Monster Hunter World – Witcher Event- Ancient Leshen Guide!

This was first posted way back in the Witcher Collaboration Event launched for the consoles. During this time, I got Ciri Weapon and was able to come up with a  Dual Blade Build here. For PC Players, if this is the first time you face MHW Ancient Leshen. Check out the key points below:

  • Ancient Leshen has been patched recently on the console to reduce the difficulty. Don’t be dis-encourage! It is still a hard fight, the fix only increase the chance to stun him with Witcher Igni Runes (Basically improve this attack as it does not performs very well the first time around) Other changes revolves around damage modifier of certain attacks.
  • Flash Pods also has been patched to reduce the effect, so don’t spam these precious bugs wildly. Make sure you only use it when a teammate is trapped, and don’t Flash him multiple times in a row!
  • The Dual Balde you obtained from this fight is a cosmetic model for Dual Blade. It does have some decent stat, but well suit yourself.

I wrote this right after I obtained enough materials for The Zireael as well as the Ciri’s armor set.  If you have just come back to Monster Hunter World and wondering why the white-hair witcher content are here. Check out my previous post on the Witcher Collaboration Event.

Monster Hunter: World – Contract: Woodland Spirit

After the fascinating quest with Geralt of Rivia in the first announcement of the Witcher Collaboration Event, another familiar face from the famous series also makes an appearance. While you don’t have the chance to play as this guest, you will need to endure one of the hardest (and probably longest) fight to finally see her looks and weapons.

Both the previous quest “In the Heart of the wood” and the new one “Contract: Woodland Spirit” are real quest line from the Witcher III Wild hunt.

In this particular quest. You will face the “upgraded” version of the Leshen, this is more like a Tempered version of this new monster (Some even mention this as Arch Tempered due to the difficulty spike in this quest) While the Witcher’s last content (For a list of rewards, go here) are unlimited and you can continue the quest as many time as you want. This Ancient Leshen only appears from February 15 till March 01) This is still a long period for an event quest, considering our Appreciation Fest will go to an end next week.

MHW Ancient Leshen

You simply grow stronger as you live long enough and earn yourself the title “Ancient”…

In our last quest, we were introduced to Leshen – a creature that hides deep in the wood, with the power to control plants and animals in it’s territory. In this second event quest, while you don’t get the chance to experience the story under the eye of the Witcher anymore, you will need to face the most powerful version of a Leshen known to mankind – The Ancient Leshen.

The fight here will be comparable to those of Behemoth or any Arch-Tempered Elder Dragons! Make sure you prepare carefully before this quest. And Don’t go in alone! Your best bet on this one is a team, as most of the Ancient Leshen’s moveset is capable of one-shot you and two of them are super annoying.

Death March difficulty in Witcher III is the very hard option for the game. As if this helped you imagine what await you in this fight.

MHW Ancient Leshen’s moveset

It’s more or less the same in Monster Hunter World

The knowledge you got from the last quest will have little use here, as most of the Ancient Leshen’s moveset is upgraded and has tremendous power (in a ridiculous way) Below are the list of the Ancient Leshen’s moveset, and how to counter them (to some extent)

  • Bird Swarm+ – This time, Ancient Leshen start off with a bigger Bird Swarm and the recurring damage (tick damage) will be harder. You can use Igni on him to disable this, but it takes around three shots of Igni to finally staggering him and disable this flock.

 

  • Bird Swarm Attacks + – As a result of the above, this attack also got stronger and capable of knocking you to the ground and will take around 30% of your HP (Maximum Vitality Boosts and 411 Defense)

 

  • Melee Attack + – Occasionally, he will use his tree claw to attack anyone who comes near. This attack, again, is capable of causing bleeding also get stronger and can knock you to the ground in fear as well (which is a nightmare considering his attack speed) Make sure you don’t get hit by any of it’s melee swings! Did I mention that it also cause bleeding? Prepare yourself some Astera Jerky just for this effect.

 

  • Tree Root Attack (Area) There are two variants to this attack, but both will result in the Ancient Leshen putting both of it’s hand to the ground. The first one will be a smaller radius around him, but the second will last for three times – each time the radius get a little bigger. This attack is powerful, can knock you to the ground, and will also take around 40% of your little green bar.

 

  • Tree Root Attack (Front) When the Leshen put one hand on the ground, the Tree Root will come in a cone-like in front of him (180 Degree Tree Root Explosion)

 

  • Tree Root Attack (Far) You may think you are safe if you don’t stand near the Ancient Leshen. Wrong, It also has another root attack that is capable of dealing damage to those standing far. Your best bet should be staying away as soon as you see root piling up on your feet.

 

  • Jagras summon+ Just like the Leshen, Ancient Leshen is also capable of summoning these small lizards. The number of Jagras this time is higher, more aggressive, and they have a little more damage too. Combine with the next ability and you will not want to face this Ancient Leshen again as soon as you get enough materials!

