Some of the strongest enemies in Monster Hunter Stories 3: Twisted Reflection are ones you might not even see, since they have very specific spawning conditions. These are the Calamitous Elder Dragons, some of the most challenging monsters in the Monster Hunter universe. Not counting the ones as part of the story, there are four of these to be found throughout the game, one in each of the four main regions. Velkhana is the Elder Dragon that is found in the Serathis region.

Velkhana Location and Preparation¶

If you’ve never tried a Calamitous Elder Dragon before, they are special spawns that will only happen at night. Before doing anything else, go to any Catavan and change the time of day to night. Once you do this, the next thing you need to do is pick fights at night. Just attacking monsters and defeating on the field isn’t enough, as that won’t work, but rather transitioning to an actual battle. Once you’re in a battle, though, it doesn’t matter if you fight them normally or just perform a Quick Finish, so picking on weaker enemies can be much easier on you.

After so many successful battles at night (the amount seems to be random), you will trigger a cutscene that plays out in one of the four regions. This indicated that an Elder Dragon has spawned in that particular region, but the area it occurs in is completely random. So, if you do battles in Azuria, it is possible to have the Elder Dragon appear in Serathis. Because of this knowledge, you can stick to an area like Azuria and keep fighting the night battles there, until you eventually get the Elder Dragon to spawn in Serathis. Once you do get it to appear there, then you simply need to travel to any spot (the Lookout Point is the best one), keeping the time of day as night.

Whenever you have finally gotten Velkhana to appear in Serathis, the next goal is to initiate combat with it. Luckily, Velkhana is stationary, so there is no need to worry about where to fly into it. It will be in the Glacial Caps area, not too far west from the Lookout Point there. Fast travel to that spot, then climb to the top of the tower. From there, you can switch to a Monstie that can fly, then head to the larger landmass to the west. You should be able to see Velkhana on top of a spire just west of there, so fly to the bottom and go up to initiate combat.

Preparations¶

It should go without saying that Velkhana is an ice dragon, so you will want to make sure you have ice protection on your armor. Goss Harag Armor is really good for this, since it has great protection to ice, as well as three Decoration slots once it’s fully maxed. Depending on the Decorations you have available, some good ones to put on the armor are Evasion Ability, Soul Kinship and Ice Def Boost. Of course, those are just suggestions, so if you have something better you can think of, go ahead and put it in those slots. It’s not clear if Panacea would work on Frostblight or not, which is an ailment exclusive to this boss, but there are plenty of other ways to get rid of it.

As for which Monstie you want to use here, Black Gravios is a great one. While it doesn’t have the perfect protection against ice, it’s not weak to it at all and should have plenty of fire attacks available to inherit via the Rite of Channeling. There is also the added bonus that Black Gravios can be quite the tank, and you could always look to see if you can get Ice Def Boost from some other Monstie. In addition to the ice armor, getting some good weapons that are fire-elemental is a good idea, since Velkhana will be weak to it. If your favorite weapon type doesn’t have a good fire weapon, the Dragon element is also a viable option.

As for the companion you should bring, it’s a logical choice for Gaul to be in this battle, since his Legiana is strong against ice, but it also uses ice skills and that’s not going to bring down Velkhana any quicker. You could go with Eleanor here, who has two fire-elemental Monsties in Anjanath and Glavenus, although they both have a weakness to ice (she has no affinity with ice). Again, you can pick whomever you want, but choosing someone weak to ice is not going to be a fun time.

Defeating the Elder Dragon, Velkhana¶

Like a lot of monsters in this game, Velkhana does follow a general pattern for its attacks, but the main thing you want to know about are the types of attacks it will use during each of its forms. Look at the table above and plan your abilities/attack types around them, remembering that you aren’t really able to control your companion at all. It is highly likely that Velkhana will use Icicle Raid as its first attack, which doesn’t hit super hard, but the big thing it does is inflict Frostblight. This ailment is unique to Velkhana and it will basically topple whomever is afflicted with it after a few turns.

That means you will want to heal it, but only a Nulberry Elixir can do that, as far as items are concerned. You can also get rid of it by riding your Monstie, assuming you have the gauge full. However, if you do heal Frostblight, the above move isn’t the only one that can apply it, as the single target Hyperfreeze can also do it. After a few turns, Velkhana will do something called Ice Mantle, where it covers its parts with ice. Doing this will change the attack type it uses during this phase to Speed. It will still use Hyperfreeze here, but there is a new attack called Icicle Storm that Velkhana will use here.

This attack is annoying, as you cannot control how many times it hits someone, as all of the strikes are completely random. So, it might be spread out, or someone might get hit 5 times, which can possibly lead to losing a heart. All you can do is just hope it isn’t concentrated on you or your Monstie, since your hearts are finite. At some point, Velkhana will change forms one more time, using something called Freezing Fog Mantle, which will change the attack type it uses for Head-to-Heads to Power. The thing you want to do as soon as possible is to try and break a part or two, as this will weaken its skills.

One good thing that can happen is you topple Velkhana, essentially resetting its form back to normal. This will also allow you to get some free damage via the Synchro Rush, greatly boosting your Kinship gauge, too. At this point, you should be riding your Monstie, which will help out a lot if you have protection against ice, since it will also protect you from Frostblight completely (riding makes you immune to ailments). By far, the most devastating move in its arsenal happens during this third form, called Absolute Zero, as it hits everyone for major/fatal damage and can even apply Skillseal. When it does this move, Velkhana will return to its Normal form.

The major goal with Velkhana is to try to avoid the attacks in its two Mantle forms, especially the second one, as that is when it can really output damage. Breaking its parts will help a lot in weakening things somewhat, plus you can cancel some attacks you might know are coming with a Kinship Skill. Worry less about your companion, as even if they lose all their hearts, they will revive after a turn or two, so try and keep yourself alive at all costs.

Defeating the Elder Dragon for the first time will grant a skill to your allies, called Follower Testament (or improve it if you already have it). If you do it in a single fight, without repelling it, then you’ll unlock a Decoration (or improve it, should you already have it). Velkhana is a special case, as beating this Elder Dragon will allow you to find its egg in the monster dens of the Glacial Caps area.