyy to small to supply a brachydios. Brachy surviving off of Barnos especially is like us living off of cheez-its

[@sanguineregis5354]

My acting theory is that the slime is less for hunting animals and more for breaking open rocks to get access to rare minerals. I'd bet money that alot of the monsters we see in volcanic regions are at least partially geovores and eat the minerals in the area as a not unsubstantial part of their diet. Course the slime can still turn a nasty hit from a brachydios into a lethal wound, with the initial strike causing cracks in another monsters armor that the slime seeps into before going Kablooie.

[@themelonzone38]

Armor might stop brachy's fist from breaking through, but it doesn't stop the energy transfer of the slime explosions. There's actually a specific kind of ammunition used by tanks using this principle that are specially made to destroy bunkers, called HESH (high explosive squash head) rounds. Brachydios' slime acts like a melee version of this, and would be near unparalleled for changing the terrain, as seen in raging's iceborne fight, or for bypassing the armor of monsters like uragaan, basarios, and gravios for an easier meal. Additionally, the fact that it remains active on the ground for a while gives it the chance to be picked up when any of said monsters do a rolling attack, which they rely upon heavily TL;DR, Brachydios is built to hunt heavily armored targets

[@agisuru]

The slime is a living protist-- it would likely die without any effect if stuck to something that dove into the lava

[@AGREY-p1s]

@@sanguineregis5354 I never made that connection of the volcano monsters being geovores but it does make a lot of sense now that I realize it. But other monsters around the size of brachydios can thrive off of the rocks without nuke slime, and also wouldn’t the explosions of the slime annihilate the ores to bits instead of just breaking them? I feel like brachydios has a better chance of just eating the ores regularly.

[@AGREY-p1s]

@@themelonzone38 that makes sense. A lot of monsters in the volcanic area have armor. Bazelguese might use this strategy too to break the armor of the carcasses it finds.

[@427Arbok]

It is worth noting that, being as the world of Monster Hunter contains many unique minerals not found in our own, its lava may actually be even cooler than in our own-a point that's arguably further evidenced by hunters (though they are obviously superhuman) being able to stand near it with no protection whatsoever without receiving lasting injury. There is the further factor of the apparent relationship between bioenergy and lava that is suggested by World, though the game is extremely unclear on what exactly the Everstream is-only that we really don't want Zorah to release its massive volume of bioenergy there-though it does seem to suggest that there is some relationship between the bioenergy of monsters and the geothermal energy of monsters, perhaps similarly to the seemingly natural occurrence of "Thermal Energy" of E.D.N. III in the Lost Planet games. While I'm... not exactly fond of this correlation, and would normally chalk this up to Capcom's writing department reusing old ideas for World's story, it does nevertheless need to be considered. If we assume that bioenergy is, in essence, some form of highly energy-retaining matter like T-Energy (despite the names;' alternatively, I suppose it could be the specific type of energy that inhabits an unnamed carrier material in high volume), and we further assume that it is a component of common lava in the Monster Hunter world (with volcanoes being as much natural springs of this as they are points of geothermal activity), then that might explain some of the bizarre occurrences in Monster Hunter volcanoes. For example, geologically speaking, coal should not really be a common occurrence in a volcano; yet, in Monster Hunter, it's ubiquitous. If we, however, assume that lava contains massive amounts of bioenergy (and/or the aforementioned carrier matter), then coal could simply be a hardened form of or specific type of deposit from this material that results from normal volcanic activity. Running with this, of course, would also be to suggest that bioenergy is not unique to the New World, but rather just far more prevalent there due to it being the terminus of Zorah Magdaros's life cycle. All of this would, of course, be a fairly significant departure from how our world works... and I'm not about to speculate how exactly it might, but bioenergy is obviously processible by organisms in the Monster Hunter world, as World's story makes abundantly clear. And, if the coal we encounter in Monster Hunter games is, in fact, some dried, cooled, or otherwise hardened form of that (or, once again, some nameless carrier material), then it might also present a major calorie source for these ore-eating wyverns. There may be some more supplementary material on what bioenergy is beyond what I'm familiar with in the games. As it's not a lore element I'm particularly fond of, I'm assuredly lacking some context on its functionality. However, one might as well make the best of these lore elements that I find so frustrating. At least, that's what I'm telling myself while writing this.