 

  • Tree Cage THE FINAL WHEEL TO YOUR CART – In the fight, some time Ancient Leshen will put one hand to the ground, and tree line will run toward you, if you are standing on the line during this, you will be caught in a cage, and the birds will come toward your poorly helpless soul. if Jagras are currently around, they will also come in and feasting on you, resulting in your cart in just around 30 seconds. The only way to escape this is a Flash Pod (or an Igni shot from teammates) This means your team will need to fire off that Flash Bug as soon as you get trapped! Remember to do this when your team got trapped as well!

Oh, I almost forgot his “Ultimate” – typically cast at 3rd or 4th stage of the fight…

  • Massive Bird Swarm Attack – The Ancient Leshen will charge up it’s power. After a brief of time, a big birds swarm will fly out in a thunderous speed – instant kills anyone who got caught in the path.

The above list should have covered all of the most powerful attacks of this fearsome monsters.

With this arsenal, this forest demon has already caused many hunters to almost throw their controller. And well, not so many peoples attempt to solo him as well. Except…

A random Japanese Player… (Firstly shared from this Reddit post

By now, several other players also attempt this and success! It is possible to solo this guy, but if you want to save time. Gather a team and go on a hunt instead

MHW Ancient Leshen Guide

So you won’t go in alone in this fight, but you still cannot finish it. What are wrong? From my experience (After 8 – 9 hours getting carted and finally got three complete runs) Below is the most common mistakes during this fight.

  • Did not heal on time –  Yes, as most of the Leshen moveset are capable of taking up nearly 50% of your HP, and his bird swarm aura will deal some serious overtime damage to you. If you don’t pay attention to that little bar, you will be surprised by some of his area attacks. Regardless of your playstyle (Ranged/ Melee/ Support), There is almost no chance you don’t get hit by any of his abilities, so make sure you have that Mega-Potion/Ancient Potion/Life Powder… up and ready to be used as soon as you got hit by that Tree Root attack or one or two Bird Swarm. Your best bet should be >75% HP at any given time during the fight.

 

  • Get stuck in the tree cage – This can happen to any of us, this should also be listed as an instant kill move as well. If you are caught during a Jagras swarm, your cart already waits for you. You can only depend on your teammates for this, they either heal you enough to sustain till the cage disappear or shoot a Flash Pod to the Ancient Leshen, I would prefer the latter option. This is also on us as well to keep up the etiquette – As soon as your teammates are trapped, shoot out that Flash Bug!

 

  • Get one shot by the ultimate – You spent 25 minutes to the fight, broke one or two parts of the Ancient Leshen. “It’s on it’s last leg” as our Cute Handler said. You prepared your potions and Flash for the final fight. When you finally see its face, the screen zoom out, shaking and BAM, your team got one-shot by his most powerful attack, wasted the whole 30 minutes. This is the most frustrating experience for me until I learned that Flash Pod can also stop this! Yes, turn out that little bug is your go-to tool for this fight. Meet the Botanist, ask him to nurture these babies and bring em to the fight!

Ancient Leshen’s Strategy

While Ancient Leshen hit hard, and almost never stop in it’s attacks. You can still counter most of the attack as follow:

  • Ancient Leshen is vulnerable to Flash Pod. Yes, you heard that right, although he has no eye (at least from the skull we see) he is completely susceptible to the Flash effect, and this can stagger him at any time in the fight. However, keep your Flash Pods for dangerous situation! Unless you have a whole farm back at Astera.

 

  • Kill it with fire! As the nature of the tree, this monster is weak to fire, so your best bet should be any weapon that has  Fire elemental.

 

  • Use the Witcher’s Power Just as the last fight with the vanilla Leshen. This variant is also weak to Igni. However, it will take two or three Igni shots to disable his Bird Swarm aura and stagger him. Make sure all your hits are on point!

 

  • Try breaking his horn – During the fight, if you manage to break Ancient Leshen’s parts, you can weaken his abilities. While it does take a while to break, it is worth it!

 

  • Using Flash when the Jagras are summoned – Yes, getting overwhelmed by these Jagras is also a common cause of failure in this fight. But you can stop them from moving by shooting a Flash Pod, just like it’s master, these Jagras will stop for a while, giving you and your team enough time to deal with these minions.

 

  • If you have temporal mantle, use it! Don’t be shy in this fight, as your cart will make negative impact on the whole team. Try to use Temporal Mantle when you first sight this monster. Temporal Mantle can be used 3 times in this fight, remember to remove it so it can cool down though!

