If you’ve spent hours trekking through the misty craglands of Monster Hunter Wilds searching for a rare, lightning-infused fanged beast, you’re probably hunting for Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau. This elusive monster only spawns under very specific weather and time conditions, and even experienced hunters can go weeks without spotting one, let alone taking it down successfully. I’ve spent over 40 hours tracking and hunting this creature across three different playthroughs, so I’ve picked up every trick you need to make this hunt far less frustrating. You don’t need top-tier endgame gear to take it down, but you do need to come prepared with the right knowledge of its habits and weaknesses.
How to Find Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau Without Wasting Hours
First, you’ll need to unlock its spawn ability by completing the mid-game main story quest “Crackling Skies” – I made this mistake on my first playthrough, wandering the craglands for 10 hours straight before I realized I hadn’t unlocked its spawn pool yet. Once you’ve cleared that quest, Rey Dau only spawns in the Northern Craglands biome, exclusively during heavy thunderstorms, between 10pm and 4am in-game time. It won’t appear during light rain, snow, or clear weather, so don’t bother searching if you don’t see constant lightning strikes in the sky.
You can speed up spawns by fast traveling between the craglands northern camp and the central camp during thunderstorms. Each fast travel reloads the local spawn pool, so you’ll cut down on waiting time significantly. Don’t waste your rare monster lures on this hunt either – Rey Dau only responds to the sound of extremely loud thunder strikes, so lures won’t attract it no matter how many you use. If you see a sudden burst of purple lightning flash across the sky while you’re in the craglands, that’s a guaranteed sign Rey Dau is within 500 meters of your current position.
Key Weaknesses and Attack Patterns You Need to Know Before Fighting
Going into this hunt blind is a surefire way to get one-shot within the first 30 seconds, so take a minute to memorize its core traits first. Rey Dau’s biggest elemental weakness is ice, followed by water. Fire and thunder attacks do almost no damage to it, so leave your favorite thunder longswors or fire dual blades at home for this hunt. It also has a 40% resistance to stun effects, so stun lock builds won’t work nearly as well as they do on other large monsters.
Its most common attack is the lightning dash, where it charges across the field at high speed, leaving a trail of electrified ground that stuns you for 2 full seconds if you step on it. It will also regularly use a tail slam that sends lightning shocks outward in a 180-degree arc behind it, so never stand directly behind it for more than a few seconds at a time. When it rears back on its hind legs and roars for longer than 3 seconds, that means it’s about to enter enraged mode. In this state, its fur glows bright purple, its attack speed doubles, and it will summon a random lightning strike directly on your position every 10 seconds. Run behind a large rock when you see this roar, as the initial enrage burst will knock you out instantly if you’re caught out in the open. Its weak points are its head, front claws, and the tip of its tail – breaking all three will give you a 30% higher chance of getting rare drops at the end of the hunt.
Best Gear Loadouts for Taking Down Rey Dau For All Skill Levels
You don’t need fully upgraded master rank gear to beat Rey Dau, even if you’re hunting it for the first time. There are solid loadout options for every rank that will make this hunt manageable, even for casual players:
If you prefer playing support for a group hunt, prioritize health boost skills and thunder resistance mantles, so you can revive teammates without getting stunned by stray lightning attacks. Always bring at least 10 nullberries with you on this hunt – they cure the thunder blight status effect that Rey Dau inflicts with almost all of its attacks, which reduces your stamina regeneration by 50% if left untreated. You’ll burn through these quickly, so don’t skimp on packing extra.
How to Farm Rey Dau for Rare Drops Efficiently
The main reason most hunters go after Rey Dau is for its rare crafting materials, which are used to make some of the best endgame gear in the game. Its most sought-after drops are the Rey Dau Thunderfur, used to craft the highest rated lightning resistance armor set, and the Rey Dau Claw Shard, a required material for the strongest ice weapons currently available. If you’re farming these materials, there are a few tricks you can use to cut down your grind time significantly.
First, always equip the good luck skill before you start the hunt – it increases your chance of getting rare drops by 25% for every hunt you complete with it active. Make sure you break all three of its weak points before you finish the hunt, as each broken weak point adds an extra roll for rare drops. Capturing Rey Dau instead of killing it also gives you 2 extra random drops, so always carry trap tools and tranq bombs with you if you’re farming for materials. I used to kill it every time until I realized I was missing out on almost double the drops per hunt, so this small change will save you hours of grinding long term.
A common mistake I see hunters make is leaving the hunt as soon as they kill or capture Rey Dau, but if you stay for 2 minutes after the hunt ends, there’s a 10% chance you’ll find an extra rare drop lying near the area where it died. You can also get double drops if you hunt Rey Dau during a weekly event that boosts rare monster drop rates, so check the event schedule before you start a farming session to make sure you’re not wasting your time on non-boosted hunts.
Taking down Monster Hunter Wilds Rey Dau feels incredibly rewarding, especially when you get that rare drop you’ve been grinding for weeks to find. You don’t have to be a pro hunter to beat it, as long as you come prepared with the right gear, know where to find it, and learn its attack patterns before you dive into the fight. Don’t get discouraged if your first few hunts go wrong – I died 6 times before I got my first successful kill, and every attempt taught me something new about how it moves and attacks. Next time you see a thunderstorm rolling through the craglands, grab your ice weapon, stock up on nullberries, and go give this elusive beast a try.