[@Yutyrant95]

22:32 Could it also be a case where the juveniles are unable to control the amount of venom the expel? I was always told that younger rattlesnakes are more dangerous because they can't gage the amount of venom they inject as well as adults. So if we follow that logic, the venom used by Basarios/Gravios is ment to be a narcotic to subdue predators but as a juvenile, the inability to control the amount creates a poisonous and potentially lethal dose

[@TornaitSuperBird]

So... An episode on dermal mineralization? Wonder if this means that these guys can somehow incorporate minerals into their keratin, and become calciferous.

[@nickgushard8948]

I know lore-wise the chin brute's sleep gas comes from digesting ore and bone, but I always thought they might've supplemented their diets with the sleep herbs that can be found around their areas in the Recess/Vale and the gas was a byproduct. There are also fire herbs dotted around the Recess Uragaan might feed on.

[@MrMeowzahs]

Great video. Been waiting for this mineral-eater video for a long time and I'm super satisfied with all the interesting tidbits you scrounged up! Excited for Wilds!

[@azearah6842]

I think the dry humor in these videos has been even better recently

[@biga6664]

Really good video as usual! Some of my favourite monsters design wise and I’m so glad they’ve finally got a video!

[@ratatouilledrinksclorax9897]

MY GOATEST OF ALL GOAT I used your anjanath video i discovered 3 years ago for the basis of my environmental science project specifically the screenshot of the graph with intraguild/interspecific/landscape of fear. Even used the articles you used as proof as i read deeper specifically to get my points further across 2 weeks ago. Love your work you make me love monhun than i did before

[@Kingman524]

i think gravios is cool actually and i think a really good turf war animation would be brachydios's punches bouncing off his back armor like your weapons do and getting charged or a laser for it I always felt like he could use some more laser attacks because the sweeping one that black does is really fun to superman dive through

[@RodrigoLeaf15]

50:20 And even so, I feel like Gravios could be the one monster to actually resist the blast explosions. One thing in common about the other three (rip Agnaktor D:) is that not one of them have hard armor as defense (Uragaan has that hardened back, yes, but it's not really a defense mechanism, more a movement tool for the rolling). All of them are hit in soft(ish) skin by the slime explosions... Gravios is a different case, it's fully covered in hard armor which is both resistant to high temperatures and pressure (liquid rock is still rock, after all xD), so should be able to resist Brachydios' attacks.

[@IndominusRex-wc1ey]

As the top 1 Agnaktor glazer, while Gnak Gnak has nothing on the volcano lord's sheer stone wall, its obsidian would be move than enough to tank at least a few explosions. The lava version of the armor, too, would realistically just melt the mold Brachydios' slime is comprised of

[@RodrigoLeaf15]

@@IndominusRex-wc1ey As an Agnaktor fan myself too (and still salty that LAVASIOTH of all things stole the spot on World D:

[@IndominusRex-wc1ey]

@RodrigoLeaf15 we hunters can only break Gnakky Clakky's armor because otherwise he would suck major ass to fight as cool and awesome as he is, and thus not quantifiable for how he'd work in a lore accurate combat setting Using gameplay and gameplay alone for scaling MonHun monsters gets results pretty skewed and fucky

[@Sta_cotto]

"Widely beloved Steel Uragaan" lmao

[@zacharyhowell3962]

All the specific throwbacks to mh1 were superb! My nostalgia thanks you.

