Monster Hunter World: How to kill Anjanath in the Ancient Forest, what are Anjanath's weaknesses, and how to farm Anjanath effectively
With the influx of new players on PC, one of the toughest early-game encounters in Monster Hunter World is waiting to claim a fresh set of victims: Anjanath, one of the Ancient Forest’s strongest predators. Capable of tearing through Hunters with its powerful bite or scorching them with its fiery spit, killing Anjanath can be hard without the right preparation and strategy. Here’s the best method for how to complete the Anjanath assignment.
Anjanath are a large Brute Wyvern species of monster that aggressive pursues anything unfortunate enough to meet its path. For more details on every monster in Monster Hunter World, check out our full list.
How to kill Anjanath:
- Craft fire-resistant armour and a weapon with water, thunder or ice elemental damage
- Find Anjanath in north-west of the Ancient Forest
- Get behind and underneath the Anjanath, sticking close enough to the base of his tail so you can hit his legs, but with enough distance so you can avoid his backwards kick
- Follow the glowing Scoutflies when he retreats to the upper levels of the map
- Back off when the Anjanath picks fights with other monsters, and use these distractions to unleash big attacks
- Once he starts to weaken, use jumping attacks to mount and topple the Anjanath and leave him vulnerable
Where to find Anjanth in the Ancient Forest:
Anjanath are found in the west and north-west of the Ancient Forest, on the lowest level, in areas 7, 8 and 9. Often you can find them sleeping, so wind up a big hit before instigating a fight.
If Anjanath starts to retreat during your fight, you can rely on your Scoutflies to find it again. However, be aware that he can go up a level to areas 13 and 14. If you’ve completely lost sight of Anjanath, check there.
How to beat Anjanath strategy:
If you haven’t gathered already, Anjanath are dangerously powerful monsters with a strong and decently varied movepool. They can attack hunters at close range on all sides of their body, as well as underneath them.
However, try to keep too much distance and they will throw themselves at you with a heavy jumping attack.
Anjanath’s final ace in the hole is that they can spit flames - especially when enraged - in an explosive 180 degree cone in front of them, as well as a straight line, which can be difficult to dodge. Check out our guide to the armour sets in Monster Hunter World and pack one with flame resistance for this fight - we recommend the Rathalos set. Don’t worry if you can’t get it yet though, it’s not vital. Dodging and positioning are most important.
If you planning on bringing a bowgun, make use of power, paralysis and poison coatings. Anjanath are susceptible to ailments, so they’re a good idea in general.
What you need to do is place yourself in a position where you’re shielded from the majority of Anjanath’s strongest attacks, while also being able to dodge the others. To do this, dodge its initial charge and get behind Anjanath. Then place yourself near the base of its tail where you can strike at its legs, but don’t commit too much - you still to be mindful of its back kick attack - make sure you’re far enough away and ready to dodge.
If you’re too high up near its shoulder, Anjanath will just barge you over, try to make it so you’re all the way behind it. Arekkz does a great job of taking up this position in the video embedded below.
If you lose your position don’t be too tempted to try and run away, Anjanath will quickly overwhelm you if you get disorientated and it can hit you with frontal attacks. It’s scary, but try and roll past its attacks to regain your place behind it.
In a tight spot, you can rely on you Palico or use other nearby monsters as a distraction. Anjanath are aggressive and will pick a fight with anything, so take advantage of this to regroup in a pinch.
If Anjanath’s fire attacks are giving you too much trouble, you can disable them by striking its throat when it glows red - just as it’s about to attack. Doing this will drop a shiny too.
Another way to keep the flames at bay is to aim for flaps that occasionally open up on its lower back. Hits there do more damage than a headshot, so it’s worth it.
When you wear Anjanath down, they will try to retreat to a different area. Give chase by following your Scoutflies, but be aware that Anjanath are dangerous until the very end. Don’t barrel into another phase of a fight unprepared because the monster’s on the ropes, it can still charge and overpower you. Use this time to resharpen your weapon, then track it down and resume where you left off. Anjanath can retreat to the upper level of the Ancient Forest in areas 13 and 14, so check there if you can’t find it again.
Once you’ve sufficiently weakened an Anjanath, it will start to limp. If you want, you can try to use jumping attacks to mount and topple Anjanath - otherwise, just stick to the strategy until it’s down.
Anjanath weaknesses:
- Water
- Thunder
- Ice
Anjanath are weak to water, thunder and ice elemental attacks - in that order - so utilise weapons that do those kinds of damage against it. If you’re having trouble choosing, or don’t like what you’ve got, we also have have a full guide to all of the weapons in Monster Hunter World.
Fire elemental attacks are not a good idea when hunting Anjanath, since it has an affinity and therefore strong resistance to that element.
How to farm Anjanath fangs, plates, tails, scales and nosebones:
Anjanath drop many useful items, including not only their Anjanath fang, plate, tail, scale and nosebone, but the flame sac as well.
To effectively farm Anjanath, it’s best to use Investigations. Investigations are stand-alone quests with specific requirements which give you extra chances to get items at the end, so you don’t have to sweat too much about hitting specific parts of monsters while you’re fighting them.
You can unlock Investigations by encountering and battling monsters, or you can examine the footprints and mucus they leave behind when they move.
Take a full at our full guide for everything you need to know about Monster Hunter World.