Well it has been a while, actually not that much but eh lets keep diving into this. MR4 is actually the peak of this expansion I would say, since you get bombarded with new stuff and there are a lot of goods here. For context I changed the sleep bombing set for just a full set of Rathalos X armor because I wanted that partbreaker skill, so most of my hunts were aiming at all the breakable parts I could get (why were the hunter notes of this game downgraded in that regard I don't know). So let's begin...
S tier
Espinas: Probably THE main attraction of this expansion, and of course how it wouldn't be. This was about the only thing I was looking forward the most and I can say it lived up to the hype, in fact so far this is my favorite fight of the game. The model update looks very nice overall, the animations are stylish and well done and overall this monster is very good in a lot of things IMO. I will start with the fight, when Espinas is the main target it is already a slightly different approach than the rest of the roster so that's already a plus for it. As many of you already know it starts asleep (the rise's rajang thing but done right) and with juiced up hitzones so trying it to awake it can be annoying for some but I appreciate the gimmick. My first experience was incredible I would say, probably THE highlight of this expansion. Between a lot of cool attacks that are very good at portraying its weight and aggressiveness and some stuff that make it stand out like its paralyzing venomous fireballs leaving hazardous smoke trails or some of its physical attacks applying poison, I was having the time of my life blocking and evading its barrage of attacks and rushes while this high paced aggressive soundtrack was playing. It managed to cart me twice and with sweaty hands and my heart pumping like crazy I managed it to take it down after perfectly insta blocking its triple charge and landing the final blow. The cutscene was kind of mid but it doesn't matter cuz the rest of this monster is just golden. The only weird thing about its fight is very long and unfitting recovery animations after some moves like its hipcheck when it comboes into a single fireball having the standard flying wyvern taunt after it. Also extra points for having some relevance in the story but I was hoping for something more other than "oh right this previously exclusive target for Mezeporta hunters is in the jungle, go kill it"
Diablos: World made Diablos not a pain in the ass to fight and that was already a huge thing. It's MR version in Sunbreak tho, makes it really, really fun to fight. This is my favorite iteration of this fight thanks to the new attacks that Diablos got while grounded like a super telegraphed horn slam and also a horn thrust with scary tracking, and these moves can be done after a fakeout during its charge. So basically it spents even less time digging but compensates with a very solid moveset that is really fun to counter. It has a lot of options to attack you, so Diablos is finally free of its previous iterations stereotypes which is either dig spam or charge spam.
A tier
Astalos: Now I wasn't expecting much from this monster, since the most recent 4th gen additions usually hold up well compared to older monsters and therefore I thought Astalos would be barely changed. He did get some new cool moves tho but also some interesting animations changes. Im mainly talking about his limping animation, it actually uses its huge wing talons as support like Seregios, its small but I like this sort of small changes that make sense. Moving on he didn't get much of a makeup because again, 4th gen monster, but his back spikes got even bigger for some reason and the insect like wings look better than ever. Now for the actual fight, its fun, just like the og Astalos which I also find fun to fight. The new attacks like the huge tail swipe after flying or the headbutt into tail swipe into tail lightning are nice additions. However there is something odd about this version, or at least something I haven't been able to figure out, and that is his charged state. For old Astalos it was easy, attacks with certain body parts will charge up said body part and unlock either properties for those moves (thunderblight and the super knockback effect) or exclusive moves while charged. Yet new Astalos seem to not follow this, the main example is its double wing slam, when uncharged it behaves as expected but when charged it doesn't even sent you flying, at least not consistently, does it have a sweetspot or is tied to its enraged state or being fully charge? I have no clue but it seems to be random (it clearly isn't... right? but there has to be some condition that Im not aware of) second sometimes it does both of them with a pause in between and some other times it does them pretty much inmediately one after the other. Maybe they are considered separate attacks but this lack of clear attack patterns in its enraged or charged state (or both at the same time) is really odd and maybe was done on purpose but IMO makes it inferior than before. Anyways, cutscene was nice and fitting and the theme isn't as bombastic as before but it is still good.
