Monster Hunter Wilds Yian Kut Ku: What Is It and How to Hunt It🔥
As the story of Monster Hunter Wilds progresses to the latter half, it introduces almost a whole new world with way more new monsters from the original map. Chapter 4 brings Professor Fabius to the team, and starts the survey and investigation of the Forbidden Lands after the death of Zoh Shia. Yian Kut Ku is one of the new monsters emerging in the Scarlet Forest. Unlike other large monsters we have encountered before, many players find Yian Kut Ku rather annoying, as it agilely moves around and spits out fire in the fight. This post is a comprehensive guide on Yian Kut Ku’s story, weakness, preparations, and tips on how to hunt it down!
What Is Yian Kut Ku?
Yian Kut Ku is a bird wyvern residing in the Scarlet Forest and the Iceshard Cliffs in Monster Hunter Wilds.
Related: Monster Hunter Wilds Jin Dahaad: What Is It and How to Hunt It🐲
Basic Information
To explain the monster’s name, “Kut Ku” seems to suggest the bird name Cuckoo. Cuckoos as a type of bird also carry the connotation of madness and craziness. This monster’s capricious movement and swaying head certainly suggest some madness in their behavior. This relation to the cuckoo is hinted through the mission title “Kut-Ku Gone Cuckoo” as well. As to “Yian”, it is hard to pin down which language it draws inspiration from. “Yan” is the pinyin in Chinese meaning swallows. In some rare cases, it can refer to birds in general as well. This word might be an indication of Yian Kut Ku’s nature and resemblance to a bird.
As a bird wyvern, Yian Kut Ku has a standard dragon look with two wings with claws, two hind legs, two large ears, and one big beak. The overall size of the monster is by no means big, but you should not underestimate the damage it can deal.
Its walking is far from being steady but has a more wabbling style, resembling a 3-year-old toddler walking towards you. It attacks you both by plunging towards you and spitting out several fireballs at a time. Its physical attacks are as hurting as its fireballs, and neither type of attack is that predictable.
Related: Monster Hunter Wilds Hirabami: What Is It and How to Slay It 🐍
Weakness
Yian Kut Ku’s weakness lies in the mouth, and the head is a breakable part. Based on the tips given by the Large Monster Field Guide, hearing is Yian Kut Ku’s weakness as well. You can try to stop their attacks by throwing a screamer pod at them, but this will enrage them and trigger a wave of fiercer attacks.
Effective Elements
The effective elements against Yian Kut Ku are the water, ice, and thunder elements. Yian Kut Ku itself carries the fire element attack. With water, ice, or thunder element weapons, ammo, or pods, you can definitely take down the monster more easily and faster.
Different from the first part of the game, after slaying Zoh Shia, you have a lot more weapon options to choose from. When you encounter Yian Kut Ku for the first time, these are the water, ice, and thunder element weapons you can make use of.
Water Element
You can acquire the materials for water element weapons by hunting or capturing Xu Wu, Uth Duna, or Balahara. This is the list of the water element melee weapons (the ones unlocked when first encountering Yian Kut Ku).:
| Great Sword | Nihil Great Sword |
| Long Sword | Uth Khlunda |
| Sword and Shield | Balahara Blade Nihil Sword |
| Dual Blades | Guild Knight Sabers Uth Ngarpatu |
| Hammer | Nihil Hammer Balahara Hammer |
| Hunting Horn | Nihil Chord Balahara Chord |
| Lance | Balahara Lance |
| Gun Lance | Balahara Explorer Uth Falarmata |
| Switch Axe | Nihil Switch Axe Uth Olacha |
| Charge Blade | Uth Valeroje |
| Insect Glaive | Balahara Glaive |
| Bow | Nihil Bow Uth Khviluk |
Ice Element
You can forge ice-element weapons by hunting or capturing Hirabami. This is the list of the ice element melee weapons (the ones unlocked when first encountering Yian Kut Ku):
| Great Sword | Frozen Speartuna |
| Long Sword | Windclaw Blade |
| Lance | Windpierce Lance |
| Switch Axe | Windsunder Axe |
| Charge Blade | Windthrash Charger |
| Bow | Windbrace Bow |
Thunder Element
You can forge these thunder element weapons by hunting or capturing Rey Dau. This is the list of the thunder element melee weapons (the ones unlocked when first encountering Yian Kut Ku):
| Long Sword | Rey Tonitrus |
| Sword and Shield | Rey Kuara |
| Hunting Horn | Rey Perun |
| Lance | Rey Indra |
| Charge Blade | Rey Astrapi |
| Insect Glaive | Rey Halilintar |
| Bow | Rey Perkonis |
Long-range weapons like heavy and light bowguns that can shoot water ammo, freezing ammo, and thunder ammo are effective against Yian Kut Ku as well.
