You: A puny human that's admittedly killed some dinosaurs.
Your target: A living volcano.

It's okay. You got this! Honestly, the Zorah Magdaros quests are easy. Don't worry about the shouting Commander and the people running around everywhere seemingly in panic. It's all for show.

There's not much to prepare for; these fights are mostly theatrics.

• Eat for attack damage, as you're not really in much of a danger of dying here.
  
• Bring healing items anyway, as you'll probably take some damage, but it won't be extremely threatening.
  
• Don't bring an Ancient Potion. You'll get one for free during the quest. If you have one already in your item pouch, you won't receive the free one.

Let's look at the map:
(Steam guides restricts image sizes; click here[i.imgur.com] for a larger image.)



You start on a cliff with cannons and ballista facing into the ravine. To the east is a barricade, and to the north is a campsite, just in case you need to eat or pick up some items.

Zorah Magdaros himself is off to the southwest, slowly making his approach towards the barricade. Your job is to slow him down with cannonfire and ballista damage.

Be wary of the Barnos monsters flying around. They're more pests than an actual threat, but don't let them distract you too long from the real quest objective.

There are a lot of cannons around. You should start the fight with cannonfire.

Look around for cannon ammo. There should be plenty.



Approach one and pick up a cannonball. However, unlike with most items, you will be weighed down and have to carry it to the cannon.



As you approach a cannon, pay attention to the number next to the "Load Cannon" prompt. That tells you how many cannonballs are currently in that cannon. Yes, for some reason in Monster Hunter these cannons defy physics and can fire up to five cannonballs at a time, one right after another. Don't think about it.



If the cannon is not pointing in the right direction, you can approach the front side of a cannon to push it in the direction you want it to face. That way, you can aim for specific points on the monster.



Once you're fully loaded and ready, approach the fuse of the cannon and FIRE!



You might notice your palico helps you load cannonballs into the cannon. Well, other NPCs load cannonballs too! If you look around the area and see someone waving at you like this:



That means their cannon is fully loaded and ready to fire. For some reason they're unable to fire it themselves and need you to do it. I guess they really want you to be the hero?

You can't fire a ballista without ammo, and there's two types lying around.

The first is regular Ballista Ammo. You'll find a lot of it scattered around the map.



You pick this up 10 at a time, and it doesn't restrict your movement, nor does it take up space in your inventory. This regular ballista ammo deals damage to Zorah Magdaros.



Try firing onto different parts of Zorah Magdaros to see what parts take more damage. He'll be weaker in spots that have been previously broken by cannonfire.

A more specialized ammunition is the One-Shot Binder. You'll find this atop the barricade on the south end of the map.



You can only carry one, and it will be fired when you have no regular ballista ammo left. If this shot hits Zorah Magdaros, it will bind him in place, stunning him for a while. This gives you more time to deal extra damage and potentially break more parts.

After some time has passed in the quest, Zorah Magdaros will break through the barrier. Who would have thought a wooden barricade wouldn't hold up against a lava godzilla?

You'll be called to go to the Hitching Post. It's this thing:



And you can find it here:



Just touch it and it will take you to the next part of the quest.

Your wingdrake will fly you onto the back of Zorah Magdaros. Before we rush into it, let's take another breath and take note of a few things:

• Don't worry about falling off the monster. If you ever do, you'll automatically catch onto a wingdrake and fly back on.
  
• Most "walls" of Zorah Magdaros are climbable. Just run up to them and start climbing.
  
• Every few minutes, Zorah Magdaros alternates between standing upright and getting down on all fours. This changes the terrain a bit, as well as what areas you have access to.
  
• Keep an eye out for red mining outcrops for extra loot:

This is a magma core:



There are four cores on Zorah Magdaros, and it's up to you to destroy them. Beware; they are not completely defenseless:



Every few seconds, they will explode with magma, dealing damage and causing fireblight. As long as you get out of the way or have enough potions handy, it's not too dangerous. It telegraphs before the magma pours out.

After each magma core is destroyed, look around the floor for one or two small white fragments that drop. Pick them up for extra loot.



While I list the magma cores here, they can be destroyed in any order. In fact, you don't have to destroy all four; the quest can be completed with only three destroyed, or possibly even less.

The first magma core will be right in front of you when you fly onto Zorah Magdaros' back.



The second magma core is near the tail, up a short cliff then in a small "cave."



The third magma core can only be accessed if Zorah Magdaros is standing upright. It's at the tip of its head. Be careful; it's easy to fall off here, and it takes a while to get back up. It might get back on all fours before you can destroy this one.