Seregios: For some fellas that know me this may come as a surprise, because I really hate Seregios and I always took every chance to make fun of it (still no alternate form or M rank armor design lmao) but SB has managed to make me like it, and I mean actually like it, so much that it is actually this high in my list. First of tho, the model looks weird, like if it was wet the entire time. It's not one of the best face lifts but at least its new glowing eyes contrast the Rath's pretty nicely. Now for the fight, the first thing I have to say is... THANKS GOD IT NO LONGER SPAMS AERIAL SWEEPING KICKS THAT WAS LIKE THE SINGLE WORST ATTACK EVER CREATED, in fact not only it doesn't spam them, it doesn't exist anymore. At least I haven't seen that attack at all, that change alone already make the fight better however SB's Seregios also brings a lot more goods this time around. Im talking about its very stylish and fitting new attacks, they really emphasize that this guy is a skilled flier and overall it reflects its attack style pretty well. Basically going full aerial assault with like 4 different types of aerial kicks but all of them are distinct and fitting for what Seregios is supposed to be (also threatening because I carted twice when I first fought it), and also this new cool tail swipe that takes it into the air, kind of like Barioth but very cool looking, Overall, it was handled very well (except for its gear), the theme is the same but with extra bits and that's fine and. the cutscene was actually cool for once. As an extra bit, I wonder why they nerfed its tail cut, because before it was like the whole tip of the tail gone and now its only half of it, like Astalos.
B tier
Lunagaron: Now we take a look into the 2nd new monster of this game. This monster would have been so cool for me back when I was a child, ice element and ice armor, wolf like and edgy but as an adult when I first saw Lunagaron back when it got revealed it striked me as... really generic. When I actually got to met it personally tho... it was still generic, specially its roar lol (at least it gets better when enraged) its overall design is sauceless IMO like if someone was told to quite literally just create a monstrous wolf and they did exactly that but usually MH designs are more than "animal with exaggerated features". Im no creature design expert or anything but this monster just feels off compared to other designs (even the armor looks boring). At least the werewolf theme is kind of there but some attack animations of its bipedal stance are very odd and Im not fond of the animations (like the jumping cross slash attack or the silly looking sweep kick). Its exclusive attacks while on 4 legs tho are really nice. But the reason it is here is mainly because its fight is generally very decent. The quadrupedal stance does a good job at portraying its speed, which is expected of an odogaron-esque kind of monster and I like how the icy gas kind of looks like a trail when it dashes. The bipedal stance is way more telegraphed but packs a punch, it is weird tho that its "ice armor" isn't really armor because it softens its whole body and bipedal stance often has some weird interactions. Like when it does a shoulder check and then awkwardly runs in 4 legs towards you and gets up again. This monster could have been a lot more interesting but at least it makes up for it with a decent fight oh and I have to appreciate that it doesn't have beams and uses its ice attacks mainly as gas or physical strikes. Other stuff that I have to say is that the cutscene was ok, the turf wars look silly and its weird that it didn't got its own theme.
Tigrex: Ngl, its awful theme brought it down a whole tier but at least Tigrex kept its nice IB's additions and got a new move, a powerful paw slam that can combo into multiple attacks. Its a nice addition to its still very limited moveset but at least it is pretty fun to fight when using lance. Not much there is to say tho, other than its double jump looking weird (and never hitting) and its triple charge also being bad at tracking even Royal Ludroth's triple charge tracks better than Tigrex's lol.
Magma Almudron: One of SB's subspecies, sadly its another fire one, clearly an Agnaktor wannabe and tbh it doesn't make the sense as a sub at all, but I got to say the model change is actually pretty solid (specially the color of the scales and the mud being replaced by volcanic rock) and its a much better fight than regular Almudron as well as being different enough as a subspecies (cough Pyre Rakna). I have to appreciate its smaller size because 1) its something that not all subspecies tend to do and 2) it makes it easier to see what the hell it is doing. It still spins around like if it was having a seizure but at least I can actually see its whole body and not get caught by some tasmanian devil bullsh*t attack. Its new moves are actually very cool like using its tail like a riot shield is very raw and it also does something interesting with its gigantic tail ball (I gotta appreciate as well its mount finisher being its ultimate attack with said ball, its very satisfying to do). If it was anything other than being fire element (and a fraud) it would be higher but it is what it is. Also its cutscene is so disrespectful lmao.
