There’s a lot of interesting things hidden in caves behind waterfalls in the Canalta Highlands region, including a whole distinct region - complete with a Feral Monster and a Camp site - and this Invasive Monster! The 
Invasive Shogun Ceanataur put all its evolution points into making itself a superior snipper, and you’ve got to prove you can withstand its pincers to send the creature scuttling to its den! This page will help you endure the Invasive 
Shogun Ceanataur, providing preparations and strategies for the fight in Monster Hunter Stories 3!
Page Breakdown¶
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| Invasive Shogun Ceanataur Location and Preparation |
| Defeating the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur |
Invasive Shogun Ceanataur Location and Preparation¶
Before you can butter this overgrown crustacean, you first need to find it. It’s located in the Canalta Timberlands region, on a river that runs along the boundary of Howlinyowl Forest to the west and Mt. Canalta to the east - just follow the river north from the Cataracts, climb some cliffs at a waterfall and follow this smaller tributary north to find another waterfall - just run on through this second waterfall!
In the cave beyond, continue north until the passage forks and note the red dot marking the Invasive Shogun 
Ceanataur on your map. Two of the tracks you need to find to learn about this beast are in the main chamber at the end of the left (northwestern) fork, while another is in a cubby down the right (northeastern) fork. Just wait for the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur to make its way into the tunnels to the east, near the third set of tracks, then loot the two tracks in the main chamber, withdraw, and when the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur heads back west to the main chamber, go down the right passage to find the third tracks.
These clues basically just remark about the power of the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur’s claws and suggest buffing your defenses before the fight - rather vague, at best, but one clue is actionable: You want a Hunting Horn with the 
Defensive Ditty ability on it, as well as 
Armorskin items. Those are what you need, but Decorations like Self-Heal, Health Boost and Non-Elem Def Boost will help keep you alive, as well as similar mutations on your Monsties… and you want these mostly because dying will cancel buffs, which you need to keep active as much as possible.
Defeating the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur¶
When you’re prepared, engage the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur and get ready to endure a few rounds of semi-scripted combat before you get a chance to settle things:
- On its first turn, Invasive Shogun Ceanataur will either use a normal attack (yellow or blue line connecting it to its target - it’ll be using a Power attack type, so counter with Speed) or it’ll use “Retaliating Guard”, dealing damage to the first character that strikes it. Either way, use “Defensive Ditty” to boost your defense - it won’t matter now, but it’ll come into effect shortly. This buff lasts three turns by default, so you’ll probably need to reapply it at least once.
- On the second turn Invasive Shogun Ceanataur will use whichever of the two aforementioned attacks it didn’t use on the first turn.
- After the first two turns Invasive Shogun Ceanataur will grow its claws and you’ll be told “so this is where the real fight begins!”.
On the third turn and beyond, look for a red arrow - the target of this “Invasive Iron Slash” attack needs to be protected by both “Defensive Ditty” and Armorskin/Mega Armorskin to progress the fight!
Let the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur land two “Invasive Iron Slash” attacks on a target protected with “Defensive Ditty” and Armorskin and the fight will end.
Unlike many fights against Invasive Monsters, you’ve still got more scripted work to do. Assuming you have “Defensive Ditty” in effect, note the target of the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur’s next attack - it should have a red arrow showing you the target. It will use its signature “Invasive Iron 
Slash” attack here, and in addition to “Defensive Ditty” you need to use an Armorskin or 
Mega Armorskin on the target. This might not keep the target alive, but you should get feedback saying ”Even claws like that got a limit to what they can cut.” This means you’re on the right track!
Invasive Shogun Ceanataur will tend to use either a normal attack or its “Retaliating Guard” on the next turn, then follow it with another “Invasive Iron Slash”, the fight is simple from here: You need “Defensive Ditty” and Armorskin applied to the target of “Invasive Iron Slash” twice in a row (including the first time). If a character or Monstie dies, they’ll lose their buffs and you’ll have to take time reapplying them, but you should go first. If it lands an “Invasive Iron Slash” without those two buffs in effect, its claws will break and the game will make a big fuss about it, but this is just a red herring - the status of its claws don’t matter at all, it just means it’ll calm down from its “angry” state and you’ll have a few turns before it regrows its claws and goes for another “Invasive Iron Slash”. Just note that when it does not have claws it’ll use Power attacks, and when it does have claws it’ll use Speed attacks. Counter as appropriate.
When you get the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur to attack a target protected by “Defensive Ditty” and Armorskin twice, it will be dramatically foiled by your superior defenses on the second hit and will subsequently retreat. Note that these two “Invasive Iron Slash” attacks do not need to be consecutive. If you fail, just buff up and go for it again. Granted, you can only carry 2-3 total Armorskins/Mega Armorskins at a time, so your ability to try for this is fairly limited. This is why having health boosts and HP regen helps so much - it will hopefully keep the damage you will have to sustain in the early phases of the fight from being lethal and hopefully prevent you from having to waste turns healing when you really need to be buffing.
Hatch the egg you get from the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur and you’ll get a Mizutsune - you’ll want to release it in the same region as a Zinogre to ensure you get all of the variants of the latter monster!
In any event, chase the Invasive Shogun Ceanataur back to its lair and loot a Levaithan egg, which hatches into a 
Mizutsune. You’ll want to hold onto this Monstie until you’ve acquired the 
Zinogre from the Invasive Odogaron, as the two are bitter rivals and need to be released in the same region to ensure you get the 
Thunderlord Zinogre mutation. Otherwise the region itself doesn’t matter, but between the Zinogre and the Mizutsune there are five monster variants, so you will need to release both in a region with only the native monsters present to ensure you can efficiently get all the variants of these two species!
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