[@scorpiopede]

Fantastic video, always enjoyed these 4, both in terms of designs and fights. Rise Basarios has me so mixed because on the one hand it was the most fun its ever been (at least until master rank where it spams the roll attack that has way too good tracking), but the heating mechanic does trivialize its initial purpose. I wonder if a good work-around to the problem of a "bounce-heavy" fight would be to encourage more non-attacking ways of dealing with it. Maybe Basarios gets bullied by other large monsters and gets its ass beaten in turf wars, so just forcing it out of the ground to fight hunters leaves it vulnerable. More environmental traps or endemics like the pincercrabs that deal damage regardless of its armor help too. Heck maybe there are ways to get its body to heat up, but not by just using fiery attacks. There's a lot of potential there that can hopefully be explored in a future game. I'm curious how you imagine Steel Uragaan could be updated to have a more distinct fight and offer something more substantial ecologically. Heck if map-based variants do become a thing, Steel Uragaan could become a regional variant much like the different Basarios. Also as someone who did a masters in geology, you did a great job with the research regarding the different volcanic habitats and the geologic diet of these volcano dwellers. I'm actually curious what a non-traditional volcano map could look like, something that would be very different from the standard ones we've gotten in every generation.

[@jorgeobuchi4912]

I spent like 15 minutes thinking you had already made a Brachydios video, so its gone be fun see you dissect it!!!

[@LegianaPlush]

'The widely beloved steel uragaan' Love the reference to to 20th anniversary results

[@jasonvoorhees5180]

YES, I've been waiting a long time for you to cover the hammerjaw wyverns and the rock lads. Was particularly excited to see you give some insight into their almost purely mineral-centered diet and any real-world examples. As usual you definitely delivered 👍

[@ConteShish06]

How the hell is your channel not more popular? your content is absolutely amazing, and I especially enjoy your indepth analysis of the Jurassic world movies, thank you so much for making incredible content like this

[@Jaredskoll]

Not sure what it was, but I really enjoyed this video in particular. Your channel has been consistently excellent.

[@williamking331]

Quite a nice video! It is the longest video (I think), interesting geological, fun ecology, and another look into the nobility being the true villains of monster hunter. All together, it was an entertaining watch.

[@flygonsarchives]

With the recent information for Wilds, I hope that Basarios returns for his hiding antics again. It would be cool to see if you could sling him up big fish game style. Or even have unique rock camouflage depending on the locale and weather.

[@RDY-ye9cz]

57:07 Personally I really liked the Narwa and Ibushi video and the interesting speculation about the two given how strange those two are.

[@obambagaming1467]

Could the reason for Gravios' heat protecting armor be the same as with Ultimate Kars from JoJo? In JoJo part 2, Ultimate Kars falls into a volcano. While he can regenerate the damage, he can't do much. So he creates some kind of mineral armor that has little pockets of air in it, to have enough time to get out of the volcano. And appearently, this is a good way to protect something from heat. Also i heard that Gravios in general has thick skin/armor, and all his internal organs are deep within its body. Excess heat can be released like it does with the fire gas when shooting the beam (atleast thats how i remember it)

[@temporal712]

Oh man I have been waiting for this episode forever! I was so curious to know how these creatures even began to function, what with dieting only on rocks and lava baths, and I wind up learning new things like rock eating bacteria, and different types of Lava! This is why your channel is the best! Funnily enough, even though he was dragged for being a dev favorite (truthfully), this video also made me realize an additional reason for the slime on Brachydios. Since Lava must be more viscous and prone to expulsion with bubbles in MH, Brachy may use the slime to to purposely agitate the lava enough to bring lava dwellers to the surface for more immediate predation. Its not just a nut cracker for tough armor, its a fishing rod! He is just, quite literally, fishing with dynamite!

