Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin is chock full of monsters, and one of the main features of the game is finding their eggs and hatching them. These then become monsties through the power of Kinship and fight alongside you as loyal pets.

These beasts look slightly nastier than your average Pokemon or Digimon, but they are just as (if not more) useful in a fight. With a ton of monsties to choose from and three categories to take into account, there’s a lot to think about. Speed monsties are quite rare towards the beginning of the game, but you’ll still be spoilt for choice when it comes time to face down the final boss.

10 Velocidrome

  • Genus:
  • Bird Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • North Kamuna Cape
  • Riding Action:
  • Jump

Velocidrome is the first monstie you will gain access to through Kayna, an older and more experienced monster rider from the village of Mahana. It is the only Speed monstie you’ll have access to for quite a while and luckily this isn’t a bad thing. Having access to Jump is important for collecting lots of treasure towards the beginning of the game and its stats aren’t terrible.

Eventually, you’ll find that your precious Velocidrome cannot take too many hits before being in danger, and by that time you’ll want an upgrade. Until then, it’s a perfectly serviceable monster and a fantastic candidate for getting some Non-Elemental bingos through Monster Hunter Stories’s gene therapy feature.

9 Nargacuga

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Alcala Highlands
  • Riding Action:
  • Stealth

This cat-bird-dragon creature is an adorable monster to add to your party, and a strong one too. It has a great Kinship skill for breaking monster parts and will quite reliably and self-sufficiently fish for critical hits by using Sharpen Blades and Killer Tail.

Stealth is a great trick to have in your back pocket in case you find yourself in danger but desperate to complete a monster den for a new egg. Otherwise, Nargacuga is mostly valued for its sleek look and great damage output. It notably has the highest possible Crit Rate growth, so stacking it up with Crit Rate up genes would be fantastic for it.

8 Tobi-Kadachi

  • Genus:
  • Fanged Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Loloska Rocky Canyon
  • Riding Action:
  • Jump

A Tobi-Kadachi is the most likely candidate to replace your old Velocidrome as it too has the valuable Jump skill which most players will come to rely on. It’s a Thunder-elemental monster who can self-buff with High Voltage and even inflict Paralysis, which is one of the more useful status effects in this iteration of the Monster Hunter franchise.

Gene-wise, this monster is likely to want genes that improve its Thunder attack. While it has decent health for a Speed type monstie, outfitting it with health improvements or a healing skill will also do wonders. Overall though, it’s quite the upgrade at the point it arrives.

7 Tigrex

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Harzgai Hill - Inner
  • Riding Actions:
  • Dash, Ivy Climb

Tigrex is a very strong monster that can potentially be acquired very early thanks to its status as a Royal Monster in Alcala Valley. These are hard to beat, harder to make retreat, but will be very useful for a long time if you manage to acquire one.

Tigrex is very strongfor a Speed monstie. While it focuses on Non-Elemental damage, it has fantastic stats in all elements but Thunder, which it is weak against. This makes it very versatile for the Rite of Channeling where you can give it almost any powerful attacks that you’ve collected in the genes of other monsters. Not only that, but it has fantastic health too. You cannot go wrong with a Tigrex.

6 Green Nargacuga

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Pomore Garden
  • Riding Action:
  • Stealth

Take the regular Nargacuga and make it better, now you have a Green Nargacuga. While it is superficially very similar, this variant grants the extremely nice Stun Spike Bomb and Sneak skills. The former can Stun enemies, which is very useful, and the latter improves the Nargacuga’s evasion rate, which is a rare buff.

A monster that can strike fast, reliably inflict critical hits, and improve its own survivability with little intervention is a fantastic candidate for any team.

5 Barioth

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Loloska Rocky Canyon
  • Riding Actions:
  • Fly, Rock Breaker

Players who are far enough in the game to know and love Avinia and her Barioth will know what this monstie is capable of. It is a very balanced monstie and has surprisingly high defenses for such a lithe design.

Outfitting this icy tiger with Ice attack genes is an easy recipe for success. Also notable is its Kinship skill which deals damage to all enemies, which is definitely useful in some key late-game fights. Finally, if nothing else, it’s nice to fly on its back once that ability is unlocked.

4 Rathian

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Alcala Highlands
  • Riding Action:
  • Nest Search

The Queen of the Skies is certainly a useful monstie this time around. Of course, a Rathian will complement Ratha quite nicely and is a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. She has quite balanced stats and a focus on Fire damage, so while she’s a tiny bit redundant with Ratha around she’s by no means a slacker.

Poison is a very useful status effect in Monster Hunter Stories 2 and a Rathian will be pretty good at spreading it around whenever she isn’t burning your enemies up with Flame Blaster. She has great availability and would be a fantastic choice for a long-term teammate.

3 Zinogre

  • Genus:
  • Fanged Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Lavina Glacial Peaks
  • Riding Action:
  • Jump

Zinogre is another one of the Royal Monsters that you can defeat, this time in Lavina Glacial Peaks. It’s quite similar to Tobi-Kadachi in that it is a Thunder elemental monstie that can buff up its own attack, and it has very strong attacks.

This monstie is more focused on inflicting Paralysis than Tobi-Kadachi and the skill it gets at level 30, Thunderfist, is likely to deal a ton of damage while doing so. If Speed monsties who can use Jump have been a standard of your team, Zinogre is bound to beat Tobi-Kadachi out of the way as a natural upgrade.

2 Legiana

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Lavina Glacial Peaks
  • Riding Action:
  • Fly

Like Barioth before it, Legiana will be an attractive choice for players thanks to its debut as Alwin’s partner monstie. It is very fast, very bulky, and has a Crit Rate growth that almost rivals a Nargacuga.

A Legiana’s status of choice is Skillseal, which makes sense considering it’s a Speed monstie. This is less critical than Paralysis but can be a total lifesaver when going up against Technical monsters. Its Kinship skill is also very great at dealing damage and should definitely be taken into account.

1 Sand Barioth

  • Genus:
  • Flying Wyvern
  • Habitat:
  • Forbidden Grounds
  • Riding Actions:
  • Fly, Rock Breaker

Similar to the difference between the Nargacuga and the Green Nargacuga, the Sand Barioth is quite the upgrade to the regular Barioth. It’s Non-Elemental as opposed to Ice and has higher attacking stats in everything but.

The default genes that a Sand Barioth comes with are excellent. Evasion Gene (L) is appreciated on almost any monstie, and it has its own combo with Trap Cyclone and Cyclone Chaser skills which are fantastic for dealing large amounts of damage. The only downside is that the Sand Barioth is only available right at the end of the game, so don’t go searching the Forbidden Grounds before then.

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