At the same time, you can make use of the water pods, frost pods, and thunder pods. These pods are able to deal elemental attacks, too.
Related: Monster Hunter Wilds Uth Duna: What Is It and How to Slay It?🐠
Drops
This is the list of drops you can obtain from Yian Kut Ku:
- Kut-Ku Scale+: 60% chance
- Kut-Ku Carapace: 60% chance
- Kut-Ku Ear: 60% chance
- Kut-Ku Wing: 40% chance
- Inferno Sac: 40% chance
- Yian Kut-Ku Certificate S: 10% chance
- Giant Beak: 10% chance
- Bird Wyvern Gem: 10% chance
By using these materials, you can forge the Kut-Ku α or Kut-Ku β armor set. The alpha armor set has higher general defense and fire resistance, but the beta armor set has one more jewel slot for any additional buffs.
The weapon made from Yian Kut Ku carries the fire element. It is handy and has high damage when you encounter any monster that is susceptible to fire-element attacks.
When Will I Hunt This Monster in the Story?
You will first encounter Yian Kut Ku in “New Ecosystems” in Chapter 4. The guild will dispatch you to survey the Scarlet Forest.
As you have slayed Zoh Shia who has been draining the dragontorch energy, the Forbidden Lands have become more vibrant and lively with more new animals and monsters appearing and reinhabiting the land. Therefore, the needs of re-surveying the land emerge naturally as the story progresses.
Yian Kut Ku appears during your journey against the above-mentioned story background. Wudwuds also tells you that they have noticed some red-skin dragons hovering over the forest.
Others: Level Up the Romance: Exploring Sims 4 Dating App Mod
How to Slay Yian Kut Ku?
The general guide for hunting down the monster is to disperse the pack with the large dung pods and rely on long-range weapons which allow you to have better aims at the weak spots and more time to avoid its fast attacks. At the same time, watch carefully for the timing to avoid its fireballs and dashing. Before going into details, let us go through the preparations together!
Explore: The Ultimate Guide to SNB Bank in The Sims 4: Your Finance Smart Move
Weapon
Long-range & Melee
Prepare a long-range weapon (light bowgun, heavy bowgun, and bow), ideally the heavy bowgun. Compared to using melee weapons, long-range weapons are more convenient to counter Yian Kut Ku’s attacks. Its attacks are fast and capricious, and its movements are very agile. Adding to the fact that its body size is relatively small compared to other wyverns, it is difficult to hit this monster with slow and clumsy melee weapons. With the heavy bowgun, you can concentrate your attacks on the mouth and other weak spots while keeping a distance from the monster.
Customize your heavy bowgun. You can customize your heavy bowgun at the equipment menu at your tent. Select the elemental ammo powder mod and the ignition mod can optimize your gun for Yian Kut Ku hunting.
Ammo & Pods
The water/freezing/thunder ammo is also a great choice, even a better choice compared to using melee weapons, considering the monster’s fast and unpredictable movements. You can prepare this ammo either from Jack at the base camp, or by crafting them using the flowferns, the snow herbs, or the thunderbug capacitor (from the thunderbugs). These materials can be found on the map through the filter.