[@Nestmind]

I would LOVE to experience Gravios After fighting Basarios in rise. Let's Hope the massive Maps in Wilds allow for this Monster to return

[@benmckenzie234]

57:17 Can’t wait for the brachy video, one of my favs when I started with 3U

[@Dragito5555555555555]

I’m a 5th gen baby so I’ve never fought Gravios, but I really do want to have a fight with him (even as a bow main). You saying he’s a part break fight only furthers my desire to fight him, since that’s why I like Barioth so much

[@IndominusRex-wc1ey]

GensUlt is on switch, assuming you have one and are interested in old-gen gameplay

[@b42nato1]

"For those still awake" Brother as soon as I saw you upload I locked in

[@floraphore]

I thought he opened the video with: "There's a lot to rock about", and I had to back up to double check. 😅

[@lordfangar5671]

Doing brachy after complaining about him all video is peak UHC humor, excited for that video

[@Huntereeno]

Kut Ku returns and now an hour of rock talk hell yeah

[@jeronimourzua]

"Terrible recording conditions" beautiful sound of birds

[@andrewgunderson8975]

I've been waiting for a Gravios episode!

[@cmdrscully]

This was a bit of a long video, but a great watch. I have been waiting for you to cover Gravios for literal years. One of my favorite monsters. Wish we could have gotten to vote for more than 1 Monster on the Hunter Vote Poll. He defintetly would have gotten one of my 3 votes (If I had them. Instead I had one and voted Barroth). This was a fascinating watch and listen. Keep on making the great content. On a side note, the reference to Brachydios just brought back an eternal question to my mind that you sparked long ago: What does Brachydios eat? Is he a Lithovore like Gravios? I could see his explosion fists being used to burrow into rock for ideal minerals or to break them into smaller chunks. If he is a predator, than I am more confused as, like a point you made on Bazelgeuse years ago, blowing up your food into meaty chunks is not very helpful for processing? Maybe it'd help with all the super armored Wyverns in the Volcano? But Brachy isn't even exclusive to the Volcano maps, so I'm not sure.

[@lordofasshes657]

(I wrote this giant-ass comment first time, but mobile KZbin crushed while I was typing 😢) This is one of my favorite videos on this channel! Basarios and Gravios were 2 of my favorite monsters in the MFHU, from which my career started. Stealthy stone bull and laser-breath stone rhino. My first full crafted set (I usually run mixed sets for whatever reason; I was so-so at english at that time) was one from the Black Gravios. I didn't even know what it gives - I just really wanted to have the set from exactly that magnificent stone rhino wyvern. And one of my favorite weapons from the visual standpoint at that time was Basarios' morgenshtern hummer. And then Uragaan appeared... I never played Tri or any other game before I came back as a hunter in World, but this dude always intrigues me. As UHC said, he is very visually distinct monster. And thus I respectfully disagree with the concept art statement: yes, it can be more sleek and make more sense, but I think every game with the visuals of Torchlight or Shadow of the Colossus will achieve exactly this variant by visualizing "forge-head tarbosaur" idea. Whereas final Uragaan is one Hell of a unique cadaver: mighty bipedal reptile, chewing on the precious minerals, which it gets from the earth by shuttering it into pieces by its thicc-ass jaw, while moving from deposit to deposit by rolling like a wheel made of stalagmites. I don't see it ugly in any way at all - more like "alien", "anomalic". He almost looks like a boss in some Airship Syndicate game, like Battlechasers: Nightwar (and I like their designs very very much - they are so "stand out"y with details, like every mob is a playable hero). His moveset is intuitively understandable and somewhat unique - fighting rolly-polly of Doom, which lay mines on the go, and when not rolling here and there, he just trying to pulverize hunter with the pure blunt force of its whole body, but in the accent point in round chin. And yes, the sound design is peak - my favorite roar of every monster till this day. And his every move sounds like a bulky, somewhat rusty mining drill indeed. I vote for him in the 15th anniversary contest, fully aware, that he never be even in top-100. But he will be one of my most favorable monsters from all time 💙 And Radobaan is amazing as another species from this family. I am very sad, that the mechanic of making him lose the balance and topple can be abused so much, he will be beating dummy :( Metallhead Uragaan can be more fierce and powerful foe, than just perma-toppled tar sausage. Also, Uragaan in russian reads as "урагаан", which is almost "ураган", meaning "hurricane". And as a flaming hurricane he will cart you in the master rank. As the line goes: "They see me rollin' They hatin'..."