Rathalos: For some people this is the best rathalos has ever been and I can sort of see that, but the change to its flying state still causes me conflict (its not even a state at all, most flying monster just do combos that involve being in the air and then land). I will start with its new additions, like the flamethrower while awkwardly flying sideways into a telegraphed aerial kick and honestly a bunch of aerial combos that I can't remember if they are from base rise or from this expansion. The change to flying monsters have brought a very big expansion to Rathalos's moveset, so big that it is hard for me to remember all of its new aerial combos, it does make for a better fight since at the end of every aerial attack or combo it always makes the monster land however I don't know if this is the right solution. I will not discuss that tho, so lets keep with MR Rathalos. In general it is ok, its actually challenging this time around without bullsh*t mechanics and its lenghty aerial combos are still a bit of a boredom. Said aerial attacks are also very oddly animated, like if different attacks where stitched together in a combo string. It's not the smoothest of animations and for me that's a downgrade compared to World/IB's rathalos, like the triple aerial fireball had an actual animation rather than awkwardly doing the single aerial fireball animation 3 times in a row at different angles lol.
C tier
Gore Magala: Another returning monster, one that Im kind of attached to for being the flagship of my first MH game. Sadly it was a disappointing return, cuz not only I still dislike fighting its regular state but also because it barely brought anything new (at least compared to other returning monsters). First of, the model does look very good, I always liked that oddly looking blue underside of the Magalas which now has a sort of shiny reflection and the flowing effect from the wings looks amazing. Its a shame that the part breaks of this game makes the monsters look like if they were made out of chalk and now Gore's part breaks don't show the golden wounds (something that Shagaru also suffers from). Also it no longer drools black goo when tired which is also a shame. Now for new attacks, its regular state got barely changed, in fact the bite still has awful hitboxes (and it can be done twice in a row ugh) and its rush still lacks a decent startup animation (is not instant but still hard to react to) so basically it sucks ass ngl. I think its base form got its own aerial rush with a fancy animation (different from the aerial rush it does when truly enraged) but that's it When its wingarms are deployed the fight gets a lot better and you actually get to see some new stuff like its shoulder check and a big projectile with colateral explosions, similar to its breath attack. Now the shoulder check is weird since I think it doesn't fit when Gore uses its wingarms, it should have been part of its base form's moveset because it doesn't even use the wingarms lol, it has them tucked in. I also don't know why it gets treated as a big attack, even the camera zooms out. Its story relevance is non existent which is something I would expect from MH Generations but not SB lol, they basically just throw Gore as an optional quest after fighting Espinas. The cutscene is actually very good at depicting how OP this thing is tho and the theme is similar to Seregios, mostly the same with added bits which I think it is good enough.
Zinogre: Eh tbh I don't care much about this monster, I think it got the super paw slams and the ability to combo those into the Thunderlord's upward strike. It doesn't have that triple slam it got in IB and its combos feel toned down. It is a rather tame fight if Im being honest.
Pyre Rakna Kadaki: A rather pointless subspecies which fight also barely changes from the original (in fact barely anything changes). The model does look good since the white carapace and the black webbing is very sick as well as the added "horns" on her head which makes her look like a demon from Doom. However I wish this sub didn't existed lol. It really is regular Rakna but with explosions, I can barely remember any distinct attacks other than its backward rush (which is a pretty cool looking animation ngl) and its ultimate attack that at least can actually hit you unlike regular Rakna's. This might as well be the MR version of the base monster but just like regular Rakna, this fight is not that thrilling for me so it wouldn't have helped her that much. Also it can't do the sliding flamethrower from MR Rakna which I guess helps a little bit in setting those two appart.
D tier
Mizutsune: Im gonna be brief with this one, I dislike fighting him. Bad hitboxes and sliding 30 meters away when toppled is not fun. MR Mizu got a soulseer move, a combo that ends in the Zinogre's tail slam (which never hits if you got hit by the first setup attack), It also can't do that big claw swipe twice in a row like in GU for some reason, that's something that Almudron stole it seems.
