Monster Hunter: The Biggest Monsters In The Series, Ranked

Developer Capcom has a habit of bringing extremely large monsters to gamers’ screens. Be it Resident Evil or even Dragons Dogma. But, most of the company’s largest creations are in the Monster Hunter series. The franchise has become famous for its complex and varied mechanics, breathtaking visuals, challenging quests, strategic gameplay, and, as the name suggests, monsters. Lots and lots of monsters.

As the flagship feature, the monsters in these games have extensive and diverse designs. With so many different types, breeds, and races, players can truly get lost in how many monster categories there are. The one area that seems to interest fans more than any other is size. Here are the Monster Hunter franchises’ biggest creations.

Updated September 10, 2021 by Jacob Buchalter: It’s been quite a while since this article first came out, and in that time, more monsters were released in the Iceborne expansion for Monster Hunter World. Even more than that, a brand new entry into the franchise was released, Monster Hunter: Rise.

Now, sadly, none of the monsters in Monster Hunter Rise are big enough to make it on here, but it did give us enough justification to take a look back, see how Capcom “classifies” the size of each monster, and dig for any other newer monsters that should justifiably be on here. So, without further ado, here are the biggest of the big in Monster Hunter history.

Disclaimer: The “size” statistics for Monsters found in-game, in art books, and in the official Size Comparison video Capcom made for the franchise’s 15th anniversary, all measure “length” over “height.” So, creatures like Dalamadur and Laviente have absurd numbers even though they’re nowhere near as “towering” as Zorah Magdaros. So, keep that in mind with these rankings, as some monsters might have bigger numbers, but aren’t actually “larger” overall.

12 Shara Ishvalda: 95.50 Feet

First up is one of the newer monsters added in Iceborne, the Shara Ishvalda. This Elder Dragon is basically the draconic version of an Earthbender from Avatar: The Last Airbender (another franchise that needs more game adaptations), using vibrations and the 6 odd appendages on its back to manipulate earth as a sort of “outer shell”

But, don’t be fooled, even when that rock-hard shell is knocked off, there’s still a terrifyingly powerful (and somewhat creepy) dragon inside. The attacks Ishvalda unleashes on naive hunters range from surprising them with a burrowing attack, sending out gigantic waves of raw vibrational energy, slamming their rocky appendages on the ground to charge forward, and much more. It’s not exactly a “towering” monster, but at least in its covered form, the Ishvalda is one of the “bulkiest” monsters we’ve seen in the series to date.

11 Shen Gaoren: 111.15 Feet

If there’s ever been a monster that would fit more perfectly with the grappling mechanics found in MHW: Iceborne, Monster Hunter Rise, or other similar games, than the Shen Gaoren from MH2, we’d like to see them. Shen Gaoren is a Carapaceon, which basically means a gigantic crustacean monster (aka a very tall crab). In MH2, you were meant to stop it from destroying the town by chipping away at its legs for 20+ minutes, because there was no way you were going to reach its main body. And, while doing this, from time to time this crab would get annoyed with your endless bombardment of attacks and flail its absurdly long legs at you, dealing massive damage if it hit.

Surprisingly, this mammoth-sized crab on stilts was popular enough to return in other games in other forms/subspecies, such as the Teppeki Shen Gaoren or Guren Shen Gaoren in Monster Hunter Online. Basically, it’s more of an Earth Defense Force design than a Monster Hunter one, the Shen Gaoren is still one of the most uniquely memorable designs in the franchise.

10 Fatalis: 145.73 Feet

Fatalis is one of the oldest creatures on this list as it was an Elder Dragon introduced in the original Monster Hunter. But, just because it comes from a time where the games weren’t as mechanically advanced, doesn’t mean the version that appears in MHW: Iceborne is for the faint of heart. Being a fire-breathing massive beast, it will take more than just a lot of firepower to take this behemoth down.

Sure, Fatalis is basically just a stereotypical Western dragon, but classic dragons are iconic monsters akin to slimes and elementals for a reason. It does just about everything you would expect a dragon to do, from breathing fire to swiping at you with its tail, making for a predictable yet still incredibly challenging encounter.

9 Gogmazios: 161.43 Feet

Now, compared to Fatalis who has shown up in 5+ games, Gogmazios has only ever appeared in its debut game, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. In terms of the showdown with this beast, Gogmazios prefers to use up-close tactics and its sheer largeness to take out hunters.

Yet, while this may seem just a stereotypical as Fatalis, Gogmazio has both its superheated oil laserbeam and scowl-scaped glowing chin to spice things up. Plus, like Teostra (one of the MHW Elder Dragons) Gogmazios loves to eat literal gunpowder, which isn’t like any other dragons we’ve heard of.

8 Najarala: 141.58 Feet

Najarala is a Snake Wyvern introduced in MH4 before appearing in Ultimate and then Generations. As a Wyvern, this beast stands tall, then again, it doesn’t really stand at all, given that it’s a snake. Still, despite its massive size, the Najarala prefers to initiate combat stealthily by burrowing underground and popping up for a devastating surprise attack.

Even when Najarala fights directly, it still uses a bunch of different gimmicks from shattering its scales to create deafening noise (which stuns hunters) to poisoning foes with the venom in its fangs on either side of its beak-like mouth. All-in-all, Najarala is our first example of a gigantic monster in terms of length, rather than just overall size, but it surely won’t be the last.