[@oldcowbb]

breaking Gravios' armor to soften it's defense is a genius design, he was kinda frustrating in older gen he just keep bouncing off every attack

[@najalala]

Seeing Gravios in that MHFreedom intro video was what made me fall in love with the world of MH when i was a child.

[@RealLifeIronMan]

2:30 Always funny when someone from England makes fun of "freedom units". My brother in Christ, your country invented the imperial measurements!!!

[@knatkniht]

Americans always claim what isn't theirs as their own, come on, you know this!

[@camowyvern3836]

The new game is, of course, bringing with it herd and pack behavior. Some of the old monsters coming back(namely yan kut ku) are being reworked as pack/herd monsters. I would like to hear your opinions on how this will help improve the ecology of monster hunter.

[@themelonzone38]

I think kut ku pack behavior may be to deter garugas, as even the goofy guys could still pose a threat in large numbers to that crack addled rathian

[@creativetitle9247]

Always happy to see a new video from you! These guys certainly aren’t my favorite fights, but they’re so unique even as the monster roster keeps growing. I wonder if Basa’s new heat mechanic will ever end up on Gravios if/when it returns; ngl I’d love to see some redesigning to have the shell open up to dissipate heat rather than the shell itself getting softer.

[@JophielMunar]

I loved 4th Gen Gravios. While I didn't specifically want to break every part, i liked that you could mount both the back and the chest.

[@gabbrooh9126]

I burst laughing on the Steel Uragaan bit

[@IceAokiji303]

Hmm discussion halfway through gives me the idea: could perhaps the poison gas of Basarios be particularly suited for nullifying Brachydios' slime mold by killing it?

[@abbewinter9249]

Omg, yes! I've been waiting for the rocky bois ever since I found this channel! I adore the idea of a giant flying rock monster, in particular. It's so fantastically dumb. Perfect creature design.

[@jimjimson6208]

'widely beloved steel uragaan' 💀💀💀

[@YolStrun]

That teaser at the end can only mean one thing... BULLFANGO VIDEO!

[@draw2death421]

Perhaps If what you said about Basarious eating Ceanetaurs is true then thats why Gravious doesent use poison. Ceanetaurs have poison sacs wich perhaps Basarios harvest but since Gravious doesent eat meat it wont get these poison sacs anymore.

[@migueljose5161]

Honestly, the idea of the micro-biome is so interesting that I wouldn't mind some tidbits of text in the games that would explore this a little bit more

[@sufnskanne469]

KUT KUT AND THIS WHAT A DAY

[@youwotboi9288]

WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY

[@sufnskanne469]

@@youwotboi9288 ARE WE THANKFUL

[@Bigazoa11]

@@youwotboi9288 WHAT A WONDERFUL DAY

[@charyan2878]

As for Brachydios vs Gravios. I'd just say make his fumes into deodorant. It could also be a learning tool for someone who doesn't know about slime that well and how to get rid of it.

[@ShukakuTheCrazy1]

Basarios has some neat looking armor

[@adamjsher04]

"The widely beloved steel uragaan" maaaaaaan..

[@floopdroop3703]

I always liked Gravios. It was a learning curb back in the first game forcing me to exploit weak points and always liked his design.

[@Kevin-hx2ky]

I find it interesting that Uragaan kept in an improper environment end up resembling tortoises that experience pyramiding on their back scutes. An intriguing parallel with real life biology

[@indomleon]

I do MH art on my channel, and when I was proposing some alternate designs for Basarios, I came up with the idea that maybe gas is constantly emitted in relatively low concentrations. If they do, predators might be get woozy or feel sick when standing near a Basarios, even if they don't realize that its there, which might train predators to avoid Basarios' favorite places

[@thefraser5131]

People didn't like the part breaking focus gravios got in 4th gen?! I loved how breaking the back made the gas explode from his back (and in higher ranks that back could be difficult to break even with mount spam, I mounted g rank black like 5 times and killed him before breaking his back). Breaking the stomach twice made him take significantly more damage, and breaking his legs toppled him. I want more monsters that emphasize part breaking!