The fourth magma core can only be accessed if Zorah Magdaros is on all fours. It is in a volcano-like protrusion on its back. Climb all the way up and jump in. The core is at the center of a small room. Be careful; there's not much room to take cover from the magma bursts.

Oh yeah, don't worry about him. Just hit him a few times and then a cutscene happens which ends the quest.



Mission complete!

Just like the other quest, this fight is simple enough and you don't need to prepare much.

• Eat for attack damage, as you're not really in much of a danger of dying here.
  
• Bring healing items anyway, as you'll probably take some damage, but it won't be extremely threatening.
  
• The below information assumes you know how the game mechanics work from the previous Zorah Magdaros encounter: Magma Cores, Cannons, Ballistae, Hitching Posts, and so on. If you got through the first quest without learning those mechanics (or simply don't remember), feel free to look them up in the sections above from the first quest.

Let's review the map for this quest (click here[i.imgur.com] for a larger version):



Zorah Magdaros starts at the bottom left and slowly makes his way through the curved path towards the northeast. You either start the quest on Zorah Magdaros directly, or at camp in the middle of the map. The camp has the usual amenities. Just outside the camp area facing the ravine are several ballistae and cannons along with some stores of their ammo, as well as Hitching Posts to fly to the current destination for the quest, whether it be Zorah Magdaros' back or the barrier to the northeast. The barrier itself looks like a large dock lined with ballistae and cannons. Just off the easternmost part of the barrier is the boat which holds even more ballistae and cannons, and the Dragonator too.


If you're the one that started the quest for the first time from the cutscene, you'll fly for a few moments on a wingdrake. Enjoy the view, take in your surroundings, and take note of the stalactites you just flew by.



As Field Team Leader says, they're rigged with explosives. You can shoot the stalactites with your slinger to make them fall on Zorah Magdaros in the upcoming battle.

You'll automatically fall onto Zorah Magdaros' back to start.

If this isn't your first time on the quest, or you're assisting another person on the quest, you'll start at camp. Simply run over to a hitching post (or try manning the cannons and ballistae) to begin.

This section is almost identical to the second half of the first quest: you're on Zorah Magdaros' back and people are yelling at you to attack the Magma Cores. However, there are a few differences:

• There are lava flows that prevent you from moving past. You'll have to find an alternate path around them.
  
• There are piles of stone scattered around for you to pick up as ammunition for your slinger. This is used to fire at the stalactites that Zorah Magdaros will walk under. These deal a lot of damage if hit.
  
• You can sometimes find a cracked magma boulder on the higher parts of Zorah Magdaros' back. If you break it, it can reveal another Mining Outcrop.
  
• The goal of this quest is to deal damage to Zorah Magdaros, not to break the Magma Cores. You can ignore the Magma Cores completely and still succeed.
  
• Similarly, despite the Commander's insistence, Nergigante is a non-issue. You can ignore him and he'll run away on his own.

Because the Magma Cores are not necessary for success and the stalactites deal so much damage, this is a perfectly acceptable battle plan for this part of the quest:

1. When you gain control of your character, immediately start looking for stones to use as slinger ammo. Completely ignore Magma Cores and Nergigante when he appears.
   
2. Once slinger ammo has been found, start climbing as high as you can so that you're close enough to fire upon the stalactites; they come up quicker than you'd think.
   
3. Shoot the stalactites when Zorah Magdaros is under them.
   
4. When waiting for more stalactites, explore Zorah Magdaros' body for Mining Outcrops. It'll give you more loot than breaking the Magma Cores would have.
   
5. If you're feeling cheeky, use a farcaster or intentionally die to a Magma Core to return to camp to use the cannons to deal even more damage to Zorah Magdaros. If you're doing multiplayer, you can simply have one person stay behind at camp to do this.

After a set amount of time, the quest will move on to the second phase. You will automatically fly to the barrier.

As you first land onto the barrier and Zorah Magdaros approaches, take these steps:

1. Run along the top of the barrier; a few of the cannons are probably already fully-loaded. Remember to push near the front of the cannon to aim before firing.
   
2. Once the pre-loaded cannons are spent, keep attacking Zorah Magdaros with cannonfire and ballistae. You can find a One-Shot Binder ammo somewhere along the barrier.
   
3. When Zorah Magdaros is standing right in front of the barrier, head to the eastern part of the barrier and jump down to the boat.
   
4. At the front of the boat, up some stairs, is the switch to activate the Dragonator. Flip it!
   
5. As Zorah Magdaros is reeling from the damage of the Dragonator, get back down to the rest of the ship to find another One-Shot Binder and maybe some more fully-loaded cannons. Fire away! Show no quarter!
   