Prepare a water-element, ice-element, or thunder-element melee weapon as the secondary weapon (optional). You can make full use of the melee weapons if you manage to bring Yian Kut Ku to the ground. When the monster gets exhausted or hit by the shock trap or a vine trap, you can switch to your melee weapons.
Prepare large dung pods. It is crucial to always prepare many large dung pods. Yian Kut Ku, according to the story, comes to the forest to mate and breed, which means that they always stay together in groups. You need to throw large dung pods onto them to keep them separated from each other, so that you can focus on the one you are trying to hunt. Bring more than one dung pods, because the effect will wear off after a while, and you will need to do this again.
Explore: I Barely Made It Through the Prologue: Is Assassin’s Creed Mirage Worth Buying?
Armor
Yian Kut Ku chiefly attacks through the beak, the tail, and spitting fire, which means that you need to equip an armor set with high fire resistance. Therefore, to make things easier, hunting down high-ranking Quematrice grants you the materials to forge the high-rank Quematrice α and β set. The alpha set will bring your fire resistance directly to 30, enough to deal with Yian Kut Ku.
Explore: The Many Faces of Isu Loki: A Comprehensive Guide to Assassin’s Creed Mirage’s Intriguing Story
Other Preparations
- Firstly, equip your Palico with fire-resistant armor and water/ice/thunder elemental weapons as well.
- Transfer useful items from the box to your pouch through the tent, such as potions, mega-potions, max-potions, rations, and others.
- Cook a meal for yourself either through the BBQ grill or the tent, to give yourself extra buffs.
Explore: “Ranyon” or not?👿 Cyberpunk 2077 I Walk The Line Walkthrough
Attack Strategy
Yian Kut Ku attacks through:
- spitting fireballs
- dashing towards you
- repeating pecking through the beak
- smashing you with the tail
The general way is to focus on the long-range weapon use and switch to melee only when it is exhausted or trapped on the ground.
Because the attacks are often repeated multiple times at the same spot, such as repeated pecking and dashing in a line, it’d be better to keep a distance. The distance can give you more time to react to the signs of attacks and more space to aim at the weak spots. Another thing is that the monster is small and agile, making it extremely hard to do consistent damage through melee weapons.
Use the large dung pods as soon as the monster group forms again. This will be repeated several times throughout the fight. Especially for Yian Kut Ku, there are usually 3-4 of them staying together, only making the use of large dung pods more crucial.
Pick up materials in the environment and use the pods made from these materials on Yian Kut Ku. The game mechanism usually prepares useful and effective materials at the battleground for your use. You may discover and auto-make slicing pods, screamer pods, and others, which are not elemental attacks but can still deal large amounts of damage to the monster.
Explore: Deep Dive into the Net👾: Transmission Cyberpunk 2077 All Explained
FAQs
1. Is Yian Kut-Ku in MHW?
Yian Kut Kus come to the Scarlet Forest in Monster Hunter Wilds in groups to mate and breed, as explained by the story. Wud wuds are the first to discover these strangers in red-color scales. You will hunt Yian Kut Ku for the first time in the mission called “New Ecosystems” in Chapter 4.
2. What is Yian Kut-Ku weak to?
Yian Kut Ku is weak to the water, ice, and thunder elements. The weak spot is at the mouth. You can also aim at the breakable head. The screamer pods will stun the monster from the middle of its attack, but it only works for a short while.
Explore: A Much Missed Friend: Stories of Brendan in Cyberpunk 2077
Conclusion
With the shaking head and wabbling steps, Yian Kut Ku is definitely a wyvern that will leave you with an impression.
Yian Kut Ku is by no means a large wyvern, but its small body and agile movements make it harder for the hunters to hit the target. The beak and the dash deal high damage on the hunter as well. Without the right weapon, you may find yourself spending a great amount of time chasing the monster or being chased by the monster.