[@darkshibe2267]

20:39 "The widely beloved Steel Uragaan." The literal last place on the Capcom community vote 😂 Love the sarcasm game.

[@Bluerith]

I'm so addicted to your content, man 💙

[@Neriedar]

I hate to say it but as a sword and shield player Uragaan makes me irrationally angry, made me craft and learn how to use a hammer when I first encountered it in monster hunter generations. Never timed out a hunt before then

[@uberuncle714]

One of my favourite hunts of all time was when I did the G-Rank Black Gravios key quest for the first time with my brothers in 4U. The large health bar was a test of endurance and trying to break as many parts as possible really brought out the essence of teamwork and co-ordination. We first spent all our energy on spam mounting him (without an IG) to break his back and get rid of his post laser fire farts. Then the focus shifted to one person trying to stun him so that the guy with the Gunlance could break his chest quickly with shelling. By the end of that we were short on supplies and energy so it really came down to consistently playing safe which is hard when the Boss is a literal tank. All in all it took us 35 minutes and we were sweating like we actually were in a volcano. I never liked Gravios much and I don't think I'll be too excited if I do see him again but I regularly think about that hunt and I would pay double for a Monster Hunter that could give me something like that again.

[@godzilla0808]

thank you for the long video, i enjoyed my lunch while listening to you. Also i would love to hear you talk about wilds, do you stream or have a community like discord?

[@grakator8074]

Couldn't you say that most Basarios are Sapphire Basarios since they've got Sapphire linings throughout their back when cracked open?

[@alexkazam444]

6:41 I assume this is referring to the Brachydios ecology cutscene, I imagine the only reason Agnaktor lost was due to 1. The force of the explosion (highly unlikely to kill on its own) along side 2. Agnaktor using his beam attack at the same time. I figure the Trauma while using an attack of that magnitude may have cause more internal damage as Agnaktor was flailing about and unable to stop it at first. So unlucky Agnaktor :(

[@PenelopeNaomi]

I'm so excited to hear your wilds coverage!!!!! AAHHHHHHHHH

[@Nintaboy]

I think you put into words what I've been missing from recent games (Love 5th gen but I was missing something). The appeal of adherence to ecology and a slower game lends itself I feel to more nuanced monsters with more complex approaches. Rise/Sunbreak was so fast I didn't feel the need to learn strategy but the older games had that. Now I am not the type to harp on about Old = Good, but I think in this is an case where I would see it as true. Course I'm being subjective here, my ideal of what an MH game is will be different to newer and older players than me.

[@abeltotallynotdnsclientors5054]

21:50 the shade XD

[@SaurocanthovoraxKollodis]

Praying for the day Cephalopods get a video

[@Deadpool3E]

Apparently, there's still a related species of the Blos Wyverns still wandering around: Varusaburosu. The story goes is that it's a relic that either reflects a more derived form or it's an early diverging form meant to represent a more basal form ala Jakapil to the Ankylosaurian group - a holdover from a forgotten age that somehow exists despite how far the game progressed.

[@PoorHub]

My little head canon about swamp dwelling gravios is that they may be gravid gravios getting ready to lay eggs or might dispersing back to the volcanos after laying them. (I also don't think gravios do any Parental care)

[@gamernsymbiotemaster9871]

Now that I think about it, gravios and brachy could actually make for pretty good rivals if done well. On one side, a hulking, lumbering, nigh unstoppable behemoth. On the other, a small, nimble, powerhouse of offense. They're honestly good mirrors for each other