6. If you're on the boat and need to get back onto the barrier, look on the starboard side of the ship (the side further away from Zorah Magdaros) for a wingdrake. Get underneath it and interact with it to fly back up.
   
7. After enough damage is done, a cutscene will start which should signal the end of the quest. If you followed all the directions above, you should be successful. I was bumbling around trying to get good information and screenshots and I still managed to finish the quest in under 15 minutes. Congratulations, hunter, you've made it to High Rank!
   
   
8. Alternatively, the quest can fail if Zorah Magdaros destroys the barrier. This can happen in multiplayer when Zorah has a much higher health pool and not everyone contributes. Keep an eye on that Barrier Defense bar; if it's getting too low you might want to rethink your strategy and take stock of what everyone's doing.
   

This optional quest is essentially a copy of A Colossal Task, which allows you to farm Zorah Magdaros materials without having to SOS other people's story missions. However, this mission is not always available. It only appears randomly after you complete a quest or investigation. A pop-up will tell you that Zorah Magdaros has appeared, and the music for Astera will change. This quest will appear more often the higher your HR is. After you are first notified, you have until two more completed quests before the 6★ Left Quite an Impression disappears and you'll have to wait for it to randomly show up again.

And that's that! With this, you have conquered the Scorching Mountain Dragon and are well on the way to High Rank.

And yet...

So, Capcom decided to give us Arch-Tempered Zorah Magdaros for some reason. Who knew?

This fight has a few changes:

• Zorah Magdaros obviously has more health.
  
• The quest has a shorter time limit of 25 minutes.
  
• Nergigante cannot be ignored; he MUST be attacked and repelled.
  
• Zorah Magdaros is faster and attacks more often; this includes the magma core explosions.

Your biggest obstacle is the time limit: this fight is a DPS check. It pays to bring as much damage as possible. The following are some good ideas to prepare:

• Choose a dragon, water, or high raw weapon. A good shelling gunlance or bowgun with cluster bombs works well too.
  
• Get two ranks in the Heavy Artillery skill to boost ballista and cannon damage, either by armor, charm, or skill decorations.
  
• Temporal Mantle and Fireproof Mantle are both recommended to mitigate incoming damage so you can focus more on attacking.
  
• Don’t forget cold drinks!
  
• Eat for attack up when at the canteen.
  
• Take a Demondrug or Mega Demondrug at the start of the quest.
  
• If you’re still struggling, also take a might pill before attacking the Magma Cores and Nergigante.
  
• If you’re in multiplayer, consider using Lifepowder, Demon Powder, or Hardshell Powder to support teammates.
  
• If you’re doing the fight solo, consider using the skill Fortify and intentionally carting yourself twice at the start of the quest for a 20% boost in damage for the rest of the fight.

If all of this preparation sounds overkill, it probably is. You don’t have to take 100% of these measures to succeed. It doesn’t hurt to be over-prepared, though.

The quest itself will carry out the same way as the original: fly on to Zorah Magdaros’ back and start damaging the magma cores. The cores will explode more often and deal more damage, but as long as you’re careful it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Explosives work very well here: you can actually continue to damage the cores even after they’re broken, albeit at a slower rate.

After enough damage has been done to the cores, Nergigante will fly in to crash the party. Thankfully, this Nergigante is just a normal one, he’s not tempered or arch-tempered at all. Swat him away and he’ll buzz off eventually; by this point in the end-game you’re probably experienced enough that he shouldn’t pose too much of a threat.

After Nergigante flies off and Zorah Magdaros reaches the barrier, you’ll be carried off to the second half of the fight. Immediately walk around and pick up a One-Shot Binder if you can. Just be sure to keep an eye on Zorah Magdaros and shoot the One-Shot Binder to restrain him if he’s about to breath fire on the barrier. The Handler will tell you when he's about to do so. Other than that stipulation, the rest is the same as the previous quest: run along the barrier and the boat, shooting pre-loaded cannons the NPCs prepared for you, and load the cannons yourself while there’s downtime. Use the Dragonator when Zorah Magdaros is close enough. As long as you keep a One-Shot Binder ready and stop the fire breath attacks, you have a good chance of victory.

Your reward for taking down Arch-Tempered Zorah Magdaros is the ability to create the Zorah γ (Gamma) armor set, which is especially useful for status builds. Aside from that, you will also get streamstones, decorations, and materials to exchange for using the Origin armor as a layered armor set.