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I really don't want to go into alatreon unprepared. I currently have full rathalos+ armor and a slew of weapons. First, I plan on not using a bowgun, so please stick with blademaster weapons. I can use almost all blademaster weapons well with the exception being hammer (i don't think the hammer would work with alatreon so... ya). Plz post suggested armor, weapon, and strategy. Much appreciated, biggrin

Actually, I don't really suggest using a Dragon weapon. Alatreon is weak to Dragon (and notably Fire) only while in flight. A grounded Alatreon, however, is weak to Ice, and a little bit to Water. And considering what part of a flying Alatreon you can actually hit when not using a Bowgun, a Dragon weapon isn't all that great. Sure, you could hit the tail, but I'm looking at what could be carved from it, and it really isn't all that great. Despite the listed chances, Azure Dragongems aren't all the rare, so I honestly wouldn't suggest goin' tail hunting if you're goin' webbing and Skypiercer hunting. Then again, the tail has been cut off in each of my Alatreon runs, even while we were breakin' his horns.

On the other hand about weapons, I don't suggest using one of the heavier weapons unless you're absolutely sure about dodging and everything. Alatreon hits like a truck regardless of your defense or resistances, and getting hit due to the speed of your weapon isn't something you'd like.

On that note, if you're going to hammer, I suggest grabbing HG Earplugs. Going for the head with a hammer is a must, especially with Alatreon, and if you wanna hit the head, you're going to need all the opportunities you can get. Alatreon dips its head when it roars. You've got HG Earplugs. See where I'm goin'? I mean, HG Earplugs is very good when fighting Alatreon because it means more chances to hit it (especially for those status inducers), but it's especially important for a hammer-user, since they have the only real viable way of KOing anything. Oh, and while I'm on the topic of KOing, I'm not sure if an unsheather can KO (in fact, I think it doesn't), so Punishing Draw would be nice, although I don't know why you would even have that if charging the banhammer is better on an Alatreon that's NOT KO'd.

Now in terms of ARMOR....Rathalos+ is a rather good set in general. I've seen normal "kill kill kill sometimes bomb etc." Alatreon runs, and people would use Rathalos+. Quropeco+ is a good set as well, despite the defense cap, simply because you can be saving your teammates with more than just Lifepowders. And also saving their pots for another....minute. There's also the fire resistance to consider, and also the tiny dragon resistance (which doesn't really make a difference). Sure, you'll probably take a huge blow to your health if you get hit by the ice, but if you're like me, you'll be more concerned with the fire. For me, I found the fire to be the hardest thing to dodge. This also supports the use of Rathalos+, although that's weak to both lightning and dragon. Those attacks aren't terribly hard to dodge unless you're caught offguard or doing/recovering from one of your own attacks. Or if the jerk of a dragon turns while running at you.

And before I end it, if you were to combine the total weakness of dragon used against Alatreon (ground and flight), you'll find that dragon is indeed better than ice. But just like my friend once explained when we talked about Pokemon, "Use Flamethrower if you want a safe way to do damage. Fire Blast if there if you wanna be greedy." By that, I would certainly say that using a Dragon element weapon is like using Fire Blast. I'm not confident in hitting a flying Alatreon, but that's fine since I don't use elemental weapons. I use a sleep weapon. :p