Monster Hunter Wilds Hirabami: What Is It and How to Slay It 🐍
Hirabami in Monster Hunter Wilds is a snake-shaped leviathan in the Iceshard Cliffs. While it is not the apex predator of the Cliffs, it is still troublesome when hunters deal with it for the first time. Unlike the repeated hunting afterwards, Hirabami appears as three monsters all together at the first hunt in the storyline. Moreover, it is difficult to hit the target, too, as it always floats in the air. No worries! This post will lead you through all the information related to Hirabami and give you the best advice on how to hunt it down!
What is Hirabami?
This monster is a leviathan with a floating snake-shape inhabiting the Iceshard Cliffs. It shows up as three Hirabami at the same time in the storyline, but for the repeated hunts, you will only need to deal with one at a time.
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Basic Information
Hirabami looks very much like a snake hung and draped from the cave ceiling. As a leviathan, the monster represents the category of the great sea serpent in the Monster Hunter series.
“Hira” in Japanese means flat, while “hirahira” carries the connotations of something that is fluttering and flapping. “Bami” is a suffix, meaning devouring in Japanese. Combining both translations, Hirabami is a name that accurately describes the monster’s movements and nature. The monster uses membranes to flutter and keep itself afloat in the air. As a leviathan, it attacks with its mouth, forming a devouring motion during the fight.
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Weakness
Hirabami’s weakness lies at its mouth, but its tail and head are also breakable.
It has two membranes attached to the two sides of its head, keeping it floating in the air. Repeated strikes on the membrane can exhaust the monster and cause it to drop to the ground.
While floating, short-range weapons can only reach the monster’s tail. Although the tail is breakable, it is not ideal to deal massive damage. Try to aim at its weakness instead, and focus on the mouth and the membranes.
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Effective Elements
Hirabami, as an ice-element monster, is susceptible to the fire and thunder elements. To counter its element, you can choose to equip the fire or thunder element short-range weapons, together with the heavy/light bowgun with flaming or thunder ammo.
Note that during your first fight with the monster, you will not fully unlock all the elemental weapons. The list below is not an exhaustive list of all the fire-element or thunder-element weapons in the game. The weapons are mainly made from the materials collected from Quematrice and Rey Dau.
This is the list of the fire-element weapons available when you first encounter Hirabami:
| Great Sword | Quematrice Espada 1 & 2 |
| Long Sword | Quematrice Lima 1 & 2 |
| Sword and Shield | Quematrice Cuchillo 1 & 2 |
| Dual Blades | Quematrice Silexes 1 & 2 |
| Lance | Quematrice Lanza 1 & 2 |
| Gunlance | Quematrice Culebrina 1 & 2 |
This is the list of the thunder-element weapons available when you first encounter the monster:
| Long Sword | Rey Tonitrus 1 |
| Sword and Shield | Rey Kuara 1 |
| Hunting Horn | Rey Perun 1 |
| Lance | Rey Indra 1 |
| Charge Blade | Rey Astrapi 1 |
| Insect Glaive | Rey Halilintar 1 |
| Bow | Rey Perkonis 1 |
You can also equip the heavy/light bowgun with the flaming or thunder ammo slot. Check which types of ammo can be used by the bowgun on the Ammo Info page.
The flaming ammo can be made from the Fire Herb, and the thunder ammo from the Thunderbug Capacitor, which is from the Thunderbug. These materials can be easily found in the map by using the filter. Or, to save yourself the trouble of travelling from spot to spot, you can purchase both ammo from the provision Jack as well, which will cost a bit.
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Drops
Hirabami drops:
- Hirabami Tail Claw: 80% chance
- Hirabami Scale: 60% chance
- Hirabami Hide: 60% chance
- Hirabami Webbing: 60% chance
- Frost Sac: 40% chance
- Hirabami Certificate: 10% chance
You can forge the Hirabami armor set and weapon at Gemma’s.
The armor has high water and ice resistance, with the defense at 121 for the whole set before upgrading. The set is in a mild purple color with the Chinese Wuxia and Taoist style (though I am not a fan of that…)
The weapon forged from Hirabami’s drops has the ice-element feature. This element feature will come in handy later. You will fight the Ajarakan from the Oilwell Basin. You can counter it with the ice-element weapons.
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When Will I Hunt This Monster in the Story?
You will hunt down Hirabami in Chapter 2: Hopes of Home. After entering the Oilwell Basin, you will embark on the mission of investigating the tunnels and the energy supporting the Everforge.
The tunnels will lead you Nerscylla first, and then Hirabami. Nata will recognize that he went through the tunnels when he tried to escape from the White Wraith. However, the original pathway is not there anymore, so the hopes of coming home burst like bubbles for Nata.
You will only slay Nerscylla and Hirabami in the tunnels, as the path toward the Iceshard Cliffs is still blocked by thick ice. After you slay the apex predator of the Oilwell Basin, the path will be cleared by Nu Udra’s fire. Therefore, it is still necessary to prepare ice-element weapons from Hirabami for later fighting against Ajarakan before the Nu Udra hunt.
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How to Slay Hirabami?
To slay the monster for the first time, you need to focus on separating the three of them and deal damage to the one with the marked icon only. You do not need to slay all three of them to finish the mission. Slaying the one with the marked icon will be enough to finish the quest. To achieve that, you need to use the Large Dung Pods and a long-range weapon (ideally, the heavy bowgun).
Weapon
Prepare a long-range weapon with the flaming or thunder ammo slot as your primary weapon. You can also choose Rey Perkonis 1, which is a bow with the thunder-element attack. It’d be best if you could prepare a heavy bowgun with flaming/thunder ammo. Compared to the bow and the light bowgun, the heavy bowgun has an ignition mode (Pressing F on the keyboard) to deal a large amount of damage with a fast speed. This is a great help in slaying the monster efficiently.
(Optional) Equip a close-range weapon with the fire or thunder element attacks. As listed in the previous section, you can forge yourself a weapon either from Quematrice’s or Rey Dau’s drops. You do not have to use any melee weapon for Hirabami, but you can switch to a close-range weapon when Hirabami is exhausted on the ground. It does not matter if you just use the long-range weapon all the time on Hirabami; and it will not slow you down significantly in the hunting process.
Prepare the large dung pods for separating the three Hirabami. In the storyline, the game will provide you with the large dung pods in your supply (Pressing N on Seikret for the keyboard users). Using the large dung pods is a must in the storyline, or else you will be very disoriented when being attacked by three of them at the same time.
Equip thunder pods and torch pods to your pouch. These pods can also cause thunder and fire-element damage. Thunder pods are made from thundercryst. Torch pods are from the sparkflints.
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Armor
Hirabami deals ice-element damage. To deal with that, you need to prepare an armor set with high ice resistance and an Ice Charm talisman. At this stage of the game, you can go back to hunt Nerscylla for a couple more times to forge its armor, as it has more ice-resistance stats compared to the previous monster sets.
For the Ice Charm talisman, you will need to collect materials from Congalala and the mining outcrops for the earth crystals.
Other Preparations
- Transfer ammo and provisions from the box to your pouch at the camp. The items may include but are not limited to potions, mega-potions, hot drinks, etc.
- Grill a meal for yourself either using the BBQ grill or in the tent for some extra buffs.
- Prepare your palico with a fire/thunder-element weapon and ice-resistant armor as well.
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Attack Strategy
Hirabami attacks using its claws and tail and spits ice toward you. As it is almost always floating in the air, the only way to get its weak spot is to use a long-range weapon.
Therefore, the general guide for taking down Hirabami is to rely heavily on long-range weapons. The best way to do this is by using a heavy bowgun with the flaming or thunder ammo.
Throw the large dung pods to separate the three Hirabami. This situation will only occur when you meet the monster for the first time. There will be three of them, staying together. Throw the large dung pods from your supply, and that will keep them separate for a while. Always attack the one marked with the icon, and hunt that one down to finish the mission. If you do not throw the large dung pods, you will be attacked by all three of them and your attacks will not be as concentrating.
Aim at the mouth and the membranes. The mouth is its weak spot, which can cause a large amount of damage. The membranes keep Hirabami afloat. Hirabami, with the broken membranes, will drop to the ground. This is the only window when you may find it convenient to use a short-range weapon.
Collect materials from the battle ground. The game mechanism will always prepare some materials for you to collect on the ground to make into pods. Moreover, there is a very large chance that these pods have the counter element against the monster. When you run out of ammo and the pods, don’t forget to collect some directly from the ground!
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FAQs
1. What is the weakness of Hirabami in MHW?
The weakness is at the mouth. You can also attack the breakable parts, such as the head and the tail. Hitting the membranes on the two sides of its head will help drag the monster to the ground as well.
2. What is the most effective weapon in MHW?
The most effective weapon varies depending on the monster you are dealing with. Each weapon has its strengths and drawbacks. The best way is to read the Monster Field Guide and pick up the attack hints from it. For players who prefer high damage in one hit, the greatsword is a good option. Some players might like the speed that dual blades have. Some may find the ignition mode from the heavy bowgun the most effective!
3. What is the meaning of Hirabami?
“Hirahira” stands for the fluttering and flapping motion, while “bami” means devouring in Japanese. The combination vividly captures the movements of the monster as it flutters in the air with the help of the membranes and tries to bite you during the fight.
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Conclusion
Of all the monsters in Monster Hunter Wilds, Hirabami does not have the highest damage or the fastest movements, but it can certainly annoy you with its buddies when it appears for the first time. Dealing with one is a headache enough, but the game requires the player to put away some more energy to throw the dung pods to separate them. It is also frustrating to be limited to attacking the tail when you try to use a melee weapon on it.
In short, it is always about finding the right weapon for the right monster in Monster Hunter Wilds! Try using the fire/thunder element weapons, ammo, and pods with the help of a heavy bowgun. You will be surprised how easy it is to slay Hirabami!