 

  • Drop that Boulder! In the Northeast Camp (Area 11) right before of the fight, you will see some red pit. Use these and shoot the boulder as soon as your start the fight to get a head start! Don’t let him teleport though

 

  • Customize your Radial menu – As resources are used heavily in this fight, you should find a good way to manage it. By customizing the Radiance menu to contains the crafting of Mega-Potion and Flashpod, you can save a lot of time scrolling through that menu.

Ancient Leshen’s Build Suggestion

The build below is definitely not the best support build, but it’s pretty easy to pick up and you may already got all the jewels used in the build at HR 50

So we know Ancient Leshen hit hard, and your best option is to going in as a team. It will be all sunshine and rainbow if you have the dream team like those of Team Darkside, but what if you are going in alone? In hope of the random players across the internet? Well, we do have some hope though. If I can finish the hunt, so do you.

Your first goal of this fight is to “Save yourself”. Just as other hunts with a team, don’t get carted! As your failure will be counted towards the whole team, and the fight will be over after three deaths. To do this, your first focus should be getting alive on this fight, which in turn, lead us to the following armor skills:

Health Boost will straight up maximize your little HP bar, combine with Mega-Nutrient or a meal and you got yourself a nice full HP Bar. Recovery Boost is for your HP to recover more quickly. While it is not all powerful and all, it can save you on those chip damage of the Bird Swamp.

Next off will be healing on time, as you already go in as a team. Your next armor skill should be:

The armor skill that comes in in all the support build, this will help you spread the effect of recovery items to nearby allies. At level 5, this will help the entire team got a consistent boost. This is also applied for other buff items (Mega Demon Drug or Armor) 

Actually, Friendship is pretty common in Ancient Leshen fight as of now. If two members managed to get Friendship level 5 and consistently focus on HP, your team can be assure of healing for this long fight.

The remaining Armor Skill should depend on your current weapon of choices, but below is also a great addition to an HP assurance build:

  • Divine Blessing – At Level 3, has a predetermined chance of reducing 50% Damage you take.
  • Free Meal – Grant 25% chance of consuming an item for free.
  • Any Defense Boosts Armor Skills

Divine Blessing will help a great deal with those powerful attacks from the Leshen. Although there is no guarantee chance of activation, at least you got more chances in this fight. As for Free Meal, as you will use a lot of items in this fight, running out of them is definitely a big issue, having this skill in your arsenal, your job as a healer can last longer.

Witcher as a healer

With all said and done, here is my build when I fight this annoying monster.

Yes, it’s a Support Healer Build

Geralt’s Armor set is used in this fight as it got maximum Health Boost and Recovery Speed Right off the bat.  Combine this with the Set Bonus Super Recovery, you got yourself a fit option for the Ancient Leshen. As I am not focusing on damage, I chose to maximize Friendship by Friendship Charm III and two Friendship Jewels.

Next off, Satiated Jewel 1 is slotted in for one point in Free Meal. Finally, as a support tradition, I will need to consume my items faster than the normal hunters, Gobbler Jewel 1 is used to have 2 points in Speed Eating.

As I still fear of getting carted, I added two Protection Jewel to have Divine Blessing Level 2, to “occasionally” reduce the damage from the Ancient Leshen’s Attacks.

This Build also enables Igni Intensity a bonus to power up the Igni Sign – which can use to stagger Ancient Leshen in the fight. Finally, for the weapon, as I manage to get my hand on an ok Kulve’s weapon during Appreciation Fest. This was picked as my weapon.

If you got a better SnS with Fire Element, use it instead!

This quick build allows me to do the following:

 

  • Quickly heal teammates and capable of some fire damage (minor)
  •  Utilize Flashpod quickly with SnS.
  • Able to stagger Ancient Leshen with Igni
  • Can mount and KO Ancient Leshen when needed (With SnS Charged Attack!)

MHW Ancient Leshen Quest Reward

With the above setup, you can then join an SOS Flare for this particular event, while you definitely not the best DPS, you will become a dependable support for this fight. It’s to run around and check on other’s HP and pop that Mega-Potion or Astera Jerky when they need it

.If you have a team, spread this article so they are aware of the Ancient’s Leshen mechanic. In the end, this fight mostly revolving around the coordination between team members to saving you from those nasty traps and instant kill shot.

Finally, if you manage to get through the fight (Typically last around 35 minutes) you will get yourself the materials to craft the following:

  • Ciri’s Full Armor Set.
  • Ciri’s Sword Zireael – Dual Blades
  • Witcher’s Silver Sword + – Upgraded version of the last reward.
  • Geralt & Ciri Layered Armor Set – Requiring Mutagen – a special rewards that randomly drop after defeating the Ancient Leshen.

Mutagen – Used for crafting Ciri or Geralt Layered Armor

 

MHW Ancient Leshen Rewards: Dual Blade Zireael

MHW Ancient Leshen Rewards: Witcher’s Silver Sword Upgrade

Good Luck!

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