7 Ceadeus: 192.69 Feet

Next up is the Ceadeus, a massive underwater sea-snake creature introduced in Monster Hunter 3 and reappearing in MH3 Ultimate. Most of you probably remember it as the Elder Dragon that was meant to capitalize on all the “best” parts of MH3’s underwater combat, but, like most of the underwater fights in that game, in actuality, the fight was sort of a chore thanks to the three different phases you had to progress through.

That said, the helplessness you innately feel while deep underwater in video games, combined with the Caedeus’ gigantic size still made this confrontation incredibly tense. Even more so thanks to the “beam” of pressurized water Ceadeus could expel called the “Current Storm” that could instantly KO any unprepared hunter.

6 Dire Miralis: 206.29 Feet

Here’s another Elder Dragon (turns out Elder Dragons, even in the non-hunting MH games, tend to be the largest). This time it’s the Dire Miralis from MH3 Ultimate that has so far not yet returned in any future games. Although its body is covered in lava, Dire Miralis is a semi-aquatic creature. And, while the Dire Miralis does have wings on its back, they’re actually just a method for it to expel lava orbs for both defense and as a way of lowering its overall heat.

Honestly, it’s hard to argue that this thing isn’t one of the most intimidating monsters in the entire franchise. The Dire Miralis is fought both on land and in shallow water, making it more enjoyable than a lot of other fights in MH3U since players can mostly choose to fight it on land.

5 Lao-Shan Lung: 228.34 Feet

Moving on to another hulking draconic powerhouse first introduced way back when in the debut MH game, the Lao-Shan Lung. And, like the Fatalis, this just looks like a relatively stereotypical Western Dragon. But, frankly, the Lao-Shan Lung is like a dragon on steroids, trading any sort of elemental affinity or special ability for raw physical power.

Yet, despite their gigantic size, these Elder Dragons are actually docile compared to their other more fiery counterparts, seeming to prefer to ignore most hunters unless directly attacked. But, if there’s a fortress they want to break down, well then you need to use every type of restraint, cannon, and whatever other tools are lying around to stop it (if you can).

4 Jhen Mohran & Dah’ren Mohran: 366.20 & 375.54 Feet

The Jhen Mohran and its sub-species the Dah’ren Mohran are Elder Dragons which made their first appearance in Monster Hunter 3 and most recently in MH3U. Dwarfing all other entries so far, the Jhen Mohran has a lot in common with the Zorah Magdaros in that they’re basically like mobile mountains. But, while the Magdaros wades its way through the ocean, the Mohran swims through the desert sand.

While its size is absolutely terrifying, this beast is in actuality a gentle giant. Much like the Lao-Shan Lung, it prefers to avoid conflict, though it will defend itself if attacked. It’s one of those fights where hunters don’t really “attack” it with their weapons as much as chase it with a boat-like vessel on the sand and poke at it with Ballista and the Draconator.

3 Dalamadur: 1444.87 Feet

Appearing in Monster Hunter 4, this colossal beast stands at an astounding 1450 feet tall. Only available for high-rank hunters, the Dalamadur is nothing to scoff at and should be thought of as a more dangerous, longer, and all-around deadlier Najarala. In addition to its size, the Dalamadur also brings a hefty arsenal of attacks to any fight from a flamethrower attack, AOE fireball spray, or just using its hook-like spines and claws to tear hunters to shreds.

Currently, given its length and weight, Dalamadur is probably still the reigning champion in both regards as far as the “mainline” MH games go. In fact, the Rotten Vale from Monster Hunter World is actually confirmed to be made up of the remains from ancient variants of the Dalamadur, giving us even more proof of its colossal size.

2 Zorah Magdaros: 845.29 Feet

Zorah Magdaros is the exact opposite of Dalamadur or Najala in regards to its size. Whereas these two creatures ranged from hundreds to over a thousand feet long, Zorah is taller than most mountains.

This big volcano turtle was one of the newer additions to the franchise, showing up as one of the important narrative monsters in MHW. And, in a unique mix-up for the franchise, while climbing around on Zorah to attack its magmacore organs, you fight another monster (Nergigante) on top of it! As far as we can remember, this is really the only fight against a monster while riding a monster in the entire series. In any case, Zorah Magdaros is huge, way bigger than its odd classification as a “Large” monster (not Gigantic or Colossal) makes it out to be.

1 Laviente: 1476.37 Feet

And finally, without a doubt the largest monster appearing in the entire franchise, Laviente makes its debut in Monster Hunter Frontier, the MH MMORPG released in 2007. Believed to surpass even the Dalamadur in size, albeit only marginally, this behemoth is a sight to behold.

The Laviente prefers to use its serpentine-like body to destroy the terrain the hunters are fighting on. In addition to this, it also has the ability to breathe fire and cause meteor showers. Sounds pretty similar to the Dalamadur right? Well, it does have a lot in common, but the Laviente also smashes its gigantic body into the ground to shower hunters with large rocks and digs deep enough when burrowing underground to cause volcanic eruptions mid-fight. And, let’s not even get started on how difficult the Berserk and Violent variants of this world-snake-sized serpent can be.

To this day, the Laviente is the biggest monster in the franchise, bar none, but we’d love to see it not locked to the MMORPG and integrated into a game that the newer MH fans can enjoy.

NEXT: Best Weapons for Slashing Damage In Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings Of Ruin